Chapter 55: The Nanny’s Public Smear
In the video, Gu Tang struggled hard, clearly trying to pull his leg free.
His little face was red from exertion, and as he strained, he said, “Auntie, trying to scam me won’t help. I’m just a poor student…”
The barrage instantly filled with laughter.
[Let me tell you a joke: Young Master Gu says he’s a poor student. Then what am I?]
[Gu Corporation? Is it the Gu Corporation I’m thinking of? Tangtang is the Gu family’s young master?! Did I miss something?!]
[In the backstage video from last night’s film celebration banquet, go straight to the 1:45:00 mark. Best Actress Shen personally said, “Gu Tang is a child of the Gu family.”]
[Ahhh, my wife is actually so rich!]
[Rich or not, scamming still shouldn’t be tolerated! Tangtang did the right thing. Don’t bother with this woman!]
[I won’t scam him, but can I hug his leg just once? Slurp slurp…]
The netizens and fans were all having a great time. Only Gu Tang wore a look of pure suffering.
The other party was holding him too tightly, as if she wanted to twist his leg right off his body.
Gu Tang’s delicate brows knitted together, but he still remained polite. “If you have something to say, say it properly. Please let go.”
The woman kept her head lowered and said nothing.
She only clung to his leg desperately, with absolutely no intention of loosening her grip.
Suddenly, Gu Tang felt a slight chill at his waist.
His pupils shrank, and he hurriedly grabbed his waistband. “Let go!”
The woman hugged him even tighter, using her actions to tell him: No!
Gu Tang nervously clutched his pants, his face full of horror, and shouted, “Let go—”
When she still did not move, he finally cried out with a flushed face, “M-my pants are going to fall down!”
[Hahahaha! His momentum is completely gone. Losing your pants is such a social death moment!]
[Tangtang looks so scared. Did he drop his pants before or something? Hahaha!]
[Just pull them off tonight. I’d love to see my wife’s butt!]
Gu Qinian, who was watching the video: “…”
His finger moved, and he reported that last comment.
Gu Tang’s reaction made him think of those little bear-print underpants floating on the surface of the swimming pool many years ago.
From that time on, Gu Tang had developed a psychological shadow toward overly loose pants. Even with school uniform pants, he had the housekeeper tighten the waistband for him.
Luckily…
Otherwise, this woman really might have yanked them down.
Still clinging to Gu Tang’s leg, the woman said gloomily, “I haven’t eaten for three days in order to find you…”
Gu Tang replied, “You don’t look that weak to me.”
[Hahaha! Tangtang: You’re lying to me!]
[So she really is here to scam him? I thought there was some juicy drama!]
[I don’t think it’s that simple. Keep watching!]
Gu Qinian glanced at the barrage and continued watching the video.
Seeing that Gu Tang was not responding, the woman spoke again in a resentful tone. “Do you really not remember me? Do you truly not have the slightest impression of me?”
[Here it comes! The gossip is here!]
[Other celebrities get asked this by young girls. How come when it gets to our Tangtang, the whole vibe is so different?]
[Who even is this auntie? She’s been hugging his leg for way too long. If the genders were reversed, this would be sexual harassment!]
Gu Tang stared at the woman’s figure and the top of her head for a while. She did seem vaguely familiar, so he hesitated and said, “If I’d met you before, I should remember. I actually have a pretty good memory.”
[As expected of Tangtang. He’s actually chatting with her now?]
[When Tangtang said he had a good memory, he even puffed out his chest a little, hahaha!]
[Tangtang: Proud!]
Still tugging at his pants for dear life, afraid they might get pulled down, Gu Tang said anxiously, “At least raise your head so I can take a look.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the woman suddenly lifted her head.
Her messy hair fell away, revealing an aged and swollen face.
Gu Tang was startled.
The woman spoke in a mournful, seemingly agonized voice: “I am your mo—”
Before she could finish even that blurred syllable, Gu Tang cut her off.
“Wang Sue, the nanny?!”
Gu Tang looked as if he had seen a ghost, his voice shooting upward.
On the other side of the screen, Gu Qinian narrowed his eyes slightly.
Counting the days, this woman had already been released from prison years ago. She had been quiet for so long, so why had she suddenly come looking for Gu Tang now?
The barrage exploded like frogs croaking in a melon patch, everyone discussing wildly:
[That woman sounded like she was trying to say “mom” just now, but Tangtang said she’s the nanny. There’s drama here!]
[What’s going on? Isn’t Tangtang the young master of the Gu family?]
[Insider gossip! I heard from people at Jiang City No. 1 High School that Young Master Gu is their student council president. Gu Tang seems to be just the adopted son, but the relationship between the two is complicated, hard to explain!]
For a brief instant, surprise flashed across Wang Sue’s face.
She had originally counted on Gu Tang not remembering her. After all, he had only been a little over one year old at the time. What could a baby that young possibly remember?
If he could not remember, then she would have plenty of room to make things up.
Who would have thought that not only did this little brat remember, he could even blurt out her full name in one go!
Wang Sue struggled to hide the panic in her heart. “How do you know that?”
Gu Tang looked baffled. “Weren’t you the one asking whether I recognized you?”
“I said I recognize you, and now you’re asking how I know.”
“So do you want me to recognize you, or not?”
The barrage was dying of laughter.
[The way my wife nags on and on is so cute! I’m taking him home!]
Gu Qinian reported that one too without hesitation.
On the screen, Wang Sue watched Gu Tang’s expression and carefully probed, “At the time, you were only a little over one year old…”
Most children only begin forming coherent thoughts and memories around the age of three.
But there are always exceptional children.
If Gu Tang still remembered what happened back then, that would be a problem. It would be much harder for her to keep acting.
Through the screen, Gu Qinian stared coldly as the former vicious nanny’s expression changed again and again.
At that moment, Gu Tang opened his mouth.
“Don’t worry. Even if you turned to ashes, I’d still recognize you.”
Wang Sue: “???”
[Hahahaha! Wife, where are your manners?]
[It’s obvious. My baby really hates this old hag!]
[But this woman said she’s his mother. Let’s keep watching…]
Then Gu Tang beamed brightly. “When I was little, Grandma often used your photo as a mask and taught us how to guard against kidnapping.”
Wang Sue: “…”
Gu Qinian also had a deep impression of that.
After Wang Sue was arrested, the Gu family’s security was upgraded across the board. But Su Mei believed that children’s self-protection awareness was even more important, so she often played with the children happily, then suddenly turned around wearing Wang Sue’s face as a mask and started chasing the little ones all over the house.
While chasing them, she would say, “The child-snatcher is here! Any little brats who get caught will have their tiny hands and tiny feet eaten up!”
Because of that, both he and Gu Tang had practically developed PTSD toward Wang Sue’s face.
The barrage also erupted with laughter.
[Hahaha! The Gu family really knows how to have fun!]
[Looks like this nanny definitely isn’t a good person!]
[Does the nanny have a history of kidnapping children or something?]
In the video, Wang Sue still tried to quibble. “That was all a misunderstanding back then. I’m your mother…”
Gu Tang interrupted her. “Did you give birth to me?”
If Wang Sue dared to say yes, he would immediately go do a paternity test.
He would expose her on the spot!
But Wang Sue had come prepared and had obviously thought of this as well. She shook her head.
Gu Tang snorted. “Did you raise me?”
Wang Sue shook her head again.
Gu Tang finally rescued his leg and yanked his pants high up. “If you neither gave birth to me nor raised me, then what kind of mother are you?”
He kindly pointed her in a direction. “Take Bus No. 25 from the stop outside the school gate, ride two stops, and when you get off, there’s the psychiatric hospital. Their treatment success rate for hallucinations and delusional disorder is very high.”
[Tangtang: I’m civilized. I’m not calling you insane.]
[He even gave you directions. Are you still planning to ask for medical fees too?]
[My blind guess is the nanny came to ask for money, but… this is it?]
Sure enough.
After Gu Tang said that, Wang Sue squeezed out two lines of tears.
Then she began turning black into white.
“I’m your foster mother. You were in poor health when you were little, and I was poor. I couldn’t afford expensive formula for you, so I had no choice but to take you to the Gu family and try to let you drink what their young master had left over…”
At this point, Wang Sue wiped away her tears and started beating her chest and stamping her feet. “I didn’t understand anything. I only wanted to keep you alive!”
“The only reason I suffered was because I was legally ignorant!”
“The Gu family are all educated people. They knew that stealing a little food wouldn’t get much punishment, maybe just a bit of criticism. But once they found out you were a child I had bought, they seized on that point and sent me to prison, separating our mother and son!”
“Baby, Mommy missed you so much…”
As she spoke, she reached out toward Gu Tang.
Afraid that she was about to yank at his pants again, Gu Tang quickly jumped backward.
He dodged her, but the direction of the barrage changed.
[The Gu family is pretty ruthless too. No surprise from old capitalists. To get someone sent to prison, they’ll stop at nothing.]
[What are you talking about up there? She trafficked a child! If she bought a child, then of course she should go to prison. What’s wrong with that?]
[People who haven’t studied much really don’t understand the law. She made a mistake in confusion, but she treated Tangtang pretty well, and she’s old now. She looks so pitiful…]
[Then why don’t you take her home and let her sit on your altar?]
[Watch your mouth!]
[I’m not as saintly as you!]
The barrage, which had originally been full of laughter, suddenly turned into a fight.
Seeing this, Gu Qinian turned off the video, quickly put on his coat, threw things into his suitcase, grabbed his passport, and even found time to call his father.
The moment Gu Quan picked up, he heard four cold words from his son—
“I’m going back to China.”
Time rewound to when the video had happened.
Wang Sue was still crying and sobbing as she said, “Baby, you have no idea how much I missed you while I was in prison. Every day, your mother could only fall asleep by thinking of you. I even made little clothes for you…”
She knew people were filming, so the more she said, and the more detailed she made it, the more believable it would seem.
Public opinion would also tilt further in her favor.
And just as Wang Sue expected, that was exactly what happened.
A group of professional paid commenters appeared in the barrage, disguising themselves as ordinary netizens and steering the conversation while coordinating with her.
[So pitiful. What’s wrong with a mother missing her child?]
[A foster mother is even more touching. To love a child who isn’t even related to her by blood like that.]
[If you ask me, the Gu family is the real trash! They let your formula go to waste, so wouldn’t a little compensation have settled it? Instead they sent her to prison. Capital really is something else!]
[But she trafficked a child. Wake up, all of you…]
A few rational netizens tried to speak up, but they were quickly drowned out by the paid commenters.
Before long, the barrage had become almost entirely one-sided in Wang Sue’s favor, and some people even began hurling insinuating insults at Gu Tang.
[Could Tangtang be rejecting his mother because he despises poverty and worships wealth?]
[Who would willingly give up the identity of the Gu family’s young master?]
[A person’s acting isn’t necessarily the same as their character. Let’s just watch. I hope Little Ninth doesn’t disappoint us.]
As Gu Tang watched the crocodile tears flowing from the face of his former wicked nanny, all he felt was disgust.
In the plot of the original book, after Young Master Gu had been brought back to the Gu family, Wang Sue had also come looking for him in just this hypocritical way.
What Wang Sue wanted was to exploit an information gap.
She counted on Young Master Gu having no memory of his early childhood, then showed up and said she was his foster mother. She claimed that mother and child had been separated by accident, which was why he had ended up in the orphanage.
The book described how Wang Sue had cried and wailed and beat her chest just like this, using tears to deceive Young Master Gu into trusting her.
At that time, Gu Qinian had only just returned to the Gu family. Having always lived a hard life, he naturally felt out of place in the wealthy Gu household, while the fake young master deliberately acted especially close with the Gu elders.
Father and Mother Gu had never noticed the fake young master’s intentions. They simply did not know how to get along with their biological son who had only just come home, so they wanted to let Young Master Gu adapt little by little.
It was like when someone brings home a kitten for the first time—they let it roam freely around the house, hoping it will adjust quickly.
But Father and Mother Gu had overlooked one thing.
People compare.
Little Gu Qinian saw that the fake young master interacted so naturally with his parents, and this only made him feel even less able to fit in.
With his mentality on the verge of collapse, Wang Sue’s sudden appearance felt like a lifeline.
In the original book, Gu Qinian used his allowance to rent Wang Sue a fairly decent place outside. He himself lived frugally at school, all just to let his “foster mother” live a slightly better life.
But Wang Sue’s husband was addicted to gambling and constantly came back demanding money.
Whenever Wang Sue asked, Gu Qinian gave it to her.
The expenses became so great that the fake young master was able to sow discord, and even when Father and Mother Gu questioned him, Gu Qinian did not care.
Unfortunately, what Young Master Gu in the book received in return for his sincerity was betrayal.
One day, Wang Sue and her husband argued over money and began talking about how they had switched the children back then. Young Master Gu, who had come to visit his “foster mother,” heard the entire conversation.
Afterward, Gu Qinian reported Wang Sue, and the Gu family sued the nanny for fraud.
But from then on, Young Master Gu’s heart grew even colder. No one could get close to him anymore, and later, when he left the country in complete disillusionment, this incident was at least partly related.
Although the current plotline had changed.
Young Master Gu had already gone abroad, and Wang Sue’s harassment target had become him instead.
Just thinking about it made Gu Tang furious.
No one was allowed to bully his Nian-Nian like that.
Not even inside a book!
Gu Tang lifted his eyes and looked around. There were no fewer than dozens of phones filming him.
Human beings are naturally drawn to spectacle, and now that smartphones are everywhere, people often say, “Don’t panic when something happens—film it first.”
But Gu Tang noticed that among those recording, two or three of them clearly were not ordinary passersby.
They looked more like professional paparazzi.
Paparazzi do not wear their profession on their faces.
But they were holding professional camera equipment instead of phones, and they were very good at squeezing through crowds and slipping into openings.
Wang Sue definitely would not have been able to hire professional paparazzi like these.
Nor was she likely to understand how to stir up media momentum.
Gu Tang stared thoughtfully at the woman in front of him, crying with snot and tears all over her face.
Could it be that someone was backing Wang Sue from behind?
[Host, then we absolutely can’t alert the enemy!]
That was exactly what Gu Tang had in mind. “Just watch me.”
Wang Sue still sat on the ground, sobbing as she told Gu Tang how much she had missed him in prison.
Gu Tang smiled sweetly. “You missed me that much?”
Wang Sue wiped away her tears and nodded.
Gu Tang asked, “Then after you got out of prison, why didn’t you come looking for me? You’ve been out for quite a few years already, haven’t you?”
Wang Sue’s nodding froze.
But she reacted quickly and said, “I did look for you. The Gu family wouldn’t allow it!”
Gu Tang slowly drew out an “Mm” and said, “If the Gu family wouldn’t allow it, then you just stopped coming. Your longing is really quite shallow.”
For a moment, Wang Sue had no idea how to answer.
The script she had been given had not included any such question.
She had not expected this little brat to be so hard to deal with!
Wang Sue’s eyes shifted as she tried once more to grab onto Gu Tang’s leg, planning to muddle through by throwing a tantrum and acting shamelessly.
But Gu Tang did not give her the chance.
He dodged away very nimbly.
By this time, more students were arriving at the school gate. Some well-meaning classmates had probably already reported the situation to the student council.
Song Chen and Fang Chi came out with student council members and security guards and drove Wang Sue away.
Gu Tang deliberately asked the system, “Did you get a clear look?”
[Host, your estimate was right! Three people carrying DSLR cameras left together with Wang Sue!]
The system told Gu Tang where those three had been standing in the crowd earlier.
“Good.”
Gu Tang had always had excellent dynamic vision and a strong memory for images.
The moment he returned to the classroom, he acted like a human camera, sketching quick portraits of the three people and sending them to Gu Lin.
With his uncle’s connections in the industry, finding out who was behind those three should not be difficult.
After finishing all that, Gu Tang tossed the osmanthus sachet he had made into Young Master Gu’s desk drawer, steadied himself, and calmly went to class.
There was still an English quiz today!
The experimental class was insanely competitive.
Young Master Gu had tricked him into entering it, then run off to Country S himself. Who knew when he would come back and suffer through the competition with him again?
—
As expected, someone was manipulating public opinion, and the situation fermented at astonishing speed.
By the time lunch break had just passed, when Gu Tang walked around campus, he could already feel strange looks being cast at him from all around.
His phone suddenly rang once.
He pulled it out and saw that he had received the Nth anonymous message.
[You must be enjoying yourself in the Gu family, right? When you think of your impoverished foster mother, can you still sleep soundly?!]
Gu Tang did not even blink. He simply forwarded the anonymous message to Gu Lin.
This could all be used as evidence later.
His uncle would investigate it.
Gu Tang trusted his family deeply and was not affected by those strange looks or the harassing messages.
After finishing the English quiz, he even felt he had done pretty well.
He picked up his schoolbag and was about to leave his seat when Zhu Xu ran over like a gust of wind, his expression anxious.
“Tangtang, look at the trending searches!”
Gu Tang: “?”
He opened them and—good grief.
Related topics had occupied half of the trending list and even swept the top three—
#The Gu Family Stole A Child#
#Ninth Prince Abandons His Mother#
#Persona Collapses In Seconds Despises The Poor Loves The Rich#
…
A wealthy family like the Gu family usually maintained a high degree of mystery.
Once any scandal came out, the heat was no less than entertainment gossip—if anything, even higher.
On top of that, someone had deliberately paid to push the trends, clearly spending a fortune to make trouble.
Trending topics generally would not include a minor’s real name, but with one glance, Gu Tang could see that although none of the tags mentioned him directly, every single one of them pointed straight at him.
He randomly opened one of the trending topics.
To his surprise, one of the top posts was actually an interview video with Wang Sue.
In the video, Wang Sue still claimed to be his foster mother, but her story had changed slightly from the morning.
“First, I want to make a self-criticism to everyone. I was wrong. I didn’t understand the law. Buying a child is illegal.”
“But I truly did endure countless hardships to raise Gu Tang. I only took him to the Gu family because I wanted him to have a little of the formula left over by the Gu family’s young master.”
“Rich people waste things. A tiny can of formula costs several thousand yuan, and even before it expires, they’ll just throw it away. And they wouldn’t let me take it, so I had no choice but to secretly carry the child there.”
“But how could I have known that after Gu Tang played at the Gu family’s house, he would refuse to come home with me? He cried and made such a fuss that the Gu family discovered us, and that’s how I ended up in prison for several years…”
In every word and phrase, Wang Sue painted herself as a victim who was “unforgivable by law, but understandable in emotion.”
By leaning on the idea of “the wastefulness of the rich,” she tried to provoke class resentment between rich and poor in order to smear the Gu family.
She even dragged infant Gu Tang through the mud as well.
The talking points were clear and organized at a glance. There was no way Wang Sue could have written them herself.
But once the paid commenters joined in, it became very difficult for ordinary bystanders coming to enjoy the drama to hold their ground. Public opinion quickly tilted one-sidedly.
[Another day of being fooled by a pretty face. I never expected Gu Tang to be this kind of person who despises poverty and worships wealth!]
[I’ll just assume I was blind.]
[Does this break the world record for the fastest image collapse ever?]
[Everyone calm down. How old was Tangtang when he arrived at the Gu family? A child that young wouldn’t even understand wealth or poverty.]
Now and then, a rational person would speak up, but they were quickly attacked.
[How much did the Gu family pay you to post that whitewashing comment? Share the money with us too!]
[Thousands-of-yuan formula getting poured away like water. That kind of small change is nothing to them.]
[Don’t underestimate the evil children are born with! Once he tasted a good life, how could he possibly be willing to go back and live a hard life with his mother?]
Some of Gu Tang’s fans also held the line, trying their best to defend Little Ninth’s fan forum and coming into the public square to speak up for him.
[This woman is clearly playing emotional blackmail! Don’t be fooled, everyone!]
But sadly—there were too many paid commenters and too many spectators. That small group of Gu Tang’s fans threw their comments into the vast ocean of replies, and it was no more than a drop in the bucket.
Aside from those with their own agendas, most gossip-hungry onlookers only cared about one thing:
—After causing such a huge public opinion disaster and even affecting the stock price, would the Gu family still keep Gu Tang?
And right at that moment—the official account of Gu Group released an announcement: regarding the online public opinion, a press conference would be held tonight at 7:00 PM.
It was as if a single stone had stirred a thousand waves.
The netizens instantly got excited. “It’s happening, it’s happening! They might be about to cut ties!”
At the same time, Gu Lin was so busy he could barely keep up.
“Damn it! If we weren’t trying to fish for the bigger catch, I’d have suppressed every single one of those trending topics!”
Ever since he was young, Second Young Master Gu had been taught to be courteous and proper, but now even he could not stop cursing.
Fortunately, he was alone in the office.
Seeing those awful comments insulting his precious little cub, Gu Lin’s heart ached terribly.
This was his family’s perfectly obedient, perfectly lovable little child!
A child who had been sensible and well-behaved from the time he was little, the treasured darling the whole family had wanted to hold in their palms and cherish.
Damn it—reduced to this by those people!
The moment he saw the trending topics, Gu Lin had already prepared to throw money at the problem and suppress public opinion.
But Gu Tang had sent him the sketches of the people involved, and in that soft, sweet voice of his, with his usual slow and gentle tone, had said, “Uncle, don’t be angry. The other side wants us to spend money, so we absolutely shouldn’t. Let them spend it instead. Hiring paid commenters isn’t cheap. We’re fishing for a bigger fish.”
Gu Lin took a deep breath.
He had lived up to expectations.
He found it out!
That investor who had been thrown out of the celebration banquet knew that all his future paths had been blocked, so while he still had a little ability left, he went around desperately searching for a weakness in the Gu family.
And he really did find one—nanny Wang Sue. After being released from prison, Wang Sue had fallen into poverty, so the two of them hit it off immediately and colluded together.
They wanted to use this wave of hype to retaliate against the Gu family.
They were counting on the family spending money to settle it. And even if that did not happen, simply using the Gu family to stir up a huge news story would still bring them traffic.
And these days, traffic means money.
Who knows—maybe they could even turn their lives around with it.
“In your dreams!”
Gu Lin kicked open his boss’s chair with one foot. “My good little cub is right. We absolutely will not give them what they want!”
The angrier he got, the more he suddenly started to laugh.
He pulled the boss’s chair back over and dropped into it.
“Good…”
“This wave only proves that Little Ninth is genuinely popular. So many people are paying attention to my little cub, and the kid even has acting talent. Heh…”
From now on, his little nephew was going to have no end of trouble.
Just as Gu Lin was about to catch his breath, the office door was kicked open by a long leg.
Inside the company, Gu Lin had a habit of letting loose, so he turned around and cursed immediately, “Are you fucking insane?!”
Then he saw it was Yu Yang.
Gu Lin frowned. “What are you doing here?”
Without saying a word, Yu Yang charged forward and trapped him in the boss’s chair with both arms. “Gu Tang isn’t the Gu family’s biological child? He was adopted?”
Seeing the bloodshot eyes and the veins bulging on the man’s neck, Gu Lin’s frown deepened. “Did you take your medication? Are you having another episode?”
“Is he or not?!”
Yu Yang completely shed his usual gentlemanly fake smile, roaring in urgency and agitation.
Gu Lin had personally suffered before and knew perfectly well that there was no reasoning with this mad dog when he was in one of his episodes. He shoved him away and stood up to look for medicine.
Yu Yang had gone crazy in this office before, leaving Gu Lin unable to walk properly for two or three days, which was why he had specifically kept a bottle of medicine in the drawer.
But the moment he got to his feet, he was pinned face-down onto the wide boss’s desk from behind.
His chest pressed against the cold tabletop, and remembering what had happened on this desk last time, Old Man Gu Lin’s face flushed red.
“Smack—!”
The next second, his backside was slapped.
“Are you going to talk or not?”
When Yu Yang went crazy, he absolutely did not care about anyone else’s life or death. Seeing him raise his hand again, Gu Lin actually did not think it hurt that much, but he was so mortified his face burned. He lifted his foot to kick him. “Our good little cub was adopted! Satisfied now?! Didn’t I tell you that already?”
As soon as he said it, the force behind him disappeared.
Gu Lin quickly turned and shoved Yu Yang away. “Psycho!”
Leaning against the wall, Yu Yang panted heavily and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. “He… he…”
Gu Lin finally managed to dig out the medicine.
Then he heard Yu Yang mutter, “He might be my younger brother…”
***
Author’s Note:
Uncle (rubbing his butt): “You’re looking for your brother, so why are you hitting me?!”
