The trending topic #YuJiaojiaoGua# was simply incomprehensible to ordinary netizens. Before long, their attention was drawn to another trending topic.
#TheIdentityOfNewExtremeChallengeGuestRevealed# — the post was made by the same paparazzi team that had previously exposed Chen Yizun’s affair.
The buzz around Chen Yizun cheating with Sun Yu had yet to die down, and as a result, the new variety show “Extreme Challenge” had already come into the public eye ahead of time.
A new guest, of course, meant the person replacing Sun Yu. But what was this “identity revealed” business?
Netizens clicked in out of curiosity, only to find themselves in the middle of yet another major scandal.
The circle of wealthy families in China isn’t exactly small, but only a handful of them maintain a high profile in the entertainment industry. Gu Siyan, the heir of Tianyi Entertainment who manages the company himself, is one. Zhang Tian, a post-00s young female star who was revealed to come from a wealthy family, is another. There are also a few singers and actors who “will have to go home and inherit the family fortune if they don’t take singing and acting seriously.” The rest are mostly rich playboys who enjoy dating female celebrities or wealthy heiresses who have married male stars.
In addition, there are some wealthy families whose fame came as a byproduct—Zhang Tian, for instance, participated in a family variety show, bringing her parents and brother along. Because their family atmosphere was especially warm and happy, her parents and brother earned the titles of “National Parents” and “National Brother.”
Later, the whole family opened Weibo accounts and actively engaged with fans, which in turn boosted the Zhang family’s business as well.
Discovering that such a reputation could also boost their stock prices, several other second-tier wealthy families of a similar caliber began to follow suit. The one that pulled off the best marketing was the Gu family, who were close friends with the Zhang family.
The Gu family’s marketing angle was a direct imitation of part of the Zhang family’s formula—a loving husband and wife, a model family.
They often shared warm, everyday moments: “accidentally” posting footage of the old married couple flirting, treating their children so well that they were like friends, hosting a surprise birthday dinner for their daughter so extravagant that netizens wished they could be born into either family… and so on.
The Zhang and Gu families were even playfully nicknamed by netizens as “a breath of fresh air among the wealthy.”
But the latest subject of gossip, Gu Xiaozhi, was supposed to be the daughter of the Gu family patriarch’s younger brother. Except, as this exposé revealed, the younger brother was actually infertile—and Gu Xiaozhi was none other than the patriarch’s own daughter with a mistress he had kept outside for decades!!
Good grief. The Gu family patriarch had spent so long marketing his image online as a devoted husband and family man, and then someone drops this bombshell—he had kept a mistress outside for decades, and the daughter from that affair was only a few years younger than his legitimate children…
Netizens, who had all along believed in the love between Gu family patriarch and his wife, were absolutely furious.
[Holy crap!! I can’t believe I bought his act! I really thought that Gu guy actually loved his wife and doted on his daughter! Every time I bought something, I specifically chose their brand because I thought this was genuine love in a wealthy family! I curse him to high heaven!!]
[Not only did that old geezer keep a mistress and raise an illegitimate daughter on the side, but he also shoved his illegitimate daughter under his brother’s roof to be raised as a niece?? I remember his wife posted about the elaborate birthday gifts she prepared for his ‘niece’—she definitely had no idea this was her husband’s illegitimate daughter, right?!]
[My fists are clenched tight!!]
[There’s no way his wife knew. How could there be a storyline this suffocating?!]
[Hey, @Zhao Runyan, did you know your husband’s ‘niece’ is actually his illegitimate daughter?]
[Wow, just wow! I remember Zhao Runyan’s family is also very wealthy. I really thought there was true love in this arranged marriage among the wealthy…]
This trending topic climbed at a breakneck pace and quickly caught the attention of the Gu family’s corporate PR team. They immediately reported it to the Gu family patriarch.
The patriarch, who had benefited greatly from this “devoted husband” persona, was shocked. He had managed to keep this secret buried for so long, only to have it suddenly exposed today!
He frantically instructed his PR team to contact Weibo and work on redirecting traffic and suppressing the trending topic.
But in such a short time, there was no way to completely remove the trending topic. The news had already reached Zhao Runyan, who had truly believed that Gu family patriarch truly loved her.
Her phone call came immediately. “Is what’s on the trending topic true?! Is Gu Xiaozhi your daughter?!! Gu Hengyuan is infertile?!! Gu Hengyou, how dare you lie to me?!”
“Darling, how can you believe such a baseless rumor?! You’re the only one I love! How could I possibly keep another woman on the side? Gu Xiaozhi really is Hengyuan’s daughter. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and have them take a paternity test…”
“Is that so? Well, I’d like to find out if that’s true too. I’ve already sent someone to collect hair samples from you, Gu Hengyuan, and Gu Xiaozhi. Since you claim you’re innocent, just cooperate when the time comes…”
“I really am innocent…” Gu Hengyou was still trying to trick his wife into revealing which hospital she planned to use for the paternity test, so he could bribe them in advance. But her next words made him freeze on the spot.
“Good. I’ve already contacted a hospital abroad. You’d better be innocent!” With that, she hung up.
Gu Hengyou sensed disaster looming. He quickly called his younger brother, but no one answered. He then called the butler, who told him that Gu Hengyuan had gone out partying all night, was still passed out drunk in bed, and that the lady had personally supervised the collection of his hair sample and left.
Panic set in. Gu Hengyou immediately called Gu Xiaozhi and told her to leave A City right away and not to come back for a long time.
Before Gu Xiaozhi could even process what was happening, her call was disconnected. She then saw the messages in her plastic sister group chat.
[Are you actually your uncle’s daughter? @Gu Xiaozhi]
[Oh my god, Xiaozhi, you’ve kept this from us for so long!]
[No wonder the Gu family patriarch treats you so well—if you ask for the moon, he won’t give you a star!]
…
Gu Xiaozhi, who had been absolutely furious at Yu Jiaojiao for daring to stand up to her and was planning to get revenge, suddenly felt her mind go blank. A wave of cold dread washed over her from head to toe.
She, of course, knew the truth about her real identity. Her mother had schemed relentlessly to finally get her father to agree to bring her into the Gu family. Even though it was under the guise of being her uncle’s daughter, as long as no one exposed the secret, who would ever know she was just an illegitimate child?
And conveniently enough, her uncle himself was infertile and needed a daughter like her. She could take full advantage of her status as a wealthy heiress to marry a powerful, influential husband.
She could even follow in the footsteps of her best friend Zhang Tian—use her wealthy heiress identity to enter the entertainment industry, become a huge star, rake in mountains of cash, and enjoy the thrill of being adored by fans. Even if she couldn’t marry a rich young heir, she’d still get to bask in the limelight.
But now… how did anyone find out she was her father’s daughter?!
[What are you guys talking about?]
She forced herself to type that out, only to be met with instant replies from her plastic sisters.
[Your identity is all over the trending list. You didn’t know?]
Gu Xiaozhi stared at those words, her vision going dark. She forced herself to open Weibo and saw it for herself—there, plainly visible on the trending list, was #TheIdentityOfNewExtremeChallengeGuestRevealed#, along with another hashtag that meddlesome netizens had pushed back up: #GuHengyou’sFakeNieceIsActuallyHisIllegitimateDaughterGuXiaozhi#…
Overwhelmed, Gu Xiaozhi fainted and fell backward.
The team members around her rushed over. “Xiaozhi, what’s wrong?!”
“Quick! Go! Book me a plane ticket to somewhere else—anywhere, as far away as possible…” Gu Xiaozhi, fighting through a splitting headache, spoke in a barely audible whisper.
Her team members exchanged bewildered glances.
Meanwhile, over at the production team’s dinner, the group had finished eating and headed to a KTV to sing.
The system, hovering beside Yu Jiaojiao, suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Huh?! What’s going on?! Host, did you secretly buy a trending topic behind my back? But this one looks way too fake—what’s up with #YuJiaojiaoGua#?”
“Wait, how did Gu Xiaozhi’s identity as an illegitimate daughter get exposed?!”
“Hmm?” Yu Jiaojiao tilted her head in confusion.
The gossip-loving netizens in the livestream, upon hearing this exchange, couldn’t help but hold their breath. They thought to themselves, Is this “person” about to realize that their conversations with Yu Jiaojiao are being broadcast live, and stop spilling all this juicy gossip for them?
But the very next second, the system’s voice rang out again: “Oh, oh, oh! Gu Xiaozhi’s father’s wife is about to collect her hair for a paternity test! She got a call from her dad and is getting ready to run away!!”
The gossip-loving netizens: “What?! No way?! There’s more?!”