Chapter 27: Money, Come!

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Money, Come!

Back at the Knowledge Youth Institute, the male youth on duty had already brewed ginger soup. He handed each female comrade a bowl to help them fend off the cold.

Once Deng Yuyuan returned to her room, she finally had the peace of mind to examine the money the staff member had stuffed into her hands. It was all in small change, but the loose bills added up to a solid twenty yuan. Mixed in were two milk powder ration coupons, two meat coupons, and one cloth coupon. This was even more than Zhang Jiahua’s mandated annual child support. Such generosity didn’t seem like a simple reimbursement for medical expenses.

"She was tripping you up on one hand while helping you on the other. How strange," the AI customer service remarked.

"People are inherently contradictory and unpredictable," Deng Yuyuan said. She neatly gathered the money and coupons, extracted five yuan in change, one meat coupon, and one milk powder coupon, and hid the rest in her wardrobe.

The moment she stepped out of the room, the AI spoke up again. "You’re doing much better than the original female educated youth, and you’re much more likable. They’re all willing to help you. Unlike her—it wasn’t until she died that anyone shed a few measly tears for her. Her cowardice was as pitiful as it was detestable."

Deng Yuyuan paused with her foot hovering over the threshold. "Did you forget to run your antivirus scan? Why are you getting things completely backward? I only received their help because they remembered the care the original ’Deng Yuyuan’ once showed them. The only difference between my situation and hers is that I chose to fight back and ask for help, whereas she chose to suffer in silence.

"Aside from Tuantuan in the past, I don’t think any of us have the right to judge her."

Deng Yuyuan knew exactly what was going on. She had never been a social butterfly. Even with her successful career in her previous life, she hadn’t made a single intimate friend. If the original host hadn’t laid this solid social groundwork for her, she would currently be racking her brain over how to bribe a few villagers into taking her side.

"Never forget the one who dug the well you drink from," she reminded it. "It’s ungrateful to take over someone’s body and then badmouth them—especially when you’re squatting rent-free in her brain." Besides, Deng Yuyuan was just stating the facts. "In the context of this era, she wasn’t a coward; she was the picture of perfection. Beautiful, gentle, hardworking, virtuous, forgiving, kind, obedient, educated, completely devoted to her husband and family, filial, and endlessly tolerant..."

"Stop, stop, stop! I get it, you’re very satisfied with her!"

"Anyone who ended up with her would have been incredibly lucky." It was just that the original host herself hadn’t been happy.

"Tuantuan wasn’t happy in her past life," the AI retorted.

"...Didn’t I just say ’aside from Tuantuan’?" Deng Yuyuan sighed helplessly. She wondered why the AI had suddenly taken such a strong dislike to the original host. If she made a small memorial tablet for her later and paid daily respects, wouldn’t the system absolutely blow a fuse?

"So, compared to Tuantuan, whom you spend every day with, you prefer the original host?"

Deng Yuyuan finally sensed that something was off. "Do you really have to force a choice between the two?"

"...I am Tuantuan’s overprotective, obsessive solo fan."

"Then hurry up and manifest a physical body so you can babysit her for me."

"..."

System AI customer service, K.O.!

Deng Yuyuan handed the five yuan and the meat coupon to the other youths at the Knowledge Youth Institute as a token of her gratitude. At first, the youths absolutely refused to accept it. It wasn’t until Deng Yuyuan pretended to walk away that they finally took the money and coupon, secretly resolving to cook her some special private meals to repay the favor.

Deng Yuyuan didn’t mind. As long as she worked hard to earn money and proved she could be self-sufficient, the youths at the institute would naturally change their opinion of her. Even though she insisted she was perfectly fine, everyone still called over the village’s barefoot doctor to examine her. The doctor prescribed a few tonic formulas, and the bill was put on the tab of Zhang Jiahua, who had volunteered to cover the costs.

Deng Yuyuan rested in her room for a full day. The next morning, she woke up feeling completely refreshed. Her body felt so robust that she genuinely believed she could run a marathon. After checking with the AI to confirm it wasn’t an illusion—and learning her physical fitness now rivaled that of a healthy twenty-year-old man—she climbed out of bed.

Tossing out a casual excuse about needing to use the restroom to a groggy Zhao Erdong, Deng Yuyuan stood in the middle of the courtyard and stretched her limbs. After a brief warm-up, she picked a small trail and jogged toward the mountains.

The safest route would have been a morning run around the village. However, while the youths at the institute loved sleeping in and only headed to work at the last possible minute, the village elders were up earlier than the roosters. If those old folks saw her, there would be hell to pay. Riding on the coattails of her recent divorce drama, she would immediately be cemented as the hottest topic of local gossip.

Furthermore, the middle and outer perimeters of the mountain weren’t considered dangerous in the original novel. Basking in the halo of the female protagonist, Fubao, her family members managed to catch wild hares, pheasants, and a slew of other game at the foot of the mountain every single time to supplement their meals. Once, when they stumbled upon the massive windfall of a wild boar, they even took refuge in an abandoned hunter’s cabin on the mountain. The hunter hadn’t moved out of the mountains because it was dangerous, but because he had struck it rich. Villagers also frequently ventured up the mountain during the farming off-season to forage for wild game and edible greens. People regularly chopped firewood on the outskirts, so if anyone wanted to find actual game, they had to venture a bit deeper.

Deng Yuyuan knew she didn’t possess the female protagonist’s heaven-defying luck, but she shouldn’t run into any real danger, either. Besides, she had the farm as her ultimate cheat code. Once she was in the mountains, she could secretly legitimize the origins of certain items without anyone batting an eye.

With a mere thought, Deng Yuyuan summoned the farm’s interface. Sure enough, a new option had appeared under the items section: "[-5 Gold Coins to Disguise as Wild Game]." It was an absolute steal with incredible cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, chickens and ducks wouldn’t unlock until Level 10. For now, only the grass carp was suitable to take out.

Carrying a bamboo basket loaded with a rope net and a woodchopper’s knife, she navigated through the mountains by the faint morning light. The ideal time to explore would be when everyone else went to work. By then, it would be bright enough outside but not yet sweltering. Unfortunately, if she brought it up at that time, she would inevitably be talked out of going. Quickening her pace, Deng Yuyuan thought to herself that she needed to return before everyone fully woke up.

"Move quietly. There’s a rabbit hole over there," the AI instructed. "Ah, to the left, to the left! Yes, exactly!"

Guided by the system, Deng Yuyuan managed to injure one rabbit with her knife and catch another that blundered into a dirt mound during its escape. Foraging for materials on the spot, she found a few tough, long blades of grass, hog-tied the rabbits, and tossed them into her bamboo basket.

"Go right," the AI chimed in. "The berries in those bushes are sweet. The yellow ones."

Deng Yuyuan thoroughly transformed into an emotionless foraging machine. Under the system’s direction, she snagged two bird eggs and a pile of wild berries to accompany her initial pair of rabbits. Finally, she redeemed a grass carp from her spatial farm and laid it right on top of her haul.

"Take a few steps back and go right. Pluck some large leaves to cover the top, then lay a few branches over them."

Deng Yuyuan did as she was told. "Why are you being so considerate today?"

"Considering how considerate I’m being, could we maybe stay out a little longer?"

Surprisingly, Deng Yuyuan could actually detect a hint of reluctance in the robotic voice. So it just wanted to play. Deng Yuyuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She felt like this AI customer service was becoming more human by the day.

Deng Yuyuan casually used her knife to hack off some shrubbery to cover the bamboo basket. But as the foliage shifted, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a human face hidden among the vegetation.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"I didn’t scan anyone here! This must be a character tied to the plotline!"