Chapter 5

In the afternoon, only Tang Bo came by; no one else showed up. Su Jueming glanced at the empty street, then simply closed up shop. "You just arrived today, so let's head back early to rest and eat." Staying any longer with no customers would only be more embarrassing.

Su Jueming had made up his mind: tomorrow he wouldn't let his niece come by. They'd revisit once business picked up.

On the way back, Su Jueming bought some char siu from a stall they passed.

The smell was genuinely wonderful.

But Su Fuling truly had little appetite.

At this hour, the office workers hadn't returned yet, but school had let out, and children were running through the corridors all along the way.

When they reached home, they heard chattering voices from inside.

"The two little rascals are home from school."

Before Su Fuling could enter, the door opened from inside. Two small boys—one tall, one short—ran out.

The older one was eight, the younger six. Her uncle had married late, so his children were still young.

Both boys had the same flat-top haircut, but they looked different: the older one resembled his mother, the younger one his father. Probably catching the scent of meat, the older cousin David inhaled and said greedily, "Daddy, you bought char siu!"

He reached out to grab some.

Aunt Zhou Huijuan came over carrying the baby. "What's the rush? Don't you see your older cousin? Aren't you going to greet her?"

The two boys immediately stood at attention, looked curiously at Su Fuling, then called out in unison, "Hello, older cousin!"

"Hello there." Su Fuling smiled and waved.

The older cousin David looked at Su Fuling. "Older cousin is so pretty!"

The younger cousin Su Xiaowei said, "It must be because Auntie is prettier than my dad."

Su Jueming laughed. "The little rascal has good taste. Come on, let's go inside and cut the meat."

Hearing they could eat meat, the two children immediately cheered.

Zhou Huijuan stuffed the baby in her arms into Su Jueming's hands, then carried the meat into the narrow kitchen. The children watched from the kitchen doorway.

Su Jueming said: "Stop looking. Uncle Li Siping is coming for dinner tonight, so we need to save the meat. Each of you can only have a small bite now."

Su Fuling clearly saw her two cousins' heads droop, looking just like deflated balloons, and couldn't help but laugh.

Zhou Huijuan cut a few pieces of meat and gave one to each child, plus one to Su Fuling.

Su Fuling quickly waved her hands: "Auntie, I don't need any. I'm grown up now. I'll eat when we have dinner later."

Zhou Huijuan said, "Take it. You're still a child."

Su Fuling felt a warmth in her heart and accepted it. "Thank you, Auntie."

Zhou Huijuan also gave the little girl a small piece. Though the little girl was still young, she was eager to stuff it into her mouth; even if she couldn't bite through it, she wanted to taste it.

"So fragrant! Lu's roasted meat is really delicious." David sighed as he ate. Su Xiaowei nodded rapidly, even licking the corner of his mouth.

Su Fuling briefly forgot her worries about Merit Points and savored a bite of the delicious food.

In the evening, Li Siping came over, bringing poached chicken as well.

Zhou Huijuan was skilled in the kitchen; though she'd only bought char siu, she knew several ways to prepare it. This was a skill she'd learned when working as a domestic servant for a wealthy family in the past.

The table was full of dishes—color, aroma, and flavor all present.

Zhou Huijuan had prepared sweet soup earlier and chilled it in the refrigerator, serving it to the children as a cold drink now. Su Jueming raised his glass. "Come, today we welcome our A-Ling to Hong City. May she settle here and thrive."

David and Su Xiaowei immediately raised their glasses too. "Cheers!"

Even little cousin Soo San smiled and shook her little fist.

This made Su Fuling laugh continuously. Her uncle's family's character made her feel that though they'd only just met, she already felt like family. This is what family is like—this is what the Su family is like.

No one stands on ceremony here; if there's good food, they eat it. However, Zhou Huijuan was still strict with the two children, not letting them grab food from the dishes. They had to finish what was in their bowls and mouths before reaching for more.

Li Siping praised them endlessly, saying the two children were well-mannered. He also told Zhou Huijuan not to be too strict.

Zhou Huijuan said, "It's not like the old days when we couldn't get enough to eat. We still need to pay attention."

Zhou Huijuan had a certain pride in her heart: she believed that though a person might be poor, their spirit shouldn't be. Poverty was an external condition, but a person's inner self couldn't be poor. One's words and actions shouldn't invite contempt. Don't covet others' things, and don't act as if you've never had enough to eat.

She'd seen too many cold looks and didn't want her own children to be looked down upon either.

Li Siping felt that she had, after all, worked as a domestic servant for a wealthy family, so she had more rules than most.

Just as they were eating, there was a knock at the door.

Zhou Huijuan went to open it. Standing outside was Tang Bo's daughter Tang Jing, who wore a short haircut and a uniform of a suit jacket and pencil skirt, looking very professional. She handed over half a roast goose. "My dad said you have guests today, so he told me to bring some roast goose over."

Hearing this, Zhou Huijuan immediately said, "That's too kind. You should keep it for yourselves. We have enough to eat at home."

"Just take it. Although you didn't cure my dad's illness, you kept him company chatting, which counts as a favor." Tang Bo's daughter shoved the thing into Zhou Huijuan's hands.

Su Jueming: "..."

Zhou Huijuan didn't mind. "Why don't you come in and eat with us?"

"No need, my dad's still waiting for me to come home for dinner." With that, she left.

Li Siping said, "Ah, Tang Bo's A-Jing is really getting more arrogant the more successful she becomes."

Zhou Huijuan said, "She can earn money, after all. Rich people are naturally proud."

Li Siping said, "I heard she sells houses at a sales office. She meets a lot of rich people every day. She'll definitely find a good husband in the future."

Su Jueming's mind began to wander again. No matter who came to his clinic, they couldn't compare to the wealthy people a house seller could meet. It seemed he still needed to maintain a good relationship with Tang Bo in the future, so Tang Bo could help his niece find a good husband.

Zhou Huijuan cut up the roast goose and brought it out. Looking at it, she saw it was from the most expensive shop.

"Tang Bo's family is so generous." Li Siping sighed. "But A-Ming, you've helped Tang Bo a lot, so eating roast goose is only right."

Su Jueming also felt it gave him face. "Aren't neighbors just helping each other? We all value our relationships."

As he spoke, he secretly glanced at his wife Zhou Huijuan. Zhou Huijuan just quietly ate and said nothing. Sometimes she was unhappy because some people truly were ungrateful. But she also approved of those who repaid kindness.

With chicken, goose, and roasted meat, the meal was thoroughly enjoyable. Su Fuling had finally eaten a proper Hong City delicacy. But at night, she couldn't sleep no matter what.

This was only her first day here, and the situation didn't look good. Her uncle's clinic couldn't earn people's trust, which affected her quite a bit. To treat and save people, someone had to be willing to let her treat them. She could prescribe medicine, but someone had to be willing to take it. Yet she was young and not easy to trust, and the elders around her couldn't vouch for her. This was really difficult.

"System, I need to go back." She chatted with the System in her mind. "Here, even my uncle doesn't have much business, let alone me helping him treat people. I'm mainly familiar with traditional Chinese medicine, but people here have high requirements for TCM doctors. No one trusts me here, so it's hard to carry out my work. If I can't treat people, how can I accumulate Merit Points?"

The System, of course, didn't need sleep, so it replied promptly to Su Fuling: "Friendly reminder: the closer you are to the main storyline, the more easily you'll be controlled by the plot."

This was truly a matter of life and death. Even going back to her hometown to fall back on old skills carried risks.

It seemed she still needed to establish herself firmly in Hong City.

Su Fuling suddenly couldn't sleep. She immediately perked up and began exploring the System's various functions. She had to quickly see what tools she had at her disposal.

This System spoke very little; basically, if she didn't ask, it said nothing. In the end, it was still guarding against her learning too much, lest she calculate against the System like some previous host had done.

Since the other party was guarding against her scheming, she could only take a sincere cooperative attitude to persuade the System to work with her.

"System, since we'll be completing tasks together in the future, we need to cooperate well, right? We're partners, so we both need to put in effort. So for completing tasks later, what help can you provide me?"

The Merit System performed a calculation and decided this question could be answered.

Aside from the overall mission objectives and reward standards, which couldn't be revealed, there were no other thresholds set.

However, the master had also instructed: don't appear too proactive or too useful. Make sure the host is more eager to complete the task than the System.

Avoid becoming the host's personal tool, manipulated by humans.

The Merit System said: "The host can obtain desired things through Merit Points, such as wealth and learning opportunities. The host can also upgrade this System's auxiliary functions."

In any case, everything required Merit Points to exchange.

So the host needed to earn Merit Points well! As long as the host focused single-mindedly on earning Merit Points, the task would be completed quickly.

The System also generously displayed the things that could be purchased with Merit Points.

Su Fuling immediately began to look carefully.

So Merit Points were actually quite valuable.

1 Merit Point was worth 100... "Why are there so many units after this?"

Su Fuling looked in surprise at the currency units like dollars, RMB, and Hong Kong dollars after the 100.

Merit System: "The host exchanges different currency values based on different exchange locations."

That meant in Hong City, she could only exchange for Hong Kong dollars; back in the Mainland, she could only exchange for RMB. The local currency unit was primary.

"..." Su Fuling was surprised. This was really tightly guarded. Not a single loophole. She'd been planning to go back and exchange for dollars and other currencies.

But regardless, it was still pretty good. She'd previously treated an auntie who had carsickness and earned a hundred Hong Kong dollars. Her uncle had only earned ten Hong Kong dollars treating people today.

However, the source of this money still needed to be resolved. If she suddenly had a lot of money from unknown sources, even her uncle would be suspicious. So working at her uncle's clinic was basically out of the question; she needed to go out and find a job to cover it up.

After all, besides Merit Points, she also needed to live and needed money.

However, Su Fuling curiously asked, "Can you conjure up this money? I've heard that countries issue currency in fixed amounts and can't just print more. Would you doing this cause some kind of trouble?"

Su Fuling had read quite a few books and had finished high school. She didn't go to college purely because of bad luck.

The first time, a woman in the village was in critical condition during childbirth, and as the health worker, she naturally had no choice but to escort her all the way to the hospital; the second time, she herself got sick. Now she thought about it: as a cannon fodder character, she could only obediently stay in the village waiting for the male lead to come back and slap her face. How could the plot possibly let her go out to college?

The Merit System said, "The funds provided by this System all have sources and will not disrupt any currency."

Hearing this answer, Su Fuling felt relieved. "Do you have assets in this world?"

Merit System: "The host has no right to know." The previous System had been swindled out of everything.

Su Fuling could tell the System really treated her like a thief.

Never mind, she didn't really care.

So she continued to look at other functions. When she saw the TCM teaching function, her heart started pounding.

Just the TCM teaching function alone had many items.

Beginner Learning Function: Book Reading (1 book / 1 Merit Point.)

Intermediate Learning Function: Video Teaching (class duration 1 hour, charged based on teacher level.)

After the video teaching came introductions and price tags for various teachers' teaching videos. The cheapest was 1 Merit Point, the highest 100 Merit Points.

Advanced Learning Function: 1-on-1 Master Real-Person Guidance Teaching. Pricing also varied by individual.

Su Fuling's hands were shaking.

She couldn't wait to click and try it out. She had 1 Merit Point left anyway.

But she couldn't open it.

The System showed no permission.

"Upgrade required. 100 Merit Points can upgrade."

Su Fuling: "...I don't even have permission to read books now?"

Merit System: "Yes, functions require the host to unlock permissions themselves."

Su Fuling was impressed. This System shouldn't be called Merit System; it should be called the Zhou Bapi System, the Capitalist System. Even more ruthless than a capitalist. Which capitalist's shop requires customers to spend their own money to open the shop?

No wonder the System wanted to cooperate with her, a cannon fodder character. Switch to a normal person... well, she'd still have to accept it. After all, these were things you couldn't buy outside.

If the demands were higher, so be it.

"Are there any free functions?"

Merit System: "Daily free discovery of one target customer for the host. If more are needed, an upgrade is also possible."

"..." Did she even need the System's help for this? She could discover target customers herself. As expected, free things aren't worth much.

Wait, today on the ship, the System had directly scanned out a group of people. "Didn't you directly point out a group of target customers for me today? How did it become one person now?"

Merit System: "That was only telling you which people could become targets. This System's target customer discovery function can specify the other party's specific condition and onset time for the host, providing rescue plans so the host can prepare for treatment in a timely manner."

Su Fuling: "...!" Who said free things aren't worth much! Even a grandmaster-level pulse diagnosis couldn't do this.

She couldn't let the System get too proud. She suppressed her excitement and asked, "No other free items?"

Merit System: "Human, don't be too greedy. Greed will lead humans into the abyss."

Su Fuling: "..." Such heavy guardedness.

She thought of that warrior who treated the System as a tool.

"Hey System, what happened to that previous host who treated you Systems as tools?"

Merit System: "No comment."

Hearing this answer, Su Fuling secretly laughed. If that host's ending had been miserable, it would definitely have been used as a cautionary tale. The fact that they wouldn't say probably meant that person was doing quite well.

It seemed the greedy humans in the System's eyes were actually doing quite well.

Su Fuling didn't blame that person for cutting off the path for those who came after. After all, that person had the ability. And just the free functions the System had revealed made her feel they were precious. No wonder some people couldn't resist wanting to use the System as a tool. Who could resist this...