Chapter 101: The Golden Sparrow

“Ah-choo!”

The sudden sneeze made Xu Yinsheng shudder all over, and her hand faltered slightly.

Before she could react, the coin slipped from her grasp.

With a “ding-dong,” the coin rolled onto the ground.

Xu Yinsheng quickly snapped out of it and hurried to pick it up, but unexpectedly, the coin kept rolling forward, coming to a stop right on the edge of a manhole cover.

With a clear “ding” sound, the five-yuan coin—her last hope—fell through the grate and disappeared into the sewer.

Xu Yinsheng stood frozen in place.

She wasn’t the only one stunned.

In the control room, experts and professors from all over the country, staff involved in this grand puppet show, and even the two chief directors were all dumbfounded.

“Quick, quick! Come up with a solution!”

“A huge blunder! Such a critical moment!”

“What do we do now? Writers, get over here and rewrite the script immediately!!”

“Go! Go!”

Someone was the first to snap out of the shock and hurriedly began issuing commands.

Amidst the chaotic noise, experts and staff scrambled about in disarray, like chickens with their heads cut off. Even the two chief directors were so anxious they practically wished for extra hands.

Although the boss was still undergoing treatment, he was capable of monitoring them remotely at any moment.

This crucial scene was botched, and if they couldn’t salvage it, the rest of their careers would be bleak.

Besides, the boss’s mental state was fragile.

Recently, a psychologist had reported that Zhao Yicheng’s condition had worsened due to recent trauma.

The psychologist was so busy he was losing hair.

While mental treatment couldn’t be done overnight, since returning to the country, Zhao Yicheng’s illness had been oscillating between relapse and deterioration.

Xu Yinsheng blankly stared at the manhole cover.

Wuwuwu, she was so miserable.

It was all Zhao Yicheng’s fault~

She went back to the step where she had just been sitting, which still held some warmth. Hugging her knees tightly, she buried her head in them, curling up into a small ball.

So cold…

So hungry…

The flowers in the greenhouse long for the great outdoors, for the blue sky and white clouds, but they don’t realize that without the constant supply of water and food inside the greenhouse, they would quickly wither and die.

With a creak, the fast food shop’s door opened, letting out a rush of warm air.

The fast food owner, carrying a bucket of leftover food, struggled to dump it into the trash bin outside while muttering curses under his breath.

“These people waste food too much.”

A faint aroma wafted into Xu Yinsheng’s nose, making her stomach growl uncontrollably.

She looked up, dazedly staring at the trash bin by the fast food shop’s door.

The lid was still open, revealing what was inside.

Green vegetables, white rice, red tomatoes, and even half a bitten chicken leg…

Her stomach growled loudly again.

She swallowed and slowly stood up.

***

Control Room.

Chief Director Li Yuan slammed his hand on the table and stood up, sweat pouring down his face as he shouted into the walkie-talkie.

“Quick! Stop her!”

“This is the boss’s golden sparrow. He usually holds her in the palm of his hand.”

“If the boss sees this…”

“I’ll pay anyone who stops her five times their salary!” His voice trembled.

No one dared imagine the consequences.

Zhao Yicheng’s intent was to let her endure some hardship to understand the harsh world outside the ivory tower, not to make her scavenge through trash like a stray cat.

Compared to Li Yuan’s anxious and restless panic, the experts from various fields remained calm and collected.

“Pay enough, and you can solve any problem” had always been their finest virtue.

“By the way.”

Li Yuan turned his head to those indifferent experts, forcing a bitter smile.

“My boss is mentally ill, the kind who likes to take his anger out on others.”

In an instant, everyone’s expressions changed drastically.

Immediately, the experts straightened their backs and became serious, their eyes sharp and focused on Li Yuan, adopting an attitude of earnest work and attentive listening.

Who knew how a mentally ill person would interpret the recent chaos?

They might think the staff was negligent and say something like, “It’s cold now, maybe you should go bankrupt.” There was no telling. Normal people could be reasoned with, but the mentally ill—no.

Li Yuan grabbed the walkie-talkie again.

“Stop her! Stop her!”

“Whoever blocks her, I’ll personally donate fifty thousand Huayuan currency to them! Hurry, hurry! The extras inside the fast food shop!!”

***

Elsewhere.

Just as Xu Yinsheng stood and took a step toward the trash bin, the fast food shop door burst open.

A man dressed like a small-time thug sprinted out as if running a hundred-meter dash and kicked the trash bin over with a flying kick.

Green, white, and red leftovers spilled all over the ground.

“It’s okay, still edible.”

Xu Yinsheng thought to herself.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A large crowd rushed out of the fast food shop: wealthy ladies adorned with expensive jewels, cleaners wielding brooms, office workers in suits, students clutching their phones—all with eyes shining like they’d seen gold, roaring furiously as if they were lions, charging at the scattered leftover food.

They stomped on the scraps with such frenzy, as if they had a deep blood feud with the food.

For a moment, leftover dishes and rice flew through the air, the foul water blending with the mud.

Xu Yinsheng stared blankly at the scene.

She raised her hand and touched her forehead, feeling a chill.

Could it be she had already fainted from hunger?

Was this all just a dream?

Just as Xu Yinsheng miserably thought she was doomed to starve, a large hand suddenly tapped her shoulder.

She turned around and saw a slightly chubby man wearing sunglasses and a chef’s coat, smiling warmly as he handed her a plate of greasy pig’s trotter rice.

“Here, young lady.”

Xu Yinsheng’s heart stirred, but her expression quickly darkened.

“I don’t have money.”

“No charge. Eat.”

The chubby man smiled kindly.

After a moment’s hesitation, Xu Yinsheng accepted the food and whispered a thank you.

The pig’s trotter rice was rich in fat.

The white pork trotter was chopped finely, accompanied by salted vegetables and shredded potatoes, all drizzled with a spoonful of braised sauce.

The aroma was intoxicating.

Holding the plate, Xu Yinsheng stood still and devoured the meal ravenously, almost burying her head in the dish.

She felt she had never tasted such delicious pig’s trotter rice before, far surpassing any delicacy she had ever eaten.

For some reason, she recalled a movie called “The God of Cookery.”

Was the protagonist in that film feeling this way when eating as well?

***

Back in the control room, watching Xu Yinsheng devour the pig’s trotter rice instead of scavenging from the trash, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Having finished the rice, Xu Yinsheng licked the plate clean, leaving not a single grain behind, then shyly returned the empty dish to the fast food shop owner.

“Uncle, thank you. If I get the chance, I’ll repay you.”

“No problem. Do a good deed every day.”

The owner took the empty plate and asked, “Young lady, why are you out so late? Why didn’t you go home?”

“I…”

Xu Yinsheng blushed, “I came looking for my parents, but my wallet and suitcase were stolen right after I got off the ship today.”

She deliberately changed the subject, pointing toward the group of men and women still trampling the leftover food as if they bore a deadly grudge against it.

“Uncle, do you know what they’re doing?”

“They…”

The owner’s honest face stiffened.

“They’re after money, right? Chief director, this is beyond my pay grade; I can’t be too honest.”

His gaze flickered for a moment.

The chubby boss scratched his head.

“They’re ‘creating the island.’”

“Creating the island?”

“Yeah, building a clean, tidy, civilized little island—so they can’t stand seeing anything dirty.”