Substitute Lover (GL) - Chapter 1

April, the weather was still a bit chilly. Cannes, France.

In the dressing room.

A woman lowered her head, biting her lip slightly. Her slender white fingers paused for a moment, as if hesitating, so cautious, yet with a hint of secret sweetness:

“Does the makeup photo for the red carpet today look good?”

Below was a photo of herself in a plain long dress, with red lips, snow-white skin, and bright black eyes. She looked at the camera with a slight shyness, like a young girl looking at her lover.

She selected the photo with her finger, then canceled it, selected it again, and canceled it again—

Just then, the door to the dressing room was pushed open, and her agent looked at her helplessly:

“Jiang Cha, what are you doing? It’s almost your turn!”

Jiang Cha’s finger trembled, and the photo and the sentence were sent together.

She actually sent it.

Jiang Cha’s heart jumped, thinking, would she reply?

When would she reply?

After walking the red carpet, could she see her reply?

Jiang Cha turned her head and smiled slightly: “I’m coming!”

Outside, it was a sunny day, and photographers and reporters were ready by the red carpet, with occasional gossip spreading around.

“Jiang Cha? She—”

The person clicked their tongue in disdain: “She’s just trying to get famous by rubbing shoulders with the movie queen, isn’t she? How dare she come to walk the red carpet?”

As soon as the person spoke, the people guarding the cameras around them burst into laughter.

If you were to talk about Jiang Cha’s debut history, it was simply a big joke. To say she was an actress, she didn’t even have a diploma from a proper film academy; to say she was going the route of a traffic star…

That was too far-fetched. She had no fans, only a bunch of haters.

She was an untrained actress who made her debut entirely relying on a campus photo. Marketing accounts hyped up her “world-class beauty” and said she looked like the movie queen, and from then on, she embarked on a shameless path of constantly rubbing shoulders with the movie queen, frequently trending on Weibo with:

#818 Those Celebrities Who Look Alike#

Then, she would put photos of the movie queen and Jiang Cha below, and shamelessly hype up Jiang Cha’s appearance, implying that the two were on par.

In reality, on par?

In terms of seniority, Jiang Cha didn’t even qualify to carry the movie queen’s shoes.

The movie queen became famous as soon as she debuted and was truly spotless. She acted not for money, was very picky about scripts, only acted in roles she liked, and every role she played was deeply rooted in people’s hearts, unforgettable to the audience.

As for Jiang Cha? Let’s not mention it. She was just a small clown in the entertainment industry.

In addition, in order to become famous, she kept adding gold to her own face. Earlier, there were still naive young fans who were deceived by the fake persona, but as time went by, they gradually discovered that she was not what she seemed, gradually unfollowed her, and even turned into haters.

The goddess persona that the agency had packaged for her in the early stages completely collapsed, turning into a hypocritical clown. Many people turned from fans to haters, and gradually, Jiang Cha’s true fans became fewer and fewer, transforming from a civilian goddess into a target of everyone’s hatred.

Of course, it’s not without reason that such a person could become famous in the early stages:

She was beautiful.

Some stars need heavy makeup to look beautiful, but she didn’t. Any casual candid photo, without makeup, her appearance could defeat a large group of stars. The campus photo that made her famous back then relied on such a face that even girls couldn’t tell if she had any makeup on.

A pure bare-faced photo, so photogenic, was quite rare.

If vases were also divided into levels, Jiang Cha would be a top-tier vase.

She could be looked at, she could be played with, but she had no practical value.

So, some people wondered:

“Jiang Cha is an ordinary girl with no money or power, so why does the agency promote her so much? Does she have someone backing her?”

“Shh—” someone lowered their voice, “There must be someone, they say it’s a woman.”

A woman?

That was interesting. Another charge was added to Jiang Cha’s list:

She was also a lesbian.

“Hey, hey, she’s coming.” Everyone fell silent and looked towards where the flashes were converging.

Outside the red carpet, photographers were focused, flashes flickering constantly. Outside the venue, there was a sea of people, with white, yellow, and black skin mixed together, craning their necks to watch the show.

“Is that Jiang Cha?”

Everyone looked and held their breath.

The woman lifted her skirt, her red lips slightly curved in a faint smile, and she walked forward gracefully.

She was wearing a smoky gray long dress, the translucent silk material clinging to her body curves, outlining a delicate, almost perfect, and just-right curvaceous figure. The transparent lace gloves reached up to her elbows, with a few white camellias embroidered on the gauze, adding a touch of simplicity and elegance to her white-to-gray gradient mermaid skirt.

The photographers almost held their breath, zoomed in, and took a close-up of her face.

Her long hair was coiled into a bun with a sandalwood hairpin, with a few strands of slightly curled black hair hanging down her temples, making her profile look as delicate as a carving.

Skin like snow, eyebrows like ink, lips like red lacquer, and eyes like stars.

This was a purely Chinese beauty, with a classical reserve and a hint of toughness. When she looked at people, her eyes were cold, like ice and snow. But if she lowered her eyes and smiled slightly, she would instantly become as gentle as a peach blossom, making people reluctant to be a little presumptuous or critical.

Even the photographer who had just ridiculed her couldn’t help but be stunned.

A thought even flashed through his mind:

Why would such a beauty have so many scandals?

Why can’t she get a good script?

Why does she always act in bad movies?

To be fair, even if the movie queen acted those vulgar roles, she probably wouldn’t be able to make any waves, right?