Strategy to Conquer the Vicious Female Supporting Character [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 21

What was Gu Fei thinking? He thought he might’ve really drunk too much — he couldn’t even tell if this was a dream or reality anymore.

With no background, An Xiaoxiao, who had only been a newly signed rookie at Yingda three years ago, had somehow turned into the chairwoman of April?!

Five minutes wasn’t long. True to his word, Qi Lin made it happen — news that April had acquired 40% of Yingda’s shares quickly reached the president’s office.

No matter how much Gu Fei couldn’t believe it, he had to face the fact, it wasn’t Qi Lin coming to beg him — it was he who had to go beg Qi Lin.

Beg Qi Lin to let him keep his seat as president of Yingda.

“After all, this is the Gu family’s business. I’m sure President Gu has deep feelings for Yingda, right?” Qi Lin’s smile was still sweet. “If April really acquires Yingda, there’ll be all kinds of personnel reshuffling and system restructuring. Even I think that would be quite a hassle.”

It wasn’t hard to tell from Gu Fei’s attitude toward the supporting female characters that he was the kind of man who would choose power over women. The original novel had also emphasized how important the company Yingda was to him. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would never give it up.

Sure enough, the moment Qi Lin shifted the topic to the company, Gu Fei instantly perked up.

He sobered up completely.

“Of course. Yingda’s not a small business. If you were really to take it over, it’d be a mess to sort out in the short term.” Gu Fei smiled, his tone filled with politeness and respect, even a bit of flattery — just enough not to be off-putting. “President An is already busy enough with April. How could I trouble you further? Better to just leave Yingda with me for now.”

As he spoke, Gu Fei got up from his office chair and walked over to Qi Lin, personally refilling her half-empty teacup: “You don’t need to worry about the movie either. I’ll handle everything perfectly. With you as the lead, it’s bound to be a hit. When you win Best Actress at the next Golden Film Awards, I’ll bask in your glory and throw you a celebration banquet!”

Qi Lin: “…”

President Gu, you really are adaptable.

I’m just… not used to it.

The last time Gu Fei had shown this kind of humble attitude was years ago, when he had just taken over Yingda and was dealing with business veterans old enough to be his father.

Back then, he’d felt disdain deep down, thinking he’d surpass them all one day. Who would have thought that after all these years, he’d end up bowing his head to someone even younger than himself?

Circumstances are stronger than people.

Qi Lin may not have been used to it, but she’d seen plenty of people who could change their faces faster than flipping a page — Gu Fei was just another one. She accepted the teacup he handed her with a smile, “Then I’ll be counting on you, President Gu!”

After delivering the stick, it was time for a sweet date.

Gu Fei visibly let out a breath of relief.

Qi Lin took a sip of tea. “But President Gu, the role I want isn’t Zhou Qingyi in “The Fourth Dagger”. I want Ye Ling.”

Gu Fei looked a bit surprised and asked cautiously, “President An, while the film technically has dual female leads, in terms of billing, Zhou Qingyi definitely comes before Ye Ling. You…”

Qi Lin didn’t really want to discuss it. “Zhou Qingyi’s role is Ah Zheng’s.”

She still couldn’t bring herself to take something from Dong Zheng.

Fortunately, “The Fourth Dagger” had two female leads — she could ask for the other role.

As for whether not picking the top-billed role would cost her the Best Actress award at the Golden Film Awards — that would depend on both of their performances in the film.

The next Best Actress was guaranteed to be chosen from between those two roles. She was going to compete with Dong Zheng.

Gu Fei never expected to hear Dong Zheng’s name right now.

Could it be that they really had a close relationship? That didn’t make sense — An Xiaoxiao was so ambitious about her acting career. Shouldn’t Dong Zheng be the rival she most wanted to surpass?

Something felt off, but Gu Fei didn’t have time to think more deeply. Noticing the coldness and impatience in Qi Lin’s tone, he quickly agreed, “No problem. The role of Ye Ling, right? I’ll get it done within a week!”

“Thanks, President Gu!” Qi Lin smiled. “You’re busy, and I’ve got things to do too, so I’ll take my leave.”

That strong smell of alcohol from up close — she really couldn’t stand it.

Qi Lin picked up her bag. “I just wanted to say — now that I hold shares in Yingda, its profits and losses are directly tied to my interests. I hope you’ll manage it well. I’m not saying it has to return to being the unrivaled powerhouse it once was, but at the very least, don’t let it be so crushed it can’t even lift its head.”

Although Yingda meant little to her, it still held some sentimental value for Dong Zheng.

For the sake of that little bit of sentiment, Qi Lin was willing to keep the company alive — and give Gu Fei a warning.

Qi Lin walked out of the CEO’s office. “If President Gu could put as much energy into work as he does into playing with women, he should be able to meet the standards I mentioned.”

He left Gu Fei standing alone in the office, his weary and haggard face showing a complicated expression.

There was worry, surprise, and… regret.

Back then, he too had come to Yingda full of passion and ambition…

After walking out of Yingda’s main entrance, Qi Lin couldn’t help but complain in her heart — she could easily acquire ten companies like Yingda now, and yet she still couldn’t land the female lead role in “The Fourth Dagger” on her own.

This setting really is cursed.

A week later, Qi Lin received the role of Ye Ling as promised by Gu Fei, and saw that the man’s overall energy and spirit had notably improved.

Not bad. It looked like Yingda might still be saved.

[403: Congratulations, Host, for completing the ‘romantic arc’ in this world and thoroughly cutting ties with the scumbag. Keep up the good work.]

[403: Host, the scumbag has completely given up on you! Congratulations!]

[Qi Lin: Mm, thank you.]

[403: Host… aren’t you happy?]

The host’s tone was so indifferent — and a little heavy…

Qi Lin sighed.

[Qi Lin: There’s some trouble with the ‘career arc’.]

She was never someone who would resort to unscrupulous means. She had clear principles and boundaries. Especially when it came to Dong Zheng.

In the history of the Golden Film Awards, there were only a few who had won Best Actor or Actress more than once — but it wasn’t unheard of. As the youngest Best Actress in Golden Film Awards history, Dong Zheng absolutely had the ability.

Even if Qi Lin had max-level acting capsules and the plot-based cheat of knowing the original story, she still wasn’t fully confident she could beat Dong Zheng.

[403: Um… well! Host! Because you completed the romance arc so excellently — surpassing even our perfect score benchmark — well, the overall score is fixed, so your excess points can actually be transferred to the career arc!]

[403: Your task deadline can now be extended by four years. Winning Best Actress in the next Golden Film Awards after the upcoming one will also count as full marks for the career arc!]

Qi Lin: “……”

Qi Lin couldn’t help but hold her forehead. “You should have told me earlier…”

[403: Host, I didn’t mean to hide it QAQ! I only just found out about this rule myself! None of my previous hosts ever exceeded the task completion like you did QAQ!]

[Qi Lin: I’m not blaming you. But next time, if there’s such important information, don’t wait for me to ask — you should tell me immediately. If it delays the task’s progress, it hurts not just my interests, but yours too, right?]

[403: R-right, QAQ! I understand now!]

[Qi Lin: Mm. Keep it up.]

With that weight finally lifted from her heart, Qi Lin felt much more at ease. When filming began for the second episode of “I Am the God of Cooking”, Xiao Sun noticed that Qi Lin had returned to her friendly and approachable self, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

By the second episode, only four teams of guests remained. The episode was filmed outdoors, and the organizers gave each team a list of ten ingredients. The challenge was for each team to purchase as many listed items as possible within the time limit, with the final score based on how many different ingredients they managed to buy.

The funds were provided by the production team, with the amount decreasing in order based on the ranking from the first episode. This meant that teams with relatively less funding had to make trade-offs, trying to buy cheaper ingredients in order to get a wider variety.

As the champions of the first episode, Qi Lin and Dong Zheng had enough funds to buy ten types of ingredients. However, to be safe, they still decided to compare prices across several vendors and choose the cheaper options.

Unfortunately, neither Qi Lin nor Dong Zheng were the type to frequent supermarkets or wet markets. Tasks like grocery shopping were usually handled by their hired housekeepers, so they had no idea about the current prices of seasonal ingredients. In the end, they only managed to buy seven types of ingredients before running out of money.

In contrast, Li Kai and the Michelin-starred chef-composer in their group were clearly very familiar with both supermarkets and wet markets. They were even quite skilled at bargaining. Despite having the second-lowest amount of money, they still managed to buy nine types of ingredients.

The group with the superstar and the supermodel ended up buying five. They could have bought a sixth item — they had enough time and budget — but since it was jellyfish and the supermodel got nervous, they wasted too much time and missed the chance to purchase it.

The runner-up chef team surprisingly ended up in last place, managing to buy only two ingredients. The reason was rather unfortunate, the chef’s partner was a female singer who knew nothing about grocery shopping. After reviewing the list and deciding the purchase order, the chef gave her the money and the list to follow along.

But midway, the female singer lost the money.

The look on the chef’s face at that moment was like the Buddha possessed by the King of Hell.

But no matter how angry he was, what could he do? The female singer was so anxious she was about to cry. The chef could only comfort her with a dark expression and suggested they go back and see if they could find the money.

In the end, they did manage to find it in some roadside bushes — but the time limit had already expired. They could only hand in the two ingredients they had managed to purchase before the loss.

Naturally, they were eliminated without suspense.

And so, the results of the second episode were,

• • Li Kai and the composer’s team took first place.

• • AnDong’s¹ team came second.
    

• • The superstar and supermodel team came third.

“I Am the God of Cooking” films one episode per week. By the third episode, they had to cook again. The ingredients used were the same type and quantity as the ones bought in the previous episode. Each team had to cook at least three dishes within the time limit — the more dishes made, the higher the score.

In this episode, the supermodel finally overturned the audience’s impression of her as just a pretty face. While her cooking wasn’t as good as that of the composer or Dong Zheng, it was definitely good enough to completely outshine Li Kai and Qi Lin.