Chapter 22: A Warning

    Li Yifei grabbed her brother’s mouse and immediately drew the prize. The item that appeared was the ‘Screaming Guzheng’. She had no idea if it was valuable, but her brother’s exclamation quickly told her it must be another good one.

"Sis! You got another high-level item!"

    Her brother excitedly explained the special attributes of the ‘Screaming Guzheng’, but all Li Yifei really cared about was how much it could sell for.

    Her brother seemed to catch on, and after describing the item, he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

Seeing him like that, Li Yifei gently patted his hair.

    "Sis, I’m not a little kid anymore. You can’t just pat my head like that.”

    Memories of when they were younger flashed through her mind. The original Li Yifei had eagerly awaited her little brother’s birth and had promised Grandma Li,

    "I’ll help take care of the baby, no matter if the baby’s a boy or girl!”

    Grandma had praised her endlessly.

    But as they grew older, the siblings drifted apart, not because of any fault of their own, but simply because of different interests that pulled them in separate directions.

    Since the day Li Yifei woke up in this body, it had been clear how relieved everyone was, as well as her brother, that she had recovered. He had been so attentive and caring.

    It was fortunate that the real Li Yifei had thought to send her back in place. Otherwise, her grandma, parents, and brother might never have had the chance to see her again.

But Li Yifei still didn’t understand why it had to be her.

    Seeing her brother’s reaction, Li Yifei, who had never had a sibling before, couldn’t help but tease,

    "No matter what, you’re still younger than me, and I’ll always be the older sister."

    Her brother didn’t argue. If she looked closely, she could see a small smile on his face, making it obvious that he didn’t actually mind the head pat.

    From a summer break where they each went their own way, this year had turned into one where the siblings spent time together, doing things side by side.

    "Let’s see how much this item will sell for."

    Li Yifeng said, changing the subject and taking the mouse back to list the new item for sale, starting the auction at 500 yuan.

    Back when Tang Yifei was alive, that price would have seemed normal. But now, Li Yifei thought it was pretty expensive.

    Especially after hearing her brother explain that the ‘Screaming Guzheng’ was a limited-time event item, or something people had to randomly draw for, and they needed to spend 500 yuan or more trying to get it.

    The game developers must keep track of these statistics for the giveaway, but Li Yifei didn’t know much about this industry.

    Now, all she could do was wait to see if the ‘Screaming Guzheng’ would sell for as much as the ‘Invisible Flute’ had.

    While waiting, Li Yifei returned to her laundry. She had left the clothes soaking in the washing machine, so she added detergent and fabric softener, closed the lid, and set the machine to run.

    Thankfully, it was the kind of machine that completed the wash in a single cycle.

    After setting the laundry, she returned to the dining table. The house was too small to fit a sofa, so the dining table doubled as a space for everything. Otherwise, she would have to retreat to the bedroom.

    Sitting down, Li Yifei picked up her phone to check for any new messages. There was a picture from Li Ying, showing her boarding a plane for her trip to Thailand.

Li Ying: I’ll send more pictures once I get there! I’m so excited!

Xu Kai: Don’t forget to bring me a souvenir.

Yifei: I’m waiting for a souvenir, too.

    Instead of suggesting places to visit in Thailand, as she had visited before when she was Tang Yifei, Li Yifei had to pretend she didn’t know anything. After all, as Li Yifei now, she had to be mindful of household expenses.

    Where would she get the money to travel abroad? She hadn’t even had the chance to explore much of her own city and the country.

"Sis, come here, quick!"

    Li Yifeng’s excited voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She put down her phone and walked over to him, hoping the item had sold for a good price.

When she arrived, she saw a bid of 2,500 yuan on the screen—a significant amount.

"Should we sell it now?" he asked.

"Maybe we should wait a little longer."

Li Yifei replied, feeling a tinge of greed.

"Okay," Li Yifeng agreed.

    He minimized the auction window just as the washing machine beeped, signaling that it had finished its cycle. Li Yifei turned toward the sound, and her brother followed her.

"I’ll help you hang the clothes," he offered.

    Li Yifei didn’t object. It wasn’t good for him to play games all day, and taking a break from the screen was a good idea.

    At least she wouldn’t have to carry the laundry basket all the way up to the rooftop by herself.

    Having to go up eight floors, with no elevator, was no small feat. She remembered helping Grandma Li with the laundry before, and the constant climbing had left her exhausted. Grandma had even commented,

    "At your age, you’re already out of breath from this. How are you going to make a living? You better focus on your studies."

    Li Yifei had agreed back then, but it looked like she’d still be hauling laundry up and down for years to come.

    The thought crossed her mind that a dryer would be convenient, but given how small their home was, there wasn’t even enough room to put one. Maybe moving to a bigger house would be a better solution.

    But that seemed like a distant dream.

    Looking back, she wished that, as Tang Yifei, she had taken the time to learn more about investments instead of just waiting for her dividends or demanding more when the amount was less than expected. 

    Li Yifeng, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at ease climbing all the way up to the rooftop. He wasn’t tired at all, fitting for someone his age.

    Then again, she was in a teenager’s body too, so there was no reason for her to be so tired, she just wasn’t used to it.

    The two siblings worked together to hang the clothes.

    While they were at it, other families joined them on the rooftop to do the same. The space was filled with clotheslines.

    Neighbors greeted each other, and Li Yifeng responded in kind. Some of them glanced over at Li Yifei as well. The original Li Yifei had been friendly with everyone.

    But after recovering from her illness, she hadn’t spoken much to anyone. Her memories only told her these people were neighbors, but she couldn’t remember their names. All she could do was smile while standing next to her brother.

Once they finished hanging the laundry, they headed back downstairs.

"Remind me this evening to bring the clothes back in." Li Yifeng said.

"Okay."

    Back in the apartment, they were greeted by another pile of laundry. Li Yifei couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, while Li Yifeng looked at the clothes with dread.

    "We should’ve waited until everything was washed before hanging the first batch," Li Yifei admitted, realizing her mistake.

"It’s fine, sis. We’ll just count it as extra exercise," he said, trying to ease her guilt.

    Li Yifeng could sense his sister’s remorse. But he didn’t mind. After all, she was washing everyone’s clothes, not just her own, and that was already a big help.

The idea of climbing up and down a few more times didn’t bother him.

    Hearing this, Li Yifei’s face relaxed. She walked to the fridge, poured him a glass of cold water, and handed it to him.

It was her way of showing she cared.

Li Yifeng accepted the glass and drank.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," she replied.

    Li Yifeng returned to the computer. His mind focused on selling the item. When he reopened the screen, what he saw was an offer of 3,000 yuan.

For the first time, he found himself speechless.

    "S-Sis! Sis!" he stammered.

    His sister didn’t come right away, as she was still busy putting clothes in the washing machine. He had to call her again, and when she finally came over, he showed her the screen so she could see the price clearly.

Both siblings reacted the same way.

    The current bid was 3,000 yuan. Fortunately, he had listened to his sister’s advice to wait a bit longer.

"Sis, should we sell it now, or wait a little more?"

"Mm, sell it now."

    He immediately closed the auction and waited anxiously for the buyer to transfer the money. It didn’t take long before the notification of payment appeared on his phone.

    This time, the two of them split the money evenly, each receiving 1,500 yuan. Including what they had earned before, both siblings now had over a thousand yuan each. This summer break, they had saved more money than in any previous year, and Li Yifei hadn’t even had to work at a part-time job.

It was truly a great year.

Even if he had to go back and forth hanging laundry all day, he wouldn’t feel tired at all.

But, for now, they kept this success a secret from the rest of the family.

Li Yifeng could hardly wait for tomorrow to come.

However, when he logged back into the game, a message appeared:

‘Dear ID Babigon,

    Our system has detected that you may be using external software to gain unfair advantages in the game. If this continues, your account will be locked. We hope this doesn’t happen again.

Sincerely, The Admin Team’

    Though at only 15 years old, Li Yifeng understood what cheating software was, and he knew he hadn’t used any. Still, the game company had sent him this message.

    There was no way they had any proof of wrongdoing if they actually checked his computer.

    But if he continued, this could escalate to the point where his parents would get involved. Proving his innocence would become even more complicated.

    What should he do? He wanted to ask his sister for advice, but by now the whole family had returned home, so he would have to sleep with the worry for the night and wait to discuss it with her tomorrow.

How should he handle this?

    For the second time in his life, Li Yifeng couldn’t sleep well. The first time was when his sister had been in that accident and ended up in the ICU.

    He didn’t know when he finally fell asleep, but when he woke up, he saw his sister following Grandma Li to the kitchen, probably to help with preparing food for their parents.

    Recently, he had noticed that his sister had been helping Grandma Li more and more, which occasionally prompted him to assist as well.

    Once their parents had left for work, Grandma Li had also gone out.

    Li Yifeng pulled his sister aside to tell her about the warning message. She agreed with his concerns.

    "Proving your innocence would be such a hassle. Who knows what else they might accuse us of? If we fight, we might even need a lawyer. For now, just draw normally and see how things go."

    Li Yifei’s voice sounded dejected. They had been making good money, but then this warning appeared out of nowhere. Still, this was how these games were programmed, there were always conditions for earning prizes.

    It wasn’t her fault that she had been lucky and gotten valuable items, prompting the game admins to send this warning.

    After all, game developers want to make money. From their perspective, it wasn’t fair that someone like her could win without spending anything.

"Right, I’ll just do the draws as usual. They’ll see we aren’t cheating," Li Yifeng agreed.

    When it was time for the next draw, Li Yifeng did it himself. The result was an ordinary item that needed to be combined with others to increase its value.

Hopefully, this would put the game developers at ease.

    Despite the disappointment, Li Yifei’s draws were still going well, possibly because her account was still at a basic level. She continued to sell her items, even though the prices weren’t as high as her brother’s draws.

    Selling items for 20 to 50 yuan each might not seem like much, but adding it up over the week turned into a decent sum. Plus, no more warnings had come from the game admins.

    It seemed that these small, steady earnings didn’t catch the attention of the game moderators.