Chapter 13: Shedding Tears for the Exquisite Salted Fish
Gifting salted duck eggs and salted fish? The recipient might just slap Rong Ziyin silly.
Yet Rong Ziyin remained surprisingly composed, even producing a ribbon from somewhere to tie the basket of salted fish with proper finesse.
Contrary to the system’s expectations, Rong Ziyin genuinely harbored no ulterior motives. Salted fish and salted duck eggs might sound laughable, but in reality, they were legitimate, marketable goods with genuinely excellent flavor.
Rong Ziyin had wrapped them up intending to offer them as a local specialty for his mentor, who had always looked after him, to sample something new.
Rong Ziyin was someone who never liked owing favors. Despite losing both parents at a young age, he lived independently—never relying on others for food or clothing. Even when receiving kindness from those around him, he would repay it whenever possible.
He understood that material debts were easy to settle, but favors were the hardest to repay.
When he first arrived in the village, Rong Ziyin was overwhelmed with his own affairs and had no chance to contact his mentor. Now that he’d settled in, he felt it was time to check in and reassure his advisor.
Besides, though he was working at the animal husbandry station, he hadn’t received his diploma yet. His advisor hadn’t removed him from the research team either. This arrangement would benefit his future thesis application and publication.
Thus, Rong Ziyin felt even more grateful to his advisor and genuinely wanted to produce some results.
At present, he had a ready-made research subject at hand. He had been observing the duck that had developed complications.
Yes, it was the very one that had been injected with hormones, quacked all the way, and ultimately lost to the frozen hairtail.
Rong Ziyin had kept it for treatment for one reason: he intended to conduct an in-depth study of this case of avian tuberculosis. This particular duck was exceptionally unique, suffering not only from avian tuberculosis but also avian plague.
Coincidentally, Rong Ziyin’s previous research project at university had focused on poultry infectious disease prevention. The thesis outline was already complete, but it had been shelved due to unforeseen circumstances. Now, with this relevant case study to supplement his work, it promised to be even more compelling than before.
Naturally, with such progress on his research, Rong Ziyin felt compelled to inform his advisor. He dialed his professor’s number.
The phone rang only twice before being answered.
“Rong Ziyin? How have you been? Settling into your work?” The moment the advisor saw Rong Ziyin’s name on the screen, his voice brimmed with concern.
“I’m doing well, don’t worry. I just wanted to check in.” Rong Ziyin replied with a smile.
The long-separated mentor and student exchanged pleasantries for quite some time. It was the advisor who finally steered the conversation back to Rong Ziyin’s research progress.
“I’m almost finished writing it up and was just about to send it over for your review.” Rong Ziyin answered truthfully.
“Great!” The advisor was visibly relieved. Hearing that Rong Ziyin had also sent local specialties made him overjoyed. “I’ll be waiting for the delivery.”
After hanging up, Rong Ziyin felt considerably lighter. His advisor had always looked out for him, and now he could finally offer a small token of gratitude.
With his mind settled, Rong Ziyin refocused on his thesis. The duck’s condition had improved significantly; now it was mainly a matter of observation.
Two days later, Rong Ziyin finished his thesis, and his advisor received the package he’d sent.
Rong Ziyin was his advisor’s star pupil, whom he adored immensely. His colleagues in the office knew this well, so when Rong Ziyin faced trouble, the professors who knew him all felt deeply sorry for him. Yet the university’s decision stood, leaving them powerless to intervene.
Hearing that Rong Ziyin hadn’t abandoned his studies despite being sent down to the countryside, they all felt relieved for his advisor.
Now, seeing his advisor carry in a large box of express delivery, they curiously asked, “What’s that?”
“A homely gift from my young apprentice,” the advisor replied, beaming with pride.
The office was intrigued. They knew where Rong Ziyin had been sent—just an ordinary village. What kind of local gift could he possibly send?
Everyone crowded around to see what the advisor had received. But the moment the box opened, five salted fish wrapped in ribbons stared back at them with their gleaming, dead fish eyes. Beside the fish lay a handwritten note from Rong Ziyin himself.
“Dream Salted Fish, exquisite flavor. Deep-fried and served with congee, it’s incredibly appetizing—truly evokes the charm of the stars and the sea.”
“…” [Confusion Level 1000] The entire office fell silent.
Rong Ziyin’s mentor understood his meaning. After a long silence, he could only blurt out, “My little apprentice is actually quite simple-minded.”
“Hmm, he is quite innocent,” the other professors quickly chimed in agreement. Yet their mood grew even more complicated. For some reason, they couldn’t shake the feeling that this slacker was mocking them. Pfft! You bunch of corporate drones…
[Professor Zhang Mingzhi’s Complexity Value +300] [Professor Li Kongrong’s Complexity Value +444] [Professor Xu Youcai’s Complexity +345]…
At the Animal Husbandry Station, Rong Ziyin stared at the sudden four thousand gold coins appearing in his account and couldn’t help but sigh, “Seems researchers really are sensitive souls.”
System: …Rong Ziyin’s advisor not beating him to death is actually quite kind.
Even though he received a rather unreliable gift, Professor Li Kongrong genuinely cared about Rong Ziyin.
After receiving the paper Rong Ziyin sent over, he promptly opened the document and prepared to meticulously review it for him.
This research topic was originally chosen by him for Rong Ziyin, intended as the subject for Rong Ziyin’s first published paper after becoming a graduate student.
Publicly published papers are generally categorized into six tiers: Tier 1 being T-class, like SCI journals, followed sequentially by A through E-class.
However, graduate students’ papers don’t strictly need to be submitted to these tiered journals. Submitting to internal publications is perfectly acceptable, provided they are provincial-level internal journals or higher.
Therefore, the advisor had already selected the journal to assist Rong Ziyin with submission and had even arranged contacts to help secure a suitable section for his paper.
Yet, when he finally began reviewing Rong Ziyin’s paper, he was utterly stunned!
The quality of Rong Ziyin’s paper far exceeded his expectations. In fact, he believed it was worthy of direct submission to a domestic core journal—specifically, a Category C journal.
Suddenly, the advisor recalled that World Agriculture, a core journal in animal husbandry, was currently promoting undergraduate research and actively soliciting submissions from university students.
Although the university had made it clear that even if Rong Ziyin passed the national graduate entrance exam before the New Year, they would not admit him as a graduate student. But nothing is set in stone—if Rong Ziyin himself demonstrated outstanding academic performance, that might change!
World Agriculture, classified as a Peking University Core Journal, ranked among China’s top publications. It presented the perfect opportunity for Rong Ziyin to return to academia.
No, more accurately, if Rong Ziyin seized this chance to advance further, he might not even need to reapply to the university. Greater opportunities could lie ahead.
The advisor’s excitement surged. He immediately called Rong Ziyin to share the news.
“Carefully consider this. I previously shared the specific submission requirements with each class representative—they should be in your class group chat. Go check them out.”
“Thank you, Professor.” Rong Ziyin’s heart stirred. He quickly opened the class group chat to review the details.
Just as his advisor had said, this was an exceptional opportunity—Rong Ziyin’s best chance for a decisive counterattack. While many research projects did involve fieldwork, Rong Ziyin was effectively trapped in the village.
But if he succeeded in publishing his paper, he’d likely have a chance to return to campus. Moreover, only by maintaining frequent contact with that rich kid could Rong Ziyin uncover the flaws in his scheme to frame him.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t just Rong Ziyin paying attention to this matter. Other classmates in the class group chat were also discussing it.
“Ahhhhhhh! World Agriculture? A core internal journal! I heard from seniors that even grad students might not get published there! Wonder if this so-called ‘encouraging undergraduate research’ initiative will lower the bar.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. Lowering standards is impossible—it’s a core internal publication. And submitting won’t help anyway! Even grad students struggle to get in, let alone us undergrads. You’d need to be a total academic superstar to have a shot!”
“Not necessarily. Speaking of real talent, don’t we have a genius in our class? I heard they mentioned Rong Ziyin has some kind of research project going on—sounds pretty impressive. Might just get selected!”
The moment this person finished speaking, the entire class group fell silent.
Rong Ziyin is now the class’s off-limits zone. Ever since the rich kid publicly clashed with him, rumors have been swirling around campus. Gossipmongers claim Rong Ziyin ended up in the village class because he offended someone.
But Rong Ziyin has always kept to himself. Whenever he has free time, he either works to earn money or throws himself into lab research projects. Where would he even find the chance to make enemies? It must be that rich kid, right?
Coincidentally, the rich kid did see the group chat and felt equally annoyed.
Recently, Rong Ziyin’s blatant and underhanded maneuvers had nearly gotten him kicked out several times. Unable to find a chance for revenge, he seized this opportunity to vent, directly confronting Rong Ziyin in the class group chat: “Even if Rong Ziyin can write it, he still needs money to get it published. Have you paid back the 200,000 you owe? Hah.”
It hit the nail on the head, venomously sharp.
Getting a paper published in a journal costs money. And prices vary between journals. Ordinary journals—provincial or national level—start at a few hundred yuan, with national ones capped at five thousand.
Core journals are different. Science Core journals are slightly cheaper, but Peking University Core journals already exceed ten thousand yuan. Nanjing University Core journals are nearly double that.
As for World Agriculture, though listed in Peking University’s core, it still demands a hefty sum.
Thus, while others struggle with academic merit to publish in core journals, Rong Ziyin was held back by sheer poverty.
Even so, this rich kid’s tone was unbearably irritating. Someone in the group who couldn’t stomach it spoke up anonymously: “Don’t be so harsh. Rong Ziyin already has a job. How do you know he doesn’t have money?”
“Besides, if he really achieves something in his research, our Agricultural University could benefit too. The department might even fund him!”
The rich kid sneered coldly, “If the department supported him, why did his guaranteed admission spot disappear?”
“Don’t you know why it vanished?”
“Those with guilty consciences deserve their downfall. Just like you anonymous types here, throwing shade from the shadows—dare you take off your mask and confront me openly?”
“…” Confront him openly? Who dared?
The rich kid’s hands weren’t clean. If Rong Ziyin had just annoyed him, his future would be ruined. No one was stupid enough to argue with him face-to-face.
This guy was arrogant to the extreme.
Rong Ziyin sat at his computer, reading the entire conversation in the group chat.
The system was furious, unable to hold back its curse: “Fuck this bastard! I’d love to beat the shit out of him with a frozen mackerel!”
“No worries, it’s not time for him to cry yet.” Rong Ziyin wasn’t the least bit angry. Instead, he calmly typed a line in the chat window: “Thanks for the concern. My thesis is finished. I’ll submit it anytime. No need for the department to pay.”
“!!!”
“Holy shit! The academic god is back!”
Rong Ziyin’s sudden reappearance sent shockwaves through the group, especially among those who’d always begged him for notes before exams. They couldn’t resist anonymously tagging him, weeping bitterly. They lamented how exams had become impossibly difficult since Rong Ziyin’s absence.
The rich kid couldn’t stand seeing Rong Ziyin being fawned over by everyone and blurted out, “Where did you get the money to submit to a journal?”
Rong Ziyin’s reply was as steady as an old dog: “From selling salted duck eggs!”
“???” The rich kid was completely flustered and couldn’t react for a long time.
Seeing the group fall silent, Rong Ziyin realized his retort had been a bit harsh.
Considering he was now, after all, a businessman—and might one day sell his salted duck eggs to the school cafeteria—he decided to lighten the mood. Rong Ziyin downloaded a wildly popular meme from the internet: [Black Man Carrying Coffin dance.jpg]
Beneath a gleaming white coffin, four jet-black faces beamed with delight as they cheerfully carried the casket forward, bouncing with each step in an upbeat rhythm.
“…” The group instantly grew even colder. Only after a long pause did someone chime in, “Hahaha, you’re so funny, nerd.”
Simultaneously, they awarded Rong Ziyin a staggering 2,000 points of awkwardness.
As for the rich kid, he was so flustered by Rong Ziyin’s words that he couldn’t find a rebuttal for ages, seething with frustration. It took him a full moment to suddenly snap out of it. Holy shit! Rong Ziyin had actually appeared in the group chat.
That video last time, plus all those humiliating repayments that had humiliated him—he’d finally found his chance to vent.
He opened the group’s private chat, found Rong Ziyin, and tapped on his name. His fingers flew across the keyboard. Within three minutes, a barrage of accusatory messages flew out. Yet all he saw was a row of red exclamation marks in the chat window.
And a notification: The other party has blocked you.
“Damn you, Rong Ziyin!” The rich kid’s words choked in his throat, unexpectedly granting Rong Ziyin another 3,000 anger points.
This round counted as a classmate’s contribution, netting Rong Ziyin over 6,000 gold coins. Combined with his existing stash, it was enough for another ten consecutive pulls.
Rong Ziyin: Pull or not pull?