Book 1: She Becomes Glamorous After the Engagement Annulment

Chapter 38

Chapter 112: It Really Is Pete!

He tapped on the link to Cherry’s f*******: profile so that he could send her a friend request.

But when he did that, he unexpectedly saw a message prompt saying: “Sorry, this content isn’t available right now.”

Justin, “?”

Did this mean that the little brat had also blocked him? Tsk, she was pretty bad-tempered, huh.

“Cherry must have become angry.”

A young voice suddenly rang out beside his ear, startling him. He turned around to see Pete standing behind the sofa and staring at his cell phone.

Justin let out an awkward cough and tossed the cell phone aside before he said casually, “So be it if she’s angry. She can do whatever she wants.”

_

Pete fell silent for a second. Then, he sighed and said, “Daddy, I’d advise you to coax her. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”

He would regret it?

Justin scoffed, “Why would I regret it? Why should I coax someone else’s daughter?”

Pete asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Seeing how he refused to listen to advice, Pete silently said a prayer for him.

To be honest, the tyrant was a good father.

After all, how many fathers who took care of their children themselves were there in the world?

Cherry liked him quite a lot too. However, the tyrant was insisting on upsetting his soft and cuddly younger sister now. He was really just digging his own grave.

He would just watch in silence when the tyrant is forced to eat his own words!

Justin snorted inwardly.

He indeed wanted a daughter, but she wasn’t going to be the one that Nora had with someone else.

Instead of pampering her, he might as well pamper Sweetie instead.

After all, unlike Cherry who was so bad-tempered, she was cute, well-behaved, and obedient.

With that in mind, Justin suddenly remembered that he had missed Sweetie’s live-stream the day before, and he somehow decided to open the live-stream app on his cell phone.

Elsewhere, Lawrence was currently checking the web for information about the trending topics that Tina had mentioned.

He had given it some careful thought. Tina wasn’t stupid; even if she

was making up an excuse to approach Justin, she wouldn’t use such a lousy one.

Perhaps it wasn’t one of today’s trending topics but previous day's instead?

Unfortunately, he didn’t use social media apps very much, so he wasn’t very familiar with them. As such, he could only fumble and randomly try to find his way around.

_

At the Andersons.

After the moody Cherry was forced to finish her Mathematical Olympiad assignments, the bored little girl started her live-stream ahead of schedule.

Fans poured in the moment she started the live-stream. At the sight of quite a few familiar names, she greeted them excitedly, “Hi!”

In the comments, JH wrote: ‘Hello.’

As her second-highest ranked fan, he had special privileges.

His comment was in a larger font size and in bold. His username was also in red text so that it would be easier for live-streamers to notice that their big patrons had entered and interacted with them.

Usually, the moment Justin entered the live-stream, sweetcherry would immediately greet him and call out sweetly, “Hi Sponsor Daddy!”

The way she called him Daddy was as if her voice was coated in honey, making him feel sweet all the way to the bottom of his heart.

However, sweetcherry didn’t greet him today even after quite some time after he wrote the comment.

Did she miss it?

Taken aback, Justin wrote another comment: ‘How come you started the live-stream so early today?’

Children had screen time limits, and parents usually set it from six to eight o’clock.

But after he sent the comment, he instead heard the little live-streamer’s cute voice saying, “Hi Windy! Yes, I’ve already had lunch, yeah~”

“GreenKite, I’m only good at playing as this hero. Besides, don’t you think she’s the prettiest and cutest character here?”

“…”

Justin couldn’t help but scroll up in the comments.

Although she had gained a lot more fans, she hadn’t given advanced notice that she would be starting her live-stream early, so there weren’t many people in the live-stream at the moment.

Windy’s comment was above his: ‘Has Sweetie had lunch yet?’

GreenKite’s comment was below his: ‘Do you only know how to play as that hero? What about other heroes?’

She had replied to both of their messages but missed out on his?

Was he having a bad connection, so his comment wasn’t sent?

Right after the thought formed, he saw more comments:

‘Did Sweetie fall out with Sponsor Daddy? Why are you ignoring him?’

‘Haha! Sponsor Daddy was ignored!’

‘Sweetie used to call out to Sponsor Grandpa and Sponsor Daddy all the time, but she is suddenly ignoring Sponsor Daddy today. Why do I feel so good about it?’

‘Wow, I’ve done well today! I’m actually one of the first 100 to enter Sweetie’s live-stream! You can put up a notice in advance next time if you’re starting your live-stream early, Sweetie~’

‘What’s the matter, Sweetie?Sponsor Daddy is talking to you. Why are you ignoring him?’

_

Given all the comments, sweetcherry must have noticed him by now. However, the little girl outright ignored all the comments about Sponsor Daddy and only said adorably, “How do I put up a notice if I want to start the live-stream early? I don’t know how to do it~”

Her young and tender voice had a bit of a coquettish charm when she dragged out her words, causing the hearts of everyone who heard it to melt.

The live-stream was filled with comments:

‘Sweetie is so cute!’

‘Remember to eat more, Sweetie~’

‘How can a child be this cute? I really wanna take Sweetie home!’

However, Justin, who was watching the live-stream, instead felt rather hurt.

She was doing it on purpose.

There was no doubt about it.

His expression turned frosty and he suddenly found himself at a loss.

This was the very first time Justin had ever been ignored in his twenty-odd years of life.After all, he was always the center of attention wherever he went.

He frowned and wrote another comment: ‘Are you in a bad mood today?’

The seven big red words stayed on the screen for a very long time before they disappeared.

Everyone who wasn’t blind saw them, yet it was as if the little girl hadn’t noticed anything and continued to ignore him.

Everyone started to joke about it even more in the comments.

Someone even wrote: “It must be because you didn’t tip her today that she’s ignoring you!”

A tip…

Justin frowned.

In his world, money was just a set of numbers that represented transactions.

If she was refusing to call him Sponsor Daddy just because he hadn’t tipped her, then this would no longer be someone appreciating another person but a transaction.

He returned to his usual icy-cold attitude.

At this point, someone commented: ‘Live-streamers should be keeping their patrons happy all the time. What is she being so arrogant here for? If I were you, Sponsor Daddy, I would unfollow her and tip her rival instead!’

Her rival?

It was only then that Justin noticed that there was actually also a face-off section in sweetcherry’s live-stream.

Meanwhile, Lawrence was still searching through the trending topics on social media.

Unfortunately, trending topics on social media were all in real-time, so he didn’t know where to start at all.

While he was lost, the IT security department chief sent him an email: ‘The screening system has been completed. Once you upload little Mr. Hunt’s photo, you’ll be able to check whether his information has been leaked onto the Internet.’

Lawrence felt relieved at once.

He hurriedly took out his laptop and downloaded the program.

Then, he took a photo of Pete and uploaded it. Soon, the search results appeared. A webpage of trending topics from the day before immediately appeared on the screen.

Lawrence was stunned. Pete really was live-streaming! On top of that, he was even using some kind of alias called ‘sweetcherry’??!!

Chapter 113: Sponsor Daddy Is A Tool?

Lawrence swallowed hard.

He looked through the content carefully and even specially took a look at the live-stream video featured in the trending post where sweetcherry had dropped her mask.

Even if one were to say that the photo might be fake, Lawrence was almost 100% certain that the face in the video was indeed Pete’s.

He looked at Pete incredulously, feeling as if he was going to have a mental breakdown.

The post had included all of sweetcherry’s classic live-stream moments, such as her adorably asking another player in the game, “Is your entire family so skilled at doing nothing?”

It also included her calling out “Sponsor Grandpa~” in her young and tender voice.

The way she added ‘yeah’ to her sentences was also practically brainwashing him.

Was that adorable and lively child in the live-streams really the merciless and reticent Pete who had mild autism?

A silent Lawrence walked over to the entrance to the study and peeked inside.

Pete was still seated and reading seriously in the study. He really couldn’t tell that he had a habit of cross-cross-dressing. Nor could he tell that he was someone who would live-stream.

No wonder Mr. Hunt felt that Pete was sick. Wasn’t his current self an entirely different person from the one in the live-streams?

He definitely had schizophrenia!

Lawrence’s scalding gaze was so fervent that it was hard for Pete to ignore him.

He looked up and immediately saw a troubled Lawrence looking at him sadly. He said, “This isn’t your fault, Pete. You’re just sick, sigh.”

Pete, “?”

An expressionless Pete said, “There are vitamins in Daddy’s room. If your brain lacks nutrients, you can take some to boost your brainpower.”

Lawrence nodded immediately. “Really? I’ll take two, then… Sigh, so many of my brain cells died just now!”

Then, he again glanced at Pete regretfully before he left the room.

Pete, “…”

Had Uncle Lawrence been influenced by the tyrant?

He was still so young, yet he had become an i***t. How pitiful.

Pete shook his head. He lowered his head to return to the book, but his gaze shifted to his cell phone instead. Just now, his younger sister had sent him a text message: “I’ll never love Daddy ever again! He actually blocked me! I’m so sad!”

When he thought of that, a sympathetic look appeared on Pete’s countenance.

Compared to Uncle Lawrence, it seemed like the tyrant was more pitiful? Initially, Mommy was the only one who didn’t like him, but even his sister was starting to dislike him now.

_

A surly-looking Justin stared at the live-stream.

Were all the children so spoiled these days? First, Cherry blocked him on f*******: and now, Sweetie was ignoring him in the live-stream.

He was the great CEO of the Hunt Corporation. Was he someone who would care about two little kids who weren’t related to him by blood?

He snorted inwardly and looked at the face-off screen again.

The live-streamer's opponents were randomly selected by the system. Cherry had unfortunately been matched today with a live-streamer who had a million fans. The other party had clearly come prepared, so he already had $150,000 worth of points more than her.

The people in the comments started to panic.

‘Quick, Sweetie, do a shout-out to Sponsor Daddy. He just needs to tip you with a round of airplanes and it’ll become a tie!’

‘Why isn’t Sponsor Grandpa here today?’

‘I know why he isn’t here. Sponsor Grandpa enters the live-stream half an hour earlier every day, but Sweetie started the live-stream three hours early today, so he must not know that Sweetie is live-streaming now!’

‘Quick, Sweetie, ask Sponsor Grandpa for help~’

_

The comments made Justin frown.

sweetcherry’s young, tender voice rang out at this point. She said, “No, that won’t do. I can’t ask Sponsor Grandpa for money~!”

Cherry had always known that she mustn’t ask other people for presents. Sponsor Grandpa was an outsider; to Cherry, the airplane tips that he gave her were just gifts.

Even though she had Sponsor Grandpa on her f*******: Messenger, there was no way she could go on Messenger and demand gifts from him!

This was one of Cherry’s basic life principles.

Besides, this was just a contest. Did it make any difference whether she won or lost?

She had only joined the contest because she accidentally clicked on it anyway.

With this thought in mind, Cherry continued to play her game steadily and ignored the comments.

At the same time, Fantasia also started a live-stream.

Fantasia was a young woman around 20 years old. Her image was that of a young lady from a wealthy family. She was currently live-streaming herself shopping for luxury goods.

She sat in a Gucci store’s VIP room as she waited for the service staff to bring her clothes and newly-released bags to choose from.

Afternoon tea had also been served to her in the store. The pastry plates had gold borders that made them look exceptionally luxurious.

She sat on the sofa with an exquisite teacup in her hand. As she sipped on the fruit tea, she said, “The fruit tea here is delicious. It’s very suitable for women.”

While chatting, she suddenly saw someone commenting: ‘sweetcherry is in a face-off with Ika right now. Do you think she can win this one?’

Fantasia burst into laughter and said, “Ika is a famous rich second-generation heir in the gaming channels. I’m acquaintances with him and we’ve met at several parties before. He won’t lose even if his opponent is a big-name live-streamer with ten million fans. He’ll definitely be one of the top ten live-streamers. Let me see how the live-stream is going.”

As Fantasia spoke, she picked up a cell phone that she wasn’t using for live-streaming and entered sweetcherry and Ika’s live-stream face-off. When she saw the number of points they had, she smiled and said, “Is there even a need for them to compete anymore? sweetcherry’s fans are very smart though. Fighting with Ika will only result in both parties suffering losses. In that case, it’s better to just give up right from the start.”

Someone asked: ‘What do you mean?’

Fantasia laughed and said, “Didn’t you notice that sweetcherry’s No. 1 and No. 2 fans aren’t doing anything today? Oh come on, surely you guys aren’t still thinking that those two are really patrons?”

Fantasia’s lip corners curled upward and she drawled, “Here, I’ll teach you guys a way to distinguish between real and fake patrons. Real patrons usually follow quite a few live-streamers and also tip a few different live-streamers. Let’s take a look at sweetcherry’s No. 1 and No. 2 fans’ profiles. Tsk, what a coincidence. They are both new accounts registered right before and after sweetcherry started doing live-streams. That’s fine and all, but both of them have only tipped sweetcherry before. Now, that’s interesting.”

In the comments:

‘I get it now! Her No. 1 and No. 2 fans are both tools! No wonder sweetcherry became so popular immediately after she started live-streaming. So that’s what it is!’

‘So Sponsor Grandpa and Sponsor Daddy are all just her hyping up herself~ I gotta say that management companies really know what they’re doing these days!’

‘I just wanna know whether the one playing the game now is still that five-year-old cutie or not?’

The group of them who had been led around by their noses by Fantasia swarmed into sweetcherry’s live-stream and started to lambast her.‘Sweetie? It’s nothing but just a fake image! How gross!’

‘Hahaha, are you retreating just because you’re up against Ika? Do you have too much self-awareness or what? Your No. 1 and No. 2 fans are just tools! The former doesn’t dare to show up while the latter pretends to fall out with you after he shows up.Tsk, you’re real smooth, huh!’

At the Hunt's villa, Lawrence walked over and saw that his boss was staring at his cell phone with a frown.

Chapter 114: He Actually Has a Daughter!!

Justin stared at the screen coldly.

He, a true blue patron, had actually become a tool in their eyes? On top of that, they were even making claims about a management company?

Hah.

What a huge joke.

They were just a bunch of naive kids on the Internet. They sure jumped to a lot of conclusions when all they had was insignificant evidence, and easily believed everything that others said. The comments section was in total chaos now.

He picked up his cell phone. He was about to say something and defend sweetcherry when she said, “Sponsor Grandpa isn’t a tool. Don’t you spout nonsense. Otherwise, I’m gonna get mad!”

Justin, “?”

She had only mentioned Sponsor Grandpa but not Sponsor Daddy.

Justin had always thought of himself as a tolerant person ever since he was a child. His upbringing had never allowed him to lose his temper in front of outsiders, either.

Moreover, apart from Pete, no one had been able to really anger him all these years.

But he actually felt a little hurt at this moment.

That little live-streamer! She was too much!

To think he was always thinking about her and even occasionally came in to watch her live-streams.

This was also the first time he had tipped anyone like that in his life.

Justin made up his mind—he was going to unfollow her!

He was about to leave the live-stream when he saw someone asking in the comments:

Is Sponsor Daddy a tool, then?’

sweetcherry fell silent for a while. Then, she replied unhappily, “No, he isn’t. Sponsor Daddy is even less likely to be a tool!”

Seeing that she was finally talking about Sponsor Daddy after so long, all the motherly fans began to express their concern for her.

‘Sweetie baby, did you argue with Sponsor Daddy? What’s wrong?’

‘Sweetie cutie, did someone make you upset?’

The comments were also interspersed with attacks from haters.

‘Hah, how is he not? He hasn’t shown you a single cent of support or given you any tip today. Doesn’t that show that you’ve automatically given up on the face-off today?’

sweetcherry ignored the haters and said unhappily to the people who truly cared about her, “Because I hate Daddy!”

The motherly fans: ‘Do you hate Sponsor Daddy? Or your real Daddy?’

sweetcherry replied, “They’re all the same!”

The fans, “??”

Justin, “??”

So, the little fellow was just venting her anger on him because her real father had upset her?

Suddenly, his heart softened a little.

Justin coughed and wrote: ‘What did your father do?’

As her other fans were also asking the same question, sweetcherry answered, “Daddy is horrible. He ignored me~ I will never talk to stinky Daddy ever again!”

The comments were filled with fans scolding her father.

‘Your father is so horrible. It’s bad enough that he doesn’t want you and your Mommy, but he’s even ignoring you now?’

‘Sue him. He is obligated to raise you. What gives him the right to ignore our cute and innocent Sweetie?’

‘He’s too much! What a scumbag!’

_

Justin, “…”

For some reason, he suddenly thought of Cherry and felt a little guilty.

But right after, he found the thought ridiculous. What was he guilty about? He wasn’t Cherry’s father anyway.

As a man though, how could he not take care of his own child?

Justin looked down and wrote: ‘Your father is such a scumbag!’

The words in big and bold font appeared in the comments and even stayed there for several seconds.

Cherry felt much better.

Having Daddy scold himself was also a way of punishing him, right?

She was still thinking about it when another bunch of haters poured into her live-stream.

‘This is so disgusting. I’ve finally seen what a bully looks like. Why didn’t you give up yesterday when you were up against our favorite live-streamer?Aren’t you just giving up today because Ika is a rich second-generation heir, so it’s not easy for you to bully him?’

‘She’s just an image that a management company is selling. What are all of you being so worked up for her for?’

‘The No. 1 and No. 2 fans are too fake. Both of them must be the management company’s accounts.’

‘I’m seriously dubious about whether the one playing the game is really a young kid? Everyone only saw her holding a cell phone when she revealed her face the other time. No one saw her actually playing it, right?’

‘She must be hiding something for her to refuse to turn on the camera all the time.’

‘Don’t you think that the No. 1 fan is very ridiculous? How can he not keep a close watch on the live-streamer’s activities during such a critical moment? It’s already been half an hour since the live-stream started, yet he still isn’t here… He probably isn’t coming today, right?’

Cherry didn’t care about them scolding her, but the one they were scolding was Sponsor Grandpa? She wasn’t going to take it lying down!

She was about to let her mouth run wild and slam all of the haters when someone suddenly wrote: ‘Quick, Sweetie, take a look at Fantasia’s live-stream. She’s calling you an unlearned little country bumpkin.’

Cherry, “?”

The five-year-old was totally confused by everything that was happening.

As for the comments, they were filled with things such as:

‘sweetcherry is a fake princess! Fantasia is the true princess!’

‘Fantasia is online and personally proving someone’s bitchiness now!’

‘There’s a very simple way to prove yourself—either turn on the camera and show us where you live or let your No. 1 and No. 2 fans come forward and compete with Ika. Here, I’ll tell you a secret: Ika has prepared $800,000 for this!’

‘Exactly. You say that Sponsor Grandpa isn’t here because he has something on, but your Sponsor Daddy is obviously online. Why don’t you get Sponsor Daddy to tip you, then?’

Seeing how the hater's comments were getting meaner and meaner, the motherly fans panicked. Tips swarmed into Cherry’s live-stream one by one.

Unfortunately, they were still too weak. Just as they narrowed the gap by $15,000, Ika received another tip of $150,000. The gap was pulled bigger and bigger.

Everyone felt rather helpless.

Someone wrote: ‘Sponsor Daddy, can’t you help Sweetie out?’

The corners of Justin’s lips curled upward and he replied: ‘I’ll help you if you ask me to.’

The moment he sent the comment, Sweetie said, “No, I won’t.”

She would never give in to stinky Daddy!

Justin, “???”

Whose stubborn little brat was she?!

So be it if she refused to give in. In that case, he couldn’t be bothered to tip her, either. It wasn’t like he was crazy or masochistic; he just wasn’t going to demean himself!

In the comments, the motherly fans were trying to appease him: ‘Don’t hold it against a child, Sponsor Daddy.’

Justin sneered and wrote: ‘It’s not like I’m her father anyway.’

So why should he baby her?

Justin left the live-stream in a fit of anger.

When he turned, he saw Lawrence looking at him carefully. He asked, “Are you in a good mood now, Boss?”

Justin frowned and replied, “Just come right out and say it if you have something to say.”

Lawrence heaved a silent sigh and said, “We discovered that Pete is live-streaming himself playing games.”

Pete was live-streaming?

Justin sneered, “Are you still asleep?”

Pete was with him every day. He even knew like the back of his hand what time he woke up and what time he ate. How could he possibly be live-streaming?

Lawrence hurriedly explained, “It’s true. His alias is sweetcherry and he live-streams himself playing games for two hours every day.”

Justin was stunned at once. “What did you say?”

Lawrence took out his cell phone and showed him the trending topics about sweetcherry. Seeing how shocked and puzzled he looked, Lawrence said, “Don’t be mad, Mr. Hunt. Children are all rebellious by nature.”

But before he finished, Justin stood up abruptly and went straight to Pete’s study!

Lawrence followed closely after him. “Boss, don’t be angry…”

As soon as he said that, he saw that Pete was currently studying. Meanwhile, Justin reentered sweetcherry’s live-stream.

Lawrence was stunned. Wasn’t sweetcherry, Pete? Who was that?

Then, he saw his boss suddenly using his cell phone to hack into the live-stream app. Right after, sweetcherry’s camera suddenly turned on in the live-stream!