Pleated Mini Skirt

The next day, Qin Ze worked out as usual. Given his personality, it was hard to imagine that he would get up at five every morning to run and cultivate his inner strength beneath the half-lit sky. Perhaps he had been ordinary for too many years, living in the shadow of his sister Qin Baobao for too long, with too much gloom and resentment built up inside him. Then, one day, the salted fish saw hope of turning over, and the chick found a ladder leading to the branch. The ambitions in his heart were suddenly awakened.

He got home at seven thirty and brought Qin Baobao breakfast. His sister played on her phone while eating, her long, fair fingers tapping at the screen. Qin Ze scribbled on scratch paper while chewing on a bun. Neither of them spoke, yet the atmosphere was not awkward or stifling in the slightest. It carried the quiet peace of an old married couple who had weathered the years together.

"I'm not taking you to school today. I need to get to the company early." After finishing breakfast, Qin Baobao pulled out a tissue and wiped her mouth. "The company invited one of our second-tier singers to train us. Guess who it is?"

"Not interested." Qin Ze kept writing formulas on the paper without looking up.

Qin Baobao pouted and swayed her hips as she returned to her room.

A moment later, Qin Baobao emerged after changing. She was not wearing an OL Suit today, but a pleated mini skirt, a deep teal V-neck knit sweater over a blue undershirt, and short suede boots. Her two long, fair legs were bare, without stockings, and silver four-leaf-clover earrings hung from her ears.

Qin Ze immediately felt as though his titanium-alloy dog eyes had been blinded.

He was absolutely a mini-skirt enthusiast, though not a black stockings enthusiast. Plenty of girls had long legs, but without stockings, their leg shape or skin usually had some sort of flaw. In Qin Ze's twenty-two years of life, he could not claim to have seen countless beauties, but whenever his heart stirred, he would occasionally search online for pictures of pretty women. Very few could compare to Qin Baobao's legs. It seemed that only Qin Baobao had the confidence to wear a short skirt without stockings.

Her legs were fair, long, and well-proportioned. The longer he looked, the stronger the urge to touch them became.

The corners of Qin Baobao's lips lifted slightly. She walked over to the table and spun around, her pleated mini skirt flaring out as she said proudly, "Well?"

"Just average."

"Wipe your drool first, you pervert."

"Who are you calling a pervert?" Qin Ze flared up, guiltily wiping at the corner of his mouth.

Qin Baobao glared at him, bent over, and brought her foxlike face close to his. With a snort, she said, "Staring at your own sister's thighs with that lecherous look—if you're not a pervert, who is?"

"Qin Baobao, watch your tone." Qin Ze snapped in embarrassment.

"I was just joking. You're no fun." Qin Baobao pursed her lips. "Dance training starts today. This outfit looks pretty good, right?"

Without a word, Qin Ze reached out to lift her pleated mini skirt. Qin Baobao slapped his hand away and glared. "Hey, hey, what are you trying to do?"

"You're wearing a skirt this short, up to the roots of your thighs. It'll be easy to expose yourself while dancing."

"Obviously. I'm wearing safety shorts."

Qin Ze gave an "oh," then got up and packed his materials into his bag. He left with his sister and entered the elevator. He got off on the first floor while Qin Baobao headed to the underground garage to get her car. Just as Qin Ze stepped out of the elevator, he suddenly turned back and blocked the slowly closing doors with his hand. "How are you adjusting to the new company these past few days? Any rough guys or potbellied creepy uncles harassing you?"

Qin Baobao cooperatively formed an orchid finger gesture and blinked. "Your sister is so pretty, of course tons and tons of rough guys have their eyes on me. But I don't give any of them the time of day."

Qin Ze chuckled. "Don't let anyone drug you and carry you off to a hotel for some bang-bang-bang."

Qin Baobao kicked at him. "Get lost!"

Qin Ze dodged lightly and dashed out of the lobby. He had always held a pessimistic view of the Entertainment industry, that chaotic mix of all sorts of people. Some things had to be said to warn his troublesome sister. Qin Baobao got the message; with her intelligence, she naturally knew how to handle things. They did not need to spell it out. That was the tacit understanding between the siblings.

He had a major class at ten in the morning, so Qin Ze arrived at school at eight thirty sharp and made his way familiarly into Professor Li's "studio."

The moment he reached the door, he heard Professor Li's loud, furious scolding.

Qin Ze slipped in quietly. All the staff were already there; he was the last to arrive.

At the podium, Professor Li sprayed spittle as he berated someone. The unfortunate fellow being scolded was Yang Chen, the person assigned to guide Qin Ze.

Heh, interesting!

Qin Ze secretly took pleasure in his misfortune and sat down at his seat without drawing attention to himself.

"What's going on with you? You didn't do a bit of the assignment. You're usually not like this. Now look what happened—without your risk assessment forecast, everyone else's work can't be connected. What do I always tell you? Be rigorous, rigorous! Did my words go in one ear and out the other?"

"Now everyone's progress has been delayed because of you."

"Drinking? Don't you know drinking causes trouble? Your work attitude is completely undisciplined. How are you going to compete with others in society later? Someone offers you a drink and you drink it? Can't you refuse? Do you even know what self-discipline is?"

Yang Chen hung his head and let Professor Li lecture him.

After listening for a while, Qin Ze roughly understood what had happened.

Yang Chen had dinner with friends last night and gotten drunk. When he got home, his head was foggy, and he went straight to sleep after lying down. As a result, he forgot to complete the task assigned yesterday.

Qin Ze knew about yesterday's task: two risk assessments for short-term operations. It was not particularly difficult, but it was troublesome because there was so much material to look up and reference. It was meticulous work. He had exchanged for the relevant knowledge in the Points Shop, yet it had still taken him two hours to finish. Given Yang Chen's ability, it would probably take him more than four hours.

Well then, the whole morning had been wasted, and today's progress would be affected too.

This mathematical modeling assignment was due in less than a week. Professor Li and his student team were racing against time. With Yang Chen making such a blunder, how could Professor Li not be furious?

Qin Ze looked around. Everyone else stared at their noses, their noses at their hearts, minding their own business. No one said a good word for Yang Chen.

Unable to bear Professor Li's endless nagging any longer, Yang Chen's eyes shifted. Wearing a miserable expression, he said, "Professor Li, I failed to restrain myself properly. I admit my mistake, and I guarantee I'll never do it again. Actually, Xu Junlong and I divided up the work yesterday. He already finished his part. Normally, there are three people in each group, so even if I made a small mistake, we could quickly make up for it. But our group only has two people. Qin Ze just arrived and doesn't understand anything, so he can't help at all. I'm doing two people's work by myself. You see, one mistake on my end and the entire group's work goes down the drain. Besides, we're already close to the deadline."

He was trying to redirect the trouble. He did not expect Qin Ze to take the blame, but he at least wanted him to share some of the hostility.

Professor Li did indeed stop and glance toward Qin Ze, his brows quietly furrowing.

Qin Ze thought, Damn you, silly kid. What kind of grudge do you have against me?

Did I provoke you? Yesterday, you were already talking trash about me behind my back and trying to screw me over.

If the tiger doesn't show its might, you think I'm Hello Kitty, huh?

He pulled out a stack of materials from his backpack and found the risk assessment he had completed last night, including formulas, technical analysis, theoretical analysis, and the relevant references.

"Professor, I finished the task you assigned yesterday. Please take a look."

The classroom suddenly fell silent. It was different from the already quiet atmosphere before. That had been a slightly oppressive silence; now, everyone turned to look at Qin Ze in stunned, shocked silence.

After recovering from his surprise, Yang Chen sneered. "You only came yesterday. Do you even understand the requirements and content? You don't know anything, yet you just went and did it blindly. You don't understand rigor at all. How can Professor Li feel at ease handing work over to you like this?"

The others said nothing, all wearing expressions of people enjoying a show.

Professor Li took the materials Qin Ze handed him. Naturally, he could not discourage one of his students, so he glanced through them and said mildly, "Qin Ze, your earnest attitude is worth praising, but you only arrived yesterday. You need to learn and observe more instead of acting rashly and blindly... Hm?"

Professor Li fell silent. He examined the work carefully several times, then said with delight, "Very good, very good. Qin Ze, bringing you here to help me was indeed the right decision."

Very good?

Yang Chen looked completely bewildered and craned his neck to see Qin Ze's risk assessment.

But Professor Li did not let him see it. With a snort, he put the materials into a document bag.

The interns present all wore baffled, shocked expressions. They were genuinely surprised; this kid had been hiding his abilities well. Professor Li, who was always stingy with praise, had actually said something like, "Bringing you here to help me was indeed the right decision," and he even looked rather pleased with himself.

Perhaps only Qin Ze understood what Professor Li meant. The praise was not for him, but for old dad, the Finance University professor behind him. Professor Li must have misunderstood and thought the risk assessment was Qin Ze's father's work.

For just over a thousand yuan, he had gotten a professor of equal standing to do work for him. It was an absolute steal, so of course he was pleased with himself.

Qin Ze caught the looks of newfound respect from everyone, a smile playing at his lips. Without even looking at Yang Chen's dark expression, he calmly returned to his seat.

How did that saying go again: the most deadly kind of showing off was the kind done without a trace.

Little Devil, you want to fight me?

I was a veteran who had battled wits and courage with Qin Baobao for twenty years, proficient in every kind of household infighting technique and locked-room assassination art.