Chapter 54: Chasing a Star on the Company Dime

Zhao Entertainment, Publicity Department.

Several days passed, and during this time the dozens of people in the publicity department were nearly driven insane. Everyone worked from morning till night, only to get yelled at by the boss on top of it all, since public relations crises landing on the publicity department’s shoulders was practically routine.

After this stretch of effort and careful coordination with the major platforms, the matter was finally suppressed. No one was talking anymore about Lin Ziyu’s defection, but the issue of her being “stepped on” by Lin Xiyue was something they simply couldn’t bury.

The employees’ resentment was enormous. You, a big-name celebrity surnamed Lin, messed up and got stepped on by a rookie, and in the end it was us frontline workers who had to clean up after you, working overtime every night without even getting overtime pay.

A dignified quasi–first-tier star—rumor had it that President Zhao had even arranged for the company’s strongest producer to personally handle the lyrics and composition. If you had lost to established first-tier seniors, that would have been one thing, and not embarrassing at all.

But losing to a girl who had just debuted? Then you really couldn’t blame people for using you as free publicity.

Of course, where some worried, others rejoiced. While Zhao Entertainment was busy fretting, Lin Xiyue—who had gained a wave of traffic for free and was about to receive massive exposure—was in high spirits.

Today, Lin Xiyue was preparing to complete a commercial job, namely the cosplay commission she had accepted earlier on Bai Lulu’s recommendation.

The client-specified cosplay outfits had already been delivered: two sets. The other one was for the younger, more dominant partner role.

Since it was a yuri pairing, it was actually rare for people to commission cosplay of just a single character, so Lin Xiyue wasn’t surprised. She just didn’t know what kind of partner the client would be sending.

“Oh, the partner sent by the client has arrived. I’ll go pick them up—”

Bai Lulu glanced at her phone and ran out. Lin Xiyue didn’t think much of it, since Bai Lulu had always been the one handling communication for this job anyway.

About ten minutes later, Bai Lulu ran back, but there was no one else with her. Lin Xiyue frowned slightly. Had the client changed their mind at the last minute?

“Hello, Miss Lin Xiyue. I’m the cosplay shooting partner sent by MoeDimension. My name is Bai Lulu. Nice to work with you—”

“Ah?—”

Lin Xiyue froze on the spot, the drawn-out ending of her voice lingering as it took her a while to process what was going on.

“Wait, what’s your relationship with MoeDimension?”

“Hehe, well… that’s actually my website.”

Bai Lulu scratched her head, and Lin Xiyue felt her vision go dark.

She herself frequented that fandom site quite a lot—it was one of the platforms she visited most often. She had even met Bai Lulu through that very site.

But she had never imagined that the site actually belonged to Bai Lulu, or that it would send her a commercial offer under the site’s official name.

“So basically, you just wanted to cosplay with me, right?”

Lin Xiyue recalled that before they met, Bai Lulu had invited her to do cosplay together more than once. Turns out it had all been carefully planned.

“You could’ve just said so. Why go through all these twists and turns?”

In the end, Lin Xiyue accepted the reality. After all, whether for work or personal reasons, she should fulfill this small wish of Bai Lulu’s.

But soon after, she started to regret it a little. Was this wish really… small?

“Lady Xiaoxi, make your expression a bit more shy, blush a little more.”

“Don’t be so stiff. I know I’m holding you pretty tightly, but that’s just what the setting calls for.”

“Yes, yes, pinning you down on the bed is also a pretty common composition.”

“Lady Xiaoxi should be on the bottom. That contrast is what makes an older uke so cute.”

…

By the end of the entire shoot, Lin Xiyue had a very strange feeling. Was Bai Lulu really just completing the assignment? Why did it feel a bit like she was getting carried away and making it real?

“Um… this is a proper website, right? You’re not shooting R18 stuff, are you?”

Lin Xiyue swallowed nervously as she looked at Bai Lulu pressing down on her, cheeks equally flushed, with hands that were far from well-behaved. Something felt… off.

“Don’t get any funny ideas!”

“Ahem—of course. We’re a legitimate website. Don’t worry, Lady Xiaoxi.”

Bai Lulu coughed lightly and gave an awkward smile. This was seemingly her first chance to be this close to Lin Xiyue, and she had gotten a bit carried away, almost unable to stop herself from acting on the strange thoughts running through her head.

Knowing when to stop was important. If she scared Lady Xiaoxi and made her wary in the future, that would be bad.

Meanwhile, without Lin Xiyue by her side practicing vocals, Xia Jinnian had wandered over from the recording studio to the photography set to watch the excitement, naturally witnessing the scene.

As an observer, she could see very clearly that throughout the entire process, Bai Lulu was extremely proactive, even visibly enjoying herself.

Lin Xiyue, on the other hand, was rather shy and hesitant. Yet due to work obligations and the fact that Bai Lulu had just rendered great service, she half-pushed, half-gave in to various suggestive compositions. While bashful, she kept trying to assert her authority as the older one, only making Bai Lulu even more excited.

Setting everything else aside, the two of them really did perfectly fit their character roles. Combined with the highly accurate costumes, it was as if the characters themselves had broken through the dimensional wall and stepped into reality.

“Doesn’t look like acting,” was Xia Jinnian’s verdict.

After a full day of work, they finally completed the previously agreed targets. What remained was post-production retouching, which no longer required their involvement.

Lin Xiyue let out a sigh of relief. After all that, she felt like Bai Lulu had taken full advantage of her.

But this was all just to complete a job, and they were both girls anyway, so maybe it didn’t really count as a loss?

“Lady Xiaoxi, you were amazing! I just checked the preview images from the photographer, and the results are incredible!”

Bai Lulu ran over with an excited expression.

As a seasoned veteran of the fandom scene and an illustrator by trade, she had a strong grasp of visual expression and composition. If even she was this excited, it meant the final quality of this cosplay set was truly impressive.

And these were just the straight-out-of-camera shots. Once post-editing was done, the effect would be even more stunning.

Lin Entertainment was, after all, a proper B-level entertainment company. They were very professional in this kind of work, and compared to those amateur fan creators, it was practically a dimensionality-reduction strike.

“So, are you satisfied now, Client?” Lin Xiyue asked half-teasingly.

“Very satisfied! From now on, Miss Lin Xiyue is our website’s number one collaboration partner!”

The reason Bai Lulu was so thrilled wasn’t just because she had finally fulfilled a long-held dream from years ago, but also because she sensed an opportunity.

Her fandom website was already among the top in traffic within the circle, but it lacked a heavyweight original work that could truly break out of the niche. If this cosplay set with Lady Xiaoxi could become that breakout piece, the site would have huge potential for growth—and could even give back to Lady Xiaoxi in return.

Chasing a star on the company dime: mission accomplished!