This left the rich woman rather annoyed. "You really don't know a good thing when you see it. Serves you right to be a broke bastard all your life!"
Just then, a man walked over and looked at the rich woman with a fawning expression.
"I'm willing to be your kept man. I'm exceptionally capable. How about I get in your car with you?"
The rich woman looked the man up and down, disgust showing in her eyes. "I'm rich, not blind. With that face of yours, you're not even as good-looking as a single strand of that young cutie's hair. Shoo, shoo, get out of here. Stop polluting my eyes."
At her words, the corner of the man's mouth twitched, and he shot Jiang Fan an irritated glare.
He looked at Jiang Fan's handsome profile, then at his hands rummaging through the trash, and snorted. "What's so great about being handsome? You're still just a trash picker."
Yi Hong looked surprised. "I thought Jiang Fan would get into that rich woman's car. Just like she said, if he went with her, he really could save himself twenty years of struggle."
As she spoke, she noticed Lan Shengxue was gone.
Turning her head, she saw Lan Shengxue buy a bottle of Mizone from a nearby drink vending machine, then walk toward Jiang Fan.
"Lan Shengxue, what are you doing? Taking pity on him?"
"We're classmates. Calling it pity is a bit hurtful to his self-esteem. I'm simply buying him a drink. Besides, you know my maternal grandfather has always been in poor health. I'll count this as doing another good deed and accumulating virtue for him."
Lan Shengxue soon reached Jiang Fan. "Jiang Fan, please take this if you don't mind."
Jiang Fan looked at the discarded bottle in his hand, then at the Mizone Lan Shengxue held out, and understood. She had come to give him trash.
"Thank you." Jiang Fan accepted the Mizone.
Huh?
Why hadn't the system notified him of any points coming in?
Jiang Fan checked the system panel. His points really hadn't changed.
He looked at the unopened bottle of Mizone, and realization dawned on his face.
"Wait." Jiang Fan called out to Lan Shengxue, who had turned and walked a few steps away.
Yi Hong rolled her eyes and whispered to Lan Shengxue, "You shouldn't have bought Jiang Fan a drink. See what's happened now? He must think you're interested in him, so he wants to take the chance to get to know you more intimately."
Hearing this, Lan Shengxue frowned slightly, but still turned around.
"Is something wrong?" she asked expressionlessly, her voice devoid of emotion and her beautiful eyes utterly unruffled.
Jiang Fan held the Mizone out to Lan Shengxue. "Sorry for the trouble, but could you take a couple of sips?"
This was the conclusion Jiang Fan had just reached: an unopened bottle of Mizone that no one had drunk from wasn't good trash.
Lan Shengxue looked slightly taken aback and stared at the Mizone before her for a long while.
A few seconds later, Yi Hong reacted first, pulling Lan Shengxue behind her. Planting both hands on her hips, she snapped, "Hey! Jiang Fan, can you have a little self-awareness? Shengxue gave you a drink because she's beautiful and kind. Don't fail to appreciate it and start pestering her! You even want her to take a couple of sips? What, you'll drink it after she does, and that'll count as an indirect kiss? You're seriously disgusting! And here I was admiring you for resisting temptation and turning down that rich woman. Turns out you're just shameless!"
After unleashing that barrage on Jiang Fan, Yi Hong pulled Lan Shengxue away.
"Come on, Shengxue, let's ignore him! Next time you meet someone like that, please rein in your kindness. People like him don't deserve your mercy."
Jiang Fan watched them leave, then looked at the Mizone in his hand and furrowed his brow.
Would it count as trash if I took a couple of sips, threw it away, then picked it back up?
Action beat temptation. Jiang Fan decided to give it a try.
He unscrewed the Mizone's cap, tipped his head back, gulped down a couple of mouthfuls, and tossed it into the trash can.
But the next second, just as he was about to retrieve it, he saw a little old man in worn camouflage clothes walk up to the trash can, pick out the bottle he had just thrown away, put it into his woven plastic sack, and walk past him and leave.
Jiang Fan: "..."
Jiang Fan stood rooted to the spot for several seconds. When he came to his senses, a helpless smile appeared on his face.
Let's check my haul first.
Jiang Fan opened the system panel.
Points: 33 Qi and blood: 30N (+) Psychic power: 1000P
"System, exchange my points for qi and blood."
[Understood, Master.]
Soon, the system panel changed.
Points: 3 Qi and blood: 33N Psychic power: 1000P
Jiang Fan checked the time on his phone. Nearly an hour of picking up trash, and my qi and blood only increased by 3N? At this rate, what year of the monkey and month of the horse would it be before I reached early-stage martial apprentice level?
These were only thoughts Jiang Fan kept to himself. If anyone else had heard them, their spit alone could have drowned him.
An increase of 3N in qi and blood in one hour! What a heaven-defying speed!
One had to know that a Qi and Blood Raw Stone used for cultivation had a market value of around fifty thousand. Absorbing one and gaining 5N at most was already impressive.
Those with poor talent might not even gain 5N.
No, I can't rely solely on picking up trash. Increasing it 1N at a time is far too slow. I have to do something else.
With that thought, Jiang Fan looked around, wondering whether there were any suitable elderly people he could help across the road, or anyone who had fallen whom he could help up.
Yet after looking for quite a while, he found no opportunity to do a righteous deed.
Would I have to use psychic power to knock an elderly person down, then help them back up?
That was what he had done to Chen Wenhua earlier, and the system had given him quite a few points.
But as soon as that thought arose, Jiang Fan rejected it.
Even if the system would give him points for it, he couldn't cross the bottom line of being a decent person. This was a matter of principle.
Just as Jiang Fan was thinking this, a drunken old man staggered into him and toppled to the ground a moment later.
At the sight, Jiang Fan's eyes lit up.
What was this called? Whatever you wished for came right along.
Just as Jiang Fan was about to do a good deed and pull the old man up, he heard the man start cursing in a thoroughly unfriendly tone.
"Ow! Watch where you're going, kid! Why are you weaving around like a snake?"
Jiang Fan stopped reaching out. "Say, Grandpa, haven't you got that backward? It looks like you got drunk and bumped into me."
The old man glared. "Bullshit! I only drank five jin of erguotou. How could I possibly be drunk? You're really something, kid. You bumped into someone, yet you're saying I'm drunk. You can falsely accuse me of bumping into you, but I absolutely won't let you slander me by saying I'm drunk. Hic-"
At that point, the old man let out a pungent, boozy belch.
Jiang Fan couldn't be bothered to argue with a drunk, so he withdrew his hand, turned, and left.
But after only a few steps, he heard snoring.
Hm?
Jiang Fan looked back and saw that the old man had fallen asleep right there on the ground.