I'm Really a Superstar

Morning.

At the break of dawn.

The familiar scent of gruel entered Zhang Ye's nose. Zhang Ye subconsciously sniffed a little and woke up under the blanket. He rubbed his belly in hunger and turned his head. In front of him in the open kitchen, a hot steaming pot of gruel was cooking. He did not know when Rao Aimin had woken up, but he saw her standing there with her arms folded, looking at Chenchen. Meanwhile, Chenchen was forcefully made to sit at the table as she did her homework.

"Aunt, I'm hungry."

"You can eat after you’ve finished your homework."

"There's so much left to do, I'm hungry."

"You asked for it by not completing your homework last night. I already told you to finish it before sleeping, but you just didn't put my words to heart. Must you really need someone to supervise you?"

"But I'm really hungry."

"Will you still do this again in the future?"

"I won't dare to."

".....Eat then. After you have eaten, continue doing your homework!"

Rao Aimin glanced sharply at Chenchen before she went to get a bowl of gruel for her.

Zhang Ye also sat up and said, "I want a bowl too."

Rao Aimin looked at him in a bad mood, "Woke up already? There's a thermometer beside you, so check your own temperature." As she said that, she had already filled up three bowls of porridge.

Chenchen did not wait for Zhang Ye and picked up her spoon and began to eat.

Zhang Ye reluctantly checked his temperature and then announced, "37.3 degrees."

"Let me see." Rao Aimin said worriedly thinking that he was stupid enough to not know how to read a thermometer. She took a look at it and said, "Alright, your fever has subsided. Put on your clothes and come eat!"

When Zhang Ye had his feet on the ground, he felt his body was as light as a swallow and was no longer dizzy.

Rao Aimin went over, "Sit and don't move around." She slowly removed the bandage from his head and said, "Alright, the wound is not festering. Just rest for a few more days and you'll be fine." After saying that, she did not go over to eat, but instead applied another round of medicine to his forehead and neck. Only after cleaning the wounds and re-bandaging them did she join them to eat.

The steamed buns were probably hand made by Rao Aimin, since the stalls outside were not opened today. Everyone had gone home to celebrate the new year, and even if some of them were opened, their buns couldn't possibly be as good as Rao Aimin's. Although Old Rao's mouth was vicious, there really was nothing that could be picked on about her cooking!

Zhang Ye ate two big bowls of gruel and also eight steamed buns. He exclaimed, "Delicious!"

After saying that, he was about to take another, even though there was only one left on the plate.

Chenchen was ready to fight him for it, "It's mine."

Zhang Ye did not care that she was a child. He said, "Your uncle Zhang is a sick man. You ought to give in to me."

Chenchen said, "You've already had eight of them."

Zhang Ye said, "You had as much as me."

Chenchen said, "I helped my aunt steam those buns."

The two of them battled over it with their chopsticks for a long time while bickering.

Finally, Rao Aimin stepped in. She used her chopsticks to hit both of them on the head and said, "Be honest. Didn't you notice that I haven't even had one bun? What are you fighting over it for!" With that, she took it for herself in all fairness.

Zhang Ye tried to stop her.

Chenchen also extended her chopsticks to try to snatch it away, "Give it to me."

But Rao Aimin's chopsticks seemed like they were alive. With a push, a twist and a wave, those few beautiful strokes in the air, that was like a simple move from the Eight Trigrams, had caused Zhang Ye and Chenchen's chopsticks to be deflected away.

Rao Aimin picked up the bun and ate it herself.

Zhang Ye eyes darkened, "We're just eating buns, do you really have to resort to kungfu?"

Chenchen pouted. That small look of hers had fully emulated her aunt's expressions.

After eating, Rao Aimin ordered, "Chenchen, go back to our house and finish your homework. Hurry up. If you don't finish at least ten pages, don't think of getting lunch. Little Zhang, go and take a bath. Look at you, smelling of rotten eggs. Go bathe and take your medicine. After that, do what you need to do. That kind of light injury shouldn't affect you so badly." When she finished saying that, she stretched her waist and yawned, "I will take a bath and then take a nap. This night has tired me out."

Zhang Ye said, "I will be coming over for lunch later then."

Rao Aimin glanced sidewards at him, "You're in full spirits whenever there's talk about food!"

Chenchen smirked, "....Hur Hur, glutton."

"You as well." Rao Aimin scolded Chenchen, "I don't usually see you eat so much at home, but when someone wants to snatch your food, your appetite becomes so great?!"

Zhang Ye also 'Hur Hur'-ed.

Soon enough, Rao Aimin brought Chenchen back to their house. She was still worried as she was leaving. She said, "Don't let your wounds get wet when you shower. You can use cling wrap if you can't keep them dry. Hear that?"

Zhang Ye said, "I got it."

Peng! The landlady slammed the door.

Zhang Ye also found himself smelly. Yesterday, he had only simply wiped himself clean and did not take a proper shower. After a night of sweating, he couldn't not take a shower anymore. He went into the bathroom, got naked and used the shower head to carefully wash himself clean without wetting his wounds.

Men shower very quickly, so he was done in a few minutes.

When he came out, Zhang Ye went back to his bed and sat down. He stretched himself and was in high spirits. He definitely felt much better than yesterday. He was feeling totally refreshed today. This was all thanks to the landlord auntie's overnight care for him. If he had been alone, who knew how long he would have been sick for?

He had recovered from his illness.

What should he do now?

Go home? That was out of question since his wounds had not heal. If his parents saw him like this, they would definitely be worried.

Work? That wasn’t possible either. It was the first day of the new year, what work would there even be? The talk show had already finished recording. The school was on winter break. He was not needed in the marketing of Brain Platinum for the time being. Oh, right. There was still Zhang Yuanqi's "Woman Flower" single's copyright left to settle.

Ding Dong.

The doorbell rang.

Zhang Ye went to open the door and found a courier standing there.

"Hello. I'm from the courier company. Please acknowledge by signing here." Saying that, the youth was suddenly taken aback, "Aiyo, you....you're Teacher Zhang Ye?"

Zhang Ye signed off on the acknowledgment, "Please wait for a while, I'll take a look at it first."

The courier was very polite, "It's fine, please check it carefully. It's OK if you want to be thorough. I can wait."

Zhang Ye looked through the documents, which was the contract from Zhang Yuanqi's company. He browsed through it casually before signing on it. He fully trusted Zhang Yuanqi on such matters, knowing that she would not take advantage of him. He said to the courier, "I'd have to trouble you to bring this back to the sender."

"Sure, please fill up another form then." The courier said.

After the paperwork was completed, the courier asked Zhang Ye for an autograph before leaving.

All his work matters had been settled now. It looked like he could only rest for the first few days of the new year.

Oh, it would be so boring.

Having been so used to being busy, he couldn't really get used to being idle.

Zhang Ye wanted to have a smoke, but he couldn't find his cigarettes in any of his pockets. He looked around the house, but there were no cigarettes to be found either. He remembered that he had some in his pockets, but now even his lighter was missing. He thought about it for a moment and decided that it must have been Rao Aimin who 'confiscated' his cigarettes. During this time of sickness, smoking would not be good for his body. Well, Old Rao was really not sparing any effort in caring for him.

What should he do?

Oh, there's the lottery!

Zhang Ye had pondered for a full day before finding something he could do.

His reputation points gained so far, together with those from "Woman Flower", the poem, and the incident with Lee Anson had all been recorded by the game ring and had reached a total of 55 million now. This was the result of his recent hard work and was considered to be his 'hard earned money'. This was a figure that dazzled Zhang Ye's eyes, as it was such a large figure. His game ring inventory was almost empty by now, unless you counted those shitty Difficulty Adjustment Die as items. His inventory had almost run completely dry, it was in dire need of restocking! His goals for this year had already been reached, and he still needed to continuously increase his reputation points. He needed to keep climbing in the entertainment circle to the very top, so these inventory items would be very important to him. It was his trump card. A new year and a new beginning. He would definitely need to stock up on ammo to prepare for times of necessity.

He had just finished his shower. It would be a lucky time for lottery!

Draw!

Do a test draw to see how the luck would be!

Zhang Ye clicked on the game menu. As he had a lot of reputation points now, he behaved very generously. He did not feel his heart ache at all. He tapped on the draw freely, and without seeing where the needle would stop, he bought one Additional Stake.

Spin on!

Spin on!

The needle slowly came to a stop!

Treasure Chest (Small) was received. It was a Consumption Category item!

"X-Ray vision eye drops" x 2: Upon applying to the eyes, it will grant the user X-Ray vision. Lasts for 5 minutes.

This was a new item. Zhang Ye had never gotten this item in the past, but looking at it, he felt lucky that he did not buy too many additional stakes for that round, otherwise it would really have been a waste. This item did not seem to have too much of a practical use. What could X-Ray vision be used for? Could it grant him an increase in reputation? Could it help him to become more and more successful in the entertainment industry?

Eh? Wait a minute.

Didn't the Landlord auntie say she was going to take a shower!?

Was she done with her shower yet? She shouldn't be done yet, right?

Zhang Ye stopped his lottery draw to retrieve the X-Ray vision eye drops from the treasure chest. He put one of them into his inventory and, with the other, he opened and dripped it into his eyes.

The eye drops took effect!

Countdown of five minutes begins!

The next moment, all Zhang Ye saw was pitch black. He looked at the wall and seemingly saw some metal rods and concrete, but as the lighting wasn't good, it appeared rather blurry. He knew that the X-Ray vision had taken effect, but how did you adjust the zooming? When he had that thought, his eyes somehow obeyed and followed along by zooming in. His vision had now pierced past the wall at home and moved forward to quite a distance. Finally, it stopped at the landlord auntie's living room!

How high-tech!

This X-Ray vision was too amazing!

Zhang Ye was very excited. He walked over and and pressed himself against the wall at his house, but his vision was now focused on another house. He saw Chenchen sitting in the living room, not doing her homework at all. As Zhang Ye was very familiar with the layout of Rao Aimin's house, he easily navigated his vision into the bathroom!

He could see through into it now!

His vision was zooming in!

But there was no one inside. It was completely empty!