[After the night on the cruise ship, you successfully signed with "Starlight Entertainment" and became an artist under their banner. For some reason, the order to "halt filming and cooperate with the investigation" for Ode to Great Yan was rescinded. The crew celebrated joyfully, and you returned to the set to complete filming smoothly.]
[Not long after, news suddenly broke that Feng Sheng, the chairman of "Starlight Entertainment," had been criminally detained on multiple charges including embezzlement of public funds. Everyone was shocked and gossiping endlessly, but you, who knew the full story behind it all, merely smiled without a word, hiding your merit and fame.]
[Three months later, Ode to Great Yan successfully aired on television. The production was exquisite, and combined with your stunning beauty, viewers couldn't bear to change the channel the moment you appeared. The drama achieved a ratings miracle—average viewership broke 10%, peak ratings soared to 15%, and market share exceeded 80%.]
[The TV station director was moved to tears by the ratings and wrote you a thank-you letter overnight.]
[You have achieved a new accomplishment: "Nationwide Binge-Watching," Reputation +100.]
[You have unlocked a new title: "Ratings Queen," Reputation +100.]
[Your meteoric rise sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry. Countless young stars felt threatened, and their fans, along with paid trolls and marketing accounts, tried to besiege and suppress you. But true stardom cannot be suppressed—before the vast army of beauty-loving viewers, all smear tactics were futile.]
[Your fan count skyrocketed daily. Within just one week, your followers across all platforms exceeded fifty million (dehydrated data). Your beauty repeatedly topped "World Trends #1," and Western media hailed you as "The Flower of the World" and "Goddess of Beauty Descended." Countless Westerners even flew overnight to the Eastern Continent, camping outside your company building just to catch a glimpse of their beloved Venus.]
[You have triggered a new CG "Instant Apotheosis," viewable in your gallery.]
The new CG was utterly hilarious—Xia Cheng sat on the throne of the "Ratings Queen" wearing a crown, her expression haughty and contemptuous of all beneath her. Below her knelt a group of chibi figures representing advertisers, the TV station director, Eastern Continent fans, Western Continent fans, and beauty-loving viewers. All the chibis knelt on one knee with hearts in their eyes, raising their arms and shouting, "You! Are my god!"
Player: AHHHHHHH! Bold simulator! Who gave you permission to use this meme! Don't you know there's only one god in the entertainment industry! What if fans come after you!
While her beauty brought her fame and fortune, it naturally also attracted flies coveting her. However, perhaps because Duan Mingxuan had given prior notice, this time there were no clueless fools like Feng Sheng coming to bother her.
After Ode to Great Yan aired, the player was officially debuted, and other modules in the simulator were unlocked as well.
The player now had multiple schedule options besides [Filming TV Dramas], including [Filming Movies], [Variety Shows], [Brand Endorsements], [Magazine Shoots], [Offline Events], [Feeding Fans (?)], [Sleeping with Sugar Daddies (??)], and [Career Collapse (???)].
The simulator also unlocked various common entertainment industry tactics. She could boost her popularity and attract die-hard fans through [Shipping CPs for Fan Purification], [Catering to Fans], and [Milking Fan Sympathy]. She could also use [Deploying Paid Trolls], [Leaking Dirt to Marketing Accounts], and [Steering Public Opinion] to snatch projects and smear rivals. Additionally, she could harvest her fans through [Reaping the Leeks (?)] to replenish her own resources.
The player looked at the options on her schedule and felt a bit troubled.
Her main quest for this playthrough was "Becoming a Legendary Film Empress." With the [Premature Death] buff weighing on her, time was limited—she didn't know when she would die, so she needed to complete this task as quickly as possible.
The best approach was to film movies—shoot more films and win more awards. That meant the time-consuming [Variety Shows] and [TV Dramas] naturally weren't her first choice.
But her resources in the film industry weren't great either. As everyone knew, the film circle was an extremely cliquish community, so closed-off that outsiders had to bleed to break in.
Thanks to her beauty and popularity, quite a few film projects had recently sent her scripts, some even from big-name directors with major productions.
But the roles they offered were mostly decorative parts that required no acting and had minimal screen time—clearly intending to use her as a pretty vase in their movies. Their arrogance was written all over their faces.
Damn it! How could the player play second fiddle to you NPCs! Don't you know the entire simulator revolves around the player!
Just wait—I'm going to find the UR right now and make him shower me with gold!
Xia Cheng immediately added [Sleeping with Sugar Daddies] to her schedule.
After "Ode to Great Yan" aired, you became famous overnight and skyrocketed to stardom. Many major film productions extended olive branches to you. However, after carefully reading the scripts, you realized that the roles they offered you were all just decorative eye candy. Furious, you went to Duan Mingxuan's residence late at night. Please choose your opening line—
"A. Thirty years east, thirty years west—never bully a youth for being poor!"
"B. Sobbing They're all bullying me like this, darling, won't you say something?"
"C. Retreat to advance—confess your feelings passionately, making it clear you're not here to farm him for gold coins, you're simply here to sleep with him."
Duan Mingxuan owned countless luxury estates and mansions, but he was usually too busy to take vacations at scenic villas, typically staying at his riverside penthouse in the heart of A City.
This was the most expensive area in A City—truly prime real estate where every inch was worth its weight in gold. Countless people could go their entire lives without earning enough to buy even a single bedroom here.
But price was just a number to some people, because the entire luxury complex was built and funded by the conglomerate under the Duan family. From the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor, one could gaze down upon the glittering river views and the bustling financial center, with lights blazing like daylight and traffic weaving through like flowing rivers of stars.
Anyone visiting for the first time would probably find it hard to breathe—not because of the floor height, the prime location, or the lavish decor, but because the power and wealth that this very address represented was enough to make anyone lose their composure and be utterly dazzled.
But at this moment, no one inside the mansion was in the mood to enjoy the view.
Xia Cheng began lodging her complaint: "Mr. Duan, did you watch my TV drama? I performed so well, my results were so outstanding—I'm clearly destined to be a Best Actress! But those people in the entertainment industry have no eyes at all—they're all bullying me!"
Duan Mingxuan's face showed no expression; he merely raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How are they bullying you?"
Xia Cheng sobbed: "The roles they give me are all just pretty faces—isn't that bullying? With my beauty and my acting skills, am I destined to be a supporting character? I'm someone who's going to be a Best Actress! Are you just going to let them bully me like this? Say something, darling—ah no, boss."
Duan Mingxuan: "…"
He let out a very calm sigh. "If you're going to lodge a complaint, could you at least get off me first?"
He said this because he was currently seated in his office chair, and she was wrapping her arms around his neck, sitting on his lap, clinging to him like a koala while sobbing. The atmosphere was extremely intimate, the posture extremely indecent—it felt like an R-rated scene was about to begin at any second.
[Your overly intimate actions stirred a flicker of hesitation in his heart. Duan Mingxuan's affection +5.]
Hmph, he says no, but he didn't actually push me away. What a hypocrite.
Xia Cheng inwardly sneered at him while putting on an innocent, pure expression, gazing at him with wide eyes: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this position? That day when Mr. Duan saved me, I never got to express my gratitude properly. Today I came specially to seduce you—sorry, I misspoke—I came specially to thank you."
With that, she nuzzled against his collarbone.
She was leaning against his chest, so close that if he lowered his head just a little, he could kiss those luscious, tempting lips.
She really was like a little cat.
Duan Mingxuan thought.
He had never met a girl like her—her thoughts were wild and unrestrained, she always said surprising things, and her style of conduct could only be described as brazen and willful, caring not at all about others' opinions. She was clearly very goal-oriented, yet her personality was so naive it was almost absurd—as if aside from "becoming a Best Actress," she had nothing else in the world she cared about.
He had investigated her background. A girl from an ordinary family, whose parents loved her but didn't spoil her—how did she end up with such an innocent, worldly-ignorant personality?
Duan Mingxuan was cold-hearted and unfeeling, never swayed by beauty. But with her clinging to his chest like this, whining and complaining to him while badmouthing others, he actually found… it hard to push her away.
Not only could he not push her away, he even found her adorable.
The kind of adorable that softened one's heart.
His fondness for this cuteness was like admiring a cute little cat from afar. He certainly wouldn't want to forcibly kidnap the cat, but if the cat willingly jumped into his arms, he wouldn't refuse either.
He knew she had ulterior motives toward him, and he was willing to give her what she wanted—provided she had thought it through and wouldn't regret it.
Transactions had always been like this.
Xia Cheng couldn't care less about what was going through his mind. Her goal today was clear: she was here to sleep with him. Having finally seized this opportunity, she had to secure this UR that could drop gold coins.
Such a handsome model—what a waste if she could only look but not taste!
Her hand rested on the collar of his black shirt as she began focusing on undoing his buttons. Such a sexy Adam's apple—let me lick it. Such delicate collarbones—let me lick those too…
Just as she reached the second button, a slender, powerful hand suddenly seized her wrist, halting her further movements.
Night fell, and light and shadow drifted through the room like rippling water. Ambiguity seemed to quietly brew in the darkness, yet something forcibly suppressed it.
She looked up and could only see the sharp corners of his eyes swept by long, delicate lashes. His handsome, strikingly refined face still carried an air of lofty elegance and coldness—the epitome of a privileged young master.
His long fingers clamped around her wrist as his clear, piercing eyes fixed on her. He spoke abruptly, "Once you make a decision, there's no turning back. You'd better think it through."
Xia Cheng felt both baffled and irritated. Why did this UR have so much nonsense to say? It was just a night together—what was he being so dramatic about?
She wanted to just push him down and take what she wanted, but judging by their respective combat abilities, she probably couldn't overpower him. Should she risk it?
Forget it—she'd take the roundabout approach for now. Since she hadn't gotten him into bed yet, she decided to coax him first.
She pulled her wrist free from his grip, leaned down to press a kiss to his lips, and said in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Nothing else matters. What matters is that I genuinely like you. Isn't that clear enough?"
…Though the people she'd liked numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands.
"I've thought it all through. Don't push me away."
[The "Natural-born Actor" buff has been triggered. Your insincere confession moved Duan Mingxuan. Your acting was flawless, and through your persistent efforts, you finally succeeded in sleeping with Duan Mingxuan, becoming a true "canary." Duan Mingxuan's affection +20.]
[Duan Mingxuan gifted you "Unlimited Credit Card" X1. Your "assets" have increased.]
[Duan Mingxuan gifted you "Luxury Sports Car" X5. Your "assets" have increased.]
[Duan Mingxuan gifted you "Luxury Villa" X2. Your "assets" have increased.]
[Duan Mingxuan gifted you a "Riverside Penthouse in Downtown City A." Your "assets" have increased.]
…
A barrage of gift notifications flooded the screen, leaving the player dizzy. So this was what it felt like to latch onto a sugar daddy? So blissful! Being a kept woman was amazing—next life, she'd do it all over again!
[Your strategic retreat and silver tongue have successfully doubled your resources. You have unlocked the new title "Evil Canary." Your "scheming" attribute has increased by 10 points.]