Foreseeing the Future: The Scheming Film Queen and I Got Married - Chapter 12

Three days earlier.

“I skimmed through this script before. It feels pretty good. Most importantly, this is Director Lin’s movie. You know Director Lin’s films—every single one becomes a hit, without exception.” Her manager, Jiang Qi, had her long hair pinned up, her scalp looking slightly taut because it had been combed too tightly.

She handed the script to the person sitting on the sofa.

Gu Shiqiu took it, opened to the first page, and began reading carefully.

Jiang Qi did not disturb her. She sat on one side of the sofa and waited for her to finish.

Gu Shiqiu closed the script.

“How is it? Do you think it’s okay?” Jiang Qi asked.

Gu Shiqiu nodded. “This script is very good. Thank you for arranging it for me, Sister Jiang.”

Jiang Qi said, “What arranging? Director Lin named you from the start as the person he wanted for the role. I’m just the messenger.”

Gu Shiqiu said, “You’re being modest, Sister Jiang.”

Jiang Qi smiled. She had always felt that Gu Shiqiu could be considered one of the easiest people to talk to in the entire industry. Gentle and mild, she made anyone feel comfortable around her, no matter their status.

Modest and polite, never fighting or competing. Jiang Qi had worked with her for many years and had never even seen her get angry with anyone.

Her personality was truly excellent.

But she was also truly distant.

Being good with everyone also meant that, in truth, she was only ordinary with everyone. It gave people a sense of distance.

“The female lead in this script is a mural artist. There will be quite a few professional things filmed. I’ve already organized some related knowledge and sent it to your phone. Look through it when you have time and study it a little,” Jiang Qi said.

Gu Shiqiu nodded.

After seeing Jiang Qi off, Gu Shiqiu picked up her phone and opened the file Jiang Qi had sent.

The file neatly listed quite a lot of content. There was professional knowledge, as well as some mural works that had recently become popular online.

Gu Shiqiu looked through them one by one. Time flew by quickly, and just like that, she spent the whole afternoon reading.

Gu Shiqiu had always treated acting seriously. Once she decided to play a certain role, she would spend a long time understanding and studying that character’s profession and personality. She might not learn it to a professional level, but she would at least gain a rough, overall understanding.

Aside from some collected images and works, the file also contained quite a few mural artists’ accounts.

She opened the account of a mural artist who had recently become popular. The ID was “Eat Eat Eat,” and the profile picture matched the name: a plate of braised pork belly.

Gu Shiqiu opened the latest Weibo post. It was from a week ago.

The video was around two minutes long. The entire video focused on the mural creation process. The blogger only showed her hands and did not even say a single word.

The video went from an unformed lump of pigment at the beginning to a completed landscape painting at the end. The visual effect was extremely striking.

No wonder it had become popular. Even Gu Shiqiu could not help becoming absorbed as she watched it. When the painting was finally completed, she was genuinely amazed.

At the end, the person skillfully wrote a signature in the lower right corner of the mural.

The screen went black, and the video ended.

Gu Shiqiu’s expression froze. Then she quickly dragged the progress bar back to the moment when the blogger wrote the signature in the lower right corner.

She paused it, zoomed in, and looked carefully.

Gu Shiqiu abruptly stood up, returned to her room, and took out the photo album sitting on her bedside table.

She opened the last page of the album. A piece of drawing paper was tucked inside that page. The paper had yellowed, clearly having some age to it.

On the drawing paper was an anime-style head of a little girl. In the lower right corner of that anime head, just like in the video, there was a signature.

The exact same signature: “Dong.”

Gu Shiqiu repeatedly compared the signature in the video with the one on the drawing paper. Gradually, she confirmed that they had indeed come from the same person’s hand.

Gu Shiqiu pressed her lips together, picked up her phone, and made a call. “Help me look into someone…”

After hanging up, Gu Shiqiu looked at the yellowed drawing paper in her hand, then looked at the Weibo account named “Eat Eat Eat.” Her brows lifted slightly, and for some reason, she smiled.

Dong Yao was extremely shocked. She had actually run into Gu Shiqiu here.

After Gu Shiqiu got out of the car, her gaze first landed on the painting tool case in Dong Yao’s hand. Only then did her gaze move to Dong Yao’s face.

A trace of surprise flashed across her face.

“It’s you,” Gu Shiqiu said.

Dong Yao suddenly recalled the time she had gone crazy from drinking. She remembered the shirt button she had torn off Gu Shiqiu. Clearly, she had blacked out and not remembered much before, but now she could recall it vividly.

Gu Shiqiu’s collarbones were very beautiful…

Dong Yao shook her head and hurriedly pulled back her thoughts. What kind of place had her mind wandered to?

Pretending to be calm, Dong Yao said, “You still remember me?”

Gu Shiqiu smiled faintly. “Of course. The little girl who knows how to read palms. And also…”

Dong Yao looked embarrassed and silently chanted in her heart, Don’t mention it, don’t mention it, don’t mention it…

As if Gu Shiqiu had truly heard Dong Yao’s thoughts, she smiled lightly and did not continue.

Dong Yao let out a breath of relief.

“Wait a moment.” Gu Shiqiu returned to the car, took out a packet of tissues, and handed it to her. “Wipe yourself.”

Dong Yao took it, thanked her, and wiped the dirty stains on her face.

The more she wiped, the more she felt it smelled.

Ever since Dong Yao learned that Gu Shiqiu would be her future partner, she had fantasized about their first meeting many times. It could be grand and dramatic, or it could be ordinary and calm.

Anything would have been fine.

But first going crazy from drinking, and now being covered in smelly water like this—it was really… hard to describe in a few words.

Gu Shiqiu said, “You won’t be able to clean yourself properly by wiping like that. How about this? I have clean clothes in the car. Why don’t you change?”

Dong Yao quickly shook her head. “No need. I’ll go home and change.”

Gu Shiqiu nodded. “That works too. Then get in the car. I’ll send you home.”

“No need. My house is just up ahead…” Dong Yao stopped halfway through her sentence.

Gu Shiqiu did not rush her either. She quietly looked at her, waiting for what she would say next.

Dong Yao’s mind spun rapidly. If she kept rejecting Gu Shiqiu like this, would she cut off the connection between them?

Dong Yao opened her mouth. Her words circled around and around, and in the end, she said, “It’s fine. No need to send me. My house is just up ahead. I’ll go first.”

After saying that, she turned and left. After walking a few steps, she could not help turning back to glance again.

Gu Shiqiu was still standing where she was, backlit by the sun, her whole body seeming to be covered in a halo.

Gu Shiqiu was not only out of place in this small town. She was also out of place with Dong Yao herself. They were not people from the same world.

If the connection between herself and Gu Shiqiu was so shallow that rejecting her twice could cut it off, then perhaps such a connection should not exist in the first place.

Forget it. She would not think about it anymore. The urgent matter was taking a shower and changing clothes. This whole body of smelly water sticking to her was becoming unbearable even to herself.

“Teacher Gu, please get in the car,” the man in the suit said.

Gu Shiqiu watched the person walking farther away and did not move her gaze for a long time, as if thinking about something.

“Teacher Gu?” the man in the suit called again.

Gu Shiqiu withdrew her gaze and said, “I won’t get in. Find a place to park. We’ll walk over.”

The man in the suit nodded.

Gu Shiqiu walked along the walls by the streets of the small town. On these walls, every so often, there was a painting. They were imaginative and varied: scenery, anime characters, and small animals.

These murals added quite a bit of color to the small town.

And in the lower right corner of every mural, there was the signed character “Dong.”

Gu Shiqiu reached out and touched the signature “Dong,” murmuring to herself, “Found you.”

The man in the suit had already parked the car and walked over. “Teacher Gu, is this the mural you were looking for?”

Gu Shiqiu nodded. “Yes. This is it.”

The man in the suit smiled. He did not quite understand why Gu Shiqiu wanted to look for this or why she had come all the way to such a remote, faraway little town, but as an employee, he did not dare ask too much about his boss’s business.

“Now that we’ve found where these murals are, things will be simple. If we ask around nearby, we should be able to find the person who painted them very quickly,” the man in the suit said. “Teacher Gu, you can wait in the car. I’ll go ask around.”

Gu Shiqiu shook her head. “No need.”

Gu Shiqiu thought back to the person who had been splashed with dirty water just now: the paint stains on her white T-shirt, the painting tools in her hand, and those slender, nimble hands.

The moment she had seen Dong Yao just now, Gu Shiqiu had already confirmed it.

She had found the person.

And this person was someone she had met before.

Gu Shiqiu walked slowly along the wall, admiring the paintings on it.

It seemed she truly liked painting. Otherwise, she would not have painted so many murals in a place no one cared about.

Just then, from around the corner of the wall came the sound of a child crying.

Gu Shiqiu did not pay attention and continued admiring the mural on the wall—until the crying voice mentioned a name.

“It was Sister Dong Yao! She said it! Wuwuwu…”

“She was talking nonsense. My little ancestor, stop crying.” The little boy’s mother held him and comforted him.

Gu Shiqiu’s brows lifted slightly. She pricked up her ears and listened.

The little boy sobbed and said, “How can Gu Shiqiu be a boy? She can’t be a boy.”

The boy’s mother patted his back, helping him catch his breath. “Of course she’s not a man. Your Sister Dong Yao was just teasing you.”

The little boy’s sobbing eased slightly. “Really?”

“Of course it’s true.”

“But Sister Dong Yao said Gu Shiqiu is a man disguised as a woman.”

“She was talking nonsense. That girl loves spouting nonsense the most. Don’t listen to her.”

Gu Shiqiu’s expression shifted, and she did not know whether to laugh or cry.

A man disguised as a woman. Why would she have such a strange idea? And why was she so sure of it?

Or perhaps, that was not what she should be curious about right now.

Instead…

Gu Shiqiu sank into her memories.

“Don’t move. I’m almost done drawing.”

The person with two little horn-like pigtails and a soft, childish voice was holding a pencil and sketching on a drawing board.

Little Gu Shiqiu sat on the flower bed. She wanted to move, but the other child fiercely stopped her. She pouted, feeling wronged.

This person was so fierce. She did not want to play with her at all!

After finishing the drawing, the little girl with pigtails curled her lips in satisfaction and admired it for a moment. Then, in the lower right corner of the paper, she habitually wrote the character “Dong.”

This drawing did not look like something a five-year-old child could draw. The technique was mature and steady, and the strokes were extremely practiced. Even a highly talented child would find it hard to produce such a mature work.

The little girl with pigtails handed the drawing to Little Gu Shiqiu. “Here.”

Little Gu Shiqiu unwillingly accepted it. She looked at it, and her eyes instantly lit up. “It’s pretty. You’re amazing. You drew it so well.”

“Of course. I’m very amazing.” The little girl with pigtails lifted her head, not modest at all. “Keep this painting safe. This is the token of affection I’m giving you. You have to treasure it properly.”

Little Gu Shiqiu looked at her in confusion. “What’s a token of affection?”

The little girl with pigtails spoke like a tiny adult. “A token of affection means that when you grow up, you have to become my wife.”

Little Gu Shiqiu understood. Her face turned red. “I don’t want to.”

The little girl with pigtails found her reaction amusing and pinched her face. Unsurprisingly, it hurt.

Tears welled up in Little Gu Shiqiu’s eyes, but she dared to be angry and did not dare speak.

The little girl with pigtails said, “What do you mean, you don’t want to? You have to. In the future, stay away from those little boys and girls. You must always remember that you have a fiancée and that you’re engaged from childhood. You’re not allowed to flirt around outside. A person must remain faithful from beginning to end. Do you understand?”

These words coming from a child’s mouth were truly out of place.

Little Gu Shiqiu did not understand what she said, but she instinctively shook her head. “I don’t want to.”

“You have to even if you don’t want to. You already accepted the drawing.”

“Then I’ll give it back to you.”

“No. Once you accept it, you can’t return it.”

“You’re bullying me!”

That child left behind a drawing, said a bunch of strange things, and from then on, never appeared again.