UCS Chapter 34

What exactly had happened during these short three days?

 

Gao Shi’s head was still aching dully, but he couldn’t worry about that now. Seeing that his son was about to go viral across the internet with a shocking photo, no one could remain calm.

 

He quickly called his father, “Hello? Dad!”

 

With the Gossip King’s help, Gao Shi clarified what had happened online during these three days in just one minute.

 

It all started this morning with a photo captured by one of Qin Shi’s fans.

 

The photo was quite artistic.

 

Under the golden glow of streetlights, the silhouettes of a man and a young man overlapped. Magnificent magnolia flowers bloomed brilliantly, the flowering tree partially obscuring their figures, making them look like intimate lovers.

 

If this had been an ordinary couple, they would certainly have received everyone’s blessings. The problem was that someone recognized the man in the photo—

 

Isn’t that Qin Shi?!

 

This stirred up a hornet’s nest. The transformation of fans from “No way?” to “NO WAY!” took only one morning.

 

The fan who posted the photo was a student at Jing University. Qin Shi’s whereabouts weren’t concealed; his company had already announced that he was preparing to shoot a public welfare film and planned to select actors in B City.

 

Most importantly, Jing University indeed had a large grove of magnolia trees.

 

Qin Shi had many fans. Within one morning, not only was Qin Shi’s identity confirmed, but the photo location was also uncovered. Some people even dragged their sisters/boyfriends to take photos at the same spot. In just two hours, “Qin Shi style” photos went viral across the internet.

 

Jing University, which normally kept its gates open, had to close them and start checking student IDs. But admiring visitors still came in endless streams, truly displaying all sorts of ingenuity to get in. The security guards’ lips were nearly worn out from arguing.

 

The entire internet spent the morning confirming the main subject, and by afternoon, they started digging into who the young man with Qin Shi was.

 

If Qin Shi had actively stepped forward to protect Gao Gusheng, it might have been fine. Unfortunately, Qin Shi posted a photo on Weibo.

 

The photo showed a candle flame with a moth flying toward it.

 

Caption: Born to be a flame.

 

When fans saw this, they collectively became furious.

 

Doesn’t the meaning of brother’s Weibo post imply that this person is desperately clinging to him?!

 

Yes, our brother is the flame, the light, which is why he attracts some moths.

 

Others went further, speculating whether Gao Gusheng might be Qin Shi’s obsessed fan.

 

Sasaeng fans are like time bombs in fan circles, rejected by the entire fandom.

 

So within an hour, Gao Gusheng was exposed.

 

—Though honestly, it wasn’t difficult. Qin Shi had shown interest in Gao Gusheng from the beginning, ignoring students of performance and art, specifically selecting someone from finance to act. By comparing Gao Gusheng’s physique with the young man in the photo, the connection was easy to make.

 

But the final critical step went wrong.

 

A fan site admin posted a photo of Gao Gusheng “after disguise” online.

 

Then this topic inevitably exploded.

 

[Damn—is trending star Qin Shi’s taste really this appalling?]

 

[Don’t insult our brother, okay?]

 

[Isn’t this just like “The Farmer and the Snake” story?? Our brother gave him a chance to perform, but he throws himself at our brother. Shameless!]

 

…

 

There were even more vicious comments, the kind that would need to be completely censored to be posted.

 

Gao Gusheng’s face, riding on Qin Shi’s traffic, went viral beyond their circles.

 

The name “Gao Gusheng” spread like a virus. Within an hour, the entire internet knew about him.

 

Gao Shi looked at the abusive topics about Gao Gusheng online, his temple throbbing. “Why hasn’t our public opinion department taken action?”

 

On the other end of the phone, Father Gao was equally troubled. “They have, but it’s useless.”

 

The public opinion erupted too quickly.

 

The Gao family had no entertainment industry enterprises. After Gao Gusheng was exposed, the Gao family’s public opinion department contacted Wanxing Entertainment while trying to silence those paparazzi.

 

But Qin Shi’s fan site admin wasn’t after fame or profit—she just didn’t want Qin Shi to suffer any grievances. She was determined to expose Gao Gusheng even without accepting the benefits offered by the Gao family.

 

With no other option, the Gao family started suppressing hot search topics.

 

They tried to reduce the heat on Gao Gusheng’s issue while contacting paparazzi to release entertainment industry gossip, attempting to divert attention.

 

But it didn’t work.

 

First, Qin Shi was currently the top traffic celebrity in China; the popularity of all other first-tier celebrities combined couldn’t match him.

 

Second, Gao Gusheng’s face was genuinely shocking. Combined with hashtags like [Qin Shi’s Aesthetics] and [Qin Shi’s Heavy Taste], it went absolutely viral.

 

Of the top 50 trending topics, Qin Shi and Gao Gusheng dominated half.

 

Gao Shi pressed his temple.

 

Most troublingly, under Gao Gusheng’s photo, some people actually posted comments like:

 

[Bros, what should I do? I actually think GGS looks kind of good.]

 

[Sorry, I’ve already fallen for him.]

 

[Does the commenter above have such heavy taste??? Do we all need to follow your idol’s preferences?!]

 

[Male hormones are scary. I never dreamed someone would compliment this face.]

 

[I’m a woman, but to be honest, although I consider myself someone who appreciates beauty, for some reason I keep wanting to look at GGS. If I don’t look at him for a day, I feel uncomfortable; after looking, I feel uncomfortable for a day.]

 

…

 

Gao Shi didn’t know whether to worry about his unfortunate son’s increasingly powerful attraction—that such an ugly disguise could still captivate people with his looks—or to worry that his son, who previously only attracted men, was now attracting both men and women.

 

Come to think of it… he had never been told that the spirit-attracting constitution only attracted males.

 

Gao Shi pressed his temple and, leaning on the steering wheel, asked Ying Bujie, “Taoist Master, is the spirit-attracting constitution limited to males?”

 

Eating cotton candy, Ying Bujie shook his head. “All living beings.”

 

Great.

 

The exhausted father lay back in his seat, covering his eyes.

 

He had been tormented by nightmares before and subconsciously thought that only males would be attracted to Gao Gusheng.

 

But in that case, dealing with this matter actually became simpler.

 

Since the entire internet already knew about Gao Gusheng, it would be better to be open rather than secretive. Instead of trying to cover up and suppress the trending topics, they should directly post photos of Gao Gusheng after his haircut online, letting everyone see the real Gao Gusheng.

 

At that point, the rumors would naturally be dispelled.

 

After all, most emotional responses of affection are positive and gentle, while a minority of affectionate responses come with destructive desires and negative emotions.

 

Those bastards in his dream were the latter.

 

And now, the treatment Gao Gusheng was receiving online was almost entirely malicious—it couldn’t get much worse than this.

 

Just then, Gao Gusheng, who had presumably finished class, called, “Dad! Where did you go? Why are you only back now!”

 

Gao Shi felt his headache spreading from his temples to the back of his head, but his tone remained steady.

 

“I was on a mission that took longer than expected.”

 

“Have you seen Weibo?” Gao Shi paused. “If you haven’t, it’s better not to look.”

 

Gao Gusheng usually listened to his father, but this time he scratched his head and said, “Dad, I’ve seen it, but it’s not a big deal. My classmates all know the situation isn’t like that.”

 

“Now that they see me being slandered, many classmates are helping me clarify things online.”

 

“Also, Jing University’s gates are now closed, and outsiders can’t come in, so I feel it’s not much different from usual.”

 

As he spoke, Gao Shi heard Gao Gusheng say to someone beside him, “Enough, enough, Sister Yun, stop feeding me. You being so gentle is giving me the creeps.”

 

Then Gao Shi heard a clear female voice on the other end, “If you weren’t being blackened so badly online, I wouldn’t be serving you. Eat this for me!”

 

“Gusheng, just give in to Yun Zhiyi. It’s rare for this tomboy to be so gentle.”

 

“Get lost!”

 

Gao Shi couldn’t help but smile listening to this exchange, feeling his headache somewhat relieved. With such friends accompanying Lele, he surely wouldn’t end up like in the dream…

 

Gao Shi’s eyes darkened.

 

“Dad, Dad, are you still there?”

 

“Yes.”

 

The bustling sound of classmates talking gradually faded, suggesting Gao Gusheng had moved to a quiet corner.

 

“Dad, let me tell you, I’ve been disgusted these past few days.”

 

“A few days ago, when I went to the art exhibition, I ran into Qin Shi. This person is super sleazy. I didn’t even take off my mask that day, but somehow he fixated on me.”

 

“I quickly ran away, thinking I’d be safe once I got to school. But then Wanxing Entertainment announced they were shooting a public welfare film promoting environmental protection. The male lead is Qin Shi, the female lead is Shelley Ye, and they planned to select newcomers for supporting roles—and somehow they ended up at our school.”

 

Wanxing Entertainment… it had been mentioned quite frequently lately.

 

The law of “plot”—when something or someone is repeatedly mentioned, it indicates that a plot related to it is about to begin.

 

“…I really don’t understand why Qin Shi came along when the crew was selecting actors. I was afraid of being discovered by him, so when Sister Yun invited me to go watch the celebrities, I didn’t go. But the next day, when the crew came to our school, it happened to coincide with the National Day celebration. There were so many people—tens of thousands—and I never would have expected that he’d spot me at a glance!”

 

Gao Gusheng almost cursed in his anger but managed to stop himself in time.

 

Cautiously observing that his father didn’t reprimand him, he smoothly continued with his previous anger. “There are so many people at our school. It was bad enough that Qin Shi selected me, but in front of everyone, he kept showing his preference for me, constantly hinting how great the crew was and that not participating would be my loss. Even when I clearly refused, it didn’t help—he’d say the same things next time.”

 

“He has so many fans already, and some of them think their brother is being humble and that I’m ungrateful.”

 

“He even approached me privately with ambiguous gestures like helping me open bottle caps and touching my hair. When I said we should keep our distance, he said he was desperately seeking talent and often made what seemed like joking remarks.”

 

“I actually quite like you.”

 

“Here’s your chance to have me.”

 

“Fans probably feel shy or even inferior when facing me, I understand.”

 

“Ahhh! When I rejected him, he said I was playing hard to get, as if he were deaf, and he thinks he’s being romantic!”

 

“The funniest part was when I got fed up with his questions and directly asked if he was trying to pursue me—ugh, I felt like my mouth was dirty just asking that.”

 

“Dad, guess what he answered? He said, ‘Don’t you know what I’m thinking in my heart, silly?'”

 

On the other end, Gao Shi listened with a furrowed brow, the hair on his back standing on end. He silently recited “don’t hit people” twice, took a deep breath, and asked, “Then what happened?”

 

Gao Gusheng also rubbed away his goosebumps on the other end of the phone. “I said I didn’t understand and asked him to speak plainly.”

 

“He said he’d give me a chance to ‘reach for the stars.'”

 

“I asked if he would make an official announcement about us, given his many female and male fans.”

 

“He said, ‘Little fan, you know, a man can’t just have love; he needs a career too. If we announced it publicly, I might lose a lot of fans, so could you bear with it for a while?'”

 

Gao Shi covered his forehead.

 

What a scoundrel, trying to have his cake and eat it too.

 

His calculation was so loud Gao Shi could hear it all the way from Zhou Corporation.

 

In the entertainment industry, weren’t there countless poor “sisters-in-law” who followed scoundrels without names or status for seven or eight years, only to be quietly discarded in the end, watching as the scoundrel’s career continued to flourish?

 

Most crucially, almost no one in the outside world knew about Gao Gusheng’s relationship with the Gao family. All they could find out was that Gao Gusheng came from a single-parent family, and his father was a police officer.

 

If this relationship began, from Qin Shi’s perspective, he would have the absolute upper hand, and in the end, Gao Gusheng would have no way to turn the tables.

 

The father and son fell silent, both needing a moment to recover from their disgust with Qin Shi.

 

After a while, Gao Shi said, “He speaks too smoothly, which is suspicious.”

 

Gao Gusheng shuddered. “It is smooth, but do people really fall for this stuff?”

 

Gao Shi said, “Didn’t you read ‘The Charming Film Emperor Falls for the Lively Assistant’ in my car?”

 

Gao Gusheng remained guiltily silent.

 

Sweet talk depends on who says it and to whom it’s said.

 

Words that you find oily and greasy might be just right in the eyes of someone who loves the person saying them.

 

From the very beginning, Gao Gusheng had no good feelings toward Qin Shi. Even if Qin Shi spoke eloquently, Gao Gusheng would only be wary—not to mention that…

 

Qin Shi was indeed a bit sleazy…

 

Gao Shi sent instructions to the public opinion department, telling them to investigate any dirt on Qin Shi, with special attention to romantic scandals.

 

Gao Shi scrolled through the pages, viewing the trending topics.

 

He saw posts from Gao Gusheng’s classmates clarifying the situation for him.

 

But they had no traction, as if they were being deliberately suppressed.

 

There was also one post with Gao Gusheng’s photo that had mysteriously broken, making it hard not to suspect Qin Shi’s team was behind it.

 

The narrative of a noble swan being pursued by an ugly toad could not only evoke sympathy from young women who had been harassed in real life but also solidify Qin Shi’s fan base through emotional manipulation—killing two birds with one stone.

 

Gao Shi saw that the trending topics had updated, with the highest being [Share Your Experiences with Creepy Men and Women Who Won’t Leave You Alone].

 

In this topic, many people shared their experiences of being pursued by someone they didn’t like, elevating it to a social issue, with Qin Shi gaining even more fans through this trend.

 

But few people knew that Qin Shi, who appeared to be a victim, was actually a perpetrator.

 

Gao Shi lowered his eyes, scrolling through the photos Cheng Zeqi had sent him. “Lele, the Gao family will send people to clarify and post your current photos online. Be prepared.”

 

Gao Gusheng made an “ah” sound, “That’s fine, Dad. Your son is the second most handsome man in the world. Let’s see who still compares me with Qin Shi!”

 

Gao Shi couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh? You’re quite modest. Then who’s the most handsome in the world?”

 

“That would be my dashingly handsome father, of course~”

 

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