Playing the Substitute in an Old-School Novel

Xu Xi, an actress hated by the entire internet, transmigrates into the character of the same name she played in a TV adaptation of a novel.

In the book, the heroine is like a goddess in her village, adored and pursued by countless men. Among them is Shen Sui, a domineering CEO worth hundreds of billions, but for some reason, they're destined never to be together.

The supporting female character is an idiot who can't even get into a junior college, and she's poor to boot! Luckily, she looks about fifty percent like the heroine, so the male lead takes her in as his kept woman, saving her from starving on the streets.

What starts out as a purely financial arrangement turns into wishful thinking as the supporting character falls for the male lead and tries to get even a little genuine affection from him. In the end, he cruelly mocks her: "You're just a knockoff. You can't even figure out where you belong."

After transmigrating into the story, Xu Xi finds that being a kept woman isn't so bad. She has a spacious apartment, a housekeeper to wait on her, and can even ask him to hire a tutor so she can repeat a year and continue her education. Best of all, the role is right up her alley!

She'd be a fool not to take this incredible windfall.

Four years later, the heroine, his one true love, returns. Xu Xi takes her forty million in compensation and leaves with a carefree swagger. She throws herself into the entertainment industry, determined to build a good reputation and protect her image this time. At last, she's on the path to becoming the dazzling star she's always dreamed of.

But then Shen Sui comes back and won't leave her alone. Xu Xi is on high alert. This man must hate seeing her do well!

No matter how much Shen Sui pursues her, Xu Xi keeps him at arm's length.

Shen Sui is driven nearly mad by her coldness and demands to know why she's treating him this way. Xu Xi frowns, shoves him away, and turns to leave, tossing over her shoulder, "This was just a financial arrangement. Please remember your place, Mr. Shen."

*

Shen Sui found himself a stand-in. She was beautiful, but not very convincing. She was uneducated and had an accent.

When they were together, she always liked to call him "A Sui," but she pronounced it with a strange second tone.

Later, he met that man. His surname was Huo, and his given name was Sui.

Xu Xi gazed up at him, her eyes bright, and called him "A Sui." The two syllables lingered and danced between her lips and teeth.

That's when Shen Sui finally understood. She didn't have an accent. She'd simply been saying a different name.

Theme: Embrace love and freedom.