Ch 18: Those who wronged me are now begging me for mercy

This Is All Little Dr. Rong’s Good Intentions

For a moment, there was dead silence around. The villagers closest to Rong Ziyin couldn’t help but steal glances at him, and when caught, they quickly shifted their eyes as if nothing had happened.

Little Dr. Rong always seemed quiet and good-natured, but was this really his style in private?

Oh no, I just said the rhyme wasn’t good. Will Dr. Rong refuse to treat my goose now?

Top students really are different—even the rhymes they come up with are unique.

These people didn’t say a word, but the thoughts floating above their heads said it all. Rong Ziyin opened his mouth, thinking he should probably explain.

But they all seemed so earnest and cooperative. After thinking for a while, Rong Ziyin couldn’t find a good moment to speak.

The system burst out laughing: “Hahaha, the village head is really something! Host, I can’t believe you’re having such a day!”

Rong Ziyin: “Muted. I don’t want to talk.”

Regardless of how embarrassed Rong Ziyin felt, the rhyme that the village head had composed was indeed quite catchy. Village head even thought that his own recitation lacked rhythm, so he specifically found Xu Dasheng, the villager with the loudest voice.

“You just need to recite it with all the energy you’ve got! Remember, it must be full of emotion.”

“Dr. Rong is always so busy. He wrote this rhyme out of concern for our villagers, even though he barely has time for anything.” The village head coaxed.

Xu Dasheng was moved by this, so he showed up at the village broadcasting station every day on time and started reciting.

The rhyme was broadcast three times a day, morning, noon, and night. Even the eighty-year-old elder with poor hearing who walked around the village in the morning could hum the tune.

As this rhyme spread among the villagers, the amount of emotion value Rong Ziyin received each day increased significantly. After all, the village head had specifically noted that it was the advice of the highly educated and very clever Little Dr. Rong!

What Rong Ziyin didn’t expect was that other nearby villages, noticing how well this rhyme was promoted, also started to use it.

There were many anti-fraud rhymes; at one point, the state had even held a rural campaign to solicit submissions. While those submissions were more standardized, they couldn’t compare to the catchy and fun rhyme from Rong Ziyin’s village.

So, after consulting with the village head, other nearby village leaders unanimously decided to adopt this rhyme.

Now, Rong Ziyin’s fame spread far and wide in the surrounding villages.

At six o’clock in the evening, Rong Ziyin sat in the veterinary station’s office, feeding ducks, with Xu Dasheng’s rhythmic singing in the background. In his mind, the system continuously updated him with messages.

Elder Li from Xiaowang Village, Admiration Value +200. Brother Liu from Lujia Village, Confusion Value +100. Grandma Niu from Xujia Village, Regret Value +1000, and so on—hundreds of messages scrolled by. There was even an Admiration Value +1000 from MC Eight-Eggs from Lujia Village.

Rong Ziyin: So, who is this MC Eight-Eggs?

System: I asked the Golden Turtle; it says he’s the number one rap master in the ten surrounding villages.

Rong Ziyin: …

System: The turtle says MC Eight-Eggs now wants to become your disciple.

Rong Ziyin was speechless and decided to mute the system, wanting some quiet time alone.

As the rhyme spread, Rong Ziyin’s reputation in the rural areas reached its peak. However, the rumors about him started to become more exaggerated.

At first, they were relatively reliable, like how Little Dr. Rong was knowledgeable and treated illnesses well. But then it evolved into saying that Little Dr. Rong was the reincarnation of the God of Literature, with eyes that could shoot lightning and the ability to identify fraudsters with just a glance.

The system laughed until it felt like its head would fall off: “Hahaha, what on earth is ‘eyes that shoot lightning’?”

Despite being the center of attention for a while, Rong Ziyin himself remained calm and didn’t let it bother him.

Even when children in the village curiously asked him, “Little Dr. Rong, is it true you can shoot lightning from your eyes?” Rong Ziyin actually bowed his head and seriously responded.

“Yes! Not only can I shoot lightning from my eyes, but I can also do other things. Do you know Old Huang’s cow at the village entrance?”

Child: “I know.”

Rong Ziyin: “I knocked it down with just one shot.”

Child: “???”

Rong Ziyin: “Can you guess why I knocked it down?”

Child: “Why?”

Rong Ziyin: “Because it didn’t do its homework during summer vacation!”

“Wow! Little Dr. Rong is trying to scare us! Run!” The child realized Rong Ziyin was joking, but still laughed as he ran away, making faces at Rong Ziyin from a distance. Above his head, a row of bouncing little hearts appeared along with the lively message, “I like Little Dr. Rong the best,” which made Rong Ziyin smile as well.

And so, another week passed, and finally, the reward from the forestry bureau came in—an unexpected sum of 20,000 yuan.

“Why is it so much?” Rong Ziyin was shocked.

The forestry bureau leader quickly explained that the Golden Turtle was incredibly valuable. When it first arrived at the wildlife park, the park’s experts conducted a health check and unexpectedly found a strange ancient script engraved on its shell.

After sending the rubbings to a scholar of ancient texts for translation, it was discovered that it was a secret code left by an ancient emperor. Through analysis by historians, they eventually located the site specified by the code, and upon excavation, they found an ancient tomb hidden beneath—a royal burial ground from a previously undiscovered dynasty.

This was undoubtedly a monumental discovery. Now, the Golden Turtle was being worshiped like an ancestor at the wildlife park, and as a result, Rong Ziyin received a higher reward.

Looking at it this way, it seems that the Golden Turtle did bring some fortune after all. Though it’s not much, it’s still something good.

Rong Ziyin: It seems that the turtle is quite remarkable.

System: Maybe, Host, you should visit the wildlife park and check on him more often?

Resistance Value from Golden Turtle +2000

The Golden Turtle, being raised by an immortal, immediately sensed it when the system mentioned him and expressed his frustration with a heartfelt “Don’t bother me!”

Rong Ziyin, mimicking the system’s earlier address for the turtle, sighed: “It seems the turtle is quite the sentimental being!”

System: …

The system fell silent, unwilling to communicate further after being hit by Rong Ziyin’s comment. Meanwhile, Rong Ziyin began to calculate the coin value.

Thanks to his persistent efforts, the system’s coin value was now very close to 600,000. Although the Zhihu post wasn’t generating as much value as it did before, it was still steadily collecting emotion points.

Additionally, the anti-fraud broadcasting initiative across the villages had provided a significant boost in coin value. Combined with the emotion points gathered from daily interactions, he only needed five or six thousand more to reach the upgrade.

This amount didn’t seem like much to Rong Ziyin. As it turned out, he was just waiting for an opportunity, and soon enough, that opportunity arrived.

Due to the matter of submitting his paper to a core journal, Rong Ziyin’s advisor asked him to return to the school for a visit.

If it were just a regular journal submission, Rong Ziyin could have handled it on his own by writing the paper, finding the correct submission address, and ensuring it passed the plagiarism check. It wouldn’t have been too difficult.

However, for a core journal submission, the situation was different. Undergraduate students rarely have their work published in core journals, though it has been done before. These journals usually look at the lead author’s qualifications, academic title, and sometimes require research funding or a specific project.

So, to discuss the next steps for submission, the advisor suggested that Rong Ziyin visit the school.

Rong Ziyin calculated the time—it would take about four hours to travel from the village to Beijing. If he left early in the morning, he could arrive at the school by late morning, discuss the project with his advisor, have lunch at the cafeteria, and head back in the afternoon. He would only need to take one day off, which seemed manageable.

Thus, Rong Ziyin informed the village head, arranged his tasks for the day he would be away, and notified the villagers about his absence before packing up to return to school.

However, word of Rong Ziyin’s return to school spread quickly among those in the know.

A core journal publication opportunity! Encountering this during one’s college years was nothing short of a godsend.

Soon enough, someone in the class chat group brought up the news and congratulated Rong Ziyin, tagging him. A few students who often borrowed Rong Ziyin’s notes also asked for advice.

“How do you manage to get research results so early, despite being so busy with work-study? Is this the difference between a genius and a mediocre student?”

Noticing their sincere tone, Rong Ziyin thought for a moment and replied, “It might be because, even without a girlfriend, I don’t spend all night playing King of Glory.”

Depression Value from Li Fuhui +100; Depression Value from Wang Quan +100; Depression Value from Xia Dayu +100…

His classmates immediately contributed a wave of coin value to Rong Ziyin.

That was just a blatant jab.

College nightlife is vibrant, and for most male students, having a girlfriend and playing video games are equally important.

Rong Ziyin’s words struck a nerve, hitting their sore spot. The lively class chat suddenly fell into silence.

One rather clueless student asked, “Scholar, what does this have to do with having a girlfriend and playing games?”

Rong Ziyin: “Of course, it’s related. While you’re feeling lonely and playing King of Glory because you don’t have a girlfriend, I’m in the lab figuring out the problems with my research.”

Rong Ziyin thought for a moment, then added, “And in the end, you didn’t even manage to reach the Glory level and fell from Diamond rank. A complete waste of time.”

Damn, such a brutally honest depiction of college life and such a stark, unadorned jab. No one wanted to talk to Rong Ziyin anymore after that, but this wave of responses earned him 10,000 emotion points, leaving him just 40,000 coins away from the system upgrade.

System: Ahhhh! We’re finally going to upgrade!

Rong Ziyin: Yes, it should happen soon, probably when I get to school tomorrow.

The system didn’t understand why Rong Ziyin said that, but the next day, when Rong Ziyin walked into the school building and encountered that rich young master outside his advisor’s office, the system instantly understood everything.

Yes, Rong Ziyin was indeed about to reach the coin threshold this time, especially since a big source of “wool” had just appeared!

What was surprising, though, was that the rich young master had also come to discuss the core journal submission with the advisor.

Even more irritating was that this rich young master’s project was strikingly similar to Rong Ziyin’s, both related to avian infectious diseases.

Since they were both submitting to the same core journal with similar topics, the editors would likely make a choice during the review process. The rich young master was clearly still trying to compete with Rong Ziyin. When he saw Rong Ziyin, he put on an arrogant demeanor.

“You’re here?” the rich young master asked smugly.

Rong Ziyin looked at him for a moment without answering his question, instead, he calmly said, “You know, academic fraud is illegal.”

Was Rong Ziyin declaring war? The rich young master frowned.

But what the rich young master didn’t expect was Rong Ziyin’s next sentence: “Don’t get too worked up. I’m certain you’re suffering from Mediterranean-type seborrheic alopecia. I suggest you go to the hospital soon.”

“Otherwise… you might end up bald at a young age!”

🍉🫐🍇🍒🥝