<h4>Chapter 1043: Turn of the Tide!</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios
News about Gu Mang being Dark quickly spread around the inte.
Many leading and supporting actors and actresses, who had won various awards because of Dark’s extremely high IP value and works, evenmented on Gu Mang’s Weibo page.
Three search terms immediately trended on Weibo with the ring red word ‘hot.’ Never had such a situation happened before, and it set the inte aze.
It was just a moment ago that someonemented asking Dark’s fans to get him crawl out of his coffin to cast his vote, but in the next second, Gu Mang published her post saying that she had crawled out of her coffin. It was obvious that she wanted to openly prove some people wrong.
[Hahahaha. That was awesome, God D! Don’t spoil those idiots!]
[GM’s thoughts: Your daddy is here. LMAO]
Capital University was bubbling with excitement as well. Even though it was past noon, there were still a lot of people in the school. Students were currently looking dumbly at Gu Mang, who was standing in an extremely conspicuous position of Wee Avenue, while holding their phones. They were no longer surprised by the identities Gu Mang revealed. Instead, they felt utterly depressed.
Being able to study at Capital University, the students were geniuses themselves as well as the future pirs of the country. But they were all bested by the all-rounder Gu Mang. With such a capable student in their midst, they couldn’t help but reflect on their lives with doubt and despair.
Meanwhile, on Weibo.
[God D reveals her identity! God D is back! Our Jiang Zhao won’t be ruined!]
[God D is the first author to ever stand up to protect his character. I swear, I love this woman! But is it toote? The production team has already made the official announcement…]
[There are shows that cannot be released even though they have finished shooting it. An official announcement is not a big deal inparison.]
[I hope God D is able to win against the capitalist. After all, Eastern Brilliance makes up half of the entertainment industry with their strong financial power and huge influence. I heard that Jiang Shenyuan and his team are his legal advisors. No matter what, God D is just a small author.]
[What a joke. Regardless of whether GM is Dark or not, do the fans really think that Dark is so influential? So what if she’s not dead? I doubt she dares to go up against Eastern Brilliance with that bit of background of hers. All it takes is just a word for Eastern Brilliance to ban her from the industry!]
[Exactly, those rich people help each other out. Dark is just a mere employee. Even if she has a bit of asset, they can’t bepared to that of Eastern Brilliance! Money is nothing in front of absolute power!]
Qin Yaozhi, who kept looking at the newments, burst into an angryugh when she read thesements. She tutted, “Sis Mang, herees another batch of bullies.”
She could vividly remember the time when her brother told her about how Gu Mang had given him a lesson. ‘Qin Rui, do I have to teach you about abuses of power?’?<i>There are still people out there who are trying to bully Sis Mang with their powers? Are they tired of living? All we want is just for Zhao Xinran to leave the production team, but her fans are practically doing her in!</i>
Gu Mang cocked her eyebrows. “Aren’t you hungry? Let’s go eat.”
“Alright, let’s go eat first! We can’t starve the baby!” Tang Xiaoxiao rushed up and hooked her arms around Gu Mang’s. “Daddy, can you give your autograph?”
The group proceeded to head to World Restaurant. As they walked, Qin Yaozhi and the others looked at their phones to read thements on Weibo.
[‘The ck Sea’ was sold to Eastern Brilliance long ago. Even if the Eastern Brilliance’s CEO wants to use this work to groom his own daughter, isn’t it unbing for Dark to oppose this decision?!]
[That’s right! She just wants to seize the chance to get more money from Eastern Brilliance!]
[Shame on you! If Eastern Brilliance wasn’t such a big productionpany, there’s no way ‘The ck Sea’ would be so popr. Don’t you know it yourself?]
[That’s bull! Don’t show off if you’re ignorant! Go find out how popr ‘The ck Sea’ is!]
[Dark sold millions of his physical books in just one hour and five million of them in 24 hours! Her books have been tranted into manynguages and have sold 20 million copies worldwide so far! That’s how capable your daddy is!]
However, even with all the achievementsid out, it turned out that trolls were trolls for a reason.
[Even so, she’s still out to rip Eastern Brilliance off! What, is she angry that she can’t get a single cent after seeing how much Eastern Brilliance’s share prices have increased when the movie isn’t even released yet?]
[How disgusting. I used to be a fan of Dark’s novels, but I’m no longer one as of this moment!]
[You people from Eastern Brilliance are still yakking away? I hope you guys didn’t cause trouble for your employer. Do you have any idea who GM is?]
[You sure have some guts. Make sure your legs don’t give wayter.]
[Ban GM from the industry? Hah, I dare Eastern Brilliance to do that.]
[@lcz…]
Thestment would pop up from time to time, but nobody knew who that person was.
…
On the filming set.
“Come again?” Sheng Ting looked at Xiao Zhou in disbelief before taking his phone out to log into Weibo. “Dark is God Gu?”
“There are three trending posts on Weibo!” Xiao Zhou was just as shocked herself, having never seen such a case before.
Zhao Xinran, who was next to them, naturally knew who God Gu was, although it had never crossed her mind that thetter would be Dark.?<i>The Lu family…</i>
She pursed her lips and immediately took out her phone to check Weibo.
The news about Gu Mang being Dark had already spread across the entire filming set, so everyone was looking down at their own phones.
The moment Zhao Xinran logged into Weibo, she was greeted with Gu Mang’s post about her crawling out of her coffin to cast her one-vote veto. Her eyes darkened.?<i>Does that mean Gu Mang is kicking me out of this project?</i>
Before she could finish reading the rest of the news, she received a call from her father. She went to a corner with her phone before picking it up. “Dad…”
“Go publish a post on Weibo right away and say that you’re leaving the production team of ‘The ck Sea.''” Zhao Huai’s strained voice echoed through the speaker.
“Why should I?!” Zhao Xinran’s eyes bulged in anger when she heard that.<i>?The official announcement has already been made. Won’t I lose face if I quit now? Gu Mang’s fans will surely have a stughing at me!</i>
“Go online and see what trouble those fans of yours are causing me!”
Zhao Huai clenched his fists as he stared at the plummeting share prices on theputer. “Your fans might not know who Gu Mang is, but don’t you know it yourself? Or do you think you’ll have face if thepany makes an official announcement?”
Earlier, he tried to contact Weibo to have them delete thements about Gu Mang, but nobody dared to do anything about it. Anxious and helpless, he sternly said to his daughter, “Go publish a post on Weibo immediately and get your assistant to control your fans!”
Zhao Xinran naturally knew what kind of fans she had; they had no filter when cursing people out. At the thought of how Gu Mang was going to kick herself out of the production team, she didn’t want to care about this matter at all. In fact, she had been hoping that her fans would help vent her anger on her behalf, but her father actually wanted her to leave the production team on her own ord now.
“What can I do if my fans want to scold her? Ourpany spent 70 million yuan to buy the film rights of ‘The ck Sea.’ What right does she have to interfere with ourpany’s decision?!” she snapped back.?<i>I’m not responsible for what my fans do, so there’s no reason for the Lu family to hold me responsible.</i>
An Tong and the assistant were standing at the side checking Weibo together, but they looked up when they heard Zhao Xinran arguing with her father.
Zhao Huai knew his daughter very well, so he naturally knew that it was impossible for her to quit on her own, especially when the movie was so popr.
<i>Gu Mang has only cast her vote through Weibo; she didn’t resort to any dirty tricks, although if she really wants toy a hand on ourpany, we will surely be doomed. The prestigious families that had waned these few years ended up in their current states because they offended Gu Mang…?</i>Not wanting the Zhao family tond in this state as well, Zhao Huai said, “You’re not going to publish the post, huh? Fine, I’ll get thepany to do it.”
“Dad!” Zhao Xinran’s eyes widened.
Right after Zhao Huai ended the call with his daughter, he immediately got the PR department to issue apany statement.
[We’ll respect Dark and the fans’ opinions to reselect the actress for Jiang Zhao. Please rest assured that we’ll take the actress’s appearance and demeanor as our top priority.]
Eastern Brilliance’s PR department worked fast, and it didn’t take long before Zhao Xinran saw this post on Weibo. Her eyes rimmed red as she felt the stinging embarrassment on her face.
In just a matter of minutes, Eastern Brilliance’s statement trended on Weibo. Seeing how the post consisted of just words and didn’t even have thepany’s official seal, it had probably only taken the PR department less than ten seconds to type it out.
[That’s fast. They sure were in a hurry to concede defeat. They didn’t have the time to put an official stamp on it. Hahaha.]
[It concerns their survival after all. Of course, they have to be quick. If there’s any dy, Eastern Brilliance will be no more.]
[Where’s the group of people who were bashing GM? Weren’t they having a st earlier?]
A lot ofizens weren’t aware of Gu Mang’s background, so someone asked, [Can someone tell us what sort of background GM exactly has?]
Every time Gu Mang trended online, articles about her would be deleted soon after that. Thus, not everyone knew about her and those who knew didn’t dare talk about her in the open.
[For someone who can make Eastern Brilliance fluctuate so much in just a day, what kind of background do you think she has?]
[Freshman in Capital University’s Traditional Chinese Medicine faculty, winner ofst year’s International Medical Competition who carried her team to victory, top schr of the college entrance exam, Lan Ting’s chief designer, X Voice Factory’s boss Bai Ye. That’s all I can say.]
[Hahahaha. I can totally tell how strong your survival instincts are. I bet yourment will be deleted soon.]
[Those titles don’t sound too impressive. I doubt Eastern Brilliance will be scared of someone with such a background.]
[I wonder if everyone still remembers the grand wedding that took cest month. The roads from Xishan Vi to the Lu residence were entirely blocked. That’s GM’s wedding.]
[Holy crap…]
[Zhao Xinran and her dumb fans sure have got some nerve! GM is such a big shot, and yet they still threatened to ban Dark from the industry? Eastern Brilliance still won’t be a match for the Lu family even if there are ten of them!]
[That’s retribution for them! Zhao Xinran has no ability in acting, yet she still dreams of bing more popr?]
When Zhao Xinran saw thements online, she was so angry that she almost crushed her phone to pieces.
…
The speed at which Eastern Brilliance published their statement came as a shock to many people inside and outside the showbiz industry. They couldn’t help but be impressed at Zhao Huai’s decisiveness at pulling his daughter out of the production team without even trying to ask Gu Mang to give a chance to his daughter.
Given Zhao Xinran’s foul temper, they reckoned that she would surely make things hard for Dark to survive in the industry had thetter been an ordinary citizen. Zhao Xinran could only consider herself unlucky this time.
…
The main cast of ‘The ck Sea’ had basically entered the production team, but with the issue of Zhao Xinran quitting the show going on, the production team had to halt their work indefinitely.
Netizens cheered and mocked Zhao Xinran even more when they saw how she got embarrassed by her own father, while everyone in the production kept giving her looks.
Unable to stand the scrutiny, Zhao Xinran left the production team in a huff with An Tong and her assistant. Her face was gloomy as she stared straight ahead in the car.
As Zhao Xinran had a foul temper and was always scolding, beating, and criticizing her staff, An Tong and the assistant didn’t dare to even breathe loudly.
It was then that An Tong suddenly remembered how she had offered Dark three times more the money to have the movie poster amended. She reckoned that she must be out of her mind to try and use money to pressure the Lu family’s young madam.
Just then, Zhao Xinran’s phone rang, breaking the still silence in the car. However, despite it ringing for some time, she sat motionlessly with no seeming intention to answer the call.
The phone thus kept ringing and ringing.
“Miss, your phone,” said An Tong as she squeezed her fingers nervously.
Only then did Zhao Xinran pick up the call—it was from her aunt.
“Are you okay, Xinran?” asked Zhao Jin gently in concern.
Zhao Xinran’s face sank. “Did my father ask you to call me?”
Zhao Xinran sighed. “Xinran, your father was just doing it for your own good. The Lu family isn’t people we can afford to offend. ording to your father, thepany has another big project which you can act as the main lead. With a bit of promotion and marketing, it won’t be inferior to ‘The ck Sea.''”
Zhao Xinran burst into a bitterugh at that. “I’ve been thoroughly disgraced. Does my dad know how theizens are mocking me now?”
Zhao Jin fell silent and only spoke a few secondster. “Take a break for the time being. Once this matter blows over, you can continue to be active again.”
“Why should I?” Zhao Xinran felt increasingly indignant the more she thought about it. “I could have won the Best Actress award with ‘The ck Sea’! This movie was so popr before we started shooting! Who knows? I might even break the box office sales! Why should I be kicked out of our ownpany’s project?!”
Zhao Jin was rendered speechless. She dared not to even remind her niece that Gu Mang had a one-vote veto right, lest it agitate her even more.
At this moment, Zhao Xinran was so furious that shepletely forgot that it was her who wanted to kick Dark out of the project first. She even forgot whether she was truly capable of clinching the Best Actress award with those pathetic acting skills of hers.
“Xinran…” Zhao Jin’s voice trailed off and sounded a distance away when she suddenly said, “Come in.”
“Director, here are Capital University’s documents for review.”
Zhao Jin nodded as took the folder to ce it aside. “Alright, you may leave now.”
Her assistant thus left her office.
Upon hearing their conversation, Zhao Xinran suddenly recalled how her aunt had mentioned before that Capital University was reopening a TCM Science Experimental ss and that their documents stated that Gu Mang would be the chief professor while Yu Zhong jing would be her assistant.
A wicked glint appeared in the depths of her eyes as she gripped her phone while being lost in thought.<i>?If I can’t live well, then Gu Mang can forget about living well either! Didn’t she want to make use of Yu Zhongjing and reap all the benefits while sitting back and doing nothing? Let’s see how she’s going to be the chief professor of the TCM experimental ss now!</i>
Zhao Jin answered the phone once more. “Xinran, listen to me and go back to rest first. Your father said that he’ll do damage control for you.”
Pulled back to reality, Zhao Xinran whispered in aggrieve, “But I don’t want to go home. Can I go over to find you now?”
Zhao Jin doted on Zhao Xinran a lot and knew that thetter probably didn’t want to see her father because she was still mad at him. Thus, she said, “Sure, do you remember where my office is?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, juste straight here then.”
…
Lu Chengzhou’s Weibo ount was created after Gu Mang’s ount was exposed. When he saw the posts she published, he got Qin Fang and He Yidu to monitor the data while he stepped back andzily leaned against the otherb table to look at his phone.
He was just about to go to Gu Mang’s Weibo page when he noticed that he had hundreds of unread messages in the @me column. A slight frown formed on his forehead as he clicked on it and realized that they were allments left under Gu Mang’s posts.
Lu Chengzhou had specially set his ount to private. He had no followers and he only followed Gu Mang. It was like a dead ount, but for some reason, theizens still managed to find his ount.
His lips curled into a smile when he saw the two posts GU Mang had posted.
When Qin Fang looked back, he identally caught a glimpse of the Weibo interface on Lu Chengzhou’s phone. Curious, he asked, “Brother Cheng, what’s so funny on Weibo that you would show such an expression?”
Lu Chengzhou ignored him.
Qin Fang thus took out his own phone and logged into Weibo. Upon realizing that Gu Mang had exposed another of her identities, his lips couldn’t help but twitch.?<i>Never mind that she exposed her identity, she’s even trending on Weibo for four consecutive entries! I might not pay a lot of attention to the entertainment news, but I still know that it’s not so easy to top the trending list. And yet Gu Mang trended once for every secret she exposed!</i>
“He Yidu, let me tell you a secret,” said Qin Fang with his head down, still looking at his phone.
As He Yidu adjusted the date, he said, “Just say it.”
“Do you know who Dark is?”
“Why, which of his works is getting turned into a movie now? Don’t make me go watch it with you again. I don’t want to be seen as a couple with you,” answered He Yidu nonchntly.
“Get lost!” Qin Fang cursed before asking in a mysterious manner, “Do you know who Dark is?”
He Yidu raised his eyebrows, having an answer in his heart.
Qin Fang then nodded solemnly in affirmation. “That’s right, it’s our sister-inw! Never expected this, didn’t you?!”
He Yidu fell silent for a few seconds. “You found out through Weibo again?”
Qin Fang nodded once more. The two then turned their heads toward Lu Chengzhou in unison.
“What, I found out long ago,” said Lu Chengzhouzily as he looked up and then looked back down at his phone to like and share Gu Mang’s posts. He soon realized that the number of likes on his shared posts was soaring.
All thements below read:
[Why can’t I follow mommy?]
[Why can’t I follow mommy?]
[+1]
When Qin Fang saw the smile on Lu Chengzhou’s face stiffened, he craned his neck toward thetter to see his phone. He burst out in guffaws when he saw thements. “What the f*ck, hahahahahaha… He Yidu, Sis Mang’s fans are calling Brother Cheng mommy…”
The entireb was filled with Qin Fang’sughter.
He Yidu had a look of confusion on his face as Lu Chengzhou raised his head to shoot a cool gaze at Qin Fang. Thetter immediately stoppedughing and turned his head back to the experiment. He Yidu, on the other hand, didn’t even dare to let out augh.
Lu Chengzhou turned off thement section and exited Weibo before calling Lu Qi to ask him to monitor the situation on the inte and deal with it if any problem cropped up. He then called Gu Mang and put a hand in his white coat as he left theb.
…
Gu Mang had just reached the school entrance when she received a call from Lu Chengzhou.
“Ah, it’s nothing,” she said slowly as she lowered the brim of her cap to block the sun. “It’s settled.”
Lu Chengzhou stood in front of the window at the end of the corridor and ced a hand on the window sill, his voice gentle and soft as he asked, “Mm, have you eaten?”
“I’m arriving at World Restaurant.”
“Alright,” said Lu Chengzhou. “Go back to the apartment to take a nap after you’re done with your meal.”
“Okay, what about you?”
“I’m going to eat soon,” answered Lu Chengzhou.
“Tsk, you should practice what you preach. Remember to take your meals on time yourself.”
“Yes, madam.” Lu Chengzhouughed and left her with a few more instructions before ending the call. He spun his phone in his hand and then pressed it on the window sill with his palm while looking out at therge experimental field outside.
Starting a Traditional Chinese Medicine Science Experimental ss was easier said than done, and Lu Chengzhou knew this very well. All the leader had to do was give instructions, but the subordinates would have a lot of things to do. And now that Gu Mang was both the leader and the subordinate, she had way too many things on her te. She still had an ongoing Medical Informatics experiment, yet trouble was brewing on the inte.
Lu Chengzhou’s eyes gleamed coldly as he tapped his fingers against the phone’s screen.
Just then, his phone vibrated.
He picked up his phone and realized that he had received the medical documents from Red Scorpion. Then, along with the information hepiled the night before, he sent them to Gu Mang.
…
Gu Mang was surprised to receive the zip file. But before she could ask Lu Chengzhou about it, she received a message from him, saying, [Ipiled some informationst night. My men from Red me and Red Scorpion have alsopiled some of it. I’ll send them all to youter.]
[Okay], Gu Mang replied before asking, [How are things going on your end? Is it tricky?]
[It’s okay, just some problem with the data. It’s a little different from expected, so we need some time.]
No. 14 Research Center was a fighter jet research institute, and a problem with the data was actually quite serious.
Gu Mang could tell that Lu Chengzhou must’ve only slept for a few hoursst night when she heard his slightly hoarse voice when they were speaking on the phone earlier, and yet he evenpiled information for her. She looked down and typed, [Don’t tire yourself out.]
Lu Chengzhou had never realized before that he was someone who would be so easily satisfied. All it took was a few words from Gu Mang for him to behave like a young chap who had just fallen in love. A foolish grin hung on his face as he replied, [Okay.]
While on his way to theb, Lu Chengzhou ran into Qin Fang at the entrance.
“Brother Cheng, someone uploaded Capital University’s review documents for the TCM experimental ss on Weibo!” said Qin Fang anxiously with a frown as he turned his phone toward Lu Chengzhou.
As Lu Chengzhou stared at the photos on the screen, the remaining remnants of his smile faded and his expression turned grim and serious. His eyes narrowed and his lips pursed as he took out his phone and logged into Weibo.
Earlier, Qin Fang was scrolling through Weibo and sending Gu Mang several messages asking her when her next book would be released and whether or not she could sell her film rights to the Qin Corporation’s filmpany when he suddenly came across the post about the TCM experimental ss.
Gu Mang’s identity was rather special. Most importantly, not many people outside Jijing Ind knew about her Miracle Doctor identity, while those who were in the know had their mouths sealed by Lu Chengzhou long ago. Even if they weren’t, nobody dared mention it.
Only Principal Ren and Yang Tianming knew that Gu Mang was the one who treated Old Madam Lu back then, but that was all that they knew—her excellent medical skills. They had no idea that Gu Mang was the Miracle Doctor, which was why her resume had very little information and basically only had ten words: Gu Mang, the champion of Jijing Ind’s International Medical Competition.
The position she was applying for, however, was the chief professor.
Her information was followed by Yu Zhongjing’s information. He was the person in charge of the project, which meant that he would be Gu Mang’s assistant.
Even outsiders knew how famous Yu Zhongjing was. Given the awards, honors, and recognition listed on his Baidu page, nobody would dare admit that they were the top doctor if he said that he was second.
On top of that, his resume alone consisted of three A4 pages.
Gu Mang’s award in a universitypetition was like a jokepared to the bigwigs in the medical field who had achieved many breakthroughs in medical technology, published many theses, and participated in numerous medical summits, and that was exactly how theizens viewed it.
The tides changed too quickly. Gu Mang was praised to the skies just a second ago, and now those very same people condemned her to hell. She became the butt of public criticism.
The person who put out the news explicitly hinted that GU Mang wanted to make use of Yu Zhongjing to reap all the benefits from the program without doing anything.
The post on the Weibo ount with a million followers read: [The top university’s focused ss is a joke and yet it still managed to pass review?]