Volume One: Rise to Stardom Chapter Forty-Two: Betraying a Brother!

Lin Xi glanced at Chen Jing with a hint of disdain but said nothing. Embarrassed, Chen Jing rubbed his nose and continued, “The most important thing is the first point. You should learn some music theory from Teacher Yuan Mengru at the company.”

Li Qingwei nodded. “Alright, boss. How long do I need to study?”

Chen Jing smiled at Li Qingwei and asked in return, “How long? Heh—Teacher Yuan Mengru will give you a music theory quiz. Once you score above seventy, you’re free to go. At that point, I’ll write a lead rap track for your album.”

“The full score is one hundred, right?”

Chen Jing nodded.

Li Qingwei asked uncertainly, “Getting seventy shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Chen Jing nodded again, relaxed. “It’s not difficult. I got a perfect score on my first try.”

Upon hearing this, Li Qingwei felt reassured. If the boss could get a perfect score, he might not match that, but seventy shouldn’t be out of reach.

Li Qingwei grinned. “Then it should be pretty easy. Alright, boss, you go ahead and write the song and wait for me.”

Lin Zitan, standing to the side, stole a glance at Li Qingwei and stifled a laugh. Seventy points, simple? That depends on who sets the questions. Teacher Yuan Mengru is a doctoral supervisor. Just wait and see—Li Qingwei will have his share of tears.

The next day, Chen Jing arrived at the company. He had barely started preparing some documents in his office when Ling Ruohan burst in.

She called out excitedly, “Ah Jing, Ah Jing!”

“Huh? Good morning, Sister Ruohan. I was just about to come see you.”

“Hehe, you were going to invite me to be your duet partner for the fifth round of Voice of China, weren’t you?”

Chen Jing was surprised. “You knew?”

Ling Ruohan lifted her chin with pride. “Of course! I keep track of you all the time.”

Chen Jing smiled at her but said nothing.

Seeing Chen Jing only smiling and not replying, Ling Ruohan, feeling indignant, straightened her ample chest. “So, am I going to be your duet partner or not? I can help you hold the stage, you know.”

Chen Jing helplessly looked away and asked, “Um… has the company and Sister Li agreed?” Usually, the company would have plans for a cash cow like Ling Ruohan.

She nodded. “Of course they have. You have no idea how popular Voice of China is now. The company can’t wait for me to get some exposure and ride the wave. As for Sister Li, there’s no need to mention her.”

“Alright then. I’ll give you the new song tomorrow, and we’ll perform it together.” Having Ling Ruohan as his duet partner couldn’t be better.

“Yay! I knew you’d use a new song. That means I get to snag another one of your new tracks!” Ling Ruohan shook her head happily.

Chen Jing chuckled. “Heh, as if you ever needed to ‘snag’ my songs. Don’t you just take whichever one you want?”

“That’s not fair! You give them to me, don’t you? Yes, you do.”

“Alright, alright, I give them to you.” Chen Jing nodded helplessly. “What kind of song do you want for the duet?”

Ling Ruohan answered seriously, “The two of us should definitely sing a love song. How many male-female duets do you know that aren’t love songs?”

“A love song duet, huh? Should it be a sweet love song or a soulful ballad?”

“Well…” Ling Ruohan thought for a moment before replying, “Let’s do a soulful ballad.” She knew that while sweet songs are catchy, they don’t spread as widely; it’s the stirring love ballads that become classics.

Chen Jing pondered. “A soulful ballad… Let me think.” He looked at Ling Ruohan, who gazed back at him expectantly. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

“Sister Ruohan, you’re from Guangdong, right?”

“Yes.”

“So you speak Cantonese?”

“Of course!” Ling Ruohan nodded, puzzled by the question.

Chen Jing smiled. “How about we perform a Cantonese song?”

“Huh?” Ling Ruohan was a bit taken aback. She frowned slightly and said, “Cantonese might not be the best choice. The live audience at Voice of China… not many understand Cantonese.”

She sighed. “No matter how well you write the lyrics, if the audience can’t understand, it’s pointless.”

Chen Jing replied with full confidence, “Don’t worry, just leave it to me.”

“Alright then.” Ling Ruohan shrugged. If Chen Jing wanted to have some fun, she’d play along. No matter what happened, she believed Chen Jing would win in the end. That was her confidence.

Meanwhile, Li Qingwei followed the company’s HR arrangements and went to the study room to meet Teacher Yuan Mengru.

“Hello, Teacher Yuan! I’ll leave the company’s new artist in your care.”

Li Qingwei stepped forward to greet her, “Teacher Yuan, hello. I’m Li Qingwei. Please take care of me.”

Yuan Mengru, in her forties, wore her years lightly. She sat behind her desk in an elegant, plain dress, her intellectual eyes behind delicate glasses; only faint lines at the corners of her eyes betrayed her age.

She looked at the two before her and spoke softly, “Li Qingwei, yes, I know.”

After the company staff left, she smiled gently at Li Qingwei. “You’re Li Qingwei, right? Chen Jing called me last night about you.”

Li Qingwei was a little surprised. “Uh, so you and Chen Jing… still keep in touch?”

A warm feeling rose in Li Qingwei’s heart. The boss truly looked out for him—making a call for him the previous night.

“Yes, we do. I often talk to him. After all… he’s my prized student.” She laughed softly behind her hand, recalling how Chen Jing always boasted of being her favorite.

“Oh, right! The boss did say he’d studied under you.”

Yuan Mengru composed herself and said, “Let me set your learning goals first. What’s your current level of music theory?”

“Uh…”

The question stumped Li Qingwei. He had no idea what his level was—in fact, he’d never really studied music theory properly.

How should he answer?

Suddenly, inspiration struck. He smiled at Yuan Mengru. “Teacher Yuan, I’m not sure about my level. How about we do a test?”

He remembered Lin Zitan mentioning that the boss had started with a test as well. Perfect—he’d see how close he was to that seventy-point goal.

Hmm, it shouldn’t be too far off. If the boss got a perfect score on his first try, surely he could at least pass. Or so he thought.

“Oh?” Yuan Mengru was a bit surprised. No wonder Chen Jing had mentioned him by name—anyone he recommended must have some talent to suggest starting with a test.

She nodded. “Alright, let’s test you.” She pulled a test paper from her drawer—the same one Chen Jing had taken before. The new set wasn’t printed yet, so she used the previous one.

She handed it to Li Qingwei. “You have one hour. Skip what you don’t know. Do as much as you can.”

Li Qingwei took the paper eagerly. “Alright, thank you.”

But when he glanced at the questions, he was instantly dumbfounded—completely frozen in place. What on earth were these questions?

Yuan Mengru noticed he hadn’t started and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Li Qingwei stared at the test for some time before asking timidly, “Um, Teacher Yuan, are these the same questions Chen Jing answered before?”

Yuan Mengru nodded. “Yes. I’ve prepared the new test but haven’t printed it yet. Would you like a different one?”

“No, no need.” Li Qingwei hurriedly declined. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and give it a shot.

Yuan Mengru watched curiously as Li Qingwei turned to the multiple-choice section, read the questions for a while, glanced up at her, then quickly put his head down and dashed off some answers before flipping to the true-or-false section.

That fast!

Yuan Mengru was secretly shocked. With such a large desk, she couldn’t see whether his answers were right, but his speed startled her.

What surprised her even more was that Li Qingwei finished the true-or-false questions just as quickly, barely seeming to read them.

Then he skimmed the test, flipped to the end, and his eyes brightened at the final question. He bent over and wrote furiously for a few minutes, paused, thought a bit more, and then—

And then Li Qingwei put down his pen and looked at Yuan Mengru.

She asked in surprise, “What’s wrong?”

Li Qingwei replied awkwardly, “Um… Teacher Yuan, I’m done.”

Yuan Mengru: “!!!” Are you joking? Not even twenty minutes have passed.

She frowned slightly, took the test, and turned silent.

Good grief, Li Qingwei had only answered the multiple-choice, true-or-false, and the last essay question. The rest was blank—he must’ve skipped what he didn’t know.

She checked the multiple-choice section—he only got two right, probably by guessing.

The true-or-false answers confirmed her suspicion—he’d marked them all the same way.

She shook her head and patiently checked the essay at the end. His reasoning was alright, but he hadn’t touched on the key points—nowhere near Chen Jing’s answer.

Yuan Mengru found it amusing but kept a neutral expression. “You’ll have to start from the basics,” she said, putting the test away without another word.

Li Qingwei nodded quickly, embarrassed. “Alright, alright.”

Damn, how did the boss ever get a perfect score on this test? And he called it simple? What a trap… he totally set me up!