The Heiress's Game

The next day, Gu Zhenxing returned to the company.

He sat in his office chair, loosened his collar, and then pressed the intercom.

"Old Xu, come here for a second."

When Xu Bingjun pushed the door open, he was already holding a document in his hand.

"Mr. Gu, how did your talk with Miss Gu go?"

"The marriage alliance has been called off," Gu Zhenxing said calmly, leaning back in his chair.

Xu Bingjun nodded slightly.

"Perfect timing. I've compiled a complete set of information on Starry Media and Brilliant Partners. There are a few things you might need to know."

Gu Zhenxing picked up his reading glasses, put them on, and opened the file.

Xu Bingjun stood to the side, providing supplementary explanations.

"First of all, Ms. Gu Mingyue has indeed been causing trouble for Xingyao Media."

Previously, they hired online trolls to smear Chen Cui. Later, they used the Zhao family's connections to investigate Xingyao's background, checking its taxes, copyrights, production qualifications, and even contacting the platform to see if they could get the show taken down.

However, none of these efforts worked. Xingyao's legal and financial departments were impeccable from beginning to end, likely adhering to the strictest compliance standards from the outset.

Gu Zhenxing turned the page.

"Secondly, the second young lady already tested the waters in the previous episode."

Chen Cui appeared in a floral dress from Xingyao's own brand, which sold out across all channels within 24 hours, and pre-orders were booked up for three weeks later.

The search volume for accessories featured in the program increased more than a hundredfold. This figure is top-tier for new product launches in the apparel industry.

The second young lady called it a "trial run," but judging from the data, it has already been a success.

Gu Zhenxing took off his reading glasses and placed them on the documents, then tapped his fingers twice on the armrest.

A moment of silence fell over the office. Gu Zhenxing stood up, walked to the window, turned his back to Xu Bingjun, and looked out at the river.

Gu Zhenxing spoke up, "I always thought she was the most well-behaved one. Among the children, Mingyue and Mingcheng were spoiled rotten from a young age, and Yunxuan even got into fights at school."

"Only she—never causes me any trouble."

She goes abroad when asked, and returns quietly, always speaking with tact. I find her easy to manage, so I pay her the least attention.

"It turns out she's more rebellious than anyone else at heart. She stood in front of me and said, 'Your approach won't threaten me'—I've had four children, and none of them have ever dared to say that to me."

He turned to look at Xu Bingjun, "I should have thought of that back then. Sending her abroad alone at fourteen, with no language skills and no relatives or friends, if she were really that obedient, she would have been devoured long ago."

Xu Bingjun was silent for a few seconds before speaking, "President Gu, if I may be so bold—Miss Gu has a bit of yourself in her. She looks a lot like you when you were young."

Gu Zhenxing didn't respond to that sentence, but he didn't deny it either. He walked back to his desk, sat down, put his reading glasses back on, and turned to the last page of the document, where he saw a data comparison chart.

What do you think about allocating funds?

"Based on the current data and business model, the core barrier of this project lies in the seamless integration of content and consumption scenarios."

The platform is their own, the traffic is their own, the brand is their own, and the supply chain has already been established in the apparel sector—it's only a matter of time before they expand to jewelry and cosmetics.

E-commerce is currently booming, and if you can seize the opportunity, the growth potential is exponential.

The few hundred million yuan that the second young lady wanted isn't much in terms of the potential for growth in this industry.

He paused, then added, "To be honest, Mr. Gu, none of the second-generation rich kids of Dahai City's age—regardless of which family they belong to—can come up with a business plan like this."

Gu Zhenxing took off his reading glasses and placed them on the documents. He leaned back in his chair and remained silent for a long time.

"She was the least favored, but she turned out to be the most successful."

Xu Bingjun continued.

"However, there is one risk I must confirm with you in advance: Miss Er is not short of money right now."

What she lacks is scale and speed. If Gu's capital were injected, her pace would at least double. But similarly, the risks would also be amplified. If—"

"If she were afraid of risks, she wouldn't have stood in front of me and told me she wanted to create her own brand."

Gu Zhenxing picked up the document, paused on the table, and put it back.

"When allocating funds, have someone keep an eye on it and check where the funds are going. It's not that we don't trust her, but we need to be aware of what's going on."

"Understood." Xu Bingjun nodded.

Xu Bingjun put the documents away and glanced at Gu Zhenxing—the boss was leaning back in his chair, his gaze still fixed on the river view outside the window.

"Old Xu, tell me, haven't I been too unfair to her?"

Xu Bingjun didn't reply, but simply lowered his eyes slightly and waited quietly.

"When she first came back,"

"I haven't really paid much attention to her. In fact, I haven't paid much attention to her since she went abroad to study."

"To be honest, it's not as good as Ningville. Although Ningville isn't my biological son, he at least grew up in my care, knows to ask me for gifts during holidays, and has a sweet tongue."

"Yun Jin has been overseas for so many years, and I can count the number of times I've met her on one hand."

When she came back, my first thought wasn't, "My daughter is back"—I was thinking, "This girl looks just like Wan Ning, she's so beautiful, a marriage alliance could bring in a lot of resources."

He paused for a moment.

"How many years has our Gu family been rooted in Dahai City? My grandfather's generation was already established."

I've known since I was a child what having the surname Gu means—resources are readily available, the threshold is paved for you by others, and as long as you're not too stupid, you won't be too bad off in this life.

I've never suffered a major setback in my life, not because I never make mistakes, but because I have the financial backing to cover them.

So even though I scold the children, I still give them what they need.

As for Yun Jin, my thinking was very simple at the time: she's so beautiful and a family-oriented daughter, her greatest value is marrying into a good family.

Arranged marriages, that's how it is in wealthy families.

As he said this, a self-deprecating sneer appeared on his lips.

"Until one night, I dreamed of her mother."

"I dreamt of Wan Ning before she married me. She was wearing a blue dress, standing in front of the rose wall outside the film set, and she turned around and smiled at me."

Back then, everyone outside called me Mr. Gu. I was very arrogant and thought the whole world belonged to me.

Wan Ning was already a hugely popular star at that time, and the wealthy young men who pursued her could line up from the beach to Jinji Temple, but she chose me.

The office was extremely quiet.

The faint sound of ship horns drifted in from afar outside the window, like an echo coming from another world.

"She retired from acting for me and told all the directors that she would not make any more films."

The media kept pressing her for an answer, and she simply said, "I'm getting married, and I'll focus on being Mrs. Gu from now on." How many people felt sorry for her at the time? But she didn't care; she felt she had married for love.

Gu Zhenxing remained silent for a long time, so long that Xu Bingjun thought he wouldn't say anything more.

"But what did I do to her after she married me?"

Not long after I got married, I started having an affair with Ning Limei.

At that time, Ning Limei had just gotten divorced and was raising Ning Weier alone with her child. I found it novel and exciting.

"I know that Wan Ning and my mother don't get along. I know my own mother well; she's been snobbish her whole life."

She thought Wan Ning was just an actress and didn't deserve the Gu family. Wan Ning never complained to me, so I thought it was nothing.

Later, the maid told me that the lady of the house was hiding in her room and crying.

I then realized that it wasn't that she didn't care; she just had no one to complain to—I had never been on her side.

His voice suddenly went hoarse as he said this.

Then he picked up the cold tea and took another sip. As he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, as if he were swallowing something very hot.

"After I woke up, I sat in the study until dawn."

I was thinking, if she were still alive, knowing that I used her daughter as a bargaining chip in a marriage alliance, would she feel that the biggest mistake of her life was knowing me?

Xu Bingjun was silent for a moment, then spoke softly:

"Mr. Gu, Ms. Su was deeply in love with you back then. She probably doesn't hate you. But perhaps she hopes you can have other plans for the second young lady."

"I know," Gu Zhenxing said, putting the teacup back on the table with a soft clinking sound.

"That's why I chose Pei Yan. My thought was that I should at least find someone I could control for her."

The Pei family is nothing compared to us; they have to be mindful of my feelings.

If Yun Jin marries into that family, she won't be mistreated or bullied.

Even if she didn't like Pei Yan, at least she wouldn't end up in the same situation as her mother—being neglected in her own home, with no one to talk to.

He paused, a bitter smile playing on his lips: "To be honest, I'm afraid she'll feel the same way I do."

I'm afraid she'll be lured away by some poor kid who pops up out of nowhere with a few nice words, or maybe she'll be some lousy person like me.

If she gets deceived or let down, just like her mother, she'll keep everything to herself, never saying a word, and bear it all alone in the end.

"In the end," Xu Bingjun said softly, "you are protecting her in your own way. Although the Second Miss may not need this way."

"Of course she doesn't need it." Gu Zhenxing put down his teacup, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling.

"When she stood in front of me today and said, 'Your approach won't threaten me,' I was extremely angry."

But what angered me wasn't that she talked back to me, but that I suddenly realized—I didn't understand her at all.

I thought she was a good daughter who needed my protection, but she quietly did all this on her own.

That business model is so convincing, you'd agree, right? It proves that my understanding of her over the past decade has been completely wrong.

Xu Bingjun did not speak, but his silence itself was an answer.

"If she wants to pursue her career, let her do it herself."

"It's only a few hundred million. If she succeeds, it's the empire she earned herself."

If you fail—and that's it, you've failed.

"I can afford to lose several hundred million; consider it tuition for her."