Chapter 26

At the Global Center, as night fell, Gu Ci walked with Gu Ziyu on the rubber track to aid digestion. Gu Ziyu asked, “Mom, why don’t you confess your identity to Uncle?”

“Mom attending ‘Song and Dance Youth’ and playing the violin would definitely lead to Gu Chuyun kicking Mom out of the show. She intentionally provoked Zhou Li to force him to quit. If Cai Director couldn’t handle public opinion, he would definitely go to Uncle. Once Uncle sees Mom playing the violin, he will become suspicious and start investigating.”

Gu Ci smiled lightly. “Instead of abruptly revealing the truth to him, it’s better to let him uncover it step by step.”

Gu Ziyu suddenly realized, “I understand. The best hunter always appears in the form of prey.”

Gu Ci gently ruffled Gu Ziyu’s spiky hair, but her mood was extremely solemn. In the previous life, the ending for the Jiang family was not good. After she was framed and imprisoned, Gu Chuyun used the power of the Lu Corporation to control the board of directors. Upon learning the truth, the grandfather and grandmother were devastated and passed away one after another. Jiang Minghua was expelled from the board, and in her quest to eliminate any potential threats, Gu Chuyun had someone drive a car to injure Jiang Junlin, causing him to lose his legs and spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Gu Ci asked with sadness, “Did Uncle’s legs recover later?”

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Gu Ziyu shook his head, hesitating to speak, appearing conflicted. “Mom… there’s something I want to tell you, but I’m afraid it might upset you.”

“What is it?” Gu Ci looked at Gu Ziyu’s expression and felt a sense of shock. “Did Uncle pass away?”

“No, no, no, it’s not…,” Gu Ziyu scratched his head. “Forget it, I won’t say it. In this lifetime, Uncle won’t encounter any car accidents, and he probably won’t meet you either. Maybe nothing will happen at all. It’s the butterfly effect, you know? A small disturbance can change everything. I won’t tell you to spare you any distress.”

“Darling, from now on, you won’t have any seasoning for your instant noodles.”

“I don’t eat instant noodles!” Gu Ziyu said. “Let’s just go with the flow. It’s fine.”

“The things that happened in the previous life may not happen in this life. Everyone’s fate can change.” Gu Ci also felt uncertain. But if things were changed?

If one traveled back and altered history, would the future still exist?

“Mom, I also did something wrong,” Gu Ziyu confessed truthfully. “When I was attacking the Black Hawk Group’s network system, someone intervened and traced my location, using you as a threat against me.”

Gu Ci was astonished. “There’s someone more skilled than you as a hacker?”

“It seems like this person emerged out of nowhere. In my previous life, I never encountered such a formidable opponent. I don’t know who they are yet, but I’m still investigating,” Gu Ziyu felt uneasy. “In theory, my skills are more advanced, and I should be able to trace their address. However, they are incredibly cunning, overlaying their IP address onto mine. Every time I trace it, the addresses overlap.”

“They’re that skilled?”

Gu Ziyu’s eyes filled with a desire for victory. “I will definitely expose their identity. They dare to overlay their IP address on mine, it’s a direct challenge to me!”

A thought crossed Gu Ci’s mind. If the other person could trace Ziyu’s location, they must indeed be highly skilled. “Ziyu, do you think you might be in danger?”

“Definitely not!” Gu Ziyu was confident. “The Black Hawk Group hasn’t noticed anything, and there haven’t been any internal reports. The person hasn’t leaked the information, most likely because they want to recruit me.”

He paused for a moment and continued, “Ji Cheng has successfully passed the selection interviews within the Black Hawk Group’s management. He is now the leader of the Asian Division’s Operations Team. If anything happens, he will inform me in advance.”

Gu Ci’s phone vibrated, and she received a message from Zhou Li, asking her to check online. There was an exposed entry about her that was currently trending. Curious, Gu Ci took a look and discovered that a blogger had revealed her identity, stating why Zhou Li had quit “Sing and Dance Youth” and why the production team had canceled that particular episode. It was all because of her.

Gu Ci, the mistress who ascended.

The trending entry exposed the scandalous details: Gu Ci, the second miss of the Gu family, was revealed to be the product of her mother’s affair as a mistress. After causing the death of Gu Chuyun’s mother, she grew up spoiled and always bullied Gu Chuyun, turning her into a Cinderella-like figure. Despite being mistreated, Gu Chuyun used her talent to rise and shine, while Gu Ci became a useless and spoiled sibling, participating in the show just to antagonize Gu Chuyun and causing havoc within the production team.

Furthermore, it was revealed that Gu Ci had seduced her soon-to-be brother-in-law at Gu Chuyun’s engagement banquet, ruining the event. With such explosive revelations, Gu Ci became the target of public outrage as the mistress, and the online manipulation amplified the narrative. Her reputation took a severe hit, especially with the testimonies from several famous socialites who confirmed her role as the mistress. Her image was solidified as a person with a corrupted character.

“Don’t be upset, darling. This was expected,” Gu Chuyun was skilled in manipulating people’s emotions and influencing public opinion. She pinched her son’s pouting cheeks. “She will soon face the consequences of her actions.”

Gu Chuyun looked at the trending hot searches filled with people criticizing Gu Ci, feeling delighted in her heart. However, Lu Man cautioned, “Chuyun, be careful. Desperate people can be unpredictable. Now that the people from the Jiang family have seen Gu Ci, what if they start to suspect something?”

“What can they possibly suspect? Gu Ci is your uncle’s niece by blood. There’s already a blood relation between them. So what if Gu Ci resembles Jiang Mingyue?” Gu Chuyun wasn’t worried at all. If everything was exposed, she could simply push the blame onto Lu Man.

Still reveling in her triumph, she came across a video being exposed online. It was shared by ten highly popular marketing accounts, revealing Gu Ci’s violin performance and how Zhou Li chose her, which infuriated Gu Chuyun. Gu Chuyun then expressed her intention to blacklist Zhou Li and declared that variety shows were scripted. She even boasted about being guaranteed a spot in the finals, causing her carefully crafted image of an innocent princess to crumble in an instant. This sparked another wave of public outrage.

“Fuck, Gu Chuyun, is this your reason for pushing out Zhou Li? You throw a tantrum just because he didn’t choose you?”

“What the hell, this is so fucking low. I’ll never believe in the image of a star again. Where’s the Cinderella-turned-heroine? What happened to the innocent princess? Did you steal Gu Ci’s script?”

“The Song and Dance Youth production team needs to come out and explain. Are all variety shows scripted just to promote Miss Gu?”

“Fuck this, refund us! We’ve been supporting them so much, and it turns out it was all scripted. Refund us, refund us!”

“Gu Chuyun said she would blacklist Zhou Li. Such arrogance! Capital really is amazing. My brother doesn’t act, he focuses on singing. What bad luck!”

“She’s the sister of Jiang Junlin, the CEO of Hualan Bank, and also the Gu family’s young miss. No wonder she can blacklist Zhou Li!”

“If Zhou Li gets blacklisted, Gu Chuyun can expect a backlash. What a stupid move.”

“Am I the only one who thinks Gu Ci is so beautiful? This beauty breaks the entertainment industry’s ceiling.”

“Even if she’s a mistress, with such beauty… If I were a man, I would also want to have an affair.”

“With Gu Chuyun’s arrogant and domineering behavior, who would believe that Gu Ci bullied her and that she took the Cinderella script? Maybe the black material on Gu Ci was actually leaked by Gu Chuyun.”