Chapter-17
Drag Him to the Crematorium, Save the Trouble
Inside the store.
Yu Zhi stared at the number on the computer screen.
Sitting on the sofa, she coughed lightly, pretending to be calm as she nodded. “Not bad.”
The store manager let out a sigh of relief. “Then please give us your bank account number, we’ll transfer the payment right away.”
Yu Zhi blinked. “Can you do it through WeChat or Alipay instead?”
“That… works too.”
Five minutes later, Yu Zhi’s phone chimed.
“Alipay received ¥887,600!”
Ah, what a beautiful sound!
As she walked out of the store, her steps felt weightless.
She pulled out her phone and sent a voice message to Pei Nian’an:
“Sister Pei! I love you! I’ll follow you forever! Dinner’s on me tomorrow — the most expensive place I can find!”
On her way home in the taxi, Yu Zhi opened her Alipay balance.
The string of numbers made her feel more awake the more she looked.
She blinked.
A second later, her balance dropped to zero.
At the same time, a text message from her bank popped up:
[Dear Customer, ¥12,166,270.07 has been deducted from your account to repay your outstanding loan.]
Yu Zhi: !!!!!!
Yu Zhi: SYSTEM!!! GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!
[Coming, coming!] The system jolted awake from her scream, yawning.
[What’s going on?]
Yu Zhi: Where’s my money?! My Alipay balance! Explain this! NOW!
The system replied lazily:
[Didn’t I tell you before…]
[According to Article 1 of the Loyal Lackey System Usage Agreement, all earnings will be used to pay off your debts first!]
Yu Zhi fumed: Aren’t you supposed to only take it from my bank card?! Why did you touch my Alipay?!
[I never said I’d only take from your bank card. Obviously, I deduct money wherever it exists…]
Yu Zhi laughed in disbelief:
So you’re saying everything I did today was pointless?!
[Emm… how can you call it pointless? At least you made a payment!]
Yu Zhi, furious:
Then why didn’t you take the ¥9.90 from my WeChat wallet earlier?!
[Out of humanitarian concern, I don’t deduct from WeChat balances below ¥30,000! I can’t let you starve to death — if you die, what would I do?]
Yu Zhi sneered: You’re practically driving me to my death right now!
[Waaah… don’t say that…]
Sitting in the car, Yu Zhi numbly opened her WeChat wallet. Her balance showed ¥29,400.
She sighed in relief. Good. Thank goodness she spent ¥500 dyeing her hair today.
Otherwise, she really would have been left penniless.
The system chimed in quietly:
[Don’t worry, you still have ¥11,000 in cash in your bag! Remember?]
Yu Zhi: Just tell me straight — aside from the WeChat under-30,000 rule, what other limits are there? What about cash?
*[I’m a system, not a god. I can’t access the physical cash in your bag!]
Yu Zhi understood. So cash is safe, mobile payments below ¥30,000 are safe, but since I can’t carry wads of cash around all day, you’re basically forcing me to pay my debts first, right?
[Mhm, that’s about right.]
When Yu Zhi pushed open the door at home, the living room light was still on.
Yu Jianhui was slumped on the sofa as usual, holding half a bottle of white liquor.
“I’m back.” Yu Zhi tossed her keys onto the shoe cabinet.
“Xiao Zhi’s home?” Shao Jinghe poked her head out from the kitchen, wearing an apron. When she saw Yu Zhi, her hand trembled — the thing she was holding clattered to the floor.
“X–Xiao Zhi?” Shao Jinghe stared, wide-eyed. “You dyed your hair? I almost didn’t recognize you…”
Yu Zhi ran a hand through her newly dyed black hair, making something up casually. “Yeah, school said we had to look neat, so I dyed it.”
On the sofa, Yu Jianhui turned his head drunkenly, his cloudy eyes scanning her up and down.
When he realized what had changed, he grinned, showing a row of yellowed teeth.
“Well, well, the useless brat’s all dolled up now…”
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Yu Jianhui pushed himself up, the bottle falling and clattering to the floor.
He squinted his bloodshot eyes at her. “You’ve got money to dye your hair but none to pay your share at home? How many days has it been since you gave me money?!”
He staggered toward her, reeking of alcohol.
“Where’s this week’s money? Hand it over!”
“I don’t have any,” Yu Zhi said flatly, turning toward her room.
“Stop right there!” Yu Jianhui lunged forward, grabbing her backpack strap. “You useless brat! Always carrying that bag around — you’ve got cash in there, don’t you?!”
“Let go!” Yu Zhi kicked out, hitting him square in the knee.
He let go in pain, stumbling into the coffee table.
Without hesitation, Yu Zhi grabbed an empty liquor bottle and smashed it over his head.
BANG!
The bottle shattered, the remaining liquor mixed with blood dripping down his temple — the sight was a bit horrifying.
Shao Jinghe screamed. Yu Jianhui froze, dazed, his head ringing.
“Talk to me nicely next time,” Yu Zhi said coldly, tossing away the broken bottle. “Try hitting me again.”
Touching his bleeding forehead, Yu Jianhui sobered up instantly.
He stared at his daughter in disbelief.
He’d never liked her — beatings and scolding were routine.
He knew her temper inside out. The old Yu Zhi was meek, submissive, never even dared to meet his eyes, let alone fight back.
But now she was looking down at him from above, her gaze cold and unfamiliar.
“Wipe the blood,” Yu Zhi said, throwing him a pack of tissues. “Don’t stain the floor.”
Shao Jinghe trembled, trying to go to him, but Yu Zhi grabbed her arm. “Don’t. He won’t die.”
She dragged Shao Jinghe toward the door. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
Before the door shut, Yu Zhi looked back at the man sitting on the floor.
His lips trembled, but not a single word came out.
Out in the hallway, Shao Jinghe was still shaking.
“Xiao Zhi, your father’s bleeding… we can’t just leave him there. What if something happens to him?”
Yu Zhi adjusted her backpack and looked at her.
“When he hit us, did he ever care what happened to us?”
Shao Jinghe’s lips quivered; she lowered her head, silent.
Yu Zhi said, “Don’t worry. Scum lives long — he won’t die that easily.”
Then, after a pause, she added, “If he did die, even better. Drag him to the crematorium and bury him, save us all the trouble.”
After that, she asked, “Where do you usually go for your checkups?”
Shao Jinghe pointed toward the old clinic at the east end of the village.
Yu Zhi nodded.
When the two reached the clinic, the copper bell above the door jingled as they entered.
Zhao Dequan, the clinic doctor, was dozing off behind the counter. Hearing the bell, he lifted his head, frowning when he saw the two women. He waved his hand impatiently.
“You’re late. I’ve already closed up. Come back tomorrow if you need medicine!”
