The Heiress's Game

Meng Wanqing returned to Yunjing City with a heavy heart.

The brief peace and tranquility of those two days in Taicheng was completely evaporated by the dry air of Yunjing the moment the plane landed.

She leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed, the message replaying in her mind—Gu Yunjin and Gu Hansheng.

Her original plan was to release the information; she had even gone over the entire plan in her mind:

She even predicted which marketing accounts to publish on first, what headlines to use to grab attention, what time to release the article to ignite a trending topic, and even the subsequent public opinion trends.

Gu Hansheng has a huge number of female fans who are known for their strong fighting spirit; they will definitely tear Gu Yunjin to shreds.

As a husband, Bai Junze could not possibly be completely unperturbed when he saw his wife's premarital romantic history being discussed online, even if he remained outwardly calm.

The Gu family won't have an easy time either. The past love story between a wealthy heiress and a top male star has been exposed, and no matter how it's handled, it's going to be awkward.

But her sister-in-law stopped her.

That night, she sat in the living room chatting with her sister-in-law until late, and she told her sister-in-law about her plans in detail.

After listening, her sister-in-law remained silent for a long time. She didn't analyze the pros and cons with her, nor did she talk about the power struggles between wealthy families. She just gently patted the back of her hand and said one sentence.

People in Taicheng believe in cause and effect, and always leave room for maneuver so that they can meet again in the future.

My sister-in-law said, "Even if you don't think about others, you should think about yourself."

Those who push others to the brink of destruction often find themselves driven to the same dead end.

She reluctantly agreed, because her sister-in-law was the only person in the family who had no selfish motives and was purely for her own good.

So she kept it to herself.

During those days in Taicheng, she didn't call any marketing accounts or send any messages to any media friends.

After returning to Yunjing, she even deliberately tried not to think about it.

She gritted her teeth and endured it, pretending she had never dug it up or ever caught the card.

On the afternoon of the third day after returning to Yunjing, Meng Wanqing was sitting in the living room checking the progress of several property sales on her computer. The price quotes sent by the real estate agents were much lower than expected.

She was frowning, pondering whether she could raise the rate by a few more percentage points, when her phone suddenly rang.

She glanced at the caller ID—it was a woman in the industry she had known for many years, though not a close acquaintance. Her surname was Xu, and her family was in the cultural media business. They would occasionally meet at various social gatherings of wealthy women, exchanging nods and pleasantries, and sometimes sharing some harmless gossip.

Before she could even exchange pleasantries, Mrs. Xu's voice, brimming with barely suppressed gossip and excitement, burst forth from the receiver.

"Sister Meng, is that rumor circulating online true or false?"

Meng Wanqing paused for a moment, her heart skipped a beat, but her tone remained calm and composed: "What scoop?"

"It's Gu Yunjin and Gu Hansheng!"

"It's all over the internet, saying that Gu Yunjin was Gu Hansheng's first love, and that the two dated when they were in their twenties studying in England."

"Isn't Gu Yunjin your daughter-in-law? Don't you know that?"

Meng Wanqing's pupils suddenly contracted. Hadn't she not leaked any information?

She listened to her sister-in-law and swallowed the chess piece whole, not uttering a single word.

But how did someone leak this information online? Who did it?

Her first reaction was that someone wanted to harm her. If this matter became a big deal, would Gu Yunjin suspect that she was the one who did it?

Will Bai Junze suspect that she did it? She barely managed to extricate herself from the mess at Brilliant International, and now she can't afford to get her hands dirty.

"Mrs. Xu, you actually believe such baseless rumors?"

Her tone carried just the right amount of surprise and disdain: "These days, marketing accounts will make up anything for traffic. I have something to do here, let's meet for tea another day."

She hung up the phone as soon as she finished speaking. Her fingers flew across the phone screen, she opened social media, and typed in the keywords "Gu Yunjin" and "Gu Hansheng".

Search results flooded the screen, and Meng Wanqing scrolled down page by page, her heart sinking with each scroll.

The extent to which this matter escalated completely exceeded her expectations.

Several entertainment accounts with huge followings simultaneously posted related content, each with a more sensational title than the last.

The most fatal thing is that there was also a photograph.

The background of the photo is the entrance to a cafe in London, with a light drizzle falling from a gray sky, and the cobblestones glistening with moisture.

In the photo, the young Gu Hansheng is wearing a dark blue coat and a gray cashmere scarf, and is looking at the girl next to him with his head slightly turned.

The girl was wearing a camel-colored trench coat, her long hair was a little messy from the wind, and she was looking down at the map in her hand.

This once perfect couple was forever captured in the same photograph amidst the drizzle in a foreign land.

Meng Wanqing didn't have this photo at the time. The people her brother found only dug up rumors and some scattered clues, but never produced any video or photographic evidence.

She had no idea where the photo came from.

The matter wasn't over yet. Meng Wanqing continued scrolling down, and the trending topics on the search list surged up one after another like dominoes being toppled.

A popular entertainment account with millions of followers published a so-called "in-depth investigation," the contents of which made her gasp in shock.

The article detailed Gu Hansheng's schedule and changes in status over the past year. Last year, at the peak of his career, he suddenly announced that he would suspend all work and go abroad for further studies. At the time, the official reason given by his studio was to rest and recharge.

However, the article points out that the timing of his departure from the country coincides remarkably with the date of Gu Yunjin and Bai Junze's wedding.

Even more shockingly, the article implies that Gu Hansheng attempted to cut his wrists around the time of Gu Yunjin's wedding, but was saved by his staff in time.

The scar on his wrist was faintly visible in photos later taken by fans.

The article also included a photo of Gu Hansheng being spotted by passersby in a supermarket abroad. In the photo, he was wearing a simple black T-shirt, and there was indeed a faint scar on his wrist.

The comment section has completely exploded; the most liked comments are completely different from what she expected.

"Oh my god, what an earth-shattering, heart-wrenching love story! A top superstar attempted suicide by cutting his wrists for his first love, who had already married into a top-tier wealthy family—isn't this a real-life Romeo and Juliet? I'm going to cry, sob sob!"

"I'm just a casual reader, but this premise is so captivating! No novel would dare to write something like this!"

"I suggest turning this into a TV series. I've even thought of a title: 'Elegy in the Clouds.' Let Gu Yunjin play the female lead, and let Gu Hansheng play the male lead himself. The ratings will absolutely explode!"

Holding her phone, Meng Wanqing stared at the frantically scrolling comments on the screen, feeling as if she had fallen into an absurd parallel universe.

None of this should be the case. Gu Yunjin should be the "bad woman" who is condemned by millions of fans.

But what did she see now? A group of netizens who appeared out of nowhere were not criticizing Gu Yunjin, but instead shipping her and Gu Hansheng's "tragic aesthetics" CP.

Has the world gone mad?