I am a Big Player

Chapter 34: 34, Royalty of Three Character Classic_1 Chapter 34: 34, Royalty of Three Character Classic_1 You Who Pluck Stars?

Yang Xi pondered the name, then suddenly burst into laughter, “Okay, if I can release an album, it’ll be called ‘You Who Pluck Stars’!”

In the first 15 years of Yang Xi’s life, because of her father, her life was far from calm. Compared to the peaceful lives of other girls her age, it could even be described as bizarre and fantastical. However, at this moment, meeting Ren He and witnessing his sudden display of exceptional creative talent made her feel as if returning to her ancestral home in Luoyang was like embarking on a most peculiar journey, somewhat surreal.

The girl nurtured her dream, studying music theory and instruments wherever she could, and now, inadvertently, the dream seemed possible to achieve.

Yang Xi earnestly said, “Thank you.”

But just as Yang Xi was about to say something, a magnetic male voice suddenly came from the stairs, “Yang Xi, come home for dinner.”

It was Yang Xi’s dad! Ren He was taken aback for a moment, then he started to panic—was this the rhythm of getting caught wooing someone’s daughter? He was caught off guard. In one’s teenage years, what’s most terrifying isn’t just your own parents, but also other people’s…

The sound of footsteps grew louder, and Ren He realized the other person was about to climb up the stairs. He looked around for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere to hide on this exposed rooftop. Should he climb down? After all, he was able to climb and was physically fit…

But just as he prepared to flip over the wall to climb down, Yang Xi suddenly laughed, grabbed him, and said, “What are you doing? You don’t have to do that, my dad is easy to get along with.”

Damn, easy to get along with, that’s when the other person’s intentions are pure, but he wasn’t pure at all, he felt so nervous…

“Sometimes, you don’t seem like someone my age, but now…” Yang Xi couldn’t help laughing happily, finding Ren He’s current state rather amusing.

“You don’t understand…” Ren He had just finished speaking when he saw Yang Xi’s father, Yang En, poking his head through the rooftop entrance. His hair was still meticulously combed, though he had changed into home clothes, and indeed he seemed quite amiable…

Ren He gave an awkward smile, “Hello, Uncle.”

Then was a brief standoff between the two men, with Ren He praying the other wouldn’t come up and pummel him, especially since he couldn’t fight back…

“It’s you, the kid who jumped from a building,” Yang En recognized Ren He, smiled, and said, “Come down and join us for dinner.”

Phew, that was close. Ren He wiped the sweat from his forehead as Yang Xi said with a smile, “See, my dad isn’t as scary as you thought, right?”

He’d have to get through dinner to see if it was going to be a trap…

Ren He followed Yang Xi downstairs and entered the dining room to find four dishes and one soup already laid out: stir-fried tomatoes with eggs, sweet and sour shredded potatoes, stir-fried meat, cold jellyfish salad, and a seaweed egg drop soup.

Each dish looked quite good; Ren He hadn’t expected Yang Xi’s diplomat dad to have such cooking skills.

Yang En invited Ren He to sit down, “Come, sit. I’ve heard that you helped Yang Xi write a song called ‘The Brightest Star in the Night Sky’? I’ve listened to her sing it; you’ve written it very well, and the lyrics are also very good!”

“Too kind, too kind…” Ren He was now entirely stiff. All that talk about top physical condition and mature mentality, it all meant nothing in front of a potential future father-in-law. What really mattered was making the old man happy.

“Have you studied this before? Have you ever taken lessons from a teacher?” Yang En suddenly asked Ren He, serving a chopstick-full of shredded potatoes to Yang Xi.

“Self-taught success…”

“Haha, not bad,” Yang En was amused by Ren He: “Don’t be so uptight; I’m not some man-eating tiger.”

Throughout the meal, Ren He was surprised that Yang En didn’t once bring up the subject of forbidding future contact with Yang Xi—it seemed he really trusted Yang Xi to handle things on her own, just as he had said over the phone.

Such a dad was really not bad, unlike his own mom, who required a half-hour talk with him just because he scribbled some notes with a little girl in kindergarten…

During dinner, Ren He suddenly noticed that the TV in Yang Xi’s house was tuned to an international news channel; he wondered how that was achieved. He knew of a TV card that cost just a few dozen yuan and could be plugged into a computer to receive foreign television broadcasts, but how the TV was set up, he was clueless. Could it be something special that Yang En had?

The TV was reporting on terrorism and military disorder in Africa, which Ren He watched with great interest, causing Yang En to ask in surprise, “You can understand this?”

“A little bit, a little bit,” Ren He responded modestly. After all, in his previous life, he had been an exchange student at Berkeley and his spoken English was not bad. Yang En then asked him a few simple questions in English, which Ren He answered in English. There was no need to hide this—it was good to let the future father-in-law know he was multi-talented.

However, when Ren He finished dinner and went home, Yang En suddenly said to Yang Xi, “Your classmate is quite interesting. His English accent seems to be a bit like the ones from the West Coast of the United States.”

“Coincidence, perhaps,” Yang Xi said with a smile, not taking it too seriously.

However, Yang En knew that things like accents aren’t that coincidental. But he was just a middle school student, after all. Yang En shook his head with a smile and put it out of his mind.

Walking on the road, Ren He enjoyed the cool night breeze and the tranquility. Now that he could sing for Yang Xi, he didn’t need to undertake any tasks for the time being and had no particular needs. It was still more than half a month until the next royalty payment from Shengshi Chinese Network, so he could relax for a bit.

But just at that moment, Ren He’s phone rang. When he saw the name “Zhou Wumeng” on the screen, he suddenly got a bad feeling…

“Hello, Elder Zhou.”

“The Three Character Classic has already been published in various forms and quite a few physical books are out. The first installment of your royalty has been transferred to your card. Check it when you have time,” Elder Zhou said with a hearty laugh: “Have you written any other works recently?”

Fuck… not good! As soon as Ren He heard the word ‘royalty’, he felt doomed! Just as expected!

“Task: Jump from the roof of the teaching building to the ground and back, deadline one week.”

I’m fucking rolling, what does this mean, jump from the top floor of the teaching building and back again? Like jumping over and then back? I was just thinking about resting for a while, and here comes another task. Can I even do it? Right then, Ren He didn’t feel great at all, but he tried to keep calm and told Elder Zhou over the phone, “Thank you, Elder Zhou. I don’t have any new works recently, and… no need to transfer the royalty to me next time, I’ll call you when I need it.”

“Eh?” Elder Zhou was curious: “Weren’t you very excited about money before? Why don’t you need money now?”

I freaking can’t express the bitterness I feel; I do want money, but I don’t want tasks coming out of nowhere without any warning! Ren He explained: “I’ve been reflecting and I want to be a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, someone who has risen above low-level interests, someone who is beneficial to the people.”

“Task: Shoulder a desk and do 50 deep squats, deadline one week.”

Me… Wasn’t that just a quote from Chairman Mao?! Are you for real?!