Second Brother Ye stared expressionlessly at his fifth brother and raised his sandbag-sized fist, looking ready to kill him on the spot if he dared to laugh.
Ye Xiao pinched his thigh hard and thought through every sad thing that had happened in his life before he managed to keep himself from honking with laughter.
Don't laugh. Hold it in.
Otherwise, Second Brother would definitely throw punches.
Only when he finally saw his younger brother suppress his smile did Ye Lan turn to Director Mi:
"Old man, I remember turning you down before. I'm not joining this family variety show. Why did you come looking for me anyway? I'll just pay you the penalty."
"As if I need that little penalty of yours!" Director Mi puffed out his beard and glared in anger:
"I want you! We'd already agreed on this. Why exactly are you refusing?"
The man was his mentor, so Ye Lan could neither speak too harshly nor tell him the truth-that it was because Bai Shao, that fraud he had once idealized, was also participating.
It wasn't that he still felt any lingering attachment. Even if a tiny trace had remained before, it had vanished completely when his eldest brother told him that the woman had helped that assistant of his steal files.
To him, she was now an enemy. Not only would he show her no mercy, he would also crush her.
Going on a variety show would naturally be an opportunity, but if a family variety show meant involving Ye Xunzhi too... he didn't really want his little sister caught up in it.
With that in mind, he decided to leave the choice to Ye Xunzhi. From what he knew of her so far, this child was so lazy that she definitely wouldn't want to work.
Ye Lan said, "Because my sister still has school, and she doesn't want to join a variety show. Ask her if you don't believe me."
Ye Xunzhi was bewildered. How had this suddenly become her problem? Meeting Old Man Mi's bright, piercing gaze, she thought for a moment:
"Can I ask what this variety show is called?"
At her question, Director Mi proudly introduced it:
"I gave it a resounding name: 'Burn Bright, Family Bonds!' Well? Doesn't hearing the name alone set the mood?"
It hit Ye Xunzhi like a thunderbolt. With a wooden expression, she said, "Mm."
[This director certainly has a knack for naming things. If I didn't know better, I'd think this was a show about having one last meal before everyone split up.]
[But this variety show does sound oddly familiar.]
Her second and fifth brothers abruptly looked up, assuming their practiced listening poses.
Bring it on! We're ready!
[Right, I remember now. The guests on this variety show were all pretty bizarre. Most looked perfectly respectable, but behind the scenes, they got up to wilder stuff than anyone else. Several nearly got blacklisted.]
[Old Man Mi later cried about how, after his show went up on all the major platforms, wriggling patches of pixelation kept appearing every so often.]
[Sure, they could edit all of them out, but then it would become-"Burn Bright, Family Bonds: And Then There Were None."]
[If his backing hadn't been strong enough, the show would've been taken down ages ago. A year of hard work, and he was back to being a newcomer.]
Both brothers couldn't help looking at Director Mi with a touch of sympathy.
Ye Lan was even considering whether to tactfully advise his mentor that this line of work wasn't for him, and that he should just go back to making films properly.
Not only that, Ye Xunzhi also remembered the guests invited onto the show, including Lin Ranran and those future lapdogs of hers.
[Sounds like such a hassle. Better not go.]
Ye Lan nodded in satisfaction, grateful for the first time that his sister was a slacker.
Lazy in the best way, lazy in the most wonderful way, lazy through and through.
After the little girl turned him down, Director Mi looked somewhat disappointed:
"You people in the Ye Family really are something. You won't even take money that's there for the earning. You'd rather pay a million in penalties than take a million in appearance fees."
"A million in appearance fees?" Even Ye Xunzhi's voice changed. Her eyes had already turned completely into gold coins.
Director Mi suddenly realized something. His back no longer hurt, his legs no longer ached, and the whole world brightened.
"That's right. A million in appearance fees, paid per episode. We'll even cover the processing fees."
Oh no! Ye Lan realized things had gone terribly wrong.
This slacker wasn't just purely lazy; her love of money was pure too!
Ye Xunzhi took out her phone:
"Here's my bank account number, my WeChat, and my QQ Mail address. Just deposit my wages directly when the time comes."
With the hand speed of a man twenty years into marriage, Old Man Mi swiftly scanned her code and added her as a friend:
"All right, I'll send you the contract later. Filming officially starts the day after tomorrow, and the production team will come straight to your door."
Ye Lan: "..."
Seeing this development, Ye Xiao gloated as he patted his second brother's shoulder.
As the youngest, he had been bossed around since childhood. When had he ever seen any of his older brothers take a loss?
"How's that, bro? Is your heart freezing cold now? It's fine. When you go explain things to Grandpa and Eldest Brother later, you'll feel even more hopeless."
Ye Lan slowly turned his head and revealed a ferocious smile. "Before that, I'll make sure you feel hopeless first."
"Aah!!!"
Ye Xunzhi found a chair and sat down, crossing her legs as she quietly admired the battle before her, with no intention of stopping it whatsoever.
[Fight! Fight!]
The old butler had come to deliver lotus root patties this time. Since it was on the way, he had ridden over with Ye Lan.
He was wearing an earpiece, through which Old Master Ye's voice came:
"It sounds so noisy over there. Have you seen Little Xun and Number Five? How are they doing?"
The old butler looked at the fierce battle beside him, then at Ye Xunzhi calmly drinking water. After considering his words for a moment, he said:
"Master, the young miss remains elegant, and both young masters are still alive."
Old Master Ye didn't think anything sounded wrong at all. "Then everything's fine."
That night, Ye Lan moved into the villa under Ye Xiao's yielding gaze.
He hadn't wanted to agree either, but he had no choice: his second brother had tempted him with an incredibly cool foreign motorcycle he'd recently taken a liking to, one that even had to be custom-made.
It wasn't that our side lacked resolve. The enemy was simply too cunning!
And somehow, his second brother had managed to persuade their eldest brother and the old master, successfully turning Ye Xunzhi into a wage slave while she was still attending school.
The wage slave herself, however, was already starting to regret it.
[Damn it, I didn't know this stupid show would make me get up at six. How is that any different from going to school?]
[Isn't sleeping the whole reason I make money? I eat and sleep, then sleep and eat again. That's the life I ought to have.]
"So how exactly did you persuade Eldest Brother and Grandpa?"
Ye Xiao glanced at Ye Xunzhi, who was curled up on the sofa playing games to her heart's content under the fine-sounding excuse of recuperating in body and mind, then turned to ask his second brother.
Ye Lan was teamed up with Ye Xunzhi in the game. The two brothers were now sitting by the dining table, some distance from the little girl. At the question, he didn't even look up:
"By using some extraordinary methods, of course. You probably don't know this, but our little sister keeps a diary. I showed it to Grandpa and Eldest Brother, and then they decided to get her moving a little."
Ye Xiao's face plainly said, How can you be so shameless?
"Are you kidding me? Do you understand what privacy is? You actually snooped in someone else's diary."
"I did not!" Ye Lan protested. "When she left a couple of days ago, she forgot her diary on the living room table. It was open, too. I just happened to glance at it."
As for exposing private information, there was even less reason to worry. If other people kept diaries to record their daily lives and their experiences, then Ye Xunzhi's diary was-
〔May 1, 2022. What I have to do today can wait until tomorrow. What if I die tomorrow? Giving up _(:зゝ∠)_〕
〔May 9, 2022. Today I decided to go out and get some exercise. Holy shit, the wind was so strong it scraped my tender cheeks! Even I felt sorry for my weak, pitiful self. Say no more. If a person doesn't cherish herself, she'll accomplish nothing. Going home to give up.〕
〔May 15, 2022. Ye Xunzhi, oh, Ye Xunzhi, look at yourself. How can you be so unmotivated? Go drink a glass of orange juice now, then start working hard.〕
〔Back from drinking orange juice. Goddammit, Lin Ranran wore such an ugly skirt today that it burned my eyes. My mind needs to relax. Giving up.〕
〔May 16, 2022. Everyone is trapped by love, while every day I'm sleepier than a dog. Giving up.〕
"..."
The diary had already been returned to Ye Xunzhi.
Ye Xiao resolutely looked over the pictures his second brother had taken again and again, flipped through another dozen or so, and fell into a golden silence.
Let me guess. Was this diary called "An Anthology of Ye Xunzhi's Giving-Up Literature" or "100 Reasons to Convince You to Give Up"?
Before you continue