Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Things had gotten tricky.

All I wanted was to do one more variety show before retiring from the industry. Who knew I’d run into my nemesis instead?

Bai Xiaocha debuted as my stand-in actress, and she looks seventy to eighty percent like me.

She strolled over like the center of attention, then deliberately slipped an arm around my shoulders.

“I shared the stage with you when I debuted, and now I get to share the stage with you again, sis. I’m so touched.”

…Touched my ass.

Back then, she cried in front of the media and implied that I bullied her, and people have been cursing me out for it ever since.

I tried to explain, but the netizens said I was being fake and refusing to admit it.

It’s true that I don’t have great audience appeal, and the reason is that I look a little too “pale, skinny, and young.”

These days everyone’s all about awakened awareness, and that pale-skinny-young beauty standard has fallen completely out of favor.

Fine, I’ll accept pale and skinny. What female celebrity isn’t pale and skinny?

But what does “young” have to do with me??

I was born with a baby face. My parents gave it to me. How is that my fault?

Even though Bai Xiaocha looks like me, she just happens to be missing that slight youthful air.

Her fans say she looks more high-end than I do.

So what, that makes me low-end?

Bai Xiaocha’s team has a sharp nose for this kind of thing. From then on, they started marketing her so-called sophisticated vibe, and they kept using me as a stepping stone while they were at it.

The campaign worked brilliantly. She posted on Weibo saying she only wanted to be herself, and the entire internet praised her as an independent woman.

Meanwhile, all I did was post a photo of myself in a little white dress with a bow, and people cursed me out for trying too hard to act cute and pander to male viewers.

I felt incredibly wronged.

After stepping on me to climb up, Bai Xiaocha hit the second spring of her career with her mystic persona.

Other people livestreamed to sell products. She livestreamed fortune-telling, looking all adorably blank in front of the camera.

Her fans praised her to the skies, calling her a breath of fresh air in the entertainment industry.

Anyway, over the past few years, Bai Xiaocha has been at the height of her fame, while I’m barely hanging on.

My own fault. I should’ve checked the guest list before coming on this show.

I glanced at my phone.

The entire internet was flooded with puff pieces about Bai Xiaocha outshining me.

The comments were even uglier.

“Thanks, Qian Jiaojiao, for making our Chacha’s face look even more high-end.”

“Can’t wait for our little psychic Chacha to carry the other guests (except Qian Jiaojiao).”

“Qian Jiaojiao bit her lip just now. Acting cute again. Ugh.”

Filming began.

This was a horror reality show.

As the name suggested, the NPCs were all played by real people. The emphasis was on the “show.”

The lights suddenly went out, and the set turned eerie. It really did create a decent horror atmosphere.

Bai Xiaocha acted calm and wise, and most of the guests clustered around her.

Then something unexpected happened.

The door behind us suddenly slammed shut, and strange sounds began echoing through the darkness.

The camera crew and staff hadn’t followed us inside.

The door wouldn’t open no matter what, our phones lost signal, and we had no way to contact the outside.

All the guests started panicking.

“Fuck! What the hell is this?! Stupid-ass production team! This is so damn unlucky!”

Bai Xiaocha couldn’t get in touch with her bodyguards, so she started cursing up a storm, leaving everyone stunned.

That didn’t match her cute, innocent, straightforward persona at all.

Obviously, Bai Xiaocha thought filming had already stopped.

I kindly reminded her, “There might be cameras around here.”

“Bullshit.” Bai Xiaocha looked at me with disgust. “The unluckiest thing here is you, Qian Jiaojiao. If I’m on a show, you have to be on it too? Trying to ride my coattails and steal my heat, huh?”

I didn’t get angry. I just casually pointed a finger behind her. “You should worry about yourself first.”

Behind her, a ghost had appeared.