Chapter 199: Chapter 199

Jing Shu initially thought it was an old acquaintance, since the person had greeted her so warmly. She instinctively responded, but after speaking, realized she didn’t know him at all.

Zhou Bapi enthusiastically welcomed Jing Shu, his face creasing into a chrysanthemum of smiles as he closely examined her as if discovering treasure.

If Su Malie hadn’t been present, Jing Shu would have thrown a punch long ago.

"Oh, oh, look at me forgetting to introduce myself. My surname is Zhou, just call me Pharmacist Zhou..."

Su Malie burst out laughing. "Pharmacist indeed! He’s the same Zhou Bapi who didn’t believe you could grow potted astragalus and said he would livestream himself eating dung if you succeeded."

"Nonsense! My name is Zhou Baqi, Zhou Baqi! You better not call me Zhou Bapi anymore." Zhou Bapi felt he had to make a good first impression, but there went Su Malie, bringing up what should be left unmentioned!

Then it clicked for Jing Shu. So it’s him, she thought. She had wondered why she hadn’t seen him at the gathering today. Zhou Baqi? Or Zhou Bapi?

Zhou Bapi, feeling he couldn’t lose face, then grandly introduced himself, "Young lady, this astragalus you’ve grown is fantastic! I am Zhou Baqi, vice president of both the Huaxia Herbal Medicine Association and the Wu City Herbal Medicine Association."

Zhou Bapi thought this title would surely impress Jing Shu, given that anything association-related sounded very prestigious.

Su Malie, laughing so hard he couldn’t straighten up, said, "If an ’association’ with only seven members and three vice presidents still counts as one, then I really have nothing more to say."

Su Malie instantly transformed into the little prince of party-pooping.

Jing Shu was bewildered. It feels like I’ve walked into a trap, she thought. In my past life, the Medicinal Materials Association seemed like a very prestigious entity. So why are there only seven people now? Wu City has quite a few renowned medicinal herbs. Could it be the legendary ’gather seven people to summon a dragon ball’ situation?

Seeing Jing Shu’s skeptical look, Zhou Bapi coughed. "Ahem, Su Malie is only talking about the official membership of seven people. There are many others who want to join but can’t. Jing Shu, I came here to ask if you really grew that astragalus and honeysuckle after the apocalypse?"

Jing Shu nodded. "Yes."

Zhou Bapi’s hands trembled from excitement as he rubbed them together. "Oh, that’s wonderful, Jing Shu! I wonder if you’re interested in joining our Medicinal Materials Association?"

Jing Shu did have intentions of joining the Medicinal Materials Association. Although she didn’t know much about traditional medicine, she did know about farming. Yet, Su Malie’s words made her feel that this association seemed somewhat underwhelming.

Seeing Jing Shu hesitating, Zhou Bapi became anxious. "Don’t worry! You’ll enter as an official member. We also have hundreds of non-official members. The government is planning to unify the regional medicinal materials soon and will expand the staff to include other cities."

"So how does one typically work? Are there any strict regulations?" Jing Shu was a child of hard knocks; she hadn’t even held a formal job before the apocalypse struck.

"It’s flexible. We’re very relaxed. As long as you can ensure some medicinal herbs survive each month, you can even grow them at home without any issue. As for benefits, they are definitely much better than those of other official civil servants.

"Those at the president level, like myself, handle technical problems—for instance, if medicinal herbs are affected by pests or other issues, we need to step in and solve them. For someone at your level, the main thing is to ensure the plants you’re responsible for don’t die. The government acknowledges we’re in an apocalypse, and cultivating medicinal herbs has become incredibly difficult.

"The old cultivation methods have all been scrapped, replaced by an extremely inefficient individual-based model. But there’s no helping it; the conditions of the apocalypse introduce so many other factors."

Zhou Bapi couldn’t stop sighing. "Thankfully, we in Wu City still have some reserves of medicinal herbs, but those are for saving lives. If we really run out, the survival rate will be even lower than in ancient times."

Indeed, colds and fevers had to be endured with sheer resilience. If you could withstand it, you lived. If not, you died. This didn’t even account for chronic illnesses in the elderly, such as heart disease and hypertension. Without long-term medication, these conditions were simply left to fate.

Zhou Bapi’s wrinkled old face cracked a smile. "How about this: tomorrow, I’ll take you to our Medicinal Materials Association to have a look first. Then you can decide."

Jing Shu emerged from her contemplation and nodded. "Alright."

If there’s nothing particularly disadvantageous, joining the Medicinal Materials Association might actually be a good thing. At least Mom, who cares so much about face, could boast to others, ’My daughter has an official position at the Medicinal Materials Association!’

"Alright then, it’s settled! I’ll stay overnight at Mary’s house tonight," Zhou Baqi declared.

Despite Su Malie’s many pleas for her to stay for dinner, Jing Shu still left for home, leaving only the potted plants behind.

Zhou Bapi said he was going to sleep with these two pots of herbs tonight and bring them to the Medicinal Materials Association in the morning for further study.

As for the exposure of the Spiritual Spring, Jing Shu wasn’t worried at all. Back then, Qian Duoduo, for his foolish son’s sake, had run so many tests on the ice cream and hadn’t detected anything. Therefore, she was even less afraid that Zhou Bapi could discover anything.

Experience had shown that the Spiritual Spring, when affecting these organisms, merely increased certain active molecules and enhanced their functionality. So, as long as the Spiritual Spring itself wasn’t directly tested, she had nothing to fear.

When Jing Shu got back to the villa, it was just in time for dinner. She wolfed down her meal while listening to Grandma Jing’s concerned inquiries about the afternoon’s events. Meanwhile, Wu You’ai, holding his returned phone, was half-heartedly watching comics and nonchalantly appeasing Grandma Jing.

Fortunately, her family didn’t follow the popular video platform and had no idea about the huge battle that had occurred there.

"Enough, Mom, it’s all over now. Look, they’re both fine. A reporter even interviewed me this afternoon," Mr. Jing couldn’t help but advise. He was known as the helpful citizen Mr. Jing, which sounded pretty impressive. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⁂fire.net

"Quick, look at the news! Africa has flooded! So many people died!"

Everyone’s gaze then shifted to the news.

"How tragic! Africa’s terrain is so high, yet even the great plains could flood! TSK TSK, it’s too sad. Those people didn’t even have time to get out of their underground shelters," Mrs. Jing said sorrowfully.

"Speaking of last year’s extreme heat, living in those dugouts ten or so meters deep was comfortable. My Hua Xia Hainan was supposed to learn from that too, but our Huaxia leaders wisely had us migrate," Mr. Jing said. "Our country really does have foresight."

"How many people must have died? It’s such a tragedy," Grandpa Jing sighed.

The waters that inundated Japan came directly from rising sea levels. Except for Mount Fuji, which wasn’t submerged, the rest of the country was overwhelmed. The waters were so vast that no one could be seen, and entire cities were submerged.

Furthermore, another dozen or so islands were submerged, completely disappearing from the maps.

As for Taiwan Island in Huaxia, with its high terrain, it too was half-submerged, although casualties were not extensive.

But none of these compared to Africa. Because of its high elevation, it wasn’t entirely flooded but was rather inundated, with floodwaters literally drowning many people.