Transmigrated as Cannon Fodder — I Rise to Female Lead Through Hard Work-Chapter 64: Striking it Rich

The scrap yard in Huaixi County is located in a relatively remote corner of the county town. It covers quite a large area, but it’s mostly just a big yard.

"Sir, we’re here to hunt for some books." Anmin explained the purpose of their visit to the old man guarding the scrap yard.

Yi Roujing noticed a little kid by the old man’s side, wearing crotchless pants, with pigtails sticking up, biting his finger and looking about three or four years old. She took a candy out of her pocket and handed it over.

"Candy, candy, milk candy..." The little kid, mouth full of fingers, immediately started drooling, but instead of reaching for the candy, he turned to look at the old man and called out, "Grandpa, Grandpa..."

"Go ahead, take it. Thank the sister." The old man saw it was a precious milk candy. His family hardly ever bought any, and only during once, when his grandson visited relatives during the Spring Festival, had they ever tasted one. He’d always remembered the flavor, and upon seeing it again, he recognized it instantly. Being someone who loved children, he couldn’t refuse.

"Thank you, sister." The little kid took his finger out of his mouth, smiled, and thanked, then took the milk candy, peeled it open, pondered a bit, and reached out to hand it to the old man, "Grandpa, half and half."

The old man smiled so much his face was full of deep wrinkles, "Be good, it’s all for you. Grandpa doesn’t like it."

The little kid just sat on the doorstep, eating carefully, sucking on the candy.

"The books are inside the house. If I left them in the yard, they’d get ruined from the wind and rain and sun. I’ll take you there. What kind of books are you looking for?" The old man, seeing the candy, was very friendly towards Yi Roujing and her two companions.

"High school books." Anmin replied, "But I’d also like to see if there are any other books. Anything’s better than nothing, even if just to cover windows."

"All the books are in this room. The high school ones are in this pile. Some banned books cannot be taken out." The old man reminded them kindly.

"Got it, thank you, sir. We’ll take a look around." Anguo replied with a smile.

"Alright, I’ll be at the door. Once you’ve picked out what you want, just bring it to the door to weigh." The old man said and then left.

Yi Roujing walked around the room. There were plenty of high school math, physics, and chemistry books, but no English books. Back when the college entrance exams were reinstated, English was not required for students not majoring in foreign languages.

Besides textbooks, there were more literary books in the room, which the old man referred to as banned books. Yi Roujing flipped through a few of them, all of which she had read before, but in Chinese translation. She hadn’t expected to find the original versions here, but she couldn’t understand the Russian editions, though they were quite treasures.

"Hey, you’d better go outside. You can’t touch these books." Anmin took the books from Yi Roujing’s hands and put them back. Then, shooed her away, afraid she’d get into trouble.

Yi "Just as Honest" Roujing had no choice but to walk out of the room and stand in the yard.

The scrap yard covered more than a hundred square meters. Various items were piled everywhere: a chipped ceramic bowl, a holey iron pot, a legless stool, a broken bed... everything from kitchenware to household items.

With a stick, Yi Roujing poked around, picking things up, more out of curiosity than purpose.

"Sniff, sniff—" Yi Roujing’s nose twitched as she caught a faintly familiar scent. After pulling apart a pile of broken tables and chairs, she squatted down, picked up a piece of wood at the bottom, about the size of an adult’s forearm, and as thick as a thigh, brought it close to her nose: Agarwood.

Such a large piece of agarwood, wow, Yi Roujing hugged it tightly. She had found a real treasure.

"Why are you hugging a piece of wood?" Anmin and Anguo had already picked out the books, selecting the ones with the most complete pages, choosing five in total. When they came out, they saw Yi Roujing grinning foolishly with a piece of wood.

"I want it, it smells nice." Yi Roujing’s eyes glowed, "It smells better than flowers."

"Wood is heavy, and we don’t even know if it will be weighed. If you want it, you can pick up any piece outside, or I’ll chop you a piece from the mountain when we get home." Anmin shook his head in disbelief.

"If you want it, take it. No charge, just consider it a bonus with your book purchase." The old man heard them while they were checking out and generously offered.

"Thank you, sir." Yi Roujing was thrilled, and reaching into her pocket, pulled out a handful of at least six milk candies, stuffing them all into the old man’s hands, "For the little kid."

"Hey, this, this..."

The old man was flattered and wanted to refuse, but the words didn’t come out, and his wrinkled face turned slightly red. In the end, he didn’t refuse, just gave them a discount during the weighing process: five books for a dime.

On the way back, Yi Roujing hugged the agarwood, her grin reaching to the back of her head, and every now and then let out a few laughs, which made Anmin a bit uneasy.

"Are you okay?" Anmin asked with concern.

"I’m happy." Yi Roujing squinted, smiling, took out a milk candy and handed it to Anmin, "Good suggestion today."

Anmin looked at the candy in his hand, amused, muttered, "So happy over a piece of wood."

"It’s agarwood," Yi Roujing took a step back, leaned in and whispered to Anmin, "If you sell it to a perfume shop, it might be worth more than ginseng."

"What is agarwood?" Anmin was puzzled.

"It’s a treasure." Yi Roujing said, smiling widely, and walked quickly away.

Back at the inn, Yi Roujing took out a cloth, filled a basin with water, and carefully wiped every nook and cranny of the agarwood, handling it like a treasure.

Such a valuable thing, being mistreated in a scrap yard. Fortunately, nothing happened to it, and she was there.

Ding Ancheng finished class and brought some simple clothes to the inn. As he walked in, he almost collided with someone coming out. Luckily, he stepped back a bit and avoided the collision.

"Sorry." Ding Ancheng hurriedly entered, somewhat eager, so he hadn’t noticed if anyone was coming out. He apologized first.

"Mr. Ding, it’s okay."

The person coming out was Song Yiluo. She wore a pink dress, with a white cardigan sweater over it, a pair of T-strap leather shoes on her feet, and her hair tied into two braids with a pink hairband, looking full of vitality. She smiled gently at Ding Ancheng.

Ding Ancheng nodded slightly and walked past Song Yiluo into the inn.

"Mr. Ding, what brings you here?" Song Yiluo turned around quickly and called out, gently brushing the ends of her braids with her hands, appearing somewhat shy, not forgetting to explain.

"It’s because my family sent me something, so I got an introduction letter from the team leader to come here." Song Yiluo suddenly felt grateful for having changed into the clothes and shoes her family sent her. She had looked in the mirror and thought they suited her, which is why she wore them out. Her original plan was to try her luck at County First Middle School.

"Mr. Ding, why are you here..." Song Yiluo asked softly.

Ding Ancheng frowned slightly. Having seen young women show interest in him before, though the person in front of him wasn’t exactly showing interest, did they know each other well enough to share their whereabouts?