The next morning, the three girls went out for their part-ti job bright and early. They had been hired to cosplay for the grand opening of a large ani-thed restaurant. The restaurant was holding a three-day promotional event, and the pay was three hundred yuan a day. While it wasn’t as much as the thousand a day they could earn at ani conventions, those weren’t held very often. For a multi-day gig, this was a decent offer.
After they left, Sun Dasheng went back to sleep for a while. A phone call roused him at nine in the morning. Lying in bed, still groggy, he picked up the phone from his pillow.
"Who is it?"
"It’s your mother!"
Hey, what’s with the scolding?
But just as quickly, his mind cleared. The caller was indeed his dear old mother, and a smile imdiately spread across his face.
"Mom, what’s up? How co you have ti to call ? Aren’t you out strolling in the park with your old buddies or doing your square dancing?"
His parents were retired civil servants from a small town. They lived comfortably, even if their pensions couldn’t match those in the big cities. Their finances had only been tight for a few years after he’d asked them for money for a down paynt on a house.
These days, what people call ’mooching’ is just being a shut-in at ho, one extra mouth to feed. The *real* mooching is when you go off to a big city to make a na for yourself, get married, have kids, and then drain your parents’ life savings to buy a house and a car. So people even make their parents travel thousands of miles to help take care of their children, getting them entangled in all sorts of family drama. As for sending the kids back to their hotown for school? Not many people who have put down roots in a big city would be willing to do that, right? The pressure on kids nowadays is insane, with all that toxic ’win at the starting line’ philosophy everywhere. The streaming system for middle school placent forces tutoring to begin as early as elentary school. Parents from the 80s and 90s would never want their own children to beco ’left-behind kids’ like many of them were, would they?
...
Still, he felt a pang of guilt talking to his mother. Several days had passed since the divorce, and he still hadn’t told his family. He just didn’t know how to bring it up, not after spending so many years singing Lee Li’s praises. For years, she had refused to go ho with him for the New Year, leaving him to make the trip alone. He’d always spun various excuses to explain her absence and cover for her. His parents had probably seen through it long ago, but what could they do when their own son was defending her? As long as their son’s family was harmonious, they chose not to make a fuss.
On the phone, his mother asked about how he’d been lately, especially regarding his health. Then, she asked about his plans for the New Year.
"Mom, actually..." he began, finally steeling himself to tell the truth.
"It’s about your divorce, isn’t it? I already know," his mother said, giving him a little shock from the other end of the line. "I was just waiting for you to tell yourself, but you’ve been hemming and hawing this whole ti."
"Mom, how did you find out?"
"Your cousin, Wang Xin, has her on WeChat. She saw it on her Monts feed."
So that’s how. His cousin Wang Xin had co to Shanghai City for university last year. He had been busy at the ti, so he’d asked Lee Li to host her.
"Mom, I’m sorry."
"Hush, there’s nothing to be sorry for. Let bygones be bygones. A person has to look forward. Now, listen, a good friend of mine has a niece who works near you. She’s a lovely girl. If you’re free today, go et her."
Damn! My mother ca prepared.
"Mom, I *just* got divorced."
"So what? My son is a catch, with a good job and good looks. If you two hit it off and get married, you can hurry up and give a big, healthy baby boy. Mom is waiting to hold her grandchild!"
Sun Dasheng could hear one thing loud and clear in her voice: urgency. It’s my own fault, too, for not having kids all these years. Even though they never said anything, I’m sure they had their opinions. Before he could respond, his mother hung up. A mont later, a contact card appeared in his WeChat.
He laughed helplessly and patted his head. Now that I have money, I’ve just been enjoying myself these past few days. Even though his parents lived comfortably and without financial worries, that didn’t an they couldn’t use so extra cash. His dad had always coveted the high-end fishing rods his buddies used, and his mom envied her friends’ loud, brand-na speakers they used for square dancing.
He thought of his father, who rarely had more than a hundred yuan in his pocket and was reluctant to buy cigarettes that cost more than ten. He decided to call him.
"Dad, it’s Da Sheng. The company’s been doing great. I got a promotion and a pretty big bonus. I’m sending you a million yuan. You and Mom can spend it however you like."
"How much?"
Poor Sun Youzhi, who usually had less than a hundred yuan on him, was stunned by the number.
"You heard right, one million. The money’s for you to spend freely. Just don’t tell Mom the exact amount. Just say I sent you so cash. You know she can’t keep a secret with that big mouth of hers."
This was a statent Comrade Old Sun wholeheartedly agreed with. He only advised, "You still have your mortgage to think about. You should keep this money to pay it off. Your mother and I don’t lack for anything here."
Sun Dasheng’s eyes welled up. "Dad, don’t worry. The mortgage is already paid off."
The voice on the other end of the line suddenly dropped to a whisper, as if afraid of being overheard. "Da Sheng, tell your old man the truth. Did you rob a bank? Or did you beco the company CEO?"
It seed the promotion story wasn’t enough to fool the astute Old Sun. What kind of company gives you a multi-million yuan bonus just for a promotion?
He had no choice but to tell a different version of the truth. "Dad, don’t worry, the money’s clean. I earned it all on the stock market. But you absolutely cannot tell Mom."
Comrade Old Sun imdiately understood. It was his own foray into the stock market that had led to his wife confiscating his bank card. He was the kind of guy who managed to lose money during both the 2007 and 2016 bull markets—truly unsuited for trading, or perhaps, perfectly suited to be a pri "leek" for others to harvest. From then on, the very ntion of stock trading was forbidden in their house.
"Alright, I understand," Sun Youzhi said gleefully.
Seeing his son succeed where he had failed filled him with a sense of pride. The money I lost back then wasn’t for nothing! After all, it helped cultivate a successor who can actually make a profit in the market.
After transferring the money to Old Sun, he still had four million yuan left in his account. That would last him a while. Once he upgraded the system to level three, he could cash out his experience points again.
Just yesterday, Lee Li and Wang Jiadong had provided him with a huge influx of points.
[You have been slandered by Lee Li. Grievance Value 200]
[You have been slandered by Wang Jiadong. Grievance Value 100]
[You have received disdainful looks from your classmates. Grievance Value 100]
[You have been mocked by passersby. Grievance Value 10]
His current status panel read:
Na: Sun Dasheng
Level: 2 (100/1,000)
Grievance Value: 840
Withdrawable Amount: 8,400,000
They really are my personal EXP fountains, living up to the na. The poor passersby had only contributed 10 points in total. It was probably because their casual taunts didn’t affect him much. After all, when he was falsely accused of being a creep on the subway, the onlookers had given him 100 points.
He was just a hair’s breadth away from leveling up.
Just then, his gaze fell on the contact card in his WeChat. His eyes lit up. A blind date... she could probably contribute so points. However, knowing the system’s typical antics, strangers give next to no points. I’ll have to find a way to get to know her first, and only then can I start farming her for Grievance Value.
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