Gu Sheng was a bit face-blind, but his memory was frighteningly sharp.
He suddenly realized that White Moonlight Elizabeth looked... somewhat similar to his younger sister. He wasn’t quite sure to what extent, so while Elizabeth was ordering their midnight snack, he contacted his assistant.
This assistant had accompanied him to his father’s house several times, and had also met Elizabeth in person while the two of them were on a date. That made their judgement trustworthy—certainly more reliable than Gu Sheng’s.
The ever-ready, top-tier assistant did not disappoint, and gave a straight answer: the two looked at least sixty to seventy percent alike. If Miss Mi’s features were a little more pronounced and her chin slightly altered, she could practically pass as Elizabeth’s twin sister.
The result was both within and outside Gu Sheng’s expectations.
Back when Young Master Zhang first met his sister and made rude remarks about his father, not to mention the way he kept staring at his sister, Gu Sheng already felt something was off. Now, he finally understood the real reason.
He tossed aside his phone, his expression changing completely.
Elizabeth heard the sound of Gu Sheng putting down his phone. She turned to glance at him before continuing to scroll through the food delivery app. "What’s got you worked up again? Seems like every time you come see me these days, you’re in a bad mood."
Gu Sheng smiled wryly. "Seems true. Last time, I got chewed out by those crusty old board members at the company, so I came to you to clear my head."
Elizabeth, her father’s favorite daughter, had already established her own investment company when she was in college, and over the years, it had done quite well. There was no need for her to play the naive little princess. "This time those board members didn’t stir up trouble for you again, did they? Hmm, did I use that phrase right—stir up trouble?"
Gu Sheng gave her a thumbs-up.
Elizabeth smiled gently. "What do you feel like eating?" She graciously handed Gu Sheng her phone. "Now that you’ve gone back to your father... your dad really is a genius. I agreed to see you, not just for a bit of fun, but also because I have something to ask."
Gu Sheng made himself comfortable, ordered several dishes to his taste, and handed the phone back to Elizabeth. "I’ll go get a nice bottle of wine."
"Sounds good to me," Elizabeth replied.
After a satisfying meal and drinks, Elizabeth rested her head on Gu Sheng’s lap. "So, what were you upset about just now? Can you tell me?"
Gu Sheng, his mood slightly lifted after the good food, told her about his feud with Young Master Zhang.
When Elizabeth heard that Gu Sheng’s half-sister looked a lot like her, she was instantly intrigued. "Do you have a photo?"
Gu Sheng checked the time. His sister was probably still awake. He sent her a message, asking if she could send him a selfie.
He didn’t hide the reason for the photo request from his sister.
Mi Xiaoxiao was also curious what this sister who looked like her might be like, so she asked her childhood friend to take an unfiltered, plain photo and sent it over.
Elizabeth stared at the photo for a full minute before turning to Gu Sheng. "I believe you now." She gave a cold laugh, her tone even colder than her smile. "I never thought I’d wind up in a cliché stand-in scenario myself."
Gu Sheng said, "He thinks our whole family is easy to push around. Since he can’t have you, he figured having my sister as a consolation prize was good enough."
Elizabeth remembered how Gu Sheng had said that Young Master Zhang opened his mouth only to belittle others. That reminded her of some unpleasant memories. "I kept telling him, if you have an illness, see a doctor; if you need medicine, take your medicine. But he seems to think I’m genuinely concerned about him."
Gu Sheng understood all too well. "Your father doesn’t need you to get into an arranged marriage, and even if you wanted to find a lover, why pick someone with issues?"
Thinking of the two suitors who made her uncomfortable, Elizabeth showed clear distaste. "If it weren’t for his looks, I wouldn’t bother with him at all." She rolled over, gazing at Gu Sheng. "You’re even more handsome than he is."
With such words coming from a beauty, there was no way Gu Sheng was going to let the moment slip by.
After a satisfying workout, Elizabeth’s eyes were filled with laughter. "You wouldn’t want your sister... to get into an arranged marriage with Young Master Zhang, would you?"
Gu Sheng smiled and leaned back. "My sister takes after our father, even down to the surname. He wants both the girl and the money, and he expects me to beg him to accept it... That’s probably his mindset." His expression suddenly grew sharp. "Who the hell wants to be his lapdog!"
Elizabeth laughed too. "Let’s make sure he gets what he deserves." She reached out and gently placed her hand on Gu Sheng’s chest. "Is that how you say it?"
Gu Sheng burst out laughing and gently held Elizabeth’s hand.
Elizabeth said softly, "Then, to a happy partnership?"
Gu Sheng closed his eyes. "To a happy partnership."
The next morning, reluctantly, Gu Sheng gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek, gathered his things, and hurried off to work.
Elizabeth lounged in bed as she woke up, then stared at herself in the mirror for a long time: she couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked this radiant.
Meanwhile, Ling Yu had no idea that Gu Sheng had decided to strike at the root of the problem.
Even with her boyfriend’s comfort and reassurance, she couldn’t help worrying. By now, she no longer cared about getting revenge on Gu Sheng’s father; her main concern was her own safety.
She knew better than anyone what Young Master Zhang was like when he went off the rails in her previous life. He had a real "if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it" complex.
Even telling herself that she might have been reborn in a parallel world, where Mi Jingzhou was anything but an ordinary, easily bullied person—in fact, someone mysterious—she still feared that Young Master Zhang might lose it, go on a rampage, and eliminate everyone he could remember, one by one.
Elizabeth, as the daughter of a White Eagle Federation tycoon and Young Master Zhang’s White Moonlight, did kill Zhang in the end, but she herself paid a hefty price. Rumor had it she was disfigured by Zhang, living the rest of her life in seclusion.
In her previous life, whenever Gu Sheng mentioned this beautiful and talented White Moonlight, his feelings of admiration and regret were plain to see.
Then a thought suddenly struck Ling Yu: did Gu Sheng have a thing with Elizabeth in their previous life?
But then she thought, so what if he did!
Even so, she collapsed into her boyfriend’s arms in frustration. "What am I even worried about! Even if the sky falls, there’ll be someone taller to hold it up."
Her boyfriend hugged her and muttered quietly, "You’re not exactly confident either. You’re the one who always targets the easy marks first. If Zhang loses it and goes after Mi and his sons, we can just watch the drama unfold."
Ling Yu was honest, too. "I’m worried he’ll take it out on me! Our little startup can’t survive a big hit!"
With the help of her rebirth, she had come up with a string of brilliant ideas—enough to get plenty of seed money for the company. The boyfriend, who’d been madly in love with her in their previous life, was now willing to give up the family business’s inheritance just to strike out on his own with her in this life.
Her boyfriend hesitated.
Ling Yu pinched his arm. "Say it!"
His voice got even smaller. "You’ve been mysteriously anxious and uncertain lately..."
Ling Yu thought, Who told you to make me repeat myself so much? "I’m worried about our company! If Gu Sheng tricked me and played with my feelings, of course I want payback!"
Her boyfriend pressed a hand to his forehead, then took a deep breath and said, "Darling... is your period late?"
Ling Yu blurted out, "I’ve missed it for more than a month..." She fell silent.
They locked eyes.
Her boyfriend gently helped her onto the bed. "I’ll go buy a pregnancy test... right now!"
Ten minutes later, he came back with a face like a thundercloud.
Ling Yu had simply forgotten about this in the moment, but now, fully clear-headed, she could already guess what was brewing. Still, since the test was bought, there was no point pretending nothing was happening—plus, she’d always planned to spend this lifetime with her boyfriend anyway.
Thinking it over, early or late, a kid was a kid.
Even though she’d mentally accepted the reality, she still clung to her boyfriend’s arm, unable to stop imagining all sorts of scenarios. When he saw that line on the test, he was so happy he picked her up and spun her around the bathroom.
He knew that Ling Yu was a free spirit, with more backup boyfriends than he could count on one hand—so what? He couldn’t help that she was the only one for him.
Now that Ling Yu was pregnant, he could sense that she really did want to settle down. Naturally, this was his time to strike while the iron was hot—not just adding flowers to embroidery, but seizing the moment. In other words—he’d better propose soon!
As for Yu Guan, he spent a restless, sleepless night tossing and turning.
He had used his own account to clarify the situation with Ling Yu online, but ended up watching, in real time, as photos of him driving away from the Mi household rocketed into the top three most-searched topics.
He knew the company was pushing the story.
After all, he was still the company’s cash cow, and they would probably ride the wave to drum up attention.
But before he could really relax, he saw the tide of public opinion suddenly turn. A few marketing accounts started to claim there was something improper between him and the Mi family—specifically Mi Jingzhou—and dragged the conversation toward the possibility that Mi Jingzhou was faking things. Even if netizens didn’t know who the Mi family was, the algorithms pointed them straight to Mi Jingzhou’s clarification video, which were reuploaded with only minor edits.
Fortunately, those same marketing accounts knew it wouldn’t be wise to drag Gu Sheng, the big boss, into the mess, so they never once mentioned that Mi Jingzhou was actually Gu Sheng’s biological father.
Right now, Yu Guan could sense disaster: the company was getting ready to sell him out.
Thinking of what happened at the Mi family today, he anxiously paced around his house, finally unable to resist the urge to call Ling Yu. He honestly didn’t want to cause her any trouble—even now, he wanted to warn her to distance herself from him as soon as possible.
Unfortunately for him, Ling Yu, prompted by her pregnancy, was about to let Yu Guan go—at least for now. When she answered the phone, she got straight to the point. "Young Master Zhang goes truly insane, reason is out the window, and if he thinks he’s been wronged, his only response will be to completely destroy you. You can quit the industry for a while, otherwise your company might look for a chance to get rid of you... not selling your contract, I mean literally selling you down the river..."
Yu Guan was just about to say something when Ling Yu’s boyfriend’s voice cut him off, loud and clear. "Xiaoyu is carrying my child, so I’d appreciate it if you don’t bother her anymore."
As Yu Guan snapped back to reality, he realized he was lying flat on the floor. His phone had been thrown past the carpet, its screen shattered into countless fragments.
He silently picked up his phone, gazing at the twisted reflection of his own face in the cracks. Bitterness filled his mouth. He flung the phone away again, ignoring the throbbing in the back of his head and the sharp pain in his chest. Whatever. He didn’t care anymore.
When he next opened his eyes, it was already late morning the next day.
No matter how much he wanted to avoid reality, he at least had to get up—maybe just find a new place to lie down.
When he sat up, the pain in his chest was only a dull ache, but—he ran his hand over the back of his head and knew right away something was wrong. One look at the carpet under where he’d lain and the palm-sized bloodstain was enough to remind him of what had happened last night.
He probably needed to go to the hospital. No matter how miserable he was, there was no need to give up on life.
He grabbed his phone to try to unlock it—but nothing happened, even holding the power button did nothing. No wonder he’d slept through the whole night without anyone contacting him—the phone was completely dead.
Wobbling unsteadily through his study, he dug out a backup phone, swapped in his SIM card, booted it up, and ignored all the messaging and social media apps. He just wanted to get to a hospital!
But fate had other plans. As soon as the phone was on, it began to ring incessantly.
One look at the caller ID showed it was his agent company’s boss. Yu Guan smirked, torn between answering and not, but in the end took the call.
"Master Yu! I’m begging you, for the love of god!"
He wasn’t hallucinating, but the dizziness returned. Yu Guan couldn’t get a word out before stumbling and collapsing onto the carpet again—right back where the nightmare had started.
This time, he let himself pass out in peace.
Meanwhile, as soon as they woke up, netizens who’d spent the previous day eating popcorn and gossiping were amazed to see that a bunch of marketing accounts making subtle or outrageous accusations about Yu Guan and the Mi family—even those that swiftly posted apology letters and perfect grovels—were directly muted by the platform.
As for the three lead marketing accounts, the platform outright banned them.
The clean, efficient, no-holds-barred moves, and the fact that everything happened promptly at 9 a.m. on a workday—netizens recognized the style and appreciated it. Yu Guan was famously "clean," meaning he had zero background, so anyone who could back him up like this had to be Mi Jingzhou.
For the official channels to support Mi Jingzhou, the most logical explanation was that the video he’d posted and everything he’d shown was real.
Spectators and drama lovers soon swarmed to Mi Jingzhou’s social media profile to enthusiastically comment. The top-liked comment read: Dad, look at me! Want to smash an exoskeleton for good luck?
At the Mi house, as the whole family sat around the table having breakfast, Mi Xiaoxiao cheerfully showed this comment to her dad.
Qin Jingzhou read through his daughter’s hand-picked comments and handed the phone back. "Not impossible."
Ling Jing looked up slowly. "Ling Yu came to brag to me about her pregnancy. My system contacted the World Will and said that since Ling Yu gave her baby a new dad, this time the World Will won't appoint the Fate’s Son for her. But the plot’s third male lead, Young Master Zhang, and the not-yet-appeared fourth male lead’s shared White Moonlight are also pregnant..."
Qin Jingzhou was intrigued. "Gu Sheng is the baby’s father?"
"Yes."
Qin Jingzhou chuckled. "They don’t waste any time."