Chapter 4: What Should I Do?

After a quick dinner, Lin Xiyue slipped straight back into her room.

Though Xu Wei thought her daughter seemed a bit odd today, she didn’t press the issue.
At this age, girls were full of thoughts that turned and twisted like a maze — having a few little secrets or private worries was perfectly normal.

“Instead of fretting about that girl, I should be worrying about how to scrape together that money…”
She sighed heavily.

Inside the room, Lin Xiyue lay on her soft, oversized bed, feeling strangely uncomfortable.
As Young Master Lin, she had always been used to sleeping on a firm mattress.

A frail body, a love story bound by hope and despair, a completely different way of life, and the environment of a girl’s world — all these changes, big and small, left her feeling utterly lost.

Back when she and her friends used to drink together, they would joke around about things like “turning into a beautiful girl.”
And every time, someone would laugh and wave it off.

“What, something that lucky could happen? I’d unbutton right now if it did!”

But when it actually happened to her, Lin Xiyue didn’t find it funny at all.
She just felt helpless.

“Forget it… let’s think about Lin Entertainment instead. Whether I’m a girl or not isn’t that important.”

She muttered to herself, forcing those thoughts aside, and began to analyze the current situation.

The downfall of the Lin family’s company had actually begun with an industry gathering years ago.

At that time, her father had argued with the CEO of Zhao Entertainment.
The topic?
Whether online marketing or traditional marketing held more promise for the future.

It wasn’t supposed to be a heated debate — but both men were stubborn and proud.
Neither would yield, and in the end, the quarrel escalated into bad blood.

After that, the Zhao Entertainment CEO began to covertly use his connections and resources to interfere with every stage of Lin Entertainment’s operations — from talent scouting to production and distribution.

Zhao Entertainment was an A-tier company.
It might have looked like just a single level difference from Lin Entertainment’s B-tier status, but in reality, the gap between A and B was like a chasm.
The other side’s influence was far greater, and the Lin family could only grit their teeth and swallow the loss.

If that were all, things might still have been salvageable.
The impact was serious, but not fatal.

But then Zhao Entertainment did something completely unforgivable —
they tried to poach Lin Ziyu.

And Lin Ziyue knew exactly who that was.

Before she was born, her mother had some health issues that made it difficult to conceive.
So her parents decided to adopt a little girl from a welfare home, naming her Lin Ziyu.

That meant Lin Ziyu was the Lin family’s adopted daughter.
Both in her past life as Young Master Lin and in this one as Lin Xiyue, she had always called her “Sister Ziyu.”

The Lins treated Lin Ziyu with genuine love.
Even after Lin Xiyue was born, they never neglected her — they treated both daughters equally, without a hint of favoritism.

As Lin Ziyu grew older, she showed astounding musical talent.
Every singing competition she entered, whether amateur or professional, she won first place.
With just a bit of training, she became not only competent but truly exceptional as an artist.

Because of that, Lin Entertainment poured nearly all of its resources into her.
Every premium single, every opportunity to perform, every channel for promotion — they threw everything they had at her, pinning all hopes of elevating the company to A-tier status on her shoulders.

And this beloved adopted daughter — the company’s star, its future, and practically family —
Zhao Entertainment actually wanted to steal her away?

Ridiculous, right?
Her parents had thought so too, and hadn’t taken it seriously.

But the result?
Lin Ziyu accepted Zhao Entertainment’s offer without a word of warning.
It was Zhao Entertainment themselves who later informed the Lin family that they’d already signed an exclusive contract with her.

How could an artist sign with another company behind their old one’s back?
Because Lin Entertainment had never signed a contract with her in the first place.

Exclusive contracts were usually to keep new talents from flying away once they got famous.
But who would ever think to make their own family sign one?

The outcome was obvious —
years of effort, investment, and trust went up in smoke.
Her father and mother were furious and heartbroken.

Her father, who was proud, ambitious, and hot-tempered, suffered a relapse of an old illness from the stress.
He was hospitalized… and never recovered.

After his death, the Zhao Entertainment CEO panicked — afraid the scandal might damage his company’s reputation — and stopped the sabotage.
But it was already too late.

The connections and business relationships her father had cultivated were all tied to him personally and couldn’t be inherited.
And her mother’s management skills, while earnest, were nowhere near his level.

Together, these two blows sent Lin Entertainment into a sharp decline.
Lead artists left one after another as their contracts expired.
Commercial deals dwindled.
Production slowed to a crawl.

Later, when Lin Xi (her past self) turned nineteen — just a freshman in college —
Xu Wei was still forcing herself to work late into the night, desperate to keep her husband’s legacy afloat and maintain her child’s lifestyle.
She took on endless projects, negotiated every possible contract, scouted for new talents, refusing to stop even when exhausted.

But misfortune never comes alone.
One night, driving home half-asleep from another overtime shift, Xu Wei nodded off at the wheel.
There was a crash.
And from that moment, Young Master Lin became an orphan.

Recalling all this, Lin Xiyue wasn’t trying to dwell on blame —
she was thinking about how to change it.

At this point in time, her father couldn’t be saved.
The company’s decline was already underway.

All she could do now was find a way to halt that downward spiral.
If she could just stabilize Lin Entertainment’s situation, maybe her mother wouldn’t have to work herself to exhaustion.
Maybe the tragedy could be prevented.

As for confronting Lin Ziyu or saving Xia Jinnian — those were distant goals.
Things she didn’t yet have the power to do.
Thinking about them now would only be pointless worry.

“Ding-dong.”

Her phone buzzed.
Lin Xiyue picked it up and saw her lock screen — a photo of herself and Xia Jinnian, arms linked, fingers forming a heart together.

A message bubble appeared on the wallpaper — a Penguin chat notification.
It was from Xia Jinnian.

“Free tomorrow? Let’s go shopping. I’m in a bad mood.”

It was followed by a “lying flat” meme.

“No pro—blem!”

Lin Xiyue typed back hastily — so hastily she made a typo, and had to delete and resend the message.

She didn’t ask why Xia Jinnian was upset.
Some things were better talked about face-to-face —
and that way, she could comfort her properly.

She had never been someone with a particularly strong heart.
But for Xia Jinnian, she could be.