"Here's a hundred dollars for the elderly. You spend it, I'll pay for it." While filming on the streets, I ran into an elderly man named Arthur who lived alone. With this "huge sum" of one hundred dollars, he showed the entire internet the power of a hundred-dollar bill. The video went viral. Arthur became famous, and so did I. But with fame came Arthur's relatives, whom he hadn't contacted in decades. And the situation seemed to gradually spiral out of my control. 1 I'm a vlogger who films "Here's a hundred dollars, you spend it, I'll pay for it" challenges on the streets. My main target group is the elderly. One day, I met Arthur, an old man who was collecting recyclables on the street. "Sir, here's a hundred dollars. Buy whatever you want, I'll foot the bill." When I first met Arthur, his naive and charming smile moved me. "Child, I can't take a reward without merit." After my explanation, Arthur finally agreed, albeit embarrassed. In my previous series featuring spirited young girls, most would head straight for a Starbucks or bubble tea. But Arthur went straight to a food cart. "Boss, give me two plain buns." One bun costs 50 cents. Total spent: $1. "Sir, you still have $99 left." Arthur opened the warm bun with satisfaction and held it up to my mouth. "Child, do you want some?" I waved my hand. Arthur nodded to himself as if realizing something, and started eating. He looked at me with a face full of kindness. "You guys were born in a good era, no worries about food or drink." Arthur ate one bun and tucked the other away, saying he'd save it for lunch. He opened a somewhat dirty water bottle and drank a few mouthfuls of cold water. Arthur had been out collecting recyclables since 5 AM. He said if he came out late, others would pick them all. Sometimes he was out all day, so lunch was just a quick bite to keep him going. I pointed to the supermarket ahead and asked if he wanted to buy something inside. "Can you buy me a pack of cigarettes?" Arthur asked, looking a bit ashamed. I thought to myself, he must be a heavy smoker. Despite being frugal, he splurged on a $12 pack of cigarettes. "Sir, $99 minus $12 leaves $87." Since it was spend-as-you-please, I didn't say anything. I pointed at the supermarket and asked if he wanted to buy anything else. To my surprise, Arthur left the pack of cigarettes on the counter. "Sir, your cigarettes," the supermarket owner and I said simultaneously. Arthur waved his hand, full of gratitude towards the owner. "You give me so many cardboard boxes every time without charging me. This is for you. I see you often smoke this brand." The owner was very surprised that the cigarettes were a gift for him. I felt ashamed of my narrow-mindedness just now. Leaving the supermarket, Arthur took me to a nearby open-air market, saying things there were cheaper. Arthur headed straight for a grain and oil stall. Seeing the white flour, his eyes sparkled. "How much is this flour?" "$2.50." "Give me five pounds." "What about rice?" "$3." "Give me five pounds." "Do you have salt?" "Two bags." Arthur picked up some eggs. When the shopkeeper held open a bag and told him they were $4.50 a pound, Arthur was startled and hurriedly put them down. It was obvious he wanted to eat them but found them too expensive. I took the bag and handed it back to Arthur. "Sir, you spend, I pay. Just buy them." Arthur carefully picked out four eggs. "This is too few, not even enough for one a day." "Girl, I want to eat one a week." I looked at Arthur in shock. "One a week?" I packed twenty eggs for him. "Sir, you need three or four just to make scrambled eggs. If your children come back, these four eggs won't even be enough for one meal." Arthur stopped me and gently took the eggs out one by one. "Child, I have no children, just me. That rice and flour are enough for me to eat for a month." Arthur looked nearly eighty; how could he have no children? 2 Calculating these items, the total was $36.50. The owner rounded it down, leaving $51. $36.50 is barely enough for me to have a decent meal out, but exchanged for rice and flour, Arthur could eat for a month. I was truly shocked; it felt like Arthur and I were using different currencies. I asked Arthur what else he needed. He looked troubled, but his eyes fell on the meat stall by the street. "Sir, want to get a piece of meat?" Arthur's eyes flashed with joy, but he asked me, "Is meat expensive?" "Sir, don't you know how much meat is per pound?" Arthur waved his hand and said he hadn't eaten meat in a long time. I walked to the pork stall and asked for a pound of pork. Pork was $6 a pound, which I didn't think was expensive, but Arthur pulled me back. "Let's eat chicken, chicken is cheaper." "But pork and chicken don't taste the same, Sir." My words made Arthur laugh. With $6 for meat, $35 remained. "This... what else to buy?" Arthur was in a dilemma. "How about we stop here, girl? This is already a lot of stuff." I never knew spending a hundred dollars could be so difficult. The era of electronic payments had long made me lose the concept of spending money. I gently reminded Arthur if there was anything he usually couldn't bear to buy. Arthur thought for a moment and said he wanted to buy a power strip. I went to the hardware store and bought a power strip for Arthur. Holding it, he muttered, "If only I had a power strip earlier, my home wouldn't have caught fire." "Sir, your home caught fire?" "Yeah, burned down completely." My heart sank. Only then did I notice the somewhat blackened and tattered clothes on Arthur. Turns out they were burned by fire. A power strip costs only $18, but Arthur lost a home because of $18. So I decided that after filming, I must go home with Arthur to take a look. "Sir, $17 left. What else do you want to buy?" "Buy a bar of soap, and a tube of toothpaste." Arthur chose the cheapest ones, totaling $8. "Sir, $9 left. Do you want to buy some vegetables?" Arthur nodded and picked some potatoes and radishes, $1.50 a pound. Not only cheap but most importantly, these two can be stored for a long time. A total of four pounds, two big bags of vegetables, leaving $2. An old lady with a hunched back and white hair by the street whispered, "Want spinach? I grew it myself, just dug it up this morning. $1 a pound, one bundle is a pound." The rows of small spinach were neatly arranged on her stall, not a single yellow leaf. It was obvious the old lady was meticulous, but other vendors sold spinach for $2.50 a pound. She sold it for $1 and whispered, probably afraid of upsetting the other vendors. Arthur turned around. "Give me a pound." Arthur whispered in my ear, "Girl, give her the remaining $2." I paused for a moment, then nodded. The old lady asked me casually what I was doing. I said I was filming videos, helping elderly people at random. Hearing this, the old lady looked kind. "Good child." While talking, the old lady stuffed an extra bundle into the plastic bag. I was about to say I only wanted one pound. But the old lady signaled me to be quiet. "This bundle is a gift from me. Don't tell the old man; it's not easy for him at his age. I want to do something good too." Her words were recorded in my phone video. The old lady didn't know her act of kindness would open a brand new path for her in the future. The mutual kindness between two people warmed my heart. At the same time, this video went viral. Arthur went viral, and so did I. 3 The comments section exploded. [This hundred dollars was spent so worthily!] [Your hundred dollars and my hundred dollars seem different!] [So the price of one eyebrow pencil can buy so many things?] [This is the real life of people at the bottom!] [Simple and honest old man, my heart aches watching this!] [Can the blogger visit the old man's home? I'm willing to donate money to help him.] ... I updated with the tragic state of Arthur's home. The fire indeed burned away his lifelong possessions. Arthur showed me the skin on his leg burned by the fire, which had become inflamed and adhered. I asked Arthur why he didn't go to the hospital. He just shook his head and said the hospital was too expensive, he couldn't afford it. He told me not to worry; he had already bought burn ointment from the clinic. I immediately took Arthur to the hospital. The doctor dressed his wounds and removed the dead tissue. Arthur didn't even frown during the whole process. I asked him if it hurt. Arthur just said lightly, "This little injury is nothing compared to what I went through back in the day." The doctor called me to get medicine, and I booked a full physical examination for Arthur while I was at it. I told Arthur that kind-hearted netizens online wanted to help him rebuild his house and treat his illness. He asked me what kind of "friend" a netizen (internet friend) is? I smiled and explained, "It's a group of like-minded people from all over the country." Arthur nodded with a smile and said, "So they are comrades, right?" I thought about it and agreed completely, "That's right." Originally having only over a hundred thousand followers, I gained millions overnight. Arthur's story touched the hearts of tens of thousands of netizens. We built a house for him, furnished it, bought a fridge and color TV, and filled the fridge with pork, eggs, and fresh vegetables. Arthur was moved beyond words. Nearing eighty, he stood in front of the camera wiping his tears. A few days later, an account posted several videos in succession, including screen recordings of my live stream, with eye-catching titles: [Ten minutes of non-stop "Carnival" gifts, yet only built a house for Old Man Arthur?] [Eighty-year-old man exploited miserably!] A "Carnival" gift costs about a few hundred dollars after the platform's cut. Ten minutes could yield two or three thousand dollars. The total gifts for one night would be around four thousand. This assumes over 100k viewers online, which isn't the usual case. Another video title: [Using netizens' sympathy to pay for her luxury goods!] The picture was me buying luxury goods at a counter, but I was buying a bag for my mom, unrelated to the live stream. But netizens ignored this. The narrative was quickly swayed, and comments flooded in asking me to disclose my live stream income. I hired someone to investigate the account posting this information and found out the person claimed to be Arthur's nephew and niece. But previously I learned from Arthur that he had no children. These nephew and niece didn't appear when Arthur was helpless before, so why did they suddenly pop up now? Just as I was confused, the hospital where Arthur had his physical exam called me, saying the report was out. He was sick. 4 The doctor told me Arthur had stomach cancer. With active treatment, there was hope. I immediately arranged hospitalization and told the doctor we would fully cooperate with the treatment, and money was not an issue. When I returned to the ward after arranging everything, a man and a woman were busy inside. Seeing me enter, Arthur enthusiastically introduced them as his nephew and niece. The two looked at me with shifty eyes. I felt they didn't come with good intentions. Arthur mentioned before that he never married and didn't keep in touch with relatives. How could a nephew and niece suddenly pop up? Plus the inexplicable comments online before, I feared they had ulterior motives. But seeing the long-lost smile on Arthur's face, I swallowed the words on the tip of my tongue. "Uncle, at critical moments, it has to be family. Outsiders won't treat you sincerely." "You are like my own father from now on. No difference between uncle and father. We will take care of you until the end." "Exactly. Outsiders only use you as a money tree. What's that word? Right, right, a tool." Arthur scoffed, "What money tree can I be at my age?" His nephew deliberately raised his voice, "Using you to gain sympathy, tricking netizens into sending gifts. I heard they can make over ten thousand a night." Arthur looked at his nephew in disbelief. "Can make that much?" His niece glanced at me and rolled her eyes. "Exactly. Making a hundred thousand a week is easy. How much does it cost to build a shabby house for you? Just dismissed you like that. Who knows whose conscienceless pocket the rest of the money went into!" His nephew stood up and threw the towel into the basin, splashing water on my face. Relying on his burly figure, he walked up to me and threatened, "Return my uncle's money, or you'll be in trouble!" His fierce look was obviously meant to scare me, but I wasn't a pushover. Before I could speak, his niece came up and slapped me across the face. "Young but not doing human deeds, earning money from the elderly, money against conscience. Careful of karma, ending up an old maid no one wants." I had never been hit since I was little. Before her hand could drop, I grabbed her pinky and bent it upwards. She screamed in pain. While she was screaming, I grabbed her hair and pulled it back. I forced her to look up at me and asked fiercely in her ear, "Is not getting married the biggest curse you have for a woman?" "Then I wish you a disabled pinky and a bald patch on your scalp." My hand kept bending her pinky backward. She cried in pain, but her mouth remained foul. "Bitch, let go of me. Ah... it hurts... Brother, save me." The nephew stepped forward to push me away but was held back by Arthur behind him. The nephew shook off Arthur, pulling him from the hospital bed to the floor. A stark contrast to the filial appearance just now. "Don't fucking pull me." Arthur hugged the nephew's leg tightly on the floor, almost pleading, "John, what are you doing?" Hospital security arrived upon hearing the noise and stopped the farce. The doctor asked who the family was. The nephew and niece straightened their backs and stepped forward. "We are the family, the insiders. As for other idle people, I think your hospital should kick them out." "Okay, then come with me to pay the fees. Ensure there are sufficient funds on the card." "What? Pay... pay how much?" "Deposit five thousand first." Hearing this, the nephew and niece immediately stepped back and pointed at me. "Money, she pays." Mention money and family ties are gone. I paid the money and heard the nephew and niece whispering in the corridor. "Tonight we'll use our own account to live stream the old man. Can't let that bitch earn another cent. Look how generous she is, paying five thousand just like that. How much has she earned using the old man!"
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