Volume One: Debut at the Pinnacle Chapter 47: Ha—Scumbag!

After Chen Jing escorted Zhang Jingzhi to the entrance of her rented apartment building, he stopped walking. Zhang Jingzhi hesitated for a moment before saying, “I can go up by myself. You don’t have to see me to the door.” Chen Jing nodded and replied with a smile, “All right, then. Go on up. I’ll head back now.” “Mm, be careful on your way home,” she said.

As she watched Chen Jing turn to leave, Zhang Jingzhi couldn’t help but reach out with her senses. She had barely begun before Chen Jing turned back, looking at her in confusion. He asked, “Is something wrong?”

Startled, Zhang Jingzhi quickly replied, “No, nothing. Just be safe.”

Chen Jing seemed thoughtful for a moment, then smiled, nodded, and continued on his way.

Once Chen Jing was out of sight, Zhang Jingzhi let out a sigh of relief, then berated herself for being unable to resist using her ability. Thankfully, Chen Jing hadn’t noticed anything amiss.

There was, in fact, a major flaw with her emotional perception ability: whenever she used it on someone, that person could sense it. Perhaps not clearly, but they’d feel as if someone were prying into their inner thoughts. For this reason, Zhang Jingzhi rarely used her ability on adults, preferring to use it on children, who were less likely to resist.

Yet what she didn’t know was that Chen Jing had sensed her using her power on him. He simply chose to act as though he hadn’t noticed.

Once he was out of her sight, Chen Jing glanced back in Zhang Jingzhi’s direction and murmured to himself, “Is she about to break through?” Then he shook his head and put the matter aside.

Elsewhere, in an old, dilapidated house, a device resembling a radio suddenly began to buzz, startling everyone in the room.

“What’s going on?”

“We’ve detected an ability signal, boss.”

“Have you pinpointed the location?”

“We’ve got a rough fix. Should we report it to the higher-ups?”

“Report it, and dispatch a team to the area to investigate and confirm the target.”

“Yes, sir!”

After returning to his apartment and just finishing his shower, Chen Jing received a call from Wang Menglan.

He answered with a smile, “Menglan, what brings you to call so late?”

But the voice on the other end belonged to Wang Youxuan. “Hehe, I’m not your Sister Menglan, I’m your little sister, Youxuan. Ah! Mom, don’t pinch me. I’m sorry!”

Hearing the cheerful commotion over the phone, Chen Jing couldn’t help but laugh.

“All right, all right, I’ll stop,” Youxuan said at last, giggling. “Brother, I forgot to tell you yesterday—I watched the ‘Voice of China’ competition.”

“Oh? Was there something you wanted to tell me?”

She put on an air of seriousness. “Hehe, your performance yesterday was super cool, Brother. Let me tell you, when I went to school today, all the girls were crazy about you. They kept calling you ‘my husband, my husband.’ Hmph, shameless.”

“Uh…” Chen Jing had learned to simply listen in silence at this point in such conversations.

“And the boys are all humming your new song, ‘Climb.’ If they ever find out you’re my brother, they’ll be so jealous, hehe.”

Chen Jing chuckled. “Maybe I should visit your school and let everyone know you have a brother like me. That way, no one will dare bully you.”

Youxuan rolled her eyes and replied with swagger, “No one dares to bully me! I’m practically the boss of the school. Who would dare mess with me, hmph.”

“Oh, is my Youxuan really that amazing?”

“Of course!” she said proudly, tossing her head. Then, shifting her tone, she asked, “By the way, Brother, the ‘Voice of China’ finals are this Saturday night, right?”

“That’s right. What, do you want to come to the live show?” Chen Jing knew at once she was hoping to join the excitement.

“Yes, yes! I have the day off, so I want to go with Mom and cheer you on. Mom said it’s fine.”

After thinking it over, Chen Jing saw no reason to refuse. “Sure, do you want to be backstage or in the audience?”

Hearing his agreement, Youxuan was delighted. “We’ll sit in the audience; backstage isn’t as fun, and the atmosphere isn’t as good.”

“All right, I’ll arrange everything for you.”

“Yes! You’re the best, Brother! Love you!” She shook her mother’s arm excitedly, then added, “Brother, are you free to come for dinner tomorrow? Bring Molly with you.” Chen Jing had brought Molly to visit before, and both Wang Menglan and her daughter liked the sweet little girl.

“Tomorrow?” Chen Jing considered. He had no plans, so he nodded. “Sure, I’ll come by tomorrow.”

“Great! Want to say hi to Sister Menglan? Ow—Mom, stop pinching me! Hahaha…”

The sound of laughter and playful scolding came through the phone again.

Chen Jing said helplessly, “Just tell Sister Menglan I’ll come tomorrow.”

“Okay. We’ll be waiting for you,” Wang Menglan’s voice came through this time.

Chen Jing smiled. “Sister Menglan, you should rest early.”

“You too. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

After hanging up, Chen Jing shook his head with a smile.

The next day, Chen Jing and Ling Ruohan began recording their duet. After a morning’s work, they finally finished a version that met both their standards.

In the afternoon, Chen Jing worked alone on his solo piece, but even after hours of effort, he still couldn’t achieve the effect he wanted.

“I think this version is good enough. It’s already perfect in my opinion,” Lin Xi said after listening again, casting a calm glance at Chen Jing.

But Chen Jing shook his head, frowning in thought. “No, it’s still missing something.”

He had heard the original, so he knew precisely what was lacking.

After pondering for a while without inspiration, Chen Jing finally said, “Forget it, Sister Lin, let’s call it a day and try again tomorrow. If it still doesn’t work out, this version will do.”

Lin Xi nodded and reassured him, “Don’t rush or put too much pressure on yourself. There are still a couple of days left. If not, we’ll keep trying.”

As an experienced agent who had managed many artists, Lin Xi understood what was happening—Chen Jing had hit a bottleneck. This surprised her; she’d expected him to continue progressing smoothly for some time before reaching such a point. Perhaps it was something about this particular song.

Solving this problem wasn’t too hard—he just needed to persevere until he broke through. The only issue was time; there were only a few days left. Could Chen Jing break through in time? Lin Xi was quite looking forward to finding out.

That evening, Chen Jing took Molly and called a cab to Wang Menglan’s house.

Just after they got in, the driver glanced in the rearview mirror and exclaimed, “Chen Jing!”

Startled, Chen Jing wondered if he’d run into a fan. Looking up, he realized with resignation that it was the same taxi driver who’d once mistaken him for a gigolo.

Was the city really this small? Chen Jing complained inwardly, but outwardly he smiled. “What a coincidence, sir. We meet again.”

The driver laughed heartily. “Yeah, what are the odds! Sorry about the misunderstanding last time. After you said you were an artist, I even went and watched ‘Voice of China’ to check. Turns out you were telling the truth. I really made a fool of myself. Sorry about that.”

Chen Jing shook his head, joking, “No worries, it’s all in the past. If you could mistake me for that, I guess I do have the look for it.”

The driver hurried to agree, “Absolutely. You’re really handsome—no one can deny that! I watched all your performances on ‘Voice of China.’ I especially loved your ‘Drifting North’—it really spoke for all of us living away from home. And your latest, ‘Climb,’ I…”

The driver chatted enthusiastically the whole ride, with Chen Jing nodding and responding now and then. The atmosphere was much more relaxed than their previous meetings.

When they arrived and Chen Jing paid the fare, the driver finally noticed Molly at his side. “Wow! You have such a little sister? She’s adorable—with purple hair, too. Is she… is she mixed?”

Chen Jing got out with Molly, shaking his head with a smile. “No, she’s not my sister—she’s my daughter.”

The driver’s expression froze. After a moment, his smile faded and he looked at Chen Jing with disdain. “So you fathered a child so young, huh? The entertainment world really is messy. Goodbye.” Without waiting for a response, he drove off, leaving Chen Jing and Molly staring after him.

“What’s wrong with that uncle?” Molly asked, pointing at the departing taxi. The conversation had just been friendly—why had he left so abruptly?

“Uh…” Chen Jing forced a smile. “He must have had something urgent to do.” He certainly couldn’t tell Molly that the driver thought he’d been reckless in his youth, and now he had a mixed-race daughter.

“Oh.” Molly nodded, still puzzled.

It seemed he really needed to buy a car soon, Chen Jing thought ruefully.