The Woman Who Was Almost Killed by Gold

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

The woman who was almost killed by gold in Episode 46 rubbed her head. The bump on one side was still quite painful.

Lin Yuzhu wondered whether she was unlucky or lucky.

It was precisely because of the huge bump on her head that she no longer regretted taking the bag. She had angrily tossed it into her space after being hit by it, but now it had become a windfall from heaven. She was quite tempted.

Lin Yuzhu secretly thought to herself.

Just then, the system gave her a friendly reminder: Host, you have a Risk-Avoidance Checklist. Please collect it.

Then, like the sneaky bastard it was, it conjured a screen before her eyes.

Lin Yuzhu's mind filled with black lines. Put bluntly, the system was just desperate for money.

Huge red letters on the screen warned her that if she did not pay Contribution Points this time, the system would no longer provide risk-avoidance services.

The system had a detection function that could identify dangerous items and judge whether a person was good or bad based on their appearance and aura.

Every risk-avoidance scenario had its own rating standard. When the system detected particularly vicious people, it would issue a warning. The first two people she had encountered just now were both carrying knives, so the system had automatically activated its risk detection.

After successfully helping Lin Yuzhu avoid danger, the rating system calculated the level of risk avoidance and charged her accordingly.

She could default on the payment, but she had to think carefully about whether she would need this service in the future.

Lin Yuzhu held her forehead. As she paid, she mourned the Contribution Points she had lost while also feeling fortunate that she had taken an unharmed stroll along the edge of a cliff.

Thinking about it now, she was a little scared. If she had run into those two groups of criminals and gotten caught up in it, what would have happened to a young woman like her? She did not dare imagine it.

Since it was ill-gotten wealth she had picked up at a major criminal black-market scene, Lin Yuzhu no longer felt so guilty about keeping it. Rubbing the bump on her head, she decided she could not have been hit for nothing. The alley was not peaceful today, so she could not sell the grain.

With nothing else to do, Lin Yuzhu decided to take a stroll around the Scrap Station.

It was rather strange. Whenever she thought of borrowing newspapers from Zhou Nan, she would remember it one moment and forget it the next. As a result, she still had not borrowed any. It was truly mysterious. Forget it—she would just go to the Scrap Station and have a look.

When she had gone to get textbooks before, she had thought it best to avoid the female lead. But there was no need to worry about that over a few old newspapers.

If the female lead could still come up with something over this, Lin Yuzhu would be helpless.

These days, every household saved old newspapers. They either pasted them on the walls or ceiling, or used them in the toilet.

Old newspapers that could not be sold by newspaper offices were generally sent to Scrap Stations for recycling. Clever families spent a little money to buy them, while less clever ones relied on saving them themselves.

When Lin Yuzhu arrived at the Scrap Station, she did not see the male or female lead. Instead, she spotted Zhou Nan. The old man in charge of the scrap was leisurely dozing in a rocking chair.

Zhou Nan was picking through books from a pile in the yard. Even amid such a messy heap of scrap, his immortal-like air remained utterly untouched by dust.

Lin Yuzhu was genuinely impressed. If she had that kind of aura, she would rise straight to goddess level.

Lin Yuzhu walked up to the old man and sweetly asked, "Grandpa, I'd like to buy some old newspapers."

The old man lazily opened his eyes and glanced at her, then pointed to the small room beside him. "There are some in there. Take them yourself. One stack costs twenty cents."

After saying that, he went back to pretending to nap, looking completely at ease.

When Lin Yuzhu entered the room, she saw stacks upon stacks of newspapers piled on the floor. She flipped through them and found that each stack consisted of complete editions piled together. If she wanted one copy from each edition, she would have to open and sort through every paper.

So she went back to the old man and said, "Grandpa, I want to buy old newspapers from different editions to take home and read."

This time, the old man did not even open his eyes. He slowly said, "Still twenty cents a stack. Pick through them slowly yourself. Just don't mess them up."

"Okay, thank you, Grandpa."

After saying that, Lin Yuzhu saw that the old man had no intention of responding further, so she returned to the room. Rolling up her sleeves, she prepared to get to work. This was going to be a major undertaking.

Zhou Nan also walked in, several books in his hands. Only when he saw her in the room did he realize that the young woman who had come in earlier was her. He stepped forward and asked, "Here to buy old newspapers?"

Everyone at the Educated Youth Dormitory knew that Zhou Nan loved reading books and newspapers. Whenever he came to town, he always visited the Scrap Station.

Lin Yuzhu wondered what exactly was going on between the female lead and the second male lead now. She was terribly curious.

Their goals were about the same, so they sorted through the newspapers together. They picked out two copies from each edition, and it took them quite a while to finish. Combined, their newspapers did not even make up a full stack. Looking at the height, it was half a stack at most.

Lin Yuzhu blinked, thought for a moment, and asked Zhou Nan, "Do you want to take some extra duplicate newspapers?"

She felt it would be a bit of a loss to pay full price for so little.

Zhou Nan wondered what he would do with duplicate old newspapers. Then he suddenly thought of the Educated Youth Dormitory, where most of the Educated Youth used waste paper to deal with their toilet needs. His face gradually reddened, and he shook his head. Lin Yuzhu had only asked casually.

She had no idea why Zhou Nan was blushing.

Sometimes, boys' thoughts were hard to guess too. For such a tiny stack of newspapers, paying for two stacks was clearly not worth it.

In the spirit of thrift, Lin Yuzhu whispered, "Let's put our newspapers together and pay for them at once. I'll see if I can bargain with that old man later."

Zhou Nan nodded.

Lin Yuzhu felt that there was a reason the female lead had not chosen the second male lead. No matter how handsome he was or how nice his voice sounded, what use was that if he did not talk? He was rather dull!

Without further ado, she took the newspapers to the old man at the entrance.

Lin Yuzhu said brightly, "Grandpa, I picked out some old newspapers. Look, this isn't even half a stack. Could you make it a little cheaper?"

The old man opened his eyes and took a look, then slowly replied, "Girl, even this little stack counts as one stack and costs twenty cents. No bargaining. If you bought them from a newspaper office, they'd cost more than twenty cents!"

Lin Yuzhu smiled sweetly and said in a soft, gentle voice, "Oh, Grandpa, you can probably tell from our accents that we aren't locals. To be honest, we're Educated Youth sent to the countryside. We're far from home, with no family around us. Reading books and newspapers is about the only hobby left to us, but we don't have money to buy new ones properly, so we can only hunt for old ones to read."

All the money we have on us has gone toward buying rations.

"Please take pity on us and charge us a little less, okay?"

The old man seemed to soften. He looked up at the two youngsters before him, nodded, and said, "Fine. I'll charge you ten cents for these newspapers."

Lin Yuzhu quickly thanked him and praised him until the old man felt thoroughly pleased.

Seeing that the old man was in a good mood, she took the opportunity to pull out the several books in Zhou Nan's arms and bargain over those too.

The old man could not hold out and let them save a few more cents.

Zhou Nan stood beside her, dumbfounded. It all felt rather novel to him.

After they paid and left the Scrap Station, Lin Yuzhu stood outside and divided the newspapers between them. She handed Zhou Nan his share and said, "Five cents. Being handsome doesn't mean you get to skip paying."

Zhou Nan hurriedly pulled five cents from his pocket and handed it to her.

The moment Lin Yuzhu accepted the money, she sensed someone approaching. Turning her head, she saw that they were acquaintances after all—Zhao Xianglan and Zhang Yanqiu.

Lin Yuzhu felt things were getting lively. She had not seen the male and female leads at the Scrap Station, but she had run into two female supporting characters instead.

Zhang Yanqiu's gaze moved back and forth between the two of them, and the corners of her mouth curled into a strange arc.

When Zhao Xianglan saw Lin Yuzhu, her expression visibly stiffened, though she quickly returned to normal.

Seeing Lin Yuzhu look over, she asked with a beaming smile, "Educated Youth Lin likes reading newspapers too?"

The smile on Zhao Xianglan's face did not reach her eyes. Lin Yuzhu immediately realized that she was testing her.

What a cursed entanglement. Look at these female supporting characters—every last one of them was nearly losing her mind over men. Time to go, time to go.

"Mm, there usually isn't much to look at, so I thought I'd get some old newspapers to read."

One should not strike a smiling face.

Lin Yuzhu replied with a cheerful smile as well.

Zhao Xianglan forced an unnatural smile, inwardly doubtful of her words. She thought it was merely an excuse. Why had she never seen Lin Yuzhu enjoying newspapers before? Could she be interested in Zhou Nan too?

At that thought, Zhao Xianglan's heart tightened. Looking at the delicate Lin Yuzhu before her, she felt even more uncomfortable.

"You really have such refined leisure. Unlike us, who are exhausted to death after a full day of work, where would we find the mood to read newspapers?"

Comrade Zhou Nan, who had apparently been living in refined leisure, was innocently caught in the crossfire. He did not understand what Zhao Xianglan meant. Was she mocking him for earning too few work points, or calling him lazy?

Lin Yuzhu raised an eyebrow. She could not be bothered with people who had been blinded by love, so she cheerfully asked, "What are you two here for?"

Zhao Xianglan was speechless. She had come looking for a chance to get close to Zhou Nan. She knew he came to the Scrap Station every time he visited town, and she had originally intended to get some old newspapers herself as a pretense. But after saying that, she realized how inappropriate her earlier remark had been, and her expression stiffened further.

Lin Yuzhu thought women's thoughts were hard to guess too. She had only asked a casual question, so why was Zhao Xianglan acting so unnatural?

"When there are more people, there are never enough stools to sit on. I thought I'd come to the Scrap Station and see if there was anything we could take back and make use of."

After a moment of awkwardness, Zhao Xianglan immediately spoke again with a gentle, generous demeanor.

Lin Yuzhu was deeply impressed. She could even come up with such a reason to approach someone.

"There's a risk in putting money into it, little sister. Comrade Zhou, could you stay behind and help us carry things back later?"

Zhao Xianglan felt that this was an excellent excuse. It would make her seem generous and proper while also keeping Zhou Nan tied down.

Lin Yuzhu grinned at them. "Then you two get busy. I'll be leaving first."

After slipping away from the land of trouble, Lin Yuzhu looked at her shadow on the ground. Mm, the State-Run Restaurant should be open by now.

When she arrived at the State-Run Restaurant, she saw a crowd lined up beside the steamers. Lin Yuzhu thought they were lining up to buy steamed buns, but as she drew closer and caught the rich scent of meat, she nearly drooled. Without another word, she joined the line. When she reached the middle of it, a chubby hand stopped her. Looking up, she found it was an acquaintance—the fat man she had met at the restaurant yesterday.

Lin Yuzhu thought to herself, What kind of life does this fat man lead? Does he live at the restaurant?