Packed into the crowded train carriage, Lin Wan called out to the system:
“System, come out! I’ve registered for the exam. Now give me the test questions and answers!”
The exam was only two days away. Without the questions, how was she supposed to pass?
A soft, adorable little figure suddenly appeared in her mind.
It wore a postal worker’s uniform.
“Comrade Lin Wan, exchanging for the exam questions and answers requires one hundred points. Your current balance is zero.”
Oh?
Had it upgraded?
Instead of the cold, emotionless “Ding!” from before, there was now an AI mascot.
Lin Wan replied as if it were perfectly reasonable:
“Put it on credit.”
Then she paused and frowned.
“Wait a minute. Why are you such a stingy system? You didn’t even give me any starting points. Or did you secretly embezzle my initial points?”
The tiny figure puffed out its chubby cheeks and answered sternly:
“Have you forgotten? When you were about to be cremated at the funeral home, you chose to spend all your starting points in exchange for immediate resurrection and ten additional days of life.”
“You should consider yourself lucky. The starting points only totaled one hundred, but preserving your life and sending you through transmigration required ten billion points.”
“The main system discovered this loophole and has already patched it, removing the feature that allowed users to exchange all points for special privileges.”
The little figure continued mercilessly:
“The credit function has also been removed.”
So somehow it was all her fault?
What a lousy system!
Lin Wan could only ask,
“Then tell me, System, how am I supposed to earn points?”
The system immediately sent her a Beginner’s Guide and then angrily logged off.
Tsk, tsk.
The AI mascot was surprisingly well designed.
It could even simulate getting angry.
Since the train hadn’t arrived yet, Lin Wan quickly focused her thoughts and opened the Beginner’s Guide.
After reading it, she silently purchased one hundred envelopes and one hundred stamps from the system store.
The envelopes cost one cent each, and the stamps cost four cents each.
Five yuan in total.
In addition, she claimed her official seal.
As soon as she arrived at the residential compound, she spotted Zhang Hongqiang and a group of little boys standing by a wall, laughing hysterically while apparently using their urine to draw something.
She raised her voice and called them over.
After bribing each child with a piece of fruit candy, she successfully lured them home.
Then she tricked them into writing letters.
Letters to each other.
Cross-writing, repeated writing.
Write until their hands fell off if necessary!
Huang Guixiang was baffled.
What kind of game was this?
Seriously, why was she wasting perfectly good envelopes on a bunch of kids?
“Wanwan, what are you—”
Before she could finish, Lin Wan interrupted:
“Mom, trust me. I’m not just fooling around!”
She had no way to explain it clearly, so she simply acted mysterious.
At that moment, several neighborhood aunties gathered at the doorway, peeking inside.
Auntie Su from across the hall, who never got along with Huang Guixiang, asked with obvious delight:
“Oh my, Hongqiang… Huang Guixiang, what is your Lin Wan doing? Playing house with a bunch of children?”
Grandma An from the opposite side slapped her thigh.
“I’m telling you, Guixiang, you spoil that daughter of yours too much. Playing house is one thing, but using real supplies? How much money is she wasting?”
“Perfectly good envelopes and stamps, all ruined. Did your Lin Wan hit her head too hard?”
Auntie You, who lived next to the communal restroom, chimed in:
“If your Lin Wan has gone crazy, does that mean she won’t have to go to the countryside anymore?”
Sister-in-law Gao from beside the water room gasped dramatically.
“Of course not! Educated youths are sent to the countryside to support construction and development, not to run around causing trouble!”
Everyone’s expression immediately changed.
Whispers spread through the crowd.
“Could she be pretending to be crazy to avoid being sent down to the countryside?”
The moment Auntie Su heard that, she slipped away and sprinted toward the neighborhood office.
She was going to report it!
Huang Guixiang instantly understood.
So her daughter’s plan was to pretend to be insane!
Makes sense.
As long as the marriage certificate hadn’t been issued, there was still uncertainty.
They absolutely needed a backup plan.
Her daughter really was smart!
“What business is it of yours?”
Huang Guixiang snapped.
“You people have nothing better to do than worry about other people’s affairs! My daughter can play however she wants. Old Zhang can afford it. Being jealous won’t help you!”
“Go, go, go! Stop crowding around my house!”
She started trying to chase everyone away.
Lin Wan quickly stopped her.
“Don’t leave! Come join us!”
“Write letters! Five letters earns you one piece of fruit candy!”
“Mom, you should write too. Write to Dad. Write to Zhang Hongqiang. Write to Zhang Hongbin and his wife…”
Since they were already here, nobody was allowed to leave.
Every single one of them would stay behind and contribute points for her!
Aunt Qin and Aunt Yang rushed over in a flurry, immediately warning Huang Guixiang and Lin Wan:
“No matter what tricks you’re trying to pull, you must go to the countryside when the time comes!
If you dare pretend to be crazy to avoid it, Old Zhang can forget about keeping his Grade Seven worker position!
Just wait to be reassigned to cleaning toilets!”
Lin Wan promptly dragged both women into the house to write letters.
Once they came in, they weren’t allowed to leave!
“Aunties, as long as each of you writes five letters, I guarantee that if I still don’t have a job and I’m not married within a week, I’ll head to the countryside immediately!”
The two women: “…”
Damn it, was she really pretending to be crazy or not?
The way she talked didn’t sound crazy.
But the things she did were absolutely insane!
Who in their right mind would waste envelopes and stamps like this?
Good heavens…
Could Lin Wan actually… actually be crazy?
The two women were completely baffled by her behavior.
No, this situation had to be reported immediately!
When Zhang Hongqi and Zhang Hongbing returned from work with their wives, they hadn’t even figured out what was going on before they were forced to sit down and write letters.
When Zhang Qin came home, she was forced to write as well.
Lin Wan collected the letters one by one.
After collecting them, she took out her special stamp and enthusiastically stamped every letter.
Then she redistributed them according to the names written on the envelopes.
For those who weren’t present, she ran all over the apartment building, delivering them according to the addresses.
A group of children followed behind her, laughing all the way.
Inside Lin Wan’s mind, the system notifications rang out nonstop:
[Package Successfully Collected +1, Points Earned +1]
[Package Successfully Delivered +1, Points Earned +1]
After the notifications finally stopped, Lin Wan had accumulated a total of 338 points.
The system was speechless.
Her bizarre operation had nearly broken its neck.
Then the system urgently upgraded itself to patch the bug.
Lin Wan immediately used the points to purchase the exam materials.
The exam papers even came with answer keys.
She was extremely satisfied.
She carefully locked the papers inside a drawer.
She would memorize them after dinner!
But the moment she looked at the evening meal on the table, her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
There was a huge basin of sweet potato porridge.
Except it was all sweet potatoes and almost no rice.
The rice soup was so thin and clear that it looked like plain boiled water.
Even then, Huang Guixiang had only given the thick portions to Zhang Aimin and Lin Wan.
Everyone else’s bowls contained little more than soup and a few chunks of sweet potato.
Every member of the family wore a bitter expression.
After finishing their bowls, their stomachs were still growling with hunger.
Lin Wan: “!!!!”
She had known that the 1960s were a time of scarcity.
But she had never imagined it was this bad!
And this was in the city!
Counting everyone in the household, there were three full-time workers and two temporary workers.
Logically, their living conditions shouldn’t have been this poor.
Was something wrong?
The system suddenly resurfaced with a friendly reminder:
[Huang Guixiang spent all of the Zhang family’s savings trying to keep you from being sent to the countryside. She wanted to buy you a job, but was scammed out of all the money.]
Lin Wan: “…”
One pit hadn’t been filled before another one appeared.
If she hadn’t arrived with her stockpile of supplies, how was she supposed to dig herself out of this mess?
Zhong Hongmei scooped two pieces of sweet potato from her own bowl and gave them to her children before finally speaking up.
“Aunt Huang, all of us hand over our wages to the family. No matter what, we can’t keep eating this at every meal.”
“Big Brother, Hongjun, and Dad all have to work. How can they endure the hunger eating this every day?”
“And look at the children. They’re practically starving.”
“If we can’t get grain from the ration station, can we buy some higher-priced grain on the black market?”
Huang Guixiang lazily lifted her eyelids and glanced at her.
“Give your job to Wanwan, and I’ll go buy expensive grain.”
“Otherwise, this money has to be saved to buy a job for Hongqiang.”
“Hongqiang is the youngest son of the Zhang family. I absolutely will not let him be sent to the countryside!”
Lin Wan looked at Zhang Hongqiang with sympathy.
The boy was only eight years old.
Could such a small child really carry such a massive burden on his back?