Mr. Wen dared not neglect the task assigned by the chairman, and immediately arranged for a capable female agent, Sister Wang, to contact Lin Siyan.
Choosing a female agent was also Ji Ya-wen's suggestion. When Ji Ya-wen heard Xu Zi-fan mention wanting to replace Lin Li with a female mentor, and considering Lin Li's enthusiastic appreciation of Lin Si-yan on the show, she felt her boss had some ulterior motive. Maybe she didn't like men getting too close to Lin Si-yan? Don't domineering CEOs often do that? It just felt so out of character for her boss, a bit jarring.
Sister Wang and Lin Siyan met at a coffee shop. Both were interested and the conversation went fairly well until Sister Wang produced the contract.
Lin Siyan was taken aback when she saw it was a D-level contract. She mentally asked the system, "Xu's Entertainment only has four levels of contracts: A, B, C, and D, right?"
[System: Yes, host.]
So, despite her outstanding performance, Xu's only offered her the lowest-level contract? She pretended to read through the contract carefully, then looked at her agent with some difficulty, "Sister Wang, could the profit sharing be higher? I grew up in an orphanage and have never been able to give back. I want to earn more money to donate back. Don't worry, I will work very hard and I will definitely not let the company suffer any losses."
Sister Wang also felt that she could be offered a C-level or even B-level contract, but since the higher-ups said to sign a D-level contract, there was absolutely no chance of getting it. However, Sister Wang didn't say that. She just smiled and said, "This is just a starting contract. I have confidence in you. With your abilities, you will definitely achieve success in the entertainment industry very quickly. Once you achieve success, you can naturally upgrade your contract, and your share of the profits will also increase. This is all the result of accumulating experience step by step. Of course, if Ms. Lin is not satisfied, she can go back and reconsider. I will also try my best to apply to the higher-ups."
Lin Siyan wasn't a real little girl. Having conquered three mission targets and traveled to three worlds, she had seen a lot. She could tell from Sister Wang's attitude that the contract negotiation was off. She was angry inside, but on the surface, she smiled, with a mixture of restraint and gratitude, "Thank you for your help, Sister Wang. I can accept whatever the outcome may be. I just hope to be more useful."
"Okay, then we'll contact each other again tomorrow." Sister Wang is a 36-year-old woman. She is intelligent and steady. Her attitude is very kind, which makes it easy for people to lower their guard. But in fact, she is very firm in her beliefs, just not so obvious about it.
Lin Siyan returned home still disheartened. She had thought she could negotiate for an A-level contract; with her abilities and Lin Li's recommendation, it wasn't impossible. However, the agent was only willing to give her a D-level. Now that they had already discussed it, she couldn't ask Lin Li to change the contract. After all, it was for donations, and doing so would make her seem greedy and vain, especially since she hadn't donated any money yet.
Thinking of this, Lin Siyan checked her card. She had recorded three episodes and two had aired, so the production team gave her three thousand yuan. Adding this to the money she had saved from her part-time job, she had a total of five thousand yuan. After signing with the company, she would have dormitory accommodation and wouldn't need to pay rent anymore. It would be perfect to use this money for charity and get on the trending topics, which would be most in line with her persona at this time.
Lin Siyan went to find the old lady from that day. The old lady's life was indeed very ordinary; she was a lonely elderly woman, otherwise she wouldn't have helped her act in the first place. Lin Siyan explained the pros and cons to her, stating that as long as she continued acting, she would donate money to her and support her in her old age. The old lady readily agreed, and Lin Siyan bought her a large amount of food and daily necessities, carrying bags and bags of them as she walked around the supermarket and the streets, not bothering to hide her face.
She's recently become very popular online, and people quickly recognized her. Some young girls even excitedly ran up to her for autographs. Lin Siyan looked surprised. "You...you know me?"
"Let's get to know each other, Lin Siyan. You sing so well! We've all watched your shows. You're sure to debut as the center."
Lin Siyan quickly put her things down and waved her hand, "No! Please don't say that. All of our contestants are great and very talented. I just happen to sing pretty well. But thank you for your support. I didn't expect anyone to recognize me. I didn't even dress up before coming out. I'm so embarrassed."
"Siyan, you don't need to dress up, you're naturally beautiful, you look good like this! Oh my god, you're even without makeup, you look so gorgeous!"
Lin Siyan appeared somewhat shy and reserved throughout, only leaving after taking photos and signing autographs with them. Seeing her struggling, they offered to help. It was during this assistance that they spotted the elderly woman and learned that Lin Siyan was there to help her. The elderly woman showered Lin Siyan with praise, even shedding tears, a heartwarming sight that made the group like the elderly woman even more.
Afterwards, they posted the photos and what they saw online. A few hours later, Lin Siyan helping the elderly woman became a trending topic, with reports pointing out that she donated 2,000 yuan and bought so many things, literally giving away all the money she earned from the show. This proves that what she said on the show was true; she wasn't trying to create hype, she genuinely has a kind heart and just wanted to help the elderly and children. Such a wonderful and kind goddess, what reason is there not to like her?
Lin Siyan's fan base surged once again. Although some haters firmly believed this was another publicity stunt, the fact that a few fans genuinely bumped into her became evidence that Lin Siyan wasn't engaging in hype, and the fans silenced the haters. Lin Siyan's high profile, even trending on social media when she wasn't filming, further solidified the production team's belief in her value, leading to a decision in a meeting to give her more screen time.
As for whether she'll ultimately get the center position, we'll have to wait and see. After all, she doesn't have any powerful backing, while the other contestants all have entertainment companies supporting them. If any company is secretly willing to invest more, then the program arrangements and editing could be carefully orchestrated to suppress Lin Siyan.
Elimination is not impossible. Especially since Lin Siyan is so popular, if she makes a mistake in any episode and suffers a major setback and is eliminated, it will definitely boost ratings and become the biggest highlight. So, for the sake of ratings, we still need to see how things go.
Lin Siyan scrolled through the trending topics online, her mood finally improving. She slept soundly, filled with anticipation for the contract. She figured she'd proven her money was for charity, and by trending herself and generating her own buzz, the company should seriously consider her benefits. Weren't they worried she'd go to another company for the money?
Xu Zifan wasn't afraid at all, since Lin Siyan hadn't found a chance to get close to him yet. Even if the contract level was low, she would still insist on choosing the Xu family.
Sure enough, the next day, Sister Wang apologetically told Lin Siyan that the contract level remained unchanged, and Lin Siyan reluctantly signed the contract. Other entertainment companies had contacted her in the past few days, but they weren't very enthusiastic, since she had repeatedly mentioned wanting to join Xu's on the show and hadn't mentioned any other companies. However, the contracts offered by other companies were negotiable, at least a level higher than Xu's, but she still had to give them up. Thinking about how she would definitely earn money in the future, while Xu's would take the lion's share, she angrily smashed a cup!
Just wait and see. Once she becomes the wife of the chairman of the Xu Group, she will definitely teach those who look down on her a lesson.
Xu's Entertainment officially announced that they have signed a contract with Lin Siyan and look forward to her future development, hoping for everyone's support.
As soon as the announcement was released, the topic of Lin Siyan successfully signing with Xu's Group immediately became a trending topic. All her fans were happy for her, while some conspiracy theorists suspected that she was originally a newcomer that Xu's Group wanted to promote. The claims that she hadn't signed a contract yet and had just achieved her goal were just gimmicks to attract attention.
Regardless of whether she's a fan or a hater, Lin Siyan's status as an artist under Xu's Entertainment Company has significantly increased her market value. After all, going it alone and having a powerful company behind you are two different things, and even the production team has given up on eliminating her.
On the same day, the official Weibo account of the show also announced that Zhang Ying would replace Lin Li as a mentor. Lin Li posted a Weibo saying that he was going to study at the academy he longed for and hoped to bring better music to everyone when he returned.
Upon hearing the news, Lin Siyan's fans expressed their regret. Lin Li admired Lin Siyan so much, and it was such a pity that he was leaving the show. They then flocked to Zhang Ying's Weibo to leave messages, pleading with her to protect their junior sister. These fans were incredibly active. They felt that Lin Siyan was a pure and kind girl who had unexpectedly become famous solely due to her talent, and since so many people online were criticizing her, they naturally wanted to protect her. Thus, everyone was very enthusiastic.
Upon seeing this message, Lin Siyan cursed Lin Li several times in her mind and asked the system: "How much favorability do I have with Lin Li?"
[System: Host, Lin Li's favorability towards you is 45, reaching the level of a highly admired friend.]
Lin Siyan snorted coldly. [What a waste of my "heart-touching" points! If I'd known he was leaving, why would I have wasted my points trying to win him over? He was completely useless, not helpful at all. Looks like my plan to get him to speak up for me in front of Xu Zifan is ruined again. He's gone and Zhang Ying is in his place, and I can't win her over. How am I supposed to find a chance to see Xu Zifan? This is so annoying! What's he doing taking a course at this time? He's crazy!]
[System: Host, perhaps you could become best friends with Zhang Ying. The Xu family will definitely have an annual meeting or some banquet. If Xu Zifan attends, and your status is high enough, you might have a chance to get close to him.]
"Let's talk about it later. That's too slow. I need to think of another way."
Lin Siyan was quite annoyed. She had spent a thousand points to buy the "Touching Hearts" skill, a one-time use item. She had used it on Lin Li, touching his heart and making this musical prodigy particularly admire her. This was part of her plan; she even intended to ask Lin Li to write songs for her in the future. But then Lin Li suddenly went abroad. Without seeing him, she couldn't win him over. Even if Lin Li's current affection for her was good, it would inevitably decrease after several years abroad.
She wasn't stingy and didn't mind buying things that would benefit her, but she minded wasting her points. To be honest, her previous attempts at clearing easy content only netted her a little over two million points. She'd spent 20,000 points on the Beauty Pill, 50,000 on the Lingering Melody Pill, and another 1,000 on the hotel video. All those odds and ends added up to a considerable amount, and the waste was truly painful. Thinking about how much more—a hundred million points—it would require to restore her true body made her even more distressed and extremely dissatisfied with Lin Li.
But her dissatisfaction didn't affect Lin Li. Lin Li was busy preparing to go abroad and hadn't seen her since. A 60-point favorability rating is needed to develop feelings of liking someone. Even if Lin Li's favorability rating was 45, Lin Siyan was just a singer he admired, not someone he would even think about.
Lin Siyan recorded another episode, and the mentor she saw was the popular singer Zhang Ying. Zhang Ying had been instructed beforehand to mentor her junior, so of course she would pay attention to Lin Siyan. She also admired good singers and was happy to offer Lin Siyan some guidance. However, after a few days together, she always felt something was between them, and she couldn't quite connect with Lin Siyan. So, her enthusiasm waned, and she simply treated Lin Siyan as a nice junior to be taken care of.
Xu Zifan didn't follow Lin Siyan's audition, but he would occasionally check the trending topics to see if Lin Siyan was involved with him or the Xu family again. Once, while he was looking at the trending topics, Ji Yawen came into the office to deliver documents. He hadn't done anything wrong, so he didn't try to hide it, and Ji Yawen saw him looking at Lin Siyan's trending topics.
The next time Lin Siyan trended on social media, Ji Yawen proactively included this in her report, mentioning it casually at the end, "Chairman, Lin Siyan, the newcomer from Xu's Entertainment, has once again secured her position as the top star. She's also learned to dance and tried singing energetic songs. Many people online are very optimistic about her. During her monologue on a program, she even thanked Xu's Entertainment, saying that the training the company arranged for her was very suitable for her."
This has been a great help to her, and it seems this newcomer has a promising future.
Xu Zifan glanced at her and nodded with an "Mm." He had originally wanted to tell her not to pay attention to Lin Siyan's affairs, but considering that he managed a multinational corporation and was extremely busy, it would be troublesome and time-consuming to take time out every day to check on Lin Siyan's situation. If his assistant handled this matter well, simply informing him of the summarized information, it would only take a few words, saving a great deal of time.
So Xu Zifan said, "Assistant Ji, from now on, please keep an eye on Lin Siyan's situation and report once a week. If there are any special circumstances, report separately. You will get a bonus for any extra work."
Ji Yawen immediately smiled and succinctly thanked him, "Thank you, Chairman."
However, she was inwardly cheering wildly. Fantastic! She'd made the right bet again! The boss's bonuses were incredibly generous; just reading entertainment gossip and reporting on it every day would earn her a lot more money. She was so lucky! Wait, Lin Siyan was the one who brought her good fortune. Should she repay Lin Siyan?
Ji Yawen glanced at Xu Zifan furtively, her mind filled with doubt. Was her boss really interested in Lin Siyan? Why was he silently observing her every day instead of confronting her directly? Unrequited love never ends well! Signing contracts and checking trending topics—it didn't seem like he wasn't interested. Her boss's thoughts were truly unfathomable; she wondered when he would finally ask a girl out to dinner.
Ji Yawen imagined the scene of the aloof boss holding hands with a girl, having dinner, shopping, and watching a movie, and suddenly felt a chill. So cold, so incongruous!
Xu Zifan turned to look at her, "Are you cold?"
Ji Yawen quickly shook her head and smiled, "Chairman, I'm not cold."
Xu Zifan glanced at her; she was wearing a black business suit, the skirt only reaching above her knees. They had just left the club and were waiting for their car, and it could indeed be cold at night. He thought for a moment; this assistant was excellent in every way, and he should show her some concern. So he took off his suit jacket and handed it to Ji Yawen, saying, "Put this on."
Ji Yawen took the clothes in surprise and quickly said, "Thank you, Chairman."
As for returning it? Of course not! The chairman's word is law; if he said she should put it on, she had to. The chairman had already taken his clothes off; if she went back, wouldn't that be slapping him in the face? Hmm, the clothes still carried the chairman's body heat; they were really warm. The problem was, she'd always been more sensitive to heat than cold. She'd only felt cold from the imagined scene, not from actual cold. How was she going to politely return the clothes later? Oh no!
Chen Feng drove up and was taken aback when he saw Ji Yawen wearing Xu Zifan's coat. He quickly opened the car door for Xu Zifan to get in. Once inside, Ji Yawen finally found an excuse to turn up the car's temperature and then put the coat in the back seat. "Thank you, Chairman, I'm not cold anymore."
"Hmm." Xu Zifan leaned back, closed his eyes, and began to think about the project he was about to bid on.
Ji Yawen gave herself a thumbs up for her quick thinking, sat up straight in the passenger seat, and looked at the night outside. She suddenly thought of the night Xu Zifan met Lin Siyan. That must have been the first time the boss draped his suit jacket over a woman, right? Was she the second? Ji Yawen blinked, then remembered that the suit Lin Siyan had worn seemed to have been hanging in the lounge ever since, and the boss had never worn it again. Was he cherishing it and reluctant to wear it, or was he disgusted that someone else had worn it?
She just wore the boss's suit; will she never see it again? Oh right, Lin Siyan also had the suit dry-cleaned, and she just returned it. But she only wore it for a few minutes; it doesn't need washing, right?
Sigh, being a good assistant is really hard. If only her boss weren't so aloof and inscrutable. But the salary is high, and the boss is a good person, so the position is still great. She feels she could work there for another ten thousand years, if her boss could live that long.
Ji Yawen was inwardly delighted, but outwardly maintained a smiling and elegant demeanor, escorting her boss home. Two days later, she saw her boss wearing that suit again, and thought to herself, "Sure enough, the suit Lin Siyan wore is treasured by the boss, isn't it? Otherwise, why would it be so special?" As one of only two women who had ever worn her boss's suit, she felt she had some right to speak on this matter.
The suit Lin Siyan returned was indeed hung on the far side by Xu Zifan, who didn't intend to touch it again. It wasn't for any other reason than that he simply disliked Lin Siyan and didn't want his body to come into contact with clothes that Lin Siyan had handled. He rarely disliked others, but a woman like Lin Siyan had truly crossed his line.
How incredibly fortunate is it for someone disfigured and left in a vegetative state to be able to bind themselves to a system and complete tasks to change their life? This is a rare opportunity. If used well, not only can they enrich themselves and experience more of life while completing tasks, but they can also gain precious family, friendship, and love—these are the most valuable memories, extremely beneficial to a person's growth. Only then can they achieve the greatest fulfillment when they finally accumulate enough points to return to their own body.
But the prerequisite is that the pursuer must give their true feelings; otherwise, why should they receive so many benefits? Lin Siyan doesn't treat the people of these worlds as human beings, only as NPCs who need to be conquered, completely disregarding their feelings. She approaches anyone who is beneficial to her, ignoring everyone else, her intentions are very clear. She uses every means to conquer her mission targets, but what have they done wrong to deserve this kind of conquest?
Her method of winning over the target was quite unique: she required reaching maximum affection, meaning she had the target fall deeply in love with her and regard her as the most important person in their life. Yet, she didn't reciprocate even a fraction of that precious affection. After completing the process, she simply left, abandoning the target and leaving them to spend the rest of their lives in painful remembrance—a truly unacceptable situation.
Therefore, Xu Zifan despised her, especially since she sought revenge on society after failing to complete her mission, showing absolutely no kindness. Such a person didn't deserve good fortune, and that system wasn't any better; plundering others' luck sounded like a wicked practice. He didn't know how to destroy the system; it was invisible and bound to Lin Siyan's soul. Most importantly, if Lin Siyan died, the system could simply find another owner to bind to, which was far too difficult to handle.
Xu Zifan felt that he might become a very famous person this time.