After Binding the System, I Became Rich

The trainee, looking completely flustered, took the POS machine and shakily processed the payment. The nearby sales reps watched with a mix of jealousy and frustration.

Ignoring their stares, I spoke up again. “By the way, do you have any recommendations for cars with high safety ratings?”

One of the sales reps began to speak, but I cut her off. “No thanks. I want this trainee to tell me.”

The trainee’s eyes welled up a bit as she said, “Yes, ma’am. How about a Volvo? It’s a great choice.”

She pulled out her phone and started showing me details about the car. “The only thing is, we don’t have any in stock right now. The last one was taken yesterday, so you’d have to wait about a week.”

I looked it over and decided it was fine. “That works. How much is it?”

“About $2 million for the full price,” the trainee said.

“Charge it,” I told her.

The three sales reps' faces dropped as they watched the trainee process my card, their earlier arrogance completely vanished.

As the system chimed in my head, “Congratulations! You’ve spent $16.4 million. Keep it up!” I heard the announcement and decided not to waste any more time.

Driving Nancy’s new car, we headed toward the luxury shopping district downtown. Nancy was bubbling with excitement the entire way.

“Kimberly, this is so amazing!”

“Did you see the look on those sales reps’ faces when we left? It was priceless!”

“So funny!”

“This is so awesome, Nancy!”

Nancy and I had both grown up in foster care after being abandoned. As a child, I was frail and often went without food because I couldn’t compete with the stronger kids. The caretakers only served meals at set times and didn’t care about those who didn’t get enough.

It was during one of those hungry times that Nancy showed up. She gave me a bun and promised to look after me from then on.

Nancy, two years older than me, was fierce, and even the older kids in the home were scared of her. Thanks to her, I never went hungry again.

Nancy always said she was like my sister. When I asked her about her real sister, she fell silent. I later learned that her sister had died in a car accident while saving her. Her parents, having a new baby, didn’t want her anymore and had brought her to the city and left her at the foster home.

I once asked Nancy if she ever wanted to find her parents. She said that once they abandoned her, they were no longer her parents.

So, we grew up depending on each other, becoming each other’s only family.

Now, Nancy was thrilled. “Kimberly, I still can’t believe I’m in a Maserati worth millions!”

“I never imagined this would happen.”

“How many handbags do you plan to buy, Kimberly?”

How many? I looked at my excited friend. I wasn’t planning on just a few bags. “You’ll see when we get there.”

Since Nancy loved handbags, I decided to take her to the store and let her stock up.

As soon as we walked into the store, the sales associate at the handbag counter greeted us with a bright smile. “Hi there! Can I help you with anything today?”

Her friendly attitude made me think of the surly salespeople at the previous store. Clearly, not everyone is the same.

Nancy and I exchanged grins. It was decided—we’d be shopping here.

“I’ll take this purple one,” I said.

“And this orange one,” I added.

“And this gray one,” I continued.

The sales associate, focused on taking notes on her phone, jotted down my requests.

“Besides those three, I want every other bag in the store,” I declared.

There was a loud thud as the sales associate’s phone dropped in shock.