Deep in the alleys of Shanghai, the aroma of braised pork wafts from Old Zhang's kitchen. Sixty-year-old Zhang Jianguo, a retired primary school math teacher, has just enough pension for him and his wife to live on. His son, Xiao Zhang, is thirty and has been dating his girlfriend for several years but is stuck on the down payment for their house. “1.2 million! Even squeezing our old bones dry, we can't come up with it!” The nagging of his wife and the silent pressure from his son weigh heavily on his heart like a stone.

Until that night.

His son rarely comes home for a meal; after a few bites, he starts scrolling through his phone, grinning from ear to ear. Old Zhang leans over: “What good thing?” His son excitedly points at the X platform: “Dad, look, @cookiedotfun! Their Cookie points can earn @sparkdotfi's airdrop just by doing tasks! Someone in the community shared that it's worth a couple of thousand dollars!” The screen shows various “get-rich koi” posts and the eye-catching #CookieSnaps tag.

Old Zhang instantly thinks of the down payment for his son’s house. “Can points be exchanged for money? Is there really such a good thing?” His hands, which have spent a lifetime calculating, itch. He doesn’t understand Web3 or DeFi, but he knows he can “pick up bargains” online—those endless cuts on Pinduoduo and grabbing red packets in WeChat groups are his expertise.

“Dad, don’t mess around; this is high-tech!” His son tries to talk him out of it.

“So what if it's high-tech? If there’s a manual, I’ll learn!” Old Zhang's stubbornness kicks in, taking out the enthusiasm he had when learning to use computers to make courseware.

@cookiedotfun's interface looks flashy, but the core tasks seem somewhat familiar to Old Zhang:

“Can you earn points just by refreshing messages? Isn't that the same as sharing health posts with the neighborhood aunties?” @cookiedotfun pushes him a few news articles about @sparkdotfi every day, and he reads them word by word, picking one or two that he thinks are “down-to-earth” to repost—his caption is always fixed: “This is pretty good #CookieSnaps #SparkFi.” A fixed template saves brain power!

“Writing insights?” He can't write long essays, but he can keep accounts! When someone in the community discusses the returns from SparkFi, he silently observes for a few days and then writes down the “annualized 15%” data shared by others in his little notebook, takes a photo and sends it out: “The interest is much higher than putting money in the bank (the photo shows his little notebook next to a bunch of garlic for size comparison) #RealInterest #Cookie.” The truth is powerful, attracting a bunch of replies and likes like “down-to-earth” and “Uncle is awesome,” and his points rise rapidly.

“Binding the wallet?” The most troublesome part comes. His son remotely guides him and exhausts all efforts to help him apply for a little fox wallet. To bind @cookiedotfun, he has to check the Ethereum and Solana networks? Old Zhang asks, “Which one is stable?” His son replies impatiently: “Bind them all! Just like shopping for groceries, you have to visit a few stalls!” @cookiedotfun binding is successful, and Old Zhang immediately takes a screenshot and sends it out: “The wallet is bound, waiting to pick up money! #CookieSnaps.”

“Putting in some small money?” Old Zhang feels nervous. His son suggests he put in a few hundred to “play around.” He sees that @sparkdotfi has a “piggy bank” feature (which is actually a stablecoin pool), and according to his notebook, the returns are “very high.” He secretly takes 500 yuan from his grocery savings, asking his son to help him exchange it for USDC to deposit. It's not about high returns; he just wants to earn the rewards for the “saving” points task from Cookie Snaps! Steady!

Old Zhang's “local flavor” method of getting rich:

“Wool-gathering master”: He closely monitors @cookiedotfun's daily sign-in points and sharing tasks, not missing a single one, just like how he used to help his partner queue at the supermarket for eggs. What stages are there in the #CookieSnaps event? Tasks that give more points? He doesn’t understand, but he knows that shouting “the event is great!” in the community is definitely not wrong.

“Easy money” expert: That 500 USDC is like placing a hen in the nest of SparkFi, laying a few “digital eggs” (interest) every day. He watches the growth of his little money and points in @cookiedotfun every day, much more exciting than watching stocks.

“Koi spirit”: After reposting for three months, he has accumulated tens of thousands of points. Suddenly one day, his son calls, excited and incoherent: “Dad! Dad! Airdrop! Real money has been sent to the wallet! Your points have exchanged for several hundred $SPARK tokens! Worth several tens of thousands!” It turns out that @sparkdotfi fulfilled its airdrop promise; although Old Zhang didn’t make it to the top of the points leaderboard, every little bit adds up to a surprise.

Old Zhang was stunned, looking at the unfamiliar numbers in his wallet (his son taught him to see the dollar value), then flipping through his little notebook—he unexpectedly “picked up” nearly 60,000 yuan over the past few months! That's even more than his yearly pension!

Old Zhang's focus in life has completely changed:

In the morning, he goes to the park to practice Tai Chi, and on the way back, he doesn’t forget to take out his phone to interact with cookie friends on Twitter.
By the chessboard with the brothers at the alley entrance, the screenshot of @sparkdotfi’s piggy bank returns in his phone became a bragging tool: “Look, it went up two dimes!”


Every night without fail, he reposts messages from @cookiedotfun on X: “#CookieSnaps persistence leads to rewards! (Attached is a photo of the green plants he nurtured sprouting).”


He tells his son: “This thing online (@cookiedotfun and @sparkdotfi) really has rules! It says it will give points, and it really gives airdrops! Unlike those endless cuts on Pinduoduo! As long as you’re not greedy, follow the tasks, invest a little ‘small capital’ (he means the small amount of USDC in his wallet), and slowly accumulate, you can really win rewards!”

The word in the alley has spread: Teacher Zhang, a retired old man, helped his son “pick up” the down payment online! His X signature has now changed to:
“Live and learn, @cookiedotfun points are good, @sparkdotfi interest is high!”