“Looking for temp work?”
After giving the young boy a thorough once-over, the refusal that had been right on the tip of the staff staff member’s tongue somehow morphed into a question.
“How old are you? You’re still in school, right?”
The boy wasn’t very tall, standing just a bit taller than the female staff member, who was 5’4″. His features were clean, striking, and delicate, yet carried an undeniable touch of innocence. His cheeks still had that soft, round look a mix of lingering baby fat and abundant collagen.
Putting it all together, she guessed the young teenager was probably around fifteen.
“Yeah. I’m still in my third year of middle school.”
“A middle school senior out here looking for temp work as an extra?” The staff member pulled the boy into the shade of a nearby tree, immediately shifting into lecture mode. “Children’s Day was just a few days ago, and the high school entrance exams are right around the corner. You should go back and focus on your studies. Try to get into a good high school.”
“I… I can’t do it…” Shen Yanxing lowered his head in shame. “My grades aren’t good. There’s no way I’ll get into high school.”
As one of the few students at Yucai Middle School who actually tried, Shen Yanxing’s grades were actually decent. He consistently ranked first in his class and top five in his grade. The problem was, being the best of a bad bunch didn’t amount to much. His scores weren’t competitive enough out in the real world, meaning a public high school was entirely out of reach.
The staff member put her hands on her hips, pressing on. “Even so, you can’t just give up. If you don’t even try or fight for it, how can you be so sure you’ll fail?”
“Slinking out here at a critical time like this… you must be doing this behind your parents’ backs, right? Go on home. We wouldn’t dare hire a middle schooler under sixteen without their parents knowing.”
“I am sixteen!” Desperate, Shen Yanxing yanked out his ID card. “I started school late. Even though I’m only in the ninth grade, I’ve already had my sixteenth birthday this doesn’t count as child labor!”
The staff member looked conflicted. “Even so…”
“Sister, please, just have a heart?”
Seeing her hesitate, Shen Yanxing put on his most pitiful face. He grabbed the hem of her uniform vest with both hands, using pure charm and a sob story to sway her.
“I’m in desperate need of money! I heard that working as an extra pays well and comes fast, so that’s why I came. If you don’t let me try an honest job, what if I… what if I end up straying down the wrong path?”
Having worked on film sets for years, the staff member considered herself quite worldly. Yet, she found herself completely stunned by the boy’s words.
It wasn’t because of what he said, but rather because of the subtle, captivating charm the sixteen-year-old boy unconsciously exuded while begging.
Using the word “captivating” to describe a boy who had just turned sixteen might have seemed a bit inappropriate or careless, but she was absolutely certain of one thing: this boy was far more mature than his age suggested.
“Fine. Let’s exchange WeChat contacts. Send me some video clips later, and I’ll show them to the director for you.”
“This is a massive production starring Movie King Gu, after all. Even the extras need to know how to act.”
“Young Master, what are you looking at?”
As soon as Gu Congjue stopped walking, Yang Cuirong, who was leading him inside by the hand, stopped as well.
“Nothing, just—”
Gu Congjue frowned slightly, his eyes searching urgently through the slowly dispersing crowd.
“I keep feeling like someone is watching me.”
He looked around blankly, his gaze finally landing near the bottom of a cluster of bushes. A crew member wearing a bright, fluorescent orange safety vest was standing there. Because the color was so loud, Gu Congjue couldn’t tell if he had focused on it instinctively or if his eyes had simply been drawn by the neon shade.
He was about sixty or seventy meters away from the bushes—the distance of about three basketball courts. Relying on his perfect 20/20 vision, he could faintly make out the staff member talking… to a massive old tree?
Judging by the visual blind spot, someone else had to be standing beneath the tree, their slender frame completely obscured by the wide trunk.
Gu Congjue’s heart sank. Over there!
There was a incredibly familiar presence radiating from that spot!
Before he could take a step toward it, Xiang Yuyan grabbed his collar. “What are you going over there for? That side is crawling with entertainment reporters and paparazzi. The smell of incense is suffocating, let’s head inside with Mom.”
“But…” Gu Congjue did feel a bit uncomfortable. The smoke from the burning incense was thick enough to make his eyes water.
Refusing to give up, he glanced back at the shade of the tree one last time. In the brief moment it took to turn his head, the shade beneath the tree was entirely empty. Even the staff member in the fluorescent vest had vanished without a trace.
Huh?
A strange sense of detachment washed over Gu Congjue, leaving him feeling as though he had just woken up from a dream.
He couldn’t understand why he had been so intent on checking those bushes just now. Was it really because of the neon vest, or because he had sensed someone “hiding” behind the tree?
Having failed to grasp that fleeting flash of intuition, Gu Congjue felt like he was acting incredibly bizarrely.
He rubbed his nose with the tip of his finger as his mother and the nanny led him away from the opening ceremony.
The indoor shooting location was set up inside three residential buildings right next to the open lot. The old-fashioned buildings had no elevators and featured a two-apartment-per-floor layout, with the neighbors’ doors facing each other across a central stairwell.
The actual filming sets were on the second floor. However, to keep things convenient and avoid disturbing the local residents, the production crew had simply rented out all four apartments across the first two floors. The second floor was for filming, while the first floor served as headquarters—the left apartment stored equipment and props, and the right functioned as a meeting and break room.
By the time Xiang Yuyan led his boy into the break room, a few actors were already sitting inside resting. Xiang Yuyan flashed his signature professional smile and took the initiative to greet them.
“Uncle Lei, long time no see!”
A kind, wise-looking man with graying temples looked up at the sound. Once he recognized who it was, he smiled warmly.
“Oh, Yuyan! Needless to say, you must be here to visit Pingyue, right?”
“I’m here to see Pingyue, but I came to see you too.” Xiang Yuyan pulled out a chair and sat down without ceremony, waving the little kid over. “I didn’t expect you to show up for the opening ceremony! What a rare treat!”
“Uncle Lei, look, this is Little Cong. You haven’t seen him in ages, have you?”
Gu Congjue took off his coat and mask, giving the man a nod by way of greeting.
Xiang Yuyan chuckled nervously. “This kid doesn’t talk much, he’s a total quiet soul. Don’t mind him.”
“Little Cong, call him Uncle Grandpa. This is your grandfather’s old friend from the industry, Cheng Guolei. He’s way up there in the family hierarchy.”
Gu Congjue really didn’t want to say it he absolutely loathed the whole ritual of greeting distant relatives.
“It’s fine. Pingyue was a quiet kid when he was young, too. Children go through a rebellious phase; they grow out of it.”
Cheng Guolei was easygoing and didn’t force the issue.
“I remember his full name is Gu Congjue, right? Ah, I remember holding him when he was just a tiny newborn. In the blink of an eye, he’s already this tall.”
“Still in school, right? How are your grades?”
Gu Congjue stood silently by Xiang Yuyan’s side.
Here it comes, he thought. The mandatory grade-checking interrogation that happens whenever family friends catch up!
“He’s in his third year of middle school, getting ready for the entrance exams,” Xiang Yuyan said with a bitter smile.
“His grades… aren’t great. He can’t sing, he can’t recite poetry, and he’s not flexible enough to dance. Around New Year’s, his class put together a small skit for the school gala. Everyone in the class had to participate except him—”
“Because his acting was so terrible, the drama teacher didn’t dare let him perform. Out of a class of twenty kids, he was the only one sitting in the audience.”
Uncle Grandpa patted Xiang Yuyan’s hand comfortingly. “Look on the bright side. It’ll get better.”
Gu Congjue: “…”
He didn’t say a word; he just watched silently.
There was a reason these people were A-list celebrities in the entertainment industry. Every single one of them was a consummate drama queen.
“But since you’re already here, why don’t you take him upstairs to see Madame He and get a reading?” Uncle Grandpa suddenly suggested. “Director Chen Xuan went through hell and back to invite her. He said everyone who participated in the opening ritual has to get a reading, if only to wash away any lingering bad luck.”
“Who… who is Madame He?”
Xiang Yuyan looked completely bewildered, turning his gaze toward Gu Pingyue, who happened to walk through the door just then.
“Hubby, Uncle Lei wants me to take our son to see Madame He for a ‘reading’?” Xiang Yuyan’s hesitation was purely polite; in reality, he was deeply resistant.
As parents, the last thing they wanted was to expose their child to superstitious nonsense.
“Is that… really necessary?” Gu Pingyue was dripping with sweat, clearly having been run ragged out at the ceremony site. “Yuyan and Little Cong didn’t even burn any incense or pray to the gods, so there shouldn’t be any ‘bad luck’ to wash away, right?”
When it came to matters of principle, the Gu-Xiang couple stood firmly together, fiercely protective of their kid.
Gu Congjue remained silent, silently applauding his parents in his head. For once, he was completely aligned with them.
However, Uncle Grandpa, who had seemed so cheerful and kind just a moment ago, suddenly turned stubborn and rigid. He kept pressuring the family of three. “Go on, take the nanny and get a reading! Madame He is incredibly accurate! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it’s a total waste not to go!”
Director Chen Xuan, who was notorious for his superstitions, joined the persuasion brigade as well, relentlessly hyping up how brilliant and clairvoyant Madame He was.
After a barrage of arguments, turning them down again would make the couple seem incredibly disrespectful.
Left with no choice and out of respect for their senior colleague and the director, Gu Pingyue and Xiang Yuyan had to bite the bullet. Under the watchful eyes of Director Chen and Uncle Grandpa, they led their boy into the “temporary consultation room” on the second floor.
Xiang Yuyan leaned down, whispering anxiously into Gu Congjue’s ear, “No matter what that fortune teller says, don’t believe a word of it, and don’t take it to heart. This stuff is all fake, just a scam.”
Gu Congjue nodded, giving a quiet murmur of assent.
In his past life, back when he had been packaged as a “reincarnated child prodigy” to rake in money, he had witnessed and participated in plenty of metaphysical scams. If it came down to a real comparison, this fraud Madame He probably didn’t know half the tricks and rhetoric that he did!
While his parents went through the motions of consulting the medium, Gu Congjue stood to the side, his sharp eyes scanning “Madame He” from head to toe.
A classic updo, a modernized cheongsam, paired with round-toed, low-heeled leather shoes. The elegant attire only solidified Gu Congjue’s conviction this was a scammer operating under the guise of the divine.
To create an aura of ethereal, otherworldly wisdom, scammers loved dressing up in traditional styles. A cheongsam or modernized ceremonial dress was considered mild; the more shameless ones loved wearing cheap Taoist robes adorned with fake streaks of white hair and long white beards.
“Overall, both gentlemen possess rising fortune, marked by minimal disasters and abundant blessings. In the future, you should pay close attention to your work and do your best to avoid public relations disasters caused by public opinion.”
Madame He spoke with a crescent-eyed smile before pulling out a fresh piece of red paper from beneath the table.
“Are we checking the young master’s fortune as well? Just like before, write his name and the exact year, month, day, and hour of his birth on this red paper.”
Xiang Yuyan filled it out for Gu Congjue with a worried expression, asking as he wrote, “How will this paper be disposed of? No one will use it for anything malicious, right? Madame, I only have this one son. Absolutely nothing can happen to him.”
Gu Congjue didn’t pay much attention to his mother’s words, nor did he pick up on his anxiety.
He thought to himself, Wow, they’re really trying to make it look legitimate, huh? Actually demanding a full Eight Characters birth chart.
Why stop there? Why not ask for his zodiac sign and MBTI personality type while they were at it?
Claiming “minimal disasters and abundant blessings”… The two people sitting here were Gu Pingyue, who had won Movie King at twenty-one, and Xiang Yuyan, who had shattered sales charts at twenty. Any idiot could see these two were blessed with incredible fortunes; did they really need a reading to figure that out?
It was all just generic flattery. Anyone could do it.
Following that logic, Gu Congjue could already guess how Madame “He” would evaluate him: she’d just shower him with praise. As the son of Movie King Gu and the mega-star singer Xiang, how could his fortune be anything but stellar?
“Please rest assured, Mr. Xiang. I will burn them all together afterward. It’s just red paper; burning it won’t cause any harm.” Madame He took the red paper and adjusted her divination wheel according to the information provided.
She spun the wheel, then flipped through the I Ching (Book of Changes). Her continuous string of solemn movements left Xiang Yuyan on tenterhooks. “Madame, how is my little troublemaker’s fortune?”
“Hmm… it’s very good.” Madame He pushed up her gold-rimmed reading glasses. “Young Master Gu’s destiny is exceptionally powerful. In fact, one could even say it carries a ‘divine aura’ there are faint traces of a reincarnated child prodigy.”
Gu Congjue raised an eyebrow, thinking, As expected. More generic flattery.
His mother must have casually mentioned earlier that “my son’s grades are excellent,” and this so-called clairvoyant had simply used it to her advantage.
“However…”
Just as Gu Congjue was internally scoffing with utter disdain, Madame He’s next words gave him a violent shock.
“This child’s past life was not a happy one. His destiny chart clearly shows a pattern of dying at a tragically young age.”