Chapter 2: Lovesick Brain

An hour later in Li Linlin’s studio. 

“It’s Chen Yiran again… It’s Chen Yiran again!” Wu Hui paced back and forth in the office, blaming Li Linlin, “Tell me, how many silly things you’ve done for Chen Yiran?!”

“……” Li Linlin looked at her defiantly and said, “What stupid thing have I done? Wu Hui’er let me tell you, the only stupid thing I have ever done in my life is to hire you as my manager!”

Li Linlin’s manager, Wu Hui, although bearing the title, was actually her classmate and roommate. Li Linlin was not technically a star either, except that her father was the singing legend Li Shen, so she had been in the limelight since she was a child.

She had never acted in any television or sang any songs, and her only masterpiece was a photo of her writing in a classroom when she was fifteen years old. That picture was widely circulated on the Internet and was highly praised. The media even touted her as, “the most beautiful face” and “the most beautiful girl in a million years”.

Now this studio, too, was set up by Wu Hui at her instigation. After the studio was founded, it had only taken on one job—a promotional short film for Starlight Paradise.

This amusement park was funded by the Huachuang Group. As soon as Li Linlin heard that it was an amusement park opened by Chen Yiran, she immediately said that she didn’t want any money and wanted to shoot as much as needed.

Oh, that was probably one of the silly, flawed things Wu Hui’er thinks I did.

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The quality of the photos varies, from those without even a filter to those that have been finely retouched. But it had to be said that Li Linlin’s face was really beautiful, surviving the deadly angles of candid photography and even carrying the sweetness of a fairy tale dream.

Chen Xi couldn’t help but exclaim, “Although candid, Linlin’s face is still absolutely beautiful.”

Next to her, Wu Hui snorted, “Beautiful? Brains for a change, please.”

Chen Xi: “…”

“The matter has made it to the top of the news, you definitely have to send out a Weibo post. You better issue a statement of apology again, no matter what, this is also your doing.” Wu Hui’er kept her manager’s identity in mind at all times and immediately arranged PR work for Li Linlin.

Li Linlin scoffed at her inwardly as she honestly edited her Weibo post.

Li Linlin: I’m sorry for the trouble I caused to my brothers and sisters at the airport today. Today, I went to the airport because of my personal affairs. I didn’t even change the clothes for the drama because I was in such a hurry. I didn’t mean to do it QAQ¹ This is an emoticon meaning sad or crying . I’d like to apologize to the staff of the airport again, and I hope that in the future, everyone can take the initiative to abide by the order at the airport. Thank you for your attention. （^_ -）    

After the Weibo post, fans soon came over to leave comments, and while they blew rainbow farts ² Over the top compliments fans needlessly heap on their idols. , they didn’t forget to ask her about the Snow White play.

Although Imperial University was not a drama school, the drama club was very famous and had produced several popular actors. Those who could get into this University were all academic achievers and carry their own style and aura. They were also more sought after by audiences when they entered the acting world.

Because of her love for acting, Li Linlin auditioned for the drama club in her freshman year and had performed in many shows over the years. The ticket price for the play had even been estimated by scalpers to increase several times because there were fans who wanted to go see her.

This time they were playing a new version of Snow White, which will be performed in public in a while. Li Linlin originally wanted Chen Yiran to come and see it, but she didn’t expect to not even meet him today.

“Stop sighing over there, isn’t it just a man?” When Wu Hui saw this look on Li Linlin’s face, she became angry, “That Chen Yiran, apart from being handsome, what else is good about him?Why are you so devoted to him?”

 As soon as she said that, Li Linlin was unhappy and didn’t like it, “There are so many good things about him. I can’t finish talking about them all day and night!”

“Heh, is that so?”

Li Linlin exasperatedly took out the financial magazine she kept in her studio, flipped to the page of Chen Yiran’s interview, and showed it to Wu Hui. “He went to a very difficult to enter and prestigious school abroad, and he always excelled in his school years!”

“Oh, our school isn’t so bad.”

“There’s more behind! Three years ago, he returned to China with a huge amount of money and an elite team. He single-handedly expanded Huachuang Group’s domestic territory to the size it is today, and to have an unshakeable position in the business world of City A. Isn’t that good enough?!”

The former status of Huachuang Group was a small company set up abroad by Chen Yiran’s father and a few friends. After decades of operation, the company gradually developed into a large enterprise of a certain scale, but the branch of Huachuang Group opened in China had been operating in a half-dead state since its inception. It only took Chen Yiran and his elite team three years to bring it back from the dead with a new lease of life.

With the rapid development in the country over the years, Huachuang Group had also focused on its domestic operations, and Chen Yiran, was the pioneer of the group in opening in the country.

After reading Chen Yiran’s interview, Wu Hui fell into a short silence. “So, why did you set your goal so high? Can’t we change it to something easier!”

Would a man like Chen Yiran really like a woman like Li Linlin?

“No.” Li Linlin refused her without even thinking about it.

Wu Hui sneered again and threw the magazine back at Li Linlin. “I’m too lazy to care, anyway. If you give me another slip at the charity gala tomorrow night, I’ll have you roasted!”

Li Linlin nestled on the couch, not even looking at her. “I don’t want to go. I’m love-brained anyway. I’m unmotivated to work.”

“……” You’re lazing around? “You have to go even if you don’t want to!”

“I wouldn’t!”

Chen Xi’s eyes twitched as she spoke to Li Linlin as she was still with the group, “The charity gala tomorrow night, is it the one hosted by TOMATO magazine? My brother seems to be going to the party, too.”

Li Linlin’s eyes lit up, and she bounced up from the sofa. “Where’s my dress, where’s my dress?!”

Chen Xi: “…”

In a sense, her lovesick brain did make Linlin a better person.

After trying on her dress, Li Linlin went back to school with Wu Hui. She still had her Snow White dress for the drama club, so she dragged her suitcase and went to the club first. She went straight to the costume room and hung the dress back up, contemplating whether she should iron it.

She was about to find the iron when she heard the noise outside. Li Linlin subconsciously looked back and saw Shen Jie rushing in.  

In her hand was a small knife.

Li Linlin was stunned and quickly stepped back, “Shen Jie, calm down. It’s against the law to kill people.”

Other members of the club also ran after Shen Jie, they all advised her to calm down.

Shen Jie ignored them, and looked at the performance clothes hanging on the shelf. She went up to them and took a knife and slashed the clothes violently. The clothes that had been in good condition just a moment ago were cut to pieces in a flash, and the clothes hung down in a mess.

Everyone in the costume room was frozen, and Li Linlin was also confused for a moment before she came back to her senses. “Shen Jie, you’re sick! What do you mean by cutting up your clothes when the show is about to start?”

Shen Jie took her clothes and lashed out, and the hand holding the knife shook a little. When Li Linlin saw her let go of the knife and it fell, she hurriedly stepped on it under her feet. Shen Jie didn’t pay attention to this, she stood in place for several breaths before she yelled at Li Linlin, “You still want to perform? You guys got me into this mess, and now the whole school knows about Ji Zifeng! You still want to put on a show!”

Li Linlin’s eyebrow raised, there was indeed a great difference in species. She couldn’t understand Shen Jie’s braine circuit at  all. “What do you mean we harmed you? Instead of blaming Ji Zifeng, that scum, or the rich wife who came to your door, you’re hating us instead?”

“That’s right.” The other members of the drama club chimed in, “It’s not like we called the people here. Do you just think we’re better to pick on!”

“That’s right, if you’re capable of going out with Ji Zifeng to mess with that wealthy lady, what’s the point of taking it out on us.”

“And you’re playing the role of Snow White yourself, you’ll have nothing to wear if you spoil your dress.”

Shen Jie was the Snow White player in Group B. There was only one set of costumes, and both she and Li Linlin wore this one.

As Shen Jie listened to their words, she became even more emotional. “Aren’t you the one who told her that Ji Zifeng and I were together? At that time when Ji Zifeng and I came back, you were the one who pointed us out to her, right, Li Linlin!”

Li Linlin didn’t meet Chen Yiran at the airport today because of their mess, and she hadn’t even settled the score with them yet, but they were still finding fault with her.

“You needn’t be in an almighty rage here, don’t you think others won’t know if we don’t say anything? Aren’t you the one who usually has the highest profile and flaunts all over the world about your crap with Ji Zifeng! Shen Jie I’m telling you, I’ve been scolded for nothing today because of you. You have to pay me compensation for the mental damage!”

“You, how dare you ask for compensation from me?!” It was as if Shen Jie had never seen such a brazen person before, and she stared at Li Linlin in shock and anger, “Do you know what kind of rumors have been spread about me in the school? You still want me to compensate? Then who will pay for my damaged reputation!”

“You go to whoever passed it on. What’s the point of coming to the drama club? You’re taking it out on a dress, don’t you just think you don’t have a face to go on stage and don’t want anyone else to be on stage as well?”

“You, you ……” Shen Jie was so angry that she couldn’t even speak coherently, and was about to attack Li Linlin to bring her down with her. The president of the drama club and the officers of the student council arrived in time and forcefully controlled Shen Jie.

“Shen Jie, what’s all the fuss about? You are on school premises, do you still want to graduate or not!”

When Shen Jie was shouted at, her emotions finally broke down and she burst into tears. She cried so loudly and heartbreakingly that the boys were at a loss as to what to do, and the counsellor came over to take her away.

After Shen Jie left, the members of the community sighed for a while and then gathered around the torn gown, thinking about whether there was any alternative solution.

Li Linlin took a picture of the dress and passed it to Chen Xi.

Linlin: Do you think this dress is still salvageable?”

Xixi: …… Is this the one you wore at the airport today?

Linlin: Yes

Xixi: How did it get like this?

Linlin: Hey, it’s hard to say [pretty girl sighs]

Xixi: I do have an idea, why don’t you guys do Cinderella instead, it’ll still work if you sew it up.

Li Linlin: “……”

Xixi was laughing.

She loaded the princess dress back into her suitcase and dragged it straight to Chen Xi’s studio the following day.

Chen Xi’s studio was set up at the same time as Li Linlin’s. The two of them had always liked to do everything together since they were children. The two studios were not far from each other, but they were decorated in completely different styles. Chen Xi’s studio was in the Chinese style, with a lot of furniture made of wood and a Chinese garden full of flowers and plants.

She usually attended school and had hired someone to come and help her water the flowers.

Li Linlin and Chen Xi were both still university students, and the money to open the studio was all from their families. Every time Wu Hui saw the two of them, she wanted to exclaim about the rich lady’s enlightened life.

“This Shen Jie is really hard on the clothes, they’re all slashed like this.” Li Linlin sat in front of the dressing table doing her hair, while Wu Hui stood next to her inspecting the wreckage of her clothes. 

Chen Xi also had a huge headache listening to this, “I’ll try to help you fix it, I might need to add some designs.”

“It doesn’t matter, as long as we can make it to the show next week.” Li Linlin touched the blue crystal necklace around her neck and told them, “Shen Jie is actually quite miserable. She doesn’t even know about what Ji Zifeng is doing outside, and it’s ultimately Ji Zifeng’s fault for being a scumbag.”

“It’s quite diabolical.” Chen Xi said, pinning the crystal hairpin in Li Linlin’s hair and clapping her hands, “Great work! You stand up and take a look.”

Li Linlin moved her chair back and stood up lifting the hem of her dress.

The dress she wore tonight was inspired by the mermaid princess. The pearls on the straps and neckline, as well as the sequins on the hemline that mimic fish scales, were all selected and sewn on by Xixi, taking over a month to make.

In addition to the glittering embellishments, the hemline was specially designed to mimic a fishtail in a diamond lattice art, and the trailing gauze at the back of the waist was gorgeous without being cumbersome, with delicate layers of material trailing lightly to the floor.

“It’s so beautiful!” Chen Xi was very pleased with her work. The aqua blue colour she chose highlighted Li Linlin’s skin tone. Her whole body was so white that it looked like it was glowing when she wore it. The cinched waist adds to the waistline, and Li Linlin’s already slender waist looked even more feminine. Her lustrous hair was draped softly over her shoulders, and the crystal hairpin on her head mirrored the sequins on her gown.

“Linlin you will definitely be ravishing tonight, and you’re going to be popular! You’ll be the star of the night.” Chen Xi said with confidence.

“Winning the crowd by being the most beautiful?” Li Linlin looked at her, “I’m not interested, I just want to overwhelm Yi~Ran~ Brother~ Brother~”

“……” Wu Hui rolled her eyes skillfully next to her.