As expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Life isn’t a drama, after all; there aren’t that many sudden, unexpected accidents.

Everything went smoothly and was even completed ahead of schedule.

By the time Gu Shengsheng spoke to Lu Shijing, the vehicles were already loaded. It was time to head to Eagle Country.

She also planned to go over early and surprise Lu Shijing.

The old man watched her grin foolishly at her phone.

He said, “This future boyfriend of yours, are you sure he’s the one?”

“Yes,” Gu Shengsheng said. “He already is.”

“What about your future husband?”

“It’s him, too,” Gu Shengsheng said.

She had hesitated before, but once she acknowledged her own feelings, she no longer wanted to deny them. When you like someone, you should do so openly.

Her attitude was always clear, both in work and in matters of the heart.

The old man laughed heartily. “In that case, I’ll have to give you a big red envelope for your wedding.”

Gu Shengsheng laughed too. “Deal.”

They would marry after this was all over. Now that her professional ambitions were fulfilled, she wanted to experience a life lived on her own terms.

Life is about taking chances. It’s okay if things don’t always work out.

‘With those thoughts in mind,’ she embarked on her journey to Eagle Country. For this trip, she had been in long discussions with Zhao Dehai, who had everything prepared with customs and was just waiting for her word.

The stage was set; all that was needed was the final push.

And with her arrival in Eagle Country, that final push began.

Thanks to Lu Shijing’s meticulous preparations, prices in Eagle Country’s antiquities market were already in chaos.

It didn’t matter that he wasn’t there. He had returned to Huaxia to surprise Gu Shengsheng, only to hear that she had just left for Eagle Country.

So he immediately bought a ticket back.

Gu Shengsheng introduced so many “treasures.” At first, she only released a small batch into the market, which immediately generated great word-of-mouth. Everyone who saw them raved.

People declared them authentic, and as word spread like wildfire, more and more people jumped on the bandwagon.

After that, she kept releasing them… more and more.

By the time everyone had spent a fortune and discovered that the items they bought were being mass-produced, it was already too late.

In this time of panic, the prices of all sorts of antiques began to drop.

Lower and lower.

At this point, the Da Ying Museum’s credibility was completely gone. The various antiques circulating were identical to those in their exhibitions, and many experts even appraised the ones on the market as being more authentic than the museum’s own pieces.

It was unclear who started this rumor, but in any case, people believed it.

The public clamored for the Da Ying Museum to issue refunds—refunds for their admission tickets. The antiques market completely collapsed. You could buy many things for cheap, but nobody knew what they were, and they certainly weren’t authentic.

If they were real, there wouldn’t be one, two, three… ten of them.

With Eagle Country in turmoil, people from Japan and Korea naturally flocked over to watch the show. They came as tourists and casually brought a few things back with them.

It was during this chaotic window that Gu Shengsheng easily brought the artifacts—the very ones the overseas students had presented—back to Huaxia.

Everything went smoothly, without a single shot fired.

Even the money to have the old man make the fakes had been provided by Zhao Dehai.

At this point, Gu Shengsheng could finally relax completely.

Once the artifacts were back in the country, the public furor gradually died down.

But when Eagle Country discovered that Huaxia now possessed so many of its artifacts, they finally realized something was very wrong.

Just as they were about to start slinging accusations, Gu Shengsheng preemptively called a press conference. This time, she was a bona fide spokesperson.

Below the stage sat a dense crowd of international reporters and representatives from various countries.

Gu Shengsheng stood calmly at the center of the stage.

Behind her were some of the nation’s previously lost artifacts—just a portion of them, of course. Displaying all of them would have been too much.

The first to stand was a reporter from Eagle Country:

“Miss Gu, our Eagle Country and the Da Ying Museum have suffered a tragic ordeal; the museum has even been forced to close its doors permanently. In light of this, what is the meaning of you bringing back so many artifacts?”

“Is this matter related to you? Did you deliberately orchestrate this? Everyone has eyes; we all saw what happened. We hope that a person of your character, Miss Gu, won’t be so audacious in the future. You’ll get what’s coming to you sooner or later.”

Representatives from several other countries also stood up to condemn Gu Shengsheng.

Their words grew uglier with each speaker.

Gu Shengsheng smiled. “You’re only condemning me here because you have no evidence, right?”

“These artifacts were all purchased legitimately from your Eagle Country market. All the procedures were legal. So many people bought them. They were willing to donate them to our museum, so what’s the problem? Are you jealous?”

“But weren’t you the ones who put them on the market? Why are you blaming the consumer now? In Huaxia, the customer is king. Don’t tell me that in Eagle Country, people have to beg to buy things. And if the seller later has regrets, we’re supposed to just give the items back? What kind of logic is that?”

Gu Shengsheng spread her hands. “If that’s the case, then I suggest no one in the world ever travel to your country again. That’s just too tyrannical.”

She put a hand to her forehead, feigning a look of fear.

The Eagle Country reporters were usually fluent speakers, but they had never encountered a situation like this and didn’t even know how to rebut.

In fact, what Gu Shengsheng said was irrefutable because, on the surface, it was the truth.

‘It’s just so infuriating. What gives this Gu Shengsheng the right? How could every single treasure she ‘found’ be authentic?’

‘This has to be a conspiracy.’

But they were struggling to find evidence, so what could they do?

Could they only rage impotently?

Then Gu Shengsheng said, “Let’s put the matter of the artifacts aside. Your words now constitute slander. We have the best lawyer, Mr. Zhang San, on our side. Please direct any further communications to him.”

“I’m just an ordinary citizen of Huaxia. If you target me, I will take you to court at the Federation.”

Gu Shengsheng’s voice was light and airy.

Everyone was speechless. “…” No one said a word.

‘Seriously, how does this Gu Shengsheng have the gall? She calls herself an ordinary citizen?’

‘What ordinary citizen threatens to sue people at the Federation at the drop of a hat?’

‘What ordinary citizen has tens of billions in assets?’

‘What ordinary citizen can single-handedly bring down the most prestigious museum? And that jewelry appraisal lab from before…’

‘Wasn’t that all her doing?’

‘The point is she’s still up there, putting on an act… and who could possibly out-act her! What a menace.’

But for all the curses welling up inside them, they didn’t have a single legitimate complaint to voice.

They could only suffer in silence, and now they had no idea where she might strike next.

This woman was simply terrifying.

And so the press conference—a process that could only be described as Gu Shengsheng single-handedly “pummeling” every reporter in the room—came to an end.

Her popularity in the country was now sky-high. From eighty-year-old men and women down to five-year-old children, everyone knew who she was.

The only ones who had never been able to stand her, the He Family, had gone bankrupt playing the stock market—a rather dramatic turn of events. A company as large as the He Group was just… gone. Of course, everyone said it had something to do with Lu Shijing, but no one had any proof.

Later, the He Group became a subsidiary under Lu Shijing.

As for that young master of the He Family, he never got the chance to leave Africa. Gu Rongrong, on the other hand, followed him there for the sake of love.

What happened after that, Gu Shengsheng didn’t know. She had never paid any attention to her so-called biological parents, and eventually, there was no more news of them either.

Lost in thought, she walked in the direction of home.

At a glance, she saw Lu Shijing also working furiously, juggling three things at once.

His tablet was displaying their wedding plans, his computer was for work, and even his phone wasn’t idle—he was using it to keep up with news about Gu Shengsheng.

An audio recording was even playing—study material for the geology graduate school entrance exam. The plan was to attend grad school with Gu Shengsheng under Zhang Zhengyi; he intended to enroll right alongside her.

Gu Shengsheng herself was a bit taken aback. “You’re already one of the five richest men in the world, and you’re still working this hard?”

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