Gu Nianqing offered Liang Weiping a job.
While in high school, she recruited a few specially admitted students—scholarship kids who had earned full rides—and formed a small research team. They worked on various inventions, preparing to compete in science and innovation contests.
To ensure proper support for her team, Gu Nianqing decided to hire an experienced chef to take care of their meals.
She chose Liang Weiping—the very man who had once personally served the drugged meat soup to Gu Yongkang. Perhaps it was out of guilt, perhaps repayment… or perhaps something else entirely.
Either way, it marked a turning point for the Liang father and son.
As A-Ming came to understand Gu Nianqing better, he eventually realized that even if he hadn’t reached out to her back then, she would have sought them out anyway. But the weight of survival had forced him into the position of asking for help.
Liang Weiping, long past the age of acting on impulse, accepted her offer after being pinned to the ground by her bodyguards and seeing the anxiety on his son’s face. Logic returned, and he signed the contract.
Later, he would reflect countless times that it was the wisest decision he had ever made.
At first, no one took Gu Nianqing seriously.
To Liang Weiping, to the Xu family, and even to her prestigious private school, her little “research group” seemed like nothing more than a rich girl’s hobby.
Until her six-member team swept the majority of the country’s youth science and innovation awards that year.
The school leadership was overjoyed. Their institution had always been known for prestige rather than performance—most of the wealthy students were considered successful as long as they simply graduated without incident.
No one expected such a surprise from the Xu family’s illegitimate daughter.
But the surprise quickly turned into frustration—and anger.
The school had prepared venues and eagerly waited for media interviews. Yet a week passed with no news. Confused, the principal had no choice but to swallow his pride and ask Gu Nianqing what was going on.
She responded with a meaningful smile—and handed him a newspaper.
It wasn’t that there were no interviews.
It was that Gu Nianqing had never intended to associate her team’s achievements with the school.
Those were her results—her “fruit.” No one else was going to claim them.
Five days earlier, her team had already been interviewed by three media outlets in the garden of the Xu family estate. The reports were already published.
The principal was humiliated, but the Xu family’s power left him no room to retaliate. Instead, he turned his attention to the scholarship students within her team.
If a mere high school girl could build such a team, then surely the school—with its abundant resources and faculty—could do the same.
With the backing of Shen Yu, the young heir of the Shen family—who had long been at odds with Gu Nianqing—a rival team was quickly assembled, determined to teach her a lesson.
Tempted by superior resources and conditions, two members of Gu Nianqing’s team chose to leave.
She didn’t care.
Instead, she immediately recruited new members from other schools.
But she did learn from the experience.
Using Xu Mingzhen’s connections, she registered a company and brought all her team members under it, assigning them shares. Every achievement was patented under the company.
The company was called START YOUR DREAM—the predecessor of what would later become Qimeng.
With interests and responsibilities now tied together, the team’s sense of belonging deepened. Their motivation and passion only grew stronger.
In their second year, their new project won another major award. One of the senior members, a top student, leveraged two consecutive years of gold medals to secure direct admission to the Capital University of Science and Technology—becoming the wealthiest freshman that September.
In contrast, Shen Yu’s rival team quickly faded into obscurity once his short-lived enthusiasm wore off.
For Shen Yu, backed by the Shen family, it was just a trivial failure.
But for the two scholarship students who had left Gu Nianqing’s team, it became a lifelong regret.
They later tried to seek her forgiveness—only to be coldly rejected.
Such blatant betrayal sealed their fate among their peers. In a circle where loyalty mattered, they were effectively blacklisted.
The wealthy students, raised with strict discipline and already wary of Gu Nianqing’s methods, didn’t resort to crude bullying. Instead, they simply ignored them completely.
And that was enough.
The two former team members found themselves unable to survive socially at school and eventually transferred out.
Their parents, who had worked hard to get them into the school, were furious upon learning what had happened. After understanding the full story, both families approached the Shen family.
In most elite circles, this would have been pointless—but the Shen family was different.
With roots tracing back to a founding marshal, the Shen family carried a strong legacy of discipline and traditional values, even though its current generation wasn’t involved in politics.
Their reputation had always been one of integrity and strict upbringing.
Yet in this generation… there was Shen Yu.
It wasn’t that he was inherently bad.
But as the only male heir among his peers, outdated ideas inevitably resurfaced.
The Shen family was large and united, with no scandals involving illegitimate children. In such an environment, Shen Yu naturally received far more attention and privilege than his female cousins.
Whether that treatment came from expectation—or hidden bias—was hard to say.
But over time, it shaped him into someone arrogant and reckless, in stark contrast to his hardworking, disciplined female cousins.
Growing up, cleaning up Shen Yu’s messes had become routine for the elders of the Shen family.
And this time… was no exception.
In the end, the two students accepted compensation from the Shen family and transferred schools, and the matter seemed to settle down.
…Well, not entirely. At the very least, Shen Yu added another grudge against Gu Nianqing.
Of course, that didn’t matter to her at all.
Although Gu Nianqing deliberately separated her team from her high school, the school itself wasn’t about to give up its connection to her.
After last year’s interviews were published, many assumed she would be punished—or even expelled—for offending the principal. But things turned out completely differently.
After all, no matter how questionable her mother’s background was, Gu Nianqing still carried Xu Mingzhen’s blood.
Xu Mingzhen’s feelings toward this second daughter were complicated—both pride and frustration. He admired her intelligence, but her ruthlessness—so similar to Gu Sheng’s—gave him constant headaches.
Since being brought into the Xu family, Gu Nianqing had surprised him more times than he could count.
As the illegitimate daughter of a woman who once tried to kill the legitimate wife’s child, Gu Nianqing’s integration into elite society had been nothing short of brutal.
—Brutal for everyone who went against her.
Though she started at a disadvantage, Gu Nianqing had a boldness just like her mother’s. Every loss she suffered, she repaid in a way that hurt her opponents financially—deeply.
While other children’s conflicts might end in fights or arguments, Gu Nianqing targeted something far more valuable: their families’ money.
She even drove one family to collapse entirely. After struggling for several years, they were eventually forced out of Beijing’s elite circle.
And as those families lost wealth, much of it ended up benefiting the Xu family.
Xu Mingzhen’s attitude toward her actions gradually shifted—from anger and punishment to quiet approval.
After repeated incidents, most families—except for someone like Shen Yu, whose family was powerful enough to endure it—strictly warned their children to stay away from her.
After all, Gu Nianqing only needed to go all out and drag others down with her. But respectable families had reputations to protect.
The young elites swallowed their pride and learned to keep their distance.
Only Shen Yu, after years of humiliation, transformed his resentment into an almost obsessive fixation on her.
As the Xu family absorbed businesses abandoned by others, their influence steadily grew. By the time Gu Nianqing entered high school, the names “Shen” and “Xu” were practically inseparable.
One obvious way to strengthen that alliance was marriage.
Naturally, the Shen family would never choose someone as uncontrollable as Gu Nianqing. No matter how troublesome Shen Yu was, he was still their prized heir—not someone a “lowly illegitimate daughter” could hope to marry.
From the very beginning, their chosen bride was Xu Yingjia.
Or more precisely—the Xu Yingjia who had always liked Shen Yu.
In alliances built on interest, the one who falls in love first is always the loser.
Xu Mingzhen and Zhou Ya had always indulged their daughter. Watching her happiness, both of them wore complicated expressions.
After news of the arranged marriage spread, a rumor began circulating in elite circles:
That the Xu family’s illegitimate daughter had been stirring up trouble all along just to attract the Shen heir’s attention. But no matter how hard she tried, she was still unworthy—and in the end, she would only watch as the legitimate daughter became the Shen family’s future mistress.
To be honest, even Shen Yu didn’t believe it at first.
But this time, Gu Nianqing—who had always shown open disdain toward him—remained completely silent.
That silence shook him.
Not just him—everyone in their circle was stunned.
So… all these years, her actions were actually a twisted way of showing affection?!
Was this some bizarre strategy—dragging him down to her level and then conquering him with experience?
After the initial shock, Shen Yu felt an overwhelming sense of excitement.
That awkward, tangled emotion he had toward her… might actually be mutual.
On one hand, he mocked her “wishful thinking.” On the other, he secretly tried to find out how she felt.
Even he didn’t know—if he saw her heartbroken and devastated, would he throw a party to celebrate…
…or pull her into his arms and confess?
But Gu Nianqing never responded.
It was as if, having been exposed, she felt too ashamed and chose to pretend nothing had happened.
Until the Shen and Xu families finalized their plan—
At Xu Yingjia’s coming-of-age birthday banquet, Shen Yu and Xu Yingjia would officially get engaged.
And just when everything seemed settled…
After days of silence—
Gu Nianqing finally made her move.
And it was explosive.