Qin Ze came out of the shower bare-chested, wearing nothing but a pair of big shorts. His body was fit but slightly lean, without any excess fat. His abs had already taken shape; half a month of grueling workouts had worn away what little fat he had to begin with.
Qin Baobao eagerly admired her brother's physique, clicking her tongue repeatedly as she said against her conscience, "What's so great about having a few muscles? Who are you showing off to?"
Yet her gaze lingered, looking him over again and again.
Just as men squatted in cafeterias and commented on how one girl had long legs while another had a slim waist, women also appreciated a man's body.
Qin Ze held his breath, making his eight-pack abs stand out even more as he said smugly, "I'm showing them off to you. Do you remember our bet?"
Qin Baobao pretended to be confused. "What bet? Did we make a bet?"
"Damn it, I knew you'd welch on it." Qin Ze rolled his eyes and headed toward his room while drying his hair.
Wang Zijing smiled and asked, "Bao Bao, what bet?"
Qin Baobao curled her lips and said softly, "We made a wager. If he managed to work out abs, I'd cook for a month. But I can get out of it in minutes, and there's nothing he can do about it."
"You two siblings are really amusing." Wang Zijing laughed happily, then said with envy, "Is having a good figure something hereditary in your family? Both you and Qin Ze have such great bodies."
"You're pretty great too." Qin Baobao chewed on a Fried Dough Stick.
"I put on weight so easily. If I don't exercise, I can gain five pounds in a month. I really envy people who can eat without gaining weight."
After Qin Ze finished breakfast with his two sisters, it was already half past eight. Seeing that Qin Baobao was still in pajamas and slippers, sitting there as immovable as a mountain, he asked, "Is today the weekend?"
"No, it's Friday," Qin Baobao replied.
"Then why aren't you at work yet? Look at the time." Qin Ze immediately reminded her, urging his sister to get ready for work. All these years, he had been both her younger brother and her dad. If he did not keep an eye on Qin Baobao, she could sleep until noon.
"No rush." Qin Baobao waved her hand domineeringly. "Now that we're done eating, let's talk about something."
His sister was rarely this serious.
"What is it?" Qin Ze asked.
Qin Baobao handed him her phone. An article was displayed on the screen: the second season of "I Am A Singer" would premiere on July 13, 2017.
"So?"
"You're so slow, no wonder you'll never amount to anything." Qin Baobao shot him a seductive eye roll. "I told you I was going to participate in the second season, right? The contestants are all minor singers, but to your sister, they're genuine Big Shots. How is a rookie like me supposed to compete with singers?"
Qin Ze raised his hand and gave his sister a chop on the head. "Damn it, just say what you mean. Stop beating around the bush."
For once, Qin Baobao did not start fighting with her brother. Pouting, she said, "That's why my main promotional angle is 'original songs.' I promised the company that I'd compose and write my own songs, so they decided to devote more resources to promoting me. Since I need to write songs, inspiration is important. Being late and all that isn't important anymore."
"You're really asking for it." Qin Ze covered his face. "Hey, Qin Baobao, where do you get this confidence? You dare make any promise under the sun."
Qin Baobao narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Don't I still have you? Besides, I don't have to write everything myself. No matter how talented a singer is, they can't mass-produce songs. The company's plan is to see how I do after competing. If I gain loads and loads of popularity, they'll arrange composers for me. Of course, they'll still announce to the public that I wrote them."
"Then take your time creating." After hearing that, Qin Ze shrugged and got up to head for his room.
Qin Baobao grabbed him. "You're writing that song today."
After listening for a while, Wang Zijing finally interjected, "Invisible Wings? Mm-hmm, that song is really nice."
Qin Baobao turned to her. "Not that one. He has another half-finished song. It's so good."
Wang Zijing's eyes immediately sparkled.
Qin Ze had wanted to refuse, because he had not redeemed that song. The system had rules: songs available for preview could not be spread in any form or for any reason. A song cost roughly thirty points.
"Ding! Main Mission, Show Off in Public (4/15): Help Qin Baobao complete 'Legend.' Success reward: 70 points. Failure: deduct the corresponding points."
"So little."
Qin Ze muttered to himself. He was not surprised by the mission's sudden appearance; the system had said that missions appeared based on the host's inner desires. This mission had probably arisen from his desire to show off in front of a beautiful woman.
The beautiful woman was not Qin Baobao, but Wang Zijing.
Qin Baobao was a woman he had known since they were toddlers running around in split-crotch pants. Qin Ze had no desire whatsoever to show off in front of her.
"Get me paper and a pen." Qin Ze put on airs and ordered his sister around.
Qin Baobao eagerly ran into her room and found some paper and a pen.
Qin Ze swiftly wrote out the lyrics on a blank sheet. He even composed the tune on the spot, drew a staff, and marked the notes. Qin Baobao and Wang Zijing were so stunned by the display that they stared blankly.
"Just because I glanced at you once more in the crowd, I could never forget your face..." Qin Baobao followed the score and sang haltingly. In the half month since joining Star Arts Entertainment, she had received professional training and lessons. She could now understand about half of a score.
"I'll sing it once for you." Qin Ze pressed his hand down, signaling his sister to be quiet. Once the two beautiful women turned their sparkling eyes toward him, he cleared his throat, sat upright, drew in a breath, and began to sing: "Just because I glanced at you once more in the crowd / I could never forget your face / Dreaming that one day we might meet again by chance / From then on, I began to miss you in lonely longing / When I miss you, you are at the ends of the earth / When I miss you, you are right before my eyes / When I miss you, you are in my mind / When I miss you, you are in my heart / ..."
His clear yet deep voice slowly drifted through the living room, carrying a faint melancholy and deep affection. Qin Ze was actually a decent singer. More importantly, his voice was pleasant, and his breath control was steady and long—he was well suited to singing. Qin Baobao was no longer a novice. Comparing his performance with the score, she could hear several minor mistakes in the details, but that did not diminish her delight. It was not her brother's singing that thrilled her; this song was just too damn good.
Wang Zijing clapped enthusiastically.
Qin Baobao beamed. Instinctively, she wanted to kiss her brother a few times as she usually did, but considering the outsider beside them, she settled for patting his head with a smile. "Your big sister didn't spoil you for nothing."
"Ding! Mission complete. Reward: 70 points."
Qin Baobao, overjoyed at obtaining a god-tier song, headed to work full of fighting spirit. She took the score with her, saying she would ask the company's professional team to record the accompaniment.
Only Qin Ze and Wang Zijing remained at home.
Qin Ze focused on his grand stock market plans, clinging to his childhood dream of replacing the man in power. Wang Zijing sat at the other end of the sofa, wearing headphones and watching a television drama. At some point, Qin Ze looked away from his screen and reached for his teacup, only to discover that Wang Zijing was sitting beside him, watching his computer. He had no idea how long she had been there.
"The stock market has been pretty hot lately," Wang Zijing said first.
"That's because our great government is pushing it. After the Bull Market in 2014, the market index had been half-dead for three years. Then, at the start of 2017, things suddenly turned around. In half a year, the market index rose by fifty percent. As long as you paid a little attention to the news, you could see it: whenever the news said an industry was doing well, stocks in that industry would rise steadily. Even an idiot could tell there was a hidden hand behind it." Qin Ze smiled. "My dad said all that. I'm just borrowing his words. Don't laugh if I got it wrong."
Wang Zijing curled her lips. "Are you planning to make a killing while you can?"
"I've thought about it, but unfortunately, I don't have any money." Qin Ze chuckled. "Miss Wang, how about investing a little?"
Wang Zijing looked pitiful. "What Miss Wang? I'm broke too. I came all the way here to rely on you siblings."
Qin Ze smiled.
"Bao Bao is always complaining about having no money. She isn't trying to drive me away indirectly, is she?" Wang Zijing asked.
"If Qin Baobao didn't want you to move in, she'd have a hundred ways to make you give up before coming to Shanghai City. We really are broke. You don't know what she's like? She spends however much she earns. Things were okay when her job was stable. But she gave up a bright future to quit and become an artist. Her monthly salary was only three thousand yuan. It was miserable."
"So, if you want to get rich and escape poverty, you need to help your sister properly."
Qin Ze froze, then suddenly understood. "Zi Jin Jie, after talking for so long, you were setting a trap for me. You were trying to persuade me to support her in a roundabout way."
"Yes, yes." Wang Zijing was not embarrassed in the slightest after her little scheme was exposed. Going along with it, she said, "Look, you can write lyrics and compose music. Bao Bao is beautiful and sings well. You two are a perfect golden duo. Why are you so resistant to her entering the Entertainment industry?"
"It's not that I'm resistant. My family is. So I follow their resistance—it's called political correctness." Qin Ze intended to use his sister as a vanguard, but he also feared the Old Man's thunderous rage if he learned the truth. He himself was caught in a dilemma, unable to decide.
"Besides, the Entertainment industry is full of murky waters. There are all kinds of unspoken rules. If a minor celebrity wants to rise, she has to sleep her way up. Damn it, with Qin Baobao's looks, in less than two years she'll definitely turn into a slut."
"Hey!" Wang Zijing hit Qin Ze, half annoyed and half angry. "Is that any way to talk about your own sister?"
At seven o'clock that evening, Qin Baobao called. "Qin Ze, don't cook tonight. Let's go sing karaoke."
"Sing karaoke my ass," Qin Ze said irritably. "You know I don't like going to places like that."
"I don't have a sister, only a brother," Qin Baobao said. "I don't like it either, but Chen Qinghong and Zhang Ya insist on making me go. I'm guessing they want to introduce me to another boyfriend. I don't want to go alone, so come with me. Bring Zi Jin Jie along too."
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