Item Details: Salted duck eggs, red yolks oozing oil, a perfect match for millet porridge. Grandma’s family recipe, eating them brings unparalleled peace and love.
Note: The lowest level among N-rank items.
According to the system rules, items obtained through the lottery are categorized by rank, with the lowest being gray N, followed by R, SR, and SSR.
Normally, even to encourage the host, the first ten-pull wouldn’t be all N-rank items. However, now, a row of ten of the lowest-rank salted duck eggs stood in front of Rong Ziyin.
This scene was incredibly ironic from any angle.
However, Rong Ziyin’s focus was elsewhere, “Can you really feel peace and love after eating them?”
“Really, the system’s description never lies.” The system replied listlessly, feeling that Rong Ziyin’s bad luck made it doubt its own abilities.
Rong Ziyin didn’t try to persuade it, but quickly ended the internal dialogue. After all, this pile of ducks still needed to be dealt with.
However, the village chief was much faster than him. Before Rong Ziyin could even suggest keeping one duck for testing so the two aunties could collect their allowance, the village chief had already led his men to capture both flocks of ducks.
Seeing this, Rong Ziyin went over and added, “Duck tuberculosis is quite contagious. After this batch is culled, it’s best to also quarantine the breeding ducks of other people in the village to rule out any positive cases.”
“Positive?” The village chief didn’t quite understand what Rong Ziyin meant.
“Positive means the virus is present.”
“Then, what if a positive case is found?”
“Then there’s no point in saving them.” Rong Ziyin shook his head. “Duck tuberculosis has no therapeutic value. If even one duck in the flock is infected, burn them all on the spot immediately.”
[Collapse Value +1000]
The villagers who had been watching the spectacle instantly became serious, and the two aunties couldn’t even scream anymore.
Ducks getting sick was indeed a big deal, but they never expected it to be this serious. For a moment, they were all stunned.
After a long while, one of the aunties finally spoke up, “But this disease didn’t start in our family! The first sick duck seems to have come from my brother’s family.” ”
A neighboring village?” Rong Ziyin quickly asked, “What kind of ducks does your brother mainly raise?”
“Muscovy ducks. The one I brought is just a regular duck.”
“Muscovy ducks, no wonder.” Rong Ziyin frowned. “Muscovy ducks are mainly raised in the south, and the breeding ducks are generally older than those raised in the north. Duck tuberculosis is a chronic disease, and northern ducks have a shorter lifespan; many are slaughtered before they even show symptoms, making such a large-scale outbreak difficult.”
“So it’s most likely that the problem originated with their breeding Muscovy ducks, directly infecting all the other ducks.” Rong Ziyin was a little anxious. Poultry and meat are common on the dinner table, and these sick ducks could easily cause health problems for people. Even if the disease came from a neighboring village, it had to be taken seriously.
However, the auntie had already started cursing!
“That damned sister-in-law of mine! I knew she was being kind, giving me a duck as a parting gift.”
“What do you mean? Tell me more,” Rong Ziyin quickly asked.
The aunt wiped away her tears and hurriedly began her story.
“This first wilted duck was a breeding duck I brought from my parents’ home.” The aunt’s parents lived in the neighboring Xiaowang Village.
Her parents now lived with her younger brother, and seeing that they were getting old, she often went back to visit them. Although she never went empty-handed, her brother, out of courtesy, always expected her to return the favor with some gifts.
Normally, it’s a good thing for relatives to exchange gifts, especially siblings. But her sister-in-law was a competitive and demanding person. Seeing that her sister-in-law visited her parents’ home so often, she always felt that her family was being taken advantage of and couldn’t help but criticize her.
Before long, the relationship became even worse. But then, that day, the sister-in-law changed her mind. Hearing that she raised ducks, she gave her a male duck as a breeding duck.
The auntie glanced at the duck, and the plump, robust woman seemed quite pleased. It wasn’t about taking advantage of the situation; she mainly felt that the family’s constant bickering was pointless. Since her sister-in-law had changed her mind and was willing to make amends, there was no need to escalate the situation.
So, in the end, she left the money for the duck and happily returned home with it. Little did she expect that this would cause such a disaster.
“Oh, it’s all my fault! I… I met this heartless sister-in-law!” the auntie said, bursting into tears again.
This time, it was genuine crying. All her sincerity had been wasted; she was utterly heartbroken.
Rong Ziyin could only shake his head silently, watching the [Sadness Value 400] floating above the auntie’s head. The villagers watching nearby, however, couldn’t bear it any longer.
“Damn it! This is outrageous! How can a family of relatives handle things like this?”
“Forget about relatives, now our whole village is going to suffer! Didn’t you hear what Dr. Rong said? All the ducks in the village have been sent for testing! If anything tests positive, we’re all doomed!”
“No, village chief, this can’t be left like this.”
“Exactly! We have to get an explanation from those people in Xiaowang Village! How can they harm people like this?”
For the villagers, livestock and land are equally important. Hearing that their livestock might be lost, they’d definitely start making a scene immediately.
The village chief remained relatively calm. He quickly gestured for the villagers to calm down, then asked Rong Ziyin, “Dr. Rong, are you sure this disease was caused by the imported ducks?”
“It’s almost certain, because both flocks of ducks are sick now, even the ducklings have symptoms. If it were a local pathogen, the whole village would be affected, not just these two flocks. Based on the outbreak period of duck tuberculosis, it coincides with the time this aunt brought home the breeding ducks.”
“Is there any way to confirm this completely?”
“Yes. If we can take samples from the ducks in the opposite village, we can confirm it definitively. The fact that this breeding duck developed symptoms after arriving home proves it was already infected beforehand. I estimate the situation of the ducks over there is even worse than here. I’ll contact the disease control station there first.”
As he spoke, Rong Ziyin took out his phone, dialed a number, and put it on speakerphone.
“Xiao Wang Village Livestock Station, what’s up?” The veterinarian on the other end was a middle-aged man. Although it was only morning, he looked like he hadn’t slept well, and his speech was mumbled.
Rong Ziyin explained the situation, “I hope you can take this seriously; duck tuberculosis is a serious infectious disease.”
The other side scoffed and dismissed it outright, “Impossible! Our village has two disease prevention inspections every year.”
“Young man, don’t cause trouble.” The veterinarian clearly didn’t take Rong Ziyin seriously.
The village’s livestock station veterinarians were all directly dispatched from Yanjing. So, as soon as Rong Ziyin took office, his past at the university spread throughout the system.
After all, such a top student, stuck in a remote livestock station, clearly had a bad situation.
Furthermore, this veterinarian was, strictly speaking, related to Rong Ziyin and harbored deep jealousy towards him, so he wouldn’t listen to his explanation.
Back then, his family had cursed him for twenty years for being incompetent. Then Rong Ziyin got into agricultural university, and everyone in the surrounding villages was praising him.
Now, he was a fallen phoenix, worse than a chicken, everyone could kick him while he was down.
The veterinarian was just waiting for Rong Ziyin to speak so he could embarrass him.
However, Rong Ziyin simply replied with an extremely indifferent “Oh,” and hung up the phone.
[888 points of humiliation from veterinarian Wang Dazhuang]
Wang Dazhuang punched the air, utterly pathetic. But Rong Ziyin genuinely didn’t care.
Rong Ziyin: Quite auspicious, Dazhuang is a man of principle.
The system was stunned by this comment and didn’t know what to say.
But the village chief and villagers, who also heard Wang Dazhuang’s reply, were furious.
Good heavens, your village’s ducks got sick, and you dragged our village down with you, and you’re ignoring it?
The village chief’s suppressed anger exploded instantly, “What kind of veterinarian is this? The people in Xiaowang Village are useless, and the veterinarian is a quack!”
“Exactly! Village chief, we can’t let this swindler get away with this!”
“Every family in the village raises ducks, they’re all free-range, it’s not a big deal, we have to get justice.”
“Yes! Village chief, you’re the leader, you have to stand up for us!” The two aunties started crying again.
The village chief was furious. Finally, he hardened his heart, grabbed a hoe, and said, “Let’s go! We’ll go to them and demand an explanation.”
A boy of about ten years old in the crowd heard this, immediately went back to his house, grabbed a gong, and ran along the dirt road to the fields, banging it and shouting,
“Xiao Wang Village is murdering people for money!”
“The village chief is leading us to seek justice! Men, let’s grab our weapons and go!”
“Murder? Then call the police!” someone in the field chimed in.
The boy was quick-witted and explained it clearly in a few words.
Those who came over quickly relayed the message, and suddenly the accusation of murdering people for money against Xiao Wang Village was firmly established.
What? It wasn’t a person, it was a duck, so it’s not murder for money?
That’s bullshit! A duck’s life is money! We must get an explanation.
A group of strong men from the village, carrying their weapons, followed the village chief to Xiao Wang Village. Before leaving, Rong Ziyin told them to take the dissected dead duck, along with its heart, liver, and lungs, with them, and then watched them depart.
With Rong Ziyin’s help, the village chief and villagers became even more confident. They provided Rong Ziyin with over three thousand points of excitement in no time, enough for three more draws.
Rong Ziyin: “Should I draw now?”
The system calmly suggested: “How about we wait for a ten-draw?”
Rong Ziyin glanced at his watch: “Probably soon.”
The system hadn’t yet grasped Rong Ziyin’s hidden meaning, but soon enough, it received various complex emotional boosts.
[Neighboring village chief’s embarrassment value 890] [Villagers xxx, xxx, xxx… bewilderment value 2333]
There was even a strange category like [Little Wang Village’s sick duck’s despair value 250].
The most abundant was from Wang Dazhuang, the veterinarian who had ridiculed Rong Ziyin on the phone. His points of humiliation, frustration, anger, etc., alone provided Rong Ziyin with over four thousand gold coins.
Rong Ziyin said, “See, I told you so.”
Duck tuberculosis is a serious disease. Rong Ziyin discovered the pathogen and promptly informed the villagers out of a sense of duty. Otherwise, he would have simply handed it over to the county.
And if word got out, not only would that one village suffer, but the surrounding villages would be in serious trouble. The buyers outside would definitely cut off all cooperation. For the villagers who depend on this for their livelihood, it would be a matter of life and death.
Sure enough, Wang Dazhuang in Xiaowang Village was surrounded by villagers from two villages. The dead duck that Rong Ziyin had the village chief bring was shoved in his face.
“Look! Look! These are the ducks from your village. Aren’t they vaccinated twice a year?”
Wang Dazhuang couldn’t explain. He had indeed neglected poultry immunization for the past two years, but only a handful of households in Xiaowang Village raised ducks. He had even checked last month and didn’t think there was anything wrong!
But the worst part was that after checking his aunt’s and sister-in-law’s family’s duck flock, they actually found the same case.
Now, there was no escaping it. The source was right here.
Sweat instantly streamed down the forehead of the village chief of Xiaowang Village. “Quick! Go find out who sold these ducks! What a disaster! All of them are a disaster!”
He was at his wits’ end. Meanwhile, the village chief on Rong Ziyin’s side patted him reassuringly on the shoulder, while simultaneously praising his village’s young doctor, Rong.
“Don’t worry, we discovered it early. Where there’s a problem, we solve it.”
“That’s the power of knowledge; otherwise, why would the country keep advocating for following science?”
“Yes, yes, thanks to this young doctor Rong.” The village chief of Xiaowang Village nodded, while glaring fiercely at his village’s veterinarian, Wang Dazhuang, the implication being, “I’ll deal with you later.”
Wang Dazhuang felt as if he had swallowed ten pounds of bitter herbs, his mouth filled with bitterness. He had only wanted to pick a fight with Rong Ziyin out of jealousy, but instead, he had inexplicably found himself embroiled in a mess.
As the veterinarian at the village’s livestock station, he was worried that if the livestock in his own village got sick, it would be discovered by another village. If the disease became serious, he might even lose his job. In short, it was a lose-lose situation.
Thinking this, he gave Rong Ziyin another 1000 points of regret.
Rong Ziyin and the system counted their earnings at the veterinary station and found that they had earned 20,000 gold coins this time, enough for a 20-pull.
The system was very excited and patted its chest again, assuring Rong Ziyin: “Host, hurry up! This time, there’s definitely a Dragon-Slaying Sword! Trust me!”
Rong Ziyin readily agreed: “Okay, let’s draw now.”
As soon as Rong Ziyin finished speaking, the lottery wheel pointer spun rapidly again. However, every time the pointer stopped, a familiar item appeared in front of Rong Ziyin.
After 10 draws out of 20, no other item had appeared. The system muttered in bewilderment, “No, no way!”
Then, the 20-pull ended, and 20 salted duck eggs were neatly arranged in front of Rong Ziyin. Adding to the previous ten, it made a full basket.
Another plane crash.
Just then, Rong Ziyin’s phone received another debt collection text message from a loan shark. This time, the loan shark went even further, sending a photoshopped image of Rong Ziyin as a corpse. This was clearly a curse wishing Rong Ziyin a terrible death.
The system was furious, jumping up and down, “Damn it, these idiots are toxic! No, the system lottery is toxic! The drop rate is so low, are we supposed to make 200,000 by selling duck eggs?”
Rong Ziyin seemed thoughtful, “Perhaps it is.”
The system completely shut down, but Rong Ziyin’s next action made it even more distraught. Rong Ziyin picked up the basket of salted duck eggs and headed to the snack bar next door.
This was the most popular restaurant in the village, but it wasn’t mealtime, and everyone had gone to the next village to demand an explanation, so the restaurant was empty.
“Is the proprietress in?” Rong Ziyin knocked on the door and called out.
“Yes, yes! Dr. Rong, what would you like to eat?” The proprietress greeted Rong Ziyin warmly.
Rong Ziyin placed a basket of salted duck eggs in front of her and asked sincerely, “Do you buy salted duck eggs?”