Song Qichen…
If one were to ask Jiang Mian which character from the original plot left the deepest impression on her, it would without question be Song Qichen.
First of all, this man was rich, extremely, exceptionally, and extraordinarily rich, even richer than the male lead Xu Xingming had been before his family went bankrupt.
Second, he was handsome. In the story, the original host had sighed more than once that even Xu Xingming, whom she had liked for many years, could not compare to Song Qichen’s looks. He did not need to do anything special. Just standing there, he was the center of attention in any crowd. At a single glance, he was as bright and pure as the clear moon, making others feel utterly inferior by comparison.
Lastly, there was his accidental first encounter with Jiang Mian.
After Lin Qian’s birthday, no one knew what kind of madness had seized Zhai Feiyang. He had actually taken the initiative to ask Jiang Mian out, saying that he had something about Lin Qian he wanted to discuss with her.
Thinking that he wanted to talk about bringing Lin Qian into the private room next door, Jiang Mian gathered her courage and went.
Instead, she was unexpectedly drugged by him and, in a dazed state, taken to the Jiahua Hotel.
But after entering the room, Jiang Mian suddenly woke up. Taking advantage of the moment when Zhai Feiyang stepped aside to answer a phone call, she escaped and, by sheer accident, wandered into the room of a drunken Song Qichen…
The two of them stayed in the same room for the entire night.
The kind of staying together that was quite innocent.
You might ask how it could possibly still be innocent after that.
Because according to scientific research, if a man is truly drunk, he really cannot do anything improper.
On top of that, Jiang Mian was the female lead, while Song Qichen was not the male lead, an extremely powerful reason.
Throughout the entire night, nothing happened between the two of them.
But the next morning, the moment she woke up and saw the man beside her, Jiang Mian completely broke down and cried nonstop until her eyes were swollen.
She had already cried so miserably.
Yet this weirdo Song Qichen still demanded compensation for his losses.
What losses?
In his view, it was not only girls who had their purity. He had it too. In all his years, he had never slept in the same bed with a girl before. This was his first time, yet it had gone completely against his wishes. Moreover, the fault was not his, because it was his room, and the entire incident happened solely because Jiang Mian herself had entered the wrong room.
In summary, she should compensate him for his losses.
Jiang Mian… Jiang Mian was stunned.
She had no money, sob sob sob.
If she had no money, then she would have to repay him with herself.
How would she do that?
Song Qichen drafted a contract on the spot. As compensation, whenever he needed Jiang Mian to accompany him to attend certain events, she was not allowed to refuse.
After all, as a CEO, he usually had to attend all kinds of banquets, auctions, and events. Almost every gathering required bringing a female companion. Because of this, he had already spent far too much money, especially when asking female subordinates to help. Not only did he have to pay them extra compensation, he also had to give them time off.
Jiang Mian was different. With just a few casual questions, he had already found out that she was a third-year student at Yanjing Film Academy.
Female, able to act, free of charge.
She was practically a companion tailor-made just for him.
In a daze, Jiang Mian signed this unequal contract with him.
After signing the contract, aside from accompanying Song Qichen to a few gatherings, the two of them remained completely uneventful for an entire year.
Until the male lead Xu Xingming’s family went bankrupt.
For Xu Xingming’s sake, Jiang Mian took the initiative to go and beg her sponsor, Song Qichen, offering the condition that she would definitely make him a lot of money in exchange for him helping her debut.
For a long period afterward, seventy percent of the money Jiang Mian earned went to Song Qichen, while the remaining thirty percent was all used to support the down-and-out Xu Xingming so he could rise again, until Song Qichen, this money-making machine and background prop, died unexpectedly in a car accident.
Song “tool man” Qichen died, but the ambiguous contract he had signed with Jiang Mian became a massive angst point between the male and female leads.
After making a comeback, Xu Xingming completely forgot who his resurgence depended on. Because of the contract, he began to torment the female lead Jiang Mian like crazy. For this, he even took back his former girlfriend Lin Qian, who had once abandoned him.
Then he went crazy for Lin Qian, went wild for Lin Qian, and banged his head against the wall for Lin Qian, all just to make Jiang Mian suffer…
Damn it, how did she remember all this messed-up, dogshit plot so clearly?
Lying on the bed, Jiang Mian felt somewhat speechless.
Sleep, sleep!
*
Because they had morning classes the next day, Chen Yufei and the others got out of bed very early, moving on tiptoe.
Unlike before, when getting up meant clattering and banging everywhere, the five people in the dormitory this morning did not even dare to breathe too loudly, afraid of waking Jiang Mian, who was still asleep.
It was not until they had finished washing up and were about to head out that they seemed to remember something. Tentatively, they spoke up in low voices.
“Jiang Mian… are you still sleeping? We get out of class at nine thirty-five. Do you want us to bring breakfast back for you?”
“There’s a soybean pudding place at the east gate that’s pretty good.”
“Yeah, their egg-filled pancakes taste quite nice too. Do you want…”
“If you say one more word, none of you are going out today.”
Jiang Mian’s icy voice suddenly rang out.
This made the five people at the door, who had been enthusiastically recommending breakfast, freeze with ingratiating smiles on their faces. Then they fled the scene at top speed, as if taking even one step slower would result in something terrible happening.
The dormitory fell silent once more. Jiang Mian, who had severe morning grumpiness yet had never slept enough in the apocalypse, simply turned over and fell back asleep again.
When Jiang Mian had finally slept her fill and woke up again, staring at the light blue mosquito net above her head, she genuinely felt a moment of disorientation, as if she no longer knew what year it was.
How long had she slept?
So hungry…
Jiang Mian got out of bed and picked up the phone she had left on the desk, only to realize in shock that it was already 5:33 in the afternoon.
No wonder she was this hungry!
What was it that those people in the dorm had mentioned before going out, something tasty? She could not remember.
While brushing her teeth, Jiang Mian casually asked on WeChat.
【Jiang Mian, are you awake? We were talking about a place at the east gate that sells egg-filled pancakes and soybean pudding. We’re at the east gate right now. Do you want to come over? If you’re coming, we’ll line up and buy everything for you first, so you can eat as soon as you arrive.】
【Okay.】
After replying with a single word, Jiang Mian tidied up casually and headed out.
When her hand closed around the doorknob, she suddenly paused.
She had the vague feeling that she had forgotten something.
What was it?
Right…
They had agreed that today she was going to put a sack over that bastard Zhai Feiyang!
Jiang Mian’s eyes lit up, and she immediately pulled the door open.
At this moment, Song Qichen, leaning against his electric scooter at the east gate of Yanjing Film Academy, handling documents on his phone while waiting for someone, had no idea that he had already become a sight at the school.
Someone had even started a thread on Yanjing Film Academy’s campus forum.
《Hey, handsome guy leaning on an electric scooter at the east gate, you’re totally my ideal type ahhhhhh!》
The post’s opening image was a photo of Song Qichen dressed very casually, leaning against the electric scooter with his head lowered as he played with his phone. Sunlight from one side fell across his refined profile. Relying on this single photo, the thread instantly blew up.
……
333L: Ahhhhhh, this is my ideal type too! Oh my god, when did our Yanjing Film Academy get such a handsome guy? How did I not know?
334L: Everyone says Xu Xingming is the campus heartthrob, but why do I feel this guy is way more handsome? I’m done for!
335L: I wonder if this handsome guy has a girlfriend. Casting spells online. He definitely doesn’t!
……
After once again turning down a group of female students who had come up to ask for his WeChat, Song Qichen, who had been waiting a full twenty minutes, could not understand it anymore. They had clearly agreed on the time. Why was that female student surnamed Jiang still late? Did she have no sense of time at all?
Five hundred yuan. Deduct one hundred.
Taking out his small notebook, Song Qichen seriously recorded a mark.
If she was any later, he would deduct more.
Just as the man was thinking this, a familiar face entered his field of vision.
At this moment, Jiang Mian, who had searched the supermarket for ages without finding a burlap sack and had only managed to find a red, white, and blue plastic bag instead, weighed it in her hand and felt that it should be sufficient.
Walking along the concrete road leading out of the east gate, Jiang Mian suddenly sensed an unmistakable gaze landing on her.
She looked up and collided straight into a pair of pitch-black, unfathomable eyes.
How should she describe this person’s gaze?
Mm, it was very much like the looks of those old scheming bastards obsessed with power struggles that Jiang Mian had hated the most back at the No. 1 Base, as if they could calculate you down to nothing at any moment!
Just looking at him made her want to… punch him!
Jiang Mian narrowed her eyes.
For no apparent reason, Song Qichen suddenly felt a chill run down his back, which caused him to miss the chance to greet Jiang Mian at the very first moment.
“Jiang Mian, over here!”
She watched with her own eyes as Jiang Mian walked quickly past him, then went over to a female student holding food.
“Jiang Mian, everything’s here. And this lollipop too… too, it’s for you. I… I can leave now, right? I made plans with my boyfriend to watch a movie together. I… can I go?”
One of the five girls from the dormitory, a girl named Zhang Rongrong, spoke hesitantly.
“Mm, go ahead.”
While eating, Jiang Mian waved her hand indifferently.
As soon as the other girl left, the egg-filled pancake and soybean pudding in Jiang Mian’s hands were finished.
Wasn’t that too little food? It felt like she had eaten nothing at all. She was still so hungry it made her uneasy. Should she buy something else to eat? But she only had 1,400 yuan on her right now. Shouldn’t she think of some way to make money? Otherwise, wouldn’t she just be burning through her savings? And she ate quite a lot at every meal…
Just as Jiang Mian was pondering matters of livelihood, a shadow suddenly fell beside her.
She turned her head. Who else could it be but that guy from earlier who looked extremely punchable?
Jiang Mian raised an eyebrow.
No sooner had she thought of this than she saw the man step straight in front of her, as if confirming something. “Jiang Mian.”
After calling her name, without waiting for Jiang Mian to respond, he frowned slightly. “Why did you come out so late?”
Jiang Mian: “?”
“The tea tasting at Banshan Club is about to start…”
Jiang Mian: “!”
Wait. She finally remembered what she had forgotten earlier. She had agreed to go with Song Qichen to some kind of tea gathering!
“Song Qichen?”
Jiang Mian voiced her doubt.
There was no helping it. After the original host had woken up in the hotel room, she had started crying right away. She cried until her eyes were swollen and never dared to lift her head. From beginning to end, she had never clearly seen what Song Qichen looked like. So even though she had the other party’s memories, Jiang Mian still did not know what this man actually looked like!
“So you’re the damn sponsor of mine?”
Jiang Mian exclaimed in delighted surprise.
The one who spends money on her had arrived!
Song Qichen: “……” Something seemed… off?
“Oh right, do you have money on you? I’m hungry and want to eat something…”
Jiang Mian pointed happily at a snack stall to the side.
Song Qichen: “!”
“If you didn’t bring cash, mobile payment works too. All these snack stalls support WeChat or Alipay now!”
Song Qichen: “!!!”
Taking a sharp breath and instinctively tightening his grip on his phone, Song Qichen smiled. “Sorry, Miss Jiang. Eating is something you should handle yourself. The relationship between you and me is not what you’re imagining. I won’t pay for you…”
Zhai Feiyang!
Before he could finish the rest of his sentence, Song Qichen saw Jiang Mian’s gaze suddenly lock onto a certain direction, and without turning her head back, she chased straight after it.
“Jiang…”
Thinking of his free tea gathering and the ten-thousand-yuan gift, Song Qichen hesitated for half a second, then chased after her as well.
“Miss Jiang Mian, what I just said, did you hear it or not? Even if I were to treat you to food, it would still have to be deducted from the five hundred yuan I’m paying you. And you made me wait a full twenty whole minutes earlier. My time is extremely valuable, so…” that also needed to be deducted.
Chasing Jiang Mian into a secluded alley, Song Qichen had not yet finished speaking when he saw the woman who had entered ahead of him lift the red, white, and blue plastic bag in her hand with a ferocious grin. She aimed it at the red-haired boy in front of her, whose face was filled with terror, and precisely pulled it down over his head, then kicked him hard in the waist.
“Ah!” A miserable scream rang out.
“You piece of shit, caught you now, didn’t I! Run, go on, keep running! Dumb fuck, drugging people, huh? Pulling public confession stunts on me, huh? Calling people sluts every other word, huh? Let’s see if I don’t cripple you, you moron…”
As she cursed, Jiang Mian kept kicking the boy who had fallen to the ground, one kick after another.
From the moment the girl’s first kick landed on his waist, his screams never stopped.
Song Qichen: “……”
After who knew how many kicks, Jiang Mian finally straightened up with a refreshed look on her face. She pulled out the strawberry lollipop Zhang Rongrong had left her earlier from her pocket, tore off the wrapper, stuffed it into her mouth, then leaned back against the wall behind her. With the white stick between her teeth, she turned her head, raised an eyebrow, and looked toward the man standing at the entrance of the alley.
“Oh right, Song Qichen, what was it you were just about to say to me? I was busy catching this thing and didn’t hear it clearly at all!”
Smiling, Jiang Mian nudged Zhai Feiyang at her feet with the tip of her shoe.
At this moment, Song Qichen glanced at the girl, whose demeanor was completely different from his first impression of her, then flicked his eyes toward the boy on the ground who was still groaning nonstop.
Song Qichen: “……”
“………………”
“Mm, it’s nothing really. I just… wanted to invite you to eat something.”