Chapter 60: Heart Stirred for You

The footsteps inside the door approached at an unhurried pace. As soon as the door opened, Ruan Cha spoke up excitedly, “Gu Zhenzhi, let’s go on a variety show livestream together!”

“No.”

Gu Zhenzhi’s eyebrows arched slightly; without a hint of hesitation, he refused at once.

“You already signed the proposal. This is one of the steps for us to get to know each other faster.” Ruan Cha took out her phone, scrolling to a line buried among dense paragraphs of text—there it was, the clause about unconditionally participating in variety shows. She pointed to the line, the font clearly a few sizes smaller and almost blurry. “See, it’s written right here!”

Gu Zhenzhi gazed at the nearly invisible line of text: “...”

His silent eyes fell on the girl’s face.

“All’s fair in business! I learned this from you!” Ruan Cha recalled how, just a few days ago, while reviewing the proposal with Gu Zhenzhi, he had tacked on a slew of unreasonable clauses under the guise of business profit.

At last, she was getting her revenge!

-

The show “Heartbeat for You” officially announced its cast.

When Ruan Wei and Gu Jiayan’s announcement went up on Weibo, their post was shared and commented on over ten thousand times that very evening, even threatening to overtake the current top internet celebrity couple.

Ruan Cha and Gu Zhenzhi were the last to be announced.

There were only three days left before filming began.

Although the Ruan family had pushed Ruan Jie forward to take the blame, successfully whitewashing Ruan Wei’s image and, incidentally, Ruan Cha’s as well, Ruan Wei’s fans still found Ruan Cha detestable.

Without distinguishing right from wrong, without bothering to understand the truth, she had publicly insulted her own sister on Weibo, and even after the real story came out, Ruan Cha had never apologized to Ruan Wei. For that alone, Ruan Wei’s fans could berate her for a year.

So, when Ruan Cha's announcement was posted, Ruan Wei’s fans flocked to the comments to take control:

[Cyberbullying your own sister—when are you going to apologize?]
[Do you know how badly Weiwei was scolded because of you?]
[Our Weiwei’s joining this show, and you just have to join too—always chasing after the spotlight!]
[Don’t even bother arguing; she knows top idols and big company CEOs!]
[So what if she knows big shots? Who knows how they met—maybe it was in bed.]

...

Compared to Gu Jiayan, whose face was now well known to the public, very few people actually recognized Gu Zhenzhi. When he returned to the country, there was a flurry of coverage from traditional print journalists, but the typical gossip and entertainment reporters had no clue who he was.

When people saw that Ruan Cha’s partner was also surnamed Gu, the mocking began anew—

[Seriously? Even the surnames have to match? Can’t she be a little more original?]
[Gu Jiayan is the most handsome of all; no one can deny that, right?]
[Who knows, this man called Gu Zhenzhi might just be some ugly old guy. Just wait—she’ll embarrass herself when she brings him out.]

...

In the blink of an eye, filming day arrived.

“Heartbeat for You” was broadcast live in real time, four hours each day. During the livestream, the male and female guests would be assigned tasks by the production team, encouraging interaction and generating romantic sparks as they completed them together.

It was a show crafted entirely for girls with romantic hearts.

Currently, the show’s most popular contestant was Ruan Wei, who would open the program.

The recent drama involving the Ruan sisters had stirred up quite a storm online, so despite the show’s otherwise average popularity, plenty of viewers eager for a taste of high-society intrigue were waiting in the livestream room.

The broadcast began—

The host, microphone in hand, delivered a brief opening speech.

Then, the formal introduction of each female guest began.