When Mr. Zhang got home, he immediately instructed a slew of marketing accounts and water armies to coordinate with Yu Guan’s talent agency in launching a full-on attack against Mi Jingzhou. His intentions were blatantly clear. He wanted to see if the officials would protect Mi Jingzhou, and if so, to what extent.
After all, when it came to crisis management, no one could compare to the officials.
Easily seeing through Mr. Zhang’s plans, Ling Jing leaned against Qin Jingzhou’s shoulder, scrolling through the trending topics. “Given his mental condition, he’s actually reined himself in a bit this time...”
Qin Jingzhou subtly adjusted his posture to let Ling Jing nestle more comfortably against him.
He never took Mr. Zhang seriously. “Why bother squashing a fly in one go? That wouldn’t do justice to what my daughter and her little childhood friend suffered in the plot. Instead, I’d rather hand him over to my daughter, let her pluck off a wing or snap a leg from time to time just for fun. I’ll make her a custom Pusher.”
Ling Jing couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Mi Xiaoxiao using the Pusher to absorb a car and smash it into Mr. Zhang. She clicked on the “Mi Jingzhou” hashtag. The top comment was the long-missed “husband, screw me,” and the second comment had the first trending topic warning to put on more clothes.
The innuendos may be late but they always arrive.
She couldn’t hold back anymore and burst out laughing. “Big boss, the reason you love collaborating with officials is first, your technology is really only digestible by them, and second, you need their help sheltering you from your overenthusiastic fans.”
Qin Jingzhou bumped his head lightly against Ling Jing’s as they looked at the phone together. “Not so bad. I don’t look that attractive this time.” He told Ling Jing about when he played dad to Lu Jiuxiao. “Being good-looking sure has its downsides. Without the officials' manpower and tech support, the overwhelming amount of private messages made it impossible for me to even use my phone or play games.”
Speaking of his eldest son—a big kid always wanting cuddles—he suddenly remembered… Was his daughter and her little childhood friend alone together in the study on the first floor for too long?
He needed to find something for his daughter to do, so he messaged her: “Keep an eye on Dad’s social media, don’t let the comment section get too out of hand.”
Mi Xiaoxiao replied instantly, “Okay, Dad.” A moment later, she sent another message. “Can I ask Gu Zhiwei to help me handle the DMs and comments?”
Ling Jing patted Qin Jingzhou’s arm. “First day visiting the house and he already knows to help out the father-in-law. The boy’s got sense.”
Qin Jingzhou agreed. “Yeah, he’s easy on the eyes. I’ll give him some practice questions to do.” True to his word, as he snuggled next to Ling Jing, he ordered textbooks and problem sets for his daughter’s boyfriend on his phone.
Ling Jing watched as Qin Jingzhou checked items off the list. When it came time to pay, the shipping fee alone was nearly two hundred yuan.
She couldn't resist laughing again. “A father-in-law’s love is truly weighty.”
While Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing were completely unconcerned about Mr. Zhang’s probing retaliation, Mi Xiaoxiao, keeping her dad company, was also in a stable mood, just waiting to see Mr. Zhang and Ling Yu trip over their own schemes.
However, back in his luxurious apartment, Gu Sheng reported to his grandfather first. Feeling empty and at a loss, he flopped onto the bed, debating whether to contact Ling Yu. Before he even finished typing the first word, his assistant’s call cut in.
Once he wrapped his head around the situation, he saw that his dad’s name was trending alongside Yu Guan at the very top of the hot search.
Even without thinking too hard, he knew exactly who was pulling the strings behind the scenes!
He immediately called Mr. Zhang. “You’ve got guts!”
Mr. Zhang scoffed coldly and hung up.
Relying on the strength of his powerful backers, Gu Sheng’s confidence soared. How dare you hang up before I even get to curse at you! He immediately called back, only to get a busy tone.
Gu Sheng stared at his phone screen for a solid three minutes, took a deep breath, then decided to contact Ling Yu.
The whole thing had started because an entertainment reporter had snapped pictures of Ling Yu and Yu Guan holding hands and leaving the community where the Mi family lived. So he didn’t believe Ling Yu was uninvolved.
Ling Yu picked up right away, her tone combative. “And what gives you the right to interrogate me? If you’d done a better job and guarded the door, would I have been photographed? Yu Guan was just protecting me, wanted to clarify things with a statement, and that’s what gave Mr. Zhang his opportunity!”
They did used to date, and back then Ling Yu was so gentle and considerate… the contrast now was too stark, and Gu Sheng couldn’t help but retort sarcastically, “Who knows if you and Mr. Zhang aren’t in it together!”
Ling Yu snorted coldly. “Who doesn’t know that Mr. Zhang is insane?! If I were going to latch onto someone, it wouldn’t be him! The one who connected Mr. Zhang to your dad to get prosthetics made was you!” With that, she angrily hung up.
Gu Sheng stared at the phone again, collected himself, and called back, only to be met with another busy signal.
Never in his life had anyone cut him off like this—not just once, but twice! Well, except for all those times his dad had told him to “get lost”... but that was his dad!
Gu Sheng fumed for a while, but had to admit that Ling Yu had reminded him: it had been him who introduced Mr. Zhang. Now that Mr. Zhang was making trouble, if Gu Sheng couldn’t handle it, how would his dad see him?
Especially since his dad obviously favored his little sister—she’d brought her boyfriend home, got dad’s tacit approval, and dad was even being so cordial to her boyfriend. She was about to share patent access with dad. He really did need to step up his game.
Gu Sheng slumped onto the sofa and carefully recalled details of his interactions with his dad.
His dad had repeatedly expressed that he didn’t like how much Gu Sheng took after his grandfather and mother, always opportunistic and self-serving… so, at the very least, he had to become the “opportunistic but still competent” devoted son.
But directly fighting Mr. Zhang head-on seemed unnecessary.
Knowing exactly where Mr. Zhang’s weakness lay, Gu Sheng smiled. Don’t say I don’t play fair.
Mr. Zhang had a White Moonlight.
This White Moonlight was no ordinary woman—she was the illegitimate daughter of a well-known foreign financial magnate.
Granted, this magnate never married, and White Moonlight’s mother was from Hua Country—the only girlfriend the magnate ever publicly admitted to, even though White Moonlight was not his only illegitimate child.
Mr. Zhang met White Moonlight while studying abroad. He pursued her relentlessly but failed, settling instead for a friendship.
How obsessed was he? His leg was ruined saving White Moonlight. During a car accident, as the vehicle tumbled over and over, he shielded her with his body. His own left leg was mangled by the twisting wreckage and had to be amputated.
As for the cause of the accident, it was another of White Moonlight’s suitors, jealous and wanting to eliminate Mr. Zhang, who never imagined White Moonlight would also be in the car.
Of course, anyone who dared actively pursue White Moonlight was certainly not ordinary, and actually wasn’t much different from Mr. Zhang himself—they both needed regular medication.
The use of such extreme methods to eliminate a rival… well, this really was fighting fire with fire.
Mr. Zhang was the only child of his parents. When they learned their son had “an accident” abroad and lost a leg, Mr. Zhang’s father and mother were furious, personally flying abroad to get answers… but upon finding out that the person behind it all, as well as White Moonlight, were from top financial families, the matter was allowed to blow over.
Still, just because White Moonlight rejected Mr. Zhang didn’t mean she had no feelings for Gu Sheng.
White Moonlight met Gu Sheng when she visited Hua Country with her mother, even leaving him her contact info.
Since then, the two kept up a teasing, ambiguous relationship, never fully cutting it off.
Gu Sheng scrolled through his chats with White Moonlight, growing more confident. He messaged her, “Contact me when you wake up.”
White Moonlight replied instantly, sending him her location. “Come on over, let’s have some fun.”
She was in Capital City, and Gu Sheng set off without hesitation.
When he arrived, he found White Moonlight with her hair spread out, eyes half-lidded and enticing... Suddenly, Gu Sheng, who was slightly face-blind but could usually get by, was struck by a realization: she looks a bit like my little sister!