IHWL – Chapter 92

Chapter 92: Father

    Although they are also visiting groups, the Students Group and Professors Group were different.

    The average age of the Professors Group was more than 50 years old. Among the large group of people, only Dean Zhang identified Su Jishi.

    However, the average age of the Students Group was in their early twenties. There were more men than women —— In this crowd, Su Jin’s charm was the absolute killer!

    Su Jishi was lucky enough to call Fang Xie and ask him, “How is Su Jin’s popularity among young people in China now?”

    Fang Xie replied, “How many young people don’t recognize Taylor Swift when she walks down the street in America?”

    “…” Su Jishi asked incredulously, “That exaggerated?”

    “It’s that exaggerated!” Fang Xie confirmed, “Thanks to you, the Wilderness Winner you shot before you left is so popular that nowadays, any young person who hasn’t seen that variety show will be embarrassed to say hello to their classmates!”

    Fang Xie wasn’t joking. Wilderness Winner had indeed set an annual ratings record in recent years. After the filming in Xinjiang, the team went to Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, India and other places, filming a total of 18 episodes. The ratings of the final episode exceeded 6%; the market share rose close to 30%; and the 24-hour network broadcast exceeded 100 million…The investors were happy, and the TV station became a big hit, locking up the annual ratings crown ahead of schedule.

    Before the show aired, many young people were prejudiced against Su Jin, thinking that she was a dainty little white flower and would only hold everyone back on this kind of show. However, after the show aired, who knew how many people were charmed by Su Jin’s sharp and beautiful frame? Viewers issued a ‘Really Good!, giving the viewers a sigh of relief.

    The show finished a few months ago, but the aftermath continued to this day. Some people who missed the live broadcast only ‘jumped in’ after the show’s finale, and now, Wilderness Winner was still among the top two most streamed on video platforms. Its theme song was so popular with viewers that it could be heard in supermarkets, kiosks, and shopping centers wherever people go.

    Thanks to the show, Su Jin’s popularity had doubled again. Now she not only sits firmly in the first place of the traffic throne in China, but even had countless announcements flying in from Asian countries.

    It was foreseeable that when that group of students landed in the United States, they would identify Su Jishi the first time they saw her.

    The more Su Jishi thought about it, the more headache she had, so she simply ran to her mentor and asked for leave, saying she really couldn’t take the job.

    The mentor asked, “What’s wrong? You have nothing to do now after your defense. Also, you have led student groups from China before. Didn’t it go very smoothly?”

    Su Jishi said stiffly, “It’s inconvenient for me to lead the Student Group.”

    “Where is inconvenient?”

    “…It’s inconvenient everywhere.” Su Jishi said, “I am sick and lightheaded. I suffer from insomnia, sleeplessness, panic and night sweats. I’m weak all over.” She strove to make the drama real. She also deliberately covered her chest, coughed dryly a few times, expressing herself as already ‘very sick’.

    Who would have thought that her mentor would stand up in shock and immediately reach out to hold her, asking anxiously, “Panda, are you pregnant?

    Su Jishi: “…”

    Su Jishi: “……”

    Su Jishi: “………”

    “Yes, I didn’t expect you to find out.” Su Jishi said weakly, “I’m pregnant, and I’m pregnant with twins.” She pulled out her acting skills that she had developed in the entertainment industry and acted awkwardly, “The doctor said that it’s easy to be unstable when having twins, so I should recuperate and not run around during this period.”

    So with this fake reason, Su Jishi successfully dumped the pot and got permission from her mentor not to go to Yellowstone to raise her ‘babies’. Thus, she could hide in peace and quiet.

    She didn’t expect, however, that the news would spread so quickly. The next afternoon, her Senior Brother called to congratulate her on being pregnant.

    Su Jishi was shocked and asked him from whom he heard the news.

    Her Senior Brother said, “The whole college knows about it!!”

    As expected, Su Jishi received many calls from her classmates that day, and even the nurse at the university hospital sent her an email urging her to go to the hospital for an early pregnancy checkup. She had student insurance, which could cover a large portion of the expenses.

    Su Jishi declined without delay.

    The nurse said, “Single motherhood isn’t a shameful status. You should feel proud to be able to conceive two little lives.”

    “…” Su Jisi said, “I have a boyfriend.”

    The nurse was overjoyed: “Congratulations! You know who the baby’s father is, which is already more fortunate than many single mothers who give birth to their children in a blur!”

    Su Jishi hung up the phone and felt her head hurt even more.

    She told Mu Xiulun about it and complained, “I must have had my head in the sand at that time. There were a thousand reasons, so why did I have to say I was pregnant?”

    The man’s eyes fell on her belly across the screen. He pondered for quite some time, before commenting, “This is indeed a troublesome matter.”

    “Yeah, ah, there’s no way around it now.”

    Mu Xiulun said meaningfully, “No, I mean … I still don’t know what position to use to be able to conceive twins in one fell swoop.”

    “…” Su Jishi wished she could rush along the network line to hammer him.

    Jokes aside, they had to continue talking about business.

    Su Jishi reflected: “I used to hear people always say, ‘After telling a lie, you have to tell more lies to go round it’. And now, it is so.”

    Lies after lies until she herself would get trapped in it.

    Mu Xiulun paused and suddenly asked, “Jishi, have you ever thought of exposing the lie?”

    “What do you mean?” Su Jishi asked back in shock, “You don’t want me to admit my relationship with Su Jin, do you?”

    “…In fact, there is one thing that your sister has been hiding from you without telling you, for fear of affecting your studies.” Mu Xiulun sighed and finally decided to tell the entire story, “Just a few weeks ago, a reporter received a tip that Su Jin is actually a twin. The informer acquired a lot of evidence, including photos of you and your sister together, including your two completely different life histories…Combined with the great changes in Su Jin’s character in the past six months, it is enough to prove that you have swapped identities. Of course, we have suppressed the news.”

    Su Jishi was shocked.

    “How could that be?! My sister and I don’t even have a photo together!” She said excitedly, “We were separated when we were eight years old, and we haven’t seen each other more than three times in the past twenty years!”

    Mu Xiulun said solemnly, “You didn’t have a photo together after you were eight years old —— What about before?”

    When the Su sisters were born, home CCTVs weren’t yet popular. It was only a few family photos, or on their birthdays, did the family of four go to the photo studio to shoot. Later, their parents quarreled frequently, so they increasingly had fewer opportunities to take photos together…

    Twenty years ago, Su Jishi’s memory was already blotchy. She frowned and thought hard, but could only recall that after her parents’ divorce, her mother took away a few photos of the two sisters. The rest were all taken off the wall by her father and thrown to the bottom of the box, forbidding her to look at them again.

    Now that their mother died, those remaining photos …

    “…” Su Jishi’s lips moved, and she smiled bitterly, “Is the person who exposed the news my father?”

    Mu Xiulun fell silent.

    Su Jishi lifted her head to look at the ceiling, inhaled deeply and forced herself to suppress the anger surging within her.

    Hoo —— hoo —— hoo —— hoo ——

    Su Jishi was furious. She pounded the table, and the water glass nearby jumped: “I can’t stand it anymore!!! From the very start, we agreed to cut our father-daughter relationship after I got into college, so why did that son of a b-itch jump out now, huah?!!!”

    Mu Xiulun: “I think it’s because of a failed investment, and he wanted money.” He said, “Actually, he found your sister’s agency two months ago. After extorting a sum of money, his appetite grew. The boss of Huanchen didn’t want to indulge him, so he didn’t give him money the next few times. I didn’t expect him to be so greedy, to the extent he went directly to the media and said that he would expose the news.”

    He hid very deep. Mu Xiulun sent people to look for him but still did not find his trail.

    Although Mu Xiulun suppressed this expose from making it to the public this time, Su Jishi’s father had gone into hiding. He didn’t know when he would jump out and stab them from the back again.

    At that time, Su Jishi was at a critical time before her defense, so they kept the news to themselves,in fear of distracting her.

    It was easy to be a thief for a thousand days, but it was too difficult to guard against a thief for a thousand days.

    It was unsafe to leave such a big secret in the hands of others. Hence, Mu Xiulun suggested the two sisters take the initiative to reveal the secret.

    But then, a new problem would rise ——

    —— They couldn’t predict the reaction of the brands they had endorsed. After all, this was considered a commercial fraud; they couldn’t imagine how upset the fans would be; how many of them would be able to accept that their idol had become a different person?