The Wilderness Survival segment will probably happen once their relationship develops into one of loving and fighting each other (?). I'll mark it in the chapter when it comes. For those of you who can't wait for this part, sorry to keep you waiting—please be patient [kiss][kiss]
The person across from her looked up.
She had gray-brown eyes. When she looked straight at Chu Keke without hiding it, Chu Keke inexplicably tensed up. For a moment, it felt as if she'd been spotted by a dangerous lion on the grasslands.
It wasn't until the person across from her tilted her head in puzzlement that Chu Keke managed to collect herself.
A little flustered, she replied, "Yes, I am..."
Then she instinctively introduced herself again. "I-I'm twenty-one this year, and I'm about to start my senior year at City A University. I'll begin my internship in the second half of the year, so I have plenty of free time. I promise I'll come whenever you need me..."
As the young woman introduced herself, Xiang Changge sized her up.
Big, round, black-rimmed glasses couldn't hide her bright, almond-shaped eyes.
Her hair was neatly tied back. Perhaps she was nervous, because a few strands of bangs were damp with sweat and stuck to her skin, even though they were in an air-conditioned room.
Her slightly baby-faced cheeks made her look very cute.
Her individual features weren't especially striking, but together they had a certain magic that made her pleasant to look at.
What stood out most was the vibrant, uplifting energy she exuded, like a sunflower beneath the bright sun.
Her eyes sparkled, and the corners of her mouth were always turned up... What was that phrase again? She looked full of energy.
No wonder the book called her "the stubborn, resilient, passionate little white flower heroine."
Sensing Xiang Changge's thoughts, the Plot Rewrite System gave a disdainful snort in her mind. "This system admits the heroine certainly has her own special qualities, but our supporting female character is no less impressive! Those are all just character settings anyway. Hmph!"
Why were the heroine and the supporting female character treated so differently, both in reputation and in their circumstances? Whether they were good or bad was all down to a single line from the author.
Xiang Changge didn't respond.
Just from that remark, she could tell what sort of "fan" the system was. It was obviously a "supporting-female-character fan."
Still, what it said had reminded Xiang Changge of something.
—Character settings.
That was right. Everything in the book was nothing but the author's settings.
Her melancholy was supposedly her gift, but that was only a plot device. Strip away the setting, and who could say Yu Qing was naturally a sentimental person whose mood stayed low all year round?
Putting those thoughts aside, Xiang Changge looked at the visibly nervous young woman in front of her and gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.
The job posting she'd put out said she wanted to hire three cheerful, sincere, energetic young women to keep the young lady of the house company and have fun with her.
They didn't need to come every day, and their hours were irregular. It mainly depended on the young lady's mood. But when they did come, they'd be paid five hundred yuan an hour, with transportation reimbursed and meals provided.
With such good conditions, Chu Keke was already the eleventh young woman Xiang Changge had interviewed that afternoon.
Since the job involved Yu Qing, Xiang Changge was being especially cautious, and still hadn't made her final choice.
Honestly, both Chu Keke's résumé and her personality and appearance were a good fit for the job.
What made Xiang Changge hesitate was her identity.
Chu Keke was the heroine of the original book.
From what Xiang Changge knew, she'd already known the male lead for almost a year, and the two of them had gotten tangled up in plenty of drama. The recent rain in City A had practically been falling for them.
Xiang Changge asked the system in her mind, "Is it really appropriate to have the heroine keep the supporting female character company?"
The system fell silent for a moment too.
A few seconds later, it replied, "That depends on what you plan to do, Host."
"According to our assessment, the heroine doesn't know yet that the person she'll be working for is the supporting female character, or that the supporting female character is connected to the male lead... Oh, and she doesn't know the male lead is engaged."
But if Chu Keke really stayed with the Yu Family, she'd find out sooner or later. She might even run into the male lead there and learn ahead of time that he was already engaged.
That was one of the major climactic, angst-filled twists in the original story.
Xiang Changge lowered her eyes and looked again at the résumé in her hands.
In the upper-right corner of the thin sheet of paper, Chu Keke was smiling faintly at the camera.
Xiang Changge couldn't be bothered with the heroine, the supporting female character, or the male lead. She just wanted to do her own task.
In the book, when Yu Qing learned about the male and female leads, she chose to break off her engagement with the male lead immediately. That showed she didn't have those kinds of feelings for him. The two leads' long, torturous romance was entirely their own doing.
Still, the fact that they'd kept Yu Qing in the dark for so long was enough to make anyone feel sick.
A flicker of coldness passed through her eyes. Xiang Changge looked up again and gave the young woman a polite smile. "All right. Let's exchange contact information."
That meant she'd passed the interview.
Chu Keke was stunned for a moment. Then immense joy burst inside her. Her eyes curved into a smile, and she hurriedly thanked Xiang Changge for giving her the opportunity.
As the sightseeing bus, packed full of people, carried her down the mountain, Chu Keke couldn't help looking back.
She didn't know when the rain had stopped. The clouds hanging over City A were beginning to part, and the sky was bright. The rain-washed Chinese tallow trees looked even greener.
The farther they traveled from the arhat pine in front of the villa on the mountain, the smaller it became. Yet the place, standing there in silent testament to its owner's extraordinary status, lost none of its grandeur as she watched it recede.
The job was a little unpredictable, but the housekeeper had said that even if they weren't asked to work a single time all month, they'd still receive a guaranteed two thousand yuan.
In other words, even if she passed the interview and did nothing at all, she'd receive two thousand yuan every month until she was dismissed.
The catch was that she had to come whenever they needed her.
It sounded a little improper, but the housekeeper had explained that the person they'd be working for was a young woman who was in poor health and couldn't go out, which was why she wanted them to come over and keep her company.
The job would mainly involve entertaining her or telling her whatever gossip they knew. In short, they had to do their best to please her, keep her company, and, if possible, help her find some enjoyment in life.
Without meaning to, Chu Keke pictured a frail, sickly little girl. She couldn't help thinking of her own younger sister.
Chu Keke felt she couldn't have found a better job. She could wait for the young woman to contact her while taking on other part-time work. That way, she'd still have time to care for her sister at home, and she wouldn't have to keep asking for time off to take her to the hospital.
"What a beautiful place. Does that whole mountain belong to them?"
"Probably. I really hope we get hired. This is even prettier than a scenic attraction."
Hearing the others chatting nearby, Chu Keke nodded in agreement.
It really was beautiful. It was hard to imagine that one person's home could be this enormous, like something out of a fairy tale about a princess.
At six in the afternoon, the interviews ended, and Xiang Changge walked out of the side room.
Summer days were long and nights short. The rain had stopped, the clouds had cleared, and the sky was still bright. Clouds filled the horizon, shifting from pale gold to deeper shades as time passed.
Xiang Changge watched the sunset, which she hadn't seen in a long time. After a while, she lifted her head slightly and closed her eyes, as if carefully savoring the sunset.
"It's a rare sight."
She meant it in two ways.
In the apocalypse, a sky like this really was a rare sight. And here, she hadn't seen the sun for several days either.
Thinking of "Thunder God and Mother Lightning," Xiang Changge murmured, "Looks like the male and female leads are in pretty good moods right now."
The system confirmed, "Yes. The heroine is in a great mood because you hired her. The male lead, who's away on a business trip, is getting ready to return to City A. He's also landed a major deal, so he's feeling pretty relaxed."
Xiang Changge: "..."
They really were "Thunder God and Mother Lightning."
But—
"Why were they in a bad mood and fighting before?"
The system replied, "The male lead went on a business trip with two secretaries. One of the female secretaries was interested in him and deliberately used his phone to reply to the heroine's messages while he wasn't around..."
"Wait, did she reply, 'He's taking a shower'?"
Xiang Changge rummaged through the scraps of her memory and found a vague recollection. She remembered there being a scene like that when she read the book.
The system snapped its fingers in Xiang Changge's mind. "Bingo! Host answered correctly in just one second! You've won a compliment: you're amazing!"
Xiang Changge: "..."
Who asked for that?
Fine. Next, the male lead probably wouldn't understand why the heroine was angry and ignoring him. When he went to find her, he'd happen to see her getting "cozy" with another man. Then he'd get jealous, grab her, and kiss her forcefully in front of the other man to assert his claim.
Before you continue