The Stand-in Side Character Only Wants to Make Money – CH3

Chapter 3 – Professional Stand-In in Progress!

In the end, Chen Bai unlocked the door for his silent customer.

After confirming the house ownership and showing his records, he began the unlocking process. His workflow was clear and professional.

Click—

In the quiet space, the sound of the lock being opened echoed as the door swung open.

Chen Bai stood up and casually dusted off his hands, saying, “That’ll be fifty.”

As he pulled up the payment code, he added with a grin, “It should’ve been more, but since you’re my neighbor and a good-looking one at that, I’ll give you a discount.”

The handsome guy took out his phone to pay.

With the payment received, Chen Bai glanced down at his phone, smiled, then swiftly packed up his tools and retreated into his own apartment. Before closing his door, he waved, his eyes gleaming, “See you! Sweet dreams.”

Turns out, he really was a legit locksmith.

Xu Sinian, still holding his phone, watched as the door shut in front of him.

The person who had just left seemed to have something urgent, as they closed the door without hesitation, and faint footsteps could still be heard quickly fading away.

After just a glance, he shifted his gaze back, put away his phone, and walked through the open door.

Chen Bai was in a hurry to get back to streaming.

With the unexpected locksmith job, he returned to his computer just in time to start his stream. After quickly adjusting the equipment, he went live exactly at his usual time.

As time passed, people started gathering in the stream on schedule. Shortly after the stream started, familiar IDs began popping up in the chat.

[Right on time, Er Bai!]

[Daily question: Did Er Bai lose today?]

[He didn’t lose yesterday, so frustrating! Let’s see what happens today!]

[Bai, your camera looks a little crooked.]

“You guys really love to see me fail, huh?” Chen Bai glanced at the comments while adjusting the camera, chatting casually with the viewers as he waited for the game to load.

The small window in the upper left corner of the screen wobbled noticeably, then started spinning, making viewers dizzy.

[Master, stop shaking it!!]

[Losing ranks myself is bad enough, but watching Chen Er Bai rank up is even worse!]

[The world’s spinning, but it’s the digital version.]

The game screen had loaded, so Chen Bai quickly finished adjusting the camera and said, “Bear with it for a bit.”

As soon as he said that, the camera began to shake violently again. At one point, it tilted sharply upward, revealing his neck, but stopped just before his chin came into view, then returned to its usual position.

[Damn it! So close!]

[Curious what Er Bai looks like. Why doesn’t he show his face?]

[Well played, Bai! That was some timely camera work.]

After finally fixing the angle, Chen Bai pulled his hands back and glanced at the chat, smiling as he said, “There’s nothing special about how I look. Just one nose, two eyes like everyone else. Nothing worth seeing.”

He then opened the game and asked, “Which map do you guys want to play today?”

The topic was easily shifted.

To make up for the time lost earlier, Chen Bai streamed for an extra half hour that night. After finishing and washing up, he collapsed onto his bed and shut his eyes peacefully.

Since he stayed up late, when his alarm rang the next morning, a hand reached out from under the covers, expertly silencing the phone without even opening his eyes.

The room fell silent once again, and he remained motionless.

It wasn’t until sunlight streamed in through the window, directly hitting his eyelids, that the body lying like a corpse finally stirred.

“…”

With a slow-moving brain, vague awareness flickered. Suddenly realizing something, Chen Bai bolted upright, scrambling around the bed to find his phone, which he had tossed aside.

The phone was already off.

As it rebooted, he rolled out of bed and, still sporting bedhead, hurried to the bathroom.

It was the start of a new month, and today was the day he had arranged to meet with Huo Chuan, according to the side character’s original schedule.

He had seen the reminder in his memo and made sure to set an alarm the day before to avoid oversleeping.

But the alarm had clearly failed to prevent that.

The alarm had been set for 8:30, but it was nearly 10:00 when he woke up, and the lunch meeting was at 11:30.

It would take over an hour to get to the restaurant from here. Taking a taxi would be faster, but Chen Bai, adamant about saving every penny, decided to take the subway instead.

His brain hadn’t fully booted up yet, but his body was on autopilot. After taming his messy hair, he quickly got dressed.

Although he didn’t know much about the “white moonlight” character of the domineering CEO, he could guess that someone of noble birth probably wouldn’t wear a mix of a T-shirt and a bargain-bin jacket.

From the back of his closet, he pulled out a shirt hanging on a rack, then managed to find a beige wool cardigan and threw it on. Grabbing his keys, he headed out.

Even though he was in a rush, he didn’t forget breakfast. Downstairs, he hurried to the breakfast shop. Since it was past breakfast hours, there wasn’t much left, but the owner sold him a leek pie that had been set aside for himself.

Objectively speaking, the leek pie was delicious.

Subjectively, as Chen Bai’s brain finally started working, he realized that someone like “white moonlight” probably wouldn’t eat a leek pie.

And definitely wouldn’t eat one right before a meeting.

“…”

He hadn’t even met his contact yet, but Chen Bai had already accepted that his job, which hadn’t even started, was likely doomed to end today.

Stubbornly finishing the pie, he bit his tongue while walking and eating.

The restaurant was located in the city center, on the top floor of a landmark building. When he arrived by subway, it was just about the appointed time.

Fortunately, Huo Chuan, being a busy man, hadn’t arrived yet. The staff escorted Chen Bai to his seat.

He didn’t look at the menu, just sat down and idly gazed out the window.

The seat was by the window, and from here, the view was of various buildings below and a wide river cutting through the city. The bridge over the river was bustling with traffic, while a ferry slowly sailed beneath, the water sparkling in the sunlight. It all looked so peaceful.

Then, on the bridge, two cars collided, shattering the peaceful scene.

The drivers got out to argue, and in less than a minute, they started throwing punches. Chen Bai, who had been about to look away, found himself glued to the scene, even leaning forward a bit.

Huo Chuan arrived shortly after.

He had been delayed by something and arrived later than expected.

The manager had been waiting for him, saying the other person had already arrived, and led him to the table.

As they walked, the manager stole a glance at the man beside him.

The tall man had an impassive face, dressed in a black suit, and his perfectly tailored trousers swayed like they carried a breeze as he walked, exuding an intense sense of authority.

Huo Chuan, the head of a prestigious family, wasn’t someone the manager knew well, but he had heard of him. Customers often mentioned that he frequently appeared on financial news channels and kept a clean public image, with little gossip surrounding him.

For someone who rarely made headlines, Huo Chuan’s face showed a slight change when he looked over at the figure sitting by the window.

Outside the window was an endless expanse of blue sky. A thin figure propped their head on their hand, looking down out the window. Their white shirt was spotless, and the long lashes cast overlapping shadows around their eyes in the bright light.

Noticing the movement nearby, the person turned their head. Their light, almost gray pupils glanced over, like an ice-cold needle piercing straight into the heart.

Step by step, Huo Chuan slowly approached until he stood by the table. He raised his hand slightly, but just before his fingertips could brush the slightly messy strands of hair, the person seated turned their head, neatly avoiding his touch.

For a moment, the atmosphere was subtly tense.

The manager, standing silently on the side, was at a loss for how to react, ears perked up in anticipation.

Huo Chuan withdrew his hand, saying softly, “Sorry.”

The person sitting responded calmly, “It’s fine.” The manager couldn’t resist stealing another glance at him.

No wonder he could have a private meal with Mr. Huo! To remain so composed in such a situation!

In truth, Chen Bai wasn’t calm.

Rather than calm, it was more like he had already predicted the outcome, so he could remain unfazed by anything that happened.

When he dodged the prestigious client’s hand, he knew he was one step closer to the end of this job.

Fortunately, the client didn’t immediately fire him on the spot. Instead, Huo Chuan sat down across from him and asked, “Have you been waiting long?”

Chen Bai kept his words short, replying, “Just got here.”

Distracted by the scene outside earlier, he hadn’t noticed how time had passed. Now, as he regained focus, the tongue he had accidentally bitten while eating the leek pie earlier began to throb with pain, each word causing a sharp sting.

Since he no longer believed he could keep this job, he chose to minimize his pain. He figured it would be better to lose the job with less suffering.

Today was bound to be a wasted trip, though he regretted not being able to finish watching the drama outside. By the time he looked back, all he could see was an ambulance leaving.

He had no idea which driver had won the fight.

Surprisingly, Huo Chuan showed no displeasure at his brief reply and asked what he wanted to eat.

The taste of the leek pie still lingered in his mind, and with his bitten tongue needing some relief, Chen Bai—an avid fan of spicy food—rarely ordered a mild dish.

From his personal perspective, “mild” equated to “flavorless.” Still, out of basic respect for food, he forced himself to finish the bland meat and tasteless soup while engaging in a stilted conversation, struggling to get each word out.

When their chat finally wrapped up, he stood up and excused himself to the restroom.

On his way to the restroom, he passed an unused piano tucked into a corner. On his way back, there were now two people standing by the piano.

One was the manager, whom he had seen earlier. His facial expression was noticeably less controlled than before, with his brow furrowed deeply as he said:

“…Are you saying that the accident on the bridge was caused by him getting hurt in a collision, so he can’t come play the piano?”

Unexpectedly, Chen Bai was able to catch the follow-up to the drama he had witnessed earlier. He paused, glancing curiously at the manager.

The other person replied, “No, Mr. Zhang happened to be passing by and was so engrossed in watching that he tripped and fell. He landed on the railing, injuring his hand, and had to be taken away by ambulance. It’s probably a fracture.”

Manager: “…”

Chen Bai: “…”

So the person in the ambulance was him, after all.

It was hard to know what to make of the situation. Without lingering, Chen Bai continued back to his seat.

When he returned, his client had just put away his phone, and he overheard, “We’ll talk later.”

Chen Bai immediately understood—the busy CEO was about to cut the meal short and leave early.

It would be his first and last job with him.

Sure enough, after sitting down, Huo Chuan said, “That was a work call—something urgent came up.”

Chen Bai nodded, quietly waiting for the rest.

Then Huo Chuan added, “Next time we meet, this won’t happen.”

“Got it.”

And just like that, a job that had barely started was already over. He could only hope to get some compensation for his trouble. Chen Bai gave an “OK” sign, but then realized something was off: “…Wait, huh?”

Next time? What next time?

Huo Chuan stood up, his gaze passing over Chen Bai’s slightly bewildered expression. The gentle look on his face faded back to its usual impassiveness as he left.

That guy changes his expression pretty quickly.

With Huo Chuan gone, Chen Bai didn’t leave.

Faced with a choice between seeing his boss off and staying to enjoy the untouched dessert, he chose to respect the food. The meal had been bland, but it was free, and he wasn’t going to waste any of it.

After finishing the last bite of dessert, he suddenly remembered something and called out to the manager as he passed by.

Hearing someone call his name, the manager turned sharply, only to be met with a serious expression.

He had seen that expression before—on customers who complained about the food. Quickly recalling today’s menu, the manager matched Chen Bai’s serious look and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Chen Bai politely replied, “Does the restaurant happen to need a pianist?”