The Heiress's Game

The Weibo hot search list exploded once again late at night.

A gossip account with a large following posted a vague yet informative scoop.

The copywriting was extremely provocative—"[Exclusive Scoop] A certain top male celebrity with the surname S acted like a diva on set today, refusing to get out of the car and start work, forcing the entire crew to wait for several hours."

Eventually, a real bigwig in the capital circle was alarmed and personally came to the scene. He made a phone call and berated the young man severely, forcing him to roll out of his van and bow to everyone in apology.

According to eyewitnesses, the tycoon exuded an aura of power, declaring, "You're nothing but a fart in the face of capital," creating an extremely shocking scene.

Within half an hour of the revelation being posted, it had been forwarded over a million times.

The comment section instantly turned into a battleground for various parties, with netizens turning into detectives and listing all the male celebrities with the surname S who have been filming dramas or variety shows recently.

Some say it's an idol with the surname S who came from a talent show, while others guess it's a young actor with the surname S who started out in idol dramas.

Some people are convinced it's the one who just won the Best Actor award recently—after all, the term "acting like a big shot" is most fitting for the status of a Best Actor.

While netizens were speculating, Shulin's fans were the first to get restless.

They are known in the fandom for their action and fighting spirit. A top fan created a "clarification and anti-blacklisting group" overnight, and after unifying their rhetoric, they flooded the comments section of the post with a tidal wave of messages—"The top celebrity with the surname S is clearly Gu Hansheng! 'Sheng' starts with S! My Shulin starts with L, they're completely unrelated!"

"Gu Hansheng's fans, stop pretending! He's the undisputed top idol with the surname S!"

"Take the woods away, we're not doing this. Don't try to divert attention, don't smear others with your own brother's diva-like behavior."

Gu Hansheng's fan base was quietly enjoying the gossip on the trending topics page, and was still posting nine photos of him departing from the airport a few days ago in their own super topic. However, they were suddenly doused with dirty water and instantly went into an uproar.

The counterattack was even more ferocious than the opponent's: "Hilarious! Shulin considers himself a top star? The ratings for his flop drama weren't even a fraction of Gu Hansheng's, and he dares to try and piggyback on that?"

"Do some fans have some misunderstanding about the term 'top star'? Top stars are defined by their commercial endorsements, not by your fans' self-indulgent hype."

"Saying Gu Hansheng is arrogant? Which director or actor he's worked with in the industry doesn't praise his professionalism? Even spreading rumors has its basic principles!"

The online battle between the two sides spread from the comments section of the leaked information to the real-time forum, and then from the forum into their respective topic supertopics. The battle was so intense that the servers started to lag.

The hashtags #TopCelebrityWithSSurnameActingDiva# and #GuHansheng'sFansTearEmotionallyAttackInShuLin# simultaneously surged to the top of the trending searches.

Just when the battle was at its most intense, Gu Hansheng came online.

He posted a Weibo post, his tone calm and restrained: "Just finished work and saw the trending topic. Everyone, calm down. We filmed all day on set. Don't make wild guesses based on a single letter, and don't attack other artists. Get some rest."

Meanwhile, the forest also issued a statement.

His words were more tense than Gu Hansheng's: "Please, my fans, stop spreading false information and stop attacking other artists. Thank you for your concern and supervision."

With both sides' main figures speaking out at the same time, the fans' attacks suddenly lost their target.

The battleground shifted from mutual tearing to each other returning to their respective supertopics to calm their emotions. The smoke from the trending topics slowly dissipated, replaced by a new curiosity among netizens.

Who exactly is the "capital tycoon" who personally attended the event and gave the popular young actor a thorough dressing-down?

The curtains of the van were drawn, and the lights inside were off.

Gu Hansheng had just posted the "It wasn't me" statement on Weibo, leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed.

Hong Ge sat in the passenger seat and turned around to look at his cousin.

"The trending topics are under control," Hong Ge said, putting down his tablet.

"The forest side also issued a statement, and fans on both sides have calmed down."

Hong glanced at him and said, "By the way, I mentioned 'Heartbeat Countdown' to you before."

They are still looking for guests. Although they haven't contacted us yet, given your current status, it's not shameful for you to recommend yourself.

"Haven't you always wanted to be on this show? Now that the opportunity has come, should I go and make contact with their people?"

Gu Hansheng opened his eyes. "No need. There's no hope. There's no hope at all."

Hong Ge was taken aback, thinking he was worried about his status:

"How could there be no hope? At your level, you can pick any variety show in the country. Although their program has a good production team, it's still a new project—"

"Brother Hong," Gu Hansheng interrupted him, "didn't you always ask me who my first love was?"

Hong Ge frowned.

He had followed Gu Hansheng for so many years, and he had asked this question no less than a hundred times, but each time Gu Hansheng had changed the subject with various other topics.

When he suddenly brought it up today, Hong had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

"It's Gu Yunjin." Gu Hansheng's voice was very calm.

"Gu Yunjin?" Hong Ge frowned, thinking for a long time. "Which Gu Yunjin? That name sounds so familiar—wait, are you talking about that Gu Yunjin?"

His eyes widened suddenly, his voice trembling, "The boss of Xingyao Media? The second young lady of the Gu family? Gu Yunjin, the one Bai Junze just got engaged to?"

"If it's not that one, then what is it?" Gu Hansheng closed his eyes again.

Hong Ge was completely stunned.

He had guessed countless possibilities before—it was a college classmate, an ordinary person outside the entertainment industry, or a Chinese girl he met during his studies abroad.

He even wondered if the other person was already married, which was why Gu Hansheng never wanted to mention it.

But he never expected the answer to be Gu Yunjin.

That's no ordinary rich girl—that's Gu Zhenxing's daughter, the very "capital tycoon" who hurled insults at Shulin today.

"I always thought he was an amateur." Hong Ge was processing this enormous amount of data.

"When I met her in England, I had no idea who she was," Gu Hansheng said, looking at his reflection in the car window.

"She never flaunted her family background in front of others. At first, I always thought she was just a girl from an ordinary family, like me, who relied on scholarships to study."

Later, when I found out who she was and that her father was Gu Zhenxing, I naively thought, "At worst, I'll work hard to make money and build a successful career so I'll be qualified to stand beside her."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Later, her father came to England, and we broke up."

"Was it her father who forced her?"

She didn't explain much, only saying that we weren't a good match.

But I know—Mr. Gu must know about our relationship.

For someone like him, finding out who his daughter is dating abroad would be incredibly easy.

He didn't need to say anything harsh; he just needed to make Yun Jin understand that her family background meant she could never marry someone like him.

I was a poor student back then. My family ran a small business, which was not even worth a single finger of Gu Jia's. I was not good enough for her.

All he needed to do was tell Yun Jin that if she continued to be with him, his future was over.

He looked down at his hands. "I know she did it to protect me."

I know she's such a smart person, she wouldn't make a decision based on impulse, so she chose to end it.

"Han Sheng," Hong Ge couldn't help but interrupt him.

"You're not that poor student anymore. You're a top star; there are very few people in the entire entertainment industry more popular than you, and you have a lot of money—"

"Is there a difference?" Gu Hansheng chuckled softly.

"No matter how much money I earn or how many awards I win, in the eyes of those truly wealthy families, I'm nothing more than an actor."

A family of Gu's social standing would never want a son-in-law like me.

Previously, she was to marry into the Pei family—the Pei family was also a wealthy family, so it would be a good match.

Later, rumors circulated online that the marriage was canceled. I thought, I thought, that she was finally free, that she could make her own choices.

Before I could even decide whether to go see her, her marriage to the Bai family was announced.

And now? I heard the engagement banquet for the marriage alliance with the Bai family has already ended.

She ultimately followed the path her family had laid out for her. She chose Bai Junze; he was the one truly worthy of her.

"It's all over, there's no hope left. No matter how much I like her, what can I change? There's nothing I can do."

Hong Ge remained silent for a while, then reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

He wanted to say something comforting, but his mouth opened and closed repeatedly, and in the end he said nothing.

Given Gu Yunjin's current status and situation, her marriage to Bai Junze is a done deal.