Chapter 5: Prodigal Daughter
Inside the crowded bus carriage, Lin Wan called out to the system in her mind: System, come out. I’ve registered. Hand over the exam questions and answers!
The exam was in two days. Without the test questions, how on earth was she supposed to pass?
A cute, soft cartoon figure dressed in a mail carrier uniform popped up in her mind.
“Comrade Lin Wan, exchanging for the exam questions and answers requires 100 points, but your current points balance is zero!”
Oh, so it upgraded? It was no longer a cold, mechanical Ding! but had become an AI little figure instead.
Lin Wan replied as a matter of course, “Put it on credit!”
She then realized something was off and added, “Why is this system of yours so stingy? You didn’t give me any starter points at all. Or did you embezzle my starter points?”
The little figure kept its cute, chubby face straight and said solemnly, “Have you forgotten? Back at the crematorium when you were about to be turned to ash, you chose to completely wipe out your starter points in exchange for resurrecting on the spot and gaining an extra ten days of life expectancy!”
“You should count your blessings. The starter points only amounted to 100, but securing your life and transmigration required ten billion points.”
“The main system discovered the bug and has already patched it, removing the function to [consume all points in exchange for a certain benefit].”
The little figure continued to add coldly and ruthlessly, “The [credit] function has also been canceled!”
So it’s all my fault then!
Scumbag system!
Lin Wan had no choice but to ask, “System, dear, how do I earn points then?”
The system simply handed her a Newbie Guide before going offline and turning invisible in a huff.
Tsk tsk~
An AI little figure was actually designed with such a well-rounded personality that it could simulate throwing a tantrum!
Taking advantage of the fact that she hadn’t reached her stop yet, Lin Wan quickly immersed her mind to study the [Newbie Guide].
After reading it through, she silently bought one hundred envelopes and one hundred stamps from the system.
Envelopes cost one cent each, and stamps were four cents each, costing her a total of five yuan.
Additionally, she claimed the official postmark stamp that belonged to her.
The moment she arrived back at the family compound, she saw Zhang Hongqiang and a bunch of little brats gathered by the base of the wall. She couldn’t tell what they were aiming at with their pee, but they were giggling like crazy.
She yelled at the top of her lungs, calling all the kids over. She handed each of them a piece of fruit candy to lure them into the house.
She tricked them into writing letters to one another.
They wrote back and forth in a cross-crossing pattern. As long as it didn’t kill them, they were to write like their lives depended on it!
Huang Guixiang was utterly baffled. What kind of game is this? No, why are you leading a bunch of little brats to waste perfectly good envelopes?
“Wanwan, what are you…” Before Huang Guixiang could finish her question, Lin Wan cut her off. “Mom, trust me, I’m not playing around blindly!”
Lin Wan couldn’t possibly explain it clearly, so she could only act mysterious.
At this moment, several neighbor aunties and women gathered at the doorway, poking their heads in to peek.
Auntie Su from across the hall, who never got along with Huang Guixiang, asked with a hint of schadenfreude, “Oh my, Hongqiang’s… Huang Guixiang, what is your Lin Wan doing? Is she playing house with a bunch of little brats?”
Old Granny An from diagonally across the hall slapped her thigh. “I say, Guixiang, you’re spoiling your Lin Wan far too much. Even if she’s playing house, she shouldn’t be wasting real things. Think of how much money is being thrown away!”
“Wasting perfectly good envelopes and stamps like this… your Lin Wan didn’t crack her head open and turn stupid from that fall, did she?”
Old Auntie You, who lived next to the restroom, chimed in, “If your Lin Wan has gone mad, does that mean she won’t have to go down to the countryside?”
Sister-in-law Gao, who lived next to the boiler room, gasped. “That definitely wouldn’t work! Educated youths go to the countryside to support national construction, not to run amok and cause destruction!”
The way everyone looked at Lin Wan shifted instantly, and they began whispering among themselves, “Could she be trying to fake madness to escape going to the countryside?”
The moment Auntie Su heard this, she immediately slipped away and sprinted off toward the neighborhood subdistrict committee.
She was going to report them!
Huang Guixiang reacted in an instant. So my daughter is playing the fake madness card!
True enough, as long as the marriage certificate wasn’t registered for a single day, things remained uncertain! They absolutely had to be prepared with a backup plan!
Her daughter was just too clever!
“What the hell does it have to do with any of you?”
“Minding other people’s business when you’ve got nothing better to do! My daughter can play however she likes. My family’s Old Zhang can afford it. It’s useless for you all to be green with envy!”
“Go, go, go! Stop crowding around my house!” Huang Guixiang began shooing the people away.
Lin Wan quickly stopped her. “Don’t do that! Come on, everyone, come join the fun and write letters! Write five letters and I’ll give you a piece of fruit candy!”
“Mom, you write too. Write to my dad, write to Zhang Hongqi’s and Zhang Hongbin’s couples…”
Since they were here, nobody was allowed to leave! All of them had to stay behind and contribute points to her!
Auntie Qin and Auntie Yang rushed over in a furious hurry, warning Huang Guixiang and Lin Wan, “No matter what tricks you pull, you must go to the countryside when the time comes! If you dare fake madness to dodge it, don’t even think about keeping your family’s Old Zhang’s level-seven worker status! Just wait to be reassigned to sweep the restrooms!”
Lin Wan promptly pulled the two middle-aged women into the room to write letters.
Since they had come, they weren’t allowed to leave either!
“Aunties, as long as each of you writes five letters, I promise that if I don’t have a job or get married a week from now, I will head down to the countryside without a single complaint!”
The two women: “…”
Damn it, is she actually faking madness or not?
Listening to her speak, she didn’t sound mad. But looking at the way she did things, she seemed completely insane! What decent person would throw away envelopes and stamps like this?
Oh my god… Lin Wan couldn’t… couldn’t really have gone crazy, right?
Lin Wan’s erratic behavior completely stumped the two aunties.
No, this situation must be reported immediately!
When the two brothers, Zhang Hongqi and Zhang Hongbin, came home from work with their wives, they were forced to sit down and write letters before they could even figure out what was going on.
When Zhang Qin returned, she was also forced to write!
Lin Wan collected them one by one. Once collected, she used her specialized postmark stamp to energetically stamp them all, and then redistributed them one by one according to the names on the envelopes.
For those who weren’t present, she ran all over the apartment building to deliver them according to the addresses. A pack of kids followed behind her, giggling up a storm.
The system notifications kept ringing non-stop in Lin Wan’s mind: [Successful collection +1, points earned +1]
[Successful delivery +1, points earned +1]
Once the notifications finished chiming away, Lin Wan had reaped a harvest of 338 points.
The system: “…”
It was utterly stunned into speechlessness by her exploit. The system then promptly initiated an emergency upgrade to patch the bug.
Lin Wan swiftly bought the exam questions. They came complete with the answers, leaving Lin Wan highly satisfied.
She tucked the papers into a drawer and locked it securely. She would memorize them in her room after dinner!
However, when she saw the dinner laid out on the table, her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.
A large basin of sweet potato congee—she could only see sweet potatoes but barely any rice, and the rice water was as clear as plain boiled water.
Even under these conditions, when Huang Guixiang dished out the food, she only scooped the thick, solid pieces for Zhang Aimin and Lin Wan! Everyone else’s bowl contained nothing but a bowl of broth and a few chunks of sweet potato.
A look of bitterness hung on the face of every single member of the family. After tipping back their bowls and drinking it down, their stomachs were still growling with hunger!
Lin Wan: “!!!!”
Lin Wan knew that food and drinks were scarce in the 1960s, but she hadn’t expected them to be this scarce!!!!
And this was still in the city!
Counting the members of this household, there were three permanent workers and two temporary workers. Logically speaking, their life shouldn’t have been reduced to this! Was there something wrong somewhere?
The system suddenly sprang back to life to offer a friendly tip: [In order to ensure you wouldn’t have to go to the countryside, Huang Guixiang spent all of the Zhang family’s savings trying to buy a job for you, but she ended up getting entirely scammed out of the money!]
Lin Wan: “…”
One pit isn’t even filled before another one opens up!
If she hadn’t transmigrated with a massive stockpile of goods, how on earth was she supposed to fill this gaping pit!!!
Zhong Hongmei scooped two chunks of sweet potato out of her own bowl to divide between her son and daughter, unable to hold back any longer. “Aunt Huang, every one of our families hands their wages over to the household. No matter what, you can’t be feeding us this for every single meal!”
“Big Brother, Hongjun, and Dad still have to go to work. If we keep eating nothing but this, how are they supposed to endure the hunger?”
“And look at these few children, they’re practically starving to bone.”
“Since we can’t get any grain from the grain station’s queues, can we go to the black market to buy some high-priced grain?”
Huang Guixiang lifted her eyelids and cast a flat glance at her. “Give your job to Wanwan, and I will go buy high-priced grain right away!”
“Otherwise, this money has to be saved to buy a job for Hongqiang.”
“Hongqiang is the youngest son of the Zhang family. I will absolutely never let him go to the countryside!”
Lin Wan looked at Zhang Hongqiang with pity. An eight-year-old child—can he even carry such a massive blame on his back?
