Chapter 21

Gu family residence.

Gu Zhongmao was playing chess with his eldest son Gu Kang. Gu Zhongmao asked casually, "How is the project with the Li family going?"

"It's within the plan." Gu Kang was not in a hurry to seek his father's approval, but his brows were full of the determination and confidence of a young and promising person. "We and the Li family have both obtained the market we wanted."

Gu Zhongmao nodded: "Remember to follow up in time."

At this time, the secretary came over and reported: "Boss Gu, I sent several messages to the Second Young Master yesterday as you requested, but the Second Young Master did not reply."

Although he disliked and even hated his son, Gu Zhongmao remained calm when he heard this. He played chess slowly and said, "After all, I married her to Li Tingqin. It's reasonable for her to feel that she has grown stronger now."

Gu Kang listened without commenting on his brother's move and followed suit by placing another white piece.

The secretary continued, "I heard from the Li family yesterday that Mr. Li wanted the second young master to take over Hua An for training, but he refused, saying that the pocket money given by Mr. Li was enough."

Gu Zhongmao hesitated for a moment before dropping the black piece. After thinking for a while, he said, "Ah Kang, go and persuade your brother. After all, there is no man in my Gu family who doesn't work and relies on pocket money. I won't let him go to the Li family and continue to be a waste."

Gu Kang placed another white piece and nodded: "Got it."

Gu Zhongmao took a look at the chessboard, threw the black piece in his hand back into the chess box, and said, "You win."

The eldest was precocious and was able to take over part of the family business; the third oldest graduated from a university and achieved remarkable results in the company; the fourth oldest was devoted to academics and has already received a doctorate degree...

Only the second child is an outlier, lazy, stupid and worthless.

He didn't like anything worthless. Marrying Gu Chen to Li Tingqin was a waste of resources, but the cooperation between the Gu and Li families was not free of cost. It all depended on whether this waste could earn back what he had paid.

Here, Gu Chen soon received a call from Gu Kang: "Xiao Chen, it has been almost a year since you graduated and you still don't have a job. It's time to go out and gain some experience. There are no useless people in our Gu family. You are so decadent that Dad is very disappointed."

Gu Chen didn't want to waste time talking to him, but he remembered the commission from Professors Kong Fusong and Yu Hong again, so he said, "Brother, I really need some job opportunities. Do you have any positions you can give me?"

Gu Kang seemed like a stern elder brother who only talked about the matter at hand. He said, "Xiao Chen, the main thing is that your education level is there. If you work under me, you need to start from the grassroots level. I have a lot of grassroots positions here, which are very suitable for college graduates like you."

On the one hand, he looked down on Gu Chen; on the other hand, this was also a subtle way of forcing Gu Chen to take over Hua'an given to him by Mr. Li.

However, Gu Chen said, "How many positions are there? I have a large number of young talents who need jobs and can introduce them to you, brother. I wonder how many job vacancies there are?"

Gu Kang: “……?” What?

But after all, it was Gu Kang who took the initiative to propose to Gu Chen for a job. Since Gu Chen made the request, it was difficult for him to refuse. Moreover, he only agreed to hold a few campus job fairs for Gu Chen, so he didn't take it too seriously.

Compared to Gu Kang's hypocrisy, Gu Chen's mother Qi Yajun was more direct.

Cheng Siyi is the first child born to Qi Yajun after she married into the Cheng family. He is only one year younger than Gu Chen. After he was born, Qi Yajun put all her energy on him. He is a child who does not lack love, so he speaks with a naive, self-centered directness: "Little brother Gu, don't forget that it was your mother who raised you just because your father married you into the Li family."

"Mom really needs Huaan's core technology, so be brave and go work at Huaan."

Gu Chen: Very good, here comes another one.

So he continued: "I really need a job opportunity..."

There is always a group of people who are dedicated to making him go to work. However, even though he does not work, there are still many people in the world who need to work.

…

Although only one day and one night had passed, fans of the show were already impatient online: [Ahhh, when will Mr. Gu and Brother Ting finish their leave and return to the show? Anxious.]

Some people sneered: [You ran away after being predicted by Master Zhong, and you don’t dare to come back, right? ]

[My past has been exposed, and I can’t pretend anymore. 】

Fans didn’t want to provoke them, so they could only ignore them and said: [I have a bad feeling, yesterday there was a one-hour deduction, according to the rules… shouldn’t today be a one-day deduction, hahahaha]

[So Mr. Gu and the others are going to take another day off? Woohoo, wow ...]

But they continued to be ridiculed: [Don’t try to save your reputation with this excuse. Your Mr. Gu doesn’t dare to come back and can’t come back.]

[Doesn't Young Master Zhong know more about wealthy families than you do? I've told you there are no such people, but you still don't believe me? Fans, just keep pretending to be blind. ]

[Haha, this is what the brainless fans in the entertainment industry are like.]

Here, Du Ruiqing was holding the phone, becoming anxious. It was already afternoon, and Master Zhong's evening drinking party was about to start in a few hours, but Gu Chen hadn't replied yet.

What should he do? He can’t afford to offend the rich second generation like Zhong Shao.

His phone number had been blocked, so he could only continue to send WeChat messages to Gu Chen: [If you still want to return to the production crew to continue recording the show, go and apologize to Zhong Shao and the others. It will be good for your future development in the entertainment industry if you please them.]

Gu Chen didn't reply, he continued to send: [After all, we were still best friends. If you don't go, Zhong Shao and his men will not let me go. Do you know what they did to me? The harm I suffered was much more serious than yours. ]

But until the evening, he didn't get a reply from Gu Chen, so he had to bite the bullet and ask for leave from the program crew to attend Zhong Sheng's banquet.

When they arrived, Zhong Sheng was hugging a beautiful woman and playing cards with someone. He glanced at Du Ruiqing and asked unhappily, "Where is the person?"

Du Ruiqing said with a hint of fear: "He didn't reply to my message..."

"You can't even do such a small thing? Don't you know to call him?" Zhong Sheng suddenly felt ashamed, pointed to the seat opposite, and said, "Since he didn't come, you can sit here for him until he comes..."

"He blocked me..." Du Ruiqing's face froze instantly. He knew that the card they were playing was to take off a piece of clothing if they lost a round. The beauties and handsome guys next to these second-generation rich kids could take off their clothes for them, but if he sat down, no one would take his place. He begged, "Master Zhong, you know, if someone takes a picture of me, my life will be over..."

Zhong Sheng sneered and said, "When you took the initiative to ask us to play in high school, I should have taken a photo. In high school, you even recommended your follower Gu Chen to us, but now you are going backwards?"

Another young man also laughed and said, "After all, we have funded you so much money to study art, and now you are unwilling to even take off your clothes for us to see? Are you dating Mr. Qiao to become a phoenix?"

Zhong Sheng found it boring and waved his hand, saying, "Forget it, forget it. We act like we are the sluts who have been slept with by that Qiao." However, they had lost interest in Du Ruiqing a long time ago. Since Du Ruiqing was unwilling, they were too lazy to force him.

Du Ruiqing gritted his teeth and sat down beside him. He was so angry.

It's true that he wanted these people's money and power in high school, but now he has changed his mind and is ready to marry Brother Ping. If Gu Chen was not vain and made people think that he married into the Li family, how could he have been so impulsive that he got in touch with Zhong Sheng again and got involved in this stinky circle of second-generation rich people?

It is obvious that Zhong Sheng is interested in Gu Chen now, and the one sitting there taking off his clothes should be Gu Chen, so why did he call him here?

Zhong Sheng was not the kind of person who would flatter someone who didn’t like him. He said, “How about this? I won’t ask him to come tonight. I’ll wait for him to come and beg me. I like to see beautiful women bowing their heads.”

He glanced at Du Ruiqing with disdain and said, "Stupid, since you started this, then you shouldn't just stand there and watch."

Du Ruiqing is very careful about his reputation in the entertainment industry. He wants to "start a new life" and doesn't want to expose his high school life at all. But now he has to bite the bullet and post a Weibo to expose "Gu Chen" in front of this group of rich second-generations:

[I really didn't expect that my good friend from high school would become like this. I always regarded him as my best friend. When he got into a fight, I took the punishment for him. But now he has become someone I don't recognize anymore... Maybe people don't want to recall these bad past events when they are successful... It's human nature.]

He didn't say directly who it was, but just expressed his feelings and hinted to his fans in a wronged manner.

[Qingqing, what's wrong with you? Don't be sad, let's hug each other. ]

[Can Qingqing also be emo late at night? Who is talking about this? Who treats our lovely Qingqing like this? ]

[Is it about the guy named Gu in the show? Qingqing was always very nice to him in the show, but he ignored Qingqing and was not polite at all.]

[Ah? Could it be that the reason why Heizi has been criticizing Qingqing for transferring to a high school is because of him? This guy is too mean! ]

[But I heard that he is already a big shot? It is not human nature to be rude at first and ungrateful later. ]

[You are not a big shot, right? Hasn’t Master Zhong already confirmed that you are a liar? ]

[This kind of scum doesn't really look like a big shot, but he could be a liar. ]

Soon, as if in response to Du Ruiqing, several entertainment companies in the circle announced that they would no longer cooperate with Gu Chen. Several brands that spent money to place advertisements in "Love Tutorial Class" also strongly demanded that the program team delete the clips of "Mr. Gu".

Zhong Sheng's account is able to "call the shots" in the entertainment industry, and even fans with high traffic dare not mess with him, precisely because of his power in the circle. Unlike Internet celebrities who deliberately show off their wealth, he is a real second-generation rich. His father is a well-known entrepreneur. He has several entertainment companies under his name and has also invested in some industries.

Many handsome men and beautiful women in the circle were subdued by his methods and "prostrated" under his suit pants. But now, what he wanted to see was Gu Chen kneeling in front of him...

He casually lamented on Weibo: [Some people, when given an opportunity, don’t know how to seize it. I think they will never be on this show again.]

[Woc! Master Zhong is so domineering! He can ban someone just like that! The light of righteousness!]

[Now the fans of some scammers can no longer pretend to be blind, right? The reason the brand asked to terminate the contract was "problematic guest." ]

[I really can't stand the way some niche circles treat trash as treasure. 】

【Hahaha, fans, aren't you looking for a pattern now? According to the pattern, tomorrow your Mr. Gu will have his time deducted for a week, can you save your reputation again? Then after a week, his time will be deducted for another month, and then for another year? Deduct until the end of time? Hahahaha, then you can really save your reputation until the end of the universe.】

[Oh, so this rule of yours is implemented by Master Zhong. Once Master Zhong makes a move, won't he seal you away forever? Forget about coming out and mixing in the circle in this life~]

[Mr. Zhong is truly a powerful figure in the entertainment industry. He is also a pretender identification machine. From now on, if you don’t even know Mr. Zhong, don’t say you are a big shot in the business world, okay? ]