Gu Zhou: [I must thank you!]

Tech-savvy Orbit: [No need to thank me. I’m just a selfless model citizen! (Image attached 1) (Image attached 2) (Image attached 3)]

Image 1 was the picture of Movie Emperor Gu Zhou and Jiaojiao taken by the tourist. Image 2 was a picture showing Sis Jiao’s side profile, which was taken when she’d dyed her hair ash gray for the best photoshoot. Image 3 was the picture that had earned Sis Jiao the best photo award, with a complimentary personal introduction printed in the corner.

Xu Jiaojiao

Age: 17 years old

Height: 176 CM

Character: Mystery

Strong points: Intelligent

Education: F University freshman

Tech-savvy Orbit was Zheng Yuan’s Weibo name, and because she’d occasionally upload some wonderfully edited photos, her popularity was pretty good. Quite a number of people were following her. This time, since her weibo post was shared by Gu Zhou, she consequently became a hot topic. The number of people who were following also rose.

Movie Emperor Gu’s scandal continued to escalate, and the female party involved was tracked down by following the clues while everyone discussed this topic unabatedly. Information about the female party taking part in the National Supermodel competition was also revealed. As such, the viewer rate for the latest episode of the National Supermodel broadcast skyrocketed.

The director of the program was still in dreamland when she was abruptly awoken by an international call.

Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was the chief of the broadcasting station. Her sleepiness immediately vanished, and she quickly answered the phone.

“Mmh…correct…yes yes…okay…I understand.”

After hanging up the phone, the director called the assistant and the project manager to her room via an internal line.

“Sis Yu, what’s wrong?” The two people entered the room with drowsy eyes.

“We’re changing the next project plan.”

“What? Changing?”

“Let’s cancel yesterday’s plan of removing the Overall Strength Ranking. Additionally, the new rule to determine the eliminated candidate based on team voting results will be invalidated as well. We’ll proceed with the original plan,” Director Yu said.

Then, why did you want to change the rules yesterday? We had to brainstorm and debate for a very long time before coming up with those new rules, yet everything was scrapped the next day… The pair were speechless as they stared at the director in silence.

Director Yu was also feeling very bitter in her heart. As the chief of the broadcasting station had asked her to come up with a plan to eliminate Xu Jiaojiao from the competition, she could only cancel the immunity for the next few rounds. Otherwise, how could she possibly eliminate the strongest contender? The 8 to 7 elimination round was also a team battle, so the contestants were divided into two groups. She had to find a way to let Xu Jiaojiao’s team lose. The other members in her team must certainly want to eliminate her as she was their biggest opponent, so Xu Jiaojiao would definitely be voted out. However, who would’ve thought that the chief of the broadcasting station would call her again and tell her, “Xu Jiaojiao is very popular at the moment, so she can’t be eliminated.” In the end, all their planning amounted to nothing!

Since the chief had given an order, she naturally had no opinion. It was just that all of yesterday’s efforts went to waste and they had to overturn the plan and proceed according to the initial one. The main purpose of the meeting was to remind the crew to not disclose anything they’d discussed yesterday.

“Sis Yu, is there anything else?” It was already very late, and everyone was exhausted. Currently, they truly wished that they could just lay down on the ground and sleep.

“Do you know what Xu Jiaojiao did yesterday?”

“I don’t know. What’s wrong?” The assistant and the project manager both looked confused.

“Alright, go back to sleep!” Director Yu waved them out of the room. She rested against the bedhead and picked up her phone to surf the Internet. The chief had said that Xu Jiaojiao couldn’t be eliminated due to her popularity. But, hadn’t Xu Jiaojiao’s popularity constantly been on the rise? Why did the chief suddenly have a change of mind? Something must’ve happened.

When she saw the news on the entertainment headlines, she was utterly shocked.

Xu Jiaojiao is Gu Zhou’s secret girlfriend?!

No wonder the Chief had a change of mind. If Xu Jiaojiao really was Gu Zhou’s girlfriend, and she’d been eliminated, then Gu Zhou would’ve certainly been offended.

To be honest, Director Yu also held Xu Jiaojiao in high regard. Nowadays, it’s truly rare to see a real talent not show off and remain so humble.

Director Yu tossed away her phone, lay down, and soon fell asleep once more.

A few hours earlier, in China.

In a private room, someone shouted to a guy who was drinking with someone, “Wei Yang, your girlfriend is cheating on you!”

Everyone was quiet, and the girl sitting on Wei Yang’s left said with a cold expression, “Liu Bin, don’t yell. Wei Yang doesn’t have a girlfriend, alright?”

“It’s the one called Xu Jiaojiao!” Liu Bin said.

Wei Yang’s expression instantly darkened as recalled being stood up by Xu Jiaojiao. That time, he’d really lost face and was laughed at by his buddies for a long time, saying that he’d been fooled by an ugly duckling.

“Nonsense! Wei Yang dumped her a long time ago!” the girl retorted.

“I think it was Xu Jiaojiao who dumped Wei Yang. The last time he wanted to meet her, she stood him up. She’s doing great now, and she even managed to befriend Gu Zhou. You know who Gu Zhou is, right? He’s that big star whose endorsement fee alone is more than ten million dollars a year!” Liu Bin twirled his phone in his hand, glancing at Wei Yang with schadenfreude.

The person next to him grabbed his phone and looked at it. He was surprised as he read aloud, “When a tourist travels around Rome, he sees Gu Zhou and a young girl sitting together intimately. It’s suspected that he’s on a date with the mysterious girlfriend from the rumours. At present, netizens have unveiled the mysterious girl’s identity. Her name is Xu Jiaojiao, 17 years old. She’s a freshman at F University, and she’s currently participating in the National Supermodel show aired on XX broadcasting station…”

The others, with looks of surprise on their faces, leaned over to take a look.

“But really, the current Xu Jiaojiao is like a completely different person compared to the nerdy ugly duckling from the past,” said one of the readers, sighing after reading the entertainment news.

“She’s just a vain woman who’s had plastic surgery!” a girl disdainfully sneered.

Liu Bin scoffed, “Not even two months have passed since graduation. Where can she go to get her face fixed in such a short time? And, even if she did, how could she possibly recover that quickly? Liang Shuangyi, don’t tell me that you’re jealous of her? After all, she’s much prettier than you now.”

“You!” The girl glared at Liu Bin.

“Okay, eat quickly! After that, we’ll go racing,” Wei Yang said.

At the Xu Family, the family had just sat down on the sofa after dinner and were talking about the marriage of the two young people present.

Xu Qi was answering his mum’s question about their engagement when he suddenly heard his girlfriend screaming. The whole family turned to look at her.

“What’s the matter??” Everyone was flustered.

Zhang Aiyan shoved her phone in front of Xu Qi and said with excitement, “Look, it’s your cousin!”

After Xu Qi had finished reading, he looked dumbfounded.

“Has something happened to Jiaojiao? Why didn’t Xiao Qing tell us anything?” Grandma Xu was a little anxious. Although that child wasn’t that close to them, she was still her only granddaughter.

“She’s doing great!” Her days were much more easygoing and unrestrained than his. She was dating a big star to boot!

“No wonder she didn’t pick up earlier when I called her. I’d initially wanted to ask her if she wanted to go shopping with me, but her cell phone was turned off. It turns out that she’s participating in the National Supermodel competition. Xu Qi, didn’t your cousin tell you anything about her taking part in the contest? I can’t believe that she’s acquainted with Gu Zhou! Say, if she’s really Gu Zhou’s girlfriend, and we invite them to our engagement party, do you think that Gu Zhou will come?” Zhang Aiyan blinked. Just the thought of Gu Zhou attending their engagement party made her happy. How great of an honour was that?

“What are you talking about?” Xu Qi’s mother asked with a frown.

“It’s Jiaojiao, Xu Qi’s cousin! She’s such an amazing girl! I can’t believe that she’s dating a big star!” Zhang Aiyan replied excitedly.

“It’s not confirmed yet…” Xu Qi said weakly.

“You can call her to check, and at the same time, you can tell them about our engagement party next month. If you can’t reach her, then call your aunt. Jiaojiao is her daughter, so she’ll surely know whether Jiaojiao is dating someone or not!” As soon as Zhang Aiyan finished speaking, she hurriedly urged Xu Qi to make the call.

Xu Qi made a pained face, but still made the call. However, both Xu Jiaojiao and Xu Qing’s phones were turned off.

“I can’t get through to either of them…”

Xu Qi’s mother had a cold expression on her face as she thought: Xu Qing, that ungrateful wretch! When she was having difficulties, she would think of them, but now that everything had turned out alright, she was totally out of reach.

Xu Qing was truly wronged this time. Jiaojiao had bought her a new phone, and after setting off with the tour group, she remembered that she hadn’t told the Xu Family about her new number. When she wanted to make a call, she found out that her SIM card had also been changed, and only Jiaojiao’s phone number was saved. She called Jiaojiao to inquire about her old SIM card, but she couldn’t get through. Jiaojiao must’ve already handed her phone over to the program team. In this case, she ought to accept her daughter’s good intentions and enjoy this trip to the fullest!

Xu Qing, who was in the middle of mountain climbing, suddenly sneezed. At that moment, a man beside her who was wearing a baseball cap and a casual outfit asked in slightly accented Mandarin, “Are you feeling okay?”

Xu Qing nodded and smiled at the man.

The man smiled back at her.