Chapter 71: The Eldest Miss of the Lin Family

The little Sunsets firmly believed in their goddess, standing unconditionally on Lin Xi’s side:

—Our Xixi is as pure as can be, she would never do such a baseless thing! Those marketing accounts need to stop stirring trouble! Xixi, don’t be afraid, we’re here to get through this with you!

—I trust our little Xixi, and I won’t let the online rumors affect me. Everyone has the right to like or dislike someone, but that’s no excuse to hurt others. I hope my darling stays healthy and smooth-sailing this year.

—It’s obvious someone is deliberately trying to smear our Xixi. Xingchen, hurry and look into what’s going on.

Of course, the haters were already reveling in the chaos, seizing the opportunity to hurl all sorts of malicious insults:

—Ha, let’s see how smug you are now. After doing so many filthy things, why haven’t you left the industry yet? Lin Xi, get out of showbiz! It’s people like you that drag down the standards of celebrities!

—Yashe must be dumbfounded! Lin Xi is truly disgusting, snatching resources from our Qiqi, throwing her weight around the industry, and all by sleeping her way up! {yawn}{yawn}

—This is just unbelievable. My Cultivation God is being ruined by such a diva! I told you not to pair up with Lin Xi! Cultivation God has terrible taste in women!

A flood of all kinds of messy, vicious comments nearly drowned the little Sunsets.

At the film set, Jiang Ziqi scrolled through the trending topics on Weibo, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction.

She sneered coldly. Oh, Lin Xi, you didn’t expect this, did you? You strutted around in front of me, competed with me at the auction, fought me for endorsements, and now you’re utterly finished. I’d like to see what tricks you have left to turn things around.

“Ziqi, this is so satisfying!” Qian Ling was staring excitedly at her phone. She’d been tracking the public sentiment online since early morning and had paid for plenty of fake accounts to smear Lin Xi. Judging by the results, it was working splendidly.

Jiang Ziqi curled her lips with a frosty disdain, her eyes dark and malicious. “Hmph, a rookie just out of the gate dares to challenge me? I want to see how she’s going to fight me now!”

Wang Sheng, emboldened, flattered Jiang Ziqi, “Sister Jiang, you really know what you’re doing. Mr. Qiao truly dotes on you.”

He failed to notice Qian Ling shooting him a sidelong glare—couldn’t he watch his mouth?

Jiang Ziqi glared at Wang Sheng even more fiercely. How had she not realized before that this man was so useless, unable to even speak properly? Wasn’t he just announcing to everyone that she was being kept? She’d find an excuse to get rid of him in a few days.

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On Lu Yuxiu’s end, he finished his scene and headed straight for her.

He pushed open the door to find Lin Xi calmly scrolling through her phone. He strode over and snatched it from her hand.

“Stop looking at that.”

Lu Yuxiu sat down across from her and set the phone aside, grasping her hands tightly.

“Baby, I’m sorry.” He frowned apologetically, speaking to her with great seriousness.

Lin Xi was taken aback, then couldn’t help but laugh, holding his hand in return, “Why are you suddenly apologizing to me? Did you do something I should be upset about?” She pretended to be angry on purpose.

Lu Yuxiu lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand tenderly, caressing it with affection. “It’s because I failed to protect you.”

“Oh, this has nothing to do with you.” Seeing him like this, Lin Xi had long since cast those nasty comments from her mind, her heart warmed by his consideration.

“Don’t shoulder everything yourself, okay? Trust me, I’m not that fragile.” She grinned playfully, winking at him.

Lu Yuxiu gazed at his little girl for a long moment, then took out his own phone, quickly opening Weibo and starting to type.

“What are you doing?” Lin Xi glanced at his phone screen, glimpsing words like “false” and “believe.”

She hurriedly reached out to press his hand, stopping him from typing further. He looked up at her.

“Don’t post anything on Weibo. It won’t help right now, and it might just make things worse for you.” Lin Xi shook her head in disapproval, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with his cuff button.

But Lu Yuxiu just couldn’t hold back his frustration, his eyes shifting with impatience and a faint anger showing on his face.

“Then let’s go public with our relationship,” he suddenly said, grabbing her chin and forcing her to meet his gaze, speaking without reservation.

Lin Xi was startled, her heart jolting as if something had struck it, a wave of heat surging through her chest.

For a moment, she smiled softly, her beautiful face touched by a worldly radiance.

She cradled Lu Yuxiu’s face gently, caressing him, speaking with a delighted smile: “There’s no need for us to go public now, just because of the current situation or to pander to fans. We’re just ordinary people. We get angry, we get sad, we fall in love. But we’re not doing this for attention or to change the narrative. When we go public, it should be simply for love, for the blessings of others—not for this.”

Lu Yuxiu stared at her for a long, dazed moment. She looked into his eyes, clear and luminous, breathtakingly beautiful.

Lin Xi pinched his handsome cheek, her voice low: “Right now, what we need to do is figure out who’s behind all this.”

Lu Yuxiu snapped back to himself. Whenever it came to Lin Xi, he lost his composure, even forgetting the most important things.

“I have a good guess—it’s probably that ‘Mr. Qiao’ Jiang Ziqi mentioned. She’s more capable than I thought.” Lin Xi withdrew her hand and propped up her chin.

Lu Yuxiu’s eyes turned suddenly cold and menacing, a sharp chill flickering in their depths.

Lin Xi didn’t want to see him like this. She smiled, her eyes curving softly, her gaze shimmering as she looped her arm through his and whispered, “You look so handsome when you frown.”

At that, he couldn’t keep up his anger any longer.

He suddenly hugged her, his strong arms wrapping tightly around her waist, his tone so gentle it could melt a person.

“Baby, you really have me wrapped around your little finger.”

His burning chest pressed close to her back, and even through a thick coat, the powerful thumping of his heart seemed to set her own pulse racing in response.

The cold and malice of the world were kept outside the window. Inside, the room was cozy and peaceful.

Their sweet moments together almost made Lin Xi forget the online storm entirely. Lu Yuxiu stayed with her a while longer, then, as if remembering something, left in a hurry, reminding her not to log onto Weibo.

Bored, Lin Xi decided to play a few rounds of games, gleefully battling in the canyon with her little golden champion.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated with a call from “Brother.”

Lin Xi answered, still half-focused on her game. “Brother, what’s up?”

“I’ve seen what’s being said online. I’m preparing to make your identity public, so be ready to respond,” Lin Tianyou said in a tone that brooked no argument.

“Huh?” Lin Xi blinked, her hand slipping and stealing the blue buff from the monkey in-game, causing the monkey to rage and spam “Well played!”

“Brother, there’s no need, I—” Lin Xi tried to protest.

“This isn’t up for discussion.” His tone was fierce.

Lin Xi pursed her lips innocently and could only reply, “Alright~”

Then she promptly gave away a kill, using up her blue buff trial card, while the monkey spammed “Well played!” until the button nearly broke.

Lin Xi hadn’t expected her brother to have time to keep up with online trends. She’d never wanted to reveal her status as the Lin family heiress—she already had the “Little Princess of Xingchen” aura, which was controversial enough. Now she was about to be confirmed as someone with an even more powerful background.

Sigh, she could only shrug helplessly. What wrong had she done? She simply wanted more people to focus on her work.

Lin Tianyou wasted no time in making the announcement.

AiYou Group CEO Lin Tianyou V: @Lin Xi is my biological sister, real name Lin Tianmu. She’s not some nobody as those trolls would claim, nor does she rely on so-called higher-ups. AiYou’s second-largest shareholder—Lin Tianmu.

As the country’s wealthiest man with assets in the hundreds of billions, Lin Tianyou’s words naturally carried immense weight. This was a real diamond bachelor, the absolute top of the food chain!

His post was nothing short of a deep-water bomb, crashing the app instantly.

Onlookers could only express their shock with a string of garbled symbols: “%⊙▽⊙＃**％***”

—No way, this is the biggest bombshell of the year! Lin Xi is actually the most mysterious heiress of the Lin family, quietly entering showbiz. She’s a true aristocratic socialite!

—It’s like ten thousand wild horses just stampeded through my mind. Well, that’s that! I actually felt sorry for her for being cyberbullied, but now, her brother’s single sentence just solved everything.

—It’s over, our little Xixi is the Lin family heiress now. Our Cultivation God has an even harder time winning her heart! That tiny advantage he had is gone—she might even be wealthier than him! Come on, Cultivation God, step up your game!

Within minutes, Lu Jin also spoke up on Weibo.

Lu Jin V: Lin Xi is a dedicated and excellent actress. There has never been any stand-ins or digital fakery in my crew. @Lin Xi, may your future path be bright!

Friends such as Wen Jin, Jiang He, Shu Yunyi, and her variety show colleagues all came to Lin Xi’s defense in the comments.

Even the renowned director Lu Jin spoke out for Lin Xi, leaving the keyboard warriors with nothing left to say.

The most flamboyant of all was Gu Yao.

Gu Yao V: Even if my sister turns the entire entertainment industry upside down, no one would dare say a word. This is the confidence that AiYou and Xingchen give her!

This volley of counterattacks was downright domineering.

The stunned netizens left comments:

—I’ve noticed Lin Xi always delivers a resounding slap to all haters at her lowest, when things seem beyond repair! So satisfying, hahaha!

—Besides judging others, let’s add a bit of rationality; live your own life positively and healthily. Focus your attention and energy more on reality and less on tearing at each other in the virtual world. Don’t always vent your frustrations online—no one owes you anything!

—Well said! There will always be those self-righteous people who think they’re God, standing on a moral high ground pointing fingers at others.

In just a matter of minutes, topics like #LinFamilyHeiress, #LinXiIsTheAiYouCEOsSister, #AiYouCEOConfirmsLinXi’sIdentity, #DirectorLuSpeaksForLinXi, and others soared in popularity, nearly burying all the previous slander.

The little Sunsets were now all calling for Lin Xi herself to post a triumphant Weibo to slap back at the haters and reclaim her honor.

CP fans and Lu Yuxiu’s followers also began tagging him, urging him to step in. The incident had escalated to this point, and their Cultivation God still hadn’t spoken up for Xixi—how else was he going to win the beauty’s heart?