DTBS - Chapter 181

Chapter 181: Extra: Kitty Plays Matchmaker - Part 2

Saying goodbye to Su Qingxiang, who was helping Teacher Chang pack her luggage, Qin Qingshang held her daughter. After making sure she was seated properly in the back, she opened the passenger door and got in. "The kindergarten is closed because of this incident, Qiuqiu. Since we're already out, why don't we go look at wedding dresses now?"

She turned to look at the little one playing with her fingers and smiled. "We can let Qinqin help us pick a beautiful one, okay?"

The little cat seemed not to understand, but she nodded and waved her paw, saying, "Qinqin help Mama!"

"My daughter is so good!" Qin Qingshang found her adorable.

Tao Qiuyun looked in the rearview mirror, couldn't help but laugh, and teased the little one, "Can you even understand? And you're helping Mama."

"Hmph! Bad person looks down on Qinqin, I'm not talking to you!"

"She's bad, Mama will hit her. Don't be sad, Qinqin." Qin Qingshang patted the woman beside her and leaned in to whisper, "Go coax her."

"Wasn't I just stating the truth?" Tao Qiuyun was helpless, but since her wife had spoken, she had no choice but to comply. She turned her head to the little cat and said, "Okay, Mama was wrong. Qinqin understands, right?"

"Hmph hmph~" The cat flopped down, ignoring her...

"She even knows how to throw a little tantrum," Qin Qingshang peeked at her daughter in the back seat, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh. "So cute!"

"...There's a White Old Man's place near the wedding dress shop. If she starts fussing about wanting fries later," Tao Qiuyun warned beforehand, "you have to stop her, or she'll hold a grudge against me again."

It was clearly Qin Qingshang who wouldn't let her eat so-called "junk food," yet this little cat always blamed her. What a double standard!

"Alright, alright, I'll be the bad guy," Qin Qingshang glanced at her, pretending to be wronged. "CEO Tao's calculations are really sharp."

It's like I owed you two mother and daughter in my past life.

The woman pursed her red lips slightly. "Forget it, I'll continue being the bad guy."

"Qiuqiu is so good~"

Just as they were waiting at a red light, Tao Qiuyun decisively leaned over and kissed Qin Qingshang's cheek. "A reward. Are you just praising me with your words?"

"Kissing every day, don't you get tired?" Qin Qingshang said dismissively, but her body honestly leaned over and kissed Tao Qiuyun. "Now that I'm on vacation for so long, if we kiss like this every day, you'll definitely get tired of it quickly, right?"

"No," Tao Qiuyun shook her head. "Let alone twenty hours, even if we were stuck together for seven hundred and twenty hours, I wouldn't get tired."

"You only say nice things." Qin Qingshang turned her head away, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

The two mothers in the front were flirting as if no one else was around, while the little cat in the back was about to faint from excitement...

System: "Wake up! Don't die!"

Tao Aiqin: "Not dead, not dead. My stomach just hurts from laughing. Give me some melon seeds, I can still eat dog food!"

System: "...6"

Is this what it, as a romance-focused system, is supposed to witness? It heard that a plot-focused system on the forum had already completed its mission and was selecting its next host.

Sigh, thinking about being bound to this person for decades...

Actually, it's pretty good.

After parking the car at the entrance of the wedding dress shop, Tao Qiuyun picked up the little cat who claimed her "legs hurt and she couldn't walk." She rubbed her little head and laughed, calling her a "little liar."

The little cat rubbed against her, whining cutely, "I didn't lie, I fell before and it hurt a lot~"

The System couldn't listen anymore and retorted, "You clearly fell on purpose! You even calculated the distance of the fall and the length of the stick!"

Tao Aiqin: "Don't ask, just say it was an accident!"

She was just an innocent five-year-old girl. How could she have any bad intentions? She just wanted to help Auntie Xiang, who was suffering from unwarranted violence.

Although Su Qingxiang had already knocked the man out with a handbag...

System: "You even went and cried in front of Fang Yu, saying those people hit you."

Tao Aiqin: "Force is mutual, Sys. You have to believe in science. That stick poked that man so hard, the feedback force was also very large. Rounding up, it means they hit me, and I'm so small, I must have hurt even more."

System: "...I have never seen such a shameless person! Oh, she's the first person I've seen. Never mind."

As soon as they entered the wedding dress shop, Qin Qingshang spotted a familiar face. Zhou Linwan was carrying a drawing board, seemingly taking notes.

"Sister Zhou!" Qin Qingshang went up to greet her. She smiled and said, "What a coincidence, why are you here?"

"I'm looking for inspiration for romance," Zhou Linwan's outfit today was completely different from when she was on the reality show, much cleaner and fresher. "So I came here to browse. Are you and CEO Tao here to look at wedding dresses?"

"Yes," Tao Qiuyun walked in holding her daughter. "We want to retake our wedding photos."

Zhou Linwan wasn't aware of their situation, so she used the word "retake."

"Oh, I see," the painter in overalls set up her drawing board nearby and borrowed a stool from a staff member. "I've already spoken to the owner here, and she allowed me to sketch here today. I hope I won't disturb you?"

"Not at all," Qin Qingshang leaned closer. "Can we see your paintings?"

"You can, but there's nothing much to see. These are just some landscape sketches." Zhou Linwan was a little embarrassed.

Tao Qiuyun quickly noticed her change in mood. "I remember Miss Zhou, you mentioned on the romance show that you were exploring the essence of landscape painting. But coming to a wedding dress shop for inspiration this time, are you planning to paint people?"

Zhou Linwan was silent for a moment, then looked up and smiled. "Yes, although my teacher is a master of landscape painting, the figures in his paintings are also very charming. A few days ago, I was practicing in the studio, and he saw my drawing board. He rarely praised me, saying my painting finally had a soul."

Qin Qingshang was an outsider. Seeing some landscape sketches on Zhou Linwan's drawing board, she only thought they were beautiful and praised, "Sister Zhou, you paint so well!"

Tao Aiqin fussed to jump down from Tao Qiuyun's arms and also went over to look, nodding her little head as if she were seriously appreciating the art.

Zhou Linwan found her adorable, bent down to pet the little cat, and then said to Qin Qingshang, "These paintings actually have form but no spirit. They are just what I observed from an outsider's perspective. The painting my teacher praised was actually a portrait. I painted... Ming Siwen. My teacher said I captured Siwen's eyes very vividly, as if they held a certain emotion. It was the first time he saw a figure in my painting 'communicating' with the painter. I've entered a new stage."

After speaking, the woman lowered her gaze. She knew very well that her current situation was not optimistic.

After returning home, she painted several more pictures. The figures in her paintings were all Ming Siwen, but they conveyed her own personal emotions. She was like a pathetic secret admirer, only daring to hide her feelings in a dark corner, unable to see the light.

Now, every time she faced Ming Siwen, she felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff. One more step forward and she would fall.

Hearing this, Qin Qingshang was startled.

Tao Qiuyun stared at Zhou Linwan. "You like Ming Siwen."

"Just a crush," Zhou Linwan sat on the small stool and sighed slightly. "I envy you and Qingshang. I envy all lovers in this world."

"Then why not pursue it?" Tao Qiuyun was puzzled. "I saw on the romance show that you two got along quite well."

Qin Qingshang glanced at her, thinking: You blockhead, you're actually teaching people how to date?

"I can't," Zhou Linwan smiled bitterly and shook her head. "Siwen and I can only be friends."

If she took another step, she was afraid she wouldn't even be able to be friends.

"Teacher Ming," Qin Qingshang hesitated, but still chose to speak the truth. "Actually, I mentioned you, Sister Zhou, to Teacher Ming. But she told me her criteria for a partner are someone younger, without their own opinions, and easy to control... Sister Zhou, which one do you think you fit?"

Zhou Linwan looked even more dejected. She shook her head. "I don't fit any of them."

Tao Qiuyun and Qin Qingshang exchanged glances, momentarily unsure how to comfort the painter Zhou, who had broken up before even starting a relationship.

Tao Aiqin watched anxiously. These two moms of hers... Their own relationship was smooth sailing, so they had no idea how to pull red strings, right? This kind of thing, they had to watch her perform!

What Ming Siwen said was clearly a lie. Only these three honest people would believe it!

"Mama," the little cat tugged at Qin Qingshang's clothes. "Auntie Ming praised Auntie Zhou in private. She said she likes Auntie Zhou."

"Really?" Zhou Linwan instantly looked at her.

"Is that so?" Qin Qingshang was also surprised. "How did she praise her?"

The little cat looked a bit troubled, trying hard to recall. "Hmm... I think she said Auntie Zhou is very amazing! She knows how to refuse people and make the right decisions."

Ming Siwen had indeed praised Zhou Linwan. Rounding up, she wasn't lying. She wasn't afraid of confronting Ming Siwen either; if asked, she'd just say a child's memory isn't clear and she got things mixed up.

Besides, Ming Siwen clearly had a good impression of Zhou Linwan. These two couldn't fool her eyes. When it came to relationships between women, as long as there wasn't some fundamental issue, she generally encouraged them to get together rather than break up.

"So Siwen was..." Zhou Linwan already had a good impression of Ming Siwen, and a common trait among secret admirers is that as long as there's a glimmer of hope, they usually don't want to give up.

So she quickly realized, "Was Siwen saying that on purpose? No wonder recently... She must have sensed that I like her, which is why she said that. She doesn't want you, Qingshang, to set us up."

"What do you mean?" Qin Qingshang was surprised. "What does 'sensed' mean?"

"The number of times she chats with me has significantly decreased. After 《We Are Family》 ended, sometimes I send several messages, and she only replies with one sentence," Zhou Linwan smiled bitterly. "I even feel like a licking dog, guarding my phone waiting for her reply."

"Sister Zhou is not a licking dog!" Qin Qingshang disagreed with this statement.

"That's right," Tao Qiuyun also comforted her. "Nowadays, everyone can eat their fill, the internet is developed, and emotional needs are also becoming fast-food-like. Dedicated deep affection is constantly being devalued. Actually, licking dog and deep affection cannot be confused."

"Auntie Zhou is not a dog!" The little cat patted her with her paw. "Only Big Bold is a doggy~"

Zhou Linwan was amused by her. "Okay, Qinqin is too cute. Thank you for comforting me."

"Teacher Ming might just genuinely not want to be in a relationship, which is why she said that on purpose," Qin Qingshang also understood now. She comforted Zhou Linwan, "Teacher Ming has always been a single-ism (meaning she prefers being single), so don't be sad, Zhou… Sister, you're great."

"She hasn't always been single-ism," Zhou Linwan shook her head. "Lü Fangting and my teacher are relatives. That day when my teacher praised me, she happened to be visiting and also saw Siwen in my painting. She even sighed and told me a lot about Siwen that she knew. These secrets are probably only known by managers at her level."

"Teacher Ming's matters?" Qin Qingshang blinked.

"Siwen and Gu Yunfei," Zhou Linwan faced the drawing board, picked up her pen, then put it down. "They almost made it."

"As expected, a former partner!" Qin Qingshang exclaimed softly, then asked doubtfully, "Almost?"

"Actually, they never explicitly defined their relationship, but after hearing what Sister Lü said, I feel Gu Yunfei was very excessive. During the filming of that drama, she mentioned to Siwen that she was confused about her sexual orientation, saying she seemed to be attracted to girls, but her family wanted her to find a man."

"Such private matters," Tao Qiuyun found the entertainment industry amazing. "Can managers know about them too?"

"Siwen's former manager had a good relationship with Sister Lü, and at that time, Siwen reported almost everything to her manager," Zhou Linwan explained.

Qin Qingshang nodded. "Actually, in the entertainment industry, the network of connections held by managers is very important. Even if they don't ask, the artists themselves will report their situations."

Otherwise, why would everyone be fighting so hard to get a good manager? Ability is one aspect, but resources are the most important.

"Originally, Siwen's character in the drama was a young master disguised as a woman, and she was very close to Gu Yunfei's senior sister character. Over time… anyway, from what Sister Lü implied, they were quite ambiguous at the time. But later, Gu Yunfei told Siwen that she was good in every way, but unfortunately, she still preferred men. Then… Siwen cried for a long time in the arms of her manager at the time, cursing herself for being useless. Finally, you saw the single-ism later on."

The little cat smacked her lips...

Good heavens! A straight woman leading on a lesbian! Wait, Ming Siwen even thought she was useless? Poor Teacher Ming, was she PUA'd?

"Ah, this..." Qin Qingshang didn't know what to say for a moment.

Zhou Linwan was a bit sad. She truly felt for Ming Siwen. "What made me most upset was that Sister Lü told me that Gu Yunfei's successful divorce back then was actually thanks to Ming Siwen's help behind the scenes. Otherwise, how could a retired actress who was a full-time housewife possibly take control of online public opinion so quickly? Although the man was a prostitute user, the group of brainless fans who could be completely shut down definitely had someone pushing them from behind, and Gu Yunfei definitely couldn't have done that at the time."

"Teacher Ming, how could she! Helping with something like that has no benefit," Qin Qingshang slumped onto Tao Qiuyun. "Was she that in love?"

If she were Ming Siwen and knew Gu Yunfei was going to be on the 《We Are Family》 reality show, she wouldn't go even if you killed her!

The little cat stroked her chin, thinking:

From 《We Are Family》, it seems Ming Siwen no longer likes Gu Yunfei. However, even if she has moved on, the past hurt was too deep, leaving behind a deep-seated pain... She was too emotional back then, which is why she felt more pain when she learned the truth and found it harder to accept the facts, believing it was her own fault.

Gu Yunfei is also a master of rhetoric, not saying everything, leaving herself room to maneuver. First, she said she seemed to like girls, then she played ambiguous with Ming Siwen, and finally told Ming Siwen she still preferred men, giving Ming Siwen the illusion that it was because she wasn't good enough that Gu Yunfei felt men were better... She perfectly exited the relationship gracefully.

Day after day of self-blame and sadness accumulated, creating the actress Ming Siwen of today, but also leaving her with unhealed scars.

Difficult! Painter Zhou, this is practically hell difficulty!

The cat sighed.

The cat tugged at the red string and found it didn't move (the cat was sad).

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