Chapter 20
Chapter 20
An extremely young and strikingly pretty woman entered, her face bare of makeup and her hair tied in a high ponytail. She was carrying something in her hands.
When she saw the person sitting blankly on the bed, she smiled and said, “Now that you’re awake, hurry up and wash. I bought you breakfast. Eat it while it’s hot.”
Her eyes were as black as ink, deeper and more mysterious than an ordinary person’s. Lu Yao instinctively started to obey her and get out of bed. Halfway through the motion, she abruptly came to her senses.
Wait, that wasn’t right!
“Who are you?” she asked warily. “I don’t know you. This is my room. How did you get in?”
Zhu Yin had been waiting ever since she knocked, curious to see how long it would take the protagonist to react.
After watching Lu Yao sit there in a daze and listen to everything she said, Zhu Yin sighed helplessly. She really was an innocent young girl.
Lu Yao was the protagonist of this world.
She had been born into a well-off family. Both her parents taught at universities, and she was their only child. She had won the genetic lottery: no one in five generations of the Lu family had been as beautiful as she was.
Her life had followed a smooth, ordinary path. Because of her exceptional looks and sweet, innocent nature, most of what she received from the people around her was kindness.
She was a little flower bud raised on love.
She should have continued to grow beneath the warmth of sunlight and affection, blooming into the finest version of herself.
Then, during her senior year of college, the older boy who used to live next door contacted her.
Zheng Yushu–the boy Lu Yao had jokingly said she would marry when she grew up, back when she was ten.
Zheng Yushu had moved to the capital several years earlier, and they had not seen each other in a long time. He had entered the entertainment industry and built an extremely successful career. By then, he was already a celebrated manager who had helped several stars reach the A-list, and he owned a stake in Landi Entertainment, the company he worked for.
After a chance encounter, Zheng Yushu added Lu Yao as a contact. He repeatedly praised her outstanding qualities and encouraged her to enter the entertainment industry.
What woman in her early twenties had never dreamed of becoming a glittering star? Who did not enjoy praise and adoration?
Lu Yao’s parents had their misgivings, but in the end, they chose to support their daughter’s decision. Besides, Zheng Yushu assured them again and again that he would watch over her and keep the industry’s ugliness from touching her.
The innocent little fawn plunged headfirst into a cesspool of corruption, never knowing that the “friend” beside her, who solemnly swore to protect her, was actually a monster luring its prey into a trap.
At pivotal moments in her life, Lu Yao encountered three men.
Had this been a different protagonist, those three would certainly have been benefactors who cleared the obstacles from her path, guided her growth, and helped her become better and better.
Unfortunately for Lu Yao, this was a world where stories that tormented their protagonists were popular. The three men she met were three complete and utter beasts.
The first was Zheng Yushu. He was the one who suggested that she enter the industry, and he naturally became her first manager.
The second was the director of Lu Yao’s debut project.
As for the third, he would come up later.
In any case, Lu Yao’s path could only be described as blood-soaked. She fell to rock bottom and endured the scorn of countless people. In the end, however, she straightened her back and claimed the highest crown an actress could attain, achieving both success and fame.
Ultimately, she was still the victor.
That was the script Barbara had shown Zhu Yin after they entered this world.
Barbara wondered if it was imagining things. In the previous world, its host had learned everything quickly and could remember anything new after seeing it once. Yet this time, she seemed to have spent… rather a long time reading that slender plot summary.
The feeling lasted only an instant. Soon, it heard its host say, “She’s impressive. So what is my task here?”
“Unlike the last mission, the heroine of this world harbors resentment,” Barbara said.
Zhu Yin recalled the plot she had just read and found that perfectly reasonable. “Who wouldn’t, after all that?”
“That is why we’ve arrived just as everything is beginning,” Barbara explained. “The heroine recently signed with Landi and is now filming her first production, which is also her first leading role.”
The second assistant assigned to her by the company had just quit.
Zhu Yin understood and smiled. “My job is to take her assistant’s place? More precisely, to help this young woman escape those vicious schemes. Is that right?”
“That’s right. Host, as in the previous world, I can arrange a suitable identity for you here. Perhaps someone who recently graduated–”
“No.” Zhu Yin smiled. “I have a better idea.”
And so, after the production crew ostracized Lu Yao and bullied her assistant into quitting, Lu Yao was leaning on her balcony when she saw a brilliant shooting star. She made a childish wish.
The shooting star answered her.
“I’m your new assistant.” Meeting the bewildered young woman’s eyes, Zhu Yin winked at her. “Do you remember the wish you made last night?”
The wish she had made last night?
Lu Yao looked blank again. She could not remember the words she had casually mumbled while drunk at all.
Zhu Yin was not surprised. “Look.”
She extended a slender finger and lightly tapped the air.
A dense, glittering purple mist, like a nebula, spread from her fingertip and gathered in midair to form a mysterious cloud.
An image appeared within it.
A woman with flushed cheeks was mumbling at a shooting star, “Shooting star, shooting star, please give me an assistant who can do anything…”
Lu Yao was stunned.
Lu Yao was confused.
Lu Yao rubbed her eyes.
She stared again. The nebula was still there, and so was the person.
Weren’t… weren’t people supposed to believe in science?
Zhu Yin did not let her keep staring into space. “Get up. Your breakfast will be cold soon.”
Lu Yao washed up as if sleepwalking, walked to the table, and obediently began putting food in her mouth. She nearly shoved her porridge spoon into her nostril.
But… She could not resist glancing back once, then again, and then a third time.
Zhu Yin watched her with a smile. “I’m real, and I won’t disappear. Hurry up and eat.”
A trace of conflict crossed Lu Yao’s face, but it soon turned into a foolish grin.
What young woman had never dreamed of living in a fairy tale?
She rapidly finished her meal. By then, she had thrown the company, the director, and the crew’s ostracism to the back of her mind. Her head was full of questions about Zhu Yin.
“Where did you come from?”
“From… the stars.”
“Then you’re not human?”
“Mm, not exactly.”
“If you suddenly appeared like this, what about your identity? Won’t the government come looking for you?”
“I’ve taken care of it. You don’t need to worry.”
“Are you an immortal, or something else? Can you fly? Can you use magic?”
“…”
Lu Yao peppered her with questions, and Zhu Yin answered every one with unfailing patience. Perched on her shoulder, Barbara thought, It seems Host really likes this protagonist.