Chapter 3: The Wealth System Manual

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Li Jixiang stepped into the room and closed the door, noticing that the string of pink numbers before her eyes had changed again. Looking closely, she saw her popularity points had grown from 100 to 210. This time, however, there was no notification sound accompanying the change.

“Dear God of Wealth, would you mind coming out and explaining how this wealth system works? You’ve brought me here, you can’t just abandon me now, right?”

A tinkling sound rang out, and a large block of text appeared on the holographic screen. Upon seeing the wealth system manual, Li Jixiang immediately focused all her attention, carefully reading the instructions, her mind racing to memorize every detail.

The wealth base represents wealth; popularity points represent popularity.

Isn’t that obvious? Li Jixiang grumbled inwardly as she skimmed the first line.

Popularity points: Like +1, Really Like +10, Unconditional Like +100 (Note: Don’t make someone who likes you unconditionally angry, or your popularity points will drop to negative 100).
Popularity points can be accumulated once per person per day.
Popularity points reach 1,000: unlocks the primary wealth base.
Popularity points reach 10,000: unlocks the intermediate wealth base.
Popularity points reach 100,000: unlocks the advanced wealth base.
Popularity points reach 1,000,000: unlocks the super wealth base.
Popularity points reach 10,000,000: system automatically removes host relationship.

“That’s it? Nothing more? How do I use the wealth base? Am I supposed to stockpile things and start a business? Or store information for future research? Don’t tell me I have to go in and pioneer farmland?” Considering the background of this era... emmmm, Li Jixiang was at a loss.

Watching the text of the wealth system manual fade away like ashes, Li Jixiang pursed her lips, feeling somewhat annoyed. She’d finally gotten the usage instructions, yet only understood the surface, not the essence.

For now, it seemed she should focus on accumulating popularity points. Once she reached a thousand and unlocked the primary wealth base, everything would become clear.

She took out a small notebook, cross-referencing the system manual she’d memorized. The extra 110 popularity points must have come from Grandma Li (+100) and An Chen’s mother (+10).

Grandma Li genuinely liked her, Li Jixiang smiled, but then suddenly recalled An Chen, the first to trigger the system’s popularity points. The corners of her mouth turned down. Being liked by an eight-year-old chubby kid from the bottom of her heart wasn’t exactly a particularly pleasant thing.

“Jixiang, come eat.”

Grandma Li pushed open the door and called out.

“Why didn’t you knock before coming in?” Her train of thought interrupted, Li Jixiang felt a bit displeased.

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“Oh, I forgot...” Grandma Li’s reddened hands wiped nervously on her floral apron, looking uneasy. Her granddaughter seemed to have grown up overnight, suddenly demanding more from her and no longer treating her with the same warmth as before.

“Hurry up and eat, the food’s going cold.” Grandma Li turned and left, gently closing the door behind her.

A tinkling sound echoed, and the pink numbers in Li Jixiang’s mind dropped to 160. She realized her words had hurt Grandma Li and quickly stowed her notebook in the drawer, hurried to the kitchen, and hugged Grandma Li from behind.

“Grandma, I didn’t mean what I said just now. You can come into my room anytime without knocking.”

“Oh, you silly child! Let go, I smell of cooking oil.” Grandma Li’s brows relaxed, and she beamed from ear to ear.

“You’re a grown girl now; it’s right to have your own secrets. Tomorrow I’ll ask Uncle An to install a bolt on your door.”

Tinkling again, the pink numbers bounced back to 210. Li Jixiang breathed a sigh of relief.

If she accumulated popularity points from Grandma Li and An Chen every day, she’d unlock the primary wealth base in just five days. Perhaps there were others who liked her as much as An Chen’s mother; then she could reach a thousand points in three or four days.

Imagining the moment when her popularity hit a thousand and the dark wealth base block would light up, whatever lay inside was sure to be wealth.

Li Jixiang pondered her next steps, unwilling to waste time on meaningless things.

There was simply no other way. Even though Li Tian’er had fallen from glory, she was still the pampered heiress worth billions—the one who always insisted, “I don’t care what you think, I care what I think. Listen to me, I call the shots.” She was never one to win popularity.

The wooden table, freshly brushed with tung oil before the New Year, gleamed with a glossy sheen. On it sat a set of bowls and chopsticks, the large blue-edged bowl filled with steamed white rice, sprinkled with a few roasted black sesame seeds. There was also a small bowl of soy-marinated dried radish pickles and a plate of stir-fried soybean sprouts with shredded egg.

The eggs had been beaten and fried in oil, then cut into strips for the stir-fry—a meticulous method. Grandma Li’s egg strips were somewhat thick and uneven, but mixed with the soybean sprouts, the white and yellow colors were rather appetizing.

Tonight’s dinner looked much tastier than yesterday’s, when they’d eaten unleavened mixed-grain pancakes and cabbage-bean soup. The pancakes were burnt and the soup barely had a hint of oil.

“Eat slowly. I’ve already packed your lunch for tomorrow; I’ll head to the front to mind the shop.” Grandma Li untied her apron and left it on the stove. Seeing Li Jixiang pick up her chopsticks with gusto, she smiled lovingly, lifted the blue cotton curtain darkened by smoke, and walked out.

Grandma Li was used to eating only two meals a day, usually finishing by three in the afternoon. Li Jixiang’s school was at the far east end of the town; each day she walked over forty minutes to get there. School let out at eleven-thirty, and afternoon classes began at one-thirty, leaving only two hours to rest. There wasn’t enough time to go home for lunch. Only Li Jixiang and Ma Hongmei brought meals to eat at school; the other students either lived nearby or rode bicycles home for lunch.

At the entrance of the little shop hung a wind chime beside the half-length curtain. Whenever a customer entered, the chime would ring with a clear “ding-ling.”

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Grandma Li sat on a stool behind the glass counter, reaching under the shelf against the wall to pull out a straw basket. She took a half-stitched shoe sole and slipped a silver thimble onto her finger, sewing patiently, needle rising and falling.

A “ding-ling” sounded. Grandma Li quickly looked toward the door, spotted someone lifting the curtain, and hurriedly set aside the shoe sole, stepping out from behind the counter to greet the visitor.

“Teacher Zhang, what brings you here?”

Seeing Zhang Chunfen, Grandma Li was even more excited than seeing a customer. Zhang Chunfen was her granddaughter’s homeroom teacher, a rare university graduate assigned to Xingqiu Town.

“Teacher Zhang, please have a seat. I’ll go make some tea.”

“No need to trouble yourself. I’ll leave as soon as I’m done; it’s getting late,” Zhang Chunfen stopped Grandma Li, who was about to make tea.

“Then I’ll go call Jixiang.”

“No need to call her, I can just speak with you.”

Zhang Chunfen sat down on the small chair Grandma Li had brought over. As soon as she sat, the bamboo chair creaked, and she worried it might fall apart, so she braced her feet on the floor and placed her black faux-leather handbag on her knees.

With all the commotion outside, Li Jixiang naturally heard it, especially Zhang Chunfen’s unique mezzo-soprano voice. Amidst all the high-pitched women’s voices in Xingqiu Town, hers was like a breath of spring air. Yet, that voice always scolded her, and the look in Zhang Chunfen’s eyes was invariably one of dislike.

Li Jixiang glanced at the spot on her palm where Teacher Zhang had struck her yesterday afternoon. Her hand was pale and tender, showing no trace of the “abuse.”

“Jixiang daydreams in class and doesn’t do her homework?!”

Grandma Li’s voice quivered with emotion.

So Zhang Chunfen had come to complain! Li Jixiang crouched by the door, peeking in. Seeing Grandma Li wipe her tears, she felt uncomfortable inside.

Elementary school knowledge was nothing to her; earning a doctorate would be no problem. Yesterday had just been an accident...

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