Chapter 35: ‘Dish’ is only One Word
Is this the legendary ad?
All three of them were dumbfounded. Scrolling down, there were even more ads.
Things like “Midnight Kitten,” or “Buy salted duck eggs and you’ll be my forever sugar daddy.” Basically, there was nothing they couldn’t think of that Rong Ziyin couldn’t write.
So what could this WeChat feed possibly reveal? The moral limits of salesmanship?
The trio exchanged bewildered glances, ultimately unable to make heads or tails of it. They couldn’t even fully grasp the content Rong Ziyin had posted.
After all, their lives were relatively simple. They’d never encountered such a specialized profession as micro-business.
So what exactly was this Rong Ziyin’s background?
By dinnertime, they saw Rong Ziyin’s latest WeChat Moments update: a photo of the three of them each holding a salted duck egg with the caption “Cheers to our eggs!” They were even more baffled.
The teenager who had added Rong Ziyin first couldn’t resist tapping him to probe for intel.
“Senior, what’s with that post in your Moments…”
Within a minute, Rong Ziyin replied: “Ah! I’m a micro-business operator. Just running a small-scale operation.”
“???” [Confusion Level: 1500] The answer was the last thing they expected. The teenager froze in place.
But Rong Ziyin was just getting started. “Oh, hey, wanna some salted duck eggs?”
The three teens exchanged bewildered glances. “What does that even mean?”
The next second, Rong Ziyin thoughtfully sent them several videos. All showcasing different ways to enjoy salted duck eggs.
At dinnertime, such videos were impossible to resist. Especially when their rumbling stomachs kept growling with hunger.
So, five minutes later, the three teens inexplicably each ordered thirty salted duck eggs from Rong Ziyin. Since he had them ready and they lived next door, delivery arrived swiftly after placing the orders.
The delivery guy was that mechanical engineering whiz.
Facing this senior who seemed noticeably more down-to-earth, the three teens couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, why did Senior Rong bring so many salted duck eggs to the show?”
Mechanical Engineering Guy: “Oh, he sells salted duck eggs. Everyone at our school orders from him.”
The three boys: “???”
The mechanical engineering guy enthusiastically pitched, “Try some! They’re seriously delicious!”
Then he turned and walked away, heading in the direction of Rong Ziyin’s room.
“Senior, are you guys studying together?”
The mechanical engineering guy frowned. “Yeah, sort of.”
The three boys exchanged glances, feeling even more uneasy.
Once the mechanical engineering student returned to Rong Ziyin’s dorm, his expression instantly brightened.
“Come on, come on! Finished your updates? Let’s queue up for a three-man squad!”
Rong Ziyin and the beautiful senior lifted their heads. “Let’s go!”
The familiar sound of “timi” rang out from their phones.
Bronze three-man squad, instant match. Whoever hits Gold first is a dog.
After all, as Rong Ziyin put it, even last-minute cramming requires knowing which weapon to sharpen. With only three days left before the competition, they might as well let loose.
Meanwhile, the contestants’ group chat was equally lively. Today’s hot topic? Rong Ziyin and his two teammates.
Unlike the fans outside, these contestants had been on the show for a month and understood the production team’s underhanded tactics.
From the moment Rong Ziyin and his team moved in, they caught the production team’s subtle hints: Rong Ziyin wasn’t just a gimmick, but a formidable opponent. Otherwise, if they were just here for one episode, the production team wouldn’t have bothered assigning them dorm rooms.
Precisely because of this, these elite students from various universities were even more curious about how Rong Ziyin’s team would impact the competition dynamics.
“Does anyone here have classmates from Agricultural University? Know the inside scoop?” someone asked first, and an answer came quickly.
“Even if you did, it wouldn’t help. That wave of trending topics pushed by fans really got those Agricultural University folks fired up. Now they’re all tight-lipped, not giving anyone a chance.”
“What about their school forum?”
“Can’t get in. That forum must’ve been built before liberation! Without a student ID, you can’t even access the external network.”
“Guess we’ll just have to wait until after the mock exams. Who knows which team they’ll pick? Fingers crossed!”
But then, someone suddenly remembered the Youth Class team and tagged him: “You guys live right next door—haven’t you noticed anything?”
After all, one member of the Youth Class team specialized in psychology.
Little did they expect the reply they got would be: “Rong Ziyin is a micro-business seller.”
“???”
“He even sold me 30 salted duck eggs during dinner!”
“…” The group fell instantly silent.
As if finally finding an outlet for his frustration, the teenager immediately added, “You guys won’t believe this—with the placement exams coming up, instead of studying or anything, the three of them teamed up to play games.”
“Honor of Kings, Bronze tier! And they lost five games in a row!” The three teens from the youth class felt utterly foolish at that moment.
After adding Rong Ziyin on WeChat, they hadn’t noticed anything suspicious. They’d even paid for his salted duck eggs, becoming his customers. Frustrated beyond belief, they vowed to find something incriminating on Rong Ziyin.
Just then, the first one to add Rong Ziyin got a WeChat notification: Rong Ziyin had gifted him gold coins in Honor of Kings!
So this guy was actually playing games?
Games reveal a person’s true character best, so they hurriedly joined the game and tracked down Rong Ziyin.
Honor of Kings had a spectator mode. Upon entering, they were thrilled to discover that all three of Rong Ziyin’s targets seemed to be online, playing in a three-man squad.
This was perfect! The trio could analyze the situation together.
But half an hour later, they watched helplessly as the trio chased Cheng Yaojin through the jungle for three miles. Just as they were about to finish him off, Rong Ziyin’s Xiang Yu pushed Cheng Yaojin away, letting him escape. Meanwhile, the enemy team successfully destroyed their base and won the game.
Forget personality analysis—the screen was flooded with nothing but the word “noob.”
“You won’t believe this! They’ve been playing for two hours, and all three are still stuck in Bronze III.”
“…” The group fell even deeper into silence.
What kind of bizarre opponents had they stumbled upon?
On Rong Ziyin’s end, a sudden system notification appeared: “Confusion Points: +10000.”
System: “Wow! That was epic!”
“Truly a flock of outstanding little lambs,” Rong Ziyin chuckled, slightly adjusting Xiang Yu’s skill to send the enemy back into the safe zone once more, leaving all four teammates with wasted abilities.
The mechanical engineer had completely broken down, clutching Rong Ziyin’s arm and wailing, “Daddy, please swap me for Yao Mei! Daddy, just ride me on your head!”
Rong Ziyin: “Watch your language! We have ladies here! How can you casually talk about riding people around?”
“…” The beautiful senior from the Landscape Architecture department wanted to slap Rong Ziyin senseless. Now that she knew she was a girl, why the hell hadn’t they thought about her being a girl when she pulled up a tree with her bare hands earlier?!
Another wipe. The two of them, in unison, threw their phones in anger, refusing to trio queue with Rong Ziyin anymore and planning to head back to the dorm.
Rong Ziyin tried to console them: “Don’t be upset, just have fun!”
They shouted in unison: “F*ck that! We’re not having any fun at all!”
The great ship of their friendship sank right then and there. For the next two days, fearing they’d strangle each other on sight if they met, they avoided each other entirely.
Yet their apparent ease and nonchalance struck other competing teams as deeply mysterious. The three youths who had first scouted Rong Ziyin’s group even lost sleep at night, consumed by worry.
According to tournament rules, even as the previous champions, they held no exemption this time. Should Rong Ziyin issue a challenge, they would be compelled to fight.
Compared to the other teams present, they clearly appeared the weakest.
This meant that once the competition resumed, if Rong Ziyin’s team secured their spot and chose to face them, it would be a fight to the death. Yet now, while the opposing team could study their past performance through the previous episode’s replay, they knew absolutely nothing about Rong Ziyin.
Amidst this oppressive atmosphere, the mock exam finally commenced.
This variety show’s process was far more rigorous and complex than typical programs. Since all participants were academic elites competing in a points-based battle, not every live recording session allowed all teams to participate. Instead, the top six teams ranked by total points in the pre-recording mock exam would qualify.
Naturally, to ensure fairness, the mock exams are conducted online with remote proctoring. This means that during the exam, the surveillance cameras in each scholar’s room are open to the public. Any viewer can watch their exam progress through the live feed. Simultaneously, viewers can also access their answer sheets in real-time via the show’s official website.
In other words, even scribbling a random “A” on the exam paper would be instantly detectable by viewers. There was simply no possibility of cheating.
Consequently, each mock ranking exam became the segment most anticipated by the online audience.
Therefore, each simulated placement exam is the most anticipated event for netizens.
With just five minutes left until the exam begins, the official livestream is already packed with viewers. Among them, seventy percent are here specifically for Rong Ziyin, eager to see if he truly possesses genuine talent. Meanwhile, the students from Agricultural University cheering on their own academic star are all glued to their screens, filled with nervous anticipation.
The clock struck the hour precisely, revealing the exam’s theme. One hundred multiple-choice questions must be completed within ten minutes—allowing no more than six seconds per question. There was virtually no time for deliberation; answers had to be written instantly.
It was terrifying.
But what was even more terrifying was the theme: National Geography.
The Agricultural University students collectively gasped, their minds buzzing. Honestly, this was just too unlucky! Out of the three from their school—one studying landscape architecture, one mechanical engineering, and one veterinary medicine—not a single one had any connection to this field!
The forum erupted in a chorus of wails.
“Holy crap, what kind of god-awful luck is this?! The last few rounds had general topics, why the hell is it National Geographic this time?”
“Hold on, I think the hottie from Landscape Architecture will be fine!”
“Just him being fine won’t cut it! What about Rong Ziyin?”
“Enough. I can already see the trending topics: ‘Agricultural University’s Flower Pot,’ truly living up to its name.”
Meanwhile, the Veterinary Department chair was equally anxious, though she maintained a composed facade as she opened Rong Ziyin’s exam paper to review his answers. To her surprise, Rong Ziyin had completed it at lightning speed—the display even showed he’d finished faster than the geography and humanities geniuses majoring in the subject.
“This can’t be real! Is this kid just giving up and guessing randomly?” the department head asked his colleague in bewilderment.
“Not necessarily,” the female teacher frowned. While she knew little about geography, she recognized that at least the answers to the questions Rong Ziyin had answered were correct.
So what was really going on with Rong Ziyin?
Clearly, netizens watching Rong Ziyin shared the same confusion.
At first, some suspected he was just trying to show off. But soon, they noticed his answers matched almost exactly with those chosen by the geography and humanities prodigy. When they Googled the few differing answers, they were shocked to find Rong Ziyin was still correct.
“Holy crap! Did he get the questions leaked in advance?” someone blurted out.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The production team isn’t insane.”
“Who knows? Otherwise, how do you explain a vet student answering these questions better than a geography and humanities major? That defies common sense!”
“Exactly! Something’s definitely off here!”
“Production team, come out! We demand an explanation!”
And just like that, before the mock exam even ended, netizens erupted in chaos. Amidst the uproar, the computer grading concluded: Rong Ziyin scored a perfect 100, ranking first. The second-place geography and humanities scholar trailed him by two points.
“How is this possible?” Upon seeing the results, nearly every top student was stunned.
Veterinary medicine! If only Rong Ziyin’s major had anything to do with geography, they wouldn’t be questioning their existence.
“Seriously, shouldn’t we get an explanation?” The hot-headed ones went straight to the production team, genuinely suspecting they’d leaked questions to Rong Ziyin.
Especially the human geography ace—this was his turf, yet he lost to Rong Ziyin!
So, unable to wait for the director’s explanation, they spontaneously headed toward Rong Ziyin’s dorm room.
An accompanying PD urgently asked the chief director, “Should we stop them? This looks like trouble brewing.”
The chief director gritted his teeth. “Let them go! Treat it as an unexpected incident.”
They themselves didn’t understand how Rong Ziyin had scored perfect marks, but given the current situation, no explanation would convince the contestants or netizens. Better to let them ask directly—perhaps it would not only dispel doubts but yield new insights.
Thus, with the production team’s tacit approval, the group of academic elites knocked on Rong Ziyin’s door.
The door was opened by the PD responsible for filming Rong Ziyin.
Inside, Rong Ziyin was clearly unprepared. Not only had he shed his showy white lab coat, but he was now wearing the garish red-and-green uniform of the veterinary department. His hands were busy filling out a thick stack of shipping labels, while packaged salted duck eggs lay scattered at his feet.
Everyone: …
They seemed to have found the reason behind Rong Ziyin’s geographical prowess. After all, as a micro-business owner with nationwide reach, traveling ten thousand miles was more valuable than reading ten thousand books.
The scene grew intensely awkward.
The system promptly prompted: “Host, say something quick! This is a live stream—if you can win over fans, the coin value will skyrocket!”
Rong Ziyin thought the system made sense, so he pulled out the phrase students most often uttered after daily exams: “The questions were pretty tough. How many points did you guys score?”