Throwing Rem at You

With Little Waist dragging them down, every match was an uphill battle. Fortunately, the enemy team's skill level dropped accordingly. After enduring eighty-one trials and tribulations, the five of them finally secured three straight wins. Little Waist cheered in the chat: I ranked up! I ranked up! Great God, please accept my kneeling worship.

Qin Ze's mechanical skill was really only above average. He could not pull off all sorts of flashy godlike plays. What made him formidable was his overall awareness—knowing what to do and when, how to react when situations arose, and how to organize commands with perfect clarity. It was probably like the saying: a leading wolf could lead a flock of sheep to defeat a flock of wolves led by a sheep. Many times, the other side lost without understanding why. They had clearly held a huge advantage early on, yet by the mid to late game, they suddenly found they could no longer win team fights.

At seven thirty, Qin Baobao called him home.

When he arrived at the door at seven forty-five and unlocked it, Qin Ze saw Elder Sister curled up on the sofa watching TV. Her long legs were wrapped in light-colored jeans, and a plate of washed grapes sat on the sofa beside her. Reflected in the blue glow of the television, her eyes gleamed brightly, moist and alluring.

Even Qin Ze, who was used to his sister's devastating beauty, could not help taking a few extra looks. He sat down on the sofa, pulled out his phone, and prepared to order takeout. Qin Baobao kicked him with her bare foot, her eyes never leaving the LCD screen. "Go, go, go. Cook."

"Cook?" Qin Ze froze. "Why cook? We can just order takeout."

Qin Baobao picked up a grape, popped it into her rosy little mouth, then spat out the skin with a puff. She shot him a seductive glare. "Takeout is too expensive. We can't afford it. From now on, we need to be thrifty and self-reliant."

"I'm the one doing the work, though." Qin Ze curled his lip.

"Stop talking nonsense. I already bought the ingredients, so I'll leave the cooking to you." Qin Baobao said it as though it were only natural.

There was a block of tofu, a fish, some greens, and celery in the kitchen. Just enough for one meat dish and two vegetable dishes: fish stewed with tofu, greens with garlic paste, and stir-fried celery with pork. Qin Ze had inherited old mom's cooking skills, but he was lazy. Whenever he could order takeout, he ordered takeout. The scent of food drifted into the living room, making Qin Baobao drool. Wearing slippers, she sneakily slipped into the kitchen to steal a bite. Qin Ze was already full of resentment, so he caught her hand and pushed her out.

Qin Baobao rubbed her stomach and coquettishly whined, "Bao Bao is hungry..."

Qin Ze shuddered violently, goosebumps rising all over his body.

She was already twenty-five, yet she still imitated little girls by spoiling and acting cute.

While they ate, Qin Ze looked at Elder Sister across from him, her cheeks stuffed full, and said, "Old Man told me yesterday that we should go home next week. Old Mom misses us."

Qin Baobao paused mid-bite. Her exquisitely beautiful melon seed face lifted from her rice bowl like a wary little fox. "What for? Are they making me go on another blind date?"

The old man said no, but I don't think he can be trusted." Qin Ze shrugged. "You know how scheming the old man is."

"I don't have time. I need to practice singing and dancing over the weekend too. You can go back by yourself. Just tell them I'm working overtime," Qin Baobao said.

"I'm not going back either."

Qin Baobao looked puzzled.

"I have something to do this weekend."

"A date?" Qin Baobao's aura instantly changed.

"A date with your big head." Qin Ze rolled his eyes. "I found a job. I'll probably have to work overtime this weekend."

"You can look for a job during summer break. Finals are almost here, so settle down and study. Don't fail a class and get beaten by old dad with a feather duster." Qin Baobao licked her lips and burped contentedly. "I won't save you then."

"When have you ever saved me? Whenever old dad beat me, weren't you always standing off to the side, happily watching the show? Qin Baobao, you've got a rotten conscience." Qin Ze was filled with resentment.

Qin Baobao made a face at him.

After dinner, Qin Baobao washed the dishes while Qin Ze sat in the living room studying his modeling. His laptop was on the glass coffee table. He bit the end of his pen while searching for relevant information. His dad had taught him the principle of the early bird catching the worm more than ten years ago, and he had faithfully followed it ever since. Yet at his current level, wanting to fully understand these things was nothing more than a fool's dream. Some things were truly innate, like intelligence. No matter how diligence could make up for shortcomings, no matter how early a clumsy bird flew, there were still limits. Saying that ten years of effort could not match someone else's one year of hard work was a little extreme, but taking three years to equal another person's one year was common enough. Take Qin Ze, for instance. During his three years of high school, the old man personally tutored him, driving his disappointing son to study tirelessly. Yet despite all that effort and supervision, Qin Ze had still only gotten into a second-tier university. Qin Baobao, on the other hand, had muddled through her first two years of high school chasing her dream of becoming a star. Then, in her senior year, she put in a little effort and got into Fudan University as easily as if she were playing.

It was impossible not to be jealous!

Thinking of this, Qin Ze looked up and resentfully glared at Qin Baobao, who was bent over wiping the table. Her fitted jeans wrapped around her well-developed backside, round as a full moon. Qin Ze's heart trembled. He silently recited, Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, terrified that a ding might suddenly ring in his mind and present a task like, "Touch Qin Baobao's butt."

I should get myself a girlfriend.

The thought surfaced in Qin Ze's mind. His romantic experience in life was exceedingly sparse. He had held a girl's hand in elementary school. In middle school, everyone around him was dating, so in order to keep up with the trend, he made an agreement with his deskmate: if anyone asked, she would be his girlfriend, and he would be her boyfriend. So they became boyfriend and girlfriend in name for two years without even holding hands. By high school, schoolwork was too demanding for him to even think about that sort of thing. In his sophomore year, he had pursued a girl. She had been pretty and refined, but unfortunately, it fell apart soon after.

He opened the Campus Forum, where one post had always been pinned in the most prominent position. Its title was "A Compilation of the Department beauties at Finance University." It contained pictures of beautiful girls secretly photographed or openly photographed by students. After being edited with Photoshop, every one of them looked breathtakingly gorgeous, almost otherworldly. Qin Ze had looked at it before, but never closely. Mostly because Qin Baobao had ruined his standards of beauty, raising them even higher than Fudan University's admission cutoff. Ordinary beauties really could not catch his eye.

Qin Ze carefully browsed through the photos of the campus beauties. This was what he thought: times had changed. Money would come, and a house would come too. It was time to start looking for beauties and chasing girls. Otherwise, if he became a multimillionaire or billionaire someday, embraced a girl who threw herself at him, eagerly booked a room, and then could not get it up, he would probably be laughed to death by her.

As Qin Ze focused intently on the photos, Qin Baobao washed her hands and came out of the kitchen. She flopped onto the sofa, stretching with a drawn-out moan. Then she suddenly caught sight of Qin Ze looking at pictures of beautiful girls. She immediately leaned her head over and snorted, "Oh? Going into heat now?"

As he scrolled with the mouse, Qin Ze said, "Look, there are quite a few beautiful girls at our school too."

"The Photoshop is too fake. Their chins are sharp enough to stab people to death, and their eyes are as big as an alien's."

Qin Ze had wanted to say she was blatantly jealous, but when he turned and saw his sister's nation-toppling face, he changed his words. "That just means they have a good foundation. As long as she's a pretty little flower, I like her."

"All the beauties are already taken. When would it ever be your turn?" Qin Baobao curled her lip disdainfully.

"As long as you swing the hoe well, there's no corner you can't dig into." Qin Ze turned and spat at her.

Qin Baobao punched him and sat cross-legged on the sofa. "You just brood in silence. A giant in theory, a dwarf in action. As if you know how to chase girls."

Qin Ze immediately felt his self-esteem take a vicious blow. Humiliated into anger, he said, "Who says I don't know how to chase girls? I've had a girlfriend before, okay?"

Qin Baobao sneered. "You lasted less than a month before she dumped you."

Qin Ze flew into a rage. "You've got the nerve to say that? If you hadn't meddled blindly, would I still be a single dog now? I'd already be an experienced man."

That still made him angry whenever he thought about it. Back then, he had proudly shown off to Qin Baobao that he was no longer single. Qin Baobao was happy to hear that her younger brother had finally found a girlfriend, and she suggested meeting her over a meal to check her out. So Qin Ze asked the fresh young cabbage he had just won over to meet them. They agreed to meet at the restaurant entrance. That day, Qin Baobao had dressed especially exquisitely, like a huge star, drawing an absurd amount of attention.

When Qin Ze saw his girlfriend arrive and excitedly waved, Qin Baobao unleashed her Killing Move, striking straight at the throat. She hooked her arm through Qin Ze's and spoke in a saccharine voice. "Husband, is this the little slut you picked up outside? She's not much to look at."

Qin Ze was instantly petrified in the wind.

Naturally, they never had that meal. His girlfriend left in humiliation and anger, and never spoke to Qin Ze again. She blocked his number and blocked him on every chat app. From then on, they became complete strangers.

"I was helping you test her character and test your relationship. True love should be steadfast and indestructible," Qin Baobao had argued confidently afterward.

"I was helping you..." Sure enough, Qin Baobao was still using the same excuse.

Qin Ze spat at her face again. "Bullshit. After all this time, I've figured it out. You were jealous that I found a girlfriend. Because you're still a single dog even now, and you couldn't stand it."

Qin Baobao choked on her words.

"Heh heh, I hit the mark, didn't I? Nothing to say now, right? I exposed the little beneath your fur robe, didn't I?" Qin Ze felt like a legendary swordsman—either he did not strike, or he struck to kill.

Qin Baobao suddenly stood up, grabbed the Rem pillow among the anime merchandise Qin Ze had bought, and viciously smashed it onto his head. "The other party doesn't want to talk to you and throws Rem at you."

She stomped into her room in her slippers and slammed the door shut with a bang.

"What the hell?" Qin Ze muttered. He opened the Points Shop. "System, I want to exchange points for professional knowledge about fund investment."