Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Zhao Youyue felt as if she had time-jumped backward decades ago. Of course, it was a peaceful, quiet era. The world back then lived in a liberal society – dominated by money and power, and possessed a developed entertainment industry.

Of course, there were no personal computers back then, and the colored television had just been manufactured.

Zhao Youyue had not yet been born during this time. Literally walking back in time so far back was most exciting. This time, she was the youthful Zhang Guorong. Zhang Guorong was still in her schooling days.

There was nothing to be worried out. Zhao Youyue would only do things that the author would include in a book. She would skip over all the tedious and repetitive daily life events. How much of a character that gets revealed in a literary world would be decided by how long the author would take to complete the work.

Readers would probably feel that the characters in the book were too pitiful. Her life had been so tragically short. However, if it was observed from another angle, the average person’s lifespan in the real world was more than sufficient, but how many of those years were actually spent doing something productive?

If you asked an author to write a book about your life, he might shake his head and state that he could not, for the love of him, write a book about a boring person’s life…

Zhao Youyue only had the room to play around with events that the media never got to report. It was time to make up a believable story of the legendary actress, Zhang Guorong.

She had even collected all of Zhang Guorong’s pictures that were available online. She was prepared to behave accordingly to what little she now knew. Whenever she could, she would make up stories that increased Zhang Guorong’s charm and avoid creating stories that would vilify her.

Tabloid reporters would need to use words to fabricate parts of an article about someone. Zhao Youyue was using her body to do what they did. She hoped that this would plant some ideas in Zeng Qinqin’s head. She might end up writing these stories in her book, ‘Perfect Acting.’ She could even add a subheading into the book, like – Zhang Guorong’s personality and hobbies in the real world. Was there anything interesting about her?

To prevent a self-help book from being dull and boring, various anecdotes of famous persons had to be incorporated in the book. Who knows, some of them might be ‘chicken soup’ [1] – written from the authors’ own imagination. Readers might take such facts at face value without looking into it. Who knows, student readers might even make use of such examples in their essays. When the lie gets circulated extensively enough, it would turn into the truth!

Either way, we could not turn back time and personally speak to the dead and obtain their personal account of things…

However detailed and accurate a historical book was, everything inside could not be true. The victors of war often wrote such truth.

Under Zhao Youyue’s control, the schoolgirl Zhang Guorong relied on her beautiful appearance and unique aura to become the school’s beauty queen. She was always the center of attention.

However, such a dazzling way of living did not sit well with her. She truly preferred being absorbed in her hobbies on her own. At the same time, she found a problem with her sexual orientation. She did not like boys…

Even so, she did not show any signs of liking girls. Maybe her fated ‘soulmate’ had yet to trigger the spark in her heart.

The turning point came when she got to know the performance arts. She decided to use her beauty in an ironic manner. She was just too beautiful and elegant. Was it possible to make herself more ordinary, low-key, and unnoticed through performing?

Therefore, she embarked on the road of performing arts because of this absurd reason. Nobody would believe it, even if she told them herself…

Was this true?

Of course, it was not. This was just Zhao Youyue taking action in the literary world. However, if this ever made it in print and got picked up by the readers – more people would believe it, and it would finally become the truth.

As her performance talent was maxed out, Zhang Guorong quickly grew proficient at it. However, no matter how she performed in school, it did not prevent her sense of presence from blowing up. This eventually made her transfer schools.

It was true that Zhang Guorong had once transferred schools, but the media of that period never got to figure out why. That was where Zhao Youyue pounced… it sounded perfectly reasonable, right?

Zhao Youyue was not portraying Zhang Guorong, the legendary actress who died young. The outer shell was still Zhang Guorong, but the inner core was Zhao Youyue’s made up character. The best part of it all was that she would appear in the self-help book series, a series that had a reputation for being legitimate and solid. Its author – Zeng Qinqin had even once been the country’s top actress – and that was worth respecting.

This way readers would never doubt its authenticity. They may be skeptical, but they would have to accept it – for they would never find the truth for themselves. Zhao Youyue had chosen Zhang Guorong, the 26-year-old legendary actress who had died of mysterious causes. She was using that mystery to her advantage.

Zhang Guorong – now in a new school – started using her inborn, perfect acting skills to disguise herself. The effects were excellent. In the process of immersing herself in a new identity, she found that she really loved performing and following that, she decided to apply for the best film academy in the country.

The spark in Zhang Guorong’s heart had been set off. It was a certain woman. Her name was Tang Tang. She had also passed away unmarried.

Tang Tang was Zhang Guorong’s high school friend. She was born into a family of bankers. Back then, it had been a particularly well-paid job. She later became an elite in the banking world and took care of finance-related matters for Zhang Guorong. When Zhang Guorong was struggling both financially and in her career, she had been very helpful. Many people thought that they were just getting along, like sisters and best friends, they had no idea that they were actually in love.

Obviously, Zhao Youyue made this up. Love was, of course, a bigger scandal, compared to friendship. Sweet, pure love between two girls!

Furthermore, didn’t Lady Tang die of grief, alone and unmarried? This proved just how much she loved her Rong Er…

The truth was simpler. Tang Tang actually died of cancer. However, if the words “died of grief” were used, it would describe the greatness of love! Who knows, love might have caused the cancer?

During the process of possessing Zhang Guorong, Zhao Youyue felt that she had not only picked up some acting skills, she had even learned the legendary art of ‘Bihu.’ She could act out the most convincing lies ever. She was proud of herself!

Anyway, Zhang Guorong and Tang Tang became wrapped around each others’ hearts during their high school life. Both of them even wanted to travel to the furthest place in the universe – The South Pole…

That dream did not go unfulfilled. Both of them went on a ‘school excursion’ – just the both of them. Tang Tang’s family was rich – what’s wrong with going on a South Pole trip?

Translation note:

[1] “Chicken soup” (鸡汤), short form for ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul.’ Chicken Soup for the Soul is a publishing, consumer goods and media company based in Cos Cob, CT. It is known for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. The first book, like most subsequent titles in the series, consisted of true inspirational stories about ordinary people’s lives.