Chapter 157 Where has the little girl gone?

She actually held some favorable impression of Gu Qingming after all, and being able to get close to him now was truly wonderful.
Anyway, his popularity was so high right now; surely it wouldn't matter if she did a few things.
Things like shipping yourself with someone were the absolute best way to gain followers!
At this thought, Chu Li curved the corners of her lips and skipped away, shaking her head.
Once she moved over tomorrow, she would properly go over and say hello at his house!
……
Shen Qingli had already arrived in front of Gu Qingming's villa. After skillfully entering the passcode, she pushed the door open.
A sense of surprise washed over her when she was greeted by the pitch-dark environment inside.
"Huh?"
"Is nobody home?"
She muttered softly, waking up the house's smart system. However, a wave of helplessness washed over her when she discovered that the two of them were still sleeping in bed.
"Wake up, the two of you must have slept for a whole day."
It was one thing for Qingming to sleep like the dead due to exhaustion from work, but why had Guanyin been sleeping all day too?
Wasn't this little girl usually brimming with energy?
Thinking this, Shen Qingli lifted a corner of the blanket and reached out to touch Guanyin, only to find upon feeling her forehead that she didn't have a fever.
At this moment, the two of them finally drifted awake sluggishly.
"Mm... Mommy is here?"
The milky, babyish voice made Shen Qingli's heart skip a beat, feeling as though she might just be cute-killed by Guanyin any day now!
"Mommy!"
As soon as Guanyin woke up, she threw herself directly onto Shen Qingli, right as her stomach let out a hungry rumble.
Guanyin woke up as well, and upon seeing the pitch-black sky outside, she squinted her eyes in a daze. "Have I only been asleep for a few hours?"
"Big brother, it's already the second day. Just how long do you plan on sleeping?"
Hearing this, Guanyin widened her eyes in shock!
"I actually slept for this long!"
"Ah, I'm so hungry. I remember now, I gave Pinglang the day off today, no wonder nobody woke me up to eat..."
Guanyin pouted, wearing an aggrieved expression.
Shen Qingli, currently holding the child, felt as if she were babysitting both a child and a younger brother, and sighed with utter helplessness.
"There should still be some groceries left. I'll whip up something for you two, and I can have a meal here as well."
On her way over just now, she had called Xie Jinchuan in the car; he wouldn't be back until at least two or three in the morning tonight, so since she was already here, she might as well just eat together with them before leaving.
"Great! I've never tasted older sister's cooking before!"
Guanyin instantly brightened up, volunteering to be her cooking assistant.
Preparation and cooking went quickly with two people; in just half an hour, four dishes and a soup were already done.
Guanyin blinked her eyes, sitting down at the table and behaving very well.
"Mommy had a strange aura about her last night."
Guanyin suddenly blurted out those words, causing Shen Qingli to subconsciously glance at Guanyin.
Seeing that he was busy pouring drinks and hadn't looked over their way, she quickly lowered her voice. "Don't bring up these things in front of your Brother Gu, understand?"
"Otherwise, he'll think you're a monster!"
Guanyin looked a little puzzled, but understood in a flash. So Brother and Mommy hadn't recognized each other yet. She hurriedly nodded and covered her mouth!
"Don't worry, Mommy, I'm a good girl and I definitely won't let anything slip!"
Shen Qingli nodded and gently patted the top of Guanyin's head, feeling somewhat that she seemed to have grown a bit taller.
Well, divine trees grew fast as long as they were well-nurtured, after all.
"Right, the matter regarding Chu Li has already been dealt with by me. However, there's a script coming up where you might need to collaborate with her, so be mindful of yourself and try not to get entangled with her as much as possible."
Thinking of the script sent over by the company earlier, it was a drama with great prospects, and the second female lead was Chu Li.
The scenes between the first male lead and second male lead were quite numerous, so it would inevitably be hard to avoid forced promotional interactions by then.
"Is that script really that good? If push comes to shove, I can pass on being the male lead and play the second male lead instead."
After all, he was just a singer, not a professional actor.
"The male lead has already been designated as you. The author is your fan and wrote the character entirely based on your image. There are also rumors online that as long as you take the role of the male lead, it's what everyone expects, so it's the popular consensus."
Hearing this, Guanyin understood. "That's indeed something I can't refuse; otherwise, I'd end up disappointing my fans. When is the boot-up ceremony?"
Shen Qingli glanced at Guanyin, deeply reluctant to tell him this cruel reality.
"The day after tomorrow."
As soon as she finished speaking, she watched the chopsticks drop from the man's hand onto the table, his face painted with utter grievance.
"No way, so soon? My vacation is just gone like that?"
"You have to understand, after all, someone wants to push Chu Li into stardom, which is why this drama will be broadcasted while filming."
Thinking of the production team's demands, Shen Qingli roughly guessed that this whole affair was definitely Rong Qiaoyi pulling strings behind the scenes.
Her goal was probably to launch that person into stardom as quickly as possible.
Yet even now, she still couldn't quite fathom why Rong Qiaoyi was so insistent on making Chu Li famous—was it really just for the sake of making money?
And yet she always felt there was some other reason behind this matter?
Whenever she tried to investigate thoroughly, however, she could find nothing at all, which truly made it feel rather eerie.
"Alright, I'll try my best to avoid contact with her. But if there are genuinely too many shared scenes and shipping is forced, it'll be unavoidable."
"Oh, by the way, the novelist came by that day and specifically designated the character of Shen Qingli as Su He. That girl is terribly nervous right now."
Remembering Su He's expression back then, Shen Qingli couldn't stop laughing.
Hearing that the character of Shen Qingli was given to Su He, Guanyin was somewhat surprised as well. "Isn't the production scale of this drama quite massive?"
Shen Qingli nodded. "It's considered a web drama, but it's the first adaptation of the novel and the very original story, so expectations online are very high. You and Su He will have to work hard."
She smiled, and after finishing dinner and chatting for a little longer, she took Guanyin and headed towards home.
Before leaving, she didn't forget to send the script to Guanyin.
After they left, another figure appeared downstairs at the villa.
At this moment, Guanyin was still eating an ice cream bar while reading the script.
Looking at the thick script before him, he began to read carefully page by page. Indeed, the character setup was an exact match to his own—he was also a pop singer who had entered the entertainment industry, only sharing a similarly tragic childhood with him.
If that was the case, he simply had to play this role well.
"Guanyin."
Suddenly, an ethereal voice rang out. He subconsciously raised his head, and before he could clearly see who the sudden appearance belonged to, his vision darkened and he passed out completely.
Rong Qiaoyi stared at him for a long while, gathering demonic energy in her palm. Upon failing to detect any deer spirit power on his body, she frowned.
"How can there be none? Could it be that everything was just a coincidence?"
With that thought, she began sweeping through the entire room directly, yet still found not even a shred of spiritual energy!
It was as if what she had sensed last night had simply been a hallucination of hers!
"How can there be nothing? And where did that little girl go?"