CH 12

Saw that the previous TL translated Ji Jing’s company Xing Yao (Celestial Stars) as Starlight in one of the chapters. I think this sounds a lot better and is more accurate, so i’ll be changing to this

Also changed “little stand-in dancer” —> “little dance understudy”

Sorry for any confusion that this may cause! (シ_ _ )シ

The Movie Queen’s Little Fortune Butterfly (12)

Is Song Pianxian aware that you’re bent?

Luo Chun swiftly gave out a reasonable explanation:

“With your image and influence as well as your ROI[1] for brand endorsements, I’m not surprised that HY chose you.” She paused briefly. “But without me even needing to fight for it, they already took the initiative to propose the global ambassador position. I really did not expect that.”

Luo Chun thought about it as she talked: “If the Song family’s madame likes you, then there’s no way that any of it could be an accident.”

Faced with this analysis, Lin Qinglu’s intuition told her that something about that didn’t seem right. She was very confident in her own strength, but when it came to the Song family, no one really understood what was going on.

She simply said, “I previously met Song Zhe, and we ate together.”

“Song Zhe?” Luo Chun swiftly responded, “Then is it possible that he has fe—”

“Definitely not.” Lin Qinglu was very clear about it. Song Zhe was extremely candid and relaxed. His eyes did not contain even a little bit of the tenderness a man would have when facing a woman, not to mention that he never got in touch with her again afterward.

“I am very sure of this.”

Luo Chun trusted in Lin Qinglu’s skills, but she was used to being careful and continued to pester her about it: “Did nothing seem strange?”

Strange? What’s strange was that she treated her own little dance understudy very unusually.

Right away, Lin Qinglu had thought of the answer, but she instead replied, “Nothing.”

Had I told Luo Chun and gone strictly by the facts, in her eyes won’t Song Pianxian and Song Zhe seem to have an ambiguous relationship?

Just thinking about it made her unhappy.

When Luo Chun was about to say something else, Lin Qinglu shifted the topic as if nothing had happened: “Didn’t you say to try the cheongsam? Where did Liu Lele bring that dressmaker?”[2]

The cast and crew members needed to change to a new movie set and site. Following them, Lady Zhao also changed into a magnificent, pure silk cheongsam.

All of the cheongsams that appeared in the movie were done by requesting the master dressmaker of a long-standing shop to tailor the outfits to the actresses. Only by doing this would they be able to display all of their graceful charm.

Lin Qinglu’s new cheongsam still hadn’t been worn yet. She was just about to give it a try and then have it fine-tuned according to the changes in her figure.

Since the actress was unwilling to open her mouth, Luo Chun also couldn’t say anything about it. While standing up, she said, “I’ll go take a look.”

Right as the sound of her voice settled, there were two light knocks at the door, and Liu Lele brought a person inside.

As Luo Chun was midway through getting up, she noticed that besides the master dressmaker and the person—who looked to be an assistant—holding the cheongsam, there was also a well-proportioned, graceful, and stylish woman.

The other party’s eyes flowed about and when they stopped in her direction, Luo Chun felt as if a stream of water ran past her, gentle and tranquil.

It was both like looking up and suddenly experiencing brilliant mountains and clear rivers and like glimpsing at the boundless starry sky.[3]

For this kind of person to appear in front of her, Luo Chun couldn’t help but be dazzled for a moment.

Lin Qinglu let out a quiet cough, snapping Luo Chun out of her daze. She only then noticed that the two were very familiar with each other.

Seeing as how she managed to pull Luo Chun’s soul back into her body, Lin Qinglu was satisfied.

“How come you’re here?”

She asked despite already knowing the answer. Recently, they’ve developed a good relationship, and Song Pianxian would always stay in her personal make-up room, not even leaving and attracting any bees or butterflies. Needless to say, this time too—[4]

“I wanted to lend a hand.” The Song Pianxian in front of her smiled and stretched out her hand toward the little assistant who was busy working away.

Eh? 

Lin Qinglu turned her head in that direction, just then recalling that this person seemed to be Song Pianxian’s “roommate”, and her name was something like…Su Ting.

Forget about living together with Song Pianxian, when they’re free, they’ll always squeeze close together and chat. In just this week alone, they’ve whispered to each other no less than five times while among the rest of the cast and crew members and have eaten cake together no less than three times.

Lin Qinglu was even counting how many times. 

This time, it was unexpectedly simply because of Su Ting that she came to find her. Lin Qinglu moved away her gaze and dully said, “Oh.”

“Are you Song Pianxian?” Luo Chun, who was by Liu Lele, switched to asking a vital question.

Jian Yixin greeted her with a smile on her face: “I am. Hello, Big Sister Luo.”

She returned from outside, borrowing Su Ting’s name to come over here, mainly for the sake of meeting Luo Chun so that she would at least know her by appearance.

The original body’s owner had no interest in Lin Qinglu and wholeheartedly rushed toward Shen Yu. During the few times that Luo Chun had visited the cast and crew members, the original was wandering about outside. Therefore, this was their first time meeting one another.

“Hello.” The mesmerizing image within Luo Chun’s eyes had not yet faded. She believed that she had already seen a countless number of beauties, but all of the dance understudy’s qualities were too hard to come by, seldom seen in even the entertainment circle. It was to the extent that, due to her profession, she instinctively thought up a set of profitable schemes in regards to the other party.

The two sides’ impressions of one another were both pretty good, so they hit it off and chatted a bit.

When Lin Qinglu saw the aforementioned manager and dance understudy talking, she grabbed the cheongsam and went to the dressing room.

When she reappeared, her whole body was covered in a fiery reddish-orange, the colors charming and gorgeous. The limbs exposed outside of the cheongsam were slender and fair, as if her flesh were made out of ice and snow and her bones of jade. Her red lips, however, were warm like the cheongsam. The impact from this was massive.

Once Lin Qinglu wore the cheongsam, her innermost aura, seemingly unable to be hidden, began to leak out. Floating and fluttering about, it completely filled the room, and everyone stopped talking.

Movie Queen Lin dominated the whole place, and while she didn’t know what it was that she felt satisfied about, in short, she felt a lot more at ease.

After glancing at Song Pianxian, she unconcernedly moved away her gaze and spoke, her voice as smooth as silk:

“Mr. Dressmaker[5], please take a look at where adjustments still need to be made.”

When the master dressmaker saw his own clothes being worn with such elegance, he couldn’t help but nod. Bringing Su Ting with him, he carefully observed and took some new notes.

Lin Qinglu lifted her arm in order to make things more convenient for the dressmaker.

Her eyes looked everywhere except at Song Pianxian, but she would always, out of the corner of her eyes, lightly sweep them past Song Pianxian like the ends of a white bird’s wings, cautiously and softly.

Lin Qinglu then saw that Song Pianxian was walking toward her.

All of a sudden, her breath got caught in her throat.

Lin Qinglu’s figure was very good: voluptuous and thin-waisted. Wearing the cheongsam just made her even more earth-shakingly beautiful.

There wasn’t a single distracting thought within Jian Yixin’s mind. Her eyes merely displayed appreciation, and after looking for a moment, she noticed Lin Qinglu’s pankou knot.[6]

It was the second knot on the collar, just slightly under her clavicle, and below the satiny and glossy cloth were undulations filled with warmth.

The knot was a bit crooked and not fastened that well.

Seeing that no one else had noticed, Jian Yixin walked toward her.

When she got closer, she could smell the faint scent of Cool Water perfume coming from Lin Qinglu.[7]

Lin Qinglu’s body seemed to tense up a lot, so Jian Yixin thought that she was acting rudely. Before she could help, she changed her mind, using her finger to point at the knot instead and said,

“That knot isn’t fastened properly.”

“Mhm,” Lin Qinglu responded quietly with her arms still spread apart to facilitate the dressmaker’s measurement-taking, carrying with them an I’m-not-moving-you-are meaning.

Jian Yixin waited for a while, but without any better option, she extended her hand, probing the area beneath Lin Qinglu’s collarbone.

Lin Qinglu subconsciously held her breath. The warm hills were very tranquil. However, the heart hidden underneath clamored in a hurried and unbecoming way.

As Jian Yixin lowered her head to fasten the pankou knot, gazing at that area, it evoked a scorching restlessness that Movie Queen Lin couldn’t suppress.

She clearly hadn’t touched her yet. Even the clothing hadn’t been disturbed. She merely teased the round, little orb, and yet that greatly agitated her.

While Lin Qinglu stood there, her calves were so tense that they were just on the verge of jerking until Jian Yixin withdrew her fingers and separated from her.

“It’s done,” Jian Yixin said gently.

Lin Qinglu didn’t reply.

She was preoccupied with secretly letting out the breath she had been holding. Halfway through releasing it, she was met with Luo Chun’s probing gaze, and the remaining half became wedged in her throat.

The measurement-taking process was quickly completed, and the dressmaker took Su Ting back to revise some details. Jian Yixin also tactfully departed after them, leaving the two to continue talking about the matter regarding the endorsements.

But what she didn’t know was that Movie Queen Lin and her manager had strayed from that topic.

Lin Qinglu drank some water, and only then did she begin to come to her senses.

Speaking of Song Pianxian, she’s just like a calamity, always making people feel ill at ease.

Her heart was filled with sweetness though her face was nonchalant as she read the script.

Luo Chun crossed her arms and stared at this actress of hers. Observing her glowing face and the excessively spirited air all around her, she suddenly asked,

“Is Song Pianxian aware that you’re bent?”

The author wants to say something:

ROI: return on investment (ROI) refers to the value that should be returned through investment, that is, the economic return that a company receives from an investment activity.

TL Notes:

…and Luo Chun ends off the chapter with that comment! Find out what happens next time on Dragon Ball Z Fall in Love with a Substitute!

[1] ROI = profit/cost of investment; Author’s note also has an explanation

[2] most of you prob know already but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam 

[3] 山明水净 (“brilliant mountains and clear rivers”)  is also from part of a poem called 《秋词》which translates to “Poem of Autumn”; full line from the poem is “山明水净夜来霜,数树深红出浅黄。”; poem by Liu Yuxi; dunno if they’re referencing this or not but thought i’d put it

[4] 招蜂引蝶: “to attract bees and butterflies”: means to be flirtatious or to attract the opposite sex

[5] not sure about the gender of this person btw

[6] type of traditional Chinese knot found on clothes like cheongsams; used similarly to buttons though a lot are now mainly for decoration

[7] 冷香 (leng3 xiang1): can be a general term for flowery scents or for women, but i think it’s referring to this perfume called Cool Wate