Chapter 23 – The Red Rose Incident
A week later, the tension culminated in a very public, very calculated confrontation.
During a live taping of the reality show's finale, the ultimate authority arrived on set: Madam Gu, Gu Yanzhou's mother.
The woman was elegance personified—a striking, regal figure whose tailored silk suit and diamond jewelry radiated an authority that made even the network executives tremble.
Her gaze, however, was colder than the oceans, sweeping over the chaotic set with profound disapproval.
She moved directly toward Xiao Xi, the cameras catching the entire exchange.
"So you're Xiao Xi," she stated, her voice smooth and polished, but her lips curved into a smile that never quite reached her eyes.
"My son's… friend."
The pause before the final word was a sharp, audible stab.
Xiao Xi stood straighter, activating the full force of her Social Magnetism.
"Yes, Madam Gu.
It's an honor to finally meet you."
"Mm. I've seen your videos," Madam Gu continued, her gaze lingering on Xiao Xi's face.
"Clever editing. Very… relatable.
You have certainly maximized your assets."
The subtle, chilling insult—implying her fame was manufactured and her character cheap—landed squarely in the public arena.
Before Xiao Xi could deploy her counter-narrative, Gu Yanzhou appeared, moving with the speed of an activated protector, positioning himself instantly between the two women.
"Mother, don't embarrass her," he commanded, his voice sharp and utterly non-negotiable.
Madam Gu's expression didn't soften.
She simply redirected her icy focus to her son.
"You're the one embarrassing us, Yanzhou. Aligning yourself with this… spectacle.
Dating an actress from a reality show when you should be focused on the board and securing a lineage?"
The tension was palpable.
The cameras caught the entirety of the mother's scorn and the son's defiant protection.
Fans online immediately buzzed with thousands of messages of speculation, support, and condemnation.
Gu Yanzhou's defense of Xiao Xi was the most definitive confirmation of their relationship yet.
That evening, exhausted and emotionally drained, Xiao Xi returned to her apartment.
Waiting on her doorstep was an enormous, ostentatious bouquet of long-stemmed, perfect red roses.
There was no card, no note, and the sender's anonymity felt profoundly threatening.
She approached the bouquet with extreme caution.
Digging through the fragrant petals, her fingers brushed against something hard and metallic: a single, small USB drive, deliberately buried within the flowers.
Her pulse quickened, a drumbeat of pure adrenaline.
She knew this was the hacker, the shadow in the code.
She plugged the drive into her laptop, activating all the temporary security protocols Gu Yanzhou's assistant had installed.
Her laptop screen instantly filled with a cascade of highly complex, encrypted code—the same glowing, alien symbols that flashed on her internal system panel.
Then, the code simplified, forming a single, inescapable message in stark white text:
Return the luck you stole, Xiao Xi, and end this contract.
Or watch his fortune collapse.
The time for games is over.
The threat was clear, personal, and devastating.
The hacker didn't want her fame; they wanted her survival currency, her Luck Points.
And they were using the one thing that mattered most to her—Gu Yanzhou's safety—as leverage.