22 Task one

Sorry for the late update! It was my birthday yesterday so l ended up not writing much!

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In the sports hall, students of each grade stood in separate lines and teachers flitted through lines to ensure that everyone was there. Those who were not in the school were already crossed out and those who were trying to skip were quickly found. Once all the students had been accounted for, the principal lifted up his megaphone and told everyone to stay quiet.

The police then came up to say a few words about the ongoing investigation into Yue Linlan and they called upon witnesses of any of the incidents to speak to them as soon as possible. Both teachers and students were cautioned to not spread around rumours about the investigation. That speech took about 5 minutes during which Bai Lianhua was looking at the taskbar, wondering how to get that last 5%. Once the police finished speaking, they quickly left the sports hall in long strides leaving the students and teachers behind.

The principal then spoke: "Firstly, it has been decided that the student named Yue Linlan has been expelled from the school. This is due to the fact that we want to maintain our reputation for having excellent students. Secondly, the school has unanimously decided to ban the use of phones and any other electronic items on the school premises. If you are caught, you will incur a 10 point demerit."

A boy in the crowd gasped in shock: "10 points?? That could make the difference between a pass or a fail?! So ruthless!" Students around him were nodding and everyone was murmuring about this new policy.

"Quiet!" The principal shouted and all the students stopped speaking. "I have yet to talk about the third policy. If you are caught falling in love, having boyfriends or girlfriends, you shall incur a 20 point demerit. A school is a place for learning not to have romantic adventures! Lastly, someone has kindly donated money for the school to build dormitories. Next semester, the school will become a full boarding school and students will only be allowed home at the end of the term."

The principal didn't explain to the students why the school needed to become full boarding but he knew very well that it was to stop influential people from interfering with the school's administration.

"You are now dismissed back to your classes." The principal set the megaphone down on the floor and the students filed out of the sports hall year by year. Because Bai Lianhua was in the third year, she was one of the last people to leave. Once outside, there were numerous discussions about these policies.

"I think l might have to change school! I really don't understand why they would ban phones. My phone is my baby."

Several students nodded and resolved to tell their parents to move them later. Bai Lianhua didn't really care whether or not she had her phone, that was the least of her problems. Since Yue Linlan was well known as being her twin sister, people were still looking at her and gossiping behind her back but she couldn't do much about it. People like to talk about interesting things and Yue Linlan was definitely the most interesting.

Once school finished, Bai Lianhua walked out of the school gates unhurriedly. She knew that mom Hu was not coming to pick her up so she walked back home by herself. Looking at the blue sky above her and the hustle and bustle of the city around her, she felt that her new life wasn't too bad. She was living in someone else's body and doing someone else's work but it gave her a new experience. One that she wouldn't get had she gone to heaven.

Her phone buzzed in her blazer pocket and she whipped it out to see a message from Hu Pingheng asking her what time he would pick her up tomorrow.

She replied with a '6' and continued walking back home. While walking past an electronics shop, she saw both the Wu family and the Yue family being mentioned in the news. She sighed and felt quite sorry for them because they didn't even know who calculated them.

'If it was me and l was ruined by someone l don't know for things that haven't happened, what would l feel? Anger? Sadness?' These thoughts also led her to question the existence of the system: 'Is Hu Lianhua's life unfortunate? Yes, but in life, there are winners and losers. Not everyone can win and not everyone loses. Will people be punished just because their schemes made them winners? Didn't my schemes make me a winner? If you think about it, in this life, Yue Linlan lived an unfortunate life. Shouldn't she be given a second chance as well? Things are looking very sketchy!' Bai Lianhua wanted to believe that she was doing a noble thing in helping people change their lives.

The system interrupted this kind of thinking very quickly: "All these questions have nothing to do with you. All you have to do is complete tasks and enjoy the scenery - why ask so many questions? Curiosity killed the cat!"

Bai Lianhua pressed down her suspicions momentarily. She knew she had no power and she was just starting out as a tasker. If she questioned too much, she didn't doubt that she would be thrown right into hell. That was something she desperately wanted to avoid at all costs including the temporary loss of her morals.

Later that day, there was a huge argument between mom Hu and dad Hu and Bai Lianhua didn't want to get involved so she just cleverly stayed in her room. All she could hear was shouting, sobbing and then the slamming of doors.

She called out the system and wanted to watch the surveillance videos of the day since she remembered that she had put surveillance on Dad Hu.

The argument started like this:

Dad Hu came back home after work and saw Mom Hu sitting in the kitchen in a daze. He asked her what the problem was and she showed him a letter from her lawyer. Apparently, she was getting sued by her family for diverting their resources to Dad Hu. The letter also contained a time for the court summons which just happened to be the next day and the couple were both expected to be there.

In shock, Dad Hu started blaming mom Hu for making hasty decisions back then to get revenge on her family and said that her actions had nothing to do with him - he had a reputation to maintain and he didn't want it to be ruined by his wife.

Mom Hu cried saying that she was the one who built him up to where he is today and that he couldn't abandon her and make her face all these legal charges on her own.

Dad Hu tried to coax her: "Don't worry! It's just a court summons. The Hu family wouldn't be so ruthless and put their own daughter in jail for something that happened 15 years ago. They just want to scare us a bit. You go for me and l'll support you from the back! No worries!"

Mom Hu didn't believe him at all: "You ungrateful man! I know you! The moment l go there, you'll probably leave me in court and make a run for it! Don't think l haven't been staring at your actions all these years! I know you saved money quietly and bought a villa in the countryside. Were you planning on going there?! HA! We'll face this together, don't even think about leaving!"

Dad Hu's true nature couldn't be hidden from the woman who slept next to him for 15 years. Both of them knew that he was ruthless and when people had no value, they would be cruelly discarded.

"What about Hu Lianhua? Remember what you promised her parents!"

"A promise is worth nothing! Hu Baozhi, don't mess with me! You better go to the court alone tomorrow!" Dad Hu slammed the door and left the hour only a mere 20 minutes after he came back.

Bai Lianhua was shocked at this development that she couldn't help but rub her eyes - she thought she was dreaming but everything recorded was very real. The key point is that Hu Lianhua was adopted because of some promise! Things were getting more and more complicated and Bai Lianhua marvelled at just how deep people's minds were. Neither of her adopted parents told her that she was adopted because of a promise.

Mom Hu continued crying after Dad Hu left and there was no warm laughter reverberating in the house. Bai Lianhua didn't want mom Hu to know that she knew all that they argued about but she couldn't leave her 'mother' downstairs alone.

She made a cup of lemon tea and brought it to mom Hu.

Mom Hu pushed the cup away and it fell to the floor bursting into many porcelain fragments. Bai Lianhua sighed and put a box of tissues near her. "Don't cry, mom. We'll figure it out."

No reply.

Bai Lianhua shrugged and walked back to her room. There was nothing she could do for someone who didn't want to be comforted. She also felt that Mom Hu blamed her for what happened.

'Just what is this promise?'