Ke An hurriedly nodded. "Exactly, Ye Chen. Those two songs of yours are incredible, especially 'Lonely Warrior.' It's sure to become a hit. I had no idea you were so talented—you can sing, play instruments, and write songs. You could absolutely make it as a singer on talent alone."
Seeing that Ye Chen was tempted, Ke An quickly continued praising him. "Ye Chen, someone as talented and good-looking as you was born to be a king of pop. Just like Weiwei, you're the kind of person heaven itself keeps feeding—someone who belongs onstage, shining bright. You and our Su Ningwei are simply made for each other. Once you announce your relationship, let's see who dares say you're not a good match."
Made for each other. Those words had struck right at Ye Chen's heart.
Wasn't that exactly why he had posted the video?
"Then I'll be counting on you from now on, Sister An. If I ever fall short, please bear with me," Ye Chen said with a smile.
Ke An beamed. "Don't worry. With your talent and me in your corner, I guarantee you'll be even more popular than Fu Yi."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Sister An," Ye Chen replied.
Ke An quickly found the places in the contract that needed signatures and pointed them out to Ye Chen. "Sign here."
"Okay." Ye Chen nodded and signed his full name on the contract.
The contract was signed in no time.
Ye Chen kept one copy.
Ke An contentedly tucked the other copy away, then extended her right hand to Ye Chen with a smile. "Here's to a happy partnership!"
"Here's to a happy partnership!" Ye Chen said, extending his right hand and giving Ke An a light handshake.
Ke An picked up her briefcase and smiled. "There's a mountain of work waiting for me at the company, so I'd better head back and make arrangements. I won't keep you two."
"Sister An, won't you stay for lunch? A-Chen's a wonderful cook," Su Ningwei said.
Ke An swallowed. If he could make breakfast that delicious, how could he possibly be a bad cook?
After thinking it over, Ke An decided work was more important. She could come back for a meal another time; there would be plenty of chances to spend time together.
"I'd better not. I really do have too much to do today. Next time I come, I'm eating until I can't move," Ke An said with a smile as she stood up.
Ye Chen got up to see her out. "You're welcome anytime. Just let me know before you come next time, and I'll buy plenty of good ingredients."
"Then it's a promise. I can bring the ingredients myself, but you'll have to do the cooking. Weiwei, you're not feeling well, so don't walk me out. Go lie down and rest, and don't let yourself catch a chill," Ke An said.
Su Ningwei took Ke An's hand, reluctant to let her go. "All right, I know. Sister An, don't push yourself too hard, either. Make sure you get enough rest, and don't forget to eat when you get busy."
"I know. I just want to make life a little more comfortable for that rebellious son of mine. His grades probably won't get him into a good university, so I'm trying to make sure he can be a happy rich second-generation kid. I've got to work hard for that, don't I?" Ke An patted Su Ningwei's hand and smiled.
Ke An was an independent, strong-willed woman. At forty-three, she had been divorced for ten years and had raised her son, Ke Kaiyu, on her own. She had never remarried and worked incredibly hard.
Ye Chen saw Ke An downstairs and even packed her a big bag of meat buns to take with her.
Ke An accepted the buns and headed back to work in high spirits.
After seeing Ke An off, Ye Chen returned to the bedroom.
Su Ningwei was still sitting at the desk, carefully reading through the contract.
Ye Chen came up behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Wife, why are you still reading? Shouldn't you be lying down and resting?" Ye Chen whispered softly in her ear.
His tender breath tickled Su Ningwei, making her feel a little itchy inside.
Su Ningwei put the contract away, turned around, and looped her arms around Ye Chen's neck with a smile. "Husband, congratulations on officially becoming a singer."
"It's all thanks to you and the babies that I found my inspiration and met such a wonderful manager as Sister An," Ye Chen replied with a smile.
Su Ningwei smiled. "You have the talent for it. This contract is even better than the one I signed back then. You're amazing, honey. I'm already looking forward to seeing you sing onstage and accept an award."
"I'm looking forward to us standing side by side and singing together onstage, too." Ye Chen lowered his head and kissed Su Ningwei on the forehead.
"Then you'll have to write us a love song that's perfect for a duet."
"I'll have to give it some serious thought and write a song that's right for the two of us to sing together."
Ye Chen pondered. All he could do was hope the system would unlock a song suitable for a couple's duet soon. He really wasn't good at writing songs.
"Mm, no rush. Let me give you a little inspiration first..." Su Ningwei said with a smile, rising onto her tiptoes to kiss Ye Chen passionately.
Ye Chen held her around the waist, savoring her sweetness and warmth.
When the kiss finally ended,
"Go practice your singing. The babies have fallen asleep, and I'll keep an eye on them," Su Ningwei said, her cheeks flushed, urging Ye Chen to go practice in the music room.
Ye Chen said helplessly, "What will you do if the babies wake up? How can you manage them by yourself?"
"If I can't manage, I'll call you. You're home anyway, so it's no trouble. Just focus on practicing. Trust me, I can handle it," Su Ningwei replied with a smile.
Ye Chen had no choice but to go practice.
With a wife like Su Ningwei, it was hard not to keep striving and become the best you could be.
Ye Chen went into the music room, sat down at the piano, and began to sing as he played.
He tried to find inspiration and compose a song of his own.
Just as Ye Chen was playing with complete concentration, the familiar childish system voice rang in his mind.
[Beep! Congratulations on completing the important main quest: becoming a contracted singer with Star Shine Company.] [Congratulations! You've unlocked the top-tier hacker skill; arranging skill +1; lyrics and sheet music for "Marry Me Today," performed by Jolin Tsai and David Tao from Earth Star, have been unlocked.]
Ye Chen was overjoyed. The system really came through.
A duet for couples—there it was!
"Marry Me Today" was perfect for singing when they made their relationship official. It couldn't have been more perfect.
And arranging skill +1 was exactly what Ye Chen wanted.
But a top-tier hacker skill?
Every trade had its own expertise.
Ye Chen didn't know much about that field, and with his computer constantly getting infected, he felt a little wary of this hacker skill.
His impression of hackers was limited to unsavory things like Trojan viruses, Panda Burning Incense, and worms...
One careless move, and those hackers could end up behind bars for "the crime of illegally accessing a computer information system."
There were no bad skills, only people who used them badly.
Since the system had given him this skill, there had to be a reason. It was bound to come in handy.
Then an enormous amount of computer knowledge flooded into Ye Chen's mind all at once.
Good grief!
There was just as much information as there had been with traditional Chinese medicine.
Ye Chen felt as if his head were splitting open.
It took someone extraordinary to become a top-tier hacker.
It hurt so much...
Ye Chen almost wished he didn't have the skill.
Once he had finally absorbed all the information in his mind,
Ye Chen was utterly astonished.
This top-tier hacker skill was incredible!