The Stand-In Alpha Goes Viral on a Dating Show - Chapter 74

The banquet guests whispered in hushed tones, but once they caught sight of Chi Feng’s cold, cutting gaze, they instinctively fell silent.

They sneaked glances at the Chi family head, trying to read her expression. Her face appeared calm, unreadable.

Exchanging looks, they couldn’t help but mutter inwardly: So… is Mingyu really the one or not?

Compared to them, the younger candidates of the Chi family were far less restrained. Being young, they couldn’t hide their emotions—each pair of eyes turned toward Mingyu brimmed with hostility, as if they wanted to drive her out on the spot.

Some even entertained murderous thoughts.

Mingyu wasn’t oblivious to these malicious stares, but she paid them no mind. Her full attention remained fixed on Chi Feng. This man had the power to raise her to heaven with a single word—or cast her down into hell just as easily.

Chi Wan, however, couldn’t shake off a strange feeling. She had always believed Mingyu wasn’t the real one—that she was. But after Mingyu stepped forward, Chi Feng’s demeanor seemed to shift, as if tacitly acknowledging her.

It was only the briefest flicker of expression, yet Chi Wan caught it. Why?

Could it be that Mingyu is the original’s sister?

Meanwhile, An Ran noticed a noblewoman appear in the shadowy corner of the hall. Dressed in finery, her face was nonetheless severe and unsettling.

The woman stared fixedly at Mingyu, her eyes filled with disdain and suspicion.

An Ran recalled what her grandfather had once told her about the Chi family—that while Chi Feng was the head, his mother was a force not to be underestimated.

Could this woman be the Chi family matriarch?

Chi Feng hadn’t expected word of the banquet to reach her mother so quickly. For her to appear here, in such a manner, meant the situation was far from simple.

A troubling thought flickered across her mind—could it be that the secrets she believed hidden were already under suspicion?

If so, her mother likely had doubts but no proof. Otherwise, how could she have concealed it so well?

Realizing this, Chi Feng’s initial impulse to expose Mingyu’s true identity shifted into a tacit acquiescence.

Let it be… consider it a way to protect Wan’er.

The guests waited eagerly for the Chi family head’s verdict, but she remained silent for a long while. At last, she crooked a finger toward Mingyu and said, “Come.”

Mingyu’s heart leapt with joy. Believing he merely wanted a closer look, she gathered her skirts and hurried over, half running.

President Ming, watching this, allowed a pleased smile to curl his lips. Then he abruptly nudged the woman who had been silently standing at his side, lifted his chin toward Chi Feng, and declared:
“Chairman Chi, I didn’t just find your daughter—I found your lover as well.”

The words sent a jolt through Chi Feng. Instinctively, she almost turned to seek her mother’s reaction, but she forced herself still.

Mingyu’s mother, pushed into the spotlight, suddenly found herself the center of all eyes. Her heart thudded wildly, her back stiff, but under one gaze in particular—steeped in malice—her spine gave the faintest tremor.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you shaking?” President Ming frowned in irritation.

“I… I’m nervous…” The woman instinctively edged closer to him. Whatever else, she still felt that only he could give her a sense of safety.

But the movement startled President Ming instead!

He cursed inwardly. In front of all these people? Does she dare? Every guest here was a shrewd old fox—if anyone misunderstood, wouldn’t it seem as though he was cuckolding Chairman Chi?

If that happened, no matter how deep the past favors ran, they would mean nothing.

An Ran noted how the noblewoman in the shadows now shifted her gaze to Mingyu’s mother, her expression wavering with doubt.

This was Feng’er’s lover back then? Impossible. The face doesn’t match.

Could she have gone under the knife?

The matriarch scrutinized the woman inch by inch. Plastic surgery was plausible, especially for someone desperate to avoid her watchful eye.

Yet even if her face had changed, how could her bearing be so utterly different?

Much as she despised the woman of years past, she had to admit that one’s aura had once been far superior to what stood before her now.

Still, life’s hardships could grind down even the finest temperament.

The thought took root in her mind.

While the banquet guests were fixated on Mingyu’s supposed identity, Chu Rou’s concern lay squarely with Mingyu herself.

Meanwhile, the live broadcast continued streaming.

For most viewers, this was their first glimpse of such a grand banquet. From the moment the program’s guests had stepped through the doors, online discussions had buzzed without pause.

Everything—the brand of the cups, the arrangement of the hall, the cut of the guests’ gowns—was dissected under the netizens’ magnifying glass.

But none of them had expected this: Mingyu was not the Ming family’s eldest daughter, but the Chi family head’s daughter!

No wonder there had long been rumors she looked nothing like the Ming family.

Mingyu’s fans erupted with delight. The Chi family! Far more powerful than the Ming family could ever be.

But just as quickly, a new worry rippled through the chat: Wait—if Mingyu isn’t the Ming family’s daughter, then where is the real one?

The viewers’ focus shifted. So the Ming family raised the Chi family’s daughter all these years? Then where is their own flesh and blood?

Could it be a baby switch? But the Chi family’s daughter was said to have gone missing long ago…

After eliminating all other possibilities, only one conclusion remained: the girl who truly went missing back then was none other than the Ming family’s daughter.

Netizens couldn’t help sighing in unison: compared side by side, the Ming family really had it rough!

As President Ming himself had once put it, not only had the Ming family raised the daughter of the Chi family on their behalf, they had even found the Chi family head’s long-lost lover.

Surely, the Chi family owed them compensation!

Some netizens cried out that the whole thing was absurd—who would have thought reality could be stranger than a TV drama?

Adding fuel to the fire, sharp-eyed viewers noticed something else: why hadn’t Mingyu’s mother gravitated toward the Chi family head, but instead kept edging closer and closer to President Ming? Her movements seemed overly dependent, overly natural.

Could it be… there were feelings involved?

At this thought, the gossip-hungry masses perked up and began dissecting every little detail of the pair’s body language.

The more they dug, the more alarming it became.

If even the online crowd had such suspicions, how much more so the business tycoons present at the banquet!

After all, wasn’t Mingyu’s mother standing a little too close to President Ming? While he consciously tried to keep his distance, the woman seemed to lean toward him without even realizing it.

Their subtle interactions made many frown in disapproval.

At that moment, Mingyu had already reached the top of the stairs. When she turned her head and saw the scene below, her heart instantly grew restless.

What is Mom doing? Does she really not know how inappropriate this is?

For the second time, she felt ashamed of her biological mother.

The first was when she had just learned she wasn’t the Ming family’s real daughter. Back then, her mother had quickly comforted her, revealing her true identity was even more prestigious than Ming family’s bloodline.

But now, the Chi family head must have seen this too. What would he think?

Mingyu lowered her head silently.

Meanwhile, Chi Feng was secretly annoyed at President Ming’s unnecessary gesture. If it had only been Mingyu alone, her mother might not have suspected too much. But add this woman into the mix, and… sigh.

Chi Feng could only resist the urge to rub her temples. Was she really expected to put on a display of deep affection for that woman?

Honestly, she couldn’t pull it off.

Yet the awkward tension couldn’t go on forever. Fortunately, the woman herself was clueless, making ambiguous moves on her own. That at least gave Chi Feng some time to adjust her state of mind.

Feigning hesitation, Chi Feng slowly began walking down the stairs, step by step, in the direction of Mingyu’s mother.

Seeing this, Mingyu had no choice but to follow along.

Not long after, the banquet gradually cooled as the hosts departed.

Later, back at the guest room prepared by the Chi family, Chi Wan collapsed onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. It was rare for An Ran to see her so listless. She sat on the edge of the bed, leaned down to look at her, and gently nudged her shoulder with a fingertip.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been so preoccupied all night.”

“I…” Chi Wan hesitated. She couldn’t very well say that she felt like her father was being stolen from her.

“You…?” An Ran’s brows knitted slightly. She wanted to know, but more than that, she had always carried a faint, nagging unease where Chi Wan was concerned. The more evasive Chi Wan became, the heavier that unease grew.

But Chi Wan truly couldn’t speak it aloud. It was nothing more than speculation—what if Chi Feng wasn’t…

So she changed tack, burrowed her head into An Ran’s lap like a spoiled child, and rubbed against her gently.

“I… I just miss my dad.”

An Ran froze, then suddenly remembered—Chi Wan had been raised in a single-parent home. She had only ever mentioned her mother, never a father.

A wave of tenderness surged through her. She threaded her fingers into Chi Wan’s hair, massaging her scalp lightly until Chi Wan let out a small, contented purr.

“An Ran, you’re so good to me…”

Chi Wan murmured instinctively. Though her heart was still tangled with unspoken worries, with her beloved beside her, treating her so gently, she soon drifted off into a sweet slumber.

But for Meng Lan, it was a sleepless night.

She recalled how, when she was very young, she had once met Mingyu—right outside a building with a style eerily similar to the Chi family’s estate. She had always assumed Mingyu simply forgot about her. But after tonight’s events, a terrifying realization dawned.

Perhaps it wasn’t that Mingyu had forgotten. Perhaps at the age of three, she had suffered an accident—one that turned her from the Chi family’s heiress into the Ming family’s daughter.

Her heart ached for Mingyu’s fate.

She also regretted ever wavering over Chi Wan.

How could Chi Wan possibly compare to Mingyu?

Meng Lan now pinned her hopes on Mingyu—once she returned to the Chi family, she would remember everything… including her.

Meanwhile, Mingyu’s mother was consumed with nerves. After Chi Feng had publicly taken her away, she hadn’t been brought to a study for a private talk, but instead ushered straight into a luxurious guest room.

When she saw the snow-white bed, her imagination immediately took flight. Could it be that Chi Feng truly believed she was the lost lover—and intended to share the night with her?

To share a bed with the Chi family head—what woman wouldn’t dream of it?

Her heart raced with both tension and delight.

She looked expectantly at the man in his impeccably tailored suit, waiting eagerly for his next move.