Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Under the curious gaze of the gossip-loving crowd, Ning Yichu scoffed, "Ning Zeqi scolding you? That's quite rare. However, the ones who 'shared a night of pleasure' with Shen Zhou were your second aunt and her husband. Why is your eldest brother so anxious? Sending a message at this time is clearly meant to spoil everyone's appetite."

The surrounding crowd was stunned, doubting if their Chinese listening skills had regressed terribly. Even Ning Zeshu, who was usually excellent at managing his expressions, was momentarily speechless: "...What?"

Ning Yichu gave a slight smile and looked at Shen Zhou, who kept his head down in silence. "The earlier sharing wasn't detailed enough; I forgot to mention that Shen Zhou's 'invitations' come neither from men nor women. He has taken a unique path, doing a particular kind of business with married couples..."

"To be precise, heterosexual couples who are middle-aged or older. It's said Shen Zhou has quite a good reputation in this line of work, with many repeat customers who are even willing to introduce him to other clients. Sometimes, he's so busy he can't keep up... The debts incurred for the sake of his face are ultimately being barely repaid with his face and body. Talk about a hard way to make a living."

Then, turning to Ning Zeshu, Ning Yichu tsked softly. "Your second aunt and her husband also became Shen Zhou's regular customers through introductions..."

"Uh... haha... wow, that's... quite a struggle, huh..."

"Married couples... They're into some wild stuff..."

"Ning Zeshu's second aunt and her husband???"

[Bullet comment: Shen Zhou is still quite "smart." Unlike Ji Tianfeng and Zheng Gu, who won't admit it until they're faced with the consequences and insist on struggling desperately, he knows that if something is true, it's obviously doomed to be proven true the moment Ning Yichu says it. Rather than stubbornly trying to argue, it's better to stay silent, which at least avoids looking like even more of a clown.]

"And there needs to be back-and-forth for the gossip to be lively. Someone like him, who stays silent, can't stand out as much as his two teammates who are such attention-seekers. Some people might even find it boring, just listening to the gossip and leaving without paying much attention to his follow-up."

"Also, the less the person involved says, the more room fans have to whitewash him. Weren't there Shen Zhou's fans in the bullet comments just now, crying injustice for their brother, saying he was also pitiful for being tricked into a high-interest loan, and that at least he wasn't as malicious as using corpse oil lipstick or deceiving people's feelings and money..."

"LMAO, members of the same group, dragging each other down."

"Picking the tallest one out of a pile of manure is still manure... I don't know what the fans are thinking."

"The Ning family is quite wealthy, right? Shen Zhou's clientele quality seems pretty high. Looks like he won't have to worry about making money after being blacklisted and banned."

"Uh... but it's illegal..."

"I'm dead, aren't they all out-and-out criminals in their group?"

At this moment, Ning Zeshu's phone vibrated slightly again. He glanced down and then smiled. "This time it's not from big brother; it's Dad telling me to stop you from further tarnishing the Ning family's reputation... Really, he's giving me too much credit. How could I possibly stop Xiao Chu now, right?"

Ning Yichu tilted his head and straightforwardly said in front of everyone, "Although I don't know why you've suddenly stopped pretending, to be honest, I'm quite surprised. I didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic about watching the Ning family become a joke. I previously thought that even though your affection for the Ning family was superficial, there was at least some sincerity. And given how closely your interests are tied to the Ning family, I didn't think you'd publicly undermine them like this."

Ning Zeshu imitated Ning Yichu's gesture, also tilting his head. He smiled and said, "Xiao Chu, you might not believe it, but I'll be honest too. In the Ning family, I like you the most. You've changed so much recently, throwing both the Ning and He families into chaos. Of course, I have to cooperate with you. Since you're no longer holding back, why should I keep pretending? Isn't that good? Xiao Chu... we're the same."

He Shixia had been frowning since earlier. Without hesitation, he was the first to retort, "You and Ah-Ning are not the same. A bully dreaming of being chummy with his victim is called shameless, wishful thinking."

Hearing this, Ning Zeshu kept his eyes on Ning Yichu. "Is that so? Does Xiao Chu want to listen to Young Master He, the Sixth?"

Ning Yichu met his gaze coldly. "How about we start an online poll and let the gossip-loving netizens decide?"

Ning Zeshu smiled and closed his mouth.

"What an unnerving feeling..."

"It's like affection with a nasty edge..."

"Since when can liking be divided into good and malicious? He Shixia's wording is more straightforward—that's called bullying, thank you."

He Shixia looked worriedly at Ning Yichu, who was clearly disgusted by Ning Zeshu. "Ah-Ning..."

"You shut up too," Ning Yichu said.

Then he suddenly laughed again and looked at Shen Zhou, who was trying to minimize his presence. "Speaking of which, the Ning family should actually thank Teacher Shen Zhou."

"Uh... middle-aged couples who have lost their feelings, thank Shen Zhou for offering himself to add excitement to the couple, thus stabilizing the marriage in an unconventional way...?"

"Even though Shen Zhou isn't saying anything, Ning Yichu clearly has no intention of letting him off."

"If Ning Yichu lets Shen Zhou go, his two teammates won't. Ji Tianfeng and Zheng Gu are clearly trying to drag Shen Zhou down with them now."

"They're all terrible; let them sink together. Honestly, I don't even want to see them on the livestream anymore."

"The Ning family has been quite enthusiastic about arranged marriages in recent years," Ning Yichu counted off. "The early marriage alliance with the He family, which I intercepted, goes without saying. Fifth Aunt and the young master of the Gu family already held an engagement banquet, but unfortunately, the Gu family young master refused to tolerate Fifth Aunt having someone else in her heart, so the engagement was canceled... Fortunately, with Teacher Shen Zhou as the link, the Ning and Xu families probably won't fall out. The marriage alliance should continue. The Ning family should indeed thank Teacher Shen Zhou, right?"

Ning Yichu finally directed his question to the only proper Ning family member present, Ning Zeshu.

Ning Zeshu smiled. "I don't care about the relationship with the Xu family, but how is this connected to Shen Zhou?"

Ji Tianfeng's mind worked unusually fast for once. "Introduction! That thing... didn't they just say that old customers would introduce new clients to Shen Zhou? Did your Ning family's second aunt and her husband, after using Shen Zhou, introduce him to someone from the Xu family? The Ning family got leverage over the Xu family... Your wealthy families are really complicated."

"Uh, I agree with Ji Tianfeng's last sentence."

"So dirty..."

"Speaking of which, can wealthy families' arranged marriages not tolerate having someone else in your heart? I thought these things were an unspoken rule to each playing around outside. Did I read too many novels...?"

"Judging by Ning Yichu's speaking style, I guess the real situation isn't that simple. Probably, it was made public and caused a scene. If the Gu family continued the engagement, it would be very embarrassing, so they canceled it."

"The age gap is quite big, right? If Ning Zeshu doesn't have two fifth aunts, then the one being talked about now is Ning Anxia, the boss of Xiazhi Entertainment. She's appeared before and seems to be only in her thirties."

"It looks like Ning Yichu knows a lot of gossip about wealthy families. Teacher, could you be more generous and share more!"

"Ji Tianfeng really wants to crush Shen Zhou; he's so eager."

Ning Yichu was highly amused. "Pretty much, but it's the opposite. It was the eldest couple of the Xu family who introduced Shen Zhou to the second couple of the Ning family. But in any case, they both have leverage over each other's less-than-presentable affairs."

Zheng Gu made a sarcastic remark about Shen Zhou: "Oh, so you've latched onto more than one wealthy couple? So it turns out you're the best-connected one in our group, Teacher Shen."

Shen Zhou remained stubbornly silent.

Ning Yichu answered for him: "Teacher Zheng Gu, no need to be envious. Actually, that eldest couple of the Xu family, you all kind of know them. In fact, Teacher Zheng Gu might be closer to them."

Shen Zhou secretly looked up. Zheng Gu jumped up and said, "Ning Yichu, what are you trying to say now! Didn't you say there was nothing else to talk about! Are you trying to slander me by saying I sold myself like Shen Zhou?!"

"Broadly speaking, you did indeed sell yourself to Tao Jin..." Ning Yichu leaned on the dining table, propping his chin up with a smile. "Who is the youngest son of the eldest couple of the Xu family."

Shen Zhou suddenly lifted his entire head, and everyone else widened their eyes in shock.

Zheng Gu was incredulous: "What? Tao Jin... doesn't have the surname Xu..."

Shen Zhou, also too shocked, finally spoke up hastily: "The Xu couple, one has the surname Xu, the other Liu. Neither is Tao..."

"Mrs. Liu's mother has the surname Tao. Tao Jin took his maternal grandmother's surname," Ning Yichu leisurely shared.

"Oh my god, does this count as everything connecting...?"

"Shen Zhou's regular customers include a Xu couple. The Xu couple are Tao Jin's biological parents. The Xu couple also introduced Shen Zhou to a Ning couple, Ning Zeshu's second aunt and her husband. And the Ning and Xu families originally planned a marriage alliance."

"That alliance is definitely not happening now. What was secretly going on behind the scenes wasn't exposed before, but now it's been brought to light. If the two families still proceed with the marriage alliance, their reputations in their circle would be thoroughly tarnished together, right?"

"Uh, so Ning Yichu has been circling around and finally revealed his goal—to ensure the Ning-Xu marriage alliance doesn't happen?"

"Then there was no need to go around in such circles; just bringing up Shen Zhou's matter would have been enough."

"Ning Yichu is clearly hitting multiple birds with one stone. Alien's dirty laundry is aired, a few hypocritical and sinister scoundrels are exposed, everyone gets their fill of gossip, and Ning Yichu himself seemed to be having a blast while sharing those tidbits. Now, with these high-society secrets spilled live on stream, the Ning family's new marriage alliance is pretty much impossible, and their reputation takes another hit. Every single point probably aligns perfectly with Ning Yichu's agenda."

"The Ning family really did a terrible job raising A Ning. They deserve this payback."

Shen Zhou murmured, "The Xu couple are Tao Jin's parents... I truly didn't know that. Otherwise, I... no matter how desperate for money I was, I wouldn't have taken clients who were a teammate's parents..."

He might not mean the last part, but Ning Yichu could confirm the first half—Shen Zhou genuinely hadn't known about Tao Jin's biological relationship with the Xu couple before this.

Although Alien now seems like just transient guests on the show, unrelated to the original novel's plot revolving around the protagonist Ning Zeshu, in the original storyline, this boy band actually had more plot relevance later.

Ning Yichu managed to piece together so much clear information about Alien's five members by combining the original plot with memories from his previous life during the program.

In the original novel, the perspective was from high society—on the Xu family's side, Tao Jin was discovered cross-dressing by his cousin, which led to his relationship with Zheng Gu being exposed. Seeing Tao Jin as a competitor for the family fortune, the cousin seized this juicy secret and publicized it widely, making it known in both elite and entertainment circles.

To cover his own ass, Zheng Gu issued a statement claiming that while he did hide a relationship from fans, he had no idea his "girlfriend" was a cross-dressing deceiver, let alone that this deceiver was his teammate Tao Jin.

Zheng Gu even put on a tearful performance, saying he truly loved his "girlfriend," had previously shown concern for Tao Jin who rarely participated in group activities, but never imagined Tao Jin and the "girlfriend" were the same person. He felt completely conned and heartbroken, vowing to focus solely on his career and never date again.

After several such statements, Zheng Gu successfully gained forgiveness and even sympathy from most fans.

Tao Jin, however, had his career ruined, his relationship ended, and became a laughingstock both inside and outside his family. At that time, unaware that Zheng Gu had been in on it all along, Tao Jin felt immense guilt toward Zheng Gu. Under multiple pressures, Tao Jin chose suicide.

At this point in the plot, the protagonist Ning Zeshu entered the scene—by then, the Xu and Ning families were engaged in a marriage alliance, and Ning Zeshu had some interactions with Tao Jin. Ning Zeshu happened to step in and stop Tao Jin's suicide attempt.

Through Ning Zeshu's patient guidance, Tao Jin abandoned suicide, and Ning Zeshu even helped him analyze the suspicious points in those events.

Then, in the original plot, Ning Zeshu helped Tao Jin get the truth out of the "master," and through his fifth aunt Ning Anxia's Xiazhi Entertainment, made a public statement, letting the industry know that Zheng Gu had been aware all along that his "girlfriend" was Tao Jin—he played along to milk Tao Jin for money and even profited by arranging a ghost marriage using his sister's ashes.

After Zheng Gu's downfall, he dragged his teammates down with him, exposing incidents like "Shen Zhou saw Ji Tianfeng putting a snake in Han Wushuang's bed but didn't stop it; Han Wushuang was persecuted by Ji Tianfeng," and "Han Wushuang took revenge with a corpse oil lipstick, which Ji Tianfeng continued using even after suspecting its nature."

Subsequently, it was revealed that Ji Tianfeng wasn't actually using corpse oil lipstick, and Han Wushuang hadn't just tricked him with the lipstick but also swindled money... Many shady deeds emerged in the chain reaction of teammates tearing each other apart.

During this chaotic time, Shen Zhou, still desperate for money, took a booking.

That time, he was hired by two couples—the Ning family's second son and his wife, and the Xu family's eldest son and his wife. The four wanted a group session, but Shen Zhou's body couldn't take it; he went into shock and was rushed to the hospital. During the process, he was photographed by paparazzi who had been tailing him, leading to the whole thing being exposed.

Afterwards, as the Alien boy band fell into disrepute, the protagonist Ning Zeshu rose to stardom in the entertainment industry, his fame soaring—this laid the groundwork for his later multi-faceted development and entry into acting.

Additionally, Ning Zeshu gained the emotional transference of the Xu family's young master, Tao Jin.

Meanwhile, the Xu family's eldest son and his wife, utterly humiliated by the scandalous gossip, decided to move abroad. Before leaving, while settling their assets, they suddenly realized their past neglect of their youngest son and, wanting to make amends, entrusted the bulk of their property to Tao Jin for management. This included some shares and influence the Xu family held on the board of Kangning Grand Hotel.

To express his regard for Ning Zeshu, Tao Jin directly gifted these shares to him, thus opening the first door for Ning Zeshu to join Kangning's board. Before that, no matter how much the Ning family claimed to favor Ning Zeshu, they hadn't given him actual shares.

Therefore, the members of Alien were closely connected to the protagonist Ning Zeshu in the original plot.

However, that was in the original storyline.

In this lifetime, before that time arrived, all the dirty secrets of Alien's members were exposed by Ning Yichu in one go, leaving Ning Zeshu no room to maneuver.

In other words, not only is the Ning-Xu marriage alliance now impossible, but Ning Zeshu also lost the chance to receive the shares Tao Jin would have handed over.

While sharing gossip and enjoying the spectacle, Ning Yichu is also quite looking forward to the future developments.

—Ning Zeshu probably hasn't considered entering the entertainment industry yet, so he isn't actively protecting his image on the live stream. And with this case that would have earned Ning Zeshu rave reviews gone, even if Ning Zeshu still wants to develop in entertainment later, he likely won't have the smooth sailing he did in the original plot.

Moreover, without Tao Jin's contribution in this lifetime, how will Ning Zeshu manage to join Kangning's board of directors?

Ning Yichu is waiting to see what happens.

...

Upon learning that Tao Jin's parents were Shen Zhou's regular clients, Ji Tianfeng, Zheng Gu, and Shen Zhou exchanged a few more sarcastic barbs. They only stopped when the program crew brought lunch, seizing the chance to call a truce.

After a seemingly peaceful lunch, the program director, fearing another gossip bomb might derail the schedule, hastily announced the next arrangements.

"Please, esteemed guests, head to the seaside game point marked as 1 on the map," the director explained, holding up a map. "Since it's the first day and everyone is still adjusting, we've planned some relatively light and common games."

"For example, for the rest of this afternoon at the seaside game point, you'll play a simple game of 'Pictionary.' However, the brushes will be your fingers, and the drawing boards will be the sandy beach. Please form pairs yourselves. Staff will be on hand to keep score. After the game time ends, rankings will be based on total scores, determining the order in which guests can select ingredients for tonight's dinner."

After the director's explanation, the guests could set off.

Ning Zeshu suddenly remarked, "Xiao Chu is an art major with excellent drawing skills. Teaming up with him would be quite advantageous."

Ning Yichu couldn't be bothered to respond.

Zheng Gu, now thoroughly embracing a "the damage is done" attitude, felt there was no need to fear offending Ning Yichu anymore. Of course, he should vent as much as possible while he could still speak publicly—it would be even better if he could make Ning Yichu lose face once!