Sang Youming crouched in the corner, clutching his head and trembling, pleading, "Dad, I'll call you Dad, okay? Please, stop hitting me!"
Why was his biological daughter so fierce? Could he return her, please?
Sang Ning stood over him, looking down, her body slightly tilted to one side, holding an empty wine bottle that gave her the full aura of a gang leader. She looked utterly unapproachable.
"Will you still dare to drink in the future?"
As soon as her icy voice fell, Sang Youming's head began shaking like a rattle: "I won't, I won't!"
If he dared mutter a single "no," it was certain that Sang Ning would smash that wine bottle right over his head.
A wise man doesn't suffer immediate losses—he'd drink again when Sang Ning wasn't around!
Seeing that Sang Youming had a good attitude about admitting his wrongs, Sang Ning finally put down the empty wine bottle, clapped the dust off her hands, and said with a casual tone, "From today on, I'm officially back with the Sang family. Notify my mom and brother; I want to have a simple family meeting tonight, so tell them to come home before dinner. I'm going to rest now, and when I wake up, I don't want to see this pile of trash still in the living room. Got it?"
For alcoholics like Sang Youming, there was usually some degree of alcohol dependency. Sang Ning didn't expect him to quit drinking overnight, but giving him something to do to temporarily divert his attention wasn't a bad idea.
"Got it, got it!" Sang Youming replied quickly, "I'll start cleaning up right now and guarantee there's not a speck of dust when you wake up!"
Sufficiently scared sober, all he wanted now was to send the fiery-tempered Sang Ning away. He pointed hurriedly to the bedroom where Chu Xi used to stay and waited until Sang Ning entered the room and shut the door before finally letting out a sigh of relief and collapsing to the floor.
There was still a bit of alcohol left in the empty wine bottle Sang Ning had placed on the ground before. He picked it up and quickly gulped down the remaining liquid, then nonchalantly put the empty bottle back in its original place.
The fright had been severe—he needed some alcohol to steady his nerves!
With his mood slightly calmed, he fished out his phone from his pocket and began making calls one by one.
The first call was to his wife, Hu Zhi.
"Hello, what is it? Hold on—bam!"
"Ah, what did you say? Can't hear clearly? Xiao Ning turned into a female tiger and came back?"
"What nonsense, hasn't Xiao Ning made it clear that she won't return to the Sang family?"
"No more talking, I'm hanging up. I'm dealing a Tsinghua University hand here; ruin this for me and it'll all go to waste."
Sang Youming was about to explode with anger; the sound of Hu Zhi playing mahjong on the other end completely drowned out his voice. She was catching bits and pieces, but none of the important parts.
In his frustration, he roared into the phone, "The house is burning down—get back here and save it now!"
"What!" Finally hearing him loud and clear, Hu Zhi pushed her tiles away and panickedly stood up. "I'm done playing; something's happened at home—I have to leave!"
Her mahjong buddies exchanged confused looks, clearly perplexed, but soon breathed a sigh of relief—Hu Zhi's luck with the tiles tonight was too good; her leaving meant they'd lose less.
After hanging up, Sang Youming belatedly realized he'd been too loud earlier. He nervously glanced toward the bedroom, and only after confirming there was no movement from Sang Ning, did he breathe easier. He then slipped off to the restroom to call his son, Sang Chuan.
This time, the background noise on the other end was a cacophony of national curses from an internet café, mingled with Sang Chuan's voice.
"Damn it, you sons of bitches, didn't you see me charge forward? Still lurking in the back? Planning to pack up my dad's corpse, huh?"
This time, Sang Youming had no patience for explanations; he growled through gritted teeth, "Sons of bitches, your dad is still alive! Already planning to take over, are you? The house is on fire—get home now!"
Sang Chuan had his phone on speaker, casually placed next to his mouse. Most of Sang Youming's words were automatically filtered out, except for "house is on fire."
He could no longer stay calm, yanked off his headset, and sprang out of his chair.
His gaming setup! He had to go home and rescue it!
Once everyone had been notified, Sang Youming exhaled deeply. At last, he'd completed one task assigned by his bossy niece.
He emerged from the restroom and started cleaning up. There were too many empty bottles in the living room; worried the sound of clanging bottles might provoke Sang Ning, he thoughtfully turned on the speakers and played some soothing soft music.
If not for his fear of getting beaten up by Sang Ning, he'd have loved to play a "Heart Clarity Spell" track for her.
What a fine-looking young lady—it simply wouldn't do for her to have such a fiery temper.
In the bedroom, Sang Ning lay flat on the bed with her hands folded behind her head, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought about her path forward.
In her previous life, she earned a PhD but chose not to pursue a conventional job, becoming instead an outdoor exploration livestream host.
At heart, Sang Ning considered herself someone who enjoyed challenges. The entertainment industry was an entirely unfamiliar territory for her—it wouldn't hurt to continue walking down the road laid by the original host.
In the original host's timeline, she'd just graduated from film school this year. During her junior year, she'd accepted the lead role in a popular novel-adapted web drama. With this web series, she successfully entered the ranks of rising female stars.
The original host's appearance was the epitome of the sultry, femme-fatale aesthetic—beckoning fox-like eyes, lips naturally red without makeup—the kind of strikingly beautiful yet aggressively cold aura that was one-of-a-kind in the entertainment industry, unmatched.
Although her prospects had been bright, she couldn't resist courting disaster.
Arrogant behavior, pitting herself against other actresses, deliberately creating scandals involving male celebrities, insulting fans...
It could be said her crimes were numerous and outrageous!
The fan circles had a saying: "The celebrity least afraid of scandal in the entertainment industry must be Sang Ning, as she's already a pile of ruins—there's no mansion left to collapse."
Sang Ning didn't care much about this. The original host might have been a black-and-red minor star, but she still commanded attention, didn't she? And wasn't the entertainment industry full of stars who've redeemed themselves?
She believed she'd be one of them too.
With this thought, Sang Ning pulled out her phone and opened Weibo. Her follower count was currently at twenty million.
The corners of her lips lifted into a satisfied smile. Black status or not, with a fan base like hers, what was there to fear in making a comeback?
She clicked into the notifications tab—her mentions, comments, and private messages were all maxed out at 999+.
The smile on her face froze the moment she clicked into her mentions. They were filled with all kinds of bizarre rankings, and the comments section was crazily @-ing her:
The Most Shameless Female Celebrity, Annual Compilation of Cringiest Acting Performances, Embarrassing Variety Show Moments That Make You Want to Curl Up and Vanish...
She dominated all these lists with overwhelming first-place finishes.
She clicked into the comments section—this time, the smile on her lips completely faded and even drooped slightly downward.
Every comment was a creative insult aimed at her.
[Daily Question: Has Sang Ning died today yet?]
[Don't study swordsmanship; study shamelessness. Skip practicing upright swords and dive straight into shameless ones!]
[Others bind their feet, but you bind your brain.]
[When it comes to being offensive, you've got two of the top spots.]
...
Her public image was so bad that it seemed irreparable!
Feeling unlucky, Sang Ning decided to toss her phone aside—out of sight, out of mind.
Just as she made a gesture to throw it, she changed her mind and retrieved her phone, opening her private messages instead.
She'd set her account to allow private messages from followers only. With twenty million followers, surely not all of them had followed her just to send insults, right?
Ha.
How naive, the private messages were also filled with insults.
Wow, truly wow!
It was only now that Sang Ning truly understood what "black-and-red" meant—to attract twenty million hate-followers was no small feat. Was that impressive or what?
Even irrelevant wannabes would cry with envy if they saw this, probably spewing literal fire.
Amidst the sea of insulting private messages, she noticed one that stood out.
The message preview read: Sis, you're as beautiful as a celestial being, truly one of a kind in this world, just…
The preview could only show this much. Sang Ning felt a little comforted—it seemed there were still hardcore fans who genuinely liked her.
With the corners of her mouth slightly tilting up, she tapped on the message to see what the fan really wanted to say.
But after reading its full content, her lifted smile once again crashed downward.