I'm Really a Superstar

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It was pretty late.

On a moonless night.

Bored, Zhang Ye was busily clicking the mouse as he read the news online. He was feeling a bit unusual because he had eaten a hundred-plus Fruit of Agility. In the past, he was used to his old body’s natural reaction speed but now his reflexes had increased by manyfold. In the split second after his brain gave orders, his body made the movements. The results were such that when Zhang Ye was probably just thinking of moving the mouse cursor, his hand already moved. He was still not used to the speed as it was much too fast and caught him off guard.

Around him, Zhang Ye felt that there were a few people who could reach this kind of fast reaction speed. For example, Big Saber Bro, Fan Yingyun, the world-class hacker. Zhang Ye had witnessed Big Saber Bro’s reflexes before during the battle between her and the enemy hacker, so she could also likely achieve such fast reaction speeds. And then there was Rao Aimin, the Chinese martial arts expert. She could probably do it too. However, this was only Zhang Ye’s assumption since he had not really seen Rao Aimin using her actual martial arts. Normally, Old Rao only caused a small ruckus and did not really reveal her true ability in front of outsiders. That was why Zhang Ye did not know what Old Rao’s true abilities were, so he could only make a guess.

No matter what, the reaction speed of the two of them definitely surpassed many average people but they were used to their reaction speeds as they were naturally gifted or probably trained bit by bit in later days. But Zhang Ye was not like that. The agility skill that he learned in the blink of an eye needed some time to be digested.

There was movement on the bed.

“Zhang Ye.” Chenchen suddenly sat up sleepily.

Zhang Ye looked over and said, “What’s the matter why aren’t you asleep yet?” After he finished speaking, he was a little stunned as even though he spoke like he usually did, his reaction speed had increased multiple times. His speech also became faster just like his movements. He only used less than a second, or the blink of an eye, to finish his sentence. It was so fast that even he could not clearly hear what he had just said.

How inconvenient!

His mouth was moving way too fast!

His thoughts almost could not keep up with his mouth!

Zhang Ye tried very hard to slow down his speech. “What’s the matter? What are you calling me for?”

Chenchen said as she fought her droopy eyelids, “Zhang Ye, go to sleep.”

Zhang Ye acknowledged, “I’m not tired or in a rush to sleep yet. Let me read some more news for now.”

Chenchen repeated, “Zhang Ye, go to sleep.”

Zhang Ye said, “Just go to sleep. I didn’t switch on any sound so it won’t disturb you at all. Hurry up and go to sleep. You still have to go to school tomorrow!” Gradually, his talking speed increased again. Zhang Ye felt helpless at this and purposely tried to slow it down a bit. “Don’t bother me. I’ll sleep after midnight.”

A moment later, Chenchen went back to bed and fell asleep again.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye continued to read the news and think about his own matters. After a while, as he was thinking hard about his career plans from here, he suddenly noticed a small figure walking wobbly toward him.

It was Chenchen.

Zhang Ye was surprised.

Zhang Ye saw Chenchen holding his down-filled pillow walking clumsily to the front of his computer desk. Her eyes were almost closed and she looked very drowsy. After that, she pulled a small chair over and climbed onto it to sit down. Then she placed the pillow just beside the laptop and fell asleep after putting her head down.

Zhang Ye was speechless, “What are you doing?”

Sleep-talking Chenchen let out a mutter.

“Heh, you should go and sleep on the bed.” Zhang Ye said, “I’ve given you such a nice bed to sleep on but you still want to come here and lie on the desk? Get up, get up, don’t sleep like that. When tomorrow comes, you’ll suffer from back pains due to stiff neck.” Saying that, he gave Chenchen a few nudges to wake her.

Chenchen sat up holding her pillow.

Zhang Ye said helplessly, “Take it that I succumb to you. Alright, alright, will it be fine if I turn off the computer? I’ll also sleep now.” He stretched out his hands and carried Chenchen over to the bed, then covered her with a blanket and said, “Go to sleep now.”

He grabbed some blankets and coverlets, went to the sofa, and lay down on it.

Five minutes passed.

10 minutes.

Just as Zhang Ye was falling asleep, he felt the cushion beneath his legs moving and he sat up in shock. Then he realized Chenchen who was hugging the pillow had moved slowly towards him again. Zhang Ye had already occupied the whole length of the sofa as it was not big enough, and he could not even straighten his legs. Chenchen sat on the armrest of the sofa, and laid down while hugging the pillow with her back on the armrest. Her little head was like an eggplant dangling off the plant, and looked like it would fall off at any moment.

Zhang Ye was totally defeated by this sight, “What are you trying to do?”

Chenchen did not say anything as she was extremely sleepy.

“Didn’t I already switch off the computer?” Zhang Ye said, “Why are you squeezing in when there is hardly any space left? If you’re not going to sleep in the bed, then I’ll take it.”

Chenchen was still motionless.

Zhang Ye glanced at her, coming to a realization, and said, “Do you need someone beside you so that you can fall asleep?” Although the little kid did not reply Zhang Ye knew what to do. Heh, she should have said so. And here he was wondering why she kept asking him to go to bed or coming towards him, making Zhang Ye not know how to react. Previously, when Chenchen lived with her aunt, Old Rao would sleep with Chenchen on the same bed. Now that her aunt went out of town, she was unused to having no one beside her. After all, she was still only an eight-year-old child.

Zhang Ye carried her again and said, “Come, let’s sleep on the bed. This time you should sleep properly and not wander around anymore.” Walking towards the bedside, he pulled aside the blanket and covered Chenchen with it. Then Zhang Ye took off his slippers and laid down as well. He then muttered to himself, “Heh, the bed is the most comfortable place to sleep.”

Chenchen rolled over and said, “Zhang Ye.”

Zhang Ye yawned and asked, “What’s the matter again?”

Chenchen said sleepily, “Tell me a story.”

“Whoa, you acting like a lord now? Your Uncle Zhang is sleepy and almost falling asleep, and yet you still want me to tell a story? Besides, I thought you didn’t like my types of stories and even said that they were childish before?” Zhang Ye grunted.

Chenchen said, “Zhang Ye, tell me a story.”

Zhang Ye said, “I don’t care.”

“Zhang Ye.”

“Fine, stop calling, what do you want to hear?”

“—anything.”

“I’m scared when people say anything. Let me think a little. Never mind, I’ll tell you a new story.” Zhang Ye patted Chenchen’s small head and then said, “The story is called Cinderella. A long time ago, there was a wife of a rich man. She had a serious illness. During her last moments, she asked for her only daughter to be by her side and told her, ‘Dear daughter, when I die, I will protect and bless you from the Nine Springs.’ Saying that, she closed her eyes and passed away.”

He didn’t know if she was asleep or listening.

Zhang Ye gradually slowed down his storytelling, and then fell asleep at some point in time as well.

……

The next day.

Early in the morning.

Chenchen’s voice sounded in his ears, “Zhang Ye, wake up, I’m hungry.”

Zhang Ye pulled her away and said, “Don’t disturb me, let me sleep a while longer.”

Chenchen continued to push at him and said, “Zhang Ye, I’m hungry.”

Zhang Ye forced his eyes open and looked at his watch impatiently. Seeing that it was only 6:30 AM, he closed his eyes and covered himself with the blanket immediately and said, “Let me sleep for another ten minutes.”

Chenchen shouted at him in her childish voice, “Zhang Ye!”

Zhang Ye ignored her and continued sleeping soundly.

When he opened his eyes again, it was almost 7 AM. His nose caught a whiff of a fragrant aroma. He could make out that it was composed of two aromas with a quick analysis. It was the fragrance of soup dumplings and something else that smelled like egg drop soup? Yes, that must be it!

Gururu, a sound rumbled from his stomach.

He got up and saw Chenchen standing on a wooden stool, in the process of cooking in the open kitchen. She was stirring something in the pot with a pair of chopsticks and adding what seemed like MSG into it. Zhang Ye got out from bed and exclaimed, “Yo, so it’s really egg drop soup? Did I still have eggs in my house? Good. Not bad, you did well. Oh right, there’s still soup dumplings on the table? Where did you buy them?”

Chenchen said unhappily, “Outside of the district.”

Zhang Ye asked, “Where did you get the money?”

Chenchen said with a sullen face, “I got it from your wallet.”

Zhang Ye hurriedly went forward to help out and said, “Look at that sullen face of yours. Are you angry?”

After turning off the heat, Chenchen took a towel and wiped her hands clean like a small adult. She started to serve the soup, and although her movement was clumsy, there were no spills. After serving her own portion, she ignored Zhang Ye’s portion and jumped right off the small wooden stool. She said angrily, “Zhang Ye, you don’t have the bearings of an adult at all.”

Zhang Ye found an excuse and said, “Isn’t it quite nice that we can share the chores like this. Generally, Uncle Zhang will take care of you, but when I’m tired, you will take care of me.”

Chenchen shot a glance at him. “Hur Hur.”

“Heh, this soup smells nice, let me have a bowl too.” Zhang Ye did not stand on ceremony and ladled some soup for himself. Chenchen had previously cooked once before, so Zhang Ye knew that she could cook. Although she was still not good at it and even needed a stool to reach the stove, this little kid’s cooking skills were still good enough. At least it was much better than Zhang Ye’s, and could be considered that she had inherited Rao Aimin’s cooking skills. “Come on, let’s eat.”

However, Chenchen was already helping herself to all those soup dumplings.

In the blink of an eye, three soup dumplings were already gone.

Zhang Ye anxiously said, “Leave some for me!”

Chenchen ignored him and continued stuffing the food into her mouth, saying, “I bought it.”

“That was my money!” Zhang Ye also moved his chopsticks forward to snatch, but when he realized he was going to fail, he even resorted to using his hands to grab the last three soup dumplings.

Chenchen was ready to fight him for them. “Zhang Ye, give them to me!”

“Haha!” Zhang Ye chuckled heartily.

Such a big commotion during breakfast, as both of them nearly end up fighting each other for the food, was still considerably very “fun and enjoyable” on the whole.

After the meal, Zhang Ye was humming a song as he sent Chenchen to school. He parked his car on the road across from the school and said, “Alright, go to school now.”

Chenchen opened the car door with a struggle and got out of the car.

Zhang Ye reminded her, “Don’t be naughty, listen to the teachers!”

Chenchen turned around and asked, “Will you come to pick me up in the afternoon?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Yes, I’ll be coming.”

When Chenchen turned around, she saw two of her classmates and followed them. Together they crossed the road and went beyond the school gates. The little one’s popularity was also getting better with each passing day.

When Chenchen’s figure vanished from his sight, Zhang Ye suddenly had the thought that it was actually quite interesting to have a child at home.

Time to go home then.

It was time to go back home to continue this morning’s sleep again.

When he was about to drive off, even before he could step on the accelerator, there was a dong dong dong sound. A middle-aged man was standing outside and knocking on the glass window with a smile.

Zhang Ye lowered the car window and asked, “What’s the matter?”

The middle-aged man asked, “Are you Zhang Ye?”

“Yes, I am.” Zhang Ye thought he was just someone who wanted his signature.

But it turned out that the middle-aged man had taken out a business card to give to him. He said, “My child is also studying in No. 2 Experimental Primary School but he is in sixth grade. I heard about the matter at school from my child yesterday, and thought that you would be sending yours to school today as well. So I actually waited out here and indeed saw you sending your child to school as I had expected. So, initially I was suppose to give you a call this morning during work, but it’s even better that I managed to meet you here instead. That would save us a lot of time in coordinating a meeting together.”

Zhang Ye took the business card to have a look.

—Jiang Yuan

Deputy Director, Central TV Department 1.

This person was one of the leaders of Central TV??

Zhang Ye was stunned with surprise as he opened the door and got out of the car. He formally shook hands with him and said, “So it’s Deputy Director Jiang.”

Jiang Yuan smiled and said, “Then I’ll get straight to the point. Central TV Department 1 intends to invite you to join our television station. I wonder if you would be interested in joining us?”

Huh?

Central TV Department 1 inviting me to join them?

The first thought that came to Zhang Ye’s mind was one of disbelief!