My Sister is a Superstar - Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Like Suddenly Breaking into a Song
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Qin Ze got his phone out and sent a message to the ‘Dorm 303′ group. “For those who don’t skip, I’ll reward them with a popsicle.”
There was an instant reply. “Professor Qin is too cunning; I don’t have the guts to skip.”
“Can I trade my reward for a girlfriend?”
“A man never licks a popsicle. I’ll take ice cream.”
Qin Ze laughed as his fingers flew across his keyboard. “Will an inflatable one work? Then, let’s standardize. Everyone gets ice cream. I just passed by the store. I’ll head to class after getting the ice cream. I’ll wait for you guys at the door.”
He then put his phone back into his pocket and headed towards the supermarket on campus. After he was done purchasing the ice creams, he walked towards the teaching building with the plastic bag in his hands.
Out of the classroom, Qin Ze leaned against the railing as he faced the classroom. He got an ice cream out and began eating. It was fifteen minutes before class started, and students were beginning to trail into the lecture hall.
Five classes would take an open class together, and the classroom would fit 500 students.
“Qin Ze!” Someone from afar called out his name.
Qin Ze turned, a smile on his face. A trio walked over. In the middle was a burly boy, a Northwestern boy called Zhao Guoshan, nicknamed Baliang. He was muscular with broad shoulders and spoke with an accent. His name was a little out of fashion so the others liked to call his Zhao Baliang.
By Zhao Baliang’s side were two scrawnier boys. One was Li Liang from Shanghai. His family was more well-to-do than Qin Ze’s. His dad owned a rather large scale import company, and he had three sets of property under his name. He was a rich second-generation heir, but he was easy-going. The only thing was that he liked clubbing.
The other one was a plain-looking boy: Liu Ziqiang from Suzhou. Nothing stood out about him and was just like an ordinary passer-by, much like Qin Ze. His catchphrase was that men had to be strong and depend on themselves.
The trio was Qin Ze’s roommates. Even though he did not stay on campus, he still had a room and a bed as long as he paid for it. At the end of every semester, he would stay for a month to cram for exams.
Qin Ze handed the ice cream to his roommates. Zhao Baliang finished half of it in one bite. “Qin Ze, are you sleeping in school today?”
“What’s up?” Qin Ze looked at him.
Li Liang made funny faces as he licked the ice cream. “We’re tired of the 16 GB that you downloaded for Baliang. We’re bored, and there’s no fresh blood. We can’t even have fun with our hands at night now.”
“Scram!” Zhao Baliang shoved Li Liang aside onto the wall.
Liu Ziqiang smiled as he watched the two mess around. He nodded at Qin Ze.
Qin Ze laughed. “I’ll hand you my Xunlei account details later. You can download it for yourselves.”
Li Liang was stunned. “Eh, you’re finally willing to hand the key to your treasure trove over? Do you have someone now?”
“Scram, you know that I live with my sister.” Qin Ze feigned anger and kicked towards Li Liang, who hurried out of the way. “From now on, I’m quitting all vice.”
“Let’s have lunch after class and head toward the web cafe,” Qin Ze suggested.
Everyone agreed.
“By the way, didn’t you say that your sister is pretty? Don’t let outsiders reap the benefits. If she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet, introduce her to us. Maybe not me, since I’m not ready to settle down yet. But Baliang’s strong and honest… and well-endowed. And Lao Liu, too. Even though he’s a little quiet, our hearts ache for him when we see him struggling with his hands every night.” Li Liang put his arm around Qin Ze’s neck.
“Get lost!” The three yelled at him.
The four messed around as they enjoyed their ice cream while leaning against the wall. Just before class started, there was another group of people. Their size of the crowd was a little a group of hooligans that marched down the streets. At the forefront was a handsome boy. He had a fashionable hairstyle, with the sides shaved down while the top was styled. His ears were pierced, and he was wearing a fitted t-shirt and white jeans as he cruised down the hallway with an entourage.
If Qin Ze was akin to a passerby, this guy was the school prince that everyone adored. His name was Zhang Mingyu, from ZJ City. He was a true blue rich second-generation heir. People said that his family had three listed companies that were worth billions. Li Liang’s family was nothing in comparison.
College was nothing like middle and high school. In high school, people adored star students. However, here in college, your results were worth nothing. All that mattered was your family background. The best-case scenario was for you to be both rich and smart, and Zhang Mingyu was like that.
Rich, smart, and good-looking; he had it all. Zhang Mingyu was famous from the instant he reported to school in a Porsche. People took photos and uploaded it on the school forum, and girls were obsessed with him from then on.
When Zhang Mingyu stepped into the classroom, Qin Ze and his friends could hear the commotion coupled with the girl’s oohs and ahs.
“Wow, so what if he has a rich family?” Li Liang said enviously.
“So what if he was handsome?” Zhao Baliang continued.
“So what if he was smart?” Liu Ziqiang added.
Then, Qin Ze summed it all up. “I want to get rid of him.”
Class was starting soon. Qin Ze and the gang finished their ice creams and walked into the lecture hall. There were about two hundred students seated, but it was not crowded due to the room’s large capacity. Qin Ze picked their seats in a non-crowded area. Zhang Mingyu was seated near the aisle on their left. He was chatting with his friends, and the seats around him were all snapped up by girls who were after his looks and money. He was the kind to attract attention wherever he went.
There were a few girls seated next to Qin Ze. “It’s Zhang Mingyu; Zhang Mingyu’s here, too.”
“How dashing. If only I could be his girlfriend.”
“Che, I’m his one true love. It’s just that he hasn’t noticed me yet.”
“Young and dashing, with good results. He’s practically a god. My four years of education wouldn’t be for nothing if I can be in a relationship with him just once.”
“Keep dreaming. He’s dating the school belle.”
“Hmph, we’ve got to believe that she’s just a fling, and we’re his true destination.
Qin Ze, D*mn, they’re dumb.
At this point, one of the girls poked Qin Ze’s elbow with the tip of her pencil. “Hey, you’re in the way of my photo,” she said impatiently.
Qin Ze turned to see the girl taking photos with her phone. He knew immediately that she was going to post them on the school forum to show off. The headline would probably be something sensational. He had seen tons of posts like that.
“Go outside if you want to take photos. It’s class time now,” Li Liang said grumpily.
“Why do you care? I’m not taking pictures of you. Who do you think you are?” The girl scoffed.
“He’s just jealous. Look at his expression, and you’ll know. What a troll.”
“We won’t even take photos of you even if you let us.”
“I think my camera will break.”
“Ha-ha-ha!”
Li Liang was exploding.
Qin Ze tugged on his friend’s sleeve and shook his head. There was no point in arguing with a girl. It was embarrassing to lose, and it was not glorious to win either. There was no winning.
The bell rang, and a middle-aged man walked in. He was in a casual suit. His hair was neat, his expression solemn. The class quieted down the instant he appeared.
Professor Qin was here!
His eyes swept across the classroom and nodded with satisfaction. He turned on the projector and got the teaching materials outs. “Let’s not take attendance today. I’ll spare you the pain of having to check-in for your classmates again and again. I don’t even have the cheek to expose you when I catch you.”
The class burst into laughter.
“I’ll be talking about two focal points of international finance today: foreign exchange theory and practice and financial engineering. Open your books to…”
Qin Ze shrunk himself to not catch the attention of his father as he scrolled through the interface of the system excitedly. This was not a core class, and the final was open book so he was not too worried. In any case, his dad would hand him a bunch of material with the main points marked out when the time came around. As long as he followed his father’s chain of thought, he would be just fine. He would not pass with flying colors, but he would definitely pass.
The class gradually came to an end.
“Before we end, I’m assigning you all a mission.” Professor Qin projected a document filled with Russian on the screen.
What in the world?
The students were stunned.
“This excerpt is from Peter Andre’s 100-year history of currency. Andre is a controversial economist in Russia. He doesn’t have many published works, but there are many interesting points of contention in his works. This is an interesting section that I’ve picked out. There isn’t a Chinese translation of it right now. You all can download this from my cloud later, translate it, and write a thousand-word reflection on it. Just send it to my email when you’re done.”
Professor Qin was showing off his Russian again.
That was what all the students thought.
Qin Ze covered his face. His father was fluent in Russian, English, and Japanese; and he made sure to flaunt it in class occasionally.
“Professor Qin, that’s not necessary.” Zhang Mingyu stood up confidently. “Правыониилинет,ноязнаютолько,чтоянепомнюниодногоднявмоейжизни,когдабыянепринадлежалейинечувствовалнадсобойеёвласти. Онанепокидаетменяденьиночь; ятоженевыказываюпоползновенияудратьотнеё,—связь,сталобыть,крепкая,прочная1…”
He read out the entire excerpt fluently. There were little awkward pronunciations here and there, but no one other than Professor Qin could tell. All the girls were stunned and screaming in awe.
The expression on Qin Ze and his roommates’ faces changed. He was handsome, rich, and talented. Where was the justice in the world?!
“This article is about the social changes brought forth by the change from the use of golf to paper currency. The author places his hopes in paper currency and speculates about the future of the economy. This is one economist with a lot of foresight.”
Clap, clap, clap! The students applauded, and the girls were ecstatic.
At this point, Qin Ze received a message: “Mission notification, can the host please check!”
“Oh, my gosh, Zhang Mingyu knows Russian, too.”
“No wonder he’s my idol; I love it.”
“That’s amazing, he’s so outstanding.”
“I’ve heard that his family has a company that the Russians invested in. It’s not strange that he knows Russian.”
“I’ll fight anyone who says that our Mingyu is a good-for-nothing playboy.
“Yeah, some guys don’t even know to work on themselves, and their family’s not even rich. All they know is to be green with envy.”
The last girl glared at Li Liang and his friend. She was the one who had argued with them earlier while she was taking photos.
“If you’re going to say something, be upfront about it.” Li Liang was upset.
“Classmate, your pretentiousness upsets me,” Liu Ziqiang said.
Zhao Baliang kept quiet but glared at the girl, but the girl was unaffected.
“Oh, they can’t be talked about either.”
“Che, they’re just fated to be poor.”
“Serves them right that they’re single. Only the blind will date you. You can’t even compare to my idol.”
“Look at this guy who knows his worth and when to keep quiet.”
The girl motioned towards Qin Ze with her mouth.
They snickered.
Qin Ze turned to look at her and then stood up. “Professor Qin, I beg to differ.”
