i m really a superstar
Chapter 6: Laundry Day!
Sunday.
Morning, 7+A.M.
Zhang Ye could not sleep from the excitement. He kept tossing and turning in bed, imagining a better future. However, he heard a knock at the door. Only he and the landlady had his rental apartment’s keys. Even his parents did not have it. Without question, it was definitely the landlady inviting herself in.
The small room did not have a hall. The bed could be seen the moment that the door was opened.
He heard Rao Aimin’s mature voice floating over, “Kid, are you sleeping?”
Zhang Ye touched his nose and rolled over, “I’m awake. Are you looking for me?”
Rao Aimin sat by the bedside and smiled. “You have been accepted by the Radio Station and are reporting to work tomorrow. Shouldn’t you be returning the rent you owe to this big sister?” Saying that, she seemed to conjure a magic trick by pulling out a calculator and smacked on it a few times, “This month’s internet fee is also due. You need to add another 80.”
Zhang Ye yawned, “What are you saying?”
Rao Aimin repeated, “You didn’t catch that? I’m telling you that your rent is now a total of 2,662.”
Zhang Ye, “No, what was the first line you said?”
Rao Aimin blinked her eyes, “First line? Kid, are you sleeping?”
Zhang Ye immediately covered his head with a blanket, “I’m sleeping!”
“Heh, you damn rascal!” Rao Aimin finally got around and smacked on Zhang Ye’s thigh according to the contours of the blanket, “Do you want a beating? Get up! Stop playing dead in front of me! Wake up quickly! If you can’t pay the rent, then do some housework, like cleaning the place! Return it bit by bit!”
Zhang Ye shamelessly said, “I’m still sleeping.”
“I’ll give you half an hour! I’ll be waiting at home at eight!” Rao Aimin said with her face darkened.
Encountering a landlady who valued money as if it was her life made Zhang Ye suffer in silence. However, he really did not have any money this month. As such, he could only struggle to crawl out of bed to brush his teeth and wash up.
Right, let’s see what the game ring is like now. This was the greatest thing he could rely on in his future bid to become a superstar.
When he tapped it open, he realized that his Reputation had increased. Yesterday he had spent 100,000 points for the lottery, leaving behind 99,983 Reputation points. However, it had now increased to 99,999. He did not need to think to know that this was related to his interview. He had been so outstanding and he had even used Gorky’s most famous “The Song of the Stormy Petrel”. It was no surprise to have his Reputation points increased. Now he was just one Reputation point short of having another attempt at the draw.
Reputation is commonly a very general concept. From a game’s perspective, it was a very vague word.
Right, now that he had figured out how Reputation points were obtained, he needed to do some household chores for the landlady. He wanted to see if he could add a Reputation point by doing this!
Suddenly, a loud voice erupted from the corridor, “Little Zhang!”
Zhang Ye realized that it was eight as he quickly wore his slippers and went to the landlady’s house.
Commercial and residential apartment buildings had long corridors. This corridor was almost all Rao Aimin’s property. It was quite obvious what having 20+ apartments in Beijing, with extremely expensive property prices, meant. Rao Aimin could be considered a rich woman. But it was strange that despite staying here for so long, along with the other renters, he had never heard of Sister Rao having any relatives or friends. She was not married and was also childless. They had also never seen Sister Rao work at a job, so everyone found this beautiful landlady mysterious. No one knew how she was so rich.
Rao Aimin’s house was on the same level. It was the biggest loft apartment on this floor. It was the kind where the upper and lower floors added up to more than a hundred square meters in area.
The door opened and Zhang Ye walked straight in. “Landlady, I’m here.”
Rao Aimin sarcastically quipped, “Was your Chinese Zodiac sign a pig in your previous life?
Why are you so slow getting out of bed!?”
Zhang Ye explained, “I was too happy last night and didn’t sleep all night. I’m still tired now.”
“You just got hired to be a radio host; do you need to make it such a big deal?” Rao Aimin hit him at where it hurt the most, “Now, the radio profession is no longer like what it was 20 years ago. There is the television and there is the internet. How many people still listen to radio?”
Zhang Ye also knew that the radio profession was a thing of the past as he said sadly, “Hai, if only my mom gave birth to me 50 years earlier, then I might be able to grab an opportune time.”
Rao Aimin sarcastically said, “Your mom is just 50 years old; how is she to give birth to you 50 years early? Do you think your mom is a snake spirit!?”
Zhang Ye, “…”
See how venomous her mouth is!?
Rao Aimin ordered, “Cut the crap and get to work!”
Zhang Ye rolled up his sleeves, “Alright, tell me where to clean. I’ll do all your house chores today.”
“Wipe the glass, sweep the floor, wash the sheets and I’ll pass my clothes to you.” Rao Aimin poured a cup of tea for herself and sat comfortably on the sofa. Her legs were crossed, making her look like a lord of the land.
She was wearing a shirt and long skirt that was not considered stylish. Her feet wore black flats. Although her dressing sense was old, beautiful people looked beautiful no matter what they wore.
Hai, time to get working.
Zhang Ye began busying himself sweeping and mopping the floor.
Rao Aimin was a person whose mouth could not rest. Whenever she was free, she would trample on Zhang Ye by nagging, “What kind of wiping are you doing? I’m telling you not to do it haphazardly!”
“I’m not doing it haphazardly.”
“Fine, fine. Go wash the clothes!”
Entering the bathroom, Zhang Ye sighed as he sat down on a stool. He had thrown everything that could be washed into the washing machine. However, there were some clothes that could bleed their color or were not suitable to be washed with the washing machine, so he had to hand-wash them by soaking them and scrubbing. Piece after piece of clothes, Zhang Ye did not idle one bit for the entire morning.
He had no way out. He had lost his human rights by being in debt.
Afternoon.
Zhang Ye finished his task as he felt extreme pain in his lower back.
“Are you done washing?” Rao Aimin glanced at the clothes hanging out in the balcony to dry. It was rare for her to not wag her venomous tongue as she said with satisfaction, “Alright, not bad. That will do. You can stay behind for lunch.” Putting down the ancient book “Classic of Mountains and Seas”, she went into the kitchen to cook.
The existence of the “Classic of Mountains and Seas” had been modified by the game. There were things that changed and things that did not change in this world. Zhang Ye could only slowly learn and get used to the details.
Zhang Ye was very happy. He had been eating instant noodles for too many days and now he could finally eat a proper hot meal.
He sat on a chair to rest. After taking a few breaths, he opened the game ring’s interface. He realized that his Reputation score had increased by one. It was now 100,000 points!
This additional point was given to him by the landlady?
It looks like his assumptions were correct!
The game ring’s explanation of Reputation was, “The increment of Reputation is related to the player’s fame, exposure, achievement, trust, reputation and other related factors.”
That is to say, if a person were to trust him, admire him or agree with what he did, then his Reputation would increase by one. The Reputation obtained from others could be stacked repeatedly. How did he figure this out?
He figured it out from the interview from the previous day. There was a total of eight interviewers, yet Zhang Ye’s Reputation had gone from 99,983 to 99,999. He had 16 Reputation points added. This meant that when Zhang Ye recited the thousand words off script, the eight interviewers had given him a total of eight Reputation points. Later, when Zhang Ye recited the “The Song of the Stormy Petrel”, they had given him an additional eight Reputation points. The numbers matched up perfectly!
After figuring out how Reputation was computed, what was left was drawing at the lottery. He wanted to see what he could get this time!
Zhang Ye looked forward to an item that could allow him to turn into Superman. He would be so happy if he could be worshiped by the entire world.
However, that was unrealistic upon further thought. Some people could become Spiderman from the toxins injected into their body from a spider’s bite, while there were others who had pieces of iron placed within their body to become Iron Man. Some people became Batman by spending many years with bats.
Well, if that had any scientific basis, Zhang Ye felt that… the chance of him becoming an Instant Noodles Hero was more likely!
He drew at the lottery, spending 100,000 Reputation. His remainder was zero!
The lottery interface appeared as Zhang Ye deliberately blew at his palms. With a rub of his hands, he pressed on the button that began spinning the wheel!
It began!
The needle was moving very quickly on the spinning wheel!
“Special Category! Give me a Special Category!” Zhang Ye muttered to himself. However, from the wheel’s setup, even a fool would know that the Special Category was extremely rare. Although he did not know what it meant by the introduction text, “Adds the purchasing privilege of buying a certain Merchant item”, it was definitely not wrong to hope for a rare item, as that increased its value.
However, that one to two percent chance of good luck did not befall Zhang Ye. The needle stopped and it was still pointing towards the largest Consumption Category.
Treasure Chest (Small) dropped!
As he opened the chest, light blinded him!
Inside was something that looked like a stick of chewing gum!
[Unlucky Sticker]: Effective once it's stuck on. Bad luck will surround the person. Lasts for 5 minutes.