Chinese GL

I don't usually seek out quick transmigration novels, as they ask a lot of the reader (investing in multiple fictional worlds in a row) without necessarily providing the scaffolding to make that investment worthwhile. I'm conscious that it's a sort of gap in my reading, given the popularity of quick transmigration narratives, so when I came across In Love with a Substitute (和替身谈恋爱, pinyin: he tishen tan lian'ai), I thought I would give it a go. There were several factors that led me in this direction: the suggestion of transmigration bureaucracy shenanigans, hints of an over-arching meta-plot, and the fact that I would only be asked to invest in four different worlds, which indicated to me at least an intention on the author's part to deal with each in some detail.

The novel begins promisingly enough, with our protagonist Jian Yixin. She is an agent from the 'substitutes' department of the Transmigration Bureau, and her job is to be transmigrated into various books to 'fix' plot holes and inappropriate outcomes. There is a suggestion that she ended up in this position because she was previously a 'proper' transmigrator who failed her mission, and now her memories of that former life have been wiped. Jian Yixin is sent into four different worlds, where she assumes the role of four different characters, all of whom are named Song Pianxian, who all function as 'substitutes' of some kind in the original narrative. The first world is a showbiz romance, and Jian Yixin takes on the role of a trained dancer who works as movie star Lin Qinglu's dance double. The second world is a historical/court intrigue one, where Jian Yixin takes on the role of a princess who has to disguise herself as her dead brother, the crown prince, in order to bring peace to the realm. Her first order of business is to marry her brother's betrothed, the noblewoman Feng Yuexian. The third world is a sort of CEO romance but set in the near future and in a queernorm society. Here Jian Yixin takes on the role of a seemingly penniless but hard-working young woman who has become the girlfriend of a wealthy young (male) CEO due to her resemblance to the CEO's first love, a formidable business executive named Nie Lingbo. The fourth world is a xianxia one, and the role Jian Yixin plays is that of a sentient magical marionette designed to protect her human mistress' life: if one of them dies, they both die. Her mistress here is a young, recently orphaned cultivator named Yu Yi. As is the case with most such stories, Lin Qinglu, Feng Yuxian, Nie Lingbo and Yu Yi turn out to be manifestations of the same woman, Jian Yixin's love interest. Her real name is Qing Lu, although we don't learn that till quite late into the novel.

( spoilers for the novel )

I read the Chinese original of the novel on JJWXC.