The Heiress's Game

Zhao Yan is Bai Junze's assistant. He has been with Bai Junze for seven years and is always calm and taciturn. He never shows any extra emotion when reporting on his work.

But when he placed the tablet in front of Bai Junze today, his expression was noticeably more subtly tense than usual.

"Mr. Bai, there are some online comments about your wife that I would like you to take a look at."

Bai Junze put down the report, picked up his tablet, and swiped through a few pages on the screen.

The office was quiet for about three minutes. He put the tablet back on the table, his expression remaining unchanged throughout, without even a furrowed brow.

"Okay, you can go out now."

After Zhao Yan left the office, Bai Junze leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and stared at the now-darkened tablet screen in front of him, as if he were staring at a less-than-pleasant business rival.

He remained silent for a while, then dialed Bai Tianyi's internal number and said only one sentence: "Come to my office."

Bai Tianyi arrived quickly, carrying a half-finished cup of milk tea in his hand and chewing on a pearl in his mouth, with his usual lazy smile on his face.

He thought his older brother had called him over again to ask about the investment report that was several days overdue.

"Close the door," Bai Junze said.

Bai Tianyi stopped smiling, put the milk tea on the coffee table, closed the door, and walked to the French windows.

Following Bai Junze's gaze, I glanced out the window—the skyline of Yunjing City's CBD stretched out before me, with towering buildings and a constant flow of traffic, but nothing particularly noteworthy to look at.

"You saw what happened with Gu Hansheng?"

Bai Tianyi nodded and shrugged: "The whole internet saw it; it's hard not to see it."

He paused, trying to ease the tension in a more relaxed tone.

"Actually, it's not that bad. Right now, all the trending topics are netizens envying you, saying you and your wife are a perfect match—"

"Is the trending topic you're seeing the same as mine?"

Bai Junze turned around and looked at Bai Tianyi. Although his expression didn't change much, Bai Tianyi could clearly smell a hint of sourness in his question.

"The screen is full of people lamenting Gu Yunjin and Gu Hansheng's first love, and hardly anyone even mentions my name, the real husband."

They mentioned it a few times, even saying it was an arranged marriage between wealthy families, as if Yun Jin and I were forced into the bridal chamber by our parents.

Bai Tianyi almost couldn't help but laugh.

He quickly lowered his head and pretended to cough to cover it up, thinking to himself, "Brother, are you jealous?"

You're actually jealous of a man you've never even met? If word got out, all the business elites in Yunjing City would be shocked.

But he didn't dare say it aloud. He just cleared his throat after coughing and, in a tacit, brotherly tone, offered his older brother a way out:

"These netizens just love to stir up trouble and they'll ship any old couple. Why bother arguing with them?"

"I know." Bai Junze sat back in his office chair.

"My first love is in the past, it's long gone. Yun Jin and I have a very good relationship."

But these netizens don't know that they only see what the trending topics offer them and believe that my marriage to Yun Jin is a cold, business arrangement.

"So what do you plan to do? Do you want to issue a statement or something?" Bai Tianyi asked.

"Have the public relations department draft a wording—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Bai Tianyi interrupted him, making a pause gesture with both hands and putting on a love strategist's expression.

"Brother, why issue a statement?"

The statement is a cold, bureaucratic document; netizens will only think you're trying to cover something up.

Listen to me, show off your love, just show off your love directly.

"Take some photos of how you and your sister-in-law usually get along at home and post them on Weibo; that would be more effective than any statement."

He nodded, thinking that Bai Tianyi had come up with a decent idea, and his finger was already on the landline, ready to call Zhao Yan in to make arrangements.

But just before pressing the button, his hand stopped.

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze returning to the now-darkened tablet screen. He remained silent for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head.

"No." He took his hand away from the phone.

"At this time, any content I post about my love with Yun Jin will be interpreted as a protest, protecting my wife, and asserting my dominance."

Netizens will say that as soon as Gu Hansheng's side got into trouble, Bai Junze couldn't wait to jump out and assert his dominance, which is an ugly move.

The blame won't be directed at me, but at Yun Jin.

She'd be called a "green tea b*tch," someone who tries to have her cake and eat it too, wavering between two men.

Since this incident began, Yun Jin has not responded to a single word. She doesn't need to respond, and I shouldn't respond on her behalf either.

The best approach is to remain calm and let the hype die down on its own.

Bai Tianyi leaned back on the sofa, finished the last sip of his milk tea, and the straw made a gurgling sound at the bottom of the cup.

He put the empty cup on the coffee table, preparing to continue giving his older brother advice.

Suddenly, a new trending topic popped up on Bai Junze's tablet on the coffee table.

Bai Tianyi picked it up casually, glanced at it, and immediately jumped up from the sofa.

"Big Brother—" His voice suddenly rose half a tone, "Gu Hansheng has started a live stream!"

Bai Junze took the tablet. The screen showed a live stream, with the number of viewers increasing at an astonishing rate. The barrage of comments almost completely covered the screen.

Gu Hansheng sat in front of the camera. The background looked like a hotel suite, with the curtains half-drawn and the shadows of coconut trees and tropical plants faintly visible outside.

He was wearing a simple white shirt, with the cuffs casually rolled up above his wrists.

The wrist, which had only been rumored to have scars, was completely exposed in front of the camera, without any concealment or new injuries.

He looked thinner than when he made his previous public appearances, with a more defined jawline, but he was in good spirits and had a clear and open gaze.

"Today's live broadcast was not announced in advance, and I didn't have a PR team to write the script for me. I just want to say a few words to everyone in person."

"Regarding the rumors circulating during this period, I'd like to address the two most important points first. I did not attempt suicide. All the online rumors that I cut my wrists or that I was rescued are false."

I don't have any scars from wrist-cutting, and I don't have any mental illness.

I was in a car accident and injured my foot. I had surgery and rehabilitation treatment abroad, which is why I had to stop working for a while.

This is a scar left from the surgery—

He lifted his right foot, and the camera panned across his ankle, revealing a surgical scar.

"It wasn't from cutting your wrist; it was from removing internal fixation devices."

The live chat exploded instantly.

The screen was flooded with "Oh my god," "I feel so sorry for my brother," and "Die, you who spread rumors," but Gu Hansheng quickly put his feet down, his expression remaining calm.

"Secondly, about my first love."

He paused for a moment when he said this, not out of hesitation, but more like to give the restless comments time to process it.

The live stream chat went blank for a brief moment, and everyone held their breath.

"She is an exceptional person. We met in London, and she saw potential in me that I hadn't even realized myself. I am very grateful to her."

"But that's all in the past. Now everyone has their own lives."

She has her own family, her own career, and she's doing very well.

I also have my own path to walk, new works to film, and new roles to challenge myself with.

Let bygones be bygones. I hope that my true fans who care about and support me will not disturb her life.

This is the only thing I want to ask of you today—please don't disturb her.

The chat in the live stream suddenly fell silent, and then a few messages with crying face emojis slowly floated by.

There were no heart-wrenching accusations, no tearful confessions, only a quiet, restrained farewell between adults.

Gu Hansheng looked at the camera and slightly curved the corners of his mouth. The curve was very faint; it wasn't a smile, but more like a calm after letting go.

"Regarding the rest this year, I was actually not idle."

That year, I participated in the filming of an independent film in Southeast Asia. It was a very low-budget art film, in which I played a diving instructor.

The film will premiere at an international film festival next month, so everyone can check it out then.

He naturally transitioned the conversation to his new work, completely relaxed, and began interacting with the live chat, answering fans' questions about the new movie.

When asked if filming underwater scenes was very tiring, he laughed and said that he spent several hours in the water every day, which made his skin wrinkled.

Someone asked him if he had gotten a tan, and he rolled up his sleeves to show everyone the color difference on his arms.

When asked if he had any romantic scenes with the female lead, he deliberately kept it a secret, saying, "You'll find out when you see it in the theater."

Bai Tianyi leaned back on the sofa and put the tablet back on the coffee table.

"This Gu Hansheng," he paused, carefully considering his words, and finally chose a sentence that he felt best expressed his feelings at the moment.

"He's still a man."

"Indeed," Bai Junze said. He put down his tablet, picked up the preparation report on the table, and opened it again.

"But he's right, the past is the past. She's mine now, and no one can take her away."