Ch 27: Those who wronged me are now begging me for mercy

Little Brother, I’m Back Again~

Rong Ziyin’s reasoning was sound, leaving the system with nothing to argue against. All it could do was silently light a candle for Ji Shu in its heart.

Finally, Rong Ziyin changed into fresh clothes, took a shower, and prepared for bed. After being busy with his thesis for so long, he could finally relax and was looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

But sometimes, the more you want to sleep, the more things come up.

Rong Ziyin had just changed into his pajamas and was about to lie down when he unexpectedly received a friend request from a small account on QQ.

The verification message read: “I know something that can ruin your enemy.”

“Enemy?” and “something that can ruin him?”—these two keywords were enough to pique anyone’s curiosity.

Rong Ziyin decisively accepted the request, curious to see what the person wanted to say.

Sure enough, the person on the other end got straight to the point.

“That rich kid you’ve been competing with? The thesis he submitted was written by me.”

Rong Ziyin stared at the text for a moment, quickly understanding what it meant.

“So you’re the one who reported the issue with the thesis from the Agricultural University’s veterinary department?”

“That’s right! I only wanted money, but I never intended to give him my hard work. Every man for himself,” the person said, self-righteously.

“So, did I do you a big favor or what?”

“Think about it! If it weren’t for me, you’d still be the laughingstock of the entire school. But now, things are different! Your enemy is definitely going down this time. So, don’t you think you should be grateful to me?”

This person clearly had insider knowledge about what was happening at the Agricultural University, as they were aware of Rong Ziyin’s involvement in rallying a group of top students to grind out their theses. However, their thought process that they had somehow done Rong Ziyin a favor was rather bizarre.

“What do you want from me?” Rong Ziyin asked directly, cutting to the chase.

“Work with me! That idiot hasn’t even figured out the cause and effect yet, but once he does, he’ll definitely come after me.”

“He hates you too, so we’re in the same boat. What do you say? Want to team up?”

It sounded tempting, but seeing the system prompt “Scheming Points: 2000,” Rong Ziyin immediately responded, “Sorry, no thanks!”

He then deleted the person from his contacts.

The system asked, “Are you avoiding him because of the scheming points?”

“No,” Rong Ziyin shook his head. “Hiring someone to write a thesis is already against the law. He’s not clean himself, yet he wants to abuse public power.”

“Public power is meant to protect citizens, not for them to use it to settle personal scores.”

“Yes, the saying ‘every man for himself’ makes some sense, but harming others for personal gain is truly despicable.”

“Working with someone like that would only dirty my hands.”

The system instantly understood. “That’s true. It’s because of this bastard that so many people lost their chance to submit their work.”

“Tsk! What a scumbag.”

So, Rong Ziyin firmly decided not to collaborate with him, but the person was persistent, continuing to send friend requests with the message: “Aren’t you even a little curious about me?”

Rong Ziyin was even more blunt this time: “The only thing that would make me curious is whether you’ve finished your sterilization surgery!”

The rich young master’s ghostwriter’s anger value: +2000

The system laughed hysterically: “Hahaha! Isn’t that right? This month alone, you’ve neutered forty pigs, Host!”

Rong Ziyin: “Don’t exaggerate. There were also twenty sheep.”

Then, he boldly blocked the ghostwriter, and peace was restored.

Apart from the occasional small amounts of anger points trickling in from the ghostwriter, no one else bothered Rong Ziyin on QQ.

Finally able to relax, Rong Ziyin lay down in bed, but still felt like there was something he hadn’t done. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered he should check his points balance.

A perfect 700,000. After buying the salted duck egg and salted fish recipes, he still had 300,000 left.

It had been several days since the last time they drew the lottery, and the system couldn’t hold back any longer, urging Rong Ziyin, “Do a thirty-draw, thirty-draw!”

Rong Ziyin agreed, “Alright! Let’s see how the luck is!”

The wheel, which hadn’t been spun for a while, started to spin wildly like a mad donkey, and soon, gray lights began to appear one after another.

The system: “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Sure enough, the next moment, Rong Ziyin received a system notification: “Storage box exceeded capacity. Do you want to deploy items into reality?”

Rong Ziyin: “Deploy them.”

Suddenly, a massive pile of salted duck eggs appeared on the bed, surrounding Rong Ziyin. Right in the center, there were three large goose eggs and several salted fish, standing upright and gazing at him as if saying, “Buddy, I’m back again!”

The system: “Master, at this production rate, I suspect we’ll be selling salted duck eggs and salted fish until the end of time.”

Rong Ziyin: “Yes, it’s time to expand.”

In fact, Rong Ziyin had already thought about his business plans.

After quickly organizing the salted duck eggs and salted fish in a corner of the room, Rong Ziyin took out the recipe he had redeemed and looked it over.

He found that the recipe was pretty much a standard one that could be used in the real world. The key to making them more delicious lay in strictly following the proportions during the preparation process; the rest was similar to making regular salted duck eggs and salted fish.

Even a novice like Rong Ziyin could easily succeed, not to mention the villagers who were already experienced in making these products. Given the excellent supply of duck eggs in the village, Rong Ziyin estimated that once the first batch of salted duck eggs was ready, it would quickly reach a scale suitable for external sales.

The system thought Rong Ziyin’s plan was feasible, but it raised the biggest question: salted duck eggs are delicious, but how do you sell them?

Rong Ziyin: “E-commerce.”

The system: “??”

Rong Ziyin carefully explained.

E-commerce is a new marketing method in modern agriculture. Traditional ways of selling agricultural products usually involve direct purchasing by manufacturers or sales through markets. While these methods aren’t bad, the profits for farmers are generally modest.

So, some forward-thinking individuals have turned their attention to online sales. In today’s internet age—whether it’s on QQ, WeChat, Taobao, or Weibo—where there are people, there’s business.

Take Taobao’s top livestream sellers, for example. Just two years ago, they could generate nearly three billion yuan in sales in just four hours, which shows the enormous potential of online sales channels.

Rong Ziyin had researched these options when he first considered selling salted duck eggs outside the village. The two livestream hosts he followed had also promoted food items—not anything particularly special, mostly daily essentials like instant noodles and snacks.

Of course, the reason consumers buy these products is primarily because of their taste, and secondly, their brand. These products that get promoted undoubtedly have their own brands.

Lying in bed, Rong Ziyin carefully planned everything in his mind and realized that this plan could indeed work. However, there was a small issue with registering a brand.

Rong Ziyin was contemplating whether to register as an individual or a company.

If he registered as an individual, the profits from the salted duck eggs would go directly to him. However, the application process would be more complicated, especially since salted duck eggs and salted fish are food products. Getting all the necessary permits, including a business license, could take up to half a year.

But if he did it under the company’s name, things would be different.

Previously, the government had organized a rural entrepreneurship training program, during which the village, led by the village chief, applied for a company mainly focused on selling organic vegetables. However, it didn’t take off, and the business was shelved, with only a small stall in the county that occasionally had business from acquaintances.

So, if Rong Ziyin could partner with the village, the application process would be much faster, and the trademark could be registered sooner. The only downside would be that the profits would be significantly different from what he would earn if he did it alone.

The system: “Then let’s do it on our own!”

Rong Ziyin immediately disagreed: “No, we’ll do it with the village.”

“Why?” The system didn’t understand.

Rong Ziyin asked it a question in return, “How much can one person accomplish? How much energy does one person have?”

“What does that have to do with whether we start our own company?”

“It has everything to do with it!”

“I plan to return to the research field in the future. The academic path is deep and long, and many predecessors spend their entire lives without finding the truths they seek. Many talented people must give their all, so how am I any different from them?”

“I’ve never studied company management, nor have I delved deeply into e-commerce marketing. If I wanted to do it alone, I’d have to spend a lot of time on it.”

“But what if you make money…”

“And what if I don’t?” Rong Ziyin patiently asked the system. “What do you think the Heavenly Dao sent you to me for?”

“Marry a rich, beautiful woman and reach the pinnacle?”

Rong Ziyin: “No, the original plan was for you to guide me to become a top expert in this field.”

“I studied veterinary medicine, with a focus on animal husbandry.”

The system suddenly understood, realizing that it had finally grasped Rong Ziyin’s thinking.

Seeing that the system had figured it out, Rong Ziyin didn’t say more.

A person should only take on as much as they can handle. Indeed, he had a golden opportunity, but that didn’t give him more time than others.

Moreover, going solo would bring its own set of problems.

For instance, look at the second-generation heirs like that rich young master who challenged him—there are plenty of them. They might not all be capable, but with enough money, they can find reliable partners, and their family name becomes their backing. They can sit back and wait to share the profits without worry.

But Rong Ziyin was different. He was like a drifting leaf—if he ventured too far, he’d likely become a target. Just look at what happened with the school incident—his lack of caution had already attracted the rich kid’s schemes. In the business world, things could escalate to life-threatening situations.

So, the best strategy for Rong Ziyin was to team up with the village. No family name could provide a more solid backing than the state. By investing his skills, he could act as a hands-off manager and enjoy a peaceful life.

Money is great, but you need to be alive to earn it—and to spend it.

Moreover, one must be grateful. Since coming to the village, the villagers had treated Rong Ziyin with immense kindness. If he could help improve their lives, it would be his way of giving back.

But all these plans could wait until the morning when he could discuss them with the village chief. There was also the issue of the rich young master’s paper.

Rong Ziyin felt he should inform his mentor about what he knew in advance. This wasn’t snitching; it was because that ghostwriter had overstepped. Indeed, “selfishness is natural,” but his actions were truly despicable. Even though a few people at Agricultural University managed to write their papers, whether they would pass was still uncertain. And for those who couldn’t write papers in time, it was a real tragedy.

Moreover, in the next two months, everyone who had been blocked would be rushing to submit to provincial journals. One could only imagine how high the bar would be raised.

Not every academic field could be broken down into smaller topics to produce new papers. For example, in the case of the Agricultural University’s mechanical engineering student, if he hadn’t already published a provincial paper in his sophomore year, he definitely wouldn’t have made it this time.

It wasn’t about competition—those people had simply gone too far!

So, Rong Ziyin screenshotted the QQ account and their conversation, packed it up, and sent it to his mentor. After doing all this, he finally went to bed for real.

The next morning, when Rong Ziyin got up, the room across from his still had Ji Shu sleeping in it, but surprisingly, the door was wide open. As for Ji Shu, he was curled up on the bed with the goose in his arms.

The man and the goose were sleeping soundly, with a small tuft of hair sticking up on both their heads.

It was a bit too silly.

Rong Ziyin shook his head, intending to close the door for Ji Shu, only to find that the door had been deliberately left open by Ji Shu. To ensure the door wouldn’t close while he slept, Ji Shu had even carefully wedged it open with a brick from the yard.

The system: “What’s wrong with this guy? Isn’t he afraid someone might break in?”

But what Rong Ziyin noticed was the noise coming from Ji Shu’s room. A tablet computer beside Ji Shu’s bed was playing a very loud debate show. Rong Ziyin listened carefully and recognized it as one of those raucous debate programs.

The kind of show that could make someone burst out laughing even when tired—yet Ji Shu was listening to this while sleeping?

What a strange person.

Rong Ziyin shook his head, deciding not to close the door, and instead, he quietly left.

Since Ji Shu hadn’t closed his room door, Rong Ziyin made sure to lock the courtyard gate when he left. The villagers were honest and good-natured, with almost no ill intentions, but it was always wise to be cautious.

After leaving the house, Rong Ziyin headed to the livestock station. He also brought the three goose eggs he had won in the draw the previous day, planning to place them in the incubator today.

At 9 AM, the couple from the small eatery returned from town and brought breakfast for Rong Ziyin.

Meanwhile, Rong Ziyin received a reply from his mentor regarding the rich young master’s paper being reported. The matter had already been escalated to the department, and the final outcome would depend on their investigation.

But one thing was certain: neither the rich young master nor the ghostwriter would have a good ending.

With this matter temporarily settled, Rong Ziyin had no intention of pursuing it further.

However, his mentor brought up another matter, “The group of students who joined you in burning the midnight oil on their papers approached me and said they wanted your contact information.”

“They seem to like you a lot—how about making some new friends?”

His mentor knew Rong Ziyin well. In the past three years of university, aside from a few senior brothers, he hadn’t had many close friends. This seemed like a great opportunity, and his mentor hoped that Rong Ziyin wouldn’t be so isolated in the future.

“Sure, that works.” Rong Ziyin nodded and gave his WeChat ID to his mentor.

Within seconds of hanging up, Rong Ziyin received a friend request on WeChat.

When he opened it, he saw it was from the diligent student who had finished the paper right after him.

After accepting the friend request, he was immediately added to a group chat with nine people.

Instantly, the screen was flooded with rows of knowing smiles as a welcome.

The system: “Master, why do I feel like you’re about to get beaten up?”

However, Rong Ziyin didn’t share this sentiment. He calmly accepted the group’s goodwill.

He greeted the other eight members and then typed in the chat box, “Want to buy salted duck eggs, bro? Two fifty each, buy ten get one free.”

🍉🫐🍇🍒🥝