True and False Daughters 17
In the original storyline, the beloved daughter also participated in the travel variety show. After the show aired, her reputation completely went down the "infamous yet popular" route. Thanks to bad editing by the production team and the passive-aggressive comments from wealthier male guests on social media, her name fell lower and lower. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Shang Xi’s incoherent outbursts smeared her further, and with relentless suppression from her company and agent, she eventually gave in for the sake of her bedridden father—she went and found herself a "sugar daddy," embarking on a road of no return.
Incidentally, in the original plot, Jin Li only sent her admirers to participate—she herself never showed up.
Now, with Jin Li choosing to make a personal appearance, it seemed both she and her system sensed something was wrong and were feeling a certain degree of crisis. In fact, Jin Li and her center-of-attention system had precisely identified the source of the rapid downturn.
Qin Jingzhou couldn’t find it in himself to be surprised. As far as the center-of-attention system was concerned, his current fortune probably shone blindingly gold and surged to the heavens—if something like the intelligence potion, which could shift the entire world’s fate, didn’t have this kind of effect, it would be a joke.
At that moment, Gao Wen explained the situation unhurriedly. "Yesterday, Du Jiaying chatted with me, and I thought she was perfectly normal." This recently clear-headed and rational Du Jiaying had been getting along with him quite well.
He paused, then added, "But today she suddenly changed her attitude and stopped replying to my messages. I suspect Jin Li did something through Du Jiahui to get at Du Jiaying… It’s said that Jin Li intends to reveal her extraordinary side on the show."
He Chunxi was completely unfazed. "Jin Li wants to ‘make ironclad predictions and earn a fortune with a single sweep’? What, is she done with life?"
Shang Xi pulled his girlfriend’s hand, snorting coldly.
Gao Wen smiled, "The team is very tricky to manage now. If Jin Li doesn’t use her most prized skills, there’s no wrapping things up this time."
In this world, spiritual energy was so thin that it was almost non-existent under most circumstances, so there was no environment for cultivators to practice. So-called masters of metaphysics were ninety-nine point nine-nine percent frauds; the remaining genuinely skilled one in ten thousand mostly worked as consultants for the Officials.
Recently, the Officials split into several teams to monitor Jin Li and every one of her pursuers, each group also equipped with an advisor versed in metaphysics. So far, the conclusion was that Jin Li did indeed know a bit about it, but what truly entranced her followers was most likely an invisible and intangible neurotoxin.
Hearing this, Qin Jingzhou realized that he’d misled the Officials to some extent.
The original host truly had lapsed into a coma due to the neurotoxin, but the reason other people started acting "out of character" was actually due to the skill cards with added effects like "enchantment" or "suggestion" supplied to Jin Li by the center-of-attention system.
And that neurotoxin was something Jin Li had pulled from her system’s beginner package… It was still unique even now.
No matter what, since Jin Li had decided to burn her bridges and stake everything on a desperate gamble, Qin Jingzhou had to play along.
Thus, when the guests entered the production team per the scheduled time, they were all surprised to find only the assistant producer and assistant director there to welcome them. The whereabouts of the main producer and director were wrapped in mystery.
Jin Li, still surrounded by her admirers as always, kept up her composure but muttered internally, "He Chunxi actually brought her dad."
The center-of-attention system replied, "Wasn’t this expected? Weren’t you planning to catch them all in one net anyway?"
With her followers’ attentive service, Jin Li swapped into flat shoes and cradled a cup of healthy tea, muttering, "I think my strategy is lacking. I really should settle for one fresh peach, not a whole basket of rotten ones." She counted up her stockpiled skill cards. "I’ve used so many of them on Jingzhou. I refuse to believe they won’t work!"
A little confidence is a good thing—if you’re timid before the fight, you might as well not play at all.
But as the center-of-attention system looked at the lovestruck bootlickers nearby, each one’s fortune having been shaved by at least a third, it thought to itself, isn’t this just, well… cursing your luck after having your fill?
There were some things it couldn’t say: anyone able to transmigrate here must carry extraordinary fortune. If Jin Li’s moral standards had been just a little higher, it might not have had the chance to bind with her at all.
It estimated that even if Jin Li pulled out all the stops, she would never fully beguile He Jingzhou. Still, while she tried, the system was sure to reap several rounds of luck, either gathering it for itself or swallowing it outright and escaping… Either way, it would never lose.
Meanwhile, the program’s producer and director had already been formally notified. They now sat upright, answering Gao Wen’s questions honestly: which guests had added more investment, how they hoped the production team would guide the show on-site and edit afterward, and how to keep He Chunxi’s image fixed as willful, crude, egocentric, and unscrupulous… The guests also promised to fully cooperate with the production team.
Surrounded by four cold-faced bodyguards, Qin Jingzhou listened, then asked Gao Wen, "Are the double agents all in place?"
He hadn’t invested all that special “Brain Gold” for nothing.
Gao Wen pushed up his glasses. "They’re set. They just checked in with me a moment ago."
In reality, among the twelve guests, other than the beloved daughter, He Chunxi, the biological daughter Du Jiaying, and Jin Li, three of the remaining nine wealthy scions had actually regained clear-headedness but pretended to still be under Jin Li's spell.
The production team intended to split the twelve guests into three groups, with one female guest per group.
Qin Jingzhou looked at the producer and director, staring until both their shoulders trembled slightly. "One of those three young men goes in each group as well. Every cameraman must be watched by our people, as should post-production staff. I do not trust these ‘so long as you pay us, anything goes’ workers." He then turned to Shang Xi. "You’ll guest host."
Gao Wen smiled. The boss had spoken—after this program, the producer and director in front of him would be forced out of the industry, while the station and streaming platform executives who had taken bribes would be brought in for questioning even before the show finished… Open-and-shut case of corruption, and they deserved every bit of it.
The producer and director were both seasoned veterans in the industry. Having been called out to their faces, they dared not complain, exchanging only fearful glances: We were just taking money to ruin someone’s reputation—how did we end up offending someone from the public security force?
Still, they were needed to go through the motions and stage the show, so Gao Wen had his colleagues reassure them, warning not to self-sabotage—if they performed well, there was still a chance to redeem themselves.
This season, the program was set to visit three less popular yet picturesque locations. Thanks to Qin Jingzhou’s intervention, the production and the guests would be staying at hotels owned by the Ji Family and another family whose member had taken "Brain Gold."
Ji Chun was Shang Xi’s close buddy, so the Ji Family—as well as Father Ji and Sister Ji—had far more advance notice than the other family.
Once the show officially began, the host, who had also been questioned and was slightly jittery, hurriedly read through the basic rules from the teleprompter, then fled the scene.
Jin Li glanced at the expressionless He Chunxi and said to the system, "Her father… He Jingzhou, is even more accomplished and formidable than I thought. Does he and He Chunxi still have a favorability of minus one hundred toward me?"
The system replied, "Yes." Minus one hundred was the lowest favorability value it could read—any lower, and it would still display minus one hundred.
Before things even kicked off, Jin Li couldn’t be bothered to keep up the act. She and the other guests boarded the production team’s bus together and set off for the hotel to rest.
Along the way, the system reminded Jin Li, "Those people… I’ve tagged them. They’re here to protect He Chunxi." It didn’t tell her outright that all those marked were blessed with Nation’s Fortune… Anyone with Nation’s Fortune was a public official, no exceptions.
Jin Li bit her lip, "Can they be targeted for capture, too?"
The system replied, "…Yes." As it said this, it almost felt like it was drooling.
At this moment, Qin Jingzhou was with members of the Ji Family and the show’s post-production team.
Father Ji had prepared an entire floor for the program staff, even having all the security cameras rearranged in advance to ensure there were no blind spots—except for the private areas of the bathrooms.
While Qin Jingzhou chatted with Father Ji, Gao Wen received a message from a colleague up ahead: the young men and women who had taken "Brain Gold" for this assignment were proactive and energetic. While sitting near Jin Li on the bus, they had an indistinct feeling that the thing behind Jin Li’s head… was moving.
Although, per show rules, He Chunxi had handed in her phone, she could still relay messages to Gao Wen through the young people nearby. She also added, "That thing is even more interested in our people than it is in me."
Qin Jingzhou wanted to test the limits of the center-of-attention system’s abilities, so he decided to watch and see for now.
Jin Li’s group arrived at the Ji Family’s hotel in the afternoon, and everything was peaceful until evening… up until Gao Wen received a message from Du Jiaying. She wanted to have a chat in the sky garden on the thirtieth floor, but just then, a colleague reported that the person monitoring Jin Li had been missing for a full hour.
That’s right—while the thing behind Jin Li appeared harmless, anything unknown deserved full caution. The staff had agreed to check in on an app every fifteen minutes. To have no response for a whole hour…
Gao Wen quickly asked someone to placate Du Jiaying, then called for backup to search for the missing colleague.
Thanks to the cameras covering the entire floor, Father Ji’s assistant was able to quickly cut a highlight video for Gao Wen. He met up with Ji Chun, who brought the hotel manager and security, and together they hurried to the sky garden on the thirtieth floor…
As Gao Wen neared the scene, he had a theory. Sure enough, when he reached the thirtieth floor, he saw Du Jiaying at the entrance to the sky garden, wearing a mocking expression.
Du Jiaying stood with her arms crossed. "Did you really think I wanted to have a heart-to-heart with you right now? I’m here to report a crime, obviously!"
Gao Wen wiped his face and apologized, then asked, "Inside?"
Du Jiaying put away her smile. "Just as you imagined."
Without hesitation, Gao Wen led the group inside.
Jin Li and her sycophants seemed to be chatting about love under the moon, but the missing young man was sitting across from Jin Li with a dazed look.
Jin Li glanced at Gao Wen, eyes shining, lips bright red. She raised her glass. "If you want to know me better… why not come and try for yourself?"
For a moment, Gao Wen felt… that it might not be so bad…
He looked at her again, about to speak when, suddenly, he was slapped across the face.
Du Jiaying stepped out from behind him, shaking her hand. "Jin Li, you intentionally stole someone I like. It would be a shame if I didn’t return the favor."
Gao Wen immediately snapped out of it, completely clearheaded now.
Jin Li was still smiling, but inside she was cursing: Damn it—she ruined my plan!