章 3: Proud Little Brother
編集者: Henyee Translations
Only the sound of flags flapping in the wind was audible on the ski track.
Mu Sheng skied over slowly. There was some snow on her face, and her eyes were filled with pride and confidence. It felt as though the grounds beneath her feet were not a training ground but an Olympic podium.
"That's incredible." Qin Lei's excited voice broke the silence.
He had an inkling that Mu Sheng was a great skier, but he did not expect her to be so agile and smooth. Even he was incapable of achieving this.
Qin Lei had an appreciation of how flawless Mu Sheng's every move was. However, the laymen were simply floored by the four continuous backflips she did. After all, the visual impact was immense.
The director suddenly snapped out of his daze and slapped the cameraman's arm. "Do you have that on film?"
The cameraman was stunned as well. "Yeah. All four cameras were on her."
The director smiled so hard that there were wrinkles on his face. "Focus on Mu Sheng For the rest of the episode. Trust me. The ratings are going to go through the roof."
The director was keenly aware of the importance of such highlights in a program.
Mu Sheng's remarkable skiing was genuinely cool and eye-catching. The audience would certainly love it if they used it as a highlight.
"Miss Mu, do you want to join the provincial team?" Qin Lei admired Mu Sheng's talent so much that he wanted to poach her right away.
"Let's go on filming. Can you tell us what kind of training you do? How did you manage to do the backflip?"
Qin Lei and the director surrounded Mu Sheng and fought over her.
"I will talk to you after I am done filming." Mu Sheng stopped them decisively.
"How is this possible? Why is she so good at skiing?" Chen Jiao's face was filled with jealousy. "Yingying, did you really mean it when you said she was a good skier?"
Ruan Yingying watched as everyone surrounded Mu Sheng. She gritted her teeth and forced a smile. "Uh huh. She has always been a great skier."
"Tsk. She is such a showoff. Is she worried that no one knows she is a good skier? Even though she is a singer, she is bad at singing. Instead, she is good with all this other nonsense." Chen Jiao felt upset when Ruan Yingying affirmed the truth about Mu Sheng's skiing skills.
"Enough. Let's continue filming and stop talking." Ruan Yingying put on the airs of a leader.
For the rest of the filming, it was clear that the production team liked Mu Sheng and kept focusing on her.
The filming was finally completed in the evening. After waiting at the hotel entrance for half a day, Qin Lei finally spotted the film crew coming back.
Mu Sheng was wearing a broad black hoodie. Her chin was visible under the brim of the hood and seemed fair in contrast. The director spoke to Mu Sheng excitedly, but he abruptly shut up after Mu Sheng replied him.
Qin Lei immediately walked over when Mu Sheng approached him. "Miss Mu, let's talk."
Mu Sheng checked the time before she went to the front desk and wrote her number for Qin Lei. "I have to leave. We can talk over the phone."
"That works!" Qin Lei happily took the piece of paper.
Mu Sheng went back to the hotel room to pack up her things. The original owner of the body had gaudy clothes, so Mu Sheng did not like them and left them in the hotel closet without taking them.
Mu Sheng put on a simple black coat before leaving through the door with her backpack.
The moment she opened the door, she saw a pair of pure innocent eyes that were synonymous with fake bitches. "Sheng, I didn't know you were so good at skiing. Why didn't I know this? Since we are sisters, why did you hide this from me?"
"The Mu family from the capital only has two girls. The first one is me, and the second one is Mu Xiao. Are you one of them?" Mu Sheng glanced at Ruan Yingying coldly before she left without turning back.
"Damn it!" Ruan Yingying almost broke her freshly done nails.
She was the only person in the entertainment industry who knew of Mu Sheng's true identity.
Even though Mu Sheng kept working as an extra and got ordered around all the time, she was unexpectedly the eldest daughter of the Mu clan.
Despite having no status in the family as the unloved daughter of her father's first wife, Mu Sheng was still a member of the family.
Mu Sheng's true identity and good looks worried Ruan Yingying.
For the past few years, everything had been under Ruan Yingying's control. Everyone knew how talented and beautiful the band leader of Sunny was. In comparison, Mu Sheng was known to be unrefined and had a bad temper. Ruan Yingying even managed to win the lead female role in Director Yang's latest project.
However, everything changed today. A flash of hate swept in Ruan Yingying's eyes. "I am the band leader and the female lead. No one can take it from me."
——
It was already past 9:00 pm when the flight arrived at the capital. After Mu Sheng left the airport, she checked her bank card.
The original owner of the body only had $60 left.
"…" Mu Sheng went speechless.
The original owner of the body cut all ties with her family after she was abandoned and married to Li Hanchen. Li Hanchen did not give her any money either.
She joined the entertainment industry to make a living. Instead of making a living, she ended up becoming a public enemy.
Since Mu Sheng did not have any money, she could not even afford to stay at a hotel, so she hailed a cab and headed to Li Hanchen's place.
It was a villa located some distance away from the city center.
Li Hanchen was the son of his father's first wife. He and Li Ming were abducted ten years ago for an astronomical ransom, but the clan gave up on Li Hanchen and chose to save only Li Ming.
Li Hanchen miraculously returned to his family last year after ten years. However, there was no place for him in the family anymore.
The Li family did not want to draw attention to themselves, so they tossed Li Hanchen a villa in the suburbs and found him a wife from an eminent family before sending him on his way.
Since the villa was very far from the city, she had to spend her last $60 on the cab fare.
"Sigh. Now I'm really broke," said Mu Sheng in a self-deprecatory tone as she looked at her account balance.
Mu Sheng suddenly missed the feeling of being loaded. She only realized how useful money was after it was gone.
There was only one maid in the villa. The moment Mu Sheng came home, Auntie Li instinctively frowned. "Young Madam."
"Uh huh." Mu Sheng walked right in.
"Auntie Li, please make me some noodles." Mu Sheng had not had a bite since noon, so she needed to eat.
Auntie Li was startled by how polite Mu Sheng was. Was she ever this pleasant? She used to be insufferably arrogant when she came home and would throw her temper around. When did she become so quiet?
"Is there a problem?" Mu Sheng turned around when Auntie Li did not reply. Her bright unsullied eyes looked beautiful under the light as a cold powerful aura radiated from her.
"Nothing. I'll get right to it." Before Auntie Li wrapped her mind around Mu Sheng's change, her body had already automatically obeyed her.
Mu Sheng washed up and lay in bed after dinner.
She had been working all day, so she wanted to close her eyes and have a good rest.
Moments later, Mu Sheng opened her eyes.
She had a keen sense of hearing. Despite the excellent soundproofing in her room, she could hear the earth-shattering sound of video games coming from next door.
She combed through her new memories and learned that Li Hanchen's little brother, Li An, stayed next door.
Li An was Li Hanchen's only biological brother. He was only a few years old when Li Hanchen was abducted. Li An gave up the luxuries of living in the Li residence and chose to live with Li Hanchen when he returned home a year ago.
Since he was a 15-year-old teenager, it was normal for him to be rebellious and obsessed with video games.
The sound of video games kept coming through the gaps of their doors and felt annoying.
A minute later, Mu Sheng got up and put on a jacket to go next door and opened the door.
"Damn it! Why can't I clear the level?" Li An's exquisite face was filled with annoyance.
Even though he was one of the best players of the game, he always got stuck at the hardest level.
Li An tried again. He tapped on the keyboard swiftly, but he was not fast enough to clear the level.
"Stupid game." Li An kicked the chair beside him, and it gave off a shrill sound as it scraped across the ground
"Get up," said a voice from behind suddenly.
Li An was so startled that he jumped from the chair. He exhaled in relief when he noticed it was just that irritating sister-in-law of his. "Are you nuts?"
Mu Sheng ignored him and sat down in front of the computer with her hands on the keyboard.
"Hey! What are you doing? If you damage my computer, are you going to pay for it?" said Li An before he abruptly stopped talking.
Mu Sheng had pressed start.
Mu Sheng stared at the computer in front of her as her fingers moved so rapidly on the keyboard that only a shadow could be seen.
More importantly, she was not blindly pressing the keyboard. Li An watched as Mu Sheng destroyed all the enemies that he failed to finish off with astounding skill.
It was so quiet in their room that only the sound of the keyboard could be heard as special effects exploded on the screen.
Ten minutes later, the keyboard went quiet and the screen turned gold with the words that Li An had been dying to see.
"Congratulations for passing the level. You are the first person on the server to clear it!"
Li An stared at the screen before looking at Mu Sheng's cool profile.
Oh god! This was incredible!
Mu Sheng stood up to turn off the computer. She turned to look at Li An as he stood dumbstruck. "Go to bed."
"Huh? Oh, okay." He was probably astounded by Mu Sheng's gameplay. Also, Mu Sheng was giving off a powerful aura and he did not dare retort, so he went to bed in a daze and covered himself with the blanket.
Mu Sheng turned off the light, walked out of the room, and yawned. Finally, some peace and quiet.
Li An lay in bed in the room while thinking about Mu Sheng's technique.
Moments later, he exclaimed in the dark, "Damn, she was good!"
It was late at night and the flourishing capital had quietened down.
The lights at the offices of Flourishing Age Group were still on.
A tall man stood by the huge French windows. His custom suit accentuated his perfect figure.
He looked at the night sky quietly. It felt as though the darkness had taken shape and was about to swallow him whole.
The man stood by the window for some time before he sat back at the desk and continued working.
The lights in the office stayed on all night.
The weather was great the next day. Mu Sheng rested well and only opened her eyes when the sunlight shone down on her face.
Li An had surprisingly woken up early in the room next door since he had an unusually early night. He lay in bed for a while before he jumped up and turned on the computer.
After turning on the game, the rolling banner read: Angry Little Lion, congratulations for being the first on the server to clear the hell-level difficulty.
It was a reminder that the events that transpired last night were not a dream.
Li An ran downstairs without even washing up.
Mu Sheng was eating breakfast in the dining room. Even though she was dressed in a white sweater, the gentle color failed to soften the coldness on her face.
"Hey." Ever since Mu Sheng married Li Hanchen, Li An did not talk to her much. He detested the seemingly stupid woman, so he never acknowledged her as his sister-in-law.
It was way too easy to impress a gaming nerd. Mu Sheng's mastery of the game was enough to make Li An transform from an angry little lion to a docile kitty.
"Ahem ahem." Li An attempted to gain Mu Sheng's attention. However, Mu Sheng kept her eyes lowered as she concentrated on eating the polenta with no intention of talking to him.
Li An could not bring himself to call her his sister-in-law, but he wanted her to teach him how to clear the level. He found it unfathomable how Mu Sheng managed to avoid all the wide-range attacks from the last boss.
Mu Sheng started on the small steamed buns as she ignored Li An.
"Isn't the polenta a little too sweet today?" After Li An took a bite, he pushed the bowl aside and said to Mu Sheng, "Don't you think it's too sweet? Doesn't it taste awful?"
Li An was always a difficult boy. Despite how upset Auntie Li was, she did not dare to complain.
Mu Sheng finally looked at Li An. He felt inexplicably cold when he looked into her frosty eyes.
"Don't waste food."
"I'm not wasting food. Can't I even complain if it tastes bad?" Li An started to get bratty and felt angry. "What gives you the right to stop me from complaining?"
Mu Sheng did not bother to get angry with the kid. Since she promised to give Qin Lei a call, she pulled out her phone to see that it was already time, so she stood up and left the dining room.
Li An was always the one giving people a bad attitude. This time, someone did the same to Li An, so he was furious. As Mu Sheng disappeared from the staircase, Li An shouted, "Hey! How could you do that? I was trying to talk to you but you ignored me. You are so rude."
"I don't talk to people who waste food," said Mu Sheng.
"PFFTT! Who does she think she is? It was just a game and it's no big deal." Li An threw his temper at the empty table. "Humph! Who cares about her?"
Li An stood up and went upstairs huffily. "Does she think she's a big deal because she is a good gamer?"
Auntie Li looked at Li An's big bowl of leftovers and sighed in her heart. Young Madam was unpredictable and Young Master An had a bad temper. It was a tough job working as a maid in this household.
Auntie Li gathered the empty dishes and was about to throw the polenta away when a hand grabbed the bowl.
Auntie Li looked up in surprise. Li An looked awkward and did not dare to make eye contact with her. "I'm not done yet. I want to eat more."
Li An seemed to feel embarrassed, so he took the bowl and ran upstairs with his ears clearly blushing red.
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