On a Variety Show and Getting Carried to an Easy Win by Fluffies

Gu Xulin and Gu Yunqi instantly looked at Gu Zhao.

Old Zhang felt a flicker of panic, but he quickly suppressed it. ’What could a child possibly know?’

His eyes reddened slightly, the corners of his mouth turned down, and his voice held a barely perceptible tremor. "Little Miss, you can’t accuse me so unfairly. What have I done to make you so unhappy with me?"

Old Zhang’s face was a mask of aggrieved innocence.

Gu Xulin believed Gu Zhao, so when he heard Old Zhang trying to discredit her, he immediately applied more force.

"Ah, Young Master! My old bones are going to break!" Old Zhang shrieked.

Pain was written all over his face.

The other servants jumped in fright. They all thought Gu Xulin was doing it on purpose, but no matter how displeased they were, they didn’t dare voice their objections now.

’Didn’t they just see what happened to the gossips who were just fired? Working for the Gu Family meant high pay, and the bosses were rarely home—what a sweet gig!’

’Only an idiot would want to get fired.’

With an innocent expression, Gu Xulin applied even more pressure. "Oh, my apologies. I just don’t know my own strength."

Old Zhang’s face twisted in agony.

Gu Yunqi paused his fiddling with the pen in his hand, giving Gu Xulin a look of utter exasperation.

’He never thinks about the consequences.’

Then, as if sensing something, he glanced up at the third-floor balcony.

Gu Xingyu was hiding there, eavesdropping.

After a few seconds of silence, Gu Yunqi decided Gu Xulin wasn’t so bad after all.

"Just tell us what you know," Gu Yunqi said, looking at Gu Zhao.

All eyes turned back to Gu Zhao.

The Tibetan Mastiff beside Gu Zhao sat obediently, yet it was still taller than the little girl even while seated.

It made Gu Zhao’s words seem even more like the nonsensical ramblings of a child.

"I had a little gold locket when I was a child, didn’t I?" Gu Zhao said, watching the still-struggling Old Zhang with a smile.

Old Zhang put on a confused expression. "I wouldn’t know anything about that."

Gu Yunqi lowered his gaze. "Yes, there was."

Gu Xulin thought for a few seconds before it dawned on him. "Brother Gu Er gave that to Gu Xiao Zhao!"

Gu Zhao showed no reaction. Speaking of the gold locket, Brother Gu Er still owed her a golden, sliding-lid coffin.

’I’ll have to make sure to collect on that debt sometime!’

"Fourth Brother, that small building in the backyard... second floor, third room from the left. Whose is it?" Gu Zhao asked, looking at Gu Xulin. ’She couldn’t help it; he was the only one she trusted.’

Gu Xulin thought for a moment, but couldn’t recall.

When Old Zhang heard Gu Zhao mention that specific room, his face paled slightly.

Uncle Fu stared at Gu Zhao eagerly, all but jumping up and down. ’Ask me! Ask me!’

Gu Zhao asked, "Uncle Fu, do you know?"

"I do! That building is living quarters for the manor’s staff. If I’m not mistaken, the room you’re talking about belongs to Little Zhang." Uncle Fu was thrilled. ’This is a butler’s moment to shine!’

’Not just managing which of the mastiffs stole whose snacks every day.’

’Or who made off with his takeout!’

Uncle Zhang grew flustered.

"Uncle Fu, there’s a flowerpot on the desk in his bedroom. A small box is buried in the soil. Inside the box is a little bag, and inside that bag are several more bags... "

"Why use so many bags!" Gu Zhao exclaimed, getting annoyed even as she described it.

A sparrow overhead continued to chirp away.

"Anyway, the little gold locket is in there," Gu Zhao finished bluntly.

Uncle Fu’s expression grew serious. He immediately took two guards he trusted and headed for the small building.

’He couldn’t go alone, but he didn’t trust anyone else to go either.’

He broke into a run as soon as he entered the building. ’Who knew if there’d be some mishap, if someone else might get to it first?’

’He’d read enough novels to know they loved to throw in a twist at the most critical moment!’

’But he was here! No twists on his watch!’

Once in the bedroom, Uncle Fu immediately located the flowerpot the young miss had described. ’Digging through the soil would be a pain.’ He smashed it directly.

Sure enough, he found a box in the dirt. After tearing open bag after bag, he found a small gold locket.

Engraved on it was the character "Zhao."

A fierce light in his eyes, Uncle Fu stormed back the way he came.

「Meanwhile...」

Uncle Zhang was still vehemently denying everything, crying and sniveling as he pleaded his case.

"Little Miss, what on earth did I do to offend you? Just tell me, and I’ll change, I promise."

"I’ve been with the Gu Family for so long! How could I possibly do something so despicable?"

"Second Young Master, I watched you boys grow up! You know what kind of person I am!"

He looked frantic, his expression a perfect picture of someone who’d been wronged.

But when he glanced at Gu Zhao, a flicker of hatred flashed in his eyes.

Gu Yunqi continued to toy with his pen, saying nothing.

"Does being old automatically make you right?" a young girl’s voice piped up.

Gu Jiao looked at him with disdain. "Stop crying, it’s ugly. Besides, the great demon king doesn’t even go soft when *I* cry. Crying for him is just giving him what he wants."

"He’s cruel and ruthless! He loves watching people cry."

Gu Jiao stood to the side with her arms crossed, enjoying the show, though she occasionally snuck a glance at Gu Zhao.

"It’s true, he’s the worst! He just watches me cry every time, and then he throws me out." Fearing Gu Zhao wouldn’t believe her, Gu Jiao explained earnestly.

Gu Yunqi: ???

’What? Just yesterday, it was all ’dear Second Brother,’ and now I’m the ’great demon king’?’

Gu Xulin shot his second brother a surprised look, his expression exceptionally complicated.

’So that’s the kind of person his second brother was! No wonder when he cried as a kid, his brother never comforted him and just watched with a cold expression.’

Gu Zhao also gave Gu Yunqi a strange look. ’Terrifying,’ she thought.

"Second Young Master! Young Master!" Uncle Fu came running over, red-eyed and furious.

"I found it!" he yelled, holding up a small gold locket.

Gu Yunqi’s grip on his pen tightened. "That’s the one."

The very locket he had crafted with his own hands.

Gu Xulin’s eyes went red. "It really was you? You bastard! You animal!"

He threw a punch right at him!

"How has the Gu Family ever wronged you!" His hands trembled as tears streamed down his face.

Gu Zhao was taken aback by this side of Gu Xulin. ’Is Gu Xulin crying??’

"Brother! Does your hand hurt? How could you use your precious, delicate hands to hit some old, tough piece of meat!" Gu Zhao scurried over on her short legs, grabbing Gu Xulin’s hand in concern and blowing on it gently.

Gu Xulin pulled Gu Zhao into a hug.

"It wasn’t me! I just found the locket! I was greedy for a moment and kept it, but I’m not the one who kidnapped the young miss, I swear!" Uncle Zhang’s face was streaked with tears.

The other servants exchanged uncertain glances.

"It was him!" a raspy, ancient voice called out.

The others didn’t see it, but Gu Zhao managed to struggle enough to peek her head out of Gu Xulin’s embrace and look toward the sound.

A turtle the size of a wok had crawled out of the landscaping pond.

"I saw it with my own two eyes," it said. "He was holding a little baby, sneaking over the wall to escape."

"He even used me as a stepping stone to climb that wall!"

For a turtle, five years was not too long to wait for revenge!

Gu Zhao squirmed. "Brother, let me go first! We have to lock up that old piece of meat!"

"It was him! The old turtle will testify!"

Gu Xulin immediately released Gu Zhao and turned to Gu Yunqi. "You can’t possibly still not believe it after all this."

Gu Yunqi sent a text. A moment later, several figures leaped down from the trees!!

LEAPED!

"Miss Gu Zhao! We meet again!" one of them, a man with a baby face, called out to her.

Gu Zhao looked completely baffled.

"We’re Commander Gu’s security detail."

"Oh, oh!" ’So they’re extreme introverts,’ she thought. ’No wonder they like to hide.’

Two of the men immediately restrained Uncle Zhang. "Second Young Master, leave the interrogation to us. We guarantee he’ll talk, no matter how stubborn he is."

"No, no, no! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" Uncle Zhang panicked.

’If they really took him away, his life would be over.’

"It was the Ye Family! It was Ye Shichang!" Uncle Zhang cried out immediately.

Gu Zhao froze. ’Isn’t that my adoptive father? Ye Zuiyi’s biological dad.’

’So we weren’t switched at birth? It was a kidnapping??’

"What else? Who is the person behind you and the Ye Family?" Gu Yunqi said, his tone certain.

"Not talking? Then let me rephrase. Do you know anyone from the Iwango Research Institute?"

Terror filled Uncle Zhang’s eyes. "I don’t know them!"