Chapter 21 : Patron, Please Keep Me 1 (1/2)

The original owner of this body was called Jiang Wan. She lived in a second-tier[1] city. When she was ten, her parents passed away in an accident and she had to go live with her paternal uncle. Because her parents had died in an accident, there was quite a bit in insurance pay-outs. That money should have been enough for her to finish studying University. However, her uncle’s family didn’t treat her well. The money was taken by them and she was treated like a servant by the family. They didn’t even pay her University fees.

Jiang Wan worked as she studied in high school. However, in her third year of high school, her uncle planned on marrying her off to a man in his forties. Jiang Wan didn’t wish for her life to be ruined just like that so she ran away from home.

Afraid of her uncle’s family finding her, Jiang Wan steeled her heart and went to a first-tier city, Qing City. When she reached the city, she managed to enter the entertainment industry through a series of coincidences. At first, she was just playing the part of disposable mob characters but because she looked pretty good and had fairly good luck, she managed to snag characters such as maidservants which got more screen time.

Afterwards she managed to land a second supporting female lead[2] role. Because that character was likeable and the fact that it was a young adult TV drama, when it aired, Jiang Wan managed to earn herself some fame. This allowed her to sign a contract with a company in the entertainment industry, Dongfang Entertainment.

And it was also because of this that Jiang Wan met the reason why her life turned into a tragedy – Dongfang Entertainment’s President, Xi Mo.

He was this world’s male lead.

Jiang Wan was really just caught in the crossfire. She was merely a shield for the female lead.

The female lead was called Xia Man. Xia Man had known Xi Mo since they were kids. However, Xia Man went abroad after graduating from senior middle school. Xi Mo felt that Xia Man had betrayed the promise between them and so his personality changed from a warm man[3] into a domineering CEO whose moods were unpredictable. Yet at around the time Jiang Wan entered Dongfang Entertainment, Xia Man returned and entered the entertainment industry.

The first time the leads met since Xia Man came back, Jiang Wan just so happened to be passing by. She was grabbed by Xi Mo who told Xia Man she was his girlfriend. Xia Man left in anger and Xi Mo just left Jiang Wan there while he stalked off.

The next day, Xi Mo’s assistant came to her and arranged the best agent and support team for her. It appeared like Xi Mo was planning on bringing her to the peak of fame. Xi Mo’s request, was that in return, she would pretend to be his girlfriend whenever he required her to do so.

Jiang Wan was a penniless 18th ranked actress[4] with no backing, had a timid personality due to living under someone else’s roof for so long and was used to listening to others. Xi Mo was the big boss, so of course she didn’t dare to disobey him.

She carefully remained by Xi Mo’s side, not daring to have any extravagant wishes about liking Xi Mo.

Yes, you heard that right. In Jiang Wan’s heart, Xi Mo was like a god who she could never measure up to. So much so that her own likes were as lowly as dust. Liking Xi Mo was simply ludicrous luxury.

Under Xi Mo’s ‘protection’ her career in that period of time was the smoothest it had ever been. However, it was followed by exclusion, sneers and people making things difficult for her on purpose…

She had received a lot of torment wherever Xi Mo’s eyes couldn’t reach. Xi Mo’s motive was to let Jiang Wan attract the attention of the biggest female antagonist of this story. Which she succeeded in doing.

Under the cover Jiang Wan provided, Xi Mo and Xia Man got back together again. When people finally started to notice something, Xia Man was already famous.

While Xia Man became famous, Jiang Wan had to deal with nude pictures of herself, rumours about her doing drugs and participating in orgies circulating. All sorts of false accusations were planted on her head and her personal information was revealed online. Countless people were shouting at her to get out of the entertainment circle and scram from Earth.

Jiang Wan hid at home and didn’t dare to come out. However, she hadn’t expected her uncle’s family to show up on her doorstep and attempt to extort her for money.

Jiang Wan didn’t really have much in the way of savings. When she was being ‘protected’ by Xi Mo, although she looked very glamorous, the contract she signed with the company was the lowest level one where most of the money she earned was taken as commission. She also needed to spend her own money to attend all sorts of acting classes. All her make-up and outfits were also paid for with her own money. With all these, it was no surprise she wasn’t able to take out any spare money.

Jiang Wan didn’t give them any money so her uncle’s family began defaming her on the internet and saying that she did stuff which she hadn’t done. This forced Jiang Wan over the edge.

Perhaps the only time in her life that she had been decisive was at the time of her death. She collapsed in front of reporters and left behind this sentence, “The most malicious thing in the world is the human heart. It can send you to Heaven yet at the same time can also knock you into Hell in a single night.”

Jiang Wan only had three wishes. One was that her uncle’s family get their comeuppance. The second was that she wanted the villain responsible for her plight {antagonist in this novel} to experience all that she had. Lastly, she wanted to stand at the peak of the entertainment circle.

There wasn’t anything to do with this world’s protagonists in her last wishes.

When Shi Sheng processed all this information, her chest felt stuffy. It took a while for her to feel better.

‘This person… was a bit dumb.’ This was Shi Sheng’s first reaction. Following that, she felt that the author probably broke the character she was trying to write when she wrote Jiang Wan.

As a supporting female character, this person didn’t have any of the usual maluses that came with a usual one. She was just a bit lacking in self-confidence, had a group of terrible relatives while holding a dream in her heart. This setting was more like that of the female lead’s best friend. A proper storyline would go like this: The female lead helps her resolve her group of terrible relatives and helps her to change into a more confident person. They then lived happily ever after.

But for the sake of emphasizing how much the male lead loved and doted on the female lead, the author forcefully did this to the character, causing it to feel very jarring!