Chapter 36: Mansions and Supercars

That night, Zhang Qiyang walked away from Star City TV with two championship trophies, once again stealing the spotlight from all the other singers and igniting a firestorm of public discussion.

His detractors were practically beside themselves with outrage.

Countless people spent the night cursing Zhang Qiyang, wailing and pleading for this "trash" to get out of the entertainment industry and stop polluting their sight.

Last week, Li Xuan's fans had not joined the fray.

But this week was different.

In the eyes of the Xuan Love Family, Zhang Qiyang had stolen the championship from Li Xuan through despicable means!

They were furious beyond measure.

Millions of Xuan Love Family members surged onto Zhang Qiyang’s Weibo and major forums in wave after wave, determined to use their voices to seek justice for Li Xuan.

But the Cannon Fodder fans were not to be trifled with.

Seeing so many people insulting their boss, they rushed to the battlefield to retaliate for their Cannon Master.

With the championship in hand, they were especially cocky; even their insults were more brazen as they took on ten opponents at once without faltering.

As the most diehard of the Cannon Fodder, Qin Xueyang had never felt as elated as she did today.

Watching the haters rage at Zhang Qiyang, she felt a sense of pride.

The times had changed.

Now, Zhang Qiyang had earned his fame through sheer talent. No matter how hard the haters cursed, there was an undeniable sense that their words could not touch him.

Viewing things from the victor’s perspective, Qin Xueyang believed the more the haters attacked Zhang Qiyang, the more popular he would become.

In just one night, his Weibo gained three million new followers. His active fans surpassed thirty million, and he was steadily marching toward superstar status.

The next morning, Zhang Qiyang and Qin Xueyang took the same flight as Chen Ke and Li Xuan, flying from Star City back to the Imperial Capital.

Because Chen Ke had helped book the tickets, Zhang Qiyang and Li Xuan ended up in adjacent first-class seats for the three-hour journey.

Li Xuan put on an eye mask and went to sleep as soon as she boarded, not saying a single word to Zhang Qiyang, barely even glancing at him.

Zhang Qiyang could clearly sense that Li Xuan's attitude toward him was growing more hostile.

But he didn’t care.

He hadn’t expected Li Xuan to think kindly of him anyway.

If his presence made her silently fume, he actually felt a secret satisfaction. It was as if the more discomfort he caused others, the happier he was—a mindset inherited, perhaps, from the original owner of his body.

Upon arriving in the Imperial Capital, Zhang Qiyang’s driver, Old Zheng, was already waiting at the airport for him and Qin Xueyang.

Old Zheng was a thirty-eight-year-old retired special forces soldier, introduced by a friend to serve as Zhang Qiyang’s driver and bodyguard.

Before hiring Old Zheng, Qin Xueyang was Zhang Qiyang’s exclusive driver.

But because the chubby girl’s driving was so unreliable, Zhang Qiyang rarely felt at ease as a passenger. More often than not, he drove himself, with Qin Xueyang in the passenger seat eating, drinking, and sleeping like she was the master.

In a fit of frustration, Zhang Qiyang hired Old Zheng to drive instead.

With his special forces background and years of experience working for wealthy families, Old Zheng was sharp and efficient, both behind the wheel and in handling affairs.

He was discreet, never speaking out of turn or listening to things he shouldn’t.

His only shortcoming was his complicated family situation; his elderly mother was ill and in the hospital, requiring frequent attention. Thus, Old Zheng couldn't travel out of town as a bodyguard and could only drive for Zhang Qiyang within the Imperial Capital.

That morning, Old Zheng drove Zhang Qiyang and Qin Xueyang to the Eastern Residence on the Second Ring Road.

This was Zhang Qiyang’s first time returning to his own luxury apartment.

The Eastern Residence was a high-end community developed by the Eastern Group, hidden within the city and offering exceptional privacy.

Though technically an apartment complex, the units were astonishingly large; even the smallest suites started at three hundred square meters.

Ordinary people couldn’t even pass the gates, let alone live there.

All the residents valued privacy and were either extremely wealthy or of high status.

Zhang Qiyang lived in the best-view apartment in the complex—the crown jewel.

It was an ultra-luxurious duplex on the 29th and 30th floors, with a massive rooftop terrace, over five hundred square meters in size, valued as much as a small courtyard mansion.

If not for the original owner’s memories and instincts, Zhang Qiyang would have wandered the lavish apartment like a country bumpkin, gawking and touching everything.

At present, only Zhang Qiyang and Qin Xueyang lived there—there wasn’t even a housekeeper.

Originally, Qin Xueyang was supposed to help with housework.

But the chubby girl was rather lazy, and the original owner was a clean freak, so most of the time, when the place got messy, he cleaned it himself.

Qin Xueyang was there purely to enjoy the good life.

Shortly after they got home that day, Zhang Qiyang grew restless and headed alone to the underground garage, planning to take a car out for a spin.

The Eastern Residence’s underground garage was famed as an "Imperial Capital Luxury Car Show"—nearly every space held an exotic car that made other drivers give a wide berth on the road.

The most eye-catching, of course, belonged to the richest family.

The original owner had four cars parked there.

Two were globally limited-edition supercars: a black Enzo and a black Reventón—no other identical models existed in the country, making them absolutely unique.

The third was a bit more humble—a black G65 AMG, one of only five in the country.

The original owner hadn’t liked driving the G65, but after Qin Xueyang collapsed the seat of another black limited-edition 918, he moved the G65 to the Eastern Residence.

From then on, whenever he and Qin Xueyang went out together, he drove the G65 and never allowed her in his supercars again.

The fourth and most modest car was a celebrity minivan the original owner had bought for just over a million yuan—so cheap it was almost embarrassing to park next to the others.

Still, since he had bought it himself, the original owner was rather fond of riding in it, relishing the rare sense of self-achievement.

That day, stepping into the garage, Zhang Qiyang felt as if he were dreaming as he took the flashy Reventón out for a spin.

With the original owner’s memories and instincts, he didn’t find driving the supercar particularly difficult.

But the sheer power was so wild it scared even him—and the other cars on the road were even more terrified, all giving him plenty of space.

Whenever the engine roared, every head would turn; its attention-grabbing rate was a perfect hundred percent.

The sensation of being so conspicuous thrilled Zhang Qiyang, though it made him a little guilty.

After all, the car wasn’t truly his—it belonged to the Eastern Group.

If only he could earn enough to buy such a supercar himself and afford its upkeep—then he would know real joy.

Driving these cars and living in such a mansion, Zhang Qiyang’s desire to make money surged uncontrollably.

As soon as he got home, he urged Qin Xueyang to start lining up jobs for him.

He wanted to make money!

“I’ll take any job, but remember: if it doesn’t have influence, I won’t do it. And if it doesn’t pay enough, I won’t do it. If it’s less than 200,000, forget it.”

What Zhang Qiyang wanted most were gigs like "I Am a Singer." Such shows not only boosted his fame but also paid handsomely.

Now, every episode he sang on "I Am a Singer" earned him 350,000 after tax.

This was considered a low fee for the show; rumor had it that Li Xuan’s rate was ten times his!

Every skyscraper begins at the ground. Zhang Qiyang believed it wouldn’t be long before he could command top rates like Li Xuan.

For now, though, his popularity wasn’t enough to warrant such high fees.

Though his influence was far greater than the average celebrity, most of it was negative. Many organizations felt uneasy inviting him on their programs, so his rate remained modest.

Qin Xueyang hadn’t expected him to be so eager for work. “If you’d said so earlier! I thought you wanted to fully focus on ‘I Am a Singer’ and weren’t taking any other jobs for now—I just turned one down for you.”

“What job?” he asked.

“Zebra Live just contacted me. They wanted you as a special guest for a live broadcast, and their offer was very generous.”

“Zebra Live?” Zhang Qiyang frowned. “Is that run by Wang Dazhong?”

“No, Wang Dazhong runs Hyena Live.” Qin Xueyang sneered. “He saw how popular Zebra Live was, so he poached a bunch of their star streamers and started Hyena Live to compete head-on with Zebra.”