Chapter 117

"...In Lili's heart, you are her own parents. When she suddenly couldn't contact you, she panicked and kept asking me if she had done something wrong and made you angry."

Huang Dashan, the community worker whom the Lan couple knew, said with a smile.

Seeing that he seemed to be acting no differently than usual, a thought suddenly occurred to Lan's mother: This Huang Dashan seems unaware that they already know the truth.

Huang Dashan genuinely didn't know. After all, although the incident that day was trending on social media, firstly, he wasn't a young person and didn't like going online or following online news; secondly, he didn't know Xu Gui, so big data wouldn't push information to him.

All of this has led to Huang Dashan still not knowing that his affair with Bao Li has been exposed. So at this moment, he is still trying to talk to the Lan couple about Bao Li.

"And also," Huang Dashan glanced quickly at Lan's mother and husband, and said, "Didn't you two say before that you wanted to take Lili as your goddaughter? A couple of days ago, Lili asked me if she needed to prepare anything for recognizing godparents. She's really nervous about this..."

Upon hearing this, Lan's father spoke up. He glanced coldly at Huang Dashan and said, "You don't need to mention the matter of taking Bao Li as your goddaughter anymore. Tell Bao Li not to bother anymore, because we have already given up the idea of ​​taking her as our goddaughter."

"What?" Huang Dashan exclaimed in shock, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. He asked excitedly, "Why? Did someone whisper something in your ears?"

His mind raced, and he instinctively asked, "Is it because of your daughter? Does she disapprove?"

Mr. Lan looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Mr. Huang seems quite excited. Anyone who didn't know better would think Bao Li is your daughter."

Why didn't they see this before? Huang Dashan's concern for Bao Li clearly goes beyond what a normal community worker would show to a girl in need of assistance.

No, that's an accurate statement. To be more precise, Huang Dashan's concern wasn't for Bao Li, but rather for the relationship between Bao Li and the couple. He had been intentionally trying to bring Bao Li closer to them.

When Huang Dashan heard Lan's father's words, he was startled and suddenly realized that his reaction had been a bit excessive.

"I, I'm not excited..." he said with a dry laugh, "I'm just too concerned about Lili. As you know, Lili's background is so pitiful. Her parents died early, and she doesn't have any elders to rely on. She finally met you two."

Huang Dashan kept repeating the phrase "poor child," saying, "You two don't know how excited Lili was when you said you wanted to take her in as your goddaughter. She couldn't sleep for several days, saying she was afraid it was all a dream."

Lan's mother understood what Huang Dashan meant. He was telling them how excited and happy Bao Li was about them taking her in as their goddaughter, and that if they really gave up on it, it would be a huge blow to Bao Li.

It has to be said that Huang Dashan truly understands the Lan family. If it were before, hearing him say that would have made the Lan couple feel a pang of reluctance.

But now...

“I remember Mr. Huang said that Bao Li’s family and you are actually from the same village?” Lan’s mother looked at Huang Dashan thoughtfully, recalling this long-ago information, and said in a strange tone, “No wonder Mr. Huang is so concerned about Bao Li’s matter.”

It sounded like it was tinged with sarcasm and mockery.

Something's not right!

Huang Dashan isn't a slow-witted person; if he still hadn't realized something was wrong by now, he'd be an idiot.

He recalled what the Lan couple had said today and felt that every word they said was very meaningful, as if... they already knew something.

Huang Dashan's mind raced. He looked at the Lan couple and tentatively asked, "Mr. and Mrs. Lan, you don't want to take Lili as your goddaughter. Did you hear something outside?"

Lan's mother was about to say something, but her husband said slowly, "Guess."

"..." Huang Dashan's expression froze instantly.

Lan's mother almost burst out laughing, feeling that her husband's words were truly wicked. She thought that Huang Dashan would have to rack his brains to figure out if the couple had overheard something outside.

Just thinking about that scene made Lan's mother want to laugh, and she also felt a little smug—whoever had such malicious intentions deserved to have his head tugged in a bit more.

However, Huang Dashan's worries didn't last long, because the police came, and what happened next was quite natural. Xu Gui's name entered his ears for the first time.

After learning the whole story and why the Lan couple's attitude towards Bao Li and him had changed, Huang Dashan felt an intense hatred for Xu Gui.

Things were about to come to fruition. If it weren't for Xu Gui, it would have been only a matter of time before the Lan couple accepted Bao Li. But because of Xu Gui's appearance, because of her divination and planning, all their previous efforts for this matter were in vain.

"Smack!"

In a fit of rage, he suddenly slapped Bao Li hard across the face, yelling at her, "You useless thing! You can't even win over two people. If you had gotten Mr. Lan and his wife to take you in as their goddaughter earlier, things wouldn't have turned out like this!"

He slapped her hard; he was a grown man, and Bao Li was a frail little girl who was not yet an adult. She was knocked to the ground by his slap.

Bao Li sat on the ground, covering her face. She didn't feel any pain where she had been hit, but her ears were ringing. She didn't know what Huang Dashan had said, because all she heard was a buzzing sound.

Huang Dashan cursed at her angrily, then spat and said disdainfully, "...Because of the Lan family's matter, she even lost a leg. This kind of defective product won't fetch much of a price even if she wants to sell it later."

Thinking about this made him furious. He couldn't help but kick the stool next to him and leave, cursing all the while.

After he left, a soft body suddenly squeezed into Bao Li's arms as she sat on the ground. Bao Li looked down blankly and saw her little sister's small face. Because she was not getting enough to eat, her face was very thin, which made her eyes look very big.

At this moment, tears were welling up in those big eyes.

The younger sister nestled in her arms, tilted her head back, and reached out to touch her cheek where Huang Dashan had slapped her, crying, "Sister, it hurts..."

Strangely, suddenly, the area where Bao Li hadn't felt any pain began to burn, and the pain quickly spread from the slapped cheek to other areas.

Bao Li suddenly felt a lot of pain. Her cheek hurt, her whole body hurt, and even her right leg, which had been run over by the car, was in pain.

She hugged her younger sister and gently comforted her, "It doesn't hurt, sister doesn't hurt..."

The younger sister pouted and said, "It hurts, sister, it hurts. Uncle is mean."

The eldest uncle was Huang Dashan, but he was not the biological uncle of Bao Li and her sister. He was a very distant relative of the Bao family, and he came to live with them not long after the Bao couple passed away.

As he looked at the two sisters, he said "poor children," but his eyes gleamed with an extremely strange light.

Later, he became the guardian of the Bao sisters—no one in the Bao family wanted to take in these two burdens, so when someone was willing to take them in, they threw the two sisters out like trash.

At first, Huang Dashan treated the two sisters fairly well, but it wasn't long before he revealed his true colors. He introduced Bao Li to the Lan family couple, forcing her to curry favor with them, and even forcing her to lose her right leg, which allowed her to walk normally.

"...Don't you want your sister to have a better life?"

“If you don’t want to do it, your sister can do it! I think your sister is much more well-behaved than you. Such a cute child is more suitable than you.”

"If you behave well, I promise you and your sister will be fine from now on."

...

"Sister..." Just then, her younger sister in her arms suddenly called out to her. Bao Li came back to her senses and looked down at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, feeling her trembling limbs gradually regain their strength as she got up from the ground. But as soon as she stood up, she heard her younger sister say, "Uncle said he's going to find Hua Hua new parents who will treat her well, but Hua Hua doesn't want new parents..."

Bao Li paused in her motion to stand up, looked at her sister, and asked softly, "What did you say?"

The younger sister said, "Uncle said he's going to find Hua Hua a new dad and a new mom. He also said that the new dad and new mom are very rich and will treat Hua Hua very, very well!"

The child said softly, "But, Huahua doesn't want to leave her sister. Huahua wants to stay with her sister forever!"

Bao Li's expression finally changed, and her whole body trembled slightly with anger. However, after several seconds, as if she had thought of something, her expression gradually returned to normal.

"No, your sister won't let him take you away..." she comforted her parents, her calm face masking a deep-seated hatred in her eyes.

She thought expressionlessly: she would never let her younger sister follow in her footsteps and repeat her tragedy.

Huang Dashan...

She silently repeated the name in her heart, and her hatred deepened.

*

Xu Gui stopped paying attention to the Lan family's affairs after returning home, but he would occasionally hear Fu Xia mention them—Fu Xia had naturally heard about them from Lan Xin.

It is said that Lanxin is in a good mood recently because her parents have made a firm decision not to take that girl named Baoli as their goddaughter, and they will not take in any goddaughters or godsons in the future.

“They said they will only ever have me as their child!” Lanxin was overjoyed; the gloom that had been hanging over her because of her “god-daughter” had completely dissipated.

Compared to her, the atmosphere on Qiao Xinyue's side was a bit heavier. Qiao Xinyue had already visited her mother's grave.

Shi Yujia was right. She buried Qiao Xinyue's mother in a place with mountains and water. Standing at the grave, you could see the river below. Qiao Xinyue felt that, given her mother's personality, she would be very happy to be buried there.

"...Don't let my mom's quiet appearance fool you, she's actually quite eccentric. When she talked about my aunt, ah, Shi Yujia, I could tell from her voice that she was very envious," Qiao Xinyue said with a smile.

Many people think Shi Yuling is a very quiet person, but only her daughter Qiao Xinyue knows that her mother is actually a very lively person who also loves freedom.

Sadly, in her short life, perhaps only the part leading to her death was free and unrestrained...

“Actually, my mother told me that she admires and likes my sister who has the courage to resist my grandfather’s oppression!” Qiao Xinyue said, “Because she never dared to go against my grandfather’s arrangements in her whole life.”

So, being buried in the mountains and forests might have been what she wanted.

...

After listening to Qiao Xinyue's phone call, Fu Xia couldn't help but feel a little lost and her feelings were complicated.

Fortunately, her melancholy didn't last long. After all, running around with Xu Gui was so lively that she didn't have time to feel melancholy at all.

Today is the fifth day of Xu Gui's participation in the show. Since the first day of the show, she has earned 28 million. There are still 10 days left until the end of the show, and she is about 72 million away from her goal of 100 million.

In ten days, you need to earn 72 million...

[This number is still too risky. Can Xu Gui really earn that much in ten days?]

[Although dangerous, given Xu Gui's speed as a "money-making machine," it's not impossible.] — "Money-making machine" is a nickname netizens recently gave Xu Gui, after all, she's incredibly good at making money.

[Ha, are you guys being too confident in Xu Gui? Over 70 million? Do you think this is ghost money, so easy to earn? I bet she won't reach that target!]

[Hilarious! I won't mention which hater broke down earlier, but they acted like the 20 million or so our little turtle earned before was nothing.]

[After spending so much time in this live stream, I've forgotten what money is. Every day I open my eyes and see so much money...]

Although what that hater said wasn't pleasant, Xu Gui's upcoming earnings of over 70 million are indeed a bit risky. After all, while it's easy to make money off the rich, there aren't that many rich people left in the world.

Are people's attitudes towards Xu Gui's goal of earning 100 million yuan now considered "dangerous"? I remember at the beginning, everyone was criticizing her for being overly ambitious and presumptuous.

So, as a fan, I'm very calm right now. After all, even if our little turtle doesn't end up earning 100 million, the fact that she earned over 20 million in five days is already enough to make her stand out from the crowd. Looking at the entire entertainment industry, who else earns money that well?

It's not that there's no one; after all, the entertainment industry is full of celebrities.

【Pshaw, our little turtle earned his money through real skill and hard work!】

...

As the days went by, the news that Xu Gui "earned 100 million yuan a month" spread online and became increasingly widespread. Now, countless people online are paying attention to this matter, and the number of viewers in Xu Gui's live stream is skyrocketing every day.

Nowadays, her live streams attract over 30 million viewers daily, and that number continues to rise. As for her Weibo followers, they are growing even faster, at a terrifying rate, which makes Xu Gui's Weibo comments section lively every day.

It's obvious to everyone that most of her followers are genuine fans, which is the most valuable thing.

This situation has alarmed netizens, with some even commenting: "Xu Gui must be the one who gained fans the fastest in the entire entertainment industry, right?"

The answer is absolutely yes. Who would have thought that just over three months ago, Xu Gui was a newcomer who had just entered the industry and was completely unknown? Even Xu Gui's own fans felt a little dazed.

Some longtime fans recalled the situation in Xu Gui's live stream room when "360 Trades" first aired. It was not only deserted, but full of haters.

Speaking of this, we have to mention two people who were once familiar to netizens: Tang Xu and Qiu Nai... Of course, Tang Xu is now Lin Xu. After it was revealed that she was not the biological daughter of the Tang family but an illegitimate child, she withdrew from the show and has not been heard from online since.

Qiu Nai, on the other hand, was criticized so much online, yet she persisted in filming "360 Trades" and even advanced to the second episode. It has to be said that she has a pretty good mentality.

Moreover, although he lost most of his fans after this incident, there are still some fans who are willing to support him and have become even more loyal to him.

Regarding Qiu Nai's sudden appearance in the conversation, her remaining fans commented: "Those celebrities who evade taxes, cheat, act arrogantly, and have terrible character haven't left the entertainment industry yet. Compared to them, our brother is at least a little bit better in terms of character, right?"

Other netizens: ...This is actually a bit of a fallacy?

As for Qiu Nai herself, who was mentioned: "..."

He comforted himself, at least being famous for being infamous is still being famous. His current situation is at least better than Lin Xu, who has almost retired from the industry, right? Although he is always being mentioned because of Xu Gui, if you look on the bright side, the more famous Xu Gui is, the more famous he will be in the entertainment industry. Even if he is criticized, it is still fame.

"I'm not afraid of being criticized, I'm afraid of being forgotten..." Qiu Nai comforted herself with this thought and successfully recovered.

This is the sixth day of Xu Gui's filming.

When they came downstairs for breakfast, there were already other guests in the restaurant. At this moment, the guests looked at Xu Gui with complicated and somewhat defeated expressions—even if they were unwilling to admit it, they had to admit that Xu Gui had completely crushed them.

It's obvious to everyone that the show's popularity is almost entirely focused on Xu Gui right now. Once the show ends, Xu Gui's status in the entertainment industry will definitely rise even higher.

"If she rises any higher, she'll be a top star..." people couldn't help but mutter. But judging from Xu Gui's current number of fans and popularity, she is already a top star.

A top-tier celebrity with no notable works...

Everyone found it strange.

Early this morning, Xu Gui's agent, Kuang Ming, came over to discuss work with Xu Gui.

"...At noon, Fashion magazine will officially announce their fall fashion show and promote their fall issue! They'll tag you then, so don't forget to retweet it," Kuang Ming reminded her. "I'll also have Yuan Lu remind you then."

Xu Gui nodded, "I understand." She was quite obedient when it came to work and rarely objected to Kuang Ming's decisions.

After finishing her work talk with Kuang Ming, she scrolled through the news online and saw that He Yuan was trending on social media.

The show "Acting Competition" that He Yuan participated in has already started airing. Last night was the third episode. In the previous episode, He Yuan drew an extremely difficult role to play. When she drew this role, netizens were not very optimistic about her performance because the role was very difficult to perform. The original actress who played this role won the Best Actress award that year.

By now, the other party is a veteran in the industry, and Shen Ge has always been there.

He Yuan, by sheer coincidence, drew this role. For her, it was both a challenge and an opportunity. The results were announced last night after the third episode aired.

He Yuan successfully completed this challenge, perfectly portraying the character she envisioned.

Overnight, the name "He Yuan," which had been relatively unknown in the entertainment industry, suddenly became known to countless people. Under topics related to "Acting Competition," you could almost always see netizens mentioning her.

Netizens found it unbelievable. In the entertainment industry, when did such a hidden gem emerge? She's good-looking and has decent acting skills... How come they hadn't noticed her before?

Looking at these comments, Xu Gui suddenly realized: He Yuan had become famous.

She became famous even faster than Xu Gui had predicted, and the reason for this change was that she participated in the program "360 Trades"... Xu Gui silently looked at Kuang Ming.

Kuang Ming: "...What's wrong?" His expression was somewhat puzzled.

Xu Gui snorted and said, "He Yuan is famous now, you must be so happy, right?" As soon as she came over, she found that the other party was full of energy, and her whole body was radiating a spirit that she could not hide.

Kuang Ming thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Not bad!"

In fact, He Yuan had already been noticed by many netizens in the first two episodes. She was really good at acting, especially among a bunch of bad people, she stood out from the crowd. Kuang Ming didn't know why there were so many "hidden dragons and phoenixes" in this episode.

He Yuan's acting skills were already 100 points, but they made her even more outstanding, earning her 200 points.

“He Yuan will be joining the crew tomorrow,” Kuang Ming said, looking at Xu Gui. “Does your calculation from last time still hold true? Is she really going to get the lead role?”

Xu Gui lifted her eyes to look at him: "Are you doubting my fortune-telling abilities?"

Kuang Ming dared not accept the accusation and explained, "I just feel that things in the world are constantly changing. Now that He Yuan is about to become famous, will it affect the overall situation?"

In response, Xu Gui confidently stated, "Don't worry, the female lead will definitely be He Yuan."

After all, only He Yuan's fame has changed, but her acting skills haven't changed; they're still just as good.

Hearing her say that, Kuang Ming felt relieved. Thinking of the phone calls he received that morning, he couldn't help but feel a sense of exhilaration.

Currently, he only has two artists under his management: Xu Gui and He Yuan. The former has already become very popular, while the latter... Kuang Ming is confident that He Yuan will also become very popular, but she is taking a different path than Xu Gui.

In the entertainment industry, where there are many beautiful women, He Yuan may not be considered particularly beautiful, but her features are quite dignified and elegant. What's more, she has excellent acting skills, so she could definitely pursue a career as a leading actress.

There are very few female celebrities in the entertainment industry who can truly embody the leading lady role, and He Yuan definitely has that potential. He could see this, and so could the other agents; he even received a call from He Yuan's former agent that morning.

On the phone, the former agent's tone was incredibly sour—He Yuan had been an unknown extra under his management for seven or eight years, but who knew that once she was in Kuang Ming's hands, she would become a rising star, looking like she was about to soar to great heights.

Former agent: I regret it so much!

As for the other party's sour face, Kuang Ming generously chose to forgive her. After all, he had essentially stolen her away. However, he couldn't apologize, since he had investigated He Yuan's information beforehand. This former agent had long since given up on He Yuan, and He Yuan's previous jobs were all earned by herself.

Kuang Ming: Sigh, I'm just a kind-hearted person, I can't stand seeing excellent actors being overlooked.

As Kuang Ming thought this, he was moved by his own actions.

Xu Gui, sitting opposite him: ...His manager is acting crazy again.