UCS Chapter 78.1

Was Gao Gusheng a child of the Gao family?

 

Was he?

 

Wasn’t he?

 

All eyes present and in the livestream were fixed intently on Great-Grandfather Gao’s face.

 

Great-Grandfather Gao didn’t keep them in suspense. He smiled warmly and gently patted Gao Shi’s shoulder, then patted Gao Gusheng’s shoulder.

 

“These two are my grandson and great-grandson.”

 

…

 

“Holy shit holy shit holy shit! Grandson and great-grandson?! So doesn’t that mean these two are the Gao family’s young master and youngest master?!!”

 

“Wait, these two people look like brothers—where do they look like father and son?”

 

“Can someone please convince the Gao family to debut as a group? Wouldn’t this level of looks completely dominate those high-tech celebrities in the entertainment industry?”

 

“I’m absolutely in love with Young Master Gao Shi’s abstinent vibe! I declare that starting today, he’s my new crush!”

 

“What are you talking about? Obviously the Gao family’s youngest master looks best. Look at that face, look at those eyes—it’s simply not something a human could grow.”

 

“Though the son’s face is indeed more delicate, when it comes to temperament, the father is better!”

 

“To those supporting the father, let me tell you this—I’m a steel-straight man, straight for twenty-eight years. Just because I saw the son once while watching this livestream today, I turned gay. Then I didn’t believe it so I showed my brother, and my brother was done for too. What do you think we should do about this?”

 

“Damn, you can even fight about this? Children make choices—I want both!”

 

“Hehehe, father-son combo meal~ Here I come!”

 

“You guys play pretty perversely—so can I join you?”

 

The topic raced toward indescribable directions. Before the cyber police arrived, someone finally pulled the topic back to the main point.

 

“So Gao Gusheng is the Gao family’s youngest master, right? All those who said Gao Gusheng was riding Xiao Yusheng’s popularity should come forward, shouldn’t they? Does the dignified Gao family’s youngest master need to ride on someone else’s popularity?”

 

“Right, who knows who’s riding whose popularity.”

 

“If Gao Gusheng is the Gao family’s youngest master, then everything makes sense. No wonder Qin Shi, Li Mochen, and now Xiao Yusheng all desperately try to attach themselves to him. He has both looks and money, unlimited prospects, and the key is he’s young and looks easier to deceive. If it were me, I’d also cling on desperately.”

 

“Those who previously said Gao Gusheng was a bloodsucker, why aren’t you talking now? Come on, stand up!”

 

“They’re probably busy deleting their previous comment records. Some people’s faces are probably swollen from being slapped, right?”

 

“Sigh, I used to have a pretty good impression of Xiao Yusheng. I always thought he was different from those people in the entertainment industry. Didn’t expect he was this kind of person too.”

 

“How many clean people are there in the entertainment industry?”

 

…

 

From being a pitiful movie king who was being leeched off to a sparrow trying to climb high branches, Xiao Yusheng experienced this transformation in just the time it took to say one sentence.

 

Xiao Yusheng sat below the stage, looking at the dazzling Gao Gusheng on stage. Having been in the entertainment industry for years, he could already imagine how netizens would comment about him online.

 

He was famous, and many people had tried to ride his popularity before. He always put on a facade of being willing to mentor newcomers, while secretly directing his fans to attack the social media accounts of those who tried to leech his popularity and traffic. Often these people not only failed to gain traffic but were also labeled as vampires.

 

Sometimes he would use this tactic against people he found displeasing. Those people had clearly done nothing wrong, but ultimately couldn’t clear their names.

 

Words were a killing blade, and he wielded this blade with precision.

 

This time, the sharp blade was finally pointed at himself.

 

Originally he had been in a disadvantaged position, but now he had become the one being criticized and targeted. Those netizens indiscriminately heaped various accusations on him. He finally got to experience the taste of what the small celebrities and Gao Gusheng he had previously harmed had gone through.

 

But what no one knew was that when he had taken interest in Gao Gusheng, it really was just because he was interested in him as a person. He had only learned today that Gao Gusheng was the Gao family’s youngest master.

 

Thinking back to just two days ago, when he had applied entertainment industry tactics to Gao Gusheng, trying to use public opinion to completely crush him, and after he thought he had completely ruined Gao Gusheng’s reputation, he had stood up pretending to be a savior and said to him: “Your method seems to have some oversights. How about we meet in person to discuss it in detail.”

 

Later, when the two were on the phone, Xiao Yusheng felt the joy of watching prey step into a trap, but his tone seemed gentle and understanding as he said to Gao Gusheng, “It’s alright, I’ve thought of other solutions.”

 

“We can say that we were actually just rehearsing scenes, and the previous photos were just to avoid revealing related information, wanting to give everyone a surprise. Now, seeing that the online sentiment is getting worse and worse, we had no choice but to come forward and clarify.”

 

The movie king’s acting skills could turn even one part regret into ten parts of performance. He had calculated everything well—not only did he not blame Gao Gusheng for making random suggestions, but he had also arranged the follow-up matters. If this had been the love-starved, sensitive, and repeatedly persecuted Gao Gusheng from the dream, he would have probably fallen into this gentle trap long ago.

 

Unfortunately, the real-world Gao Gusheng not only lacked nothing in terms of love, but also had powerful backing behind him. He feared nothing, so naturally wouldn’t be dazed by this set of gentle punches.

 

Xiao Yusheng looked at Gao Gusheng shining brilliantly on the stage, a hint of blood red seeping into his eyes.

 

He was too familiar with this entertainment industry, so he could completely imagine what people were saying about him online now. The reputation he had built over so many years had been cracked open. In the end, the methods he had used on Gao Gusheng had rebounded on himself with double the force.

 

If he had known Gao Gusheng was the Gao family’s youngest master, he definitely wouldn’t have used such methods. Unfortunately, it was all too late now.

 

On stage, Gao Gusheng’s eyebrows were slightly raised, carrying youthful high spirits while maintaining composure—one bit more would be too frivolous, one bit less would be too wooden. Anyone who saw him would have to say: a talented young man.

 

Xiao Yusheng just watched him like this, his gaze like a greedy snake.

 

He couldn’t continue staying at the banquet now. He had to go back and handle the online storm.

 

Xiao Yusheng’s gaze swept almost obsessively from his hair downward—his slightly raised chin, his slender neck, the slightly protruding Adam’s apple, his rounded fingertips.

 

As his substantial gaze gradually swept over Gao Gusheng’s entire body, the corners of his mouth instead gradually curved into a smile.

 

He had forgotten that he usually saw too many flowers disguised as roses, and had forgotten that precious roses should have thorns.

 

Yes, that’s right.

 

How could such a precious rose be compared to those inferior goods? Originally, the most delightful part of taming roses was the process of cutting off the rose’s thorns one by one.

 

He stood up, his heart beating wildly in his chest, as if a seed was about to sprout from there.

 

He urgently needed to do something to calm himself down.

 

Just as he looked up, he saw the little streamer who had approached him.

 

That little streamer was looking at Gao Gusheng on stage, her cheeks flushed red with excitement, her eyes seeming to hold a pool of water.

 

Not bad.

 

Perhaps sensing his gaze, Zhou You turned her head and happened to make eye contact with Xiao Yusheng. Xiao Yusheng made a phone gesture to her, then smiled and waved goodbye.

 

Standing on stage, Gao Gusheng felt a chill behind his back—a terrifying and disgusting feeling. Scanning downward, he understood in his heart that it was probably that pervert Xiao Yusheng sizing him up.

 

Gao Gusheng accurately found Xiao Yusheng in the crowd, who looked like he was preparing to leave the venue. Oh, dumbfounded now? Now preparing to go out and handle public opinion?

 

Gao Gusheng imitated his pretentious manner, smiled at him, and nodded.

 

Hmph, wonder how disgusted the movie king was by himself.

 

But he didn’t know that this smile was like the moment a rose bloomed in anger—indescribably both green and bright, both flamboyant and unrestrained. In any case, this momentary smile, reflected in the camera, left countless people speechless.

 

As if the internet had been cut off, the bullet comments on screen suddenly decreased, leaving large blank spaces. People were careful, afraid of startling the butterfly that had landed on their fingertips.

 

After an unknown amount of time, bullet comments suddenly appeared like a flood, the system crashed instantly, and the livestream was completely interrupted.

 

But the discussion continued, setting off a wave of excitement online.

 

…

 

The online frenzy temporarily didn’t affect the venue.

 

After Great-Grandfather Gao announced the identities of Gao Shi and Gao Gusheng, this banquet officially began.

 

However, Gao Gusheng’s main role in this banquet ended here.

 

Announcing Gao Gusheng’s identity was mainly to let those in the circle who had been inquiring about Gao Gusheng’s identity and expressing their desire to keep him, openly or secretly, open their eyes and clearly see whose child this was, and weigh whether they could afford to provoke the Gao family before making a move.

 

In other words, it was to back up Gao Gusheng.

 

As for socializing with these people, there was no need for Gao Gusheng to do it yet.

 

Usually, children in the circle would follow their elders to attend various banquets from a young age, making friends and scouting marriage partners.

 

But currently, Gao Gusheng didn’t have this necessity, because basically none of his peers had been born yet…

 

Even if Gao Shi didn’t plan to go home and inherit the family business and wanted to let Gao Gusheng take over directly, he didn’t plan to let Gao Gusheng interact with these people right now.

 

This was mainly because the problem with Gao Gusheng’s constitution hadn’t been resolved yet.

 

Gao Shi knew very well what kind of people some in his circle were. He didn’t want his perfectly good son to fall into a wolf’s den through a moment’s inattention.

 

Gao Shi looked around, stuffed a glass of juice into Gao Gusheng’s hand, then brought him over to the younger generation of several families close to the Gao family, letting them play together.

 

Gao Gusheng blinked, looking at these several “elders” who were a few years younger than him but a full generation higher in seniority, and laughed wickedly in his heart—

 

Hahaha, my path to becoming a domineering CEO starts today!

 

The first step on the path to being a domineering CEO: first recruit some underlings.

 

Ha! Behold my kingly aura!

 

…

 

After settling his son, Gao Shi turned back, preparing to properly arrange for Ying Bujie as well.

 

Ying Bujie wore a white suit with his long hair combed into a high ponytail, looking elegant and otherworldly. Wherever he went, he was the focus of everyone’s attention.

 

But Ying Bujie had no reaction whatsoever to those gazes directed at him—he didn’t even react as much to them as he did to the gazes others cast toward Gao Shi.

 

Gao Shi felt that Ying Bujie probably didn’t like this kind of occasion very much. Fortunately, he had considered this beforehand and had specially prepared a spot for him.

 

This spot could be called an excellent dining location. In front of the table was a huge potted plant, and eating here, others would hardly notice there was someone hidden behind the large plant.

 

The key was that this location was relatively close to the kitchen. He had specially arranged for more than one chef to cook exclusively for Ying Bujie—whatever he wanted to eat, they would make it.

 

However, when Gao Shi brought Ying Bujie to that spot, Ying Bujie showed little interest in the location.

 

Gao Shi was somewhat surprised and asked Ying Bujie, “Daoist, don’t you like this spot? Shall we change to another one?”

 

Ying Bujie shook his head, “I want to follow you.”

 

When Ying Bujie said this, he was just like a little child who didn’t want to go to kindergarten. Gao Shi’s heart was melted by Ying Bujie’s clear, bright eyes.

 

“Alright, then let’s go together.”

 

Anyway, what he was doing didn’t need to be hidden from Daoist Ying.

 

Gao Shi picked up a wine glass from nearby and naturally blended into the conversing crowd. Ying Bujie looked curiously at the wine glass in Gao Shi’s hand, got himself a glass of wine as well, and quietly followed behind Gao Shi.

 

…

 

This young master of the Gao family was said to have been in poor health since childhood, so basically no one had seen him attend banquets before. At first, everyone thought this young master was a sickly weakling, but after today’s appearance—where was the sickly weakling? His gaze was simply like that of a killing god.

 

It was said that some time ago, he had bid for a piece of land that no one was optimistic about, taking it at a price above market value despite pressure. Not long after, the government announced plans to build a high-speed rail line that would pass right by that land. As everyone knew, any land along railway lines would skyrocket in value, and especially the land in Gao Shi’s hands, which had directly increased dozens of times, becoming the land king of this auction.

 

This insight and decisive methods, like the accompaniment for every important character’s entrance, forcefully cut into everyone’s attention. Just this one incident alone meant no one dared underestimate this young master of the Gao family anymore.

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