The cannon fodder in the substitute story tries to rewrite their life, part 4. Please add to your favorites...
Shen Shuyue turned and left, wandering aimlessly through the streets as if she had lost her soul.
The memories of her and Gu Yan together filled her mind, those sweet moments that once made her feel incredibly happy.
Now it felt like a knife, stabbing her heart so hard she could barely breathe.
She didn't know how long she had walked. When she came to her senses, she found herself standing downstairs at Chen Xia's rented apartment.
Her heels were already blistered and bleeding from the high heels, and she limped to the stairs outside her house and plopped down on them.
She sat blankly on the stairs, waiting until it gradually got dark. Instead, a strange young man wearing black-rimmed glasses opened the door.
Shen Shuyue raised her head, her voice trembling with tension and anxiety: "Who are you to Chen Xia? Why hasn't she come back yet?"
The young man who opened the door was startled by her. He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and looked bewildered: "I don't know any Chen Xia. Is there something you need?"
Shen Shuyue's tears fell instantly, and she choked out, "I've come to find my friend Chen Xia. She used to live here."
The young man then realized: "You're here to see the previous tenant, right? She moved out, and I just moved in today."
"Did she say where she moved to? Please tell me, I'm homeless now and my boyfriend cheated on me. If I can't find my friends, I'll be living on the streets."
The young man shook his head: "I'm sorry, I rented the room from the landlord. I've never met your so-called friend, and I don't know where she moved to. You can call her, send her a text message, or message her on WeChat."
Shen Shuyue was utterly desperate. She went downstairs crying and wandered aimlessly through the streets for a long time before finally dragging her exhausted body back to the apartment that Gu Yan had given her.
After returning to her apartment, she seemed to have lost her soul, locking herself in her room for several days without eating or drinking.
The company supervisor knew about her relationship with President Gu Yan and, not wanting to cause trouble, pretended not to know about her absence from work.
Shen Shuyue went hungry for three days and finally fainted from hunger. Fortunately, she still knew to use her last bit of strength to call an ambulance for herself.
After waking up in the hospital, Shen Shuyue called Gu Yan to discuss breaking up.
She thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to grit her teeth and break up with Gu Yan. She couldn't bear the thought that she was just a substitute.
When Gu Yan received her call and learned that she was hospitalized, although he thought she might be faking it, he still drove to the hospital.
When he learned from the doctor that she had not eaten or drunk anything for three consecutive days and had been crying, and that she had fallen into a coma due to low blood sugar, he felt both moved and guilty. He had never imagined that Shen Shuyue loved him so deeply.
Moved by this touch of emotion and guilt, after Shen Shuyue proposed breaking up, Gu Yan not only gave her a generous breakup fee, but also planned to transfer the apartment Shen Shuyue lived in to her name.
This time, Chen Xia didn't take her in. Although Shen Shuyue was very principled, she said, "I'm with you because I love you, not because of your money."
But after much hesitation, she ultimately did not refuse the breakup fee and the apartment that Gu Yan offered.
People are sometimes contradictory like this. Gu Yan knew very well that most of the girlfriends he had dated before were after his money and status, and Shen Shuyue was no exception.
But deep down, he secretly hoped that Shen Shuyue would be different from other girls.
Although he was dating Shen Shuyue largely because she resembled Ye Lan.
But Shen Shuyue usually behaved very obediently in front of him and never made any excessive demands. He would buy her clothes, bags, and expensive jewelry on his own initiative.
He himself didn't have much affection for Shen Shuyue, yet he hypocritically demanded that Shen Shuyue love him deeply, and that she not love him for his money or status.
This is also one of the reasons why Gu Yan couldn't forget Shen Shuyue, who didn't ask for a breakup fee, after their breakup in his previous life.
This conflicting feeling left Gu Yan feeling both relieved and inexplicably lost when Shen Shuyue accepted the breakup fee.
Although Shen Shuyue accepted the breakup fee, the humiliation and pain in her heart could not be soothed by money.
Seeing Shen Shuyue's pained expression, Gu Yan felt a little guilty. After all, they had been together for so long; even raising a cat or dog would create feelings, let alone a person.
He took out a business card from his wallet and handed it to Shen Shuyue: "Shuyue, you're no longer suitable to be my assistant after the breakup. This is my childhood friend's business card. Go see him and tell him that I introduced you to work at his company."
Shen Shuyue took the business card, her fingers trembling slightly, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
She longed to be like the female lead in an idol drama, throwing her business card in his face and saying, "I don't care," before turning away gracefully and ending this absurd relationship.
But reality is not an idol drama, and she was not as lucky as the female lead. After breaking up with the male lead she loved, she still had a devoted second male lead waiting to comfort her.
She looked down at the business card in her hand, then at Gu Yan's still handsome but unfamiliar face, and felt a pang of sadness in her heart.
She knew she had nothing now. No Chen Xia to take her in, no job, not even a single friend to rely on.
She once thought she owned the whole world, but in the end, she was nothing more than a substitute, a "fake" that could be discarded at any time.
Shen Shuyue bit her lip, but ultimately put the business card back into her bag. She didn't look at Gu Yan again, and turned to leave the ward.
The moment she stepped out of the hospital, she felt her steps were unusually heavy, as if each step was on a knife's edge.
She wandered aimlessly down the street, Gu Yan's words replaying in her mind.
The apartment will be transferred to her name through a lawyer, and he'll also help her find a job. It sounds like he's already thought of everything for her.
However, Shen Shuyue knew in her heart that all of this was just his last bit of pity for her, or rather, a little comfort to his own conscience.
She walked to the entrance of a coffee shop, pushed the door open, and ordered an Americano.
Sitting in the corner, she took out her phone and looked through her contacts.
Chen Xia's name was no longer on the list. She gave a bitter smile. Once, she thought she had everything, but now she realized that she actually had nothing.
Like now, she wants to confide in someone, but she can't find a suitable person in her contacts.
When the coffee was served, Shen Shuyue took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
The breakup fee Gu Yan gave her was enough for her to live on for a while, but she couldn't stay unemployed forever. After all, although the money was a lot, it couldn't support her for a lifetime.
But she wouldn't go to the company Gu Yan introduced. She would find a job on her own and show Gu Yan that she could live a good life without him.
Shen Shuyue wanted to prove herself, but the reality was that it was too difficult for a vocational school graduate like her to find a suitable job in an international metropolis like Shanghai, where "undergraduates are everywhere and master's degree holders are a dime a dozen."
Many companies require a minimum of a bachelor's degree or higher when recruiting. Her vocational school diploma couldn't even pass the resume screening stage. No matter how many resumes she submitted, they all disappeared without a trace.
Unless she's willing to work as a cleaner in a large company, she'll only be able to work as an assembly line worker in a factory, a warehouse manager in the logistics industry, or a waitress in the catering industry.
Having repeatedly failed in her job search and unwilling to do manual labor, Shen Shuyue reluctantly took out the business card Gu Yan had given her from her bag.
Shen Shuyue stood in Song Tiancheng's office, her fingers tightly gripping the business card, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
She suppressed the urge to storm out and stood there letting Song Tiancheng look her over.
Song Tiancheng leaned back in his chair, his eyes filled with a hint of mockery and sarcasm.
He looked Shen Shuyue up and down a few times, then clicked his tongue twice: "I've heard that Gu Yan is playing some kind of stand-in trick, but I didn't expect it to be true."
Does he really think he's some kind of powerful, domineering CEO from a novel? The Gu family isn't ruled by him alone!
"Hey beautiful, interested in following me from now on? I'm much more generous with women than Gu Yan is..."
Shen Shuyue's face instantly turned bright red, her fingers digging tightly into her palms, her nails almost digging into her flesh.
She kept her head down, not daring to look Song Tiancheng in the eye, afraid that if she looked up, her tears would fall uncontrollably.
Song Tiancheng seemed unconcerned about her reaction, waving his hand casually and saying, "So easily amused? That's really boring."
Since that bastard Gu Yan recommended you, you can work at the front desk. Your salary and benefits will be standard company rates; you won't be treated unfairly.
Shen Shuyue bit her lip, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart.
Receptionist? She used to be Gu Yan's special assistant. Although her job mostly involved odd jobs, she was at least considered a member of the company's senior management.
But now, she has to start from the front desk, which is quite a huge drop in status.
But she knew she had no choice. She needed the job; she needed the money to support herself.
She took a deep breath and forced a smile: "Thank you, Mr. Song. I will do my best."
Song Tiancheng nodded, seemingly satisfied with her attitude. He picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number: "Xiao Zhang, come over here for a moment and bring someone to the front desk to report."
A few minutes later, a young woman in business attire walked in and smiled at Shen Shuyue, saying, "Hello, I'm Zhang Ting, the front desk supervisor. Come with me, I'll show you around and familiarize you with the job."
As Shen Shuyue followed Zhang Ting out of the office, she felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on her heart, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
She knew she had to accept reality, but the resentment and humiliation in her heart just wouldn't go away.
The front desk job is not complicated. The main tasks assigned to Shen Shuyue are to greet visiting customers and answer the phone.
But even with such a simple task, Shen Shuyue spent more than half a month and still hadn't fully mastered it.
Zhang Ting wanted to tell her to pack her things and get out more than once, but considering that she was Song's "little lover" personally arranged by President Song, she could only suppress her anger and find someone to continue taking care of her.
Shen Shuyue was in extreme pain. At work, her boss suppressed her, and her colleagues targeted and ostracized her at every turn. Every day working at Song's was an ordeal for her.
Meanwhile, Chen Xia, relying on the memories left by the original owner and her experience from her previous life, handled her work with ease and without any effort.
She retained the original owner's personality—somewhat introverted, but serious and meticulous—working diligently and conscientiously at the company every day.
She was well-liked in the office. Several female colleagues of similar age knew that she was tight-lipped, and they liked to confide in her about their troubles.
The original owner used to be very patient in listening to their stories, but now Chen Xia, who loves gossip, is even more patient, especially when listening to them complain about embarrassing things that happened when they went back to their hometowns for the New Year, she laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight.
Her female colleagues often teased her about her bare face, saying things like, "Xiaxia, you're a young girl with a decent salary. You should treat yourself better. Don't dress so old-fashioned all the time and live like an ascetic."
The original owner was frugal in order to save money to buy a house. Chen Xia was very obedient and, with their advice and guidance, "bought" several sets of clothes suitable for young working professionals.
Chen Xia's space warehouse has clothes suitable for all ages, with prices ranging from hundreds to millions of yuan, and materials ranging from silk and wool to ordinary ones.
What she called "buying" was actually picking things out of the space warehouse.
Considering her current income, Chen Xia chooses clothes that are of good quality and comfort, with exquisite craftsmanship, and each item costs over a thousand yuan. The styles are classic and will not go out of fashion for years, which fits her frugal personality.
After changing her clothing style, Chen Xia was dragged by her colleagues to get a new hairstyle. She also learned, under their guidance, how to apply light makeup suitable for work more effectively and quickly.
Thus, with everyone's "help," Chen Xia's transformation was visible to the naked eye. This was because she changed little by little under the guidance of several female colleagues in the office.
Therefore, her transformation did not seem abrupt at all; on the contrary, it gave several female colleagues a sense of accomplishment, who felt that they had also contributed to Chen Xia's increased confidence and beauty.
This is similar to how many people enjoy Barbie dress-up games and how fans enjoy idol-making.
Sometimes when they go shopping, they'll drag Chen Xia along. But most of the time, Chen Xia just browses without buying anything.
It's not that she's really stingy, but it's related to the cheat codes she got after entering this little world.
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