For such a dramatic scene, netizens commented: even TV dramas wouldn't dare portray it like this!
However, in reality, such a situation actually occurred. Moreover, the production team's official account released a contract photo after this news broke, with the caption:
[This contract has been in effect since the first day the film 'Seeking Enjoyment' was released. Here, the entire 'Seeking Enjoyment' crew hopes to see more and more good news, and we will wait patiently together for the bloom.]
Opening the photo, everyone realized it was a charitable donation contract, which essentially stated that—
Every single income from the remake film and TV adaptation of 'Seeking Enjoyment' will be donated to the 'Ruo·Chu' Foundation to fund the search for abducted children.
Seeing this name, people instinctively thought it was a foundation established by Ji Ruochu.
Within a few minutes, the hot search topic [Ji Ruochu Established Foundation] appeared in the top twenty.
However, before this topic could gain more heat, the main character clarified with a post.
[Thank you for your attention to 'Seeking Enjoyment', and thank you to my fans and viewers for your support. I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but this foundation that has existed for 25 years was not established by me, but rather by my mother Ling Chujin and an outstanding actress.]
Ling Chujin?
No wonder the two words 'Ruo' and 'Chu' were separated by a '·'.
Wait, an outstanding actress?
Could it be—
A name that had been enshrined for decades but recently kept resurfacing, it was—
[Tan Ruo!!! It's Tan Ruo!!!]
[No way, is this real? It's actually Tan Ruo?]
[Tan Ruo's fans, where are you? Aren't you going to promote this?]
[...If I said we just found out too, would you believe me?]
In no time, excited netizens and dazed Tan Ruo fans flocked to Ling Chujin's social media accounts.
The latter had clearly anticipated the public's shock, as she followed her daughter with an explanation.
[Back then, she told me that the orphanage director said she was a child rescued from human traffickers by the police. Although the technology at the time was limited and they were never able to find her birth parents, she was still very grateful to the police, the director, and the annual funding the country provided to the orphanage. Now that she has some financial means, she hopes to contribute to society and help other families, so the 'Ruo·Chu' Foundation was established.]
Ling Chujin's explanation swayed public opinion heavily in Tan Ruo's favor, but more and more netizens dug into what the two founders had done for the foundation over the past 25 years.
Although the 'Ruo·Chu' Foundation was not well-known, a look at its account showed that it had posted updates regularly.
As for the content, netizens traced back to the earliest post from 25 years ago on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
[Happy New Year, today is a great day, the 'Ruo·Chu' Foundation is officially established, wishing everyone a joyous celebration.]
The second post was from the summer of the third year.
[Congratulations, a precious pearl has been found.]
That November of the same year.
[Congratulations, another name added to the list of joyous reunions.]
...
And the latest post was from yesterday.
[Congratulations, a long-lost pearl has finally returned home.]
Evidently, this referred to the case glimpsed in the theater preview clip, where a childhood photo helped a person successfully find their birth parents with the assistance of the police and the foundation's family information search.
At this point, all the netizens rampaging in the fields of gossip finally pieced together the entire timeline.
The names of Ling Chujin and Tan Ruo hung in the hot searches overnight, showered with endless praise that nearly overwhelmed the foundation and Ling Chujin's social media accounts.
Not only that, some netizens extracted the foundation's publicly disclosed financial statements from its official website.
Yes, financial statements.
Every single donation and expenditure was recorded clearly, an act that was less about accepting public scrutiny and more like reporting to someone no longer in this world.
Telling her that this foundation has maintained its original purpose.
But that wasn't all—what truly shocked netizens was the list of donors and donation amounts for this foundation.
In the early years, there were basically only two donors: Tan Ruo and Ling Chujin.
Tan Ruo's fans scrutinized the dates of her past commercial activities and determined that she donated a sum after each one.
As for Ling Chujin, she made a steady donation every year-end, clearly from her company shareholder dividends.
This continued for several years, and the donors became: Ling Chujin and Ji Mochen.
Ling Chujin's donation dates remained unchanged, while for Ji Mochen...
The Ji family fans also checked their idol-tracking records and reached a conclusion.
This ever-persevering man not only donated after each of his commercial performances but also splurged after every concert tour.
This pattern continued for a few years, with no change in the 'Ruo·Chu' Foundation's donor list until 20 years ago...
A new donor appeared—Ji Ruochu.
Netizens calculated the timing, and that year, the 3.5-year-old adorable child had co-starred with her father on a variety show.
Then they saw the donation amount: 88,888 yuan.
Well done, the little one already knew to donate an auspicious number at such a young age.
It was easy to imagine the soft and cuddly little girl, defying her parents' objections, donating part of her little savings.
Netizens teared up: Help, I'm already 30 years old and don't even have 80,000 yuan in savings, another day of feeling unaccomplished.
And so, the donor list continued steadily. In those years, compared to her mother who had company shares and dividends, and her father who had a never-ending schedule of work, little Ji Ruochu didn't appear often.
But whenever she had a new work, her name would show up on the foundation's donor list.
Later, with Ji Ruochu only taking on one project per year, she maintained a yearly donation frequency, with the amounts gradually catching up to and eventually surpassing her mother to become the second largest donor.
After that, the self-proclaimed aging Ji Mochen, who had reduced his commercial performances due to being a daughter's slave, also got overtaken.
Fans guessed that it was probably because his daughter had come of age, and those share transfer agreements started taking effect, increasing the amount she could access.
As for the other donation dates that didn't match year-end or work releases, they were harder to guess.
[Ah! I know! Scholarships!!!]
After this comment appeared, netizens immediately understood.
Sure enough, checking Peking University's annual scholarship lists revealed Ji Ruochu's name.
It's worth mentioning that in the past year or two, the foundation's donor list had gradually grown, but instead of names, there were just IDs like i002 up to i010.
Judging by the donation dates that also coincided with scholarship disbursements, netizens guessed these were probably Ji Ruochu's alumni.
It made one admire that indeed, if Ji Ruochu was so outstanding, her peers must be equally exceptional.
***
Went to attend a friend's wedding today, so the update is a bit late. Good night my darlings, there should be another chapter during the day. Muah~
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