Dreams and Stars

The worst thing about winter is getting up early—you want to cling to your blankets until the end of time. But this was clearly the sweltering heat of summer. Qin Ze silently finished his bread, bacon, and fried egg, then waited ten minutes before she finally emerged after a thousand calls. She shuffled out in a loose, baggy bear pajama set, slippers going "slap slap," her eyes half-lidded.

"Wasn't I the one who got half-killed by your besties' drinking last night? What's with you looking like you overindulged?" Qin Ze asked, puzzled.

"You're the one who overindulged," his sister shot back listlessly, casting him a sidelong glance. She slumped lazily into a chair, pouting with her delicate, moist lips. "After you passed out yesterday, they were pretty much done too, so I had to clean up the mess. The ones with boyfriends called them over to pick up their corpses, and the unwanted single dogs I sent home one by one in taxis. I didn't get to bed until 3:30 in the morning, okay? And I woke up hungry today."

"Serves you right!" Qin Ze took a gulp of milk and slapped her hand away as she reached for the bacon. "Go wash your face and brush your teeth."

His sister let out an "oh," stood up like she had no bones, snatched a piece of bacon with lightning speed and stuffed it in her mouth, then shuffled into the bathroom with her slippers going "slap slap." She poked her head out to make a funny face at him.

Qin Ze made as if to hit her, and she immediately ducked back inside. His sister didn't act much like an older sister, but he was used to it—after all, he wasn't much of a younger brother either.

Probably because of how they were raised. Their parents had been strict and harsh with Qin Ze since he was little, terrified that their little sapling would grow into a crooked tree. But they doted on his sister, indulging her every whim. The treatment of the two siblings was worlds apart—if his sister was the biological child, then he was the one thrown in for free with a phone top-up. The Old Man's reasoning was: "Raise a boy poor, raise a girl rich."

But no matter how strict their parents were, or how much they hoped he'd become a dragon, Qin Ze was like a hopeless case—mediocre all the way to twenty-two. Meanwhile, his sister, who got the easy treatment, had been a top student since childhood, sharp as a whip as she grew up, and breezed into Fudan University like it was nothing.

"If you had even half of Baobao's brains, I'd laugh in my dreams."

That's how his father always lectured Qin Ze.

That's right, Baobao was his sister's name—full name Qin Baobao, age twenty-five.

Every family has its own troubles. In this four-person household, there were secrets too. Qin Ze knew one of them. When he was little, he'd eavesdropped on his mother's phone calls, picking up hints that their backgrounds weren't as simple as they seemed. The "him" his mother mentioned could have been him, or maybe her. This secret was buried deep in his heart, never dared to be spoken, for fear it would shatter their warm little family to pieces.

Back then, he was too young to understand what "nothing to do with your family anymore" meant. He just figured that either his sister or brother was their mother's child with someone else.

Qin Baobao came out of the bathroom, cleaned up and tidy, and instantly seemed like a different person. Her face was fair and delicate—apparently, in college, she was often called a "vixen face" behind her back by other girls.

"Washing your face and brushing your teeth took ten minutes. It's now 8:25. Even if you finish breakfast in five minutes, go back to your room to change, do your makeup, and take the subway... forget it, don't take the subway, drive. By my calculations, you're going to be late today. One day late, and you lose your perfect attendance bonus—that's 300 yuan, equivalent to a week's food money." Qin Ze tallied up the financial losses from his sister's lazy morning.

"I never wear makeup," Qin Baobao wrinkled her nose, with a bit of a little girl's coy charm.

"The point is you're going to be late for work, isn't it?" Qin Ze was exasperated.

"I'm not going to work. I quit," Qin Baobao swallowed her fried egg and took a sip of milk.

Qin Ze was startled. "When did that happen?"

"I quit yesterday. Didn't I tell you?"

"Not a clue."

"Oh, too much was going on. I forgot to mention it."

"Why would you quit out of the blue? Did your boss harass you?"

Qin Baobao's phoenix eyes suddenly lit up, delighted. "Good idea! That's what I'll say if Old Dad asks."

"Ridiculous. You think I'll keep that secret? That job was great—5,000 yuan during the probation period, over 10,000 a month after you're confirmed, plus a nice year-end bonus. You just up and leave? You'll be eating the wind."

Qin Baobao blinked, putting on an adorable act. "Your big sister will have to rely on you from now on."

"Get lost, get lost. I haven't even graduated yet." Qin Ze snorted. "Last year, Old Dad was bragging to the relatives. He had this smug look on his face but pretended not to care: 'Ah, it's just so-so, a global top 500 company, nothing special...'"

Qin Baobao lowered her head, carefully spreading peanut butter on her toast, mumbling, "Yesterday was my birthday, you know. Time really is a butcher's knife—before I know it, I'm heading for thirty. I thought to myself, I can't keep going like this. I don't want to waste my youth at some global top 500 company. I need to break free, shake off the old ways, and be a brave dream-chasing girl."

"More like a dream-chasing woman," Qin Ze teased.

"Want to die?" Qin Baobao shot him a glare.

"What do you want to do?" Qin Ze felt a bad feeling rising.

"My goal is to get on the screen, become a big star, be the nation's goddess—woohoo!" Qin Baobao struck a pose like "Serfs turn over to become masters."

Just as I thought!

Qin Ze silently covered his face.

Qin Baobao had one big stain and one big regret in her life.

The stain was her name. In middle school, she couldn't take the teasing from classmates anymore, so she secretly took the family's household register to change it. But because she couldn't give a good reason (a bad name wasn't a reason) and didn't have her parents with her to sign the agreement, the police station called home. Old Dad didn't say a word—he charged straight to the station, grabbed her by the ear, and dragged her home. A good beating followed, and in Qin Ze's memory, that was the first time their parents teamed up to spank her.

The second time was in high school. Because of her stunning looks and extraordinary aura, Qin Baobao was scouted by a talent agent. Who knows what kind of pie-in-the-sky promises he made her, but she made becoming a big star her lifelong dream. But their father was old-fashioned and didn't want her to get into the entertainment industry. Their mother worried the so-called agent was a con artist trying to sell her off to a brothel. So another beating ensued, and Qin Baobao considered it the greatest regret of her life.

Actually, their parents didn't know that after the college entrance exam, Qin Baobao had wanted to put Shanghai Theatre Academy as her first choice. Luckily, Qin Ze stopped her with all his might, or else a third beating would have been waiting for her.

Years later, he never thought she'd still be clinging to that dream.

"Enough already. What's so great about being a star? It's all glamour on the surface, bitterness underneath. This society is dark. If you jump into that world without a clue, in two years you'll be a wilted flower, and you might not even make a name for yourself," Qin Ze said sternly.

"I don't care, I don't care!" Qin Baobao twisted her body, acting unruly.

"Don't try that with me. It won't work. This is too big. I have to report it to Old Dad." Qin Ze reached into his pocket for his phone.

Qin Baobao lunged over, pressing down hard on his hand, looking pitiful. "No! If Old Dad finds out, he'll kill me."

"Don't stir up trouble, okay? I don't know if he'll kill you, but if I know and don't tell him, he'll definitely kill me." Qin Ze pushed her forehead, shoving her away, and pulled out his phone.

Just then, a mechanical voice rang out in his mind: "Main Mission: Assist Qin Baobao in signing with 'Star Arts Entertainment Co., Ltd.' Success rewards 300 points, failure deducts 100 points."

What was that?

Qin Ze froze. Taking advantage of his distraction, Qin Baobao snatched the phone from his hand and hid it behind her back like a protective mother hen.

Hallucination? Was I not fully sober yet?

"Give me the phone."

Qin Ze was furious. There was something a hundred times more urgent in front of him—he had to find a way to make this woman drop her ridiculous idea... but that seemed impossible. He knew how stubborn Qin Baobao was, but she was even more afraid of getting beaten. Back home, their parents kept her in check, but now that she'd moved out, she was like a wild horse freed from its reins. Old Dad had sent him to live with her, probably with the intention of "fathering in his place." At the very least, he was supposed to keep an eye on her and not let her do anything crazy—like quitting her job to chase the entertainment industry.

Faced with a situation like this, he should call headquarters to report it; otherwise, it would be his dereliction of duty, and he couldn't take the blame.

Qin Baobao stuffed her phone into her 36D, thrusting out her chest as she blustered, "Come on, try me. If you dare touch me, I'll tell Old Dad you groped my boobs."

Enough already!

Qin Ze's mind was full of snark.

"Sis, let's talk this out properly." Qin Ze decided to use a soft approach. "It's not that I, as your brother, want to stop you from chasing your dream, but you didn't take the right path at your prime, and now it's too late. You're twenty-five already; the innocent-girl image won't work. At your age, how can you make it in the entertainment industry without relying on talent? You'd have to strip down. Do you want to deal with all kinds of backdoor deals and bang every guy around? The entertainment industry's a place for easy money and fame—everyone wants in, everyone wants to be famous, and the competition is brutal. Please, you went to Fudan University, not the Shanghai Theater Academy. Can you outshine fresh graduates with professional training? Can you act? Do you have solid acting skills? You're twenty-five—stop being so childish."

"I have my face." Qin Baobao lifted that fox-faced, seductive little visage.

"You have squat for a face. Have you been drinking too much toxic chicken soup? Since when is the entertainment industry all about looks? There are plenty of handsome guys and pretty girls on this planet." Qin Ze said.

"Host, you're wrong. I've been to a Parallel Space where artists have zero acting skills and rule the entertainment industry on looks alone." A strange voice chimed in again.

"Who's that!" Qin Ze jumped up in a panic, looking around in fright like a startled cat.