Foreseeing the Future: The Scheming Film Queen and I Got Married - Chapter 15

At four in the morning, Dong Yao was woken by her alarm. With dark circles under her eyes, she climbed out of bed in a daze.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” Zhong Ximei saw her yawning nonstop, her dark circles so deep she could practically become a national treasure.

Dong Yao washed her face with cold water. “I’m fine.”

As she said she was fine, she yawned again.

Last night, she really had not slept well. She had lain down at eleven, but tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep even by two in the morning. The more she lay there, the clearer her thoughts became. It was only around three that she barely managed to doze off for a while.

She had slept for only one hour the entire night. It would be hard not to feel sleepy now.

Zhong Ximei was busy in the kitchen preparing for opening the shop in the morning, while Dong Yao helped out.

She took pickled long beans from the jar, washed them, gathered them together, picked up the kitchen knife, and skillfully cut the beans into small pieces, placing them in a bowl for later use.

She yawned while chopping.

Zhong Ximei took a moment to glance at her. Unable to keep watching, she walked over and took the kitchen knife away from her.

Dong Yao’s brain lagged for a long while before she spoke. “Mom, what are you doing?”

“If you’re sleepy, go back and sleep. With you like this, don’t end up chopping your hand off,” Zhong Ximei said.

“How is it that exaggerated?” As she spoke, Dong Yao patted her face and shook her head, driving away her sleepiness. “It’s fine. I can continue.”

“All right, all right. Stop chopping vegetables. Go wash those scallions,” Zhong Ximei arranged.

Dong Yao nodded, then went to wash the scallions. Naturally, she yawned endlessly throughout the process.

While cutting vegetables, Zhong Ximei asked, “What did you do last night? Didn’t sleep the whole night?”

Dong Yao’s yawn stopped halfway. She coughed lightly and did not speak.

What had she done last night?

Actually, she had done nothing. But she just could not sleep. Over and over, she kept thinking about one person and one thing. From time to time, she took out her phone and looked at someone she had just added yesterday.

She scrolled through that person’s Moments, looked at her profile picture, and studied her WeChat name.

In reality, though, the person’s Moments were set to show only the past three days, and she had not posted anything in those three days. There was nothing to see at all. Her profile picture was just a big orange cat, and her ID was simply blank.

There was nothing to look at, yet Dong Yao still stared for a long time.

The chat record was still stopped at the system notification: “I have accepted your friend request.” Since they had added each other, an entire night had passed, and they had not chatted about anything.

Since they were not chatting, why had they added each other?

Dong Yao lost sleep over these boring questions again and again.

At six o’clock, the breakfast shop opened on time. Customers came in one after another, and once they got busy, they were busy the entire morning.

After the rush finally ended, Dong Yao rolled her sore neck and took out the phone she had kept in her pocket all morning without having time to look at it.

It was already past one. There was a notification on her phone from an account with a big orange cat as its profile picture.

Dong Yao’s eyes lit up.

It was Gu Shiqiu.

She hurriedly tapped into it.

Gu Shiqiu: Good morning.

There was also a good-morning animated sticker attached afterward.

Dong Yao looked at that sticker over and over again, then suddenly smiled. After hesitating for a few seconds, she replied in a proper, ordinary manner: Morning.

Her phone vibrated. The other party replied almost instantly.

Gu Shiqiu: I thought you weren’t planning to reply to my message.

Dong Yao stared at that message and froze for a second. The other party quickly sent another pitiful-looking cat sticker.

Holding back a smile, Dong Yao replied: No, I was busy before. I only just had time to check my phone.

Gu Shiqiu: I see.

Dong Yao: Yeah.

Once they reached this point, it seemed there was nothing else to talk about. Dong Yao typed a few words, deleted them, typed a few more, then deleted them again. After struggling for a full minute, she sent nothing.

During this process, the other side also went quiet.

Dong Yao put down her phone, feeling a little unable to understand herself. Usually, she talked a lot, chirping nonstop. Whether online or in real life, she was always the person with far too many words.

So why was it that once she faced Gu Shiqiu, she could not squeeze out a single sentence after half a day?

Dong Yao could not help picking up her phone again. Looking at the few lines of conversation, she frowned. Why had Gu Shiqiu stopped replying? Had she gone to work?

But even if she had not gone to work, after Dong Yao replied with “Yeah,” there was no way for her to continue, right? Should she add another sticker?

But five minutes had already passed. Would adding a sticker now seem too deliberate?

Her phone vibrated. Dong Yao quickly focused on it. Lin Yunyi had sent a message. Dong Yao pouted and replied with a “shut up” sticker.

Lin Yunyi immediately threw over four or five messages.

Lin Yunyi: What is wrong with you!

Lin Yunyi: You’re getting more and more casual and perfunctory with me. Am I your simp or what?

Lin Yunyi: Why should I shut up? Get lost!! Crawl away!!

Finally, she sent three or four hitting stickers.

Dong Yao found it funny and replied: What happened? Did the students in your class make you angry again?

Lin Yunyi: Exactly. You have no idea…

She sent a long string of messages, then directly switched to voice messages. Dong Yao was already used to it. Even without listening, she knew what Lin Yunyi was saying in that one-minute voice message.

She chatted with Lin Yunyi on and off. In the middle, a new notification popped up on her phone.

Dong Yao’s expression paused. Then she decisively abandoned Lin Yunyi and switched to the “Big Orange Cat” chat window.

Gu Shiqiu: Something came up just now, so I left for a little while.

Dong Yao quickly replied: Are you very busy?

Gu Shiqiu: Not really. I was only busy for a little while just now. Now I can properly chat with you.

Dong Yao: Chat… about what?

At the top of the chat, it showed: “The other party is typing…”

For some reason, Dong Yao began to feel a little expectant. During this time, Lin Yunyi sent several more messages.

Lin Yunyi: Where did you go?

Lin Yunyi: I’m talking to you!

Lin Yunyi: Reply to me.

Lin Yunyi: Just you wait. When I get off work, I’m going to your place and twist your head off.

Helpless, Dong Yao switched back out and replied: I’m chatting with my future partner. Don’t be noisy.

Lin Yunyi’s gossiping face practically came through the screen: Who? Who! Who??!!

Dong Yao: Gu Shiqiu.

Lin Yunyi was silent for two seconds, then replied: Fine, you’re amazing. Just to avoid replying to my messages, you’ve started going crazy. Tsk tsk tsk. Sure enough, friendships are all the same. Once they last too long, people get tired of them.

Dong Yao: …

Gu Shiqiu sent a message. After so long showing “typing,” Dong Yao had thought Gu Shiqiu would say a lot, but in the end, there was only one sentence: It’s raining over here. Is it raining where you are?

Dong Yao: No.

After replying, she felt that this response was too stiff, so she added: The sun is huge. It’s so hot I’m about to be steamed alive.

Gu Shiqiu: Hahahaha.

Dong Yao: Are you taking pleasure in my suffering?

Gu Shiqiu: No.

Gu Shiqiu: Really, no.

Dong Yao: I was joking~

Gu Shiqiu: Were you very busy this morning? Did a lot of customers come to the shop?

Dong Yao: Yeah, there were especially many people. Today was probably the busiest day so far…

At first, Dong Yao could not quite open up while chatting. But as they continued, the floodgates opened. By the end, when she looked back, the chat record had turned into Gu Shiqiu saying one sentence and Dong Yao replying with three or four, even five or six sentences. And most of what she replied was repetitive nonsense.

Would Gu Shiqiu think she talked too much?

Dong Yao began to worry.

When she talked too little, she agonized. When she talked too much, she also agonized.

Dong Yao felt a little restless.

But Gu Shiqiu seemed very good at soothing people, even through a screen.

Just now, Dong Yao had sent three sentences, most of them nonsense, but not only did Gu Shiqiu not find it annoying, she replied to every point mentioned in those three sentences.

Sometimes, even when that topic had clearly already been skipped, Gu Shiqiu would still circle back and specifically respond to the point that had been missed.

Dong Yao’s unease gradually calmed as every sentence received a response.

In truth, they had not chatted for very long, nor had they talked about anything important. But still, chatting had been rather happy.

For the next few days, Dong Yao would always receive Gu Shiqiu’s good morning message early in the day. After each of them finished their respective work, they would also briefly chat for a sentence or two.

This continued for five days. On the sixth day, the fixed good morning message did not arrive.

Dong Yao stared at the phone lying on the table, her fingers tapping the tabletop every now and then.

Her phone vibrated. Dong Yao quickly picked it up.

A news notification.

Dong Yao put the phone down in disappointment and rested her head on the table, continuing to wait.

Was Gu Shiqiu very busy today? Why had she not said good morning?

The phone vibrated.

Dong Yao immediately sat up straight and picked it up. When she saw it, her eyes lit up. It was a message from “Big Orange Cat.”

Gu Shiqiu: Good morning~

Dong Yao pouted: It’s already afternoon. It’s not early anymore.

To show that she was unhappy, Dong Yao even deliberately picked an angry pouting sticker.

One minute passed, and Gu Shiqiu did not reply.

Dong Yao became restless.

Just then, Lin Yunyi sent two words: Idiot.

Dong Yao was baffled. She tapped in and only then realized that she had shared a cold joke with Lin Yunyi two days ago. Two days later, Lin Yunyi had replied with the word “idiot.”

Dong Yao looked at the chat record she had sent Lin Yunyi two days ago and fell into thought.

Lin Yunyi had not replied to her for two days, and Dong Yao did not care. She had even forgotten about it. But Gu Shiqiu had only been a few hours late and had not sent the good morning message she sent every day, yet Dong Yao had become this anxious and even faintly angry?

Dong Yao frowned, sensing the extremity of her own emotions.

Just then, the phone rang.

Gu Shiqiu had called her on voice call.

Dong Yao looked at the incoming call notification, took a slight deep breath, and pressed answer.

“Are you angry?” Gu Shiqiu’s gentle voice came through the phone receiver and entered her ear.

Dong Yao touched her nose. “No.”

Gu Shiqiu laughed softly. That laughter made it feel as though she were truly laughing right beside Dong Yao’s ear, making her feel tingly and numb.

Dong Yao unconsciously fiddled with the tissues on the table. “Why did you call?”

Gu Shiqiu said, “I wanted to confirm whether you were angry.”

Dong Yao choked. “I’m not angry. I just thought that angry sticker looked cute, so I sent it to you.”

“Oh.” Gu Shiqiu’s tone sounded slightly disappointed. “I see. I thought you were angry.”

Dong Yao stopped playing with the tissue. “Why does your tone make it sound like you wanted me to be angry?”

“It’s not that I wanted you to be angry. It’s just…” Gu Shiqiu’s voice paused, then continued, “It’s strange. If you were angry because I didn’t say good morning to you, I would feel a little happy.”

Dong Yao froze for a moment, then coughed lightly.

From the other end of the call came the sound of someone calling for Gu Shiqiu to come over.

Dong Yao said, “Are you busy? Hurry and go work.”

Gu Shiqiu said, “Okay.”

Dong Yao did not hang up, wanting to wait for Gu Shiqiu to hang up first. But after two seconds, she still did not hear the beep of the call ending.

Curious, Dong Yao glanced at the phone and then heard Gu Shiqiu say, “I didn’t deliberately avoid saying good morning to you. I went to the filming set early this morning, and my phone stayed in the car the whole time. I didn’t get to check it.”

Dong Yao felt an inexplicable joy in her heart, but she tried to make her words sound as if she did not care very much. “Oh. Got it.”

Gu Shiqiu said, “It won’t happen next time.”

Someone urged her again from the other side.

Dong Yao hurriedly said, “Go over quickly. Don’t keep them waiting. I’ll hang up first.”

After saying that, she quickly hung up the call.

Dong Yao looked at her phone. The smile at the corners of her mouth widened, and finally, she laughed aloud.

It was strange.

She was just especially happy.