I Became a Top-Tier Star After Replacing One [Book Transmigration]

Qiao Xu transmigrates into a tragic romance novel and becomes a cannon-fodder substitute.

Jing Yiran is a top-tier star with stunning looks and an outstanding aura. Proud and ambitious, he goes abroad to pursue further studies. The domineering CEO Xue Shaojun can't have Jing Yiran, then happens upon the original owner, a street punk livestreaming on the sidewalk who looks a lot like Jing Yiran. Desperate enough to take anyone, he keeps the original owner as a substitute.

After being kept for a while, the original owner falls in love with the CEO. But then the CEO's long-lost true love comes to her senses and decides to return home and get back together with him. Overjoyed by the news, the CEO immediately pays off the street punk and kicks him to the curb. Who knew the ungrateful punk would cling to the CEO, only to end up sent to a psychiatric hospital by the CEO and his true love.

When Qiao Xu arrives, Jing Yiran has already hinted to the CEO that he's planning to return home. Xue Shaojun is wondering how much to pay to get rid of this clingy pest.

Xue Shaojun: Someone like me is beyond your reach. You have to leave. Even if you don't want to take the money...

Qiao Xu: I really don't want money. Could you give me 3% of your company's shares instead?

Xue Shaojun: ?

*

With the shares in hand, Qiao Xu becomes a minor shareholder in a major corporation. He uses the platform's special treatment to ride the coattails of his love rival's fame, becoming an influencer, livestreaming sales, and getting his fans to work out.

Once he's made money, he hires a team, finds partners, forms a boy band, films a variety show, edits videos, and trains hard in singing and dancing. At the year-end gala on satellite TV, he dazzles everyone, bringing a disruptive force to the stagnant world of Chinese entertainment.

Assistant: Sir, your canary has been working independently with his shares for a year now.

Xue Shaojun: Has he learned his lesson?

Assistant: ...He's more popular than your true love now.

*

At first, Xue Shaojun liked to mock the street punk's tacky, low-class, and nonconformist style with his childhood friend He Ling.

Later, Xue Shaojun would get drunk and complain to He Ling about how Qiao Xu was rebellious, immature, and had no idea of his place.

Then one day, Xue Shaojun stared in disbelief at a livestream. He Ling stood beside Qiao Xu, gazing at him with tenderness and longing as Qiao Xu joked and bantered, full of mischief.

Xue Shaojun: ...???!

Theme: Recognize your own worth and step into a wider world