The Perfect Substitute

[This novel is currently being written in full before release www. Updates will begin once the manuscript is complete.]

[Current manuscript progress: 110,000/300,000 words]

Gu Yuanqing was a renowned top agent in the industry, with countless resources at his disposal, yet he had an utterly unremarkable face.

That night, the rehearsal room lights were stark white. Lin Wan, a minor actress, stumbled into his arms. Beneath her sweat-soaked shirt, her collarbone was like uncarved jade.

Love at first sight. Looking into her innocent, guileless eyes, he said, "Want to become famous? I'll teach you."

He taught her how to flirt with her eyes and draw the camera's attention from the top-tier star actor;

He taught her to fall into the genius lead singer's arms to "find inspiration";

He taught her how to get a financial conglomerate's heir to spend lavishly on her, all to build her public image.

He personally raised an unknown newcomer to the altar, using carefully designed fake-CP scripts.

But the fake CP was a lie. His jealousy was real.

He created those perfectly matched illusions and sent other men to her side, yet with his ordinary face, even his jealousy seemed like a clown's solo act.

The Twin-Body Experiment Agreement lay open before him.

A young, handsome "Qin Sheng" would be created, another version of himself, perfect as if sculpted by a god.

The original and the clone had to switch consciousness for 12 hours every day.

Whoever broke the agreement would be consumed by the other.

A handsome, stiff-moving pretty boy suddenly appeared on a talent competition show, but his fingers expertly brushed over Lin Wan's mentor microphone, making her ears turn red.

The older Gu Yuanqing watched from the darkness:

He watched "Qin Sheng" spend his days and nights with mentor Lin Wan as her student. He watched fans call him the "gorgeous brother-in-law," while she smiled and tacitly accepted it.

That body should have been his! He had traded his own soul for it!

The young Qin Sheng was also grinding his teeth in her dressing room:

When he discovered the old keepsakes she treasured, Gu Yuanqing's faded business card, his usual perfume, even the little notes he had once written her...

What right did a mediocrity like him have to her true feelings?!

One day, during a body swap, Qin Sheng found a note Gu Yuanqing had left on the table.

[Don't bother her when she's with me again. She doesn't like it.]

"Depends on my mood." Holding back his jealousy, he wrote a reply.

Don't act so magnanimous.

[Don't cross the line. A homewrecker should know his place. Disappear when it's time to disappear.]

Qin Sheng looked at "himself" lying nearby, with that ordinary, bloodless face.

He could no longer hide his murderous intent.

An ugly man should be the one to disappear from her side, shouldn't he?

Please read the content warnings, everyone (bows).

Because I don't want to spoil the story, the author can only promise the following:

1. The female lead is beloved by all. Beloved by all doesn't mean beloved by all men, so there may also be women who have feelings for her.

2. There are some mild horror and gore elements. One male love rival really does kill, so major characters (not the female lead) may die as a result of the rivalry.

3. All the men are virgins and romantically untouched. Every character with feelings for the female lead, even a passerby with only two lines, is pure in both body and heart. This is a beloved-by-all story; impure characters don't deserve to line up to pursue the female lead.

4. The story has a talent competition setting, but it's only a beloved-by-all story wearing a talent-show costume. The author hasn't watched any talent shows (not a single one, really). The author is an avid reader who doesn't follow TV dramas. The last time the author watched television was in elementary school, watching Empresses in the Palace with their grandparents. All the competition procedures came from research and asking friends.

So it's best not to compare the characters to real-life inspirations. I may never have heard of the person you have in mind. If you do compare them to a real-life inspiration, the author will just meekly go look them up to see how similar they are... (...)

The talent show format and procedures are entirely fictional. Please point out anything that doesn't make sense (bows) (bows).

Dear readers, please check out my upcoming novel, The Insect Mother, But a Woman, 3, This is what I'll write next!

Blurb:

After transmigrating to an interstellar world and ending up in a remote star system, she opened her eyes to see a group of winged Zerg kneeling in unison.

"The Insect Mother has been asleep for three hundred years! You are the new Insect Mother we've been searching for!"

Fufu had just crawled out of an eggshell and was still in shock. She couldn't help recalling all the novels she'd read. "Wait, you've got the wrong person! Shouldn't the Insect Mother be a man?"

The Zerg at the front wore a strange expression. "Mother, what are you talking about? How could the mother of the Zerg be a man?"

(The blurb isn't finished yet! I'll add more later. I'm posting it now to get some advance reservations.)

Content warnings:

1. Zerg, but mostly human or half-human forms. The author has entomophobia too, so there won't be detailed or overly bizarre descriptions.

2. Making dumplings to go with the vinegar. I wanted to see a male lead call the female lead "Mother," so this is a passionate creation based on my personal preferences. I'm not a female-empowerment writer; I'm a specialist in beloved-by-all stories. I mainly wrote this because I didn't want to read another story about an Insect Mother who was a man.

3. Zerg are pure, humans are pure, and men and women (including female side characters) are pure. Just understand it as all the Zerg remaining virgins while awaiting the Insect Mother's favor. Reproduction happens through parthenogenesis.

4. The Zerg are based on my own headcanon. The author has the final say on all interpretations.

5. It's a beloved-by-all story, so not only do the male Zerg love the female lead, the female Zerg love her even more.

6. Lots of extreme, dark, obsessive courtship, including but not limited to: male Zerg fighting over the female lead and seducing her to compete for a night with her, female Zerg hoping to win her affection and bear her children, killing romantic rivals, and hoping the female lead will eat them after their night together.

Theme: Nothing must be done for the sake of appearances.