Gu Tangxue was cooking noodles in the kitchen. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she put down her chopsticks and poked her head out.
She saw Su Qi returning with a duffel bag.
"Is your luggage that light?"
"I don't have many things. I only have two sets of clothes that I rotate."
She hadn't brought back anything belonging to the Huo family. She only brought a few sets of clothes she had bought recently, all from the department store.
Gu Tangxue found it hard to believe. The first time she saw Su Qi, even in her simple clothes, she felt Su Qi was more striking than the film empress, the national darling Xu Linyun.
She figured if Xu Linyun stood next to Su Qi, Xu Linyun would be completely overshadowed.
"By the way, are you hungry? I made you some noodles. Although it's just simple noodles, my cooking is very good, so it should be quite delicious. At least, I think so." Gu Tangxue said, walking towards the kitchen.
The noodles were just right. She scooped them up, added a little soy sauce, blanched some vegetables and eggs, and carried a large soup bowl filled with plenty of noodles.
She placed it in front of Su Qi.
Su Qi glanced at it and was taken aback. "Thank you."
She hadn't expected Gu Tangxue to take care of her not having eaten dinner.
"Yang Tianhao said you are very capable. I might need your help in the future."
Gu Tangxue smiled sweetly, looking like a charming girl next door when she smiled.
Su Qi's stomach rumbled.
Without being polite, Su Qi thanked her, picked up her chopsticks, and ate every last bit. Gu Tangxue couldn't help but smile seeing Su Qi eat so heartily.
After Su Qi finished and washed the bowls, she found Gu Tangxue tidying up her room.
"I've already cleaned it. No one has lived in this room for half a year, so it's a bit dusty. It will air out after you stay for a few days."
Su Qi looked at the damp floor and breathed in the dusty air.
This was her new life. Even if it was just a small bedroom, it was her own space.
Sleeping here, she felt she no longer had to worry about being kicked out, no longer had to worry about being treated roughly by a man late at night.
Su Qi felt an urge to cry.
Seeing Su Qi lost in thought, Gu Tangxue turned to cut some fruit. "Come watch TV. You can go rest when you feel sleepy!"
That night, Su Qi slept very well.
Huo Tingyun was a bit busy today. It was already past midnight after a few meetings.
He was exhausted. After finishing his work, the only thought that occupied his mind was Su Qi.
He returned to the Shallow Water Bay villa, didn't even change his shoes, and went straight upstairs.
He ripped off his shirt and tie and pushed open the door to the guest bedroom.
Su Qi had stayed in this room for a few days, and the room seemed filled with her presence.
The familiar scent of the woman made his adrenaline surge.
He turned on the light, expecting to see Su Qi fast asleep.
But all he saw was an empty room.
Where was the master bedroom?
She wasn't there.
When he started searching for the third room, his emotions became unusually volatile.
He searched all the rooms, from the second floor to the first, not even sparing the bathrooms.
She wasn't there, wasn't there, wasn't there.
Su Qi was nowhere to be found.
It felt as if something had been hollowed out from his heart.
The empty villa was so vast that he could hear his own breathing.
The unlit areas were hollow and dark.
Just being in this place brought an overwhelming sense of loneliness and desolation.
He couldn't believe she had lived here alone for a year.
His assistant had said Su Qi didn't have many friends and was mostly a loner.
How many lonely nights had she endured facing such a large house every night?
His heart suddenly felt as if it were being squeezed by a pair of hands, causing a slight ache.
The man took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and his hand holding the lighter trembled slightly.
He took a deep drag of the tobacco, and only then did his restless heart find a sliver of peace.
He made a phone call.
"Find her. I need Su Qi's location."
Su Qi slept soundly for the first time in a long time. When she woke up the next morning, Gu Tangxue had already prepared breakfast and invited Su Qi to join her.
"I bought breakfast from the bun shop downstairs. It tastes pretty good. Come and try it."
Gu Tangxue picked up a bun and put it into Su Qi's hand. "Don't be shy with me."
With such warm hospitality, Su Qi sat down and took a bite of the soft, steaming bun.
"I just went downstairs to buy breakfast, and the owner told me a Rolls-Royce appeared in our neighborhood. It arrived early this morning and didn't leave until well after dawn. When did our neighborhood get such wealthy people?"
This was a mid-range residential area, mostly populated by the middle class and some working professionals. Even Mercedes-Benz and BMWs were rare, let alone a Rolls-Royce.
Su Qi wasn't interested in gossip, but she chatted with Gu Tangxue for a few sentences.
After breakfast, Su Qi went to Chase Light.
Her car was parked downstairs.
It wasn't far from Chase Light, less than a ten-minute drive.
Yang Tianhao saw Su Qi arrive and came over. "How is it? Isn't Gu Tangxue beautiful and kind? Although she's still playing minor roles, with Gu Tangxue's talent, I feel she'll definitely become popular in the future, but she just needs an opportunity."
Yang Tianhao said that he had met Gu Tangxue, who was an extra, when he was an assistant to a big star on a film set.
Gu Tangxue was truly striking and beautiful. Even as an extra, she was the most outstanding one.
Yang Tianhao was eating his boxed lunch, and Gu Tangxue was beside him. They started chatting about the food in their boxed lunches, and gradually became friends.
They had known each other for a year. Gu Tangxue had graduated from film school, gone from being an extra to playing a few small roles, which was better than being an extra, and she had gained some small fans.
But even so, Gu Tangxue was still an unknown, a nobody in the entertainment and film industry.
Su Qi bought groceries on her way home from work. Gu Tangxue was watching a TV show, which happened to be starring Xu Linyun.
"Sigh, why are some people so lucky with their birth? Xu Linyun has a boyfriend who loves her so much, the richest man from the top family in Shencheng, who spends lavishly to promote Xu Linyun to become a film empress."
Given Xu Linyun's acting skills, without Huo Tingyun's push behind the scenes, not in three years, but perhaps even thirty years, it would still be a distant prospect.
"If I had even half of Xu Linyun's happiness, I could make a splash in the entertainment industry."
A dark shadow flickered across Gu Tangxue's eyes.
She had paid too much to become a film empress.
She didn't regret it, but she was unwilling.
Fate was truly unfair.
Su Qi didn't know how to comfort her.
After all, she had also envied Xu Linyun, envied her greatly.
Born into a privileged family, loved by Huo Tingyun, and having such a good brother, with family who protected her.
She must be a little princess who grew up in a honey pot.
Su Qi composed herself. "I'll cook for you."