Making the best use out of it

Yang Jingshen was boredly scrolling through the popular Weibo hot searches when Feng Xue suddenly spoke. "Last night, Andy called and told me that the stocks at his retail shop were almost sold out. He said he'd give you a good bonus once the accounts are settled."

The two of them were sitting in the living room at their rented place as they waited for the taxi to arrive to take them to Han Qi's place. It was the second day of the New Year, and their host, who was also an agent at Star dreams as well as a good friend of Feng Xue's had invited them for an overnight stay at his home.

"That's good. It means I can get more money." Yang Jingshen grinned cheekily as he clicked on a hot search about a popular new actress being seen together with an unknown man on the first day of the New Year.

Feng Xue shook her head as she laughed. "Don't expect too much. It's probably only a few thousand yuan."

This particular actress had been photographed with this man who looked quite a bit older than her at her apartment complex. Seeing this, Yang Jingshen shook his head. For some people, when you get popular quickly, it goes to your head. Especially if you are new to the industry.

It was apparent that this man was not a family member. The gestures were too intimate for that– in a different kind of manner. 'Tsk! So careless.'

"Little Xi, I thought of something. With my last quarterly allowance I got in December, I now have six merit points. You also got five points as a reward for this photo shoot. Maybe we should get a better script using them?"

Yang Jingshen raised his face and looked up at his cousin who was leaning on the back of his chair as she also checked on the Weibo post on his phone. "Why not wait until I get my reward merit points for the web series? Then we'll have even more points to spend, so we can get a better one ne."

"But we'll have to wait until March. Won't that be too long?" Feng Xue furrowed her brow. It's only the latter period of January now. If they wait until March, they will probably get a script that would start filming in April or even May. Then, it would be aired even later. 'My forever spring' wouldn't be enough to fill the gap in between.

"I wanted to act in 'My forever spring' because I wasn't sure about my skills.' Yang Jingshen lowered his head once again and scrolled down looking for other more exciting news. 'Now that I know I have a talent in acting, I want to move on to better ones. It's fine if things get a bit delayed.'

The company had given him five merit points for a successfully publicized work, and he thought he should make good use of it. He was also in a hurry, but for an artist, being too hasty is not good for their growth.

Being young and eager to shine quickly was not a good excuse. Since he already decided to walk this path, he'd do it the correct way, irrespective of any missions or dangers of his soul being obliterated.

There was also a chance to get more merit points if his modeling work makes a big splash, but Yang Jingshen doubted it– so he'd have to be content with this amount. And he was damn well going to make the best out of it.

Feng Xue stared at the lowered head of the young girl for a few seconds and sighed as she straightened. Why was she increasingly starting to feel that this girl is changing– not towards being gloomy and unapproachable like before… Instead, she seemed to be more open and mischievous, yet assertive and unpredictable at the same time.

If this goes on like this, she was afraid that there won't be any need for her to protect this child. Her baby sister had managed to assimilate well into the industry so far, and without much help from her as well. Suddenly Feng Xue had a feeling like she was marrying off her daughter to a faraway place. T▽T

'...'

***

Han Qi lived in a rented flat in a housing complex located in the M district of the Imperial capital municipality. Despite the place being rather small -with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a small sitting area- it was sizeable enough for a newly married couple who were yet to have children. Not to mention, the building was only two or three years of age, so everything still looked quite fresh.

After the two of them arrived at their place around five o'clock in the evening, they received a warm welcome from Han Qi and his wife Li Yuhan and then were shown into the smaller bedroom in the flat. Later, after some freshening up, the two of them went to the kitchen, only to be shooed away by the lady of the house.

Feng Xue of course insisted, and finally managed to get her way, but Yang Jingshen ended up in the living room and found himself playing a game of cards with the master of the house. Not that he minded anyway– he didn't know a darn thing about cooking, except for making a cup of coffee or tea for himself -does that even count as cooking?- and preparing himself a serving of cup noodles.

"Even you were chased out, eh?" Han Qi muttered as he concentrated on the cards in his hands before throwing a jack of diamonds on top of the starter pile. They were playing crazy eights(1), which was easy and a bit childish but was fun enough for two adults to indulge in.

Yang Jingshen selected five of diamonds out of his pile and placed it on top of the other's jack of diamonds. "Big sister is probably afraid that I'd steal food again. I was also chased out when she was preparing New Year's eve dinner." →_→

"Such a thing?" Han Qi looked at him in surprise before chuckling. "But you better be careful of your diet. Don't eat too much. It's easy to gain weight, but hard to lose it."

"I know." Anyway, it wasn't like he would gain too many jins(2) because of this body's constitution. Yang Jingshen actually thought that it was one of the positive points about his new body. He could remember how he starved himself in his last life to look perfect in many instances– that was ignoring the times he needed to diet for special roles. To top it all, his original body used to be the type that would easily gain weight.

Yet, he was at least a man back then. But now, being a woman, the demands on his appearance would be higher, especially in the entertainment circle of a country like this.

A woman was expected to be gentle, sweet, and virtuous on top of being beautiful. Her body was supposed to be slender and feminine, and her waist should be so small that it should literally look and feel breakable in your hands. ⁰𝛚⁰

So, Yang Jingshen thought that he was quite lucky to get a body with this type of constitution. If not, he'd have to starve himself even more. And, that is the stuff of nightmares for a foodie like him.

The dinner started shortly afterward, around eight o'clock to be precise, and the two of them also went over to help a bit before sitting down to dig into the sumptuous meal. The food was abundant and tasty, and even if Yang Jingshen thought that Li Yuhan's cooking didn't taste as good as his cousin's -he would admit to being a bit prejudiced-, he couldn't say that he didn't enjoy them either.

Anyway, what mattered the most was the spirit. And, from what Yang Jingshen realized, this friend of Feng Xue's was a quite talented person who had a good PR network, despite his inability to succeed in his career. It was quite beneficial to have a good relationship with this type of person.

He was sampling a piece of the roast duck with gusto as he listened to the chatter of the two women when Han Qi suddenly asked him a question. "Little Xi, your photoshoot for that blog is quite a success. From now on, what are your plans?"

#####

Glossary:

01) Crazy eights - This is a two-person card game, that is easy and complex at the same time.

02) Jin - A traditional measurement of weight used in China and is also known as 'catty'. In mainland China, this is taken as being roughly equivalent to 500 g and is also referred to as 'market catty'.