Transmigrated as Cannon Fodder — I Rise to Female Lead Through Hard Work-Chapter 32: Confronting Pretentiousness

Yi Roujing and Ding Anmin quickly snapped out of it. Both were surprised, seeing Ding Ancheng smiling like this for the first time; Wang Qiushuang, on the other hand, was infatuated, and immediately flooded with deeper jealousy, thinking why such a good man belonged to Yi Roujing, that fool...

"Let’s head back, get some sleep early. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take you two for breakfast, then to the station," Ding Ancheng said. Wang Qiushuang felt even colder at heart because there were three of them, and she wasn’t included.

"No need, we want to explore on our own..."

"I’ll be there at 7:30 tomorrow." Ding Ancheng didn’t listen to Yi Roujing and instead stated his own plan. Watching them enter the hostel, he returned to school.

"Wow—your big brother is probably chauvinistic," Yi Roujing was a bit indignant, "He doesn’t even listen to women’s opinions."

"Don’t put labels on my big brother willy-nilly. He’s just concerned about us," Ding Anmin shot Yi Roujing a glare and said.

"Then I—"

"We’ll talk tomorrow," Ding Anmin said, looking at Yi Roujing, "Turn off the lights."

Yi Roujing pouted and turned off the lights.

Yi Roujing was someone who could sleep soundly anywhere. When she woke up the next day, it was already daylight, and she was the only one left in bed.

"Finally awake." Ding Anmin entered with a towel, looking at the dazed Yi Roujing sitting on the bed with disdain, "You sleep deeper than a pig. If someone carried you off and sold you, you wouldn’t know."

"Don’t provoke me so early in the morning," Yi Roujing said calmly.

Ding Anmin snorted but didn’t say anything further. However, when Wang Qiushuang entered, and Yi Roujing went out to wash up, she couldn’t help but follow.

"Didn’t you hear even a bit of Wang Qiushuang’s earth-shattering teeth grinding last night?" Ding Anmin said in shock.

Yi Roujing’s face, wet with water, showed some surprise. Now more awake, she could clearly see Ding Anmin standing half a foot away, her fair face, tinged with pink, now showing slightly mismatched, though almost invisible, dark circles.

"Was it that loud?" Yi Roujing asked back, "I fell asleep first, right? I know nothing about what happened after between you two."

Ding Anmin was in despair, rolling her eyes dramatically, "In the future, even if you beat me to death, I won’t share a room with Wang Qiushuang again. I probably slept only three or four hours on and off last night."

"Poor thing." Yi Roujing dried her face and hands, then fished a milk candy from her pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into Ding Anmin’s mouth.

"So fragrant, so sweet." Ding Anmin’s face softened at once, her eyes sparkling, looking excited, but after seeing Yi Roujing’s amused expression, she quickly restrained herself, let out a "humph," and walked away, but her bouncing steps still showed her good mood.

So easy to cheer up, Yi Roujing shook her head amusedly. But when she walked out with her towel, she met Ding Ancheng’s gaze as he leaned against the stairway.

"Scared me to death. How come you didn’t make a sound."

"I just came up," Ding Ancheng’s gaze was intense, making Yi Roujing look away.

"All washed up?" Ding Ancheng affirmed as he looked at Yi Roujing, whose face still had some moisture, "Get Anmin, let’s go for breakfast."

"Oh."

But the result was that Wang Qiushuang clung on like a tail and couldn’t be shaken off.

"Weren’t you going shopping? We won’t hold you up." Ding Anmin said.

"No rush, breakfast is a must," Wang Qiushuang said with a smile.

This feeling as if hitting a lump of cotton was just awful.

"You go eat first, we’ll walk around here a bit." Yi Roujing suggested.

"I’ll go with you, I can wait..."

"Can’t you take a hint?" Yi Roujing sighed helplessly, "You can see we feel uncomfortable with you around."

Wang Qiushuang’s expression suddenly turned sad, as if she had suffered a great injustice, "I, I’m alone, I, I’m scared, I want to..."

"No, you don’t." Yi Roujing interrupted, "Before you arrived, you didn’t know we were in the county. We just met here. We didn’t come together, so what’s the nonsense about being scared or whatever, melodramatic."

Wang Qiushuang’s expression instantly froze.

"Exactly, melodramatic," Ding Anmin chimed in, "You came by yourself, so you can go back the same way. Didn’t we even share the room cost with you last night? I didn’t sleep well, and your grinding..."

"You’re making it up." Wang Qiushuang’s voice became sharp, her face turned red and blue, giving Ding Anmin and Yi Roujing a glare before striding off.

"Still won’t admit it, this person is really..."

"Do you want to walk first or eat breakfast?" Ding Ancheng asked.

"Breakfast."

Currently, there were no street vendors; only state-owned restaurants served meals. The breakfast variety wasn’t as rich as in later years, but it was decent and, most importantly, substantial.

Yi Roujing ordered a bowl of soy milk, a fried dough stick, a meat baozi, and a boiled egg. She ended up overestimating herself, as the meat baozi was hefty, equivalent to three from later years. With a boiled egg and a meat baozi down, she could only eat half of the dough stick.

"Can’t eat anymore?" Ding Ancheng asked in a low voice. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Yi Roujing felt a little embarrassed, "I’ll take it back with me and heat it up at home later."

Ding Ancheng reached out with his chopsticks, and before long, the dough stick from Yi Roujing’s plate was in his hand and then in his mouth.

Yi Roujing was dumbfounded, while Ding Ancheng looked at her and said matter-of-factly, "Can’t I eat it? I’m not full yet."

"Big brother, you should order something else, don’t go hungry," Ding Anmin said, a bit distressed.

Go hungry? Yi Roujing glanced at the empty plates in front of Ding Ancheng, her mouth twitching. He had clearly had two mantous, a meat baozi, a boiled egg, and a bowl of wontons. With the amount of mantou and baozi he ate, she could survive three mornings.

"I’ll take you to the station." After paying and getting the tickets, Ding Ancheng picked up the green net bag on the table.

"No class this morning?" Yi Roujing asked softly.

"I do."

"Then go ahead, we can find our way," Yi Roujing reached out to take the green net bag, but Ding Ancheng sidestepped it.

"There’s still time."

"Hey."

Ding Ancheng led the way towards the station, and Yi Roujing hurried to catch up. Her purpose for coming hadn’t been fulfilled, not even started scouting around. How could she leave yet?

"I plan to go see Heping first..."

The lie that came to Yi Roujing’s lips naturally stopped when she met Ding Ancheng’s scrutinizing eyes. Her gaze shifted, humph, why was she lying? Thinking this, Yi Roujing turned to face him directly, "I want to find out if anyone’s hiring."

Ding Ancheng was a bit surprised, "You want to work outside?"

"Yes." Yi Roujing nodded.

"I thought you wanted to be a doctor?"

"It doesn’t conflict," Yi Roujing explained, "I’ll take the exams when I can."

"Is working on a farm not an option?" Ding Ancheng continued to ask.

"It’s not that I can’t, I just want to earn money," Yi Roujing replied honestly.

"Is it because you’re concerned about the money and tickets I gave you last time, and you want to return them soon?" Ding Ancheng’s brows furrowed, and his whole demeanor grew tense.