“Congratulations on your score.” Liuwei lifted up his wine glass elegantly signaling a small toast.

“Thank you, thank you. I do dare to say that with my intelligence I probably could have done it without you, but you were definitely the reason I could reach this point so quickly. You should really consider tutoring or teaching as a living. I think people would pay good money for your teaching; you just seem to have a knack for making complex ideas sound easy.”

“In the end, there has to be a threshold for a certain amount of intelligence for teaching to go this easily. Normally, the people who ask for tutoring are extremely terrible students and it is way too much work to try to get them to understand the concepts. I just had to come here and teach you a few tricks and help you review. In the end, I only ever had to explain things once.” Not bothered by her comment that did not follow the normal line of flattery, Liuwei easily matched up with her. Actually, maybe it was this randomness and hard-to-follow attitude that attracted him. Normally, people would use this chance to suck up to him and explain how it was “all thanks to his hard work.” Along with a bunch of other pointless flattery that never seems to affect him or touch him in any way.

“Well it’s good you are aware of just how awesome your student is!” Smiling widely showing off her pearly white teeth and luscious lips, Xuemei obviously felt happy hearing his subtle compliment. Liuwei felt himself dazed for a second before coming back to himself. Seductress! Cursing under his breath, Liuwei felt that he was treading on the edge of a steep cliff. He already promised himself that he would wait until she was 21 before he mentioned anything about dating. It would be inappropriate to start something right now, just being her older brother figure should be enough. As the only guy and maybe friend that she has had since she woke up from the coma, Liuwei was worried that it was the perfect conditions for her to grow attached to him. Only, not out of love, but more of a dependency and because she has no comparisons. Plus, he knew that her family was still extremely traumatized by her suicide attempt and they were trying their absolute best to keep Xuemei’s contact with any remotely attractive males at a minimum. Even the servants of the house were all women while Father Tang and Tang Xueliang’s personal assistants were all average in appearance. They were not mentally prepared for their daughter to start a relationship with anyone. Especially a good-looking young man on a fairly steady road to success who could be ambitious for Xuemei’s money. Obviously, he was not even close to desiring the Tang family fortune, but the fake him could certainly love some of that money.

“Mm. I guess both of us were lucky.” Not showing his emotions on his face, Liuwei just politely smiled. “Have you given any thought to which college you want to apply to?”

“Of course! I already applied and sent in my scores.”

“Oh? Which is your top choice?”

“Z University’s business department. I am thinking about being a finance and business management major. Their business programs are really well known, and I wanted the knowledge to be able to help my family later on with the business.”

“Did you want to take over your parent’s company?”

“Haha, no, actually I am super satisfied leaving that job to that older brother of mine. However, it’s never bad to have a good idea of what is going on in the family business. Staying ignorant does not really sit well with me.”

“Then, what do you want to do after school? Will you ask for a company position?” If anyone else was here, they would be completely shocked to see Young Master Gu himself leading the conversation with such interest. Normally, speaking with this cold man was like talking to a wall unless it was about business matters.

“No… I want to be an actress.” After hesitating for a moment, Christian decided that it did not matter if he told Liuwei. He was going to talk to his parents and brother about this soon anyways so it was not like it was some secret. When he did not hear any response afterwards, Christian looked up to see Liuwei slightly frozen in shock as there was a deep frown forming on his face. Christian was not aware of the millions of thoughts that were running through Liuwei’s head at this moment. The most prominent were the rumors his cousin always spoke about how the best actresses always slept their way up even if they have talent. The thought of the many kiss scenes that she could have, too, started to rile him up.

“I don’t approve of this choice. You should try something that takes advantage of your talent more.”

“Well, I was not telling you for your approval so it does not matter and how do you know that I have no talent in acting?”

“You are telling me that if you got some part as a ditzy poor girl who falls for the rich guy or maybe the coquettish concubine to one of the emperors, you could act out that part? YOU?” Voice dripping with more sarcasm than he intended, Liuwei let out his frustrations by hiding them behind more logical reasons and defense. He wished he could just come right out and say that he hates the thought of Xuemei even acting in love with another man. He had watched this girl for long enough now to know her habits. She was a tomboy who did not have a feminine bone in her body, how could she possibly fit in with such a glitz and glamor world?

“What are you trying to say anyway? That is my own issue.” Christian obviously knew he was nothing like those characters, but was that not the point of acting? Being a completely new person. Since that was Tang Xuemei’s dream, then he too would accomplish it for her. It was not like he had his own dream at the moment and maybe in the process of fulfilling the last body owner’s wishes he could find something that he wants to do.

“You-“ Before he could finish his next statement, the waiter walked over with their food.

“Let’s just eat, alright? I didn’t tell you to make the atmosphere like this.” Christian was never one to lose his appetite due to atmosphere, so he dug straight in to finish his food while Liuwei barely touched his. Brooding, he did not say anything else for the rest of the dinner. They both silently got into the car and did not speak there either. Christian now started feeling the awkward atmosphere since the food was not in front of him to be a distraction.

“What agency are you thinking of joining?” Liuwei suddenly broke the silence.

“Hm? Oh, I did some research and decided on my top three choices: Blue Ocean Entertainment, Top Light Entertainment, and GC Entertainment.” Unprepared for the question, Christian had to think for a moment before clearly answering. He heard a faint “tsk…” from the man next to him and felt confused by such a reaction. In truth, Liuwei asked because he was hoping that Xuemei had only given it a little thought and had not prepared in depth. If she had said she was not sure then he would have attacked with that saying that she was so unprepared for her so-called “dream.” Another minute of scowling passed before Liuwei realized one of the company names sounded familiar.

“Did you say GC Entertainment?”

“Yeah. I hear they are the branch of the Gu Corporation that controls their entertainment business. They came across as professional and well-backed. Honestly, all three that I listed are fairly similar in terms of their specs. I would want to get into any of them.” Christian quietly responded.

“Mm.” Answering with a short sound, Liuwei stopped talking afterwards. It did not take long for the car to roll around to the front gate of the Tang Residence. Before Liuwei could even park the car, Christian unbuckled his seat belt and started opening the car door to get out.

“Hey! That’s dangerous!” Liuwei scowled before grabbing onto her arm. With strength he did not know she had, Xuemei yanked her arm out of his grip quickly.

“Thanks for dinner.” Her light voice threw out behind her back. She had already yanked off her heels and walked towards the front door barefoot.

“You-“ Liuwei’s vein on his forehead began popping in anger but the girl shut the gate door before he could get out another word. Huffing angrily, he reached into his pocket for a cigarette only to remember he recently was trying to quit. Grumpy, he dropped into the driver’s seat and pulled out his phone. Tapping the screen quickly, the dial tone started. It barely rang once before the call was speedily picked up on the other side.

“Cousin! To what do I owe this extreme pleasure~. Calling me twice in one week? That’s a real miracle.”

“If I asked you to, could you make sure that a girl is accepted into your company?”

“Oh? YOU are asking ME for a favor? You want to be a girl’s sugar daddy, is that it? Hmm.. depends. Is she pretty?”

“Why do you ask?” Clearly upset by the flippant question, Liuwei did not answer right away.

“Well, I can accept a pretty face because I could at least make her a B-list celebrity that makes me money. But, if she’s only average then she would need actual acting or modeling skills before I just arbitrarily accept her. Or maybe she is into variety? Is she funny? Cousin, you know even I have my standards. I am running a top entertainment business. I won’t accept trash that will bring down the standard. Well, maybe for my dear cousin I could stretch the rules. Could you say please~?”

“…etty…”

“What?”

“Pretty.”

“What?! My cousin, did you just say a girl is pretty? Am I having auditory hallucinations? I must have been dreaming for a second. I haven’t been getting good sleep.”

“Enough nonsense!”

“Cousin… are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, she must be gorgeous, then. I am seriously looking forward to this now. What’s her name? I need to know so I can recognize her when she comes to audition.”

“… If I tell you and you tell the family about it, I. Will. End. You. I hope you recognize this.”

“If I tell anyone about this then I am not a man, cousin!” Liuwei could almost hear him patting his chest exaggeratingly as if to prove his point. Rolling his eyes, Liuwei just gave a noncommittal grunt.

“Tang Xuemei.”

“Oh Meimei is it? What a pretty name~. Is she as beautiful as the pure snow¹?”

“That Ms. Tang to you. None of your business. You will see for yourself at one point.” Without another word, Liuwei hung up abruptly. He was already feeling disgruntled by her aspirations, but he thought it was wrong of him to try to stop her for his own selfish and jealous reasons. Therefore, he decided to go with the next best thing. Having her work at the company under him so she can be under his strict watch and he could have control over her jobs and… Liuwei paused after thinking to that point.

His intentions were possessive, even borderline crazy, and he felt slightly thrown off by his own dark desires. This was not right; he knew that in his mind but it was hard to actually resist the temptation when he has the power. Without realizing when, he had started becoming like those second and third generation wealthy young masters that he loathed. Using his power and position to try to control women. He always felt it beneath him, but suddenly the enticement was overwhelming. Frowning deeply, Liuwei was conflicted. Maybe he should call his cousin to tell him to forget it? They were not even dating yet and he really did not have a right to try to lord over Xuemei’s life.

The night felt long as he hesitated over what he should do.

1 The character "xue" in her name means snow while "mei" is the character for beautiful