The captains all uniformly expressed their admiration for her.
"Not bad, quite confident."
"After a trip to the Secret Realm, did you really unlock the genetic lock of a natural hunter?"
"No, what sci-fi movie did you watch recently?"
"No, I was reading a novel. Novels are better than movies, movies can’t capture what’s described in text."
"What novel? Where can I read it?"
Seeing the captains go off-topic with their myriad questions, Ye Nai and Director Zhuo decisively kept to their own conversation.
"If you have any difficulties with hunting, bring them up, and we’ll figure out solutions for you."
"There’s a small problem."
"Let’s hear it."
"Do you know where I can get a tractor transport crew driver’s license?"
"Tractor transport crew?" Director Zhuo paused with his chopsticks in hand, "Oh right, you have a tractor and a trailer."
"Riding a motorcycle back this time wore me out, if I could get the license, I wouldn’t have to worry about how much game I could carry."
"Okay, I’ll find out how you can take the test. Do you need a car license as well?"
"That requires several trips to the city; it’s too much of a hassle, let’s put that on hold."
"True, the tractor license should be simpler."
Director Zhuo quickly finished his meal, wiped his mouth, and left.
After he left, the jocular captains gathered around again.
"Planning to get a tractor license?"
"Yeah, motorcycles really aren’t suitable for hauling stuff."
"Then come hunting with me after New Year’s Day?" Captain Xiao Ni had a proposal, "Let Ah Qi guide you again, strive to pass on the first try."
"Why not, let’s go together to stock up on meat for the anniversary. We’ll all go, bring enough ammo and supplies, stay in there for over half a month, all the game handled by Xiao Yezi."
"Sounds good, you guys hunt, and I’ll practice driving. Once I pass my test, we can catch live ones."
"Agreed, it’s settled then."
The captains had no objections and even felt it was a good suggestion, as Ye Nai could greatly enhance their endurance for hunting in the Secret Realm.
After dinner, everyone went home to enjoy the New Year holiday.
Ye Nai got home, washed her face, soaked her feet in hot water, then booted up her computer to play online games.
Deep into her game, the phone rang. It was her mom calling.
Ye Nai flipped her phone over, choosing not to answer.
The call rang for several seconds before it hung up on its own, then started ringing again after a while.
Ye Nai continued not to answer.
This repeated five or six times, her mom persistently calling.
Ye Nai held out until she finished a round of monsters, went back to the city to turn in her quest, and then on the seventh ring, she finally hit the answer button.
"Hello?"
"Where have you been? You’re only answering now!" Ye Nai put the phone on speaker, and her mom’s impatient voice came through.
"I was taking a shower. What do you want?" Ye Nai responded evenly.
"Asking when you’re coming home for New Year’s, what else would I want? It’s almost New Year’s."
"Oh, I’m not coming home for New Year’s."
"Not coming home?! Where are you going then?!" Her mom’s voice suddenly rose, and her dad’s voice came in too, "No, she must come back. Her older cousin is getting married during New Year’s, it wouldn’t look right if she didn’t come."
"Did you hear what your dad said? You must come home for the New Year."
"What does Uncle’s celebration have to do with me? Should I give a gift? Then I’ll give two hundred."
"That’s your cousin. You make so much money every day, and you’re only giving two hundred? Where does that leave our family’s face?" her dad’s angry shout came through the phone.
"Just two hundred, plus eight hundred for the New Year’s expenses makes a thousand. Do you want it or not, just say."
No matter how furiously her parents raged on the other end, Ye Nai remained emotionally stable, her tone calm and unshaken.
This was a survival tactic honed from childhood, never to dive into her parents’ emotions—it would kill her.
"No way. When the neighborhood kids come home, they give tens of thousands to their families. You only give this little and want us to be the laughing stock of the neighbors?" her mom’s voice surged again; the eight hundred for New Year’s Day was accepted, yet it was deemed too little for the New Year.
"Do you want this thousand or not?"
"No..."
Upon hearing this word, Ye Nai didn’t wait to hear what else they were going to say and hung up the phone immediately.
They outright said "no," so of course, she hung up.
Then continued playing online games.
She set her character on auto-path, running around the city on various quests, when the phone rang again.
Ye Nai calmly pressed to answer, on speakerphone.
"Hello?"
"Big sister." The voices of her three younger siblings came through the phone.
"Oh, it’s you guys. What made you think to call me?" Ye Nai glanced at the caller ID, which showed her dad’s number.
"Big sister, when are you coming home? We haven’t seen you in so long, we miss you."
"Didn’t mom and dad tell you? I’m not coming back, I’m going on a trip."
The siblings barely had a chance to respond when their mom’s anxious voice came through the phone.
"What trip, don’t trips cost money?!"
"I’m not spending your money on my trip, why are you so agitated?"
"Give sixty thousand, just give sixty thousand and we won’t bother you. You’re the oldest sister, you go out to make money and don’t give a cent to your family, we’ve really raised you for nothing."
As soon as Ye Nai heard it was about money, she pressed the record button.
"Just open your mouth and you ask for sixty thousand? Counting it as ten thousand a month for half a year? I don’t even make ten thousand a month moving trash, yet you have the face to ask for money. Is having children such a low investment with high returns? Besides the government benefits, have you spent sixty thousand on me in these eighteen years? Need me to remind you that the basic household expenses come from the subsidies of us four kids? We haven’t seen a penny of your salaries."
Ye Nai didn’t know if the other side also had the speaker on, but she said it deliberately just like that, hammering nails into their hearts. Whether her siblings could hear or understand, she couldn’t care less; what mattered was making her point clear.
"No way, it needs to be sixty thousand. A big sister is like a mother; you need to provide for your three siblings."
"Big sister as a mother, fine, transfer their guardianship to me, including their subsidies. I’ll be their parent."
"Dream on!"
Ye Yu and Yu Qing weren’t foolish; treating the older sister like a mother was merely a moral trap to get money from the eldest daughter. Now realizing she wasn’t falling for it, they abandoned any pretense of parental affection.
Shortly after, Ye Nai heard the sound of a slap over the phone, followed by her younger sister’s screams and the sound of sticks beating.
"Dad, stop hitting her, please stop, I was wrong, I was wrong."
"Dad, don’t hit my sister, you’ll kill her, please don’t hit her."
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Accompanied by her brothers’ pleading cries, Yu Qing’s voice came again.
"Ask your sister for money, two hundred thousand. If she doesn’t pay, we’ll beat your sister to death."
"Big sister, there are people collecting debts at home, don’t send money, don’t send money."
While screaming and crying, her younger sister blurted out the real reason they were so desperately demanding money.
Ye Nai suddenly stood up and moved away from the computer desk.
After pacing around her room twice, she calmed down and returned to the phone.