Gu Sheng drove away from his father's neighborhood, found a suitable parking spot, rolled down the window, and lit a cigarette.
He needed to sort out his thoughts.
His dad had been a regular on the Mechanical Heaven Forum for years, and it was actually Gu Sheng who told Ling Yu about it—at the time, he and Ling Yu were “shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand” and, caught up in his emotions afterwards, he really did say... Looking back now, he said a whole bunch of things he absolutely shouldn’t have.
Back then, right up until he walked into his father's home, he saw his dad as the source of all his troubles, maybe even his... shame.
When his mom and dad divorced, it had been ugly. After the divorce, not only did his dad not pay alimony, but he would also pester his mom for money every now and then, making her and his grandpa endlessly annoyed.
Thinking back, he suddenly felt like something was off.
He snuffed out his cigarette, grabbed his phone with purpose. He meant to call directly, but the image of his dad's half-smiling, half-mocking face suddenly flashed in his mind, deflating his courage. He switched to a voice message instead, "Dad, could you send me a screenshot of all the alimony you paid over the years?"
Three minutes later, he really did receive a screenshot. He first checked the payment account—it was definitely his mom’s bank card!
Every year before he turned twelve, his dad paid 120,000 a year. After he turned twelve, it doubled to 240,000 a year… He was twenty-six now. Every year, 240,000 going back more than ten years…
He might be a CEO, but he wasn’t so out of touch with reality that he didn’t acknowledge how money works. Even though his mom and grandpa spent well over several million on him, he couldn't in good conscience say his dad’s alimony was insincere.
As for lying about the alimony, his mom and grandpa’s motive was obvious—they wanted to keep him away from his dad, both physically and emotionally.
You had to admit, they succeeded, at least enough to fool him for the better part of two decades.
Meanwhile, he was sure his mom and grandpa had no clue about his dad’s abilities, or rather, they had no confidence in them. During his parents’ marriage, his dad had been pouring money down the drain without results. If his mom or his grandpa had seen even a glimmer of hope, they’d have to be crazy to let a cash cow like that go!
After all, his mom never had any kind of moral scruples. She and her second husband were just the usual type in their circle, a couple with personal lives that never intertwined, and their relationship was always cordial.
All Gu Sheng could do now was sigh with regret.
He lit another cigarette, grumbling under his breath for a few moments, but it never rose above plain old complaining… His mom and grandpa had even given him the entire Gu Group—he couldn't be too greedy or expect endless favors.
As he exhaled the smoke, he felt a bit lighter. His dad might have handed him a steel slipper the moment they met and told him to get lost, but at least he wasn't being ignored. Didn’t he get that screenshot just by asking?
But now he really wanted to know what kind of technology and patents his dad was sitting on. Asking directly probably wouldn't get him anywhere. He was going to have to take the long way around.
He finished his cigarette, took a moment to compose himself, and then got Zhao brothers' contact info through a friend. He tried adding both of them and introduced himself: I’m Gu Sheng, son of Mi Jingzhou.
The Zhao brothers accepted his request almost immediately.
The three of them started a small group chat for convenience.
Gu Sheng mainly wanted to know just how powerful the prosthetic his dad made for Zhao Er was, to make him so satisfied and loyal.
Zhao Er’s reply was short and to the point, "Like something straight out of a sci-fi movie."
Gu Sheng asked, "Are we talking black technology here?"
This time, Zhao Er wrote a bit more. "I tried it on—completely blew my mind. The stuff’s still with the big boss. If you want to see it, you'll probably have to go directly to him."
Gu Sheng could tell Zhao Er was doing this on purpose, so he decided to be honest, "My dad won’t show it to me."
Zhao Er continued, "Maybe ask your little sister?"
Gu Sheng sent back a bitter smile emoji. "She wants nothing to do with me, even less than my dad does. If I push her, she’ll rat me out to my dad. Then I’ll get more than just that steel slipper."
Apart from a greeting, Zhao Da stayed silent, but he took a screenshot of the exchange and immediately forwarded it to Qin Jingzhou.
At that moment, Qin Jingzhou was organizing and drafting patent applications.
Mi Xiaoxiao, who had cried herself into a much better mood, was holding her dad’s phone, watching Zhao Da’s “live update.” She snorted, “Heh, look at you now.” Then she waved the phone in front of her dad's face. “Young Master Zhao is asking you how he should deal with Gu Sheng.”
Qin Jingzhou glanced over absentmindedly and said, “Tell him, after a few more kicks, he’ll get used to it.”
Gu Sheng had waited about two minutes when he finally got Zhao Er’s message: “After a few more kicks, he’ll get used to it…” He knew exactly who had said that and felt a twisted mix of relief and worry.
The good news was his dad intended to keep him in line; the bad was that his dad was still mad.
Gu Sheng pinched the bridge of his nose, exited that slightly aggravating chat app, logged in to his account on Mechanical Heaven, and discovered his dad was once again being flamed by the water army Ling Yu had paid for.
He could only laugh in disbelief. Did they really have to be this persistent?
Since he had time, he decided to browse through his dad’s old posts. The more he read, the deeper he frowned. If it had been any day before today, he’d just assume his dad was drunk and spouting nonsense. But after seeing his dad’s hand, and the pusher in it, then reading last year's post: “I have a remarkable idea about a suspension pusher,” he was left speechless.
Oh, right. His dad had also mentioned, a year and a half ago, plans to build sci-fi-level prosthetics and exoskeletons.
Now the prosthetic existed. Could the exoskeleton be far off?
If he actually delivered on all his wild boasts, could they even be called boasts anymore?
Gu Sheng couldn’t help himself and slapped his own face. Maybe Ling Yu could tell what kind of genius his dad was by reading those forum posts, and wanted to partner with his dad—only to be refused… His dad not knowing the worth of his own technology was a big joke!
Ling Yu tried to score a bargain by aiming for the technical stuff. When she didn’t get her way, she went off and hired a water army to attack his dad out of spite.
Right then, it hit him: maybe that’s where Ling Yu’s endless ideas came from. Just reading the big boss’s comments was inspiration enough!
He cursed out loud. What really got under his skin was: he didn’t even have Ling Yu’s eye for talent! Ling Yu’s judgment—just uncanny!
Gu Sheng sat in his car, calmed himself down, and messaged his assistant. After all, Ling Yu wasn’t the only one who could hire a water army or PR firm.
As long as you paid enough, the PR folks worked like they were on speed, pulling all-nighters.
By the time Qin Jingzhou finished compiling and uploading his batch of patent applications and received the patent office’s automatic reply, it was already half past eleven at night.
Truth was, the original host of this body might have set sights too high, been incompetent with big ambitions, but he was tenacious, and many of his ideas were genuinely interesting and even ahead of their time. Qin Jingzhou simply took the original host’s forum posts and turned their dreams into actual patents, fulfilling all the wildest claims ever made on Mechanical Heaven—as a way to honor someone born in the wrong era, who had never been understood.
He closed his laptop. His daughter, full of energy, ran over and hugged his arm. “Dad, check this out, there’s a good show!”
Qin Jingzhou flicked her nose, “Look at you, always loving the drama.”
Since he’d made it clear he doted on his daughter and would always give her preferential treatment, she had become even closer to him. It felt like she could act cute with him anytime, anywhere now.
Mi Xiaoxiao held her phone up to him. “Dad, Gu Sheng’s making moves! Isn’t that a sign of loyalty?”
Seeing the Mechanical Heaven icon on her phone, Qin Jingzhou picked up the tablet on the sofa and skimmed through things. “Gu Sheng’s willing to spend money, I’ll give him that.”
Mi Xiaoxiao tapped her phone a few times. “The Zhao brothers are being really supportive because of the prosthetic too.”
The father and daughter exchanged a knowing smile.
At that very moment, Ling Yu had just sent off her latest up-and-coming boy toy and was now driving herself to her real boyfriend’s home—he’d just gotten off a late shift and was moping at home, wouldn’t even eat without her there. What could she do? She had to go give him some comfort in person.
Honestly, living a second life, she finally understood the carefree joy of being the “Sea King”—she could be a player and have the confidence to fool around, and none of her lovers could do anything about it.
Still, after arriving at her boyfriend’s place, the two of them kissed, hugged, he lifted her high, then they enjoyed a delicious late-night supper and worked out together to burn it off. Her mood was great, but just then her assistant messaged her: the PR company had more trouble and wanted more money.
She read it, set the phone aside, and didn’t even feel mad. “All this fuss just to deal with Mi Jingzhou? Is it really that hard?”
Her boyfriend knew about her and Gu Sheng’s history, and though he was still bothered by it, he forced himself to be serious. “It’s because of Gu Sheng. Everyone knows he doesn’t get along with his dad, but he’s still his real father.”
What he really wanted to ask was: Isn’t it because you can’t bring yourself to hurt Gu Sheng directly, so you aim for his dad? If Gu Sheng would stand by and let you slander his father for your sake, would you want to get back together? Do you love me as much as I love you, or perhaps what you really hanker for is being treated the way Gu Sheng treated you, because you can’t let go…
But Ling Yu had only been reborn, not given the ability to read minds.
In her previous life, her boyfriend had always been there for her, never complaining, so she had never doubted his sincerity. “He and his dad—” Almost let slip something from her past life, “Forget it, I can’t be bothered to figure out what he’s thinking. If he wants to go head to head, so be it.”
Her boyfriend thought for a moment, then asked, “Need any help?”
Ling Yu wasn’t about to lose her cool now. She leaned against his shoulder. “No need. I just want to vent to you a little. Throwing money at the PR companies to flame each other on Mechanical Heaven doesn’t even make sense.” With Gu Sheng backing Mi Jingzhou, imagining herself in Mi Jingzhou’s shoes, she realized… Mi Jingzhou probably wouldn’t just keel over from stress now. But since she’d spent this much money, letting it go would probably make her explode. “I didn’t want to make a big scene, but those two—father and son—are determined to force my hand.”
If things really blew up, the reason behind her smear campaign against Mi Jingzhou—hiring PR to ruin his reputation out of spite—would leak everywhere. Hurting the enemy a thousand times at the cost of eight hundred self-inflicted wounds. PR companies, when paid well, had zero scruples about confidentiality… as if!
But when it came to Gu Sheng… in her previous life she gave in and let things slide too many times. Now, in this life, the first time she butted heads with him, there was no way she’d back down!
After a long moment, she inhaled deeply. “Fine, let’s blow it up and let everyone online see what kind of person Gu Sheng’s dad really is!”
Ling Yu spent the rest of the night leaning on her boyfriend, issuing orders to her assistant, and finally sent a late-night payment of ten thousand yuan.
Her assistant instantly replied with a full-energy emoji.
Ling Yu tossed her phone aside once again and hugged her boyfriend. “I’m exhausted.”
He smiled. “Want a massage?”
They both laughed.
The next morning, thanks to both sides’ PR companies working overtime, Mi Jingzhou went viral—there wasn’t a world where ordinary netizens didn’t love some “rich family scandal.” Under Ling Yu’s direction, a million-follower promo account published a breakdown: “Let’s Expose the Most Bizarre Rich Family Son-in-law.” Mi Jingzhou was painted as the worst of the worst.
Deadbeat dad, never paid a dime in support, greedy for family money, scamming people on the Mechanical Heaven forum… They even posted a horrid, greasy photo designed to turn stomachs.
Of course, it triggered a wave of public outrage.
Little Mi Xiaoxiao slept deeply that night—the soundest, sweetest sleep she’d had since moving in with her dad. So it was almost eleven by the time she woke up.
She stayed in bed, turned on her phone, and right away her flagship smartphone started freezing, the screen going black between every few taps.
It took her a while to figure out what had happened.
On the other side, Gu Sheng had also slept late after giving a ton of requests to the PR team, then holding a late-night video call with execs from the overseas branch.
After a reminder from his assistant, it only took him a few minutes to piece things together.
The two of them stared at the photo and blurted out, “That’s not my dad at all!”
Say what you like about calling him scum, but claiming their dad wasn’t handsome? Absolutely unacceptable!
For the first time in their lives, these half-siblings were truly on the same wavelength. After a brief discussion over messages—and while they were at it, both received texts from the Zhao brothers, asking if they needed someone to vouch for them.
No need to put their clients on the front lines just yet.
Gu Sheng and Mi Xiaoxiao politely turned down the Zhao brothers’ offer.
With both son and daughter asking together for a selfie to post online, Qin Jingzhou burst out laughing. “Why bother with a selfie? Let’s just record a video. For my daughter’s sake, I have to clear my own name.” While he was at it, he might as well show off the rough version of the exoskeleton he’d rushed to finish overnight—let the locals see something new and wild.
That night, while “Mi Jingzhou, what a jerk” trended all day, both Gu Sheng and Mi Xiaoxiao posted a link on their social media.
Anyone who’d been following the drama all day already knew Gu Sheng and Mi Xiaoxiao were the children of that so-called “jerk” Mi Jingzhou, and most clicked the link.
It led to a video.
All they saw was a man in a crisp white shirt, jet-black hair, porcelain skin, features so gorgeously defined… Which was, of course, promptly obscured by a storm of on-screen comments covering his stunning face.
Then the man’s deep voice came out of their speakers or headphones, “I’ve got only three things to say. First, the promo account used the wrong photo. Please don’t insult the taste of my two ex-wives. Second, I’m just an ordinary son of a demolition tycoon. My fortune may not compare to my ex-wife’s, but I’ve always paid alimony. Third, I’ve never scammed anyone on Mechanical Heaven. I post ads there because I want to take on some handmade jobs to help out at home, that’s all.”
After that, netizens watched the on-screen comment cloud swish clean as the man wrapped a mass of messy-looking metal wires around his arm and punched a concrete planter.
The planter shattered into several pieces.
Netizens: !!!
Daddy! Dad, do you need another kid?