Capital of Great Eastern, Jintian City Apartments, 3 PM.
After finishing their second meal, Xu Manning and Li Peifeng were hurriedly called away by a phone call, seemingly due to some urgent business to attend to. Li Peifeng then walked back to the apartment.
At this moment, Li Peifeng was holding his phone, silently looking at the new WeChat messages and a text message notice.
Xu Manning: "The snowfield is harsh yet remains romantic, the mire is terrifying yet remains brave. We will endure the cold snap, thunderstorm, and lightning together; we will share the mist, ephemeral clouds, and rainbow. It seems like we are forever apart, yet we are always dependent on each other."
Xu Manning: "I said those words casually, don't misunderstand, I don't love you, I just don't want you to die like this. If you must die, please die in my arms."
Xu Manning: "I've transferred some money to you, quickly go to the hospital for treatment, give me an afternoon to handle my own affairs, then I'll come to you."
"Silver Merchant Bank transaction alert: Xu Manning completed a transaction to your account with the tail number 1575, Great Eastern Coin; 300,000 Yuan, with a current balance of 845,230 Yuan."
The system prompts also flashed one by one...
[Xu Manning hosted a meal, spending 46 Yuan. The remaining amount to complete the assessment task (Xu Manning) is 29,728 Yuan.]
[49,708 Yuan left to unlock the lottery. Please keep up the effort, host.]
This was the money for the noodles, and the system counted that in...
[Xu Manning gifted 300,000 Yuan, completing the assessment task (Xu Manning), total task progress 1/2.]
[Xu Manning gifted 300,000 Yuan, unlocking the lucky big wheel.]
[Remaining lottery attempts: 6.]
[Remaining Soft Rice Coin: 300,000.]
This is the three hundred thousand given by Xu Manning, which the system also counted. It not only offered six lottery opportunities but also converted into something called Soft Rice Coin. Li Peifeng blindly guessed that he could use this Soft Rice Coin to buy food for normal consumption in the future.
But Li Peifeng didn't feel much joy, nor did he look forward to the lottery items, he just felt like walking on thin ice, scared and trembling.
This is a big deal...
"Three hundred thousand? I see prison! My little days are getting more noteworthy!"
"Hello everyone, I'm a master of human nature's scumbag, today I had two meals with a girl, didn't spend a penny, didn't say a word, and she gave me three hundred thousand!"
"Brothers, does this look illegal or not? Want to learn? Whoever wants to learn, come closer, learn from me, and once learned, you'll go straight to prison life, with the latter half of your life relying and being supported by the prison, you can't stop once inside!"
Although Xu Manning's task was completed, holding this money was too hot to handle, with endless troubles.
Li Peifeng was too aware of his own condition.
He's sick but not entirely sick.
While the syndrome of dying from soft rice consumption was real, modern science doesn't recognize it!
Once the misunderstanding is cleared, what would Xu Manning's reaction be when she finds out his illness isn't the imagined one? What actions would she take?
"Three to ten years, see you in prison! And once in jail, unable to eat prison food, only able to eat soft rice, wouldn't it be a dead end for me?"
The money must be returned!
However, if this money is immediately returned to the other party, then the newly completed half of the novice task progress and the six lottery opportunities would be reset to zero, leaving him in another hunger crisis with no Soft Rice Coin to support...
Thus, with a lucky attitude and a one-in-a-million chance in his heart, Li Peifeng asked: "System, if I use my savings to return the thirty thousand to Xu Manning, will it reduce the Soft Rice Coin? Will the assessment task still count as completed for me?"
He was trying to exploit a bug again.
[Once thirty thousand is returned, the Soft Rice Coin, task progress, and all rewards from the lottery will be reset to zero.]
The system responded uncommonly, coldly, and mercilessly.
And this answer was not beyond Li Peifeng's expectations, he had tried similar methods before and they didn't work at all.
But...
"What if I spend thirty thousand to buy a gift for Xu Manning, will it still affect the Soft Rice Coin and task progress?"
[No.]
Upon hearing the system's answer, Li Peifeng felt slightly relieved, this confirmed his previous reasoning.
Since obtaining the system, Li Peifeng understood his situation; if he doesn't follow the system's directive to eat soft rice, he will starve to death.
If he does, fully adhering to the system's directive, the future could be a fate worse than death.
Physiological death and social death, neither was an option for Li Peifeng, forcing him to think of a win-win solution.
One that would keep him from starving and avoid social annihilation...
Simply put, he must eat soft rice, but not entirely rely on it!
He must walk the fine line of the system's rules, despite its directive urging him to lead women to spend on him; it didn't prohibit him from spending on women or giving gifts.
Of course, giving the girl a two-hundred-yuan red packet and getting an equivalent one back wasn't feasible as a 'money laundering' method.
However, if he maintained relatively balanced financial contributions in his interpersonal relationships, the system would accept it.
For instance, today Li Peifeng lets a girl buy him a meal, tomorrow he buys her a gift worth a few hundred as thanks. Or, he treats a girl to a meal today and subtly hints for her to return the favor tomorrow, this is acceptable and aligns with the system's gender equality directive.
This was also a major reason why Li Peifeng had to maintain a single status. Single, he could maintain a gift-giving relationship with multiple female friends, which didn't count as completely relying on others, the system would recognize it, and the novice assessment task would proceed more smoothly.
However, developing a romantic relationship was entirely out of the question, as fulfilling the spending limit for another target would become extremely difficult, posing a risk of social death.
But then again, this thirty thousand given by Xu Manning was for medical treatment, and clearly couldn't be returned in the form of gifts; it could only be returned as an equivalent amount, or else it'd be fraud...wait a minute!
Li Peifeng had a sudden inspiration, his eyes shining with wisdom: "System, what if I use gold as gifts? The gold price is currently around 370 Yuan per gram. I'll use thirty thousand to buy 800 grams of gold, and then I'll give the gold to Xu Manning. Will this still reset the Soft Rice Coin and task progress?"
"Your rules require that a woman voluntarily gives me material gifts for it to count. If I return the material given to me or cash it out, it's invalid. But this time I am not returning it. I'm consuming her money to buy gold, then gifting my gold! Note, this is a gift, I am not giving back the money she gave me! I'm gifting my gold!"
Gold, as a precious metal, indeed counts as a currency of sorts, and it's universally accepted worldwide, but it also possesses a very special commodity attribute.
In other words, Li Peifeng was still exploiting a bug, finding a loophole...
The system fell silent, seemingly pondering, and responded after a moment;
[It will not affect your task progress, and if after purchasing the gold, you have more than thirty thousand in savings left, it will not reduce the Soft Rice Coin either.]
"This is truly...the clear sky after the clouds, what an intoxicating myriad of sunlit space!"
Li Peifeng exhaled a long breath, the stone that had been weighing him down for several days was finally lifted: "The morning has come!"
Previously, he was truly afraid the system was forcing him down the path of a scumbag, but now that the system permitted the gold gift method, this "soft rice" life had gained some flexibility.
In the future, if any girl spends excessively on him, he could directly return a wave of gold gifts. Or, gift gold first, then guide the girl to spend on him, this way, he could enjoy the soft rice life with a clear conscience...
"Although there's still a risk, at least the possibility of falling into social disrepute is reduced; it wouldn't turn into being seen as a scam artist."
Li Peifeng comforted himself so.
The system, once again, resumed its cold and ruthless tone.
[Please remember, host, the purpose of this system is by no means to instruct you to deceive for money or love, but to lead women to gift or spend on you, altering the traditional gender roles and stereotypes where men earn money and support families, while women are beautiful and passive.]
[This behavior pattern that defines strict standards for both genders objectifies and functionalizes both sexes, especially vulgarizing love! The host must eradicate it and promote the soft rice ideology to correct stereotypes, thereby achieving truly free and equal male-female relationships worldwide.]
[Hence, the host should guide more women to gift or spend for him, resting on the basis of equality with personal charm as an aid. Your aim is never to acquire women's property, to manipulate resources to live a satisfying material life, but to lead both sexes to break worldly shackles, bravely achieving self-awareness, constructing reasonable male-female relations built on freedom and equality!]
[During this process, the system will continuously monitor the host's brain, and as soon as any malicious intent towards exploiting Soft Rice Coin, spending quotas, rejecting the system's objectives, or failing to uphold its doctrine are detected, actions will indisputably be sensed; once thoughts translate into actions, the host will certainly be punished!]
"Ignoring the facts, I genuinely didn't expect you to advocate for gender equality under the guise of soft rice. This is truly a surprise!"
Li Peifeng sighed helplessly, and then recalling something, coldly chuckled: "System, I must say, you're truly useless, only capable of pushing me around. If you're really bold, repeat what you just said on Weibo and propagate your views on gender equality to the entire people of the Dong nation, and see if the little goddesses won't tear you apart?! Without a physical form, they'll shatter even your consciousness!"
"..."