“[Even if something happened, wasn’t it her who blamed her fans for showing up?]”
“[Maybe it was her manager who arranged it without her knowledge. From her perspective, that’s what it looked like!]”
Li Xunxi and Li Xunwen hadn’t realized that dumping all the work on Ruan Nian would make people pity her — but now some of the audience started feeling sorry for her again.
Their business was doing terribly.
“[Is there even a twist left? Probably not — they’re clearly going to lose, so why keep watching?]”
“[Wait — Gu Zhaoye is here!]”
That got everyone’s attention.
Until now, their group had been boring, uninspired, and hopeless.
Li Xunxi’s idea of a private dining experience in a shopping district was completely out of touch with reality.
“Did these two ever study business? Aren’t they supposed to be elite grads? For real?”
Then Gu Zhaoye appeared — and the chat went wild.
Despite being slapped by Gu Zhaoping, he was still a business legend who created the Yuanqi Tech miracle.
With him on board, surely he could turn things around, right?
Then came the drama: His face still looked swollen — maybe from a recent slap by Gu Zhaoping.
“[Was that slap from Gu Zhaoping??]”
“[Here comes the showdown — is Gu Zhaoye about to lose it?]”
He agreed to stay and help Ruan Nian’s team record.
Their shippers — fans of the Gu Nian couple — couldn’t contain their excitement: “[Knew it! Gu Zong and Nian Nian are still sweet together! No matter what haters say!]”
“[Let the antis bark. They’re still happy together!]”
“[What about Liang Zhiwei??]”
“[Who cares about the past — the one next to Gu Zong now is Ruan Nian! Liang Zhiwei stans, leave!]”
Gu Zhaoye calmly proposed lowering their prices and re-launching.
Sure enough, customers returned.
He even made Li Xunxi go outside to solicit customers — no more “princess” behavior.
The audience was finally satisfied.
“[See? With Gu Zong here, problems vanish. He’s a real CEO, trained in the market. Solving a little restaurant crisis is nothing!]”
He once again looked charismatic — competent, commanding, attractive when serious.
But that feeling didn’t last long.
Back at the estate, it was time to tally the results.
All eyes turned to Gu Zhaoping — she had already impressed many with her business school skills and earlier strategies.
But now they were curious: how would Gu Zhaoye — the pride of the Gu family — perform?
The director finally revealed the results: “Group 2…a loss of 32,480 virtual coins!”
Suddenly, silence.
Everyone who had just been discussing how much Gu Zhaoye would win was now speechless.
A 30,000+ loss???
After all that effort? After making headlines and causing a PR mess?
They ended up losing money???
How did they manage that?
Even Group 3, with their humble food stall, earned a bit.
This group?
Pure loss.
Even with Gu Zhaoye helping out?
Even after noticing the problems?
There were still plenty of customers — how did they lose this badly?
Then Gu Zhaoping stepped out and said: “You decided to lower prices, right?”
“That’s why you lost this much. Your costs were too high — you lost money with every sale. Who came up with that brilliant idea?”
Li Xunxi and Li Xunwen turned to Gu Zhaoye in disbelief.
His face looked like he’d been slapped — again.
And the audience?
“Bro. You’re a CEO. And you lost at a simulation game?? You did worse than a street food stall??”
“What kind of business genius are you supposed to be? What company are you running? You didn’t even check costs before lowering prices?”
Even Ruan Nian tried to speak up for him — but he pulled her back, refusing to let her talk.
It didn’t look like he just lost — it looked like he couldn’t handle losing.
Right as the tension reached a boiling point, the show cut off and revealed the final rankings.
Gu Zhaoping’s team was in first place.
The show then reviewed her decisions along the way — pricing, ingredient swaps, menu development, exposing the other group’s issues.
This was just a one-day restaurant challenge — but it revealed so many differences in ability.
Gu Zhaoping didn’t just have skills — she had serious business talent, even more than people had imagined.
Gu Zhaoye, on the other hand, had been completely de-mythologized in the viewers’ eyes.
How could he be like this?
Wasn’t he supposed to be the “CEO god”?
Now he couldn’t even manage a simple challenge.
And worse — he wasn’t even gracious about losing. He acted like it was just a fluke.
When you’re a charismatic “CEO type” in a story, the pedestal is high — but once the mask slips, the fall is even harder.
After all, the author always portrays domineering CEOs as nearly perfect.
Their only flaw might be a stomach problem.
Or perhaps a small trace of unfaithfulness in love.
But in the end, they always have to grovel to win their love back.
But now, as they looked at Gu Zhaoye, they felt something completely different—it was as if they were looking at a stranger from a different world.
They didn’t look forward to Gu Zhaoye’s groveling-for-love arc at all.
Strangely enough, as a leader, he didn’t have nearly as much charisma as Gu Zhaoping.
No…not even close.
Gu Zhaoping would stand up for Liang Zhiwei.
All her decisions were wise and accurate, never a mistake.
Following her meant effortlessly riding the wave of success.
Only now did those who were once biased against her begin to feel a tinge of regret.
No wonder the rumors said Chu Yanze and Liang Zhiwei trusted her so deeply.
They used to think it was just submission to power.
But with a boss like her leading the way, no disasters ever happened.
Who wouldn’t be happy?
She even stood up to her own brother for Liang Zhiwei!
This was a total reversal—she used to scold Ruan Nian on behalf of her brother.
Now, people started to question the feud between her and Ruan Nian again.
Was it true?
Was she really targeting Ruan Nian to set up a better marriage for Gu Zhaoye?
But it didn’t look that way at all—
Gu Zhaoping didn’t seem to care about Gu Zhaoye one bit, maybe even wished she could slap him.
So who was lying?
Everyone was extremely curious.
Some of Gu Zhaoye’s fans were still speaking out: “So what if he lost a game? Is that such a big deal? President Gu is the rightful, rock-solid heir of the Gu family. He’s managing a multibillion-dollar business in real life—why should he care about winning or losing in a variety show?”
“It’s laughable. As if losing here means he’s a loser in life. Even if everyone on this show outperforms him, he’ll still be the one who’s more successful in reality. Why are people so eager to drag him through the mud over something so small?”
But fewer and fewer people were paying attention.
What really got under everyone’s skin was that Gu Zhaoping actually took leave and wouldn’t appear in the next episode.
Where did she go?
That’s what everyone wanted to know.
Could she come back soon?
They were dying to see what else she could do!
Was everything she said just talk, or did she really live like some inspirational magazine character?
What exactly was going on?!
As this episode wrapped up, a new group quietly emerged.
The CP (couple pairing) shippers.
Originally, this chaotic episode even made the social news, so there didn’t seem to be much room for shipping.
But when people are determined, they can find CPs anywhere.
Yes, the most popular pairing after this episode was—
Gu Zhaoping and Liang Zhiwei.
Liang Zhiwei: She stared silently at the Weibo posts her manager forwarded to her.
Moments later, she began frantically pulling her hair and screaming.
No way—what the heck was going on?!
How did it end up with her and Sister Zhaoping being shipped together?!
Is this even right?
Is it logical?
What is wrong with you people??
Chu Yanze: He saw the sudden wave of buzz online and fell silent as well.
Though it was embarrassing to admit, he couldn’t help but have a little hope.
Would there be someone with sharp eyes who could see a spark between him and Sister Zhaoping?
Compared to the random pairings with Ruan Nian, he actually didn’t mind being shipped with Sister Zhaoping.
It might even be kind of nice.
But he had thought too much.
His CP with Sister Zhaoping wasn’t even one-tenth as popular as the one with Liang Zhiwei.
Only then did Chu Yanze let out a long sigh.
He couldn’t help but laugh at himself and rubbed his forehead in frustration.
Meanwhile, Su Yubai, who had been following the news, also laughed when he saw that the most popular CP turned out to be Gu Zhaoping and Liang Zhiwei.
That was fine.
Even if he hadn’t been reunited with Sister Zhaoping, that young guy didn’t gain any advantage either, and that was good.
Sister Zhaoping was likely back in the country to focus on her career.
She wouldn’t be surrounded by all kinds of flirtatious men, which meant less competition for him.
Still, after the show aired, he was a little worried—
Would more people start taking an interest in Sister Zhaoping?
You couldn’t blame him for being nervous.
For most people, power and prestige are already intoxicating.
And Sister Zhaoping was dazzling on top of that…
“Mr. Su, your flight has been booked. We’re ready to depart.”
The production team messaged him with flight and hotel details.
When Su Yubai checked the location, he was stunned—
It was that ski resort.
Something inside him suddenly surged.
Then he remembered: Sister Zhaoping wasn’t in this episode.
She wouldn’t be reminded of their past.
***
The whole production team was flying to a ski resort on the other side of the world.
Gu Zhaoye was among them.
He rubbed his temples, exhausted and irritated, wondering why he was even following this stupid show around.
But when he heard that filming would take place here, a thought occurred to him:
Grandfather was here too.
The summit had already been going on for two days.
In two more, there would be a major event—broadcast live to the whole world.
If he went, maybe he could see the old man and apologize.
After all, he was there “with the show,” technically not disobeying his grandfather’s wishes.
As for all the gossip online, he didn’t even glance at it.
Just a bunch of keyboard warriors making baseless assumptions from a few clips.
Questioning his abilities?
Were they doubting the Gu family heir?
It was disgusting.
He didn’t even bother arguing.
Winning meant nothing.
In the end, he was still the successor.
Public opinion was fickle.
Once he made a big achievement, people would rush to praise him as a genius again.
Still, he found it strange—
Gu Kaichang hadn’t caused any trouble lately.
A major summit like this, and he wasn’t trying anything?
Had he finally given up?
Gu Zhaoye sneered.
A bunch of losers.
He didn’t notice the storm brewing in Ruan Nian’s eyes as she sat beside him.
Valentin de La Roche had been seeking out Gu Zhaoping frequently these past few days.
Each time, he was polite and warm.