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A little after one in the afternoon.

Normally at this time, he’d be buried in work at the office. Now that he’d suddenly quit, let’s not even get started on poetry and the distant horizon; he felt an odd emptiness from having nothing to do...

Indeed...

Being a wage slave for so long, now that he had awoken, he actually felt somewhat out of step...

But this disorientation lasted only a few seconds before hunger kicked in.

Gu Heng didn’t have the habit of eating breakfast.

This wasn’t about saving money—after all, skipping breakfast didn’t save much—rather, purely for lack of time...

He had to be at work by nine in the morning, but living in the suburbs meant he had to get up before eight. After rushing through his morning routine to get to the office just in time, who had the luxury of minding their health with something as petty as breakfast?

As for why not wake up even earlier...

That’s even more absurd...

Young people these days, even with nothing but time on their hands, wouldn’t dream of going to bed before two in the morning, scrolling through Tencent News in bed. After the alarm goes off, to treasure an extra minute of death in bed is the ultimate bliss.

Wake up early?

He’d never do it just for a couple of buns and a cup of soy milk in this lifetime.

Although he felt like splurging on a good meal, his steps instinctively led him to the Lanzhou Beef Noodle Shop beneath the building—a habit formed over more than two years seemed to bewitch him, pulling him right in...

"Boss, a large bowl of beef noodles, please."

As Gu Heng called out his familiar order, a response came swiftly from the kitchen, flavored with the accent of lamb skewers.

"Alright, one large bowl of beef noodles coming up! Just a moment!"

He found an empty seat in the crammed shop and cast a casual glance around...

At least half of the dozen or so patrons seated inside were familiar faces. Though none knew each other, nor had they ever spoken, their shared commitment to cheap noodles had long since forged a soulful connection...

Calling them "noodle comrades" wouldn’t be an overstatement...

Gu Heng’s daily living expenses were usually pretty consistent...

A 15-yuan bowl of noodles or a similar-priced rice dish at noon, a quick two-meat, two-veggie dinner for about 20 yuan in the evening, and occasionally a late-night snack, like a 4-yuan pot of Old Altar Pickled Beef Noodles...

As for whether or not he’d get athlete’s foot in his mouth, he did worry at the beginning and switched to spicy flavors for a while...

But then he thought...

Those tens of thousands of yuan bottles of pure handmade wine are also foot-trodden, yet they’re still sought after by high society.

The Old Altar Pickled Cabbage is foot-trodden too, so why should it be treated differently?

Is it because the grapes are stomped by maidens, while the pickled cabbage is stomped by uncles?

That’s blatant gender discrimination!

With that thought, Gu Heng went back to his favorite flavor...

Even though it’s only 4 yuan a pot, at least he has the same taste as those elite folks!

His daily food expenses were roughly 40 yuan, plus a 16-yuan pack of Puwan Cigarettes from Huangshan, and a monthly rent of 1200 including utilities... Gu Heng’s monthly expenses were about 3000 yuan, and he could save 1500 each month...

This was also why, with his 4500-yuan salary, he’d managed to save up 80,000 yuan over the years...

Just as Gu Heng was about to open Douyin to kill time waiting for his meal...

Two unread text message notifications about system rewards popped into view.

...

Now that he’d quit his job, he could at least be considered a free person, right?

Wealth freedom isn’t even the question here, I suppose it was at least absolute financial independence, right?

Why should I still be eating the same 15-yuan noodles as these corporate drones and lackeys?

With that thought, Gu Heng’s voice rang out again.

"Boss, add another three liang of beef to my noodles!"

As his words fell, all the "noodle buddies" who had been slurping in silence couldn’t help but put down their chopsticks and turned their heads to look at Gu Heng...

Confronted with their gazes—three parts skepticism, three parts surprise, three parts disdain, with a dash of envy—Gu Heng simply ignored them and opened TikTok...

What status, what identity do I have?

Would I eat the same noodles as them?

[The host has distinguished from the corporate drones at Lanzhou Beef Noodle Shop by adding three liang of beef, indulging his palate with an outlay of 36 yuan! He has elevated his own class, started to adapt to the change in status, and has successfully indulged his desires! Reward: 9999 yuan!]

Although he had already received two rewards and developed a slight resistance...

Yet, upon seeing the synchronized bank transaction notifications on his phone, Gu Heng’s heart couldn’t help but pound wildly for a moment...

Although he had been rewarded three times within a short hour since the system activated, the first two times were quite different from this one...

Resigning could be considered a major decision that could affect my future life...

As for the second time, it was purely a change in my own mindset. At that time, my emotions were entangled with various feelings, and I didn’t pay much attention to the reward...

But what about this time?

I already have a savings of over 200,000 yuan now...

Could eating a beef noodle with an extra three liang of beef be considered indulging?

And to reward me 9999 yuan for that?

Gu Heng suddenly remembered a wealth-flaunting ad copy he had seen on TikTok.

"When you’ve experienced making someone’s monthly salary in just two hours, you’ll never want to work a day job again."

When he first saw this phrase, he was just a bottom rung lackey in society. Although he agreed with it, all he could do was to laugh it off...

Because he had never experienced that feeling...

If I must say I had, then I was the one being measured by that unit...

It was others who made my monthly salary in two hours, and I’d never had the highlight of making more than 1000 yuan in a single day in over twenty years...

But now, having personally experienced the scenario from the ad, the reality of that sensation sweeping over him, Gu Heng wholeheartedly acknowledged that phrase...

Because now, there’s no way he’d go back to working for a miserly wage of 4500 yuan for some capitalist dog.

Forget 4500 yuan, even 45,000 yuan wouldn’t make him happy!

I busted my ass for years and only managed to save up 80,000 yuan. Now, in less than an hour, I’ve got 160,000 yuan, double my savings—why would I need to work?

Perhaps because he had been at the bottom for too long, Gu Heng had never dared to dream too wildly even in his dreams.

His greatest dream was to win the lottery jackpot twice, pay the taxes, buy a luxury car worth a hundred or so thousand, get a so-called mansion in the city of his hometown for a couple of million, and put the remaining 5 million in the bank on fixed deposit to live off the interest. He had never even considered things like inflation—he simply wanted an easy life until the end...

According to his past calculations, putting 5 million in a fixed deposit could earn about 20,000 yuan in interest a month...

Now, just by having two meals of beef noodles a day, I can achieve my ultimate dream...

This sense of sudden happiness felt so surreal to him...

"Three liang of beef, a large bowl of beef noodles!"

The owner’s reminder brought Gu Heng’s thoughts back to reality.

He dumped the thinly sliced beef into the noodles and added the fragrant chili oil...

One bite down.

He swallowed all the bitterness he had faced since entering society nearly six years ago, never to be experienced again.