Shen Zhiyu cooperated with the show's promotional campaign by reposting the official Weibo post.
Shen Zhiyu V: "Zhouzhou baby, keep pushing forward and running hard! Mommy will follow you forever, duck!"
"Go Duck! Little Darling" V: "Little darlings, the journey that belongs to us is about to begin. Go duck! @Liang Weixia @Xu Anxin @Gu Shiyu @Li Yuechuan @Shen Zhiyu"
The other guests reposted the official Weibo post one after another to notify their fans.
Aside from her and Xu Anxin—whom fans dubbed the ultimate heartthrob—every other guest on this show was an exceptionally prestigious heavyweight in the industry.
Liang Weixia and Li Yuechuan were Triple Crown Best Actors, while Gu Shiyu was the very first actor to achieve a Grand Slam of all three major Best Actress awards.
When fans saw the show tag Shen Zhiyu, they couldn't believe it at first, suspecting their eyes were playing tricks on them.
It wasn't until Shen Zhiyu reposted the show's preview clip that they finally dared to believe it was real.
The comment section beneath her post was flooded with fans hysterically typing "ahhhhh." Anyone unaware would have thought they had stumbled into some bizarre realm of monsters and demons.
Having made her repost, Shen Zhiyu paid no further attention to the comment section.
She had important matters to attend to.
She had paid a hefty sum to track down an old practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The elderly doctor's surname was Gu. In his middle age, people called him Old Gu. Now that he was old, everyone referred to him as Elder Gu.
In a year's time, Elder Gu would take on a supremely talented final disciple.
And that very disciple would go on to become the male lead's capable right-hand man and one of his best brothers a dozen years later.
From the outside, Elder Gu appeared indifferent to fame and fortune, refusing to bow to wealth and power while he wholeheartedly devoted himself to research.
In reality, he was desperately short of both money and medicinal herbs.
And money was the one thing she had in abundance.
As long as they weren't extraordinarily rare and precious herbs, there was nothing money couldn't solve.
Inside a dilapidated courtyard house, Elder Gu was sorting medicinal herbs.
When the wooden door was knocked, thinking it was yet another person begging him to come out of retirement, he shouted toward the outside, "Line up for medical consultations. If you have a number, you'll be seen. If you don't, you won't."
The sound of footsteps did not fade away.
Had the person outside left?
Elder Gu looked up, only to be met by a pair of smiling yet seemingly omniscient eyes.
Her red lips parted slightly: "Elder Gu, care to discuss a business venture?"
Inside the old yet impeccably clean house, Shen Zhiyu sat on a single wooden armchair, scanning her surroundings without a trace before her gaze finally settled on a framed photograph on the wall.
A young man and woman, in the prime of their youth, smiled with unrestrained vibrancy.
The young man's facial features and eyes bore a striking resemblance to Elder Gu's.
Elder Gu poured her a cup of warm water and handed her a cushion: "The sofa is cold; it's not suitable for someone in your condition to sit for long."
Shen Zhiyu paused slightly, though she showed no excessive surprise. She accepted it with composure, though she didn't actually place it underneath herself.
"Elder Gu," Shen Zhiyu had no intention of beating around the bush and went straight to the point: "I know what you need, Elder Gu, and I can help you."
Elder Gu narrowed his eyes slightly, masking the sharp glint within, "You know what I want?"
Shen Zhiyu nodded and slowly spoke, "Pang Xuedong."
Elder Gu's expression shifted, his indifferent attitude vanishing as he looked at her with a heavy gaze, "How much do you know?"
"I know what you need, and my Shen Family lacks nothing if not money." She deliberately distanced the Lu Family from the Shen Family: "As long as you help condition my Zaizai's health, I will provide you with all the money and medicinal herbs you require."
Elder Gu: "...... Just this?"
He knew all too well what he needed and had already prepared himself to be exploited for the rest of his life, bracing for the worst-case scenario—and yet, it was just this?
Elder Gu thought, "You must look down on my medical skills."
Shen Zhiyu chuckled softly as she explained, "I mean no disrespect to Elder Gu's medical skills. I've also opened a TCM clinic and need a veteran TCM practitioner like you to oversee operations and teach. I don't want the art of Traditional Chinese Medicine to decline."
She spoke those last words with absolute sincerity, though she certainly had her own selfish motives as well.
Once she pulled him into her camp, she wanted to see how the process and ending of the male lead's brother would change.
Elder Gu looked at her deeply for a long moment before agreeing: "Fine."
Shen Zhiyu briskly pulled out a contract, "Have a look at the contract, Elder."
Elder Gu: "......" Why on earth had he just thought she was a gullible fool?
Having resolved a major matter, Shen Zhiyu was in high spirits as she stepped out of Elder Gu's house.
A cheerful chime rang out.
Thinking Zhouzhou couldn't find her and was calling, she pulled out her phone.
The moment she saw the caller ID on the screen, her good mood vanished completely.
It was the number of Lu Yunzhan's executive assistant, saved previously for the sake of convenience.
The man himself rarely had occasion to call her.
Remembering his attitude toward the grown-up Zhouzhou they would eventually find in the future, her gaze grew frosty.
She reined in the corners of her smile and hung up.
Just as she was about to add the number to her blacklist, the ringing started up again with stubborn persistence.
Suddenly recalling something, she answered the call but remained silent.
"It's me." The voice coming through the receiver belonged to Lu Yunzhan.
Shen Zhiyu gave a flat "Oh," her tone ice-cold: "I know."
She had only picked up because there was something she wanted to verify: "Lu Yunzhan, tell me, are you really just away on a simple business trip this time?"
Lu Yunzhan was baffled, but his reply was utterly resolute: "Naturally."
"My work here is almost wrapped up. What gift do you want? I'll—beep... beep..." Before he could finish, the line was cut off by a dial tone.
He called back, but it wouldn't go through.
That number had been blocked as well.
Lu Yunzhan stared at the call screen, his brow furrowing slightly.
Could it be that his business trip had been too long this time? Had she gotten angry because he was too busy to video call her?
Aside from this, Lu Yunzhan could think of no other reason why his young wife would be angry enough to block him and his people.
Lu Yunzhan handed the phone back to his executive assistant and asked in a low voice about the upcoming schedule.
The assistant's expression remained completely unfazed: "A meeting at ten-thirty, followed by an appointment to meet James after it concludes—"
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Listening to his assistant recount the schedule word by word, Lu Yunzhan felt a headache coming on.
He had originally intended to pick out a gift himself, but under the current circumstances, he would just have to let his secretary buy it instead.
***
Over the next three days, Shen Zhiyu stayed cooped up at home with her son, watching cartoons and occasionally debating the characters with Zhouzhou.
Neither mother nor son would give an inch, arguing until their faces were flushed red. When the arguments got too intense, they would just hug each other's heads and wail together.
Uncle Wang and Mother Wu, who had come over to break up the fights, stood nearby rolling their eyes so hard they almost reached the heavens.
Their young madam was truly getting more and more childish.
Even more childish than Young Master Zhouzhou, who was the actual child.
Despite all of Shen Zhiyu's tight precautions, on the second day, Zhouzhou still came down with diarrhea, just as he had in his past life.
Instead of taking him to the hospital, Shen Zhiyu called Elder Gu.
True to his word as her employee, Elder Gu responded to every request.
He rushed over in a hurry to administer acupuncture to Zhouzhou.
After a night had passed, although Zhouzhou still lacked energy, his condition didn't spiral downward and worsen the way it had in his previous life.
Moreover, Shen Zhiyu discovered that Zhouzhou actually liked acupuncture.
He clung to Elder Gu every waking moment, begging him to take out the needles for him to look at, completely abandoning his usual attachment to her, his mother.
Annoyed by his constant clinging, Elder Gu tossed him an ancient, rare text on acupuncture.
Zhouzhou snatched it up happily, raised his little head, and thanked him in a crisp, clear voice: "Thank you, Grandpa Gu."
Elder Gu: "......"
He suddenly felt that what he had just done was rather ungracious.
The boy's mother was paying him a hefty sum, after all; he ought to treat the little landlord a bit better.
Elder Gu fell into self-reflection.
Shen Zhiyu walked up to him wearing that same familiar smile: "Elder Gu, care to discuss a business venture?"