Ch 10: Those who wronged me are now begging me for mercy

*Spit! You Crooked Merchant

Li Tiezhu’s Anger Value +200

The cocky troublemaker was suddenly dumbfounded. Rong Ziyin’s response was completely different from the script they had planned. He knew that the animal husbandry station charged for vaccinations, but wasn’t Rong Ziyin’s fee a bit too steep? He barely made three hundred yuan from selling a stolen battery—why would he spend 1,700 yuan on a sick duck when he could just buy a whole flock with that money?

*Spit! This crook.

Anger Value +200

Li Tiezhu, who had come to cause trouble for Rong Ziyin, was genuinely getting angry himself, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

But Rong Ziyin calmly asked, “Are you unwilling to pay? According to the rules of the animal husbandry station, we can’t provide treatment without payment.”

“It’s not about that! Your prices are ridiculous! This duck isn’t even worth 1,700 yuan,” Li Tiezhu fumed, almost jumping up and down in frustration.

Rong Ziyin remained unbothered. “How can that be? Our prices are clearly listed!”

“Let me ask you, how many ducks do you have?”

Li Tiezhu instinctively followed Rong Ziyin’s lead, replying, “One.”

“Oh, so it’s a pet.” As he spoke, Rong Ziyin pulled out an invoice to prove that the 1,700 yuan was indeed a reasonable charge.

Biochemical blood test: 260 yuan.

CT scan: 120 yuan.

Duck plague screening: 80 yuan.

…

The list went on, with more than twenty items in total.

Confusion Value +1,000

Why did vaccinating a duck require so many tests and procedures?

Li Tiezhu was completely baffled as he stared at the invoice. The village’s animal husbandry station had been known for its low fees. Even if there were a lot of procedures, a castration for a pig only cost five yuan! What were all these charges?

Was Rong Ziyin really not just taking advantage of his ignorance?

What infuriated the troublemaker the most was that even the cost of the equipment was included in the invoice. A regular syringe was listed at 10 yuan.

Ten yuan!

He wasn’t stupid—those syringes were one yuan for two at the pharmacy, and Rong Ziyin had marked them up tenfold! This was daylight robbery!

“Does your boss know you’re charging these prices?” Li Tiezhu shot back.

Rong Ziyin calmly replied, “Yes! It’s government-mandated.”

As he spoke, Rong Ziyin opened the computer system and showed Li Tiezhu the clearly listed prices, which were indeed accurate.

Embarrassment Value +300

Rong Ziyin: “Are you going to get the shot or not?”

Li Tiezhu swallowed hard, finally mustering up a retort, “Do you really think the other duck farmers in the village can afford these prices?”

Rong Ziyin replied, “They’re not like you. They get subsidies.”

Li Tiezhu protested, “Then why don’t I get a subsidy?”

Rong Ziyin responded, “Muscovy ducks can be considered pets. Yours doesn’t qualify for a subsidy.”

Seeing this, Li Tiezhu was about to cause a scene.

But Rong Ziyin cut him off with one sentence: “You got this duck from Xiaowang Village, didn’t you?”

Li Tiezhu: “???”

Rong Ziyin continued, “Did you know their village’s ducks are sick?”

“Do you think the duck in your hands is sick or not?”

How the hell would I know? I’m not a vet! Li Tiezhu’s anger shot up by 400 points. He thought Rong Ziyin must be out of his mind.

But Rong Ziyin nodded to himself and concluded, “Oh, so you do know it’s sick, and you did it on purpose.”

Wait! How did he arrive at that conclusion? Li Tiezhu felt that things were taking a turn for the worse.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door of Rong Ziyin’s office at the animal husbandry station. Li Tiezhu turned around and saw the village chief walk in.

??? Why was the village chief here? With a guilty conscience, Li Tiezhu’s first instinct was to run, but Rong Ziyin grabbed him by the collar.

“Let go, I’ve got things to do,” Li Tiezhu protested.

“Sorry, but I’ve got something to discuss with you too,” Rong Ziyin said politely, despite his firm grip. Li Tiezhu struggled to get free, but couldn’t, and eventually, Rong Ziyin handed him over to the village chief.

“It’s this guy. He brought a sick duck back on purpose to harm the village’s ducks,” Rong Ziyin explained to the village chief.

“What the hell! I didn’t, I’m not, you’ve got it all wrong!” Li Tiezhu tried to explain, but the evidence was right there, and Rong Ziyin’s certainty left him with no argument.

“What? Is that really what happened?” The village chief, alarmed by Rong Ziyin’s explanation, grabbed Li Tiezhu to interrogate him further.

“No, no! Village Chief, listen to me, this duck is alive and well. How can you prove it’s sick?”

As if to prove the troublemaker’s words, the duck flapped its wings, showing off its vitality.

However, Rong Ziyin firmly pressed down on the duck’s back, pinning it to the ground.

“Whoa, do I even have any dignity left?!” The duck’s thoughts seemed to flash in its mind, providing Rong Ziyin with 700 anger points as it turned its head, trying to peck at him. But as soon as Rong Ziyin released his grip, he immediately caught the duck by the neck.

Having its fate literally in Rong Ziyin’s hands, the duck promptly provided another 1,000 anger points. Despite this, it continued to struggle and squawk. Finally, Rong Ziyin grabbed a rope from the room and skillfully tied the duck up before flipping it over to start his examination.

“Hey, Dr. Rong, what are you looking for, fleas?” The village chief asked, confused.

“No, I’m looking for evidence,” Rong Ziyin explained as he worked.

He was searching for needle marks on the duck’s body.

Administering injections to poultry is different from other animals, and needle marks are usually easy to find. For any disease causing widespread systemic damage, subcutaneous injections are typically given in one of three places: the neck, chest, or leg.

Rong Ziyin had noticed when the duck was first brought in that it seemed unwell, likely having been given a steroid to make it more energetic. If Rong Ziyin were less experienced and had simply vaccinated the duck, it would have died by the next day. Li Tiezhu would then use this as an excuse to cause trouble.

The village chief listened intently, and Rong Ziyin soon found the needle marks.

With the evidence clear, Li Tiezhu had no choice but to confess the truth and also revealed that his cousin Wang Dazhuang had put him up to it.

“You ungrateful little bastard!” the village chief shouted, furious, and kicked him hard. The village had just dealt with the sick ducks, and now Wang Dazhuang from the neighboring village had sent a diseased duck their way. It was a clear sign of ill intent.

“This is just great! Wang Dazhuang isn’t just holding a grudge against Dr. Rong; he’s got it out for our whole village!”

The village chief, a clever man, decided not to make a big scene like last time. Instead, he took Li Tiezhu straight to the village women’s federation.

“Why is he going to the women’s federation?” The system didn’t understand.

But Rong Ziyin didn’t seem concerned. His attention was still focused on the Muscovy duck that was now struggling in its bonds.

“Is there something wrong with it?” the system asked.

“Yes. I think it might have another issue,” Rong Ziyin replied, expertly checking the duck’s eyes and taking samples of its secretions. After examining several other areas, he reached a startling conclusion: the duck had duck plague!

Like duck tuberculosis, duck plague is a highly contagious disease. Fortunately, while hybrid ducks are susceptible to duck plague, the Beijing ducks raised in the village are not as easily affected. So, this particular Muscovy duck’s arrival shouldn’t cause too much damage to the village.

However, they couldn’t afford to be careless. Any disease labeled as a plague could spread. Rong Ziyin was now sure that the poultry in the neighboring village of Xiaowang was likely in a critical situation.

System: Then you should quickly notify them!

Rong Ziyin: I’ll wait for the lab results first.

The more serious the situation, the more careful he had to be. As soon as the results were in, Rong Ziyin called the village chief, but there was no answer at the village committee office. He had no choice but to find someone in the village to get the chief’s mobile number and call him directly.

The phone rang for a long time before it was finally answered.

“Hello?” The village chief’s voice was chaotic, with what sounded like crying in the background.

But as soon as Rong Ziyin uttered the words “duck plague,” there was a sudden silence on the other end.

At the same time, the system kept notifying Rong Ziyin that Wang Dazhuang, the veterinarian from Xiaowang Village, had provided 3,000 despair points.

“Dr. Rong, this is serious. Could you come to the county right away?” the village chief asked, his tone grave.

“Of course.” Sensing the urgency in the village chief’s voice, Rong Ziyin quickly agreed, packed up his things, and headed to the county.

Along the way, he received various emotion points from different people—nervousness, despair, and even resistance from the struggling duck in his hands.

The duck was remarkably stubborn, providing Rong Ziyin with three to four thousand points of gold along the journey. But despite this, Rong Ziyin found the constant squawking quite annoying.

System: My mind is full of ducks right now.

Rong Ziyin sympathized with the system’s feelings. Realizing there was still an hour’s journey left to the county, and with the duck’s incessant noise grating on his nerves, he decided to do a single draw from the lottery.

System: What’s the point of that?

Rong Ziyin: It’s a way to break an egg and set an example.

System: …

Threatening a duck with its own kind—this was indeed a unique approach. Although the duck wasn’t human, Rong Ziyin’s method was truly devious!

The system began to question its life decisions, but what shocked both it and Rong Ziyin was that, instead of the expected unlucky result of a salted duck egg, or even a salted fish, a different shiny silver item appeared in Rong Ziyin’s system space.

Even more astonishing, the item had a faint blue glow—an R-rated rarity.

System: Whoa! You actually got something?!

For Rong Ziyin, pulling an R-rated item was indeed a big deal.

He checked the item details.

Item Details: Frozen Belt Fish—rock hard, fishy, and icy cold. A fisherman’s father’s treasured possession over the years, this belt fish induces deep shame in anyone who has experienced its “love education” for their mistakes. Unique, non-stackable.

🍉🫐🍇🍒🥝