The Empress’s Gigolo

After Qi Jiayu left the villa, she went home and cried bitterly.

She used to think that the most fearful thing in life was to fail at everything, struggling to have the daily necessities and dealing with trivial matters.

She had lost her glory before the age of 40 and didn’t even dare to show up at classmate gatherings because she was scared of others asking about her status.

After graduation, she felt very fortunate for a long time even though her success was partly due to hard work and talent.

However, those days seemed to have burst like a popped balloon.

She didn’t know whether she should hate the person who had done this to her.

She might have fared very well if she didn’t know anything.

However, when she found out that she was living in an artificial world where she didn’t know how much of what she did, saw, or experienced was real and how much was fake, she almost went crazy.

It turned out that it was the most terrifying to live in an illusion and seemingly enter an artificial world.

During that period, she would cry bitterly every time after watching The Truman Show .

Fortunately, everything was coming to an end.

She was merely a substitute, and it was because she looked like another person.

Since she couldn’t make the other person let her go, she would try another method by getting close to him, understanding him, and then… retaliating against him.

Although she was a substitute, she could also harm others.

The face of the woman that she met that year was fading from her memory, but Qi Jiayu knew that she looked very similar to her.

The deepest impression left by that woman was her icy demeanor. She was like a goddess on an ice mountain and full of indifference.

She was like ice, so Qi Jiayu would be like fire.

Qi Jiayu would only have a chance by being different!

Before going to that person’s place, she had prepared herself by learning ways to attract a man.

At the same time, she tried everything to collect information about him.

To her surprise, she found very little information about him, and this was the case even on the internet. In this online world, such a scenario was almost impossible.

If he was an ordinary man who was unknown, then this would be possible. Yet, how much power did it take to control everything, including her company and customers, in this movie world?

This meant that the influence of the other party was greater than she thought.

After understanding this point, she was more hopeful about her future. There was nothing that would make her happier than causing such a person to fall into the hands of their puppet.

Since returning from the house of that person, she racked her brain every day about dressing up.

She put on light makeup because not many men actually liked a woman with heavy makeup. For every dress, accessories, hairstyle, and nail color, she spent a long time every day trying to match them properly.

She expected the other party to come after a few days, but she was disappointed every day as the next few days passed by. The feeling of waiting for a strange man was rather bizarre, and she felt like some kind of commodity.

A few days, a month, three months, half a year…

She had expected it to be a few days, but after half a year, she didn’t even get to see his shadow, which made her sink into despair.

Was she worth nothing to that person?

Was this plaything unable to attract his attention?

Those sleepless nights, the misery, and the determined efforts were futile and laughable. They were just her fanciful thoughts and a one-sided show…

She was living in a movie world, showing everything, being watched by people, being laughed at…

Seven months passed by.

That night, Qi Jiayu put on some light makeup and carefully painted her nails as she had done for the past several months.

She put on a clean dress and walked up to the rooftop.

She had thought about filling the tub with hot water and then draining her blood inside it so that it wouldn’t feel cold.

She had thought about using a charcoal stove.

In the end, she chose this tragic method of dying.

If I fall face down, my face won’t be recognizable! Qi Jiayu thought as she looked up at the night sky that seemed to be devoid of stars.

Standing at the edge of the rooftop and looking at the tiny objects below her feet, Qi Jiayu closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and fell forward.

The feeling of weightlessness was abruptly ended. She was spun around and thrown back to the rooftop, landing heavily.

A moment earlier, someone had caught her arm and thrown her back.

What a busybody! Qi Jiayu silently scolded. Next, she looked up and was shocked to see a figure in front of her.

His back was much wider than an ordinary person’s, and she could feel his power even on a dark night like tonight.

This wasn’t what attracted her attention.

Instead, it was the shiny bald head that glowed at about 60 lux (equivalent to a 12-watt incandescent lamp).

Ren Baqian walked toward Qi Jiayu, squatted down in front of her, and held her chin to examine her carefully.

A short while later, Ren Baqian let go of her and stood up.

He had known that she was mentally unstable, but due to the difference in time frames, their concepts of time were different. To her, it had been seven months, but to him, it had been just over three months.

He had finished some work and dropped by to settle things with her on his way home.

He didn’t expect to arrive just in the nick of time.

If he didn’t know that she couldn’t track his whereabouts, he would have thought that she was purposely doing this to test him.

“You are fired!” Ren Baqian said plainly.

Qi Jiayu gave him a blank look.

When she saw Ren Baqian, she threw away whatever plans she had before. Besides being nervous and at a loss, she felt a mixture of resentment and other indescribable emotions.

“You are fired! Get a new job tomorrow and go wherever you want!” Ren Baqian expected her to be ecstatic, but this wasn’t the case.

She seemed to get the meaning, but at first, she was puzzled and at a loss. Then, she couldn’t restrain her anger.

“Isn’t this what you want? Your expression doesn’t seem to say so.” Ren Baqian looked at her.

Well, he didn’t like her, the main reason being that little bit of the empress’s spirit inside him, which affected him all the time and made him feel like killing Qi Jiayu.

“Should I feel grateful toward you?” Qi Jiayu was very surprised. After hearing this, she only felt resentment and hatred.

She had thought and prepared so hard, but the other party just casually said one sentence, “You are fired!”

If this was the case, why didn’t he say so the other time? If he had said it before, then she would have happily sought a new life.

In this case, why did he make her wait for seven months before telling her?

Since he didn’t initially intend to let her go, why was he releasing her after thinking for seven months?

With this sentence, everything she thought, prepared for, and did was in vain. Her revenge was over before it began. Her nine years of youth were lost in a sham.

Although she had known that she was just a plaything with the same face for the other party, there was nothing inside her except anger.

Ren Baqian couldn’t understand, but he didn’t want to be involved anymore.

This matter was over, so he turned to leave.

Behind him, Qi Jiayu crawled up from the ground and looked at his departing figure. A complex look flickered on her face. Then, she turned around, rushed to the edge of the roof, and jumped off.