Chapter 80 (1/2)

Chapter 80: All-seeing Eye (Part 2) II

I clicked on the trending page and saw my clip right at the top . It had been viewed and shared over 800,000 times .

Out of the ten most popular threads, five were related to me and they were all negative .

Only half an hour had pa.s.sed and the incident was already taking over the whole Weibo . I smiled bitterly .

I wanted to get angry but I can't . The world might not live to see the next day .

I scrolled through the private messages and there were all kinds of comments .

Needless to say, all of them were taunting me .

I saw an official warning stating that I had created panic on the web . They demanded me to release a statement within three hours or my account would be banned .

I continued browsing the pages and noticed even more things .

The whole situation wasn't something I could control or turn around any longer .

I shut off my Weibo . I understood that there was no way that I could explain this to the people .

Only one thought crossed my mind . I had to see my father .

If the world was going to end, I would rather spend the time to eat my last meal with him .

I flagged down a taxi and headed to Dad's house .

I had moved to a suburban district a few years ago upon becoming financially secure .

I enjoyed the silence in the suburban area . Why did I even join the television program?

I gave Dad a monthly allowance but went home only during Chinese New Year .

On the road, I asked the driver, ”What would you do if the world is going to end within the next twelve hours?”

He stopped at a red light and turned to look at me . ”Isn't this the hottest topic nowadays? Every pa.s.senger is talking about it . ”

”Is it really that popular?” I asked, smiling .

The driver returned the smile and answered, ”I think there's a fraud making a scene in a television station, predicting that the world is going to end . But, I did think about what I would do . ”

”And what's that?” I asked .

”I thought about spending extravagantly with my family . I would think they're more important than money . ”

I took a look around the cab . There were two kids with bright eyes in the photograph .

”Your children?” I asked .

”Don't underestimate them . One of them is at Beijing University while the other is in Yale . Their school fees cost a bomb, of course, but it's quite alright since I'm minimizing my expenses and driving around more . They're really well-behaved . This little one knows to work part-time while studying . Do you know how many scholars.h.i.+ps he's been offered?” the driver went on proudly .

I smiled before stuffing the photograph back to its original place .

After much talking, he turned over, embarra.s.sed . ”Sorry, I've been talking too much . What about you? What would you do if the world is about to end?”

”I'll go home to my family, exactly what I'm doing right now,” I smiled .

”So you're convinced that the world is about to end? I remember someone predicting the same thing for 2012 over 20 years ago . There was even a movie about it . It's already 2036 now and history's repeating itself . I don't believe it anymore . Plus, I'm still waiting for my children to get married and have children,” he shared .

”I'm not convinced as well but I am still using this as an excuse to visit my family . ”

”So you're escaping work to rush back to your family? Using the end of the

the world as an excuse? What a good idea! It's a pity my children aren't here or I would use it too . It's been tiring enough today,” he said laughingly .

”Is it? How much do you earn in a day?” I inquired .

”On bad days, 2 to 300, on good days 1 to 2,000 . There's no lower and upper limit . I just work hard every day . Other than driving, there's really nothing else I'm good at,” he answered .

I took out my wallet . There was 800 in there .

I held onto the bills as I waited to reach my destination .

We arrived at my dad's and the driver glanced over at the meter . ”25 please . ”

I put 800 on the front seat . ”If I were to give you 800, would you go home? Spend time with your family and give your children a call?”

”Are you really taking the news seriously, sir? The same thing happened years ago and tons of money had been wasted . That cannot happen again . Please clear your mind, sir,” he urged anxiously .

”Don't worry about that . I'm pretty wealthy, 800 isn't much to me . Isn't it good for you to end the day a little earlier? You're already tired, right?” I smiled .