On a social media platform, someone posted a question.
Q: What exactly did this streamer called Qu Nanzhu do?
Helpful netizens replied below.
1: Haha, nothing much, really. He just reported a popular young actor for committing crimes, then advised a currently popular streamer on Douyin to do more good deeds and accumulate virtue.
2: You call that nothing much?
3: Damn, no wonder he's trending on every platform. Wasn't he trending for saving someone just over two weeks ago too?
4: No need to wonder. That was him. Then he put on a show and said he'd livestream fortune-telling. He'll be washed up in no time.
5: I don't know what your definition of washed up is. If having over three hundred thousand concurrent viewers every stream counts as washed up, then you win.
6: Is he really as popular as you're claiming? I'm on 5G, and I've never come across a clip of his streams.
7: Can confirm for the person above. It's not that we don't want to post them; we can't. God Qu is being suppressed for practicing mysticism, but he's so accurate that the platform doesn't dare ban him.
12: Actually, if you try searching, you'll find that even God Qu's Douyin account is blocked from search results. Unless someone shares a stream link in a fan group, once the platform forces you to unfollow him, there's no way to find your way back...
45: We're getting off topic, everyone. Weren't we discussing what this streamer did?
132: Stop spreading feudal superstition here. Our darling has already issued a lawyer's letter. That clout-chasing piece of trash can wait until his career is completely dead!
152: Guessing game, no prizes: will the money behind Su Yuanshen choose to protect him and offend God Qu, or just abandon him?
165: Does nobody care about that influencer surnamed Lu who received the "friendly advice"? I heard her fans have already joined forces with the actor's fans to mass-report God Qu.
256: Calling him "God Maggot" every other breath-so this is that clout-chasing dog's home base. No wonder you all treat feudal superstition as gospel. Reported.
Moderator: This thread has been locked for organizing the spread and discussion of feudal superstition.
By this point, Qin Siyi was practically laughing herself silly. She took screenshots and sent them to Qu Nanzhu, who had just finished streaming.
Qin Siyi: [Master, you're genuinely famous now.]
Qu's Bamboo: [...]
Qu Nanzhu didn't want to talk. When Huo Sili had tactfully asked earlier whether he needed help, he hadn't known what had happened. Only now did he realize that smear pieces about him were everywhere.
Many self-media marketing accounts had no idea who Qu Nanzhu was and treated him entirely as a charlatan chasing clout. It was late at night, and barely over an hour had passed, yet topics about his clout-chasing had already surpassed fifty million views.
It was as though whoever shouted the loudest would win this war.
Qin Siyi had to remind Qu Nanzhu: [Master, I believe you one hundred percent, but Su Yuanshen really does have some money backing him. I'm just afraid the people behind him will pin everything on you. After all, on today's internet, the public sees whatever the money wants them to see. Besides, all the major platforms really are cracking down hard on your fortune-telling.]
Qu's Bamboo: [He didn't do those things because I foresaw them. The platforms suppressing me and investigating him are two separate matters.]
Qin Siyi was deeply distressed by his naivety: [Master, you don't understand. If the money behind Su Yuanshen wants to protect him, none of this will actually come to light!]
Qu's Bamboo: [...Oh.]
Oh?
Just an oh?
Wasn't he a little too calm?
Reading that, Qin Siyi felt like the eunuch fretting while the emperor remained unconcerned. Thinking it over, someone as formidable as Qu Nanzhu might have even more powerful backing than Su Yuanshen!
With that thought, she felt even more certain she was worrying for nothing.
So she happily went back to sharing recent happenings around her with Qu Nanzhu.
Qin Siyi: [All right. Oh, Great Master, do you still remember Zhao Donghao?]
Qu's Bamboo: [Yes. Are the results out?]
Qin Siyi: [They came out ages ago. They've even found the Zhao Family's biological son!]
Qu's Bamboo: [That's good.]
Qu Nanzhu wasn't particularly interested in these matters, but that very attitude left Qin Siyi itching with gossip she had nowhere to share. Didn't the big shot want to know who the Zhao Family's biological son was at all!?
Fine, he really didn't, but Qin Siyi wanted him to know.
Qin Siyi: [Great Master, do you know where the Zhao Family's biological son is now?]
Qu's Bamboo: [With the Zhao Family.]
Qin Siyi: [Wrong, wrong! He's living with the couple who asked you to find their son last time!!]
Hm?
At that, Qu Nanzhu slowly sat up straighter, his interest somewhat piqued.
Qu's Bamboo: [How so?]
You finally asked, Qin Siyi thought, springing up from her bed and starting to type furiously.
Qin Siyi: [That couple actually has an adopted son too, and he's the Zhao Family's son. Apparently, when he was three, traffickers took him out to find a buyer, and the couple happened to see him while they were in town for a prenatal checkup. The traffickers weren't giving the child food or water, and he looked so miserable and pitiful that the woman felt sorry for him and spent half of everything they had to buy him.]
Qu Nanzhu prompted at the right moment: [And then?]
Qin Siyi: [Then they took him home and raised him, of course. Now the Zhao Family wants to bring him back, but he refused. He said his adoptive parents had already lost one child and couldn't lose him too. In the end, the Zhao Family compromised. They said he didn't have to return and acknowledge his ancestry, but he had to change his surname, and after he married, his first child had to be entered in the Zhao Family's genealogy. The two families agreed on those terms.]
Qu Nanzhu studied the message thoughtfully. No wonder he hadn't seen any other blood-relation threads on that couple at the time, yet had seen that they would live comfortably and happily for the rest of their lives. So this was where the answer lay.
Qu's Bamboo: [Good people are rewarded. At the time, I only saw that the rest of their lives would be happy and fulfilling. I didn't expect it to come about this way.]
Qin Siyi realized: [So that's why you didn't want to tell them where their biological son was?]
Qu's Bamboo: [There was no need to add to their troubles.]
After all, the Zhao Family was reasonable. There was no telling whether the other family would be.
By the time they finished gossiping, it was nearly midnight. Qu Nanzhu, struggling to stay awake, said good night to Qin Siyi, completely forgetting that people online were still furiously denouncing him.
Mo Si was Su Yuanshen's manager. At midnight, she was still dealing with trouble caused by several of his fanatical fans.
Sometime after nine, a video of Su Yuanshen being questioned by the police had leaked online, instantly unleashing a bloodbath.
Fortunately, Su Yuanshen had soon left the police station, but the uproar online wasn't so easily quelled.
After finally placating several business partners, Mo Si was just about to breathe a sigh of relief and get a little shut-eye when her phone began ringing again.
Exhausted and irritated, Mo Si picked it up and looked. It was a colleague from the business division.
"Hello?"
"Mo Si, we've got a problem!" The voice on the other end was anxious.
Mo Si rubbed her aching temples, irritation coloring her voice. "Whatever it is, take your time."
"The partner for that event we're supposed to announce tomorrow suddenly called and said not to make the announcement. They're also demanding that we pay the breach-of-contract penalty by the end of this week!"
Mo Si's head throbbed. She let out an angry laugh and shouted, "Just because of a few words from some charlatan? They open their mouths and demand millions in penalties? Have they no shame?"
The other person said nothing. Mo Si lowered her voice and gave instructions. "Call them back. Tell them there's nothing wrong with our artist, and everyone spreading rumors will receive the punishment they deserve. We also hope they'll show the cooperation and trust expected of a partner!"
With that, she hung up. But before she could catch her breath, a friend from the PR department called. The caller was noticeably calmer, but what they said made it impossible for Mo Si to remain composed.
"Mo Si, the higher-ups said to stop the PR efforts. They've decided to give up on Su Yuanshen. Legal is gathering evidence to sue him for breach of contract right now. You'd better prepare yourself."
Mo Si's legs nearly gave out beneath her. She gripped her phone with both hands, her voice stripped of its earlier composure. "What do you mean, gathering evidence? He really did something illegal!?"
Her friend seemed satisfied with her reaction and sighed in relief. "As long as you didn't know. That means you weren't involved. The higher-ups don't want to offend that fortune-teller. As for the person backing your artist, hmph, they had someone call half an hour ago to cut ties."
Those words undoubtedly chilled Mo Si to the bone. Remembering how desperately she had been trying to clear Su Yuanshen of any involvement just moments earlier, she found herself ridiculous.
She didn't know who was behind that fortune-teller, or whether he really was that capable, but she knew that the artist she had always treated sincerely had been secretly breaking the law behind her back!!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Agitated, Mo Si opened her contacts and called the sleeping Su Yuanshen.
He only answered after a minute, his voice carrying the reproach of someone not yet fully awake.
"If you've got shit to say, spit it out."
Mo Si took a deep breath and roared into the phone, "Su, fuck you!"
Without giving him a chance to react, Mo Si briskly hung up, switched off her phone, then lay down in bed, pulled up the covers, and went straight to sleep.
Tomorrow, she wanted to see Su Yuanshen reap what he had sown.