Chapter 30

The next day, Shen Youwei slept in and even skipped breakfast. At eleven, Guan Shanyan knocked on her door, asking if she was awake.
“Lunch is about to be ready. You haven’t gotten up yet, have you?” He stood outside after knocking. Shen Youwei had been awake for a while, lying in bed on her phone. Hearing the knock, she got up to open the door.
Seeing her messy hair, Guan Shanyan raised an eyebrow slightly: “And you say you’re going to the temple to burn incense today?”
Mentioning this made Shen Youwei sigh: “I’ve been deciding which temple to go to.”
Passing by, Xie Mingqiu overheard: “Then it has to be Qingjing Temple. It’s very effective.”
Shen Youwei knew Qingjing Temple always had abundant incense offerings, but it was on Qingjing Mountain. “No, I have PTSD from mountain climbing, especially there.”
She had nearly fallen off a cliff fifteen years ago. Though she was little and frightened, adults thought she’d forget in time. But she never did and never dared to climb a mountain again.
Xie Mingqiu remembered clearly. If Guan Shanyan hadn’t reacted quickly to pull her back, the consequences would’ve been unthinkable.
“I remember near Starlight Farm, there’s a temple at the foot of the mountain. You could try there.” Xie Mingqiu said, “It’s smaller than Qingjing Temple, and we don’t know if it’s as effective.”
Finding a temple not on a mountain in A City made Shen Youwei happy. Everything else she left to chance: “Sincerity brings results!”
Xie Mingqiu smiled: “True. Have Shanyan accompany you in the afternoon.”
Shen Youwei looked at Guan Shanyan: “Has your fever gone down?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “Eat first, then head there. It’s a bit far.”
“Okay.” Shen Youwei thought of how he stayed up last night showing off his sister to netizens,
Despite looking serious, he really had two sides.
After lunch, Shen Youwei tidied up and set out with Guan Shanyan.
Guan Shanyan drove, as usual.
Tianquan wasn’t with them today. Shen Youwei sat in the passenger seat, scrolling on her phone. At a red light, Guan Shanyan paused and glanced at her: “Playing on your phone while riding isn’t good for your eyes.”
Without looking up, she replied: “When isn’t using a phone bad for your eyes?”
Guan Shanyan: “…”
True enough.
“I’m not playing; I’m handling work.” Her studio had only her, so she had to do everything, even customer service. “No choice, it’s so busy. This morning alone, so many inquiries.”
“…” Guan Shanyan watched the light turn green and restarted the car. “Who would’ve thought a mega-influencer with ten million followers would still reply personally?”
“…” She thought, Poor me. “After burning incense, I’ll write a recruitment post.”
“You should hire someone. But finding the right person isn’t easy.” Guan Shanyan had experience running his own brand.
Shen Youwei knew this too. She wanted to wait for Xu Qairan to return, not only because they’d been friends for over ten years, but because they worked well together, just avoid mentioning Chen Qing, and things were fine.
“By the way, do you have Xu Qairan’s contact?” she asked.
Guan Shanyan: “I don’t. Isn’t she your friend?”
Shen Youwei pouted: “Not sure if she blocked me. I haven’t seen her updates in a long time.”
Guan Shanyan: “Oh.” He comforted her: “Think positively. Maybe she didn’t block you, maybe she blacklisted you?”
Shen Youwei: “…”
She had a feeling this small-minded man would remember being blacklisted forever.
After over an hour, they arrived at the temple near Starlight Farm. Remote and hard to find, they were surprised by the number of visitors.
“So many people come here, A City folks really have a lot of wishes,” Shen Youwei remarked.
Guan Shanyan was silent, then said: “Yes, the Bodhisattvas working in A City definitely aren’t worried about KPIs.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
Bodhisattvas worrying about KPIs?
The temple was small compared to Qingjing Temple but tranquil at the foot of the mountain. It was a typical ancient structure, with a few free-roaming cats nearby, reminding her of the Luming Hot Springs Villa on Qingjing Mountain.
She really missed Luming Hot Springs Villa.
“We can buy incense over there.” Guan Shanyan looked around and spotted a seller. They went over, bought the longest incense sticks, and Guan Shanyan, thinking “we’re here anyway,” bought one too.
They lit their incense at the burner, bowed sincerely, and placed the sticks inside.
Two young girls, whispering earlier, now boldly approached: “You’re Guan Shanyan and Shen Youwei, right? Didn’t expect to meet you here!”
“Yes! You’re even more attractive than in photos!”
“Cough.” Shen Youwei fixed her hair awkwardly. She hadn’t worn a mask, wanting to appear sincere, and got recognized. “Hello.”
“Hi! You’re so pretty! I’ve been following you for so long! You’re here for incense too? This temple is famous for matchmaking! Wait, aren’t you siblings?”
Shen Youwei: “…”
Guan Shanyan: “…”
No one had told them this temple was for matchmaking.
Shen Youwei wasn’t picky normally, but not this picky: “Does this temple only grant matchmaking wishes?”
One of the girls said, “Not exactly, it’s just that this temple is the most effective for matchmaking.”
The other girl added, “If it’s for something else, Qingjing Temple might be more effective.”
“Oh, ”
“Um, can we take a photo with you?”
“Sure.” Shen Youwei nodded and stood next to Guan Shanyan for a photo with them. After the picture, the two girls left. Shen Youwei looked at the incense she had just offered and asked Guan Shanyan, “Do you think the Bodhisattvas here would respond to wishes other than matchmaking?”
Guan Shanyan said, “Sincerity brings results.”
“…” Fair enough.
After leaving the temple, Shen Youwei started drafting her recruitment notice. Along the way, Guan Shanyan took a call. Hanging up, he told her, “There’s progress with Sun Yi’s case.”
Shen Youwei immediately perked up. “Has he been fired? Is there some organization behind him?”
“Probably.” Guan Shanyan explained, “The police said the two cameras they found aren’t ordinary ones, they’re custom-made, high-end. Tracing them led to a lot of information.”
Shen Youwei had suspected the cameras were unusual. Turns out they were custom-made: “You can’t just get something like that casually, right?”
“Exactly. They’re expensive and require channels. Sun Yi said he got his from the group leader as a token of loyalty. With that token, he could enter the inner group.”
Shen Youwei laughed. “So he used his own cousin as a token? That’s certainly a convenient way to start.”
Guan Shanyan said, “If it were just for Nan Xu, the cameras wouldn’t have been installed in your studio.”
Shen Youwei paused. True, Sun Yi was Nan Xu’s assistant. He had plenty of chances to secretly film Nan Xu, no need to set up cameras in her studio. “So this wave was aimed at me?”
“Sun Yi said your studio will likely have many celebrity clients. He can create a ‘celebrity series.’ With that, he can enter the highest-level group.”
“Okay, so even spying has ranks now?” Shen Youwei had known about spying but never imagined such a large network behind it.
Guan Shanyan had heard of similar cases, so he wasn’t surprised. “This case involves a lot of people. The police haven’t told me everything, but they’re probably using Sun Yi as a breakthrough to catch everyone behind him.”
Shen Youwei suddenly regretted, “If I had known, I should’ve wished for the police to solve the case quickly when I burned incense earlier!”
“It’s fine. The temple’s main focus is matchmaking, so they’re not skilled in this kind of work.” Guan Shanyan reassured her.
Shen Youwei: “…”
Wasn’t it supposed to be ‘sincerity brings results’?
When they got home, Xie Mingqiu and Guan Su had taken Tianquan out for a walk, leaving only Shen Youwei and Guan Shanyan at home.
“Godfather doesn’t seem familiar with Tianquan, but he’s surprisingly active walking the dog.” Normally on weekends, her godfather would go out for tea, but today he gave that up to walk the dog with her godmother.
Guan Shanyan said, “My dad has always liked dogs. They just thought I was afraid of them, so we never had one.”
Shen Youwei asked, “Why did they think you were afraid of dogs?”
Guan Shanyan looked at her. “You don’t know? That rumor started with you, didn’t it?”
“Uh, ” She had a vague memory. “When you were at my grandmother’s as a kid, you acted a little scared of Xiaohuang.”
“So you admit it was Xiaohuang?”
“Is that the point?” She replied, “If you weren’t afraid, why didn’t you tell them?”
“I did. They didn’t believe me and thought I was showing off.”
Shen Youwei: “…”
“I’m going to change first.” Shen Youwei used it as an excuse to slip back to her room. When she came out after changing, Guan Shanyan was juicing in the kitchen.
The juicer hummed. Guan Shanyan glanced at a cup in the cabinet above, seemingly intending to take it down.
Then Shen Youwei saw something unbelievable, the cup flew out of the cabinet on its own and landed by Guan Shanyan’s hand.
Shen Youwei froze for two seconds, then spun around and ran back to her room.
Closing the door, she leaned against it, patting her face. Was that a hallucination? Was she still half-asleep?
If she hadn’t experienced returning to a previous timeline firsthand, she would’ve thought she was imagining it. But since such things existed, a flying cup was hardly shocking.