Interview

Star Arts Entertainment Company ranked among the top ten entertainment companies in mainland China. It had countless signed artists, quite a few A-list stars, and formidable capital. The entire office building was Xingyi's property.

Qin Baobao drove around the hexagonal building once. It was thirty stories tall, its glass curtain walls reflecting the blinding sunlight. They found a parking space beside a dark alley behind the building. The Little BMW glided into a perfect arc and parked steadily. Qin Baobao had gotten her driver's license in high school and had five or six years of driving experience. Unlike most students, who locked their licenses in a drawer as souvenirs after getting them, she drove Old Dad's car during winter and summer breaks, even on weekends, taking Qin Ze around for rides. They went wherever the road took them, then she mooched off Qin Ze's living expenses so they could sit down for coffee and snacks in the afternoon sunlight. Whenever that happened, Qin Ze felt uncomfortable. Passersby were always drawn to Qin Baobao's beauty, one glancing over, another staring her way. It felt like they were gawking at a giant panda.

Before getting out, Qin Ze checked the time. It was half past nine. They had driven for a full hour. The mission ended at half past eleven, leaving him two hours.

It was rush hour. In front of Star Arts Entertainment's office building, men in suits and stylishly dressed women streamed in and out. Everyone who worked in this building belonged to the white-collar or gold-collar class, high-income urban professionals. Qin Baobao was used to such sights, her high heels clicking sharply against the ground. Qin Ze, on the other hand, seemed somewhat restrained. He was still a university student and had never encountered people or occasions like this.

After entering the lobby, they asked the girl at the front desk for the interview location: Meeting Room 2 on the seventh floor. They waited through three elevators before finding empty spots. Qin Ze had wanted to squeeze in directly, but Qin Baobao rolled her eyes at him and said, "What if someone touches my butt?"

Qin Ze thought, That made so much sense he had nothing to say.

Actually, Qin Baobao was once bitten by a snake and had feared ropes ever since. When she was in middle school, she took the subway home during rush hour. The carriage was packed shoulder to shoulder, and some pervert secretly groped her butt. Without a word, Qin Baobao turned around and drove her knee straight into his crotch. After that, Old Dad picked her up and dropped her off at school, or she took taxis.

On the seventh floor, the receptionist opened the access gate for them and asked why they were there. Smiling, she handed Qin Baobao a number slip. "The meeting room is straight down the hall on the left."

"Thank you!" Qin Baobao slipped the number slip into her bag and took Qin Ze inside.

In the spacious, brightly lit corridor, more than a dozen handsome men and beautiful women sat or stood around. A simply dressed female staff member in an OL suit, with an ID badge hanging from her neck, stood outside the meeting room. When she saw Qin Baobao and Qin Ze, she approached them with a smile, not even sparing Qin Ze a glance. "Give me your résumé and number slip."

Qin Baobao took out the résumé she had prepared in advance and handed it over along with the number slip. The female assistant looked through it, confirmed that Qin Baobao was on the interview list, and said politely, "Please wait a moment."

Qin Baobao pulled Qin Ze over to the seats in the hallway and lowered her head to play on her phone.

Qin Ze said quietly, "I'm so annoyed."

"What are you annoyed about?" Qin Baobao tilted her head and looked at him curiously.

"She didn't even look at me just now."

Qin Baobao giggled. "That just means she has good eyes."

"You don't seem nervous at all." Qin Ze poked his sister's slender waist.

"You're the one who looks nervous," Qin Baobao said.

"I'm not nervous. I just feel uncomfortable. They're all looking at you."

Qin Baobao turned to look at the sharply dressed handsome men. Some instinctively avoided her gaze, while others smiled slightly, brimming with confidence. Qin Baobao gave them a dazzling smile, making many hearts pound wildly.

She withdrew her gaze and snorted. "Ignore them. I'm used to it anyway."

"But I'm not. Wherever you go, you're a giant panda, while I'm just the bamboo beside the giant panda." Qin Ze said gloomily, "Bamboo has dignity too, okay?"

"All right, all right, Bamboo. Let this giant panda take a bite." As she spoke, she leaned her exquisite face closer, about to bite Qin Ze's cheek.

Qin Ze quickly pushed her away and whispered, "What are you doing? There are so many people watching."

Qin Baobao scoffed and lowered her head to continue playing on her phone. "I'm not nervous. There's nothing to be nervous about. If the interview doesn't work out, I'll just try another company. Entertainment companies have all sorts of ways to discover newcomers. Ordinary people have plenty of channels to become stars too, and there are lots of singing variety shows."

"Wang Li Hong!"

"My turn?"

"Come in."

The previous interviewee was a delicate, cute young woman. She kept her head lowered, her face full of dejection. She looked like she was about to cry.

"How did it go? Did you pass?"

"What did they ask in the interview?"

People immediately crowded around to ask, talking over one another.

Qin Ze pricked up his ears as well.

The young woman shook her head. "They said I can't sing, I'm not professionally trained, and I don't meet the signing requirements."

So she was another girl hoping to make it in the entertainment industry on her looks. Qin Ze turned his gaze to the gorgeous woman beside him, who also wanted to make a living with her face.

"What? I'm pretty good at singing too." The gorgeous woman glared at him.

Time passed quickly. The interviewees went in one after another, each taking roughly five minutes. Some returned looking delighted, while others came out with dark expressions.

A handsome young man came out of the meeting room, beaming with joy and looking full of himself. He swept his gaze around the corridor, then strode over to Qin Baobao and sat beside her. Politely, he said, "Beautiful, my name is Gou Dai!"

Qin Baobao glanced at him and smiled. "Hello."

"You're here for an interview too? I guarantee that with qualifications like yours, you'll definitely sign with Xingyi. We'll be colleagues from now on. How about having lunch together?" The handsome young man was dazzled by her smile.

Qin Baobao's eyes shifted as she wrapped her arms around Qin Ze's arm. "Husband, shall we have spicy hot pot for lunch?"

"Sure, but you're not allowed to have spicy hot pot tonight."

"You're so annoying."

Gou Dai left awkwardly.

Watching his retreating figure, Qin Ze bared his teeth at Qin Baobao. "That spicy hot pot gag is way too old. Use another one next time."

"Qin Baobao!"

The female assistant called from the doorway.

"My turn." Qin Baobao handed her bag to Qin Ze. Her high heels clicked against the polished floor tiles, her swaying hips exceptionally alluring.

She pushed open the imitation-wooden doors. A long conference table stood beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, with the interviewers seated behind it: three pot-bellied uncles and two middle-aged women.

When the uncles saw Qin Baobao enter, their eyes lit up in unison.

She was even prettier than in the photo!

No wonder she was confident enough to enter the entertainment industry. These days, anyone without sufficient looks really lacked the nerve to wade into those murky waters.

Qin Baobao keenly sensed the burning gazes sweeping over her body from bottom to top like scanners. Her heart tightened as she remembered something Qin Ze had once told her. There was supposedly a popular way online to distinguish men from boys. It was simple: when little boys saw beautiful women, their first reaction was to look at their faces, and then they kept looking at their faces. After little boys had driven a few times, their gazes would shift down from the face and start paying attention to their figures. One day, once they became battle-hardened Old Drivers, they would always look at women from the bottom up.

Qin Baobao had asked at the time, "Then what level are you?"

Qin Ze had been thoroughly embarrassed, yet he forced himself to say that, at least in theory, he was already an old driver.

Qin Baobao thought, Damn it, they're all Old Drivers.

Her expression remained unchanged, her bearing cold and aloof. She smiled politely. "Teachers, my name is Qin Baobao..."

One of the middle-aged women interrupted coldly. "We have your résumé."

Qin Baobao's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She could sense the middle-aged woman's hostility.

The man beside the middle-aged woman coughed and tried to ease the atmosphere with a friendly expression. "Have a seat first."

Qin Baobao nodded and sat in the chair prepared for interviewees, her legs pressed together and her hands folded over her abdomen. Her long, slender legs, bare of stockings, were especially enticing.

When the middle-aged man seated in the center swept his gaze over Qin Baobao's long legs, he paused briefly, then smiled. "Miss Qin, we've read your résumé. You graduated from Fudan University and worked at a foreign-funded company for a year. You received praise from those around you both in school and at work. You should have had a better future. Why did you choose to become an artist?"

More than a dozen eyes focused on her at once. Qin Baobao sat upright without the slightest trace of stage fright. "It's my dream."

So having a dream meant she was automatically right? the middle-aged woman muttered inwardly.

The middle-aged man merely smiled and said gently, "To be honest, given your education and abilities, we would be very happy to have you—but not as a signed artist. First, your field doesn't match. One minute onstage takes ten years of work offstage. Acting isn't something you can simply learn whenever you want. And when it comes to training someone from scratch, we would rather seek out promising high-potential candidates."

Qin Baobao thought, Why did this start off so wrong? They're trying to reject me.

"How about this? My office happens to be short a secretary. You have work experience, outstanding ability, and a degree from a prestigious university. If you're interested, you can come work for me. We can discuss your salary right now."

That damned secretary position again. I've had enough of it.

Qin Baobao said, "How should I address you, Teacher?"

"My surname is Zhang. I'm the general manager of the Personnel Department."

"Director Zhang, I can't accept what you said. I practiced dancing in elementary and middle school, so I have a foundation. It's not as though I have no background at all. And I sing well too..."

The middle-aged woman suddenly said, "Can you sing 'Green Green Lapel'?"

Qin Baobao nodded. "Yes."

The middle-aged woman raised a hand. "Come on, sing a verse a cappella."

Qin Baobao pressed her lipstick-covered lips together and began to sing. Her voice carried a soft, seductive magnetism, and her tone was incredibly captivating. It unexpectedly suited a song so heavy with a sense of time and hardship.

The middle-aged woman's expression changed slightly. She sang far too well. The woman had assumed that since Qin Baobao lacked professional training, her so-called "pretty good at singing" merely meant she sounded good to ordinary people—or perhaps that others had flattered her. But after hearing this verse, while it could not be called perfect and there were many flaws in her technique, her voice was simply too pleasant. It sent a tingling numbness through the listener, itching straight into the heart.

"Stop, stop, stop!" the middle-aged woman called out, her face unchanged. "Your voice is good, but you're completely an amateur when it comes to singing. To put it bluntly, you're just singing blindly. Someone like you would be hard to fix even in a recording studio."

Qin Baobao's face turned icy. Her exquisite features became even more like a Greek sculpture. If Qin Ze, who knew her well, had seen her now, he would have known that Elder Sister was on the verge of exploding with rage.