The Heiress's Game

Shengxu is an ordinary office worker who works as a merchandiser in a foreign trade company. He works from nine to six every day, and after get off work, he squeezes onto the subway to get back to his rented apartment. He is so tired that he doesn't even want to talk.

Her entertainment activities are very limited—she opens her tablet, randomly selects a variety show as background noise, scrolls through her phone while listening to the sounds, and turns off the lights to sleep when she gets sleepy.

That evening, as usual, she scrolled through the homepage of the video website. A cover image she didn't recognize was featured in the recommended section.

Six incredibly good-looking people stood on the rooftop, with the dazzling night view of the city behind them, and the sea breeze blowing their hair wildly.

Everyone was smiling, not the standard smiles for the camera, but genuine joy captured in candid shots, not yet captured.

She glanced at the title, "Walking with Brilliance".

Never heard of it. It's a new show with a new cast. I wonder which platform is pushing this flop again.

I had already scrolled past it, but the girl on the cover was just too beautiful—wearing a beige knit sweater, holding an erhu, her profile highlighted by a clean and sharp glint of light in the twilight.

Shengxu swiped back, clicked on it, and planned to watch for five minutes before closing it.

As a result, she watched the entire episode, eighty minutes long, without fast-forwarding through a single frame.

It's not because the content is particularly dramatic—the first episode is actually quite simple: the family moves into their new home, unpacks, buys groceries, cooks, chats on the rooftop, and interspersed with a few everyday scenes of siblings bickering.

But she just couldn't take her eyes off them. This family was so talkative. Her younger brother poked his head out from the kitchen and said, "Sis, your soup is too salty again. Were you a salt seller in your past life?"

Without turning her head, Chen Cui retorted, "You must have been a beggar in your past life, complaining about the food you beg for." This natural, script-free mutual disdain was funnier than any scripted variety show joke.

Moreover, this family is incredibly good-looking.

Chen Cui's face is top-tier even in the entertainment industry, but her younger brother and sister are all more beautiful than the last, and even their mother's bone structure can withstand every close-up shot.

The comments section was flooded with messages from the very first minute: "This family must have some kind of genetic advantage."

"I declare that I am a fan of my younger brother's looks," "It's a loss to the entertainment industry if my older sister doesn't act with that face," "My mother was definitely a campus beauty when she was young."

What captivated her even more was her outfit.

In the scene where Chen Cui is packing her luggage, she is wearing a pair of small pearl earrings. The camera only focuses on her for less than two seconds, but Sheng Xu immediately pauses the video.

Zooming in on the image, I stared at those earrings for several seconds—they weren't from some big brand with a logo; the design was simple, but the luster and curve were just right, perfectly complementing her cool and aloof face, making her look just the right amount of gentle.

The outfits my younger sister tried on were the same; every single one looked like it was straight out of a fashion blogger's closet.

But on this nineteen-year-old girl, it didn't feel like she was trying too hard at all; it was as if she was born to wear it this way.

Shengxu couldn't hold back any longer. She posted a screenshot of the pearl earrings in the comments section, with the caption:

"Does anyone know what brand Chen Cui's earrings are?! They're so beautiful!!!"

After posting, she refreshed the page as usual, and then froze—dozens of replies instantly appeared under her comment.

They all had the same request: "Me too! I've got my eye on those earrings too!"

"I'd like to request the earrings, and also her sister's dress. I've searched all over Taobao but haven't found the same one."

"Her mom's scarf is beautiful too!! Who was the stylist who did all this dressing for the family? Come out and get some praise!!"

The popularity of the comments section is rising at a visible rate.

Someone even started a thread called "Outfit Disclosure," meticulously analyzing the clothing brands worn by each main character frame by frame.

Someone has taken screenshots of all the jewelry Chen Cui wore in the photos and made them into a nine-grid layout, with the caption "A collection of jewelry worn by Chen Cui to accompany her brilliance, continuously updated."

Some people have even started imitating the older sister's style of dressing, posting questions like "Any affordable alternatives recommended?"

The comments section went wild – "Is this really a reality show featuring ordinary people?"

"I'd believe this is a movie if the visuals are this good," "Finally, a variety show that doesn't treat the audience like idiots," "Hahaha, the younger brother is so witty," "Mom's look completely broke me," "Watched it twice, anyone understand?"

As Sheng Xu flipped through the pages one by one, he suddenly realized something—this was no ordinary new program.

Which of those top-tier (S+) projects featured on the homepage wasn't built on star power?

But this show, with all non-celebrity participants and zero online presence, made her laugh from the first minute to the last, and then unexpectedly brought her to tears.

Meanwhile, in another office, Lao Zheng was staring blankly at the backend data.

The viewership curve started climbing from the first hour of the broadcast; he wasn't unfamiliar with good starts.

But the subsequent trend was completely unexpected—the curve didn't just surge upwards and then fall back; instead, it shot straight up like a rocket.

The growth curves of the number of bullet comments and comments almost overlap with the playback curve, which means that the audience's interaction rate is extremely high. It is not the kind of "false prosperity" that is tricked into watching for ten minutes and then turned off.

Among the top ten trending words in the bullet comments were "good-looking", "laughing to death", "crying", "earring", "outfit", and "second viewing".

His gaze lingered on the word "second time" for a long time before he picked up his phone and sent a message to the platform.

"Move my recommendation spot for 'Walking with Brilliance' from fourth to first place, and change the homepage featured image as well."

After sending the message, he leaned back in his chair, chuckled at the still-rising data on the screen, and thought of the colleague who had mocked him for "finding gold in the shit."

I recall those sarcastic smiles at dinner parties, and the unwavering voice in my head every time I reluctantly signed those projects that ultimately failed.

The voice said, "Zheng Dahai, try searching one more time. Maybe you'll find something this time." This time, he finally found gold.