I Was Just Having a Little Gossip, So How Did I Get Rich?

PVO

Also known as She Has a Special Knack for Gossip

After the college entrance exam, Xia Ji came across a Gossip System.

["Gossip" means the rumors and stories from the Host's world. Once uploaded to the main System, they become the building blocks of its world.]

[The number of points awarded depends on the quantity and dramatic quality of the gossip the Host provides.]

Xia Ji: seemingly friendly and sweet, but a wicked little thing who can't help sneaking around and causing trouble whenever she gets the chance.

She meets a newly born Gossip System, number 18, nicknamed Guagua: an electronic kitty who will rub its fluffy head against its Host as soon as it gets a few compliments.

Xia Ji, who never thinks she has too much money, easily gets the inexperienced electronic kitty under her thumb and presses the button to agree to the bond.

[Congratulations, Host. You are now bonded with the Gossip System. You have received one beginner's gift pack, one welfare gift pack, one compensation gift pack...]

[Points from gift packs can be exchanged for money in the Host's world. The money will be delivered to the Host in a completely legal way, and the Host can also specify the method of exchange.]

[The lottery odds have been adjusted for the Host. The chance of drawing a higher value is UP!]

For the sake of getting rich, Xia Ji takes some time to play the water-rat scurrying around in the melon fields of gossip.

It's not just for the money she can exchange her points for. More importantly, she! loves! eating!

①

Xia Ji's mother, Ms. Jiang Shu, belongs to a generation of nine sisters.

In the sixties and seventies, when family planning was in force but not particularly strict, there weren't many especially popular forms of entertainment. The sisters would get together and chat about the gossip in one household and another, and the days went by like that.

Growing up immersed in all kinds of gossip, Xia Ji went from understanding none of it to understanding a little, then gradually started edging closer on her own, snacking as she listened in.

It's good. I love it. Give me more (not really).

#

Fourth Aunt had spent quite some time arranging blind dates for her son when she suddenly remembered that Third Sister's eldest daughter was a year older than her son, yet hadn't dated anyone in all these years.

While worrying about her son's "lifelong affairs," Fourth Aunt also began to worry about Third Sister.

But Third Aunt's younger daughter thinks Fourth Aunt is "more worried than the person involved." She bluntly tells her that whether her sister dates anyone is none of Fourth Aunt's business, and warns her to watch her mouth, or she'll make Fourth Aunt regret it.

②

On Xia Ji's father, Mr. Xia Gu's side, there are a second younger sister and a youngest brother. There may be fewer of them, but fortunately, none of them are exactly easy to deal with.

Twenty years ago, the youngest brother fell for a young woman from the neighboring town. Unfortunately, she wouldn't marry out of her family and would only accept a husband who married in.

The competition to marry into her family was fierce. The youngest brother persuaded his parents, who had spent most of their lives farming, to hand over most of their savings. Using their parents' names, he traveled all the way to Nansheng City next door to demand from his eldest brother, Xia Gu, the principal and interest on the money their parents had lent his family to buy a staff-benefits apartment.

The youngest brother returned and successfully married into the young woman's family, saying he would bring his parents along to enjoy the good life and hold their grandchild.

But in the blink of an eye, that money had become a two-story, square concrete house, while his parents lived in the two dark, old-tiled rooms where his wife's family had originally lived.

Every single day, when the parents stepped out of their tiled house, they could see their youngest son and his wife's family coming and going from the concrete house across the way, laughing and talking happily.

#

During the first long Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday after Xia Ji came of age, she went back to her grandparents' home, and her grandmother introduced her to a wealthy businessman from out of town.

Apparently, he was the third son of her grandmother's sworn elder sister. He was clever, capable, and honest, and their families knew each other well.

Xia Ji looked at this "successful man," who stood 160 centimeters tall and perhaps weighed at least as much as his height in centimeters. He said there was no point in studying too much, and even tried to persuade Xia Ji to drop out as soon as possible, have at least one son and one daughter, and stay home to cook, clean, and manage the household.

Xia Ji: Seriously?

③

And so Xia Ji keeps enjoying the gossip, finishing yours and then moving on to the next, one mouthful after another. It never ends.

Then one day, she suddenly realizes: Why is her little nest egg growing by leaps and bounds?

...Has she gotten rich?

Wait, why didn't anyone tell me sooner?

Reader's guide:

● This is a slice-of-life story with a relaxed pace and a lighthearted tone.

● The heroine never gets caught up in pointless self-doubt. Roughly speaking: (1) What did you say? First, take two punches. (2) You don't submit to me? Then off with your head.

● The System's role is to provide wealth and be an adorable, thoughtful cyber pet.

● There are quite a few characters, so it has something of an ensemble-cast feel.

● The game the protagonist plays in the story is Jian Wang 3. Related details will be explained in the author's notes. Whether you've played the game or don't play games at all won't affect your reading.

A recommendation for my bestie's novel, Cold Dew 91: The Company Went Under, So I Switched to the Occult.

Theme: Life means learning the hard way, then learning the hard way again