"Work hard, and you'll make money," Liam replied.
"Linda, Liam has been earning money since he was your age. You should learn from him if you want to be like him. Of course, we're talking about money earned without throwing away your dignity…" Diana added.
She knew Liam didn't want to mention trading.
If Linda heard about it, she might try to imitate him—and most likely end up losing money instead.
"Oh…" Linda responded flatly at the mention of hard work.
As if the concept even existed in her mind.
She only wanted everything to come easily.
Along a street lined with large stores, Liam finally stopped the car.
"You can buy it here. They're offering a good headset as a bonus," he said, stopping by the same store where he had bought his iPhone the day before.
"Thanks, bro… Aunt…" the girl replied.
She got out of the car and carefully closed the door.
Liam drove off again.
He still watched Linda through the rearview mirror.
The girl stood there, staring at his car instead of going inside the store—until the car disappeared at the intersection.
"What's wrong with girls these days? Back in my time, no matter how bad someone was, no one behaved like that. We didn't even know the concept of talking rudely to our parents," Diana said, confused.
"Because of the internet, of course. People are fascinated by other people's perfect lives and want the same thing. No… maybe they don't actually want a perfect life. They just want to show off that they have one. Seeing that every day, the obsession naturally grows. They'll do anything to get it—especially someone like Linda, who already has the advantage of her looks. She's more convinced than others that she deserves it."
"But that doesn't mean they should speak rudely and make demands without caring about their parents' situation, right?"
"Their desires have already gone far beyond what morality and shame can restrain… They can't live without followers and comments on social media. Even hate comments are better than getting nothing at all." Liam shook his head.
Diana couldn't say anything after hearing that.
"What a pity… she used to be such a sweet and shy girl," she said.
Of course, she was talking about Linda at the age of four or five.
A personality wasn't fully formed at that age.
By the time she was twelve or thirteen, Liam had already seen the signs—she wouldn't grow into a good person.
Back home, Liam told his mother to take the supplements they got from the doctor.
He looked at the sky—it wasn't too hot.
He thought it would be a good time to go to the gym, but then another thought crossed his mind—he might catch some big fish today if he went fishing.
So he grabbed his fishing gear and headed to the river near their neighborhood.
After all, it wasn't like there was no physical activity there.
The river was about fifty meters wide, with a strong current. More importantly, there were no proper paths along either side—at least not in that area.
The soil was too fragile to build roads.
Because of that, there were many trees along the banks, and beneath almost every tree sat a fisherman.
Liam saw hundreds of them, spaced about five to ten meters apart.
He picked an empty spot, attached bait to his hook, and cast it into the river.
After securing his fishing rod into the ground, he took out his old phone and opened TikTok—an account with only 200 followers but following over a thousand others.
He started a live stream, something he always did when fishing.
He never got many viewers unless he hooked something. Occasionally, he would receive a few dollars in gifts—that was why he kept doing it.
DING!
(You have obtained Live Streaming Cheat, a cheat that will give your live stream one interesting event per day, making it go viral. Notify the System to activate it if you wish!)
Liam didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw the notification.
He hadn't expected another cheat to appear.
Maybe if he used it, he'd catch a massive fish right now.
But he wasn't in a hurry.
After all, he only wanted a relaxed stream—not something viral like he used to dream of, since now he already had money.
And who knew if his fishing rod was even strong enough for a fish big enough to go viral?
The line might snap instantly.
He sat calmly, noticing he had one viewer—Jack.
Then Luna's account appeared as well, immediately following his TikTok.
(Hey, nice. You didn't invite me fishing.)
Jack's comment appeared.
Liam rolled his eyes and spoke, "Maybe next time. There aren't many fish today."
When it came to fishing, he was a bit reluctant to bring Jack.
For some reason, Jack's hook always got stuck until the line snapped.
The worst part—he couldn't even tie a hook himself. Sometimes he needed help just to attach bait.
(Tell me if you go fishing tomorrow.)
Jack commented again.
"Alright, tomorrow," Liam replied.
As for Luna, she didn't comment at all.
Liam figured she probably wouldn't come here. Most likely, she had already gone out somewhere.
She wasn't the type to stay at home doing nothing.
Maybe she was at the mall right now, shopping with her profit from the Penguin coin.
After that, Liam picked up his iPhone and opened his wallet app.
(Poppon: 6.5 Million Market Cap!)
Its price had risen far beyond the last time he checked.
Meanwhile, Penguin had dropped to a 7.5 million market cap—but from the chart, it had surged multiple times, even once returning to 17 million market cap.
That surprised Liam a little.
It seemed that the Penguin coin was quite popular.
Unfortunately, he had no idea what its price would be tomorrow.