Chapter 389: System's Hidden Reward 2

“Hey, Old Shen, what are you spacing out for?”

Father Shen stared at the text message, counting the zeroes several times. “It looks like Meng Meng was telling the truth when she said her income would top 200,000 this month. She just transferred 100,000 to us.”

Just as he finished speaking, another message came from Shen Meng. She told them not to save the money for her; she had plenty to spend. Her income was going to be high every month, and she’d keep enough for herself. The money she sent home was for them to use as they pleased.

This month, on top of her salary from Yanghe Commerce, Shen Meng had also worked a few days at Futong Commerce. Her main earner was a live stream for Airex, which brought in a commission bonus of over 20,000 yuan. So even after buying a Rolex for Yang Hui and sending 100,000 yuan home, she still had a small surplus—more than enough to cover her living expenses.

“That girl… she should’ve kept some for herself. She’s dating Xiaoyang now. Our family might be a bit poor, but she can’t just let him pay for everything, can she?”

Jia Ru muttered a few words of concern about her daughter, but she couldn’t hide the overjoyed expression on her face. Before, she would never have dreamed of her daughter earning 100,000, let alone 200,000, in a single month.

“Old Shen, so you two are both in the shop today.”

He turned his head and saw it was their next-door neighbor, Old Tang. Ever since Shen Meng had come home driving that Mercedes-Benz 260L, Father Shen and Old Tang had been talking a lot more.

Before, he’d avoided Old Tang because the man loved to brag about how much his son, Tang Bin, was earning each month. On top of that, he was constantly trying to set Tang Bin up with Shen Meng. Those two things combined made Father Shen want nothing to do with him.

But things were different now. His own daughter was earning over a hundred thousand a month, and all of it was earned honestly. This allowed Father Shen to hold his head high in front of Old Tang. He was full of confidence whenever he faced him now.

Old Tang took the cigarette Old Shen offered him. “My, my, Old Shen. Smoking the fancy stuff now, are we?”

“Ah, they’re from the last time Meng Meng visited. I was going to save them, but she said she’s going to buy me a whole carton every month. So, what’s the point in saving them?”

Jia Ru shot him a sideways glance. ‘I never noticed what a show-off my husband could be.’

The corner of Old Tang’s mouth twitched as he recalled last night’s phone call with his son, Tang Bin.

Tang Bin was in Qingzhou, doing live-stream sales. Their business model involved paying for traffic, then showing a product worth 2,000 yuan during the stream while pricing it at only 200. Naturally, viewers thought it was an incredible bargain. But after an order was placed, what they actually shipped out was a cheap item worth only 10 yuan.

Tang Bin was basically gambling on the return rate; any customer who didn’t bother sending the item back was pure profit. Old Tang heard from his son that even with a return rate as high as 70% after each stream, he could still pull in over a hundred thousand a month.

Recently, however, business had been declining. They had already scammed their way through the available pool of consumers, so fewer people were falling for the trick. Moreover, the return rate had shot up past 80%. So, Tang Bin and his partners came up with a new plan: they would simply stop shipping any products at all. After all, you can’t return something you never received.

Hearing his son was involved in this, Old Tang grew deeply anxious. This was illegal. What if their whole operation got busted? But Tang Bin had told him to relax, assuring him he’d just run a few more scams to make a big score, and then he’d quit. He even promised he would come home for the New Year driving a Mercedes-Benz GLE to make his father proud and show Shen Meng what Tang Bin was really made of.

Sighing at that thought, Old Tang lost all interest in continuing the conversation. He’d been having nightmares lately, dreaming his son had ended up with an “iron rice bowl”—a permanent stay in prison.

Ever since learning that his daughter could earn over 100,000 a month from legitimate live-stream sales, Father Shen had become fascinated with the industry. He turned to Old Tang and said, “You know, Old Tang, you always used to tell me there was a future in live-streaming, but I never believed it. I realize now I was just resistant to new things. I’ve had a change of heart lately; I’ve even started watching tutorials on it. Do you watch any of that stuff?”

Old Tang stammered for a moment. ‘Watch them? Like hell I do.’ None of those tutorials would teach the kinds of schemes his son was running; those weren’t things you’d find in a public lesson.

Now, just hearing the words “live-streaming” made him agitated and reminded him of his nightmares. “Oh, uh, Old Shen, I just remembered I’ve got something to do at home. I’ll head back for now. Let’s talk again later.”

Once he was gone, Father Shen shook his head. “What’s gotten into Old Tang? I finally find a topic we’re both interested in, and he just takes off like that.”

Jia Ru glared at him. “I think all this has gone to your head. Let me tell you, Meng Meng is already exceptional. There are countless people in this neighborhood gossiping about her. If you go around telling everyone how much money she makes, are you trying to get our front door beaten down by suitors?”

Father Shen chuckled. “Heh, that’s where you’re wrong. It’s the pretty girls who *don’t* make much money that people try to set up. If she makes a lot, most men are too intimidated to even try. Think about Old Tang. Ever since Meng Meng came home in that Mercedes, has he brought up Tang Bin and our daughter even once?”

That was actually true. Jia Ru considered it for a moment, then said, “You know, Old Shen, we should go to Qingzhou when we have some time. We could see if we get a chance to meet this Xiaoyang.”

“Let’s not pressure her. We should let Meng Meng be the one to decide. When she thinks it’s the right time for us to meet him, she’ll bring him home. We shouldn’t interfere and cause trouble for her.”

“Fine, we won’t meet Xiaoyang if you say so. But I still want to go see Meng Meng. She’s saved some money over the years, and I was thinking… now that her income is so good, maybe she should get a mortgage on an apartment in Qingzhou.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll call her aunt later and see when she has time off so we can visit. We should also thank her for taking care of Meng Meng all these years.”

As Yang Hui was driving, something suddenly occurred to him. If Zhu Jing hadn’t brought up employee wages earlier today, he might have completely forgotten. His young housekeeper, Wenren Meng, had been working for him for over a month, and he still hadn’t paid her the 10,000-yuan monthly salary he’d promised.