Because you can color-correct and edit videos with special effects, and since this was Mi Xiaoxiao’s first time editing, the video quality wasn’t very high. So, after the initial wave of excitement, the comments section below the video and the topics about “Mi Jingzhou” across major social media sites saw users entering full “Li Tao” mode.
Most viewers believed that Mi Jingzhou wasn’t as beautiful as in the video. They said her handmade “craftwork” was surely ugly and couldn’t possibly look that outrageous in real life. But as for being an outright scam… not quite.
The most infuriating part was still her dad’s line: “I’m just your average second-generation demo wrecker.” Many ill-intentioned netizens said that her father’s words were simply terrible.
Mi Xiaoxiao only got through a few pages before she was about to explode with anger.
Now that her dad had handed over both the video and the social media account for her to manage, she really couldn’t use his account to argue with the commenters. She could only use her own alt to curse at a handful of those who kept spouting filth and nonsense, but it was one against a horde, and she just couldn’t keep up…
Mi Xiaoxiao simmered with a mix of anger and frustration, her eyes turning red.
Seeing this, Qin Jingzhou put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders again. “If you don’t want to see it, just block them. From now on, I won’t take orders from any of these people. If they want help, I hope they’re not coming to me.”
Mi Xiaoxiao managed a teary smile. “Dad, you sound just like one of those incompetent little villains from a novel right now.”
Qin Jingzhou moved closer, still smiling. “And now?”
Mi Xiaoxiao stared at her dad for a moment. “Big boss main antagonist with irresistible charm!”
Qin Jingzhou let out a hearty laugh.
After all, his daughter was still young. Like most of the netizens, she didn’t fully grasp the value of that messy tangle of metal wire Qin Jingzhou had shown off. But Gu Sheng, who could half be considered an insider, was thrilled and already on his way over.
At first, Gu Sheng had no idea how her dad planned to vindicate himself, so he hadn’t seen the video any earlier than the rest of the internet. But as soon as he did watch it, he dropped everything and rushed over—even forgot to tell his grandfather.
When Gu Sheng arrived, Qin Jingzhou was in the middle of a call with an official supervisor.
After so many worlds, he was as familiar as anyone could be with dealing with officials.
This time, the authorities were equally sincere: they’d already checked how much the original host had poured into his hobby, were impressed, and told him straight up: all the patents were his, there was no contention over the related rights and interests, but they did hope he wouldn’t give exclusive authorization for any of the patents to overseas individuals, companies, or organizations.
Qin Jingzhou agreed without hesitation. The official on the other end sounded elated too.
They arranged to meet the next morning to discuss the details, and as soon as he hung up, he pointed at Gu Sheng, whose face was lit with happiness. “You really are like your mother and your grandfather. Won’t even get up early unless there’s something in it for you. Just with the patents for prosthetic limbs, pushers, and exoskeletons alone, if you get authorization, the value of Gu Group could go up by fifty percent, easy.”
Gu Sheng laughed, making no attempt to deny it. “That’s exactly how they raised me. My mom forbade me from getting close to you, even told the lie that you never paid child support.” Given he really was his father’s son, pulling a guilt card would always work, but it needed to be done gradually. “But being stuck between you two—I really never know what to do.”
Looking at his earnest but “bargain” son, Qin Jingzhou spoke to his daughter instead. “Learn from your brother’s thick skin.”
Mi Xiaoxiao pouted a little. “Yeah. Just scrolling through the comments makes me want to cry. If the haters get even worse in the future… I can’t cry at the drop of a hat.” She whispered, “I’ve already cried several times in the past couple of days.”
Her dad wanted to toughen her up, and she couldn’t back down!
Even apart from wanting to please her dad, Gu Sheng figured he should also maintain a good relationship with his sister. “Send me the accounts for the marketing pages and netizens harassing you. I’ll have the legal team take care of them.”
Mi Xiaoxiao didn’t even acknowledge her brother—tomorrow, the officials would be sending someone over, she thought, so she didn’t have any need for his help.
Seeing that his sister didn’t respond, Gu Sheng could only rub his forehead in exasperation. “Can’t blame anyone but me for cramming at the last minute.”
He had come in particular to show his stance. Now, having heard firsthand that his dad was going to work with the officials, his purpose was basically accomplished. Winning over his dad and sister wouldn’t happen in a day anyway, so he simply got up and made his goodbyes.
For once his dad didn’t tell him to “get lost,” but the sentiment was written all over his face.
Gu Sheng could only force a smile as he left. But as soon as he climbed into the company car, he began massaging his temples, glancing at the Gu Group’s stock—and could not help but smile.
Very soon, he would be in command of a real trillion-dollar empire.
Compared to that, what did a bit of groveling before his dad amount to?
But while Gu Sheng was riding high, Ling Yu was so worked up she had a stomachache.
She choked down some stomach medicine and refused her boyfriend’s offer to take her to the doctor or call in the family physician. As she waited for the medicine to kick in, she fell into intense self-doubt. How exactly had the funeral for Mi Jingzhou gone in her previous life? She couldn’t really recall, but if Mi Jingzhou truly possessed black technology and his two children inherited his fortune, why had they both lived such unremarkable lives before?
Gu Sheng did decently for himself—but no more than that.
And Mi Xiaoxiao barely kept in touch with Gu Sheng, even seemed to be doing slightly better than him.
Ling Yu closed her eyes and clung to her boyfriend’s hand. “Do you think that so-called exoskeleton of Mi Jingzhou’s is… just an empty boast?”
Her boyfriend shook his head. “The video didn’t look like it was overly staged. Calling it an exoskeleton is a stretch—the label ‘powered assist device’ is much more accurate.”
Ling Yu immediately understood the hidden meaning. “So, it’s very valuable, isn’t it?”
“Mhm.” Her boyfriend hesitated, but ultimately decided to tell the truth. “This video has gotten so much attention that it’s practically guaranteed the authorities have seen it.”
“So there’s a big chance they’ll value it highly too?”
He nodded. “Yes.” He really wanted to tell Ling Yu that she was the real genius in his eyes. But as her expression soured, he decided to save it for later.
Ling Yu felt nauseated.
She had lived a second life, and had wanted to take revenge on Gu Sheng, but doubting her own ability, she’d targeted his family instead—only to run right into an impenetrable wall. What terrible luck!
Was she really going to end up as desperate as her last life, forced to bow and scrape, begging for Gu Sheng’s forgiveness?
If it came to that, she’d deal with it then. For now, she absolutely refused to back down, and would keep struggling.
She racked her brain for a long time, finally concluding that Mi Jingzhou’s weak point was probably his two kids. She couldn’t take on Gu Sheng directly, so that only left Mi Xiaoxiao as a breakthrough.
As for Mi Xiaoxiao, aside from looking vaguely like a certain heiress, Ling Yu seemed to remember the girl eventually married her childhood sweetheart.
That thought lifted her spirits: Mi Xiaoxiao's mother had been an executive at a publicly listed company, and when she died unexpectedly, the company had published an obituary.
Ling Yu found that obituary and confirmed Mi Xiaoxiao's mother's name, then got in touch with the public relations firm—which had already “bailed” after sensing stormy weather—to ask them to have one of their investigators find Mi Xiaoxiao’s mother’s last residence.
The PR firm, feeling guilty about being outmaneuvered by their opponents, was glad to receive another request from the client. Realizing it wasn’t actually difficult, they immediately accepted.
By following the trail, the investigators didn’t even have to go out—they located Mi Xiaoxiao’s childhood friend, and even dug up her maternal relatives, who were the real pieces of work.
A detailed, photo-filled report landed on Ling Yu’s desk early the next morning.
Looking at the photo of Mi Xiaoxiao’s childhood friend, Ling Yu stared for a long time. Why did he look so familiar?
Her boyfriend had hardly slept either, so his brain was a bit foggy, but when he saw Ling Yu silently staring at the picture on her phone, he couldn’t help but remind her, “He looks a lot like your friend, Gu Xin…”
Ling Yu’s eyes went wide. Throwing herself into her boyfriend’s arms, she cried, “Thank you! You’re wonderful!”
Ling Jing, who had transmigrated as Ling Yu’s bestie, had just sent off the original host when she received a call from Ling Yu.
Ling Jing endured a string of complaints before finally interrupting, “I fell down and fractured the radius in my left arm. I posted it on my Moments.”
Ling Yu froze, quickly apologizing, “I was up all night… I’m sorry! Where are you? Can I come see you?”
Ling Jing didn’t refuse. “Sure. I’ll let you know when it’s convenient.” Without waiting for a reply, she hung up, and then used her system to contact Qin Jingzhou. “My god, I finally managed to convince the original host—online as myself again!”
Qin Jingzhou was sharp and concise. “Want me to pick you up?”
Ling Jing answered immediately, “I’ll wait for you.”
There was still some time before his meeting with the official representative, so Qin Jingzhou decided to pick up Ling Jing and bring breakfast home at the same time. He asked his daughter, Mi Xiaoxiao, “What do you want for breakfast?”
Dressed in loungewear and curled up on the sofa, Mi Xiaoxiao was browsing comments on Mechanical Heaven. The posters there were more knowledgeable, and seeing them praise her dad… was pretty satisfying.
When her dad asked what she wanted for breakfast, she quickly waved him off. “Dad, I’ll go buy breakfast! What do you want?”
Qin Jingzhou didn’t bother hiding the truth from his daughter. “Dad needs to pick up his girlfriend too.”
Mi Xiaoxiao… She looked at her dad’s handsome face and thought about the proprietary tech in his hands. She felt that even if she wanted to, there was nothing she could do to stop it…
Her mood dipped a little. “I want congee, soup dumplings, shrimp dumplings, and some sides.”
All that could be found at any Cantonese tea house. Qin Jingzhou waved his hand. “Dad will be back soon.”
Ling Jing’s current identity wasn’t from a super-rich family, but she was definitely well-off.
And the original host’s surname was Gu… That’s right, the original host was a distant relative of Gu Sheng. The kind that’s separated by five generations.
Qin Jingzhou picked up Ling Jing, her arm in a sling, outside the Gu family gate. What concerned him was not her external injuries. “Why the low spirits?”
Ling Jing rolled her eyes. “The original host wanted me to fulfill her wish—let her idol be happy. You know who it was? Only the top idol madly in love with Ling Yu… her crazy little lover…”