Under the stark white fluorescent lights of the waiting room, a woman sat curled on a plastic chair, filling out a form. Her pen hovered over the "Medical History" section for a long time before finally drawing a single horizontal line. From behind the counter, his sister glanced at her ID, added an extra 600 NTD designated service fee, and handed her a number plate: "The next available agent is Guo Wei."
By the time the woman pushed open the private booth door, Guo Wei had already read the file his sister sent over:
*Age 43, kindergarten cook, mother to a daughter (moderate intellectual disability). A line of small handwritten text in the margin: "Son deceased, Renwu Year."*
He looked up, seeing the unwashed grease stains on her apron sleeves and the pool of nearly dried-up hatred in her eyes.
"My husband... is a middle school department head," she said, her voice hoarse. "He's been having an affair for three years. Now he wants a divorce."
Her nails dug into her palm. "I want that woman... to never dare to laugh again."
Guo Wei was silent for three seconds. His tablet screen flashed with his sister's budget model: *Damage to Social Status (Teacher), Emotional Retaliation (Third Party), Legal Risk Avoidance (Spouse in Public Office)* — the system suggested a quote of 260,000 NTD.
He turned off the screen.
"Two hundred and twenty thousand," he said, his voice steady. "Make him lose his job, be socially ruined. Make the other woman have a mental breakdown. Eight installments, first payment sixty thousand. Do you want it?"
The woman stared, then nodded fiercely, her tears dampening the corner of the contract as she signed.
After she left, his sister's voice came through the ventilation duct, cold as metal:
"You went soft again. The market rate is two hundred sixty thousand. You cut forty thousand."
"Her daughter's care expenses are twenty-three thousand a month," Guo Wei said, staring at the still-wet tear stain on the contract.
"All the more reason we should charge the full two hundred sixty thousand," his sister sighed. "The forty thousand you saved won't change her fate, but it will get your assessments flagged by the system as inaccurate."
"I was just giving some real 'welfare'," he muttered.
"Real welfare?" His sister gave a light, humorless laugh. "Then you should focus on hitting your targets, climbing up from the bottom rungs of the officials, not secretly cutting prices here and ruining your own prospects."
She paused, her voice lowering. "Do this again, and the data will go straight to Father for audit. I won't cover for you anymore."
Guo Wei looked at his reflection in the mirror, seeing the stiff curve of his own lips.
"Understood," he said. "It won't happen again."