The Young man in Online Romance (17): 

Elder Zhou also used a phone, but because of his age, he didn’t like typing, so all the messages he sent to Zhou Lin were voice messages.

Zhou Lin played his grandfather’s voice message several times, still finding it hard to believe.

Could it be that his grandfather, like Zhou Qinghao, had been put under Gu Juntian’s spell?

Or was it that his grandfather actually didn’t care much about Zhou Qinghao and felt it didn’t matter who he dated?

Or maybe there was some other reason?

Just as Zhou Lin was thinking about this, he noticed that the post Little Lamb had made had already been deleted.

This was definitely Zhou Qinghao getting someone to delete it. Zhou Qinghao acted so fast!

But so what if Zhou Qinghao deleted the post? He could still post it again, even outside of the Xiuxian forum.

Zhou Lin made a phone call to confirm and learned that it was indeed Zhou Qinghao who had the post deleted. He sneered.

This time, Zhou Qinghao had really lost face!

Now, everyone in the company knew what kind of person his partner was.

He must be feeling terrible.

At this moment, however, Zhou Qinghao wasn’t feeling bad at all.

Although the fact that his own taste was so strange had dealt him a small blow, the fact that Gu Juntian liked him still filled him with joy.

It was just that now he had to switch mental gears while chatting with Gu Juntian, which felt a little strange.

See, he had just finished calling him “Brother Tian” and immediately switched to speaking as President Wang, discussing cooperation with the state on behalf of “Effort to Fill the Pit.”

The officials wanted “Effort to Fill the Pit” to work at a state research institute.

Gu Juntian agreed but said he wanted to talk to the officials in person.

The older man beside Zhou Qinghao immediately called Gu Juntian, and the two sides started talking.

He glanced at Zhou Qinghao and put the call on speaker.

Gu Juntian agreed to live at the research institute but had some conditions — for example, if he achieved results, the state had to pay him; they couldn’t stop him from playing games; and they had to protect Zhou Qinghao.

Finally, Gu Juntian said, “I also want a team that can help me lose weight and get in shape. I’m dieting right now, so I want someone to prepare nutritious meals and guide me in fitness.”

The officials agreed to all of it.

If Gu Juntian really had the ability, these were small requests.

“Then come pick me up right away,” Gu Juntian said.

Living alone was inconvenient; with state staff helping him handle all sorts of chores, he could focus on work and love.

But then he said, “Wait, better come pick me up tomorrow. I still have to get on the game tonight.”

The officials readily agreed.

Things went smoothly, and he was pleased.

But after hanging up, he commented to Zhou Qinghao, “President Zhou, it’s not very nice to lie to him.”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “He lied to me first.”

That guy Gu Juntian had lied to him first!

Just now, Gu Juntian had even insisted that he didn’t look like the person in the photo.

Still, it was pretty good that Gu Juntian planned to lose weight.

Once he started working with the state, they’d definitely assign people to protect him and manage his daily life, and his appearance should improve.

His clothing taste, though… terrifying. And he still wore that kind of T-shirt!

The two officials gave Zhou Qinghao a disapproving look and left.

Just then, Zhou Qinghao received a call from Elder Zhou, asking what had happened today.

Zhou Qinghao told him about Gu Juntian agreeing to cooperate with the state.

Elder Zhou asked, “And what does he think of Qida Technology?”

Zhou Qinghao said, “Grandpa, as long as Zhou Lin doesn’t cause trouble, he’ll have a good impression of Qida Technology. But today someone posted his photo on the forum, and he was furious. I think that was Zhou Lin’s doing.”

Elder Zhou also suspected Zhou Lin was behind it, especially since Zhou Lin had immediately come to him to complain.

Thinking about it, Elder Zhou said, “Ah Qing, I’ll arrange for your younger cousin to go to another company. From now on, Qida Technology will be under your management.”

The Zhou family owned several companies, and the most profitable was Qida Technology.

Giving it to Zhou Qinghao to manage was basically recognizing him as the Zhou family’s heir.

“Thank you, Grandpa,” Zhou Qinghao said.

In his generation, there were six siblings and cousins.

Above him, he had an older male cousin and an older female cousin.

His female cousin had a bad relationship with his eldest uncle and no interest in the family business. Although Elder Zhou had once arranged for her to work in the company, she quickly resigned to pursue her own career.

His older male cousin, Zhou Qi, was a lazy playboy who didn’t care about gender when it came to relationships, had never married but already had an illegitimate child, and had no interest in the company — just wanted to collect dividends and enjoy life.

Below Zhou Qinghao, there was one male cousin and two younger female cousins. Zhou Lin was close to him in age and had always competed with him, while the two younger girls were still in school, making it hard for them to surpass him.

Now, he had beaten Zhou Lin.

Elder Zhou added, “You need to maintain a good relationship with Gu Juntian… Grandpa believes you can do it.”

Zhou Qinghao: “…” Did his grandfather know something?

At Qida Technology, after the forum post about the Heavenly Emperor appeared, employees were abuzz.

“Is it true or fake?”

“If the Heavenly Emperor really looks like that, then President Zhou…”

“What Little Lamb said might not be true.”

…

As they discussed it, they learned there had been changes in the Zhou family.

The game Xiuxian had been handed back to Zhou Qinghao, while Zhou Lin had been sent to another company.

Why had Zhou Lin suddenly been transferred?

After thinking about it, they realized it might be because of that forum post.

They stopped gossiping and focused on work.

Meanwhile, Elder Zhou had learned two things.

First, in Gu Juntian’s new contract with them, he requested that payment go directly to his grandson Zhou Qinghao.

Second, the Heavenly Emperor in the game was Gu Juntian.

Since the game company could check player identities, it was easy for Elder Zhou to find out.

Zhou Qinghao must have learned the Heavenly Emperor’s real identity before starting a relationship with him.

After figuring this out, Elder Zhou called Zhou Lin to him. “That post today — you had someone make it?”

Knowing he couldn’t hide it, Zhou Lin admitted, “Yes.”

“What was your purpose in posting it?”

“Grandpa, Second Brother isn’t thinking straight. That Heavenly Emperor is useless and even scams his money, yet Second Brother treats him like treasure…” Zhou Lin went on at length.

He said the money the Heavenly Emperor had spent in the past six months came from Zhou Qinghao, and accused him of embezzling public funds.

He also claimed that Gu Juntian had liked Little Lamb and used Zhou Qinghao’s money to send Little Lamb tips.

Apparently, Zhou Qinghao had known Gu Juntian for half a year — which made Zhou Lin certain those technical achievements couldn’t have been developed in just one month.

Elder Zhou became even more impressed with Zhou Qinghao. “Your second brother is pretty capable.” That Gu Juntian had liked someone else, and his grandson had still managed to win him over.

With that kind of patience and temperament, how could he not succeed in big things?

Zhou Lin: “???”

Elder Zhou said, “From now on, you’d better behave yourself and stop making trouble! This matter ends here!”

He warned Zhou Lin and had Little Lamb’s account banned.

Since Gu Juntian would become a confidential figure, his identity couldn’t be leaked, so Elder Zhou didn’t say more, only telling Zhou Lin to stop targeting his own family.

Zhou Lin couldn’t figure it out and eventually thought of one possibility.

Had Zhou Qinghao set him up?

Maybe Grandpa didn’t care about the alleged embezzlement because the money had another source or purpose — or maybe Grandpa had wanted it transferred using Gu Juntian’s identity as cover.

Perhaps Gu Juntian himself had a special identity, like being the illegitimate child of some big shot, and Grandpa just wanted to use this to send money to that person.

Zhou Qinghao definitely knew, but didn’t tell him, using it to trap him instead!

The more Zhou Lin thought about it, the angrier he became — Grandpa was too biased, telling Zhou Qinghao everything but keeping him in the dark!

In that case, he wouldn’t be polite anymore!

He decided to gather evidence and make a big scene.

For now, though, he could lie low.

At 6 p.m., in the game Xiuxian…

At this hour, many people had finished work, so the player count was growing.

Many players were chatting about the Heavenly Emperor.

They’d heard he was fat, ugly, and poor, though no one knew if it was true.

“Probably fake. Little Lamb’s account got banned.”

“I saw the photo and think it’s fake. The Heavenly Emperor’s so rich — with just a little money, he could easily make himself look better than that.”

“Yeah, I think it’s fake too.”

“At this time, the Heavenly Emperor should be logging in, right?”

…

Sure enough, they saw the Heavenly Emperor come online.

As soon as Gu Juntian logged in, he got a flood of private messages asking about the post from earlier that day.

He ignored them all.

The man in the photo was indeed him, but he was now much more handsome.

That photo had been secretly taken two years ago, back when the original owner’s parents had just died, leaving him in terrible shape both physically and emotionally.

It had also been when he was at his heaviest.

But he would lose weight!

Gu Juntian planned to make a stunning public appearance once he slimmed down.

He couldn’t let people think that Qingtian Bai Ri’s partner was fat and ugly.

Oh, right — in two months, there would be an offline event for Xiuxian players.

He should attend.

By then, he would be presentable and could finally meet Qingtian Bai Ri in person.