In 2000, eight-year-old Zheng Qi watched the other children her age in the village go off to primary school with their backpacks.
She lowered her head and gripped a sickle in her small hands, beginning to harvest the rice.
As much as she wanted to go to school, Zheng Qi knew her family had no money left. They were counting on the crops in the field to get them through the year.
She couldn't afford an education.
Zheng Qi wished she could grow up quickly, go elsewhere to work, and earn money. Then she wouldn't have to live in a leaky, run-down tile-roofed house and eat rice with pickled vegetables every day.
[Ding! Suitable Host detected! Binding Work System...]
[Available work location: The rice paddy at Zheng Qi's home]
[Task requirements: Harvest rice for 1 hour]
[Task reward: 50 cents per hour, up to 1 yuan a day!]
Zheng Qi was overjoyed. She wanted to work! She wanted to earn money!
She worked hard to help Grandma harvest the rice. After a full day's work, Zheng Qi soaked her feet and fell asleep without hearing the System's payout notification.
[Ding! Beginner task complete. Congratulations, little Host. You have earned 1 yuan.]
[Work level increased to Level 1. One additional work task slot unlocked.]
Zheng Qi's little savings grew from fifty cents to fifty yuan, then a hundred. She worked like crazy for a month and earned enough to pay her tuition.
The day she saved enough for tuition, Zheng Qi cried all night. At last, she could go to school!
As her level rose and she got older, the System gradually unlocked more work locations.
[Zhengjia Village] [Nantang Town] [Jiangbei County] [Jiangbei Province]...
Thanks to the Work System, Zheng Qi's life steadily improved.
Her home gradually acquired a refrigerator, a fan, a television, broadband, a computer, air conditioning, a mobile phone...
Zheng Qi's meals had once been limited to pickled cabbage, pickled radish, and pickled fish. Her diet gradually grew more varied. Her lunchbox was never without chicken, duck, or fish again...
That summer, her family's freezer was packed with a whole box of popsicles and ice cream, making the village children incredibly envious.
At the end of the second year, her parents, who had been gone for so long, came back. They brought a boy with them and told her he was her little brother. They also said they would take her to Shenzhen...
The light in Zheng Qi's eyes flared, then went out. She looked at her elderly grandparents, then at the happy family of three sitting at the table, feasting.
Zheng Qi turned down her parents' invitation.
She wanted to stay in Zhengjia Village, by her grandparents' side.
She wanted to go to university!
Theme: Work hard!
