After Becoming a Film Queen, She Dumped Her Financial Sponsor - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: “…She Likes Me.”

For a moment,
the entire room fell so silent you could hear each other’s breathing.

Shen Ran felt like she was drowning, gasping for air —Why was she right in the eye of the storm?

What should she do? She really wanted to run.

“Is that true?”

If it wasn’t true… what, was it fake?

“Qingyun… I think you’re under a lot of pressure lately. Maybe you should go to the hospital and get your brain checked — maybe you’ve got a fever?”

“Or I know this top expert in both psychology and psychiatry. I’ll help you book an appointment, how about that?”

Shen Ran looked at Fu Qingyun with genuine concern.
She felt like Fu Qingyun was basically a ticking time bomb right now — if she didn’t get treatment soon, the consequences could be serious.

She leaned forward and placed a palm on Fu Qingyun’s forehead.
Not warm.

“I don’t have a fever. I don’t have any psychological issues. And I definitely don’t have any mental illness.”

“Take your hand off me.”

Seeing Shen Ran’s exposed sleeve, Fu Qingyun was speechless.
Just because she didn’t use social media much didn’t mean she was an idiot, okay?

“…Good, no fever. That’s good.”

“But the bigger issue now, Qingyun, is how you actually feel about your relationship.”

“If you don’t figure that out, even if you see Qiao Sijin again, you two will just end up having a huge fight.”

As the saying goes: honest advice is hard to hear, bitter medicine cures the disease.
People never like to hear the truth — but she still had to say it.
This was the only chance for Fu Qingyun to face what was really in her heart.

Fu Qingyun stood up, slipped her phone into her pocket, and glanced at the elegant women’s watch on her wrist — a fine leather strap in deep brown against her pale skin, very tasteful.

She lowered her eyes to watch the second hand tick forward.

It was getting late.
Time to head to the company.

As for the rest… she’d deal with it after work.

“Where are you going? Don’t tell me you’ve finally figured it out and you’re going to find Qiao Sijin and sort everything out?”

“Qingyun… Qingyun!”

At the door, Fu Qingyun turned around to glance at the restless and dramatic Shen Ran, her gaze full of emotions Shen Ran couldn’t quite decipher.

“I need time to think this through.”

Fu Qingyun didn’t know whether saying that was a form of escape or something else entirely.
But the truth was, she simply didn’t want to admit it:

Was she the one who couldn’t let go of Qiao Sijin all along?

She wasn’t stupid.

Even though she knew Qiao Sijin had set her up from the start — luring her into a carefully crafted trap —Fu Qingyun still took the bait, eyes wide open.

She’d thought, being older and more experienced, that she’d never lose to a young, naïve girl like her.

…

“Yo, you’re finally back. These past few days have all been your scenes — I finally get to rest.”

Holding a green fruit she must have picked somewhere — though it looked unripe, Gu Xin bit into it anyway, tasting a bitterness that matched the past few days.

She wore a wide-brimmed straw hat for shade, though her skin was noticeably tanned now. In her hand, she clutched a bunch of purple wildflowers picked from the edge of a rice paddy. Squatting on the embankment, she reached toward Qiao Sijin with the bouquet.

The breeze swept gently over the fields — a sea of green.
Here and there were some barren plots, but most had been planted with double-crop rice.

Gu Xin didn’t care about her celebrity image anymore — she plopped down on the embankment.

Qiao Sijin looked at the suitcase in her hand and didn’t reach out to take the flowers. Gu Xin’s intentions were obvious.

Qiao Sijin wasn’t interested in leading anyone on.
Especially since Gu Xin wasn’t her type.

Even if the whole Fu Qingyun situation had never happened, Qiao Sijin still didn’t think anything was possible between her and Gu Xin.

Still, she had no intention of letting personal feelings interfere with the film crew’s work.
She wasn’t the kind of person to be irresponsible or unprofessional.

“Thanks, but I don’t need it.”

“And you really shouldn’t be picking flowers from the fields — they might have been planted by the villagers for tourists to enjoy.”

That made Gu Xin awkwardly withdraw her hand.
She knew Qiao Sijin wasn’t usually like this. It was clear she was deliberately keeping her distance.

When they’d first met, Qiao Sijin had been gentle and polite to everyone —
No diva attitude at all, despite her top-tier resources and the powerful backer behind her: Fu Qingyun.

Even if she made a scene in the industry, Fu Qingyun could still easily protect her.

“Do you really not like me at all…? Is it because I’m not your type? Or is it because of my family background?”

Gu Xin stared at the small purple flower in her hand. It smelled faintly sweet and delicate, but she wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it.

Getting rejected again — it stung.

She held back the bitterness in her nose, refusing to let herself cry.

It was just an ordinary thing —
At worst, she’d start over from scratch.

Watching Gu Xin’s dejected figure and the staff bustling in the distance, Li Ke finally heaved a sigh of relief as she dragged two suitcases over.

Luckily the crew hadn’t witnessed that scene — otherwise they’d have been trending on Weibo tonight:
Two major actresses fighting on set.

Even worse, they were co-leads in the same movie.

“Boss, don’t you think there’s something strange about the way Miss Gu looks at you?”

Li Ke scratched her head. The vibe between them wasn’t quite friendship, but it wasn’t rivalry either — hard to explain, but definitely weird.

“…She likes me.”

Pausing at the door of the guesthouse, Qiao Sijin said it plainly.
But to her, it didn’t even feel like a secret.

Anyone paying attention could tell — it was public knowledge.
Gu Xin had always followed Qiao Sijin obsessively.

She liked every single one of her posts.

Unfortunately, Qiao Sijin only ever replied to Gu Xin during official brand collaborations.
Outside of that, they had no private interaction.

“I got it, boss. You’re cutting off your peach blossoms with ruthless precision… Purely career-driven!”

With a smooth transition, Li Ke managed to flatter her boss again.

“Please. I don’t like her. She’s just not my type. And if I don’t like someone, there’s no point stringing them along.”

As for why?

Well… because when she was young and dumb,
Qiao Sijin had once been completely infatuated with that idiot, Fu Qingyun.