I have a persona specifically for acting.

The Wei family gathered together.

Wei Zekai had parents above him, and above them were his grandparents. His maternal grandparents also came from a scholarly family. Six people doted on him as their precious grandson, spoiling him to the point where he had a haughty attitude. No one in the Wei family was innocent in this. Fortunately, though the young master was arrogant, his nature hadn’t been twisted; he was fundamentally kind-hearted.

Father Wei looked at Tong Zhao and felt she looked familiar. “Has this pretty girl been to our house before?”

He was busy with work and, even when he managed to come home, didn’t have much to say to his son.

But Wei Zekai didn’t have many friends—

His mouth was too sharp, and his emotional intelligence was even lower. The number of friends he could bring home was even fewer.

Tong Zhao was one of them.

“Xiao Kai brought her over to hang out before, and he also posted a group photo with his friends on Weibo,” Mother Wei reminded him.

“Zesheng, what is this program about?”

Grandfather Wei didn’t quite understand; he just saw his precious grandson transformed into a corgi. He hesitated and asked, “Is this a pet dating show?”

Mother Wei patiently explained, and only then did the old man understand.

The dating show was indeed a real matchmaking show, but their grandson was the pet.

On the show, there was also a bad woman and a bad man, and their grandson was responsible for exposing the two of them.

Grandmother Wei frowned as she listened. “Letting Xiao Kai take on such a responsibility? The director must not be thinking clearly.”

“Isn’t this show one of his investments? Maybe he paid for the judge position,” someone speculated. The Wei family hadn’t watched the promotional videos for the show and didn’t know the roles were drawn randomly, so they assumed that their wealthy young master had paid a large sum to buy the role of the dog.

“Then he’s not thinking clearly either,” Father Wei concluded.

The relatives all nodded in agreement.

After watching the show for a while longer, seeing Wei Zekai’s emotional and social intelligence almost hitting rock bottom, Mother Wei suddenly said, “I’ve always said this child takes after his father.”

Father Wei sneered and shot back, “Are we resorting to personal attacks now? Why not mention how, when you were pregnant with Xiao Kai, you were supposed to eat more walnuts to boost brainpower, but you refused because you didn’t want to crack your teeth. You drank eight glasses of water a day, and it all went straight to our son’s head.”

“Heh.”

Both of them felt that if things continued like this, it would be difficult to solve the family’s heir problem without having a second child.

While the immediate family members were whispering about whether this child took after the father or the mother, the audience, on the other hand, found that the rich second-generation kid turning into a dog was extremely adorable. The way he wobbled around on short legs, furiously wagging his little tail, was like a healing little angel. Especially when he cautiously hid away—it was turned into a bunch of reaction memes…

Unfortunately, Young Master Wei wasn’t a celebrity or an internet influencer, so there weren’t many places to use this set of reaction memes.

Only the comment section under his personal Weibo was flooded with them.

Originally, it was filled with trend-following jokes like “Young Master Wei, give us something.” But now, it had turned into [Wei dog Watching Secretly.jpg], [Suddenly Transformed into a Dog.jpg], and [Wei dog, Light of Justice.jpg]…

At that moment, Wei Zekai had just woken up from the holographic filming pod, and his memory hadn’t fully recovered yet. When he opened WeChat, he was stunned.

Still groggy, he saw that his Moments and WeChat messages were filled with images of a silly corgi.

Young Master Wei didn’t like dogs—he was on Team Predators.

His dream was that one day, if keeping tigers as private pets became legal in China, he would keep one in his garden at home—after all, he could afford it.

He opened the WeChat group of the “Young Master Wei Charity Foundation”…

It was the group where he partnered with Tong Zhao for investments, and it was flooded with dog memes. Instantly, he was very annoyed.

Wei Zekai: [Stop using stupid dog memes. Use some normal ones.]

Heir A: […]

Heir B: […]

Heir C: […Uh, well.]

By the time Wei Zekai realized that the stupid dog was actually him, it was already two minutes too late to recall the message.

When it rains, it pours. The joys and sorrows between people don’t always connect. As soon as Young Master Wei realized the situation and became furious out of embarrassment, his friends had already posted this chat record on Weibo to farm likes and shares.

Sure enough, the silly netizens laughed their heads off on the spot.

[Help, is this really the dog young master’s IQ?]

[If this show airs, the stock price of the Wei Group might drop by half. The future looks bleak!]

[“Drop by half? My foot! As a dog fan, I hereby declare myself a spiritual shareholder of the Wei Group from now on. I heard that the Wei Group is a diversified enterprise? Has the big boss considered developing a pet product line as a side business? You’ve got a ready-made spokesperson who can work for free /dog head emoji/ dog head emoji/”]

Just as Young Master Wei was experiencing social death, the show “King of the Sea” aired the segment where the two contestants who drew the King of the Sea cards were confronting each other face-to-face.

The game hidden beneath the sweet atmosphere was shot like a movie, turning the variety show into something cinematic.

The director of “King of the Sea” didn’t have much filming experience. For a variety show, being able to edit and find highlights is enough. Not knowing how to create beautiful compositions can even be justified as “showing the real side”… In short, this director’s skills were far inferior to those of “Legend of Emperor Ming,” but the two contestants had great on-screen chemistry, and every glance they exchanged told a story.

The two disguised as “King of the Sea” seemed to drop their facades entirely in the pottery room—

But the AI smart system that captured their inner thoughts told a different story.

While molding a fox figurine out of clay, Tong Zhao was cursing the producers in her mind for being so inhumane: [Why can’t we do R-rated things? That’s the fastest way to expose a man’s true colors. Wouldn’t it be more straightforward to have him kneel under my bed and tell the truth?]

The audience nodded frantically in agreement.

Han Zhi’s inner thoughts were filled with sighs: [So difficult to figure out. I’ve never seen someone like her before; it’s hard to guess what she’s thinking. Her face is also quite misleading. Hmm, it’s tough to look her in the eyes; she’s too beautiful.]

While thinking this, their gazes intertwined once again, lingering like an eternity in a single glance.

The air was filled with a sweet atmosphere that seemed like marriage was the only way this could end.

Even through the screen, the audience could feel the intense attraction pulling them towards each other.

As their scenes played out, the number of viewers in the streaming room and the barrage of comments surged rapidly.

The backend provided the most objective and accurate data collection, analyzing the four most frequently appearing keywords: [I ship this], [driving], [ZhiZhao], and [ZhaoZhi]. This couple was so easy to ship that no additional marketing was needed; CP (couple pairing) fans were naturally born. However, this also brought about some conflicts.

Han Zhi and Tong Zhao—who would take the lead position?

When the main actors actually kissed, fans were in uproar—not just for sweet moments, but for clarity on the dynamic—

[Tong Zhao pulled Han Zhi over for the kiss; isn’t it clear who’s on top and who’s on bottom?]

[I absolutely can’t accept Tong Zhao being the bottom. Having Han Zhi dominate her? I’d rather pair her up with Wei dog.]

[How can love exist between different species?]

The Zhao-Zhi shippers felt that their beloved sister was a proper and serious star, while Han Zhi, no matter how handsome, was still a nobody.

On the other hand, the Zhi-Zhao shippers held onto their traditional beliefs, arguing that their “Brother Zhi” grabbed the back of her head and kissed her back, so why shouldn’t the man be in the leading position? Didn’t they sense the tons of testosterone emanating from Brother Zhi?

In the end, a highly upvoted comment was highlighted in red:

[Stop arguing. Would you mind if this ship had one more fan? I’m joining this family right away.]

Tong Zhao’s personal fans felt a strong sense of crisis.

They were worried that Han Zhi might be a new rising star heavily promoted by some company, trying to ride on the popularity of their Sister Zhao. They quickly showed up to claim Zhao Zhao, saying “Not interested, don’t bring her into this,” subtly and overtly expressing disdain for the good-looking amateur.

Fan circles especially detest stepping on each other’s toes, and the discussion area instantly turned into chaos.

At the same time, Xu Zhu was also watching “King of the Sea.”

Last time, her stepsister had caused her to lose a lot of face. Finally, the hype over her kneeling video had died down, but she also lost a lot of fans who came for her sweet image and “little princess” persona. The filming of “Star Selection Girls” had ended, and Xu Zhu, who debuted thanks to her backstage connections, was now bored at home with nothing to do. She spent her free time plotting to prevent her stepsister from going viral again.

There was no helping it—her stepsister was just too infuriating.

The audience was quite forgiving, and as a result, Xu Zhu attracted a new group of fans who enjoyed watching a “selfish diva.” She also unexpectedly landed a film offer that aligned perfectly with the character of “Feng Sisi.” Her resources were surprisingly good—truly absurd.

But Xu Zhu didn’t want to take it.

She was fixated on wanting to be the “little princess.”

Why should Tong Zhao get to play positive roles and rise to fame?

She couldn’t stand that her stepsister got all the benefits.

So, this time, with Tong Zhao risking it all on an instinct-based variety show, Xu Zhu kept a close eye on her, just hoping to see her sister cause a scandal out of the blue. When she saw Chang Xiaonian badmouthing Tong Zhao, calling her a “white lotus green tea b*tch”…

Xu Zhu felt like she wanted to become a sworn sisters with Chang Xiaonian!

This must be the long-lost sister she was meant to find!

Finally, someone saw through her stepsister’s true colors, and Xu Zhu’s eyes welled up with tears.

However, the reactions on the bullet screen and Weibo once again nearly made her vomit blood in anger. Even when Tong Zhao was exposed as a manipulative flirt, the audience still liked her, thinking she was charming in her wickedness—a proud little kitten who deserved to be pampered and win in the end. Xu Zhu stared at the screen until her eyes were red, and at last, she glimpsed an opportunity to smear her stepsister’s reputation.

The amateur handsome guy who got close with her stepsister became an overnight sensation.

Just like many of Tong Zhao’s fans thought, Xu Zhu suspected that things weren’t that simple. She believed Han Zhi was very likely an artist that some company was planning to promote heavily. The more one knows about the industry, the less they believe in random fame.

Xu Zhu dared to be certain that Han Zhi hadn’t signed with any entertainment company only after using her connections with the Tong family to inquire multiple times.

He was truly just a regular guy.

A very, very lucky guy who participated in a mediocre show, created some incredible chemistry, and then garnered attention and a fan base that even many marketing companies couldn’t buy with money.

It was rumored that a wealthy lady who loved following celebrities took a fancy to him and spared no effort or expense to build a fan support club for him.

The fan support club, screenshots, beautified essays—everything was arranged.

Strangely, even though there was no company backing him, Han Zhi’s fan base grew rapidly like weeds, with astonishing combat effectiveness, and soon it took shape.

Tong Zhao didn’t indulge in romantic fantasies, so her fan base was relatively calm and mature.

Han Zhi, however, was different. His persona on the variety show was that of a super flirtatious “King of the Sea.”

The fans Han Zhi attracted were mostly irrational, younger “girlfriend fans.”

To put it bluntly, if even an ordinary girl like Zhong Muxi could get his “emotional charity,” then these girlfriend fans—though not comparable to a female celebrity like Tong Zhao—could certainly compare themselves to someone like Zhong Muxi! “King of the Sea, notice me!”

Because Han Zhi’s attitude toward Tong Zhao was different, his girlfriend fans naturally disliked her.

Anyone who opposed her stepsister was Xu Zhu’s ally.

Xu Zhu immediately found this handsome guy pleasing to the eye. She took the opportunity to buy a large number of cheap internet trolls to mix into Han Zhi’s fan groups and stir up trouble… After all, fan groups that have just formed are the most chaotic and fragile, unlike the more disciplined, established fandoms. This gave her a chance to exploit the situation.

[Why are you calling her “sister-in-law”? What happens on a variety show doesn’t represent reality, okay? Brother Zhi still doesn’t know his commercial value. Once he wakes up from the filming pod, he’ll realize that a whole world of opportunities is waiting for him.]

[Only older ladies would believe the scripts of instinct-based variety shows, hehe.]

[Is your idol unable to find a partner? Why do you have to pair her up with a new amateur? Taking Brother Zhi away, not interested.]

Seeing Han Zhi’s girlfriend fans and Tong Zhao’s fans fighting fiercely, Xu Zhu smiled with satisfaction.