Lu Jiuxiao tilted his head slightly, revealing the first genuine smile he’d shown since coming to his birth father’s side. “Is this considered normal?” As soon as he finished speaking, he lowered his eyes and quickly tapped out a string of words on his phone.
Qin Er was right beside him, watching wide-eyed as Lu Jiuxiao logged into his social media account and sent out two back-to-back posts.
The first read: Fine, I don’t want to be a member of the Lu Family either.
The second: Gu Su, you were clearly the one who cheated first. My lawyer will be in touch.
Just like that, the task Uncle Cheng had given him was complete.
He’d won without even trying!
Excited, Qin Er sprang up from his seat, wobbled a bit, then flopped back down. “Heavens, Uncle Cheng, come see what your son just posted! He’s suddenly acting normal, I can’t even get used to it!” As soon as he finished, he took a screenshot and sent it to the company group chat.
Qin Jingzhou picked up his phone, opened the group, and saw the screenshot. His silly son's line, "I don’t want to be a member of the Lu Family either," reminded him of the classic meme back home: “I don’t want to be human anymore.”
It was rare for his son to actually do something that fit his wishes, so of course he had to encourage him. He told Assistant Li, “Share it immediately.”
Assistant Li readily agreed, opened the social media app, and logged into the account he’d registered for his boss—then the screen went black and the phone crashed.
He quickly switched to his laptop and logged in through the browser. With the laptop’s fan screaming at full blast, he finally discovered what was happening: hordes of silly netizens were swarming under the post, and comments shouting “Hubby” had surpassed a hundred thousand. The direct messages were a disaster zone too. Not only did people keep calling him “Hubby,” but they accompanied that with all sorts of bizarre selfies.
Assistant Li immediately looked at his boss, needing to rinse his eyes.
Bearing with the laggy computer, he finally managed to share Lu Jiuxiao’s two posts, only to find that the platform had crashed. Well, that was to be expected.
Since China’s biggest social media server was down, he switched apps to see what netizens were saying elsewhere.
Qin Er checked the trending topic, glanced over a few posts, then put his phone right under Lu Jiuxiao’s nose. “Look, the netizens are on your side now.”
Lu Jiuxiao let out a flat “heh,” his face expressionless. Looking at the swarm of netizens clamoring to be his stepmother—or, well, his other stepfather—he truly had nothing to say.
What he didn’t know was that, no matter how indifferent he acted, the fortune that had almost hit rock bottom was climbing rapidly.
At the same time, the situation spiraled right after the always-bitter ex-son-in-law posted a recent photo. Old Master Lu had no choice but to call in the private doctor. After taking his medicine and resting, that sensation of his blood pressure threatening to explode gradually eased.
In truth, Old Master Lu’s aim had been clear from the start: he wanted to forcefully and righteously kick his grandson Lu Jiuxiao out of the house. Cleaning up the ex-son-in-law could wait; their grudge had nothing to do with money or power anyway.
According to his plan, if he released a recording of his grandson’s emotional breakdown—especially the portion where he berated Gu Su, recorded just after learning the child wasn’t his by blood—then if the grandson collapsed again, he could easily reclaim the 3 percent of shares. Afterward, the team would release a doctor’s diagnosis showing his grandson had longstanding mental troubles, which would also serve as an explanation for other shareholders and netizens.
As for his grandson living the rest of his life labeled as mentally ill… well, he did feel a bit bad. But if he could let Zhentong use those last years as a stepping stone, it wouldn’t have been all for nothing.
But he never expected that, even though everything was going according to plan, a single recent photo from the ex-son-in-law could break the game wide open!
Netizens began raging against ex-son-in-law Cheng Jingzhou, all because of a greasy, off-putting photo of a middle-aged man and some stories about him being a gold digger and womanizer.
But when a recent photo of Cheng Jingzhou surfaced, netizens were in an uproar: Looking like that, why would he need to con anyone out of love or money?! The only people who would fabricate something this heinous… must be the Lu Family! If the Lu Family could fake even photos, how could anyone believe a single word they say?
Netizens realized they’d likely been duped, then turned on the Lu family with even more ferocity.
As a result, Lu Corporation’s stock price dropped two points.
This wasn’t just because of damaged image, but because investors feared lawsuits over falsifying evidence.
Old Master Lu gave a bitter laugh and asked his assistant to fetch a recent picture of the ex-son-in-law. He put on his glasses and examined it for a long while before heaving a long sigh. “Time spares true beauty. He’s even more attractive than in his youth.”
He despised Cheng Jingzhou’s character, but that in no way conflicted with his admiration for Cheng Jingzhou’s looks.
Old Master Lu’s trusted assistant had been beside him the whole time. Sensing the old man was finally calm, he quietly spoke. “Chairman, we’ve tracked down who uploaded the fake photo and posted those slanderous stories.”
Old Master Lu looked up. “Who was it?”
“The Young Master of the Xiang family, Xiang Feng.”
Instead of getting angry, Old Master Lu smiled. “So it was him. No wonder he had to stir up trouble. Since it was a mess caused by Gu Su, let her handle it herself.”
The assistant replied, “I’ll contact her now.”
At the most famous private restaurant in the Capital City, Gu Su was sitting face-to-face with Xiang Feng.
Xiang Feng was currently boasting about how he’d seized the opportunity today, delivering a “fatal blow” to Cheng Jingzhou and Lu Jiuxiao. The more Gu Su listened, the darker her expression became. She’d seen Cheng Jingzhou with her own eyes! To be honest, even she’d barely been able to resist his allure.
Wasn’t it enough to just accuse Cheng Jingzhou of being irresponsible and philandering? Why make up absurd stories about him being a trickster for money and love? Did he realize that this little stunt had backfired and ruined Old Master Lu’s plan?!
Netizens had no idea Old Master Lu and Xiang Feng weren’t working together. They only thought if one thing was a lie, everything else must be too!
Gu Su pressed her brow helplessly. Of the three, Xiang Feng was the easiest to manipulate, which was why she’d put the greatest amount of Huiwu on him in the first place—she hadn’t wanted her efforts to be in vain. Now she realized she’d dumbed Xiang Feng down too much, but regretting it now was much too late.
Given the situation, Gu Su could only patiently explain to Xiang Feng, “You meant well, but you messed things up…”
Although Xiang Feng had become pretty dim lately, he was still capable of understanding human speech. After an awkward silence, he grinned in that silly way of his. “But Lu Jiuxiao agreed to divorce you, right? So I guess for once I actually didn’t do all this for nothing.”
Gu Su: …You’re actually happy about this, huh? Do you realize I don’t even want this divorce?
She couldn’t take it anymore. Despite sacrificing some of her stored negative emotions, she withdrew a third of the Huiwu while holding hands with Xiang Feng.
The Huiwu flowed through her arm, circled her brain, and finally returned to her earring. The whole process left her dizzy, breaking out in a sheet of cold sweat on her forehead.
Xiang Feng noticed her condition and wanted to rush her to the hospital. Gu Su adamantly refused, then slumped in Xiang Feng’s arms to rest a while. But she couldn’t stay long. His genuine happiness only pricked at her all the more.
She had to go home!
Though she felt unwell, she hadn’t lost control of her faculties.
On the way home, she clarified a lot of things. For instance, today Lu Jiuxiao had been in a turbulent mood but ended up with the upper hand. That meant the negative emotions she could gather were pitifully few—not worth taking the risk to show up before Cheng Jingzhou just for a few scraps. And as for Lu Zhentong, no matter how successfully the Cheng Jingzhou and Lu Jiuxiao father-son duo triumphed, it didn’t actually matter to him. Old Master Lu had confirmed his “heir” status on social media, so while he might feign concern on the surface, who knew how thrilled he really felt inside.
Only Old Master Lu had truly suffered a blow.
Which meant after all her scheming, not only did she not gain anything, but by taking back her Huiwu she’d also lost some of her accumulated resources.
And just at this moment, the old man’s trusted assistant called her—his tone unusually harsh and formal, a clear sign that these words came straight from Old Master Lu.
Old Master Lu was even angrier than she’d anticipated. Logically, she should’ve been able to collect more negative emotions than expected, but she found herself unable to feel any satisfaction.
Gu Su reflected carefully: her “quality over quantity” strategy had some flaws. If situations like today—where only Old Master Lu got hurt—kept happening, she might risk losing her golden finger entirely. After all, controlling Huiwu and collecting negative emotions was, in essence, controlling Huiwu, and that process consumed negative emotions she’d stored up!
When those negative emotions ran out, the earring would unbind itself.
Her intuition told her that the consequences of the earring unbinding could be very, very dire.
Getting out of the car and seeing her son Baobao waiting at the door, Gu Su made a decision: she would cast a wider net.
So she sent a wisp of Huiwu to her son.