Su Wu was still in a dazed state even after they had arrived at the cafe. The phone in his pocket rang, which prompted him to answer the call. The voice on the other end of the line sounded like his mother. Only a couple of words were exchanged before he hung up the call.
Shortly after doing so, he looked up at the young girl sitting across the table with a pure look of disbelief painted across his face.
“Y-You really are the ultimate god?”
Gu Xiqiao held up her chin with her pale, delicate fingers. “Do I not look like one?”
Did she not look like one? She flew under his radar from the very moment they met for god’s sake!
Although the player ‘For A Millenium’ identified as female in the game, her skills meant that a great deal of other players treated her with respect, as if she was a tough guy. On the other hand, real girls who play the game typically would suck up to other stronger players; no way in hell could there possibly be a female player like her, right?
If the in-game party was to know about this, they would undoubtedly all go insane!
“You know, I’ve always thought that you were a dude who’s ten times more macho than I am.” Su Wu was thoroughly dumbfounded. The difference was way too big for him to comprehend. Maybe things would be less confusing if she was any other girl. But for her to be such a pretty chick, it definitely gave him quite the shock. “Why did you come straight here?”
He did send her his address as a joke but never in a thousand years would he expect her to come looking for him.
“Of course, there are reasons for this.” Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she stole a glance at him. “Su Wu, I’m gonna be honest with you. The reason why I’ve come today is to get ‘River’s Lake’, that script you wrote.”
Wait a second. Su Wu was lost again.
River’s Lake? That was a script he had created three whole years ago. Not a single soul spared it a single look throughout the years and till today, it remains tucked away in the safety of his home. No one was supposed to know about it so why did she?
Also, there was the matter of his name. He hopped onto a black car that drove them here. The pressure he felt during the car ride was intense, presumably from the man behind the wheel. Due to the tense atmosphere, he failed to get a good look at the man’s face. Because of how intimidated he was, his lips remained sealed the entire way. And so, he did not get her name nor did she introduce herself to him.
This begs the question, how did she know his name?
It wasn’t weird for her to be able to locate him, nor was it impossible for her to know his name. However, what was weird was how she knew about the script for ‘River’s Lake’.
“You talking about ‘River’s Lake’? I was planning on burning it but, I could bring it to you if you want.”
Su Wu suppressed the skepticism in his heart and gave his brief reply. He really was planning on burning it into ashes.
A pair of shining bright eyes suddenly narrowed up. Gu Xiqiao raised her flawless jaw and pointed it in his direction. “Burn? Why would you do that? Did you not pour your blood, sweat, and tears into producing it?”
Su Wu tightened his grip on the porcelain coffee cup. It was because he could not wait any longer. The days are flying by and his parents are getting older with every passing day. Even if they willingly offered to support him, he simply couldn’t accept to see himself keeping up his stubborn act any longer.
“It’s because I don’t feel like persisting on anymore. I’ve had it with being a screenwriter.” Su Wu lowered his head slightly, trying to hide the ongoing conflict in his eyes.
“Take a look at this.” Gu Xiqiao had already read about Su Wu’s background; she knew the dilemma he was currently facing as well as how much stress he was going through. However, she found it hard to digest how a person could just make the decision to burn away something that you sacrificed so much for. “I believe you will be interested in this.”
Gu Xiqiao produced two folded wads of paper from her pocket and flattened them out before handing it to Su Wu.
Accepting it, Su Wu was wide-eyed upon reading its contents. He did not expect this to be a contract.
Still, you couldn’t put the blame on him for thinking so. Have you ever seen someone who folds up an official contract and tucks it away in her pants pocket?
The look in Su Wu’s eyes only intensified the more he continued to read the contractual terms. This continued until he reached the final word of the contract. Signed in jet black ink was presumably her name—Gu Xiqiao.
He raised his head immediately. “T-This… this is….”
He found this situation hard to believe. His hands still trembling, Su Wu shut his eyes slowly and took a deep breath. Finally, when he calmed himself down, he asked, “Miss Gu, could you tell me what is the meaning of this?”
“I believe everything’s stated quite clearly on the paper.” Gu Xiqiao chuckled. “I would like to buy the rights to that script of yours. In addition to that, I would like to turn ‘River’s Lake’ into a film.”
“How did you find me?” Su Wu’s heart started pounding furiously the moment he got his reply from Gu Xiqiao. Forcing himself to remain calm, he stared at Gu Xiqiao. She appeared way too young, which inevitably raised question marks about her. Was she a conwoman or something?
Gu Xiqiao understood this well. She had no choice but to show Su Wu a number on her phone.
On it displayed the name, Cheng Zhou.
“To demonstrate to you that I am genuine, I will put this call on loudspeaker,” said Gu Xiqiao as she flashed Su Wu a cheeky smile.
Su Wu was completely taken aback by how fast things were advancing. Although his attempts to join the entertainment industry was a complete failure, he still knew about who this Cheng Zhou person was. He was none other than the insanely-talented director; an entity that he could only stare up at like a mythical being. And yet, today, he watched as Gu Xiqiao tapped on his personal phone number.
“Hello? Director Cheng?” There was a lot of noise coming from the background; he had probably left the filming set already.
Cheng Zhou sounded happy to receive a call from Gu Xiqiao. “Ah, Little Gu. Are you calling to tell me you’ll accept a role in my film?” If so, he must find a good script, he thought.
“No, not that,” Gu Xiqiao replied. “Director Cheng, I have a script here that I would like you to be the film director of.” The reason why she picked him was primarily because he was the only director she knew personally.
“Are you gonna play in it?” Cheng Zhou’s eyes lit up, the excitement clear in his voice.
Gu Xiqiao’s expression turned dark the moment he asked that. Rubbing her nose, she turned him down bluntly. “No.”
“Hmph!” Cheng Zhou’s face twisted in annoyance. “No! No! No! All I hear is no from you! What’re ya planning to do apart from acting you little brat!”
“But if you find a suitable script in the future, I can play in it?” Gu Xiqiao came up with a temporary solution.
“No, make that two.” Cheng Zhou felt that this was an acceptable deal.
Gu Xiqiao sighed. “Best I can do is one. Else, I’d just find some other director.”
“Wait! Please wait! One is enough! I’ll send you your lines the next time I find a suitable story for you to star in!” Cheng Zhou feared that Gu Xiqiao would just move on without him and hung up the call as soon as he was done speaking.
“…”
Gu Xiqiao went silent. Had she been interacting with the wrong person? Somehow, it started to feel like Cheng Zhou was becoming less and less reliable.
Su Wu stared at Gu Xiqiao with a blank expression for a very long time. Then, he pinched his inner-wrist. Seeing the mark it left, he looked up at Gu Xiqiao. “Was that really the famed movie director, Cheng Zhou?”
Gu Xiqiao nodded her head. “Do you believe me now?”
Seeing her nod, a glow emerged in Su Wu’s eyes immediately. “It’s really him!”
“… let me write a check for you.” Gu Xiqiao pulled out a check from her pocket alongside a blank piece of paper and a pen.
Su Wu was amazed how much stuff she could store in her pocket. Was she Doraemon? Was that pocket an infinite pocket of space that contained everything in this world?
“Check? I don’t need that!” Su Wu stopped Gu Xiqiao the moment he realized what she was doing.
Gu Xiqiao eyed him as she scribbled down a line of digits on the check. “This is the deposit. It’s proof that I am absolutely serious about this. I’ll pay off the balance after the contract’s completed.”
She then scribbled down an address on the blank piece of paper. “I want you to meet someone named ‘Mu Zong’ tomorrow at this place. He will brief you about everything else.”
This film of course, would be sponsored officially by Nine Heavens.
She made this decision on a whim. Before Su Wu could turn down her offer, he had already been sent home.
He stood there underneath the aging structure for quite a while before he climbed up the stairs, back to his home. Old residential areas like this one were few and far between in the Imperial Capital. His aunt was at home watching TV while munching on fruits when he came back. When she heard him enter the apartment, she squinted at him.
His mother was probably the only reason why she was acting so hostile toward him.
“Little Wu, give Dazhi a call tomorrow. Get him to arrange an interview for you. He’s the department manager so you should be able to land you a clerical job.” The aunt spat out a piece of grape skin as she shot him a look of disdain.
Ever since her son made it as a ‘somebody’, this aunt of his became the core of their family. Whoever that was facing problems in their lives would all flock to her in search of a solution.
Mama Su, seeing her son frozen in place, walked over to pat him. “Hurry up and thank your aunt for this opportunity.”
“Mom, someone’s interested in my script,” announced Su Wu without warning.
Mama Su’s head jerked upwards the moment she heard that. “What did you just say?”
“Why aren’t you giving up?! Stop dreaming already!” The aunt shot up from her seat, glaring at him with contempt in her eyes. “You’re already in your thirties for heaven’s sake! You’ve got no house, no car, and not even a wife! To make things worse, you’re still dreaming about striking gold!”
Su Wu looked at his aunt in the eye. This was his first time acting so boldly. While she was only three years younger than his mother, the both of them seemed almost ten years apart in terms of age.
“This is no dream.” Su Wu then took out the check from his pocket and handed it over to his mother. “Mom, this is the deposit.”
Mama Su could see stars circling over her head when she glanced at the series of zeros behind the single number on the check.
The aunt yanked it out of Mama Su’s hand and her face stiffened up upon reading it. “Are you bringing this home to fool your mom?”
“We’ll know if this is true or not when we go to the bank tomorrow.” That car of hers was a whole other level of expensive and Gu Xiqiao didn’t seem like the sort of person to give bounced checks, right?
“Aunt, I’m turning down that clerical job. Say my thanks to my cousin, if you will.” Su Wu smiled at his aunt.
His mother had taken blow after blow from his aunt for her beloved son’s sake. Today was finally the day for him to say ‘no’ to her!
“Don’t come begging at my feet next time!” His aunt then stormed out the door.
“Little Wu, this…” Naturally, Mama Su was a little worried about this.
Su Wu patted his mother’s shoulder to give her some reassurance. “Please don’t worry Mom. It’ll be her turn to grovel at our feet now.”
Mama Su was hit by a wave of disbelief.
The very next day, he followed the address that Gu Xiqiao had given him and arrived outside a skyscraper in the commercial district. Looking up from the sea of people, Su Wu was awestruck by how majestic the scene was, especially when he saw the colossal name, ‘Nine Heavens Corporation’.
He walked to the front desk and uttered his name. The receptionist was quick to react; she politely brought him into an office.
The ‘Mu Zong’ fella he was supposed to meet was surprisingly young. He seemed no older than Su Wu himself.
“So you are the Mr. Su that Miss Gu talked about?” Mu Zong raised his head as he took out a document. “Once you sign this, you’ll be a part of Nine Heavens. Our elite employees will be given a suite in the peninsula area. In a moment, my secretary will let you pick the unit of your liking. Rest assured, there are lots of units from which you can pick one for yourself.”
Peninsula area? Su Wu’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he stared at Mu Zong. “Mr. Mu, y-you… are you joking or what?”
Land was worth more than gold in the Imperial Capital. Even his aunt had to fork over a significant portion of her savings just so she could move into a slightly more attractive-looking but small residential area. She had earned the envy of her fellow neighbors.
It came so suddenly for someone to announce that he would be given a unit and in the peninsula area at that!
He thought that only high-earning supervisors could afford living in such areas.
“No, I am not joking.” Mu Zong’s smile was warm and tolerant. Like Su Wu right now, he too was shocked when he initially worked with Nine Heavens. “You should know that the least Boss Gu lacks is financial capital.”
There were tons of rich people around the world but it seemed like she was the only one who stood out from the crowd. She was the only one who would willingly pay such a mind-boggling amount to purchase property, just so her employees would be more motivated and cooperative with each other. Likewise, they understood just how rare it was to work under such a generous boss who genuinely cared about their personal wellbeing.
While her abilities impressed her employees, it was her personality that had truly earned their respect and won them over.
There were so many research projects happening and not a single one she kept secret. Although she was a bit of a lazy slob, whenever they bumped into trouble, she’d jump in and help, no questions asked.
Every day these employees spent here, they felt themselves actually making progress.
Except Yu Ning. This was mainly because Gu Xiqiao felt that there was no need for her to intervene in Yu Ning’s job.
Not a single soul reported that they have been mistreated ever since they started working here. With the exception of intense competition between rivaling research departments, the employees here were like peas in a pod during normal times.
Many were envious of the benefits employees receive here at Nine Heavens. However, because of how high the bar was set, it was virtually impossible for your commoner to get hired by this company.
Only the employees here understood how great it was to work under Nine Heavens.
Su Wu, still stunned, wobbled down the stairs. Before he left, Mu Zong said to him, “You are a very lucky man.”
That’s right. He felt incredibly lucky right now. Su Wu wiped the sweat off his brows as a smile inadvertently broke across his face. He must go home now! To get his parents to move out of that 80 square meter house!
***
“What fun little thing are you up to now?” Jiang Shuxuan had accompanied Gu Xiqiao on her search for Su Wu, and was now driving them home after their brief exchange. Throughout the entire time, he remained patient about it.
He now had a rough idea of how wide-ranging her interests were. At first, he was a little worried that she would find it hard to keep up with her studies. Wasn’t she supposed to be reading constantly or spending time in the laboratory? However, such thoughts were soon dismissed when he received that emotional phone call from Zhu Yuan.
Zhu Yuan told this to him. “Medicine is Miss Gu’s raison d’être! The proposal she gave truly is brave and novel! I have never seen anything like it! But she isn’t answering my calls as of late. Can you ask help me to ask if she would like to patent her work? And if she’s willing to let them study it at the International Medical Laboratory? This thing will benefit humanity as a whole I tell you!”
Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. “I’m looking for someone to play in a film. Would you like to be an actor, Brother Jiang? I will definitely let you play as a cool, tyrannical antagonist.”
Jiang Shuxuan was completely unaffected by her nonsensical talk. “I’ve just received a call from Zhu Yuan. You should hurry up and remove him from your blacklist. He seems to have something important to discuss with you.” He paused for a moment before adding on. “You can continue blacklisting him after you give him a call.”
Gu Xiqiao nodded before calling up Zhu Yuan.
In short, the call consisted mainly of Zhu Yuan babbling on and on about something while Gu Xiqiao would give her opinions from time to time.
“It will take some time before the patent is approved. I have already sent the patent application for your cell fusion process. I’ll send you a copy of its contents later on, see if there’s anything you’d like to add to it. There’ll be a press conference some time in the future so you should prepare yourself.” Zhu Yuan’s patents were all handled by someone else; it was a rare occasion for him to do it himself, in order to keep everything perfect.
Gu Xiqiao promised to do things this way but in the end, something made her change her mind. “You should add your name into the patent. Also, you will attend the press conference yourself since you’ve contributed quite a lot into this research project. If you’ve nothing else to say, I’m gonna hang up now!”
As she had done a thousand times before, she hung up the phone and returned Zhu Yuan to her blacklist.
Zhu Yuan on the other end of the line: This lazy brat!
***
He was still in the laboratory. Zhu Yuan had completed his study on everything left behind by Gu Xiqiao. However, he was still a bit reluctant when the time came for him to leave. This applied to every other person who worked with him in the laboratory. It has been such a long time since they were given such a challenge.
Zhu Yuan glanced at Professor Jiang. “Why did you let her have this vacation?” People like her should be exploited severely, else they won’t do their job properly. She, who went into painting, then acting was the perfect example of such a person.
Cough! Although she still dominated everything she did, like painting and acting.
Professor Jiang’s hatred swelled up the moment he was reminded of this. “That child did it on purpose! You probably don’t know this but when she initially received this job, she acted as if it was an impossible task for her! How dare she bluff her way into getting a semester-long vacation!” The professor felt like a clown after seeing a photo of her in her makeup.
It’s her! No one should believe her anymore in the future!
Professor Jiang felt his heart throb in pain.
***
Naturally, Gu Xiqiao was completely oblivious to these remarks made about her in the laboratory. Xixi and Haha were happily chasing after each other when she and Jiang Shuxuan returned home. Feeling her mood improve, she happily went over to finish her oil painting.
What she didn’t know was that a war of words was being waged between the dog and the bird.
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (Boohoo! Beauty Gu didn’t bring me out with her today!”)
“Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark!” (Perhaps she has finally realized that you bring nothing to her but embarrassment.)
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (You looking for a fight?)
“Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark bark!” (Come at me bro! I ain’t afraid of you!)
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!” (How dare you talk back to your daddy! I’m really disappointed in you now.)
‘What a dumb bird!’ thought Haha.
Jiang Shuxuan’s footsteps stopped briefly when he gave Xixi a death stare before looking away as if he was about to sigh in disappointment.
Just who did Xixi learn this from?
“Brother Jiang! Apples! Apples!” Gu Xiqiao, who was thinking about what to write suddenly yelled out.
Jiang Shuxuan, who coincidentally was picking up an apple, responded. “In a moment.”
In a few strokes, the apple was sliced into equal bite-sized chunks which he brought over to Gu Xiqiao’s mini table. “What else do you need?”
“Nothing for now,” replied Gu Xiqiao as she picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick.
Apparently apples had become her source for inspiration recently.
Jiang Shuxuan was about to walk upstairs to take a shower when he opened his mouth at the foot of the stairwell. “It’ll be a few more days before Mrs. Zhang returns. Her daughter’s getting married so she still has a lot of things to deal with.”
Mrs. Zhang’s daughter is getting married? No wonder she’s away for so long. Gu Xiqiao looked over to Jiang Shuxuan. “Did you prepare a big fat red packet[1]?”
“I had someone do it for me. Would you like to head over for a look?” He knew that they were pretty close friends, and her relationship with Mrs. Zhang was especially close. In fact, it wasn’t too far off to say that she was a part of Gu Xiqiao’s family, thus why Jiang Shuxuan said what he said.
Mrs. Zhang was still in N City. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. “I’ll wait and see.” In any case, a gift must be prepared first.
Although she really wanted to pay them a visit, Nine Heavens had just been established in the Imperial Capital; she still had to oversee the matters here. The system should be able to give her a live view of the ceremony when the day comes so no biggie, she thought.
System: […]
Has my functions regressed to deal with such trivial matters?
“Don’t be like that, my little system. You should have enough points after the latest mission don’t you?”
System: [Yes daddy!]
“…”
‘Where’s your backbone?’ thought Gu Xiqiao to herself.
“Time to level up then…”
A robotic voice then rang out in her mind. [5200 points have been successfully deducted. The system is currently being upgraded. During the upgrade, the host will not be able to link up with the virtual space and all ongoing tasks will be interrupted.]
[Beauty Qiao! You must protect yourself in the 3 days to come!]
Gu Xiqiao thought she might not be able to get used to life without the system’s constant bickering.
A dark glow appeared in her bright eyes as she spun the pen with her delicate fingers. This upgrade would increase the system’s operating capabilities significantly. She should be able to partially uncover the secrets behind the virtual space, no?
***
The next day, Tang Qingqiu finally received news from Nine Heavens. One of their higher-ups was free this afternoon. Immediately, he called up Zhu Yuan, ready to talk to him about investing in his cell fusion process patent. According to Zhu Yuan, this would become a global sensation. If he could make Nine Heavens a global sensation, it would be a clear indicator of his sincerity right?
[1] In Chinese culture, red packets are usually given during festivities like Chinese New Year or during marriages to the bride and groom.