The Days I Was Secretly Loved by the Aloof Actress

[Revising the earlier chapters, updates irregularly]

Also known as "Meeting on the Platform." The blurb for my upcoming novel, "Reborn as Everyone's Least Favorite, Now They're All Begging for Forgiveness," is below =3=

Jiang Wangyue, a little-known streamer in the gaming category, suddenly receives an invitation to appear on a top-tier variety show from the Penguin platform.

Looking at the appearance fee, with more zeroes than she can count, she accepts without hesitation.

At the recording location, all the other guests are famous: a rising young actress with a huge fanbase, a renowned screenwriter, an award-winning actor who's been famous for years...

And a double Best Actress winner who just took home an international award and is at the height of her fame.

Jiang Wangyue greets them one by one. When she reaches the aloof, dazzling actress surrounded by admirers, her enthusiasm doesn't waver at all.

"Teacher Pei, it's so nice to meet you!"

The woman looks at their clasped hands. After a long moment, she says unhurriedly, "A pleasure to meet you, Teacher Jiang."

After the introductions, Jiang Wangyue hides her throbbing hand behind her back and glances at the elegant woman beside her, grumbling inwardly:

Why has Pei Qingjian's temper gotten worse and worse over the past few years?

Back then, all I had to do was hold her hand to make her feel better.

After thinking that, Jiang Wangyue lets out a quiet sigh. Times have changed. It's not like I disappeared for six years or anything.

After the show airs, a huge number of fans flood into Jiang Wangyue's livestream.

The top donor showers her with gifts and asks, "Which guest made the biggest impression on you?"

After a moment's thought, Jiang Wangyue picks the kindest one, the screenwriter.

The top donor sends another rocket and presses her: "What about Pei Qingjian?"

Jiang Wangyue's eyes flick away for a moment. She answers vaguely, "I hardly saw her, so I can't really say."

Downstairs, Pei Qingjian hears her words from inside her car and stops sending gifts, her teeth nearly grinding to dust.

When Pei Qingjian corners her outside her apartment building yet again, Jiang Wangyue can only raise her hands in surrender. "Miss Pei, what exactly do you want?"

In response, the woman simply walks closer in the moonlight, her captivating dark eyes fixed on Jiang Wangyue.

Then she leans close to Jiang Wangyue's ear, her cool, clear voice brushing softly past it. "Miss Pei? Didn't you used to call me Big Sis?"

"When are you going to invite me up for a visit again?"

P.S.

1. A money-loving, independent streamer x a cool, devoted double Best Actress winner. Neither of them is perfect.

2. Mutual pining and a reunion after years apart. Variety show in the first half, filming in the second. One-on-one romance throughout, happy ending.

3. The leads lived together for a while because of their parents' blended family, but they were never registered in the same household and have no blood relation.

4. Unless otherwise specified, minor characters are female.

Blurb for "Reborn as Everyone's Least Favorite, Now They're All Begging for Forgiveness." If you're interested, please add it to your collection =3=

As the favored prodigy of the Taiqing Sect, Lu Mingyi has had a smooth and easy life.

Not only did she reach the Golden Core stage at a young age and become a personal disciple of Sword Peak, but within the sect she also had:

An elder martial sister, gentle as water, who always looked after her;

A lively, spirited younger martial sister who could chat with her all night;

A childhood friend from the neighboring Pill Peak, her equal in both age and cultivation;

And even her master, rumored to be icy and heartless, who patiently guided her and taught her everything she knew.

But one day, Lu Mingyi's cultivation inexplicably began to regress, and with it came the ability to hear other people's thoughts.

She discovered that her elder martial sister was only kind to her because she resembled a deceased younger cousin;

That although her childhood friend acted close to her, she was consumed with jealousy and believed Lu Mingyi had stolen the glory that should have been hers;

That her younger martial sister was a Saintess of the Demon Clan, intent on stealing the sect's treasured artifact to carry out the demon clan's grand plan, and Lu Mingyi was simply a tool she'd found for the job;

And that her master sincerely hoped Lu Mingyi would grow strong enough to be killed by her, so that her path of ruthless detachment could reach perfection.

As Lu Mingyi's cultivation regressed, the people around her grew more and more cruel, saying she was unworthy of being a personal disciple of the Taiqing Sect. In the end, she was even accused of a crime she hadn't committed.

In the Hall of Discipline, Lu Mingyi desperately tried to explain herself, but everyone simply watched as she was forced to endure her punishment.

Thrown into prison, Lu Mingyi was utterly wretched. It turned out all those happy memories had only ever been one-sided.

Heartbroken, she resolved to leave the Taiqing Sect as soon as her confinement ended and have nothing more to do with anyone from her past.

But then Lu Mingyi suddenly died.

When she opened her eyes again, the world had changed beyond recognition.

Given the chance to start over, Lu Mingyi decided to devote herself to cultivation and stay out of worldly affairs.

But along the way, she heard that her former "closest friends" had spent the years since in misery:

Her elder martial sister, now head of her clan, had gone white-haired overnight for reasons unknown. She stood every day outside Lu Mingyi's old residence in the Taiqing Sect, performing a ritual to summon her soul;

Her spoiled and headstrong childhood friend had changed completely, abandoning pill cultivation to become a sword cultivator. Carrying Lu Mingyi's old sword, Yunyou, she wandered the world, searching for even a fragment of her soul;

The Demon Clan Saintess had once stormed the Taiqing Sect and become the new Demon Lord, feared throughout the cultivation world. She had people searching everywhere for clues about Lu Mingyi;

And her master, now the sect leader of the Taiqing Sect, had fretted so much that her cultivation had plummeted, forcing her into seclusion to recuperate.

Lu Mingyi: "Huh? Are they putting on an act or what?"

Theme: Women should be independent and strong, and dare to pursue love