I'm Rich - 63
Guan Zhiyi put her phone down right after sending the Weibo post, planning to finish her meal.
The moment she picked up her chopsticks, however, another call came in.
The moment she answered, Liu Yun's shocked voice blasted through the receiver. "You two are moving way too fast! At least give me a heads-up! You're actually going public just like that?"
"Public?" Guan Zhiyi echoed. "We were going to, yes, but I hadn't even mentioned it yet... Did he post something on Weibo?"
"No, it's your Weibo!"
"What's wrong with mine?"
"Didn't you post that clarification? Did you seriously not see President Qi commenting right underneath it?"
Guan Zhiyi blanked out for a second. "I was eating... Hang on, let me look right now."
After hanging up, Guan Zhiyi clicked back into Weibo, only to find herself staring at a frozen screen that refused to load a single thing.
What on earth...
With no other choice, she called Liu Yun back. Liu Yun let out a helpless sigh. "My dear, Weibo completely crashed because of you two."
"..."
Weibo really had crashed.
Later on, plenty of users trying to log in found themselves staring blankly at blank screens, unable to load anything. After a good while, once the backend servers finally stabilized, everything reappeared.
Guan Zhiyi rushed straight to the comments section of her newly published post.
"Stop messing around. That car belongs to her actual brother, and that house is her actual brother's house. President Qi lives in the building next door, folks..."
Top hot comment:
Qi Chengyan: [When will you be willing to move into mine?]
That single comment drew thousands of replies from netizens:
[Am I losing my mind?]
[It's him! The verified real deal!]
[What is this even supposed to mean?!]
[A confession? Are we talking pursuit here? Oh my god.]
[Feels more like a marriage proposal if you ask me.]
...
Netizens were full of questions, but those questions were answered barely ten minutes later. A blue-verified official account had just posted a message:
"Thank you all for your concern. Our boss and Miss Guan are currently dating, and we hope everyone will give them a little space~"
That blue-verified account didn't belong to Qi Chengyan personally, nor was it Yixing Entertainment. It was the sole official corporate account of Qi Group. Usually, the account only posted financial updates. This was its first, and quite possibly its only, post regarding personal romantic matters.
As soon as it went live, swarms of netizens flooded the comments.
[Damn, using the actual corporate account for this announcement? There's no hiding that Guan Zhiyi is the undisputed queen here.]
[Of course she is. Look at Qi Chengyan's previous reply; sounds like he was the one chasing her, too.]
[I'm spinning out. Exactly who is Guan Zhiyi?]
[Has nobody checked the gossip forums yet? People have already dug up that car of hers. There are only two of them in the entire country, one is down in Guangzhou, and the one here in Beijing belongs to Guan Yuanbai, which makes him Guan Zhiyi's brother.]
[Guan Yuanbai is... wait.]
[You don't know the Guan family? Well, you surely know Nanjue Hotel, that five-star landmark everyone talks about. That's part of their portfolio.]
[To all those people claiming she married into wealth, talk about a brutal face-slap. She comes from genuine wealth to begin with.]
[But Guan Zhiyi's early career was painfully ordinary. Didn't her family help her out at all?]
[Wasn't she running a struggling underdog persona?]
Addressing that so-called underdog persona, people began digging up more dirt.
The first piece of material uncovered by fans was an old livestream clip from early in Guan Zhiyi's career. In the video, she adamantly insisted that she wasn't poor and that her life was quite comfortable, yet absolutely nobody in the live chat believed her.
With the video resurfacing now, the comment section was filled with laughter:
[I honestly think this poor girl tried her absolute best. It's just that nobody believed a single word.]
[Hahaha, I'm dying. Her expression is pure resignation.]
[Turns out she dove straight into the entertainment industry on her own without using a drop of family privilege.]
[That's actually kind of inspiring.]
[My baby girl wasn't even poor! Oh god! Rejoice, this old mother is shedding tears of emotion.]
[Then why didn't she just say she was part of the Guan family? Sounds like she was just playing the pity card for attention.]
[Are you sick? Claiming to be part of the Guan family would have gotten her way more attention. She was just keeping a low profile and didn't want to drag her family into it.]
...
The second piece of history dug up concerned Guan Zhiyi's mother, Lin Zhijia. The entertainment industry has a long memory. Letting it slide because they didn't know Guan Zhiyi's background was one thing, but knowing who she was now naturally led reporters straight to Lin Zhijia, who had married into the Guan family years ago.
She had been the dream goddess of an entire generation, possessed of peerless beauty, and had starred in numerous films. Unfortunately, overwhelming beauty is rarely a blessing. Words like "vase" and "climber" had always clung to her skin. Later, crushed by the setbacks in her acting career and the relentless abuse from the public, she fell into depression and took her own life.
[Lin Zhijia was genuinely stunning, but she also stood in a lot of people's way back then.]
[Her reputation wasn't great at the time, and a lot of people called her nothing more than a pretty face. Most people didn't like her.]
[The Guan family never paved the way for their own woman; feels like that had everything to do with her mother... They probably didn't want their daughter walking down that same road.]
[Thank goodness her daughter stuck to her dream of pursuing a career in acting!!!]
[Guan Zhiyi probably only revealed who she was because the internet trolls backed her into a corner.]
[Looking back now, Lin Zhijia really was wronged. She didn't actually do anything; people just liked to tear her down.]
[Heaven grows jealous of brilliant beauty.]
...
Around three in the afternoon, Guan Yuanbai and Qi Chengyan both returned from the office early.
By then, Guan Zhiyi was sitting on the sofa, her phone screen still resting on an old photograph of her mother. She had known that revealing her identity as a member of the Guan family would draw all eyes to this past, but she didn't care.
No matter how other people viewed her mother, in her heart, she would always be her goddess.
"Xiao Wu."
Hearing Guan Yuanbai's voice, Guan Zhiyi pulled her gaze away from the screen. "Ge, why are you back so early? Did... Dad call you too?"
Guan Zhiyi had just received a call from her father earlier, and he had only refrained from storming over in person because she promised to go home tonight and explain everything face-to-face.
"Of course he called me about something this big," Guan Yuanbai said.
Guan Zhiyi offered a sheepish smile. "Then... did Grandpa Qi call?"
Qi Chengyan answered, "Grandpa hasn't called. He probably doesn't know just yet. I'll go talk to him later."
"Mm."
Guan Yuanbai looked between the two of them. "I heard Weibo practically crashed the moment you went public? You two are unbelievable."
"We didn't mean for it to turn out like this..." Guan Zhiyi mumbled.
Qi Chengyan gave a slight smile. "Isn't this for the best? We got both things out in the open at once, saves us trouble down the line."
Guan Yuanbai let out a cold snort and gave Guan Zhiyi a light rap on the head. "Let's go. We're heading home right now."
"Oh..."
Twenty minutes later, the three of them drove back to Yuhe Mansion together.
Qi Chengyan didn't return to his own place, instead following Guan Yuanbai and Guan Zhiyi straight into their home. After all, entering a relationship with Guan Zhiyi meant it was time to formally speak with her father.
Once the car parked, the three of them came up from the garage together. But the moment they stepped into the living room and saw who was sitting inside, all three froze.
Because waiting inside wasn't just Guan Xinghuai. Elder Qi was there too.
"Grandpa..." Qi Chengyan paused. "You're here."
Elder Qi rarely bothered with entertainment news, and he had only found out about this mess after someone called him to verify it. Seeing Qi Chengyan walk in, he curled a finger with a completely expressionless face. "Get over here."
Noticing the old man's grim expression, Guan Zhiyi hurriedly chimed in, "Grandpa, I'm sorry we didn't tell you right away. We were planning to wait until things settled down, so—"
Qi Mingsheng cut her off. "Good girl, Xiao Wu, stand aside for a second."
"..."
Qi Mingsheng turned his gaze back. "Qi Chengyan, get your ass over here."
Qi Chengyan hesitated for a fraction of a second before stepping forward. "Grandpa—"
"You wretched brat!"
No one expected Qi Mingsheng to suddenly grab the cane beside him and bring it down hard across Qi Chengyan's shoulders. Even Guan Xinghuai, who had been sitting right next to him, jumped to his feet in shock. "Whoa! Old, Old man, there's no need for that—"
Qi Mingsheng shoved his hand aside and delivered two more fierce strikes against Qi Chengyan's legs. "Wretched boy! What is wrong with you! You, you actually made a move on Xiao Wu! What were you thinking? How did you guys spend your childhoods together for you to pull something like this? She still called you Gege, you unprincipled bastard!"
"Grandpa—"
It all happened too fast for anyone to stop it. Qi Chengyan could easily have dodged, but he kept his feet planted right where they were, taking every single blow squarely.
Seeing him standing there motionless, Guan Zhiyi hurried forward to block him. "Grandpa, it's not like that, it's, it was me..."
"Xiao Wu, don't cover for him!" Qi Mingsheng pointed an accusing finger at Qi Chengyan. "Look at you! If you wanted to pursue her, why didn't you do it sooner? Besides, she—she was your own cousin's ex-girlfriend! What were you playing at?"
"Grandpa, there's a bit of a misunderstanding here," Guan Yuanbai said as he stepped forward, conveniently pulling Qi Chengyan aside to save him from another beating. "The whole situation with Hua Hongxi earlier was just a stunt these two kids pulled to dodge blind dates. It didn't count as anything."
Qi Mingsheng blinked. "W-what?"
Guan Xinghuai was equally stunned. "Is that true?!"
Guan Zhiyi offered an awkward smile. "Dad, it's true... Back then, you were pushing me way too hard..."
"You, you—" Guan Xinghuai didn't even know what to say for a second. On one hand, he was annoyed at being lied to; on the other hand, knowing Guan Zhiyi had never actually been with Hua Hongxi meant there was no weird baggage about her being with Qi Chengyan. He soon immensely relieved.
Qi Mingsheng looked at Qi Chengyan. "You knew about this?"
Qi Chengyan nodded. "I did."
"So you and Xiao Wu—"
"After returning to China and spending time with Xiao Wu, I fell for her, so I pursued her."
Qi Mingsheng narrowed his eyes. Though he still hadn't given an explicit verdict, his expression softened slightly.
Seeing his opening, Qi Chengyan turned to Guan Xinghuai. "Uncle, I came here today to tell you as well. I care deeply for Xiao Wu, and I hope you'll allow us to be together."
Guan Xinghuai actually held a lot of fondness for Qi Chengyan. It was just that because Qi Chengyan was the same age as his own son and had practically helped raise his daughter like an older brother since they were kids, he had never once imagined the younger man would harbor such intentions toward his little girl.
He had certainly been shocked upon seeing the news, but after the initial surprise wore off, when he thought about it calmly, Qi Chengyan was actually an exceptionally suitable match for Xiao Wu...
"Well, you young people and your romance... it's not like my permission matters anyway. As long as Xiao Wu is happy," Guan Xinghuai said.
Guan Zhiyi's eyes lit up. "Dad, so you think this is a good thing, right?"
Guan Xinghuai warned, "If you ever dare hide something like this from me again, see how I deal with you."
Guan Zhiyi beamed. "No way, impossible. How could there be a next time?"
Guan Xinghuai shot her a sidelong glance and let out a light huff.
Seeing that her father wasn't actually angry, Guan Zhiyi sidled over to Qi Mingsheng. She looped her arm through his and tested the waters. "Grandpa, do you really dislike me?"
Qi Mingsheng startled, then hastily denied it. "How could that be? When would Grandpa ever dislike you?"
"But it feels like you don't like me." Blinking her eyes and drooping the corners of her lips, Guan Zhiyi managed to whip up a thoroughly aggrieved expression. "Otherwise, why wouldn't you want Chengyan-gege to be with me?"
Qi Mingsheng had doted on Guan Zhiyi like his own biological granddaughter since she was in diapers; how could he bear to see her look like this? "Xiao Wu, it's not that Grandpa doesn't want you two together, it's that this brat is no good! He kept the whole thing a secret from me!"
"So you are happy for us to be together, right?"
Meeting the pleading gaze of Guan Zhiyi's wide doe eyes, Qi Mingsheng felt his resolve melt away entirely.
Truth be told, he had always desperately wanted to welcome this little girl into their family as a daughter-in-law. Why else had he been so furious when his grandson Hua Hongxi broke up with her? It was just that he had never expected his own grandson to set his sights on her; he had assumed the boy merely viewed her as a little sister...
Qi Mingsheng shot Qi Chengyan a chilly glare before patting the back of Guan Zhiyi's hand. "I suppose the scoundrel got lucky."
Guan Zhiyi glanced back and locked eyes with Qi Chengyan, her face blossoming with bright smiles. "Thank you, Grandpa~"
After all the commotion, Elder Qi finally prepared to head home with a peaceful expression.
As Guan Zhiyi walked him out to the car, she took advantage of the fact that nobody was looking to gently tug on Qi Chengyan's sleeve.
Qi Chengyan looked back down at her. "What is it?"
"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.
Qi Chengyan smiled faintly. "I'm fine."
"Go check when you get back and see if it bruised."
"I will."
"If it does, let me know. I think our family has some really effective medicated ointment... I'll have someone send it over."
"Don't worry, it's not that serious."
Guan Zhiyi glared at him. "You're still an absolute idiot, Ge. You didn't even try to dodge."
"When it comes to you, taking a beating is the least I can do." Qi Chengyan curved his lips. "Alright, you don't need to walk me out any further. Go on back inside."
"Oh," Guan Zhiyi murmured, reluctantly letting go of his sleeve. "Then... can you come find me tomorrow?"
Qi Chengyan paused. "Hm?"
The corners of Guan Zhiyi's mouth tilted up slightly. "I mean, since everyone knows now, does that mean we can openly stick together?"
Qi Chengyan's gaze deepened.
Heaven knew how much willpower it was taking him right now to resist the sudden, overwhelming urge to scoop her up and carry her back to his house.
"Alright. I'll come find you tomorrow."
---
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