There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 36.1

When the smiling middle-aged woman escorted them outside the villa, Gu Xinqing still felt somewhat dazed. It wasn’t until she had walked a distance with Qin Ke that Gu Xinqing finally snapped back to reality, albeit a bit slowly.

She turned to Qin Ke with a bewildered expression:

“Is it… settled then?”

Qin Ke, however, appeared much more composed than Gu Xinqing.

She waved the debit card in her hand, “Yes, not only is it settled, they’ve also paid me one-third of this semester’s tutoring salary in advance.”

Gu Xinqing stared blankly at the card.

“How much did she say was in there?”

Qin Ke: “Twenty thousand.”

“Gulp.”

Gu Xinqing swallowed audibly.

Qin Ke smiled gently.

Gu Xinqing came to her senses, feeling a bit embarrassed, but quickly grabbed Qin Ke’s arm, “Ke Ke, aren’t you nervous at all? This is twenty thousand yuan! And it’s all yours now!”

“…Stop shaking, I’m getting dizzy.”

Qin Ke laughed as she held onto Gu Xinqing’s fingers that were shaking her arm, saying with resignation. “It’s actually not that much—especially considering what I need to spend money on.”

Gu Xinqing stopped, bewildered.

“Is that so? Why do I feel like it’s already a lot?”

“…”

Qin Ke smiled but didn’t respond.

For an ordinary high school student, twenty thousand yuan would indeed seem like a fortune, but if she were to calculate carefully for this semester, if she wanted to leave the Qin family, she would have to face immediate issues like rent, utilities, daily expenses—and even next semester’s tuition fees.

After all, before she came of age, she didn’t believe the Qin family, who held custody rights over the usable portion of the inheritance, would be willing to give her even a small part of it.

So…

Qin Ke looked down at the bank card in her hand and smiled bitterly.

Twenty thousand yuan would at most solve her urgent needs for the next two months.

Seemingly sensing that Qin Ke’s words were not an exaggeration, Gu Xinqing’s excitement, which had nearly sent her soaring, was subdued.

“Ke Ke, what do you plan to do after this?”

Qin Ke looked up and smiled at Gu Xinqing.

“Don’t worry too much, I’ll try my best to win prize money in competitions later, and I’ll find other ways—we’ll solve it somehow.”

“…Alright.” Gu Xinqing shook her head, “Let’s not think about it now, shall we go home?”

“Mm.”

After leaving the villa area and walking far along the long street, Qin Ke and Gu Xinqing discovered an awkward problem—

“Aren’t there any taxis around here?” Gu Xinqing’s face fell.

Qin Ke also looked helpless, scanning both sides of the avenue with her eyes while smiling wryly. “The people living here, even if they don’t drive themselves, have chauffeurs to pick them up and drop them off. It’s indeed not a good place for taxis.”

“…We should have arranged with the taxi driver who brought us here in advance.”

“Can’t be helped, let’s walk for a bit,” Qin Ke consoled Gu Xinqing, “We’ll surely find one eventually.”

Gu Xinqing sighed, “I guess that’s all we can do.”

After walking for a long time along the road outside the villa area, Qin Ke and Gu Xinqing gradually saw more pedestrians on the street.

“I think I know this place…”

Gu Xinqing grabbed Qin Ke and gestured towards the other side of the road.

Compared to common urban buildings, the wall across the street appeared very tall, enclosing an area. Through the archway connected to the wall, they could vaguely see the silhouettes of people hurrying back and forth and somewhat retro-style building clusters.

“This is—”

Qin Ke’s eyes suddenly focused.

“It’s the most famous film and television base in the suburbs of Qian City,” Gu Xinqing’s eyes lit up, turning to Qin Ke excitedly, “The hottest period drama this summer was filmed here, I think!”

“…”

Qin Ke’s gaze was complex.

Of course, she remembered this place.

In her previous life, the film crew she was with had an accident during a simulated explosion scene, causing a big fire that happened right here… It was also here that Huo Jun saved her.

On the way here, she had been preparing for the interview and hadn’t even realized – it turned out this villa area was near this film and television base.

The scene seemed to reappear before her eyes: in the air and vision distorted by scorching heat, a disheveled young man treading through a hellish fire scene, rushing towards her with a fierce expression…

Was he shouting her name?

Before she could hear clearly, she had completely fallen into a desperate abyss of darkness…

“—Ke Ke? Ke Ke!”

“…!”

The sudden voice by her ear pulled Qin Ke back to reality. Her eyes refocused, and she turned her head bewilderedly to look at Gu Xinqing beside her.

“I’m sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you just say…?”

Gu Xinqing looked at her helplessly.

“It wasn’t me talking to you, it was him.”

“?”

Qin Ke turned confusedly in the direction Gu Xinqing indicated, towards her front.

“Hi, miss, look here.”

“…”

Standing in front of Qin Ke was a man in his thirties, looking about the same age as Huo Jingyan, but with a completely different style – the man had hair dyed a dead grass-like color, wearing a leather jacket over a T-shirt printed with a skull pattern.

After staring at that ordinary face several times, Qin Ke couldn’t recall any impression from her memory.

She became even more confused.

“Hello. Is there something I can help you with?”

“I’m not looking for you specifically, I just happened to run into you – I think this must be fate given to us by God.”

The man displayed a very familiar smile, extending his broad palm in front of Qin Ke, seemingly wanting to shake hands with her.

Qin Ke paused, looking down at it.

Before she could react, Gu Xinqing beside her had already vigilantly grabbed Qin Ke’s hand, gently pulling her back at the same time–

“He doesn’t look like a good person, Ke Ke, we’d better ignore him.”

Qin Ke didn’t speak, but the man opposite heard it. He withdrew his hand with a wry smile, instead taking out a business card holder from his jacket’s inner pocket.

“Don’t misunderstand, don’t misunderstand.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to Qin Ke, explaining with a bitter smile, “I’m from a talent agency – I just finished work and came out from over there.”

He pointed to the film and television base across the road, then turned his gaze to Qin Ke.

“I don’t do this kind of roadside recruitment, it’s just that this young lady…”

The man’s gaze scanned Qin Ke up and down, revealing an emotion similar to a hunter spotting prey.

“Tsk tsk tsk… Your looks and figure are perfect, and if I’m not mistaken, you probably have years of dance experience. Judging by your age, you seem to be a high school student, still an amateur, right? – If you’re interested in entering the entertainment industry, you can contact me right away. I’m very optimistic about your future development!”

“……”

While Qin Ke was left confused by the man’s speech, Gu Xinqing had been vigilantly watching him the whole time.

It wasn’t until she heard the latter part that she paused, turning her head to look at the business card Qin Ke had accepted – it had “XS Talent Agency” printed on it.

Gu Xinqing was stunned, suddenly realizing, her eyes brightening with excitement–

“Are you the legendary talent scout!?”

The jacket-clad man seemed to choke a bit at these words, scratching the back of his head with some frustration before finally smiling wryly. “In layman’s terms, you could understand my current behavior that way.”

Gu Xinqing: “?”

But Qin Ke spoke up.

“Talent agent.”

“Huh?” Gu Xinqing turned curiously, “What’s that?”

Qin Ke looked up at the man in the jacket and smiled slightly.

“Am I right?” she said, waving the business card in her hand.

The jacket-clad man was clearly a bit surprised.

He knew very well that the business card didn’t give him any fancy title or designation, so for the girl to directly name his profession meant she had some understanding of this industry.

Thinking this, the man couldn’t help but feel greatly disappointed.

“You’re not an amateur? Have you already signed with a company?”

“No, I’m really just a high school student.” Qin Ke explained casually under the other’s confused gaze, “I just happened to learn a little bit about related things by chance before.”

The other person suddenly understood and smiled again, “Then how about considering my proposal? It would be such a waste for someone with your qualities to just be an ordinary person – don’t you want to become a star, stand in the spotlight, be liked and adored by countless fans? And…”

Those flowery descriptions even made Gu Xinqing beside her flush with excitement. The man finished speaking, feeling quite satisfied, but when he looked down, he realized – the beautifully smiling girl still had the same expression, her eyes barely changed.

The man awkwardly stopped, also feeling quite emotional – a child of this age who could be so unmoved by fame and fortune was truly rare.

Qin Ke saw through his thoughts and smiled faintly.

“I just said, I happen to know something about this field – so I also know what the real situation is like for those things you mentioned.”

The man shrugged disappointedly, “So I guess you won’t consider it?”

“…”

Qin Ke was silent for a few seconds, then put the business card in her pocket –

“I need to go back and think about it. If I have such thoughts later, I’ll contact you.”

“Great!”

The jacket-clad man clapped his hands, smiling.

“I hope I can hear good news from you. Your looks really suit this profession, believe me – as long as you’re willing to put in some… effort, most things in there aren’t out of reach for you.”

“…”

After giving Qin Ke another round of sweet talk, the jacket-clad man finally left, still somewhat reluctantly.

As soon as he left, Gu Xinqing could barely contain herself.

She turned back excitedly–

“Today is really your lucky day, Ke Ke!”

Qin Ke looked back at her helplessly, “You really think so?”

“Uh,” Gu Xinqing was stunned, confused, “Isn’t it? Those things he said, about fans and making money, why do you look… not excited at all?”

“Maybe because I know what the reality is like.”

Qin Ke smiled faintly.

Gu Xinqing: “?”

“Yes, that glamorous part he mentioned does belong to stars – but only to an extremely small portion of them.”

Thinking of her previous life, Qin Ke’s gaze became somewhat complex.

She quickly focused, trying to explain to Gu Xinqing using the least explicit terms possible.

“In that circle, especially for women, many people have to pay an enormous price just for a pitifully small chance, and even after paying such a high price, only an even smaller percentage of those people can ultimately achieve success.”

“…”

Gu Xinqing listened, bewildered.

Qin Ke finally smiled helplessly, “Never mind, you don’t understand these things, you’re still young.”

“…?”

Gu Xinqing rarely showed a disdainful expression towards Qin Ke–

“Ke Ke, the way you say that makes me feel like you’re much older than me. In fact, we’re both 16 years old, and even by birthday, you’re several months younger than me, okay?”

“…”

Qin Ke blinked innocently, not explaining her slip of the tongue that was actually the “truth”.

“But anyway,” Gu Xinqing waved her hand, “If you say it’s difficult, then I’ll listen to you – you’re always right, aren’t you?”

Qin Ke’s heart softened, and she lowered her eyes, smiling.