She slept through the late evening and the rest of the night. Not surprising, it was the sa for Weijun. What woke them up was the sound of frantic knocking and a bell ringing in their bedroom.
Liwu kicked Weijun on the butt. "Make it stop," she croaked.
Weijun groaned, rose slowly and walked to the door like a zombie. When he ripped the door open, his eyes were narrowed with anger. "Unless the city is sinking, get out of here."
The words were ant for his brother Kaiwen, who was about to push the button for the bell again.
"I will not be doing that." Yuening replied.
Weijun lowered his head and he saw his grand aunt, standing in front of Kaiwen. She was short, hence, the reason for him missing her.
Yuening added firmly, "You two did not eat dinner yesterday and it made your mother more nervous than a hen which has just hatched chicks. It is already 8:00 o’clock, co and have breakfast at the main house before we all leave for the chamber of comrce event hall."
Weijun almost grimaced. He had almost forgotten about that cotton candy event. He nodded, closed the door and pulled Liwu out of bed because it was the only way to make her wake up and shower willingly.
Within twenty minutes, they were both in the main manor. Weijun looked fresher than a spring flower but Liwu looked like a withered one. She had not even bothered to brush her hair and opted to cover it with a blue silk scarf.
As she muttered her morning greetings, her eyes road over Manman’s face and tyen she rolled them. It wasn’t because she liked doing it but because the woman was hiding her head in Weifeng’s chest. She was acting like a child!
Weifeng was whispering reassurances to her, which made Liwu rolled her eyes again. "They are both sick," she muttered.
Weijun took her hand and pulled her to their seats before a verbal fight could break out.
"We are going to have this breakfast in silence." Grand aunt Yuening declared. "No drama." She looked at Manman, "No tears. No sniffling. No provocations. If anyone tries that nonsense, they will face the wrath of my palm."
So people chuckled.
Liwu wondered how Yuening’s vocabulary had expanded lately. The little matriarch had even learned to make threats!
"I won’t provoke anyone." Majesty purred.
Nobody believed the cat. It had a sort of grin that just appeared to be too sly. Nonetheless, they focused on their als, diverting their attention the television or their phones. Liwu was fine with it. A quiet breakfast in this house was a good one.
But the television decided otherwise. Half way through the morning al, a loud the song which was all lodies started to play and big bold letters appeared: A SYSTEM RUINED MY LIFE.
A female anchor appeared, in a bright red suit and a flashy smile. "Dear viewers, are you the victim of a system host or a system host whose life was ruined? Welco to CNCTv’s new show, a system ruined my life.We will be here for an hour everyday, at this ti, bringing you stories of pain that you have not heard before." She announced with the kind of enthusiasm reserved for lottery winners. "Our first guests for our first show are six won who are daring to speak out against an unknown system host who ruined their lives."
Liwu’s spoon had not moved for since she saw the na of the show. Majesty, the opportunist, stole her dumpling.
On the screen, six won sat in a row, each looking like they had just lost a battle with both a hair dresser and tailor.
The first woman, with short unevenly chopped hair and suit that belonged in the 80’s leaned forward. "Hello Xia Nanzhi," she greeted the anchor and then looked at he cara and greeted the viewers. "I was the very first victim of this system host. He bound , like he bound all of us. Can you imagine that? One minute you are living your normal life and the next you are bound to a stranger by a force you don’t know and can’t control."
Xia Nanzhi nodded at the cara. "This binding situation is common, like a twisted subscription service."
The woman sneered. "Other people are bound and their lives change for the better. on the other hand, it worked in the opposite manner. If I didn’t send this strange man money, the system would punish . It started with small amounts, one hundred yuan, eighty yuan, two hundred and then it grew to thousands and finally hundreds of thousands."
"Is this real?" Shen Mingxuan asked in a sharp voice.
Nobody answered. Liwu was thinking about the problems that were going to arise as a result of this interview. There were going to be a lot of panicked people in the country, worried that they would be bound like this.
"What kind of punishnts did you get if you refused?" The host asked.
The woman replied, "Electrocution, being hit by a flower pot, being struck by lightning. It was mostly electrocution however."
"Did the system that bound you give you any information about this man?" The host asked.
The woman tilted her head, leaning into the microphone. "Nothing much. All it said in the beginning was that it was a college student, a male, and he was struggling. It is why I didn’t mind helping with the small amounts of money in the beginning. But the greed just kept escalating until I lost my shop and house. I had to move back in with my parents in the countryside. The system has finally unbound , but I have nothing. I don’t even know where to start from."
Xia Nanzhi turned to the second woman, "Is it the sa for you?"
The second woman sniffled. "I am divorced. My husband said he couldn’t stay with a woman that was throwing away our life’s hard work. He wanted custody of our two daughters. I refused to divorce or give them up so we had to go to court.
I tried to explain that I was bound by a system host and if I didn’t make daily transfers of 1000 yuan, I would be punished. The judge looked at with pity and ruled in favor of my husband. I can’t bla him, how would I have fed the children if all my money was going to a stranger?"
The third shouted dramatically before being questioned. "At least they have a place to stay. I am holess. Holess! I sent an application to the SOB for financial help and they have not reached out in two months. The officer that took my statent said I could not be helped if they did not have the identity of the system host. Isn’t it their job to find out who it is and compensate us for our losses?"
Liwu’s phone rung. When she saw who was calling, she had a feeling that she was about to be assigned a new case.
"I am not taking it." she declared and refused to answer.
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