August, the hottest time in Yanjing.
In a village near Yanjiao, two aunties flanked Rong Ziyin, forcing him to look at two small, listless ducks in front of him.
“Little Rong, look, did their ducks give my ducks some kind of disease? Ever since their ducks came to our house, my female ducks haven’t laid any eggs!” “Bullshit!
Your ducks are like sluts, they can’t let go of any male they see, what does that have to do with my precious duck? It’s your ducks that are sick. After my ducks ate a bite of your food, they started shedding feathers when they came back.”
Oh dear, I can’t live like this, I’m counting on selling duck eggs for money, if these ducks get sick, my whole family will starve for the next six months…” One auntie wiped away a tear and started to speak, but the other auntie yelled “Aww!” and drowned her out.
“You heartless old man! My family’s only breeding drake is gone! How will the ducklings hatch this fall? How will the mother ducks brood? Rather than starve to death, I’ll hang myself at the village chief’s door with my eighty-year-old mother!”
“Oh my god, I can’t live like this!”
The two women put on quite a show, attracting a crowd of villagers who sighed and shook their heads at the two groups of listless ducks.
“To be honest, these two ducks look pretty wretched. I hope they don’t die.”
Died…
Hearing those words, the two women cried even harder, as if they had lost their husbands rather than the ducks.
Rong Ziyin tried to speak several times but couldn’t get a word in edgewise, so she simply stopped and squatted down to carefully examine the two groups of ducks.
Finally, the commotion became too much for them, so the onlookers quickly went to the village committee and called the village chief to mediate.
The village chief, a kind-hearted man, quickly joined in the comforting words upon seeing the two women crying. “Hey, women are just so emotional. Alright, let’s stop crying. Isn’t there a veterinarian from the livestock station here? What are you afraid of? Our Dr. Rong is a top student from the city.”
As he spoke, the village chief patted Rong Ziyin on the shoulder. “Hey Dr. Rong, what’s wrong with these ducks?”
Finally, the commotion subsided. Rong Ziyin stood up, glanced at the village chief, and slowly replied, “They’re sick.”
“…” This was clearly a pointless statement. Not only the village chief, but even the onlookers and the two aunties fell silent instantly.
Rong Ziyin clearly saw a line of comments floating above everyone’s heads—[Awkwardness +1]
The system in her mind promptly issued a notification: “Total gold coins gained: 56~ [National Treasure-style cuteness.jpg]”
Rong Ziyin calmly accepted the system’s adorable emoji and refocused her attention on the two groups of ducks.
It was all an unexpected disaster.
Rong Ziyin was a top student in the Veterinary Medicine Department of an agricultural university, receiving the National Scholarship for three consecutive years. He was originally guaranteed admission to a combined Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral program, but at the final stage, he was framed by a villain and inexplicably became entangled in a high-interest loan dispute.
He reported it to the police, went to court, but ultimately lost his guaranteed admission due to moral failings.
The only saving grace was that with the court as the prosecution, the loan shark stopped harassing the school and started sending text messages.
Even so, Rong Ziyin’s ending wasn’t much brighter. A promising future pillar of the scientific research community was relegated to a remote, desolate livestock station as a veterinarian. Rong Ziyin himself ended up with a muddled debt of 200,000 yuan.
“What a pity,” Rong Ziyin’s advisor sighed repeatedly, as it was indeed a waste of Rong Ziyin’s talent to be confined to a small village livestock station.
As he was about to send Rong Ziyin off, his mentor still encouraged him, “There are advantages to living in a village. Interpersonal relationships are simpler. Don’t forget to study hard there. If you’re really short on money, I can help you out. That loan shark will definitely slip up.”
“Come back soon, I’ll be waiting for you here.”
“Thank you, teacher.” Rong Ziyin bowed respectfully to his mentor, but after leaving the office, his steps felt incredibly heavy.
He understood that his teacher’s words were just comfort, and he himself probably wouldn’t be able to return in this lifetime.
Two hundred thousand yuan—for a veterinarian, unless he had some extraordinary encounter, it would take five years of not eating or drinking to pay it off. As for the slip up his teacher mentioned, he would definitely look for it, but whether he could find it, Rong Ziyin himself wasn’t sure.
In short, his future was uncertain.
He let out a long breath, forcing himself to quickly regain his composure. Just then, his phone suddenly vibrated. Rong Ziyin opened it; it showed a picture of a bloodied severed hand. The picture only appeared for one second; after that, the information was automatically deleted.
He knew this was a warning from the loan shark. Rong Ziyin was just an ordinary, poor student. He had tried everything, but could only endure it for the time being.
When he returned to his dorm to pack his things and prepare to report to the village, he was mocked by his roommates.
“Wow! No wonder you’re a top student; these days, university graduates even guarantee job placement!”
“That’s right, second brother~ It’s all thanks to the school’s subsidies. After all, if you don’t start working soon, you won’t be able to pay back your 200,000 yuan high-interest loan! Hehehe.”
Rong Ziyin had heard similar ridicule countless times since childhood, all aimed at undermining his academic achievements and impoverished family background—this “oddball” who didn’t conform.
Rong Ziyin’s parents died in an accident early on, without insurance or compensation, so he had to work hard to support himself while studying at a young age. Just surviving was a struggle; naturally, he couldn’t be bothered with such gossip.
But now it was different. Rong Ziyin and his dormmates were parting ways, likely never to see each other again, so saving face wasn’t so important anymore.
What’s more, he’d lost his promising future out of nowhere. He was already 200,000 yuan in debt before even graduating. Even someone as easygoing as Rong Ziyin couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger.
So, the usually silent Rong Ziyin, after packing his luggage, smiled gently at his roommates and said something very practical, “You guys have to retake your exams soon, do you think you’ll pass?”
“…”
“As for the guaranteed job placement, I was actually quite surprised. But what I didn’t expect was how difficult it would be for you guys to get a university diploma.”
“Good luck, everyone, I’m leaving now.” His words hit the nail on the head
, and the dorm fell silent. The group of underachievers stared at Rong Ziyin with eyes that seemed to want to devour him alive.
But none of this mattered to Rong Ziyin as he left with his luggage. After leaving school, he was about to start a new life. Right now, the most important thing was still the 200,000 yuan in high-interest loans and figuring out how to clear his name of debt.
He had to stay calm and not panic. Rong Ziyin reassured himself. Although he was unlucky at the beginning, he’d never been particularly lucky throughout his life, so he was used to it.
After all, fortune and misfortune are all about one’s mindset.
Perhaps it was this open-mindedness that truly brought Rong Ziyin a change of fortune this time.
After a four-hour journey, Rong Ziyin finally arrived at the small village. As soon as he entered the village’s livestock station, a message miraculously appeared in Rong Ziyin’s mind.
It roughly meant that he had received compensation from Heaven for his terrible luck—
Heavenly Dao: The first item you touch will determine the direction of your golden finger. Follow the system’s guidance, and you will become a top-notch technical master in your industry.
It sounded pretty good. However, after glancing at the sow that the villagers had just brought to him, about to give birth, Rong Ziyin fell silent.
Was this going to make him a large-scale pig farmer?
A minute later, Rong Ziyin found that the world around him had changed. Anything related to agriculture and animal husbandry was now filled with comments. At the same time, a system appeared in his mind.
System: Newbie mission, pay off your debts! Two hundred thousand is just a blink of an eye! Let’s work hard together, host!
Rong Ziyin pondered the “blow” part, feeling a rather complicated feeling. However, he quickly recovered from his surprise and carefully checked the system’s various functions.
The system was divided into two parts: one was exchange, which wasn’t yet activated due to insufficient gold coins;
the other was a lottery, costing 1000 gold coins per draw. The prizes from the lottery could be taken into reality, ranging from amazing skills to real gold and silver—there was nothing it couldn’t draw.
In the system’s words, if Rong Ziyin was lucky enough to draw a diamond or antique, he could probably pay off his two hundred thousand instantly. As for bringing the items he drew into reality, there’s no need to worry about being targeted. Because this is a reward from Heaven, Heaven will automatically complete the storyline for Rong Ziyin obtaining the items, making it appear flawless to outsiders. It won’t cause Rong Ziyin any trouble.
The most amazing thing is that the system’s required gold coins actually come from the emotional fluctuations of all living beings around Rong Ziyin.
For example, the sow he successfully saved from a difficult birth woke up from her coma with the number “[Gratitude +300]” floating above her head, while her owner also had “[Gratitude +200]” floating above her head. These five hundred were ultimately converted into Rong Ziyin’s system gold coins at a one-to-one ratio.
Originally, Rong Ziyin thought only positive emotions would provide gold coins, but now it seems that even embarrassment can provide him with gold coins. Suddenly, he found the system even more interesting.
Most importantly, Rong Ziyin finally saw a glimmer of hope for a brighter future through this system.
As for the ducks in front of him, Rong Ziyin had a pretty good idea of what diseases they might have. However, to make an accurate diagnosis, some tests were needed.
So he directly asked the two women, “Both of your families have had ducks die in the past two days, right?”
“How could that be!” Rong Ziyin’s words shocked them both. “Our ducks just had a minor illness, how could they die?”
In rural areas, the biggest fear in animal husbandry is disease. Minor illnesses are one thing, but if it’s a contagious disease, not only will their own ducks be wiped out, but the rest of the village will also be quarantined. Those
who rely on this for a living would be devastated if they could immediately lose their families and be blamed by the villagers—this is a matter of life and death.
The two women, who had been blaming each other, suddenly united against Rong Ziyin.
“You’re young and inexperienced, what do you know? I’ve been raising ducks since my great-grandfather’s generation, I know all about diseases.”
“You just brought some college graduate to the village to ‘gild’ their resume, this is just ripping us off! Bah!”
“Dr. Rong, what do you think…” The village chief was also a little confused, not knowing how to explain to Rong Ziyin.
Rong Ziyin wasn’t in a hurry. Pointing to a flock of ducks, he said, “If they haven’t died in the last two days, then slaughter one for testing.”
He paused, then added, “If none of you want to have them tested, that
‘s fine too. You can just burn both flocks of ducks.” “…” Silence fell again.
Aunts 1 and 2: Anger level +700,
clearly ready to grab a weapon and beat him up at any moment.
Rong Ziyin paused, trying to explain gently, “It’s an infectious disease, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Bullshit!” The two aunts exploded. Not only them, but the village chief and the surrounding villagers all changed their expressions.
Poultry farming is different from other things. Infectious diseases are serious; if one family has one, the whole village is in danger.
Although raising ducks is only a sideline in the village, it still supplements their livelihood. If something really happens, the whole family won’t have a good year.
Not to mention, there are not only ducks, but also chickens! They are all poultry, though different species, but their illnesses are similar.
The village chief quickly tried to smooth things over, “This, Dr. Rong, you can’t just say things like ‘infectious diseases’.”
Rong Ziyin pointed to the most listless duck, “I can prove it on the spot if you don’t believe me.”
Rong Ziyin’s attitude was too certain, and the village chief didn’t dare gamble with all the village’s poultry. Ignoring the two aunts’ objections, he quickly ordered someone to kill the duck.
Rong Ziyin opened the medicine box he carried on his back and took out a sharp scalpel.
“Enlarged liver with small nodules.” Rong Ziyin deftly located the duck’s liver, removed it, and showed it to the village chief, the two aunts, and the surrounding villagers.
“How could it grow like this?” The village chief frowned immediately.
He didn’t quite understand what nodules were, but having farmed and tended livestock for most of his life, he knew that a duck’s liver couldn’t possibly have such small, millet-grain-sized lumps.
Some felt disgusted and couldn’t help but back away.
Rong Ziyin had already removed the duck’s spleen as well, and it was in no different condition from the liver—also a patch of lumps.
The most serious finding was on the pericardium of the ducks’ hearts, where nodules ranging in size from mung beans to soybeans had appeared, resembling dried-up cocoons.
“Infested with worms?”
“No. The preliminary diagnosis is duck tuberculosis. To confirm the diagnosis, we need to submit biopsies for testing. But judging from the symptoms of both flocks of ducks, sending them for testing is pointless.” ”
Lethargy, retracted neck, weak legs, reluctance to move or go into the water, arched back, decreased appetite, emaciation, and decreased egg production. These symptoms, along with the autopsy results, are sufficient to prove duck tuberculosis.”
“Then what do we do now?” The village chief immediately became anxious.
Tuberculosis is deadly even for humans, let alone ducks. It sounded quite serious.
The two women were even more worried.
Rong Ziyin sighed, “There’s no other way, just burn it on the spot.” The two aunties, their grief reaching 1000 points, were about to faint when Rong Ziyin quickly added, “Duck tuberculosis can be subsidized. The money for the ducklings can be covered.”
The two aunties breathed a sigh of relief, each giving Rong Ziyin an additional 400 points of comfort. Now, Rong Ziyin, including what he had saved before, had a total of 10,000 gold coins, just enough for a ten-pull. System: Come on, let’s have some fun! First consecutive draw, drop rate doubled, participation guarantees a Dragon Slayer Sword.
Ignoring the people around, the system seized the opportunity to persuade Rong Ziyin. Rong Ziyin himself was also quite curious about what would appear. Therefore, he indulged himself for once and directly agreed to the system, “Draw!” Inside the system, with Rong Ziyin’s response, the lottery wheel spun rapidly, and a few seconds later, a row of items appeared in Rong Ziyin’s system inventory. The items were of bluish-white leather, round and smooth. Ten neatly arranged in front of Rong Ziyin. Rong Ziyin: …A dragon-slaying sword? System: Holy crap! This is even possible? Rong Ziyin, is your father an African chieftain?!