Foreseeing the Future: The Scheming Film Queen and I Got Married - Chapter 24

After three days, another mural was completed. Dong Yao took a step back, observed it for a moment, then nodded.

The braised pork belly painted on the wall looked fragrant just from looking at it. Dong Yao swallowed.

Suddenly thinking of something, Dong Yao took out her phone, photographed the full view of the mural, and sent it to Gu Shiqiu.

Dong Yao: The painting from before is finished. How is it? Doesn’t it look especially appetizing!

Gu Shiqiu did not reply. She was busy with work and usually took a long time to respond.

Dong Yao could understand that. Generally, she would not deliberately wait for Gu Shiqiu’s reply. But if Gu Shiqiu ever failed to send her a good morning message, Dong Yao would feel a little off inside.

Speaking of which, it was rather strange. Dong Yao herself could not figure out why she had to wait for Gu Shiqiu’s good morning. Once that good morning did not arrive, Dong Yao could brood over it for an entire day.

Of course, Gu Shiqiu had only failed to send good morning once. At that time, Dong Yao had expressed her unhappiness. After that, every single day, no matter how busy Gu Shiqiu was, her good morning would arrive on time.

Regarding this, Dong Yao expressed that Gu Shiqiu was very obedient!

By evening, Dong Yao packed up her things and planned to go home, but she caught sight of the sunset glow on the horizon.

She recalled Gu Shiqiu’s words: “It’s been a long time since I saw such a beautiful sunset.”

Dong Yao set down the toolbox she had just picked up, took her phone from her pocket, and adjusted the angle.

With a click, the photo was taken.

A picture of the sunset was sent over.

After sending it, she smiled foolishly at her phone screen. Then, feeling delighted, she picked up the toolbox and skipped toward home.

On the way, she ran into Little Wu playing with mud by the roadside and teased the little brat a little.

After that, she met Grandma Qin pushing a tricycle cart. The cart was piled full of empty bottles and cardboard. Dong Yao helped push it up the slope and earned a small candy in return. It was still the candy endorsed by Gu Shiqiu. Very sweet.

Passing by the convenience store, she waved and greeted Uncle Li.

After arriving home, Dong Yao held Zhong Ximei’s hand and acted spoiled. “Mom, can we eat braised pork belly today?”

Zhong Ximei slapped her hand away. “You order dishes from me all day long. You want this, you want that. Am I a chef you hired?”

Dong Yao shamelessly grinned.

During dinner, braised pork belly was served. Dong Yao was so happy she wanted to give Zhong Ximei a hug, but not only did she fail to hug her, she even got knocked on the head several times by Zhong Ximei, who told her not to stick to her all clingy like that.

Dong Yao took out her phone and photographed the braised pork belly.

Zhong Ximei noticed something was off. Usually, as soon as the dishes were served, Dong Yao immediately began eating without stopping. What was going on today? She even had the leisurely mood to take photos?

“Who are you taking that for?” Zhong Ximei’s face showed a trace of joy. “Did you get a boyfriend?”

Dong Yao sent the braised pork belly she had just photographed to Gu Shiqiu.

“Mom, can you stop bringing up boyfriends all the time?” Dong Yao looked at her a little speechlessly. “I’m home every day. In the morning I help you at the shop, in the afternoon I go paint, and at night I edit videos. Where would I have the time or opportunity to meet some boyfriend?”

Zhong Ximei raised her hand, about to knock Dong Yao on the head.

Dong Yao cleverly dodged.

“If it’s not a boyfriend, then who did you send it to?” Zhong Ximei asked.

“Gu Shiqiu,” Dong Yao said honestly. “Do you still remember her? The one who came to our house for dinner last time. The really pretty one.”

Zhong Ximei said, “I’m getting old, not senile. How could I not remember something that happened just a few days ago?”

Had it only been a few days? Dong Yao subconsciously felt that a long time had passed.

A long time. A very, very long time since she had seen Gu Shiqiu.

“You’re acting very strange. Lately, you keep holding your phone and smiling, taking a photo of this and a photo of that.” Zhong Ximei spread her hand in front of Dong Yao. “Let me see your phone.”

Dong Yao was dissatisfied. “Mom, how old am I already? I have privacy too.”

Zhong Ximei glared at her.

Dong Yao pouted and obediently handed over her phone.

Zhong Ximei opened the chat and scrolled upward. There were more than ten messages, all sent by Dong Yao to the other party, who had not replied.

A photo of a mural, another of the sunset, a picture of some wildflowers and weeds seen by the roadside, and then whatever she ate for dinner.

Looking at the contact name, it really was Gu Shiqiu.

“I didn’t lie to you, right? I already said I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m not dating a boyfriend. I’m going to stay single!” Dong Yao shouted unhappily.

“Why are you sending Little Gu so many random things?” Zhong Ximei felt a little disappointed because she had not found any trace of a boyfriend on Dong Yao’s phone.

She was truly worried that this silly daughter of hers would not be able to get married.

Dong Yao took her phone back and flipped through the chat history. “I didn’t send her random things.”

Zhong Ximei raised her hand and knocked her on the head.

Dong Yao covered her head. “Mom, can you stop always hitting my head?”

“You still say you didn’t send random things? Look at your chat history. She hasn’t replied to a single sentence, yet you keep sending messages. And they’re all meaningless, random things. She’s just too embarrassed to say you’re annoying,” Zhong Ximei said.

Dong Yao said, “That’s not true. She’s just too busy. She’ll definitely reply to me later. She won’t think I’m annoying.”

“You child.” Zhong Ximei shook her head.

Dong Yao snorted. “Anyway, she won’t think I’m annoying.”

How could Gu Shiqiu find her annoying? Dong Yao was completely certain. But when she lowered her head and saw the dozens of messages she had sent, doubt uncontrollably rose in her heart.

Putting herself in Gu Shiqiu’s shoes, if she was painting or working and her phone kept dinging, with someone sending over a dozen messages in one go, would she not find it annoying?

She probably would find it a little annoying.

Thinking of this, the braised pork belly that Dong Yao had been thinking about and loved the most suddenly lost its taste in her mouth.

Gu Shiqiu thinks I’m annoying.

Dong Yao finally came to this conclusion.

Dong Yao vented by chewing the meat in her mouth. Annoying was annoying. At worst, she would stop messaging her.

After dinner, a butterfly flew into the house and landed on the sketchbook Dong Yao had placed on the table. On it, she had drawn a flower.

Dong Yao subconsciously wanted to take out her phone, take a picture, and share it with Gu Shiqiu.

After the photo was taken, she hesitated and tapped cancel.

Forget it. She had already sent more than ten messages. If she sent more, the other party would definitely find her annoying. She had to be sensible and not bother her so much.

Dong Yao put down her phone and let out a long breath, forcibly restraining that surging desire to share.

Not sharing felt awful.

If she could not send it to Gu Shiqiu, then she could send it to someone else. Dong Yao searched around, but in the end, she sent it to no one and put down her phone.

All right. She had to admit that she only wanted to send it to Gu Shiqiu. She did not want to send it to anyone else.

Just as she put down her phone, she heard a ding.

Then a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth…

Dong Yao quickly picked up her phone, unlocked it, and after seeing the content, a smile climbed onto her face.

It was Big Orange Cat.

Gu Shiqiu: You finished that painting in only three days? That was very fast.

Gu Shiqiu: The sunset is beautiful. I can’t see that on my side.

Gu Shiqiu: Are these wildflowers by the roadside? They’re very pretty. I’ve never seen them before. Do you know what kind of flowers they are? I want to grow some.

Gu Shiqiu: You’re eating braised pork belly? Did Auntie make it? It looks delicious.

Gu Shiqiu: I didn’t have time to look at my phone all day today. I only have some free time now.

Gu Shiqiu: “…”

For the more than ten messages Dong Yao had sent, Gu Shiqiu replied to every single one without missing a single thing.

There was not the slightest bit of perfunctoriness.

Dong Yao read Gu Shiqiu’s messages twice. Holding her phone, she unconsciously swayed left and right because she was so happy.

See? How could Gu Shiqiu possibly find her annoying?

Although in her heart she felt that Gu Shiqiu definitely did not find her annoying, she still could not help asking.

Dong Yao: If I send you so many messages, will you think I’m really annoying?

Gu Shiqiu: Then do you think it’s annoying when I reply to you with more than ten messages?

Dong Yao froze for a moment, then replied decisively: How could it be annoying? I’m very happy.

Gu Shiqiu: Exactly. Very happy.

Looking at this message, Dong Yao laughed aloud, and her heart immediately felt full.

Dong Yao: Then in the future, I’ll still send you messages.

Gu Shiqiu: Okay~

When she looked at the time, one hour had evaporated just like that. Chatting with Gu Shiqiu always made time pass especially quickly. With a whoosh, one hour was gone.

Dong Yao: It’s very late. You worked all day and must be tired. Hurry and go to sleep.

Gu Shiqiu: Okay. You should rest early too.

Dong Yao: Mm-hm. Good night.

Gu Shiqiu: Good night~

After saying good night, they did not continue chatting. But Dong Yao did not put down her phone. Instead, she scrolled up and looked through their previous chat history.

What had they talked about?

Nothing much. Just casual everyday chatter, conversations without any special meaning.

But Dong Yao stared at those chat records with great interest for ten minutes. Only after she finished reading did she reluctantly put down her phone.

She tidied up a little and began editing the video.

Dong Yao sat in front of the computer, imported the footage from her phone, and began working.

She clicked open one video, and Gu Shiqiu’s figure had been recorded in the frame.

It was only a side profile. Gu Shiqiu was seriously painting at the time. After painting a few strokes, she asked, “Is this how I should paint it?”

In the video, Dong Yao found her clumsy and held her hand, guiding her stroke by stroke.

Gu Shiqiu looked at their joined hands and smiled.

Dong Yao paused the video and replayed it. That was right. Here, Gu Shiqiu had smiled.

Why had she smiled? Although only her side profile had been captured, that expression clearly meant: I’m deliberately pretending to be clumsy and deliberately not painting properly.

Dong Yao was angry. She had taught so seriously, and Gu Shiqiu had deliberately refused to learn properly.

After being angry, she smiled again. Gu Shiqiu was so childish. Why deliberately pretend to be clumsy?

Wasn’t that boring?

Dong Yao lay on the table and started laughing to herself. After laughing for a while, she straightened up and patted her face. All right, all right. Time to edit seriously.

After editing for a while, she unconsciously became absorbed in watching Gu Shiqiu in the video.

In the video, Gu Shiqiu kept staring at the version of Dong Yao in the video. Her gaze was gentle, and even carried a little… affection?

Dong Yao shook her head. What was she thinking? Affection or not—Gu Shiqiu was simply too gentle as a person. She looked at everyone with that same “affectionate” expression.

When the finished video was complete, Dong Yao cut out all the footage containing Gu Shiqiu and saved it in a separate folder.

As for the video she planned to post online, Dong Yao deliberately deleted every scene of Gu Shiqiu.

It was better not to include her. Although Dong Yao’s edited videos did not show faces and only showed hands, Gu Shiqiu was famous. There was no guarantee someone might not recognize her just from a pair of hands.

If someone really discovered it, Gu Shiqiu would probably be unhappy. After all, if Dong Yao posted Gu Shiqiu on her small, shabby account, it would seem as if she was leeching off Gu Shiqiu’s traffic.

Dong Yao instinctively did not want to take advantage of her like that.

After checking the finished video one last time and confirming there were no mistakes, she uploaded it online and posted it.

Caption: Today’s painting is my favorite braised pork belly. Everyone, come eat together. (doge) (doge)

Not long after the video was posted, it quickly received likes and comments.

Netizen 1: Based on observation, the blogger is definitely a big foodie!

Netizen 2: It’s the middle of the night, and I’m dieting. I couldn’t swipe to this during the day, but I couldn’t escape it at night.

Netizen 3: Wow, it’s so beautiful. I wonder if the blogger takes commissions? My home is being renovated, and I want to paint something in the living room, but I haven’t been able to find a suitable artist. I really like your style~

Netizen 4: Updates are too slow. Not enough to watch. Please update once a day.

Netizen 5: The person upstairs really just opens their mouth and says anything. What once a day? Please update ten times a day!

Netizen 6: …

Dong Yao looked through all the comments and picked a few questions to reply to.

By the time everything was done, she checked the time and found that it was already close to two.

She still had to get up at four in the morning to prepare for opening the shop. No, no, no. Next time, she could not stay up this late.

Dong Yao tidied up, climbed into bed, and soon fell asleep.

At four in the morning, she got up on time. Because she had slept too late, she had dark circles under her eyes and yawned nonstop.

All morning, she was busy. After seeing off the final customer in the shop, Dong Yao lay on the table to catch up on sleep.

At four in the afternoon, Dong Yao opened her eyes. Her neck was terribly sore. She pressed it with her hand.

Zhong Ximei said, “I told you to go back to your room to sleep, but you insisted on lying there. Now you know it hurts, right?”

Dong Yao grimaced and pressed her neck for quite a while before finally suppressing the soreness.

“Did you sleep very late yesterday?” Zhong Ximei asked.

How could Dong Yao admit it? “No. I tidied up and went to sleep at nine.”

Zhong Ximei almost wanted to knock her on the head again. “At nine, you were still sitting here watching TV. If you’re going to lie, at least make a draft first.”

Dong Yao stuck out her tongue.

Zhong Ximei said, “Sleep earlier next time. Don’t stay up so late. If you have work to deal with, wait until you have free time during the day to do it.”

Dong Yao nodded. “Okay, got it, my good mom. What are we eating tonight?”

“All day long, aside from eating, it’s still eating. Can’t you care about something else?” Zhong Ximei said irritably.

Dong Yao said as if it were perfectly justified, “Food is the first necessity of the people. That’s a top-priority matter.”

Zhong Ximei shot her a look.

Dong Yao smiled obediently.

She glanced at her phone, first checking whether there were any messages from Gu Shiqiu.

Great. None.

Dong Yao pouted a little unhappily.

She was a little upset, but she also knew Gu Shiqiu was busy every day and could not possibly hold her phone and chat with people all the time.

She opened Weibo.

“Hm?” Dong Yao froze.

She usually kept Weibo message notifications turned off. Although she was not extremely popular, she received quite a lot of comments and likes every day, and turning on notifications would be too noisy.

But today’s number of comments and likes was clearly different from usual. It had multiplied several times. No, not several times—it had multiplied by dozens of times!

What was going on?

Dong Yao opened the comment section. The top comment with the most likes had even more likes than the video itself.

Evening Breeze and Autumn: The braised pork belly looks delicious.

Dong Yao recognized it at a glance. This was Gu Shiqiu’s Weibo account.

Below it, tens of thousands of people had replied to this comment.

Fan 1: Caught my baby.

Fan 2: Qiuqiu, why are you here? How long has it been since your Weibo had any activity? Go update. I want selfies!!!

Fan 3: Wife ahhhhhhhhhhh…

Fan 4: I remember Qiuqiu’s next drama has a mural artist as the protagonist, so Qiuqiu is working so hard, studying up. Love it, love it.

Fan 5: Wife, look at me, look at me!

Dong Yao casually glanced through them. Most were confessions of love.

And Dong Yao’s braised pork belly mural had also received unprecedented attention because of Gu Shiqiu’s follow and comment.

It had even briefly rushed onto the trending searches.

Dong Yao glanced at her follower count. Because of Gu Shiqiu’s comment, her original five hundred thousand followers had directly soared to one million, and the number was still continuously rising.

Dong Yao looked at “Autumn and Evening Breeze” in her followers list. After hesitating for a moment, she finally tapped follow back.

She exited Weibo and opened the Big Orange Cat chat window. She typed and deleted, deleted and typed, but after a long while, she still could not send anything.

Gu Shiqiu’s comment and follow had visibly brought so much traffic to Dong Yao’s small, shabby account.

To put it plainly, Dong Yao had leeched off Gu Shiqiu’s popularity for free.

She felt a little unworthy of it.

Just as Dong Yao hesitated, not knowing how to thank Gu Shiqiu, her phone buzzed.

Gu Shiqiu sent a picture. In the flowerpot were several seeds.

Gu Shiqiu: The roadside wildflowers you took a picture of for me before—I bought the seeds for that flower and just planted them. I don’t know if they’ll survive.

Dong Yao found it funny. Who bought this kind of flower to grow?

Dong Yao: Have you ever grown flowers before?

Gu Shiqiu: No, but wildflowers should have strong vitality, right?

Dong Yao typed a line, deleted it, typed another line, and deleted it again.

After wording it for a long time, she gritted her teeth and sent it.

Dong Yao: Why did you follow my Weibo?

Gu Shiqiu: Because I wanted you to follow me back.