The Heiress's Game

The sound of Gu Mingyue slamming the door echoed in the apartment for several seconds before dissipating.

Gu Mingcheng stood in front of the coffee table and reached out to straighten the crystal swan that had been placed askew.

His fingers paused for a moment on the cold surface, then he put his glasses back on and picked up the documents on the table.

The side door to the study was gently pushed open, and a pair of nude-colored sheepskin slippers stepped lightly on the dark gray marble floor.

When Shen Ruotang walked in, she was carrying two cups of freshly brewed tea.

She wore a smoky gray loungewear dress, her hair loosely tied back, revealing a slender, fair neck.

She doesn't have the kind of stunning looks that immediately catch the eye, but her features are gentle and pleasing to the eye, and her voice is always calm and unhurried, like a lake that never gets rippled.

She placed one of the cups next to Gu Mingcheng, then sat down on the sofa with the other cup in her hand. She glanced at the swan ornament that had been moved on the coffee table, and then at Gu Mingcheng's expressionless face.

"Mingyue is gone? I heard her slam the door in the hallway, so I didn't come out."

Gu Mingcheng hummed in agreement, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said nothing.

Shen Ruotang did not press for details. Her marriage to Gu Mingcheng was an arranged one. The Shen family was not among the top ten in Dahai City, but they had a good family tradition. She herself was an Ivy League graduate, with a gentle but opinionated personality.

Married for more than three years, the two have gone from being polite and distant at the beginning to being tacitly compatible now. It can't be described as a dramatic marriage, but they both feel that this marriage is much better than they expected.

"She made me delete all her scenes from 'Shining Life'."

Gu Mingcheng put down his teacup, his tone as if he were talking about something unrelated to himself, "I said no."

"It's true that we can't delete it; deleting it will only make things worse." Shen Ruotang nodded, then asked again.

"So we're just going to do nothing?"

"I'm not doing it anymore. Let her suffer this time."

"How many messes have I cleaned up for her over the years? Whenever she caused trouble, I would smooth things over."

She said something wrong, so I'll handle the public relations.

She offended someone, so I went to smooth things over.

She's used to it, assuming that no matter what she does, someone will always cover for her. This time, I'm not going to cover for her.

Let her be criticized by netizens for a few more days, so she'll know what the consequences are and what it means to learn a lesson.

"She's over thirty years old, and even a variety show's editing managed to ruin her like this—did she even think before agreeing to go on the show?"

Shen Ruotang did not refute. Gu Mingcheng may be harsh in his words, but he has always cared for his younger sister, who shares the same mother, since she was a child.

"What about WanYu Entertainment?" she asked. "The production company behind 'Shining Life'—do they think our family won't mind if they dare to cut it like this?"

"As for Wanyu, let's keep things separate. My sister went up there herself and got scammed; she was stupid."

But if anyone dares to cheat her, they're asking for trouble.

Gu Mingcheng's voice deepened, "I will arrange for someone to find out who was in charge of ordering the editing, and I will make them regret doing this stupid thing."

Shen Ruotang nodded, without asking for further details.

She knew her limits—Gu Mingcheng had his own set of rules in these matters, and she didn't need to say anything.

"In the end, it all comes down to Gu Yunjin."

Shen Ruotang picked up her teacup, took a sip, and spoke in a gentle and clear voice.

"Mingyue's every move was meticulously planned by her."

From Chen Cui to that variety show, and now to persuading Mingyue to appear on the show—she even factored in Mingyue's tendency to do the opposite.

You really need to be careful when dealing with her.

"I know." Gu Mingcheng unconsciously twirled his teacup. "Luckily, she's a woman."

"She's a woman, and she'll get married sooner or later. No matter how much Dad admires her, he can't possibly hand over the Gu family business to her."

The ceiling for a daughter and a son in the family is different—no matter how big a career she achieves, it's still done outside the family.

The core business of the Gu family is something Dad wouldn't agree to hand over to a daughter who will eventually get married.

Even if someone has such thoughts, Dad will suppress them.

"But if she were a man—" He paused, then turned to look at Shen Ruotang.

"If she were a man, I'm telling you, she would be the most terrifying rival I've ever faced, bar none."

Shen Ruotang remained silent for a moment, then gently placed her hand on the back of Gu Mingcheng's hand.

"She's a woman, that's our advantage."

While she's still out there causing trouble, we should firmly grasp the core business of the Gu family.

Once she's married, even the strongest will be powerless to stop her.

Gu Mingcheng took her hand in return and nodded.

"You mean Gu Yunjin?" Shen Ruotang said in a flat tone.

"When I first married into the family, I met her for the first time at a family banquet. She was sitting in the seat on the very edge."

She wore a yellow dress, remained quiet from beginning to end, spoke softly, and even lowered her head slightly when she smiled.

I thought to myself, this second young lady is so beautiful, she looks like she stepped out of a painting.

Her features were so exquisitely beautiful that there wasn't a single flaw. She was gentle and kind, with no hint of aggression, and quite endearing.

Gu Mingcheng leaned back on the sofa, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"She was harmless; that's what I thought when she first returned to China."

And what's the result? None of the things she's done now—breaking off the engagement, negotiating with her father, starting a media company, and joining forces with the Zhang family to work on AI—have anything to do with her angelic face.

That face was her greatest disguise.

You look at her and think she needs protection, but in reality, she knows better than anyone how to calculate people down to their very core.

Shen Ruotang sighed softly: "She's not pretending anymore. Or rather, she feels there's no need for her to pretend in front of us."

"She's not saying she's stopped pretending," Gu Mingcheng shook his head.

"She has a different face. In front of her father, she is still the obedient and sensible second daughter."

In front of the bright moon, she is still that gentle and tender younger sister; but in front of you and me—she knows we see through her, so she simply doesn't bother.

Shen Ruotang was silent for a moment, then raised her head.

"Do you think Wang Manyun... might join forces with Gu Yunjin?"

Gu Mingcheng was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then chuckled.

"Wang Manyun? Teaming up with Gu Yunjin?"

Do you know what Wang Manyun's biggest goal in life is? It's to make Gu Yunjin disappear from this family.

Ideally, she should marry someone from abroad, the farther the better, and never come back.

She's been a good stepmother for so many years, and every woman outside praises her, saying she "treats her stepdaughter as her own."

But did you know? Gu Yunjin was sent away when she was fourteen. Although it was her grandmother who first suggested it, wasn't it Wang Manyun who pushed for it behind the scenes?

After Gu Yunjin returned to China, she wanted to join the Gu family business. Who whispered in her father's ear that "it's good for her, a girl, to gain experience outside"?

Who arranged the marriage with the Pei family from beginning to end? It was her.

Shen Ruotang nodded, her tone revealing a hint of understanding: "So, on the matter of getting Gu Yunjin married off, she's on our side."

"Not just on the same side, she's much more anxious than we are."

For her, Gu Yunjin's refusal to marry was a ticking time bomb.

Therefore, she was more proactive than anyone else in finding a husband for Gu Yunjin.

Gu Mingcheng frowned slightly. "Unfortunately, after Pei Yan's incident, this matter is not so easy to handle."

"In the end, the Pei Yan incident was also due to our underestimation of Gu Yunjin."

Shen Ruotang sighed softly, "At the time, everyone thought this marriage was a sure thing—the Pei family wouldn't dare offend the Gu family, and Pei Yan was an indecisive person."

Gu Yunjin's marriage was a good thing, but who would have thought she would dare to confront her father directly?

"She's not the kind of rich heiress you can just marry off easily."

Gu Mingcheng looked at the warm yellow light strip on the ceiling, his tone tinged with helplessness and frustration.

"You tried to find her someone from a similar family background, but she didn't like him."

You tried to find her a capable man, but she said she had no feelings for him.

If you push her too far, she really is capable of flipping the table.

She now has money, a company, and her own network of contacts, and no longer needs to depend on anyone for a living.

What can you use to force a woman like that?

Suspend your card? She has more money in her card than you do.

Shut down her company? Xingyao has signed an exclusive deal with Hunan TV; touching it is tantamount to touching prime time on a satellite TV channel.

Shen Ruotang softly replied, "So there's no need to rush with Wang Manyun for now."

She'll figure something out herself—she'll continue looking and testing the waters.

She might even be offered a marriage into a family that seems perfect but would actually ruin her life once she married into it, but Gu Yunjin wasn't stupid.

She paused for a moment and looked up at her husband.

"What we can think of, she can think of too."

Therefore, the difficulty in this matter has never been "how to marry Gu Yunjin off," but rather "how to make Gu Yunjin marry off willingly."

Gu Mingcheng was silent for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.

Outside the window, the last cruise ship slowly passed by on the river, its lights glittering, casting a long golden shadow on the water, as beautiful as a painting, but neither of the couple was in the mood to admire the scenery.