Wealth made him willful and unrestrained.

A slap cannot ring by itself; a war of insults takes at least two people.

And on the Internet, especially when public figures are involved, it is never just two people. Their fans charge in, thousands against thousands, and that is putting it mildly.

The singer known as Jay had originally meant to stand on the high ground of morality, denounce David Niu, and pick up a wave of new followers while he was at it. He had not expected David Niu to answer him so bluntly, and to insult him besides.

Though David Niu’s post contained not a single vulgar word, the final line, asking whether his family knew how terrible he sounded when he sang, was far more cutting than any curse.

Especially when that sort of phrasing had become wildly popular across the American Internet, with signs that it might even spread abroad, Jay could not help but flare up.

"Go back to Tuvalu and be a dictator there. America does not welcome someone like you, someone who would drive an entire nation to the brink of poverty and bankruptcy just to save face."

As before, Jay’s post directly mentioned David Niu.

"Heh. So this man really likes to stand on the moral high ground? Does he actually think he’s a saint?" David Niu laughed when he saw the message. Some people were exactly like that: they wanted to ride the wave of popularity, wanted to gather followers, yet insisted on cloaking themselves in morality and mouthing noble sentiments. Wasn’t that just wanting to have it both ways?

David Niu’s goal was to muddy the waters. Since the other side had accepted the challenge, he naturally kept striking back.

"A certain singer cannot sing worth a damn and still wants to represent America? As for whether my Tuvalu will go bankrupt, or whether my people are poor, you really have no standing to speak."

Jay was probably still glued to his own social feed. Seeing David Niu’s new post, he immediately replied: "Yes, I cannot represent my country, but you can represent yours. So, ignoring the opposition of your people, you’re planning to build an international airport. Tell me, when you spend that much money, did you ever consider that your people in Tuvalu can barely afford water?"

Barely afford water? Where had that come from?

David Niu thought it over and guessed the singer must have looked up some information on Tuvalu. But Tuvalu was changing by the day. Ever since David Niu had earned the first sum of money for it, he had already had Burns arrange subsidies for imported drinking water and vegetables.

After all, he had once ordered that immigration not be permitted; if he also failed to raise the standard of living for the people of Tuvalu, then a revolt leading to the loss of the country would be a joke.

"Singer, do you really understand Tuvalu? It is true that, because of its geography, Tuvalu lacks water resources and even vegetables. But since I came to the throne, I have improved this situation. Now, not a single person in Tuvalu lacks water or vegetables."

Jay, realizing he had made a fool of himself, showed no embarrassment at all and continued to reply.

"Tuvalu’s per capita annual income is only a little over one thousand dollars. Isn’t that poverty? And you want to spend two billion dollars building an airport. Tell me, can your people even afford your plane tickets?"

This war of insults had, from the very beginning, drawn the attention of countless onlookers, and the follower counts of both men began to surge wildly.

Seeing that his own follower count had already surpassed five million, David Niu curled his lip and decided to change tactics. One could not defend forever without striking back.

"Thanks to a certain singer’s reminder, my people do indeed lack effective ways to earn money. But that is all right. I will take care of them. I hereby announce that starting this month, every citizen of Tuvalu, regardless of age or gender, will receive an unconditional monthly living allowance of three thousand dollars. At the same time, media friends from all over the world are welcome to come to Tuvalu and verify this for yourselves. No choice about it: when one has money, one can be willful."

David Niu was not joking. This had been his idea from the start; he was merely taking the opportunity to announce it. He believed that only by improving Tuvalu’s national welfare could he attract immigrants from other countries.

Besides, Tuvalu currently had only eleven thousand people. Three thousand dollars a month for each of them came to just over thirty million dollars monthly. David Niu could easily afford it.

He was just about to have Castro call Burns to put the plan into action when his phone rang.

"Burns? I was just about to look for you."

"Your Majesty, is what you posted on the social network true?" Burns had his own social media account and had been following David Niu’s updates, which was why he could call so promptly.

"Of course it’s true. Haven’t you heard the saying that a ruler does not speak in jest? Before the reporters arrive in Tuvalu, have all the money distributed. I’ll have Castro transfer the funds to you."

"No problem. I’ll arrange it now." On the other end, Burns shook his head with a bitter smile. He could not tell whether such a willful king was a blessing or a curse.

As soon as David Niu announced that the people of Tuvalu would receive a monthly living allowance of three thousand dollars, the Internet exploded. Everyone was stunned by his extravagance.

What did three thousand dollars a month mean? And this for every citizen.

A data enthusiast immediately posted the 2011 ranking of countries by per capita income: Norway in first place, with an annual per capita income of 90,270 dollars; the United States in sixth, with 50,450; Hong Kong in eighteenth, with 35,690.

If David Niu really did this, then Tuvalu would instantly rise from the bottom of the world’s rankings to the top twenty. That was solid, unmistakable developed-country territory.

And it had to be noted that this three thousand dollars was pure windfall, requiring no labor and no contribution at all. One only needed to be a citizen of Tuvalu.

At once, the spectators drawn in by the feud began debating whether this was truly possible.

Soon, someone posted Tuvalu’s latest announcement from the government website, and it really did state exactly what David Niu had said: the monthly allowance of three thousand dollars had been written into national law.

"I want to immigrate to Tuvalu!" That line instantly became the latest status update for countless social media users. And the four words "rich and willful" became a new internet buzzphrase.

David Niu did not pay attention to the online debate over the matter. Instead, he continued his merciless taunts of Jay.

"Just learned that this singer rose to fame through a talent show. I believe that if he had a different face, he would not even make it through the auditions."

Jay had already been shocked by David Niu and had almost forgotten to reply. Now that he had been tagged again, he promptly sent back a message, sneering inwardly: you brought the hatred on yourself, so do not blame me.

"As for how well I sing, an outsider like you has no资格 to comment. The judges who selected me were all respected senior figures in the music industry. You may say whatever you like about me, but you are not allowed to slander their character. Also, you would do well to calculate how long your living allowance can really last. Don’t go around paying it for a few months only to cut it or stop it altogether."

In addition to tagging David Niu, Jay’s post also tagged the judges from his talent show appearance. They were all heavyweights in the music world, each with millions of followers.

And with Jay’s tags, those music industry veterans also spoke up. Their remarks all said that the selection process had been entirely fair and that Jay’s singing ability was indeed quite good. None of them directly attacked David Niu.

After looking at the social media posts of those judges, David Niu laughed. It seemed that not everyone was willing to win followers by offending people. Still, he could only blame himself for being too weak at provoking hatred. Thinking of the other transmigrators, which one of them did not have enemies everywhere, springing up at any time and place? As for him, to this point, he had only exchanged a few lines on social media with a single singer. Truly a little embarrassing.

"Whether I am an outsider, or whether I have the right to comment on your singing, we shall see in a week. As for the living allowance and other benefits, they will only increase, never decrease. I only hope that one day you will not want to immigrate to Tuvalu, because I assure you that I will never approve it."