Chapter 244: Chapter 244

Jing Shu shook her phone and sent the video to Zhou Bapi, convinced that Chairman Tie wouldn’t be able to deny it when the time came.

Chairman Tie nodded with a smile, showing no sign of regret. The naive girl probably doesn’t know, he thought. Even if she solves a few problems, if Wu City loses, there won’t be a vice-chairman position anymore. By then, the entire association might even have to downsize.

As for how to shift the blame, Chairman Tie had already drafted a plan in his mind: The main culprit would be Zhou Baqi, for his stubbornness and refusal to listen to advice. He hired a clueless girl who then arrogantly overpromised in public. This ultimately led to a disastrous defeat, one that not only embarrassed Wu City but also caused heavy losses to the Wu City Association...

A large group boisterously made their way from the third floor to the first. The first floor was incredibly noisy, filled mostly with people the Medicinal Materials Association had gathered from other places, along with challengers from Ta City.

When Jing Shu arrived, she hadn’t noticed, but now she saw that the racks in the middle of the test field had been moved aside to set up a boxing-ring-like platform. It was filled with various medicinal materials, each backed by a specialized machine for testing.

Chairman Tie led Jing Shu onto the makeshift platform, his first words being, "Excuse us, make way, make way! Wu City’s genius is here! You Ta City folks are bound to lose! Let the genius take the stage!"

Jing Shu paused. I really can’t stand it! I’m going to kick this guy into next week! If it wasn’t to save myself some trouble, I wouldn’t be wading into these murky waters.

Thus, the already noisy hall grew even noisier. Jing Shu thought to herself, Damn it, damn it, if this bluff doesn’t succeed... I might as well give up on my reputation. This Chairman Tie really knows how to scheme!

Eventually, Jing Shu stepped onto the highly anticipated platform. An old man with a large, dark mole on his lip squinted at her. He was Cheng Qingzi, the person in charge of this event. So this is the scapegoat Chairman Tie found, huh? he mused, a surge of confidence making his mood considerably brighter.

"Genius comrade from Wu City," Cheng Qingzi said smilingly, "let me first explain. Representatives from Wu City have two options. The first is to propose a solution that gains our unanimous approval. The second is to manually resolve the conditions affecting these medicinal plants."

Jing Shu then shifted her gaze to the three remaining medicinal plants. Great, I don’t recognize two of them at all! And the one I do recognize... what a coincidence. She then thought, Although, whether I recognize these medicinal plants or not doesn’t really matter.

"How about it?" Cheng Qingzi slowly asked. "Which one will you solve first? The delicate ginseng, the dying snakeberry, or perhaps the Chonglou that hasn’t sprouted?"

Jing Shu knew of Panax notoginseng; it was very famous. But isn’t Chonglou a villain character from ’The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3’? Could it also be a medicinal herb?

Jing Shu’s eyes darted around. While she mentally flipped through various materials she had downloaded to her phone in the Magic Cube Space before the apocalypse, she cheerfully asked, "First, I’d like to ask something: this contest is about treating medicinal plants and solving problems related to them, right?"

"Then, if you present a plant that isn’t a medicinal material, intentionally confusing things, should it count as a point for us?"

The crowd became animated.

"Absolutely, that would be deliberate deception."

"Definitely should count, otherwise it would be cheating."

Suddenly, a man rushed over, pointing at Jing Shu and scolding loudly, "If you don’t know, then don’t speak! There are only these few herbs here; anyone can identify them at a glance. Are you saying everyone before was a fool and couldn’t see it, but you could? You figured it out?"

Cheng Qingzi frowned and waved his hand to stop the man, asking, "Which medicinal material are you saying isn’t a medicinal material?"

"Look, this is clearly thorny mei fruit, not the medicinal snakeberry. Snakeberries are poisonous; their fruits are solid and inedible. Thorny mei fruits, however, are hollow and edible. See? Even though it’s wilted, it’s still edible." Jing Shu plucked a fruit and popped it into her mouth to chew. She had eaten snakeberries as a child, and the consequences were unforgettably intense—it led to a full gastric lavage and enema, a thorough cleansing from top to bottom. Ever since, she could distinguish snakeberries from thorny mei fruits with perfect clarity.

The scene caused an uproar.

"Damn it, I kept saying I tried many methods, but none worked—it turns out it wasn’t snakeberry after all!"

"Who knew they looked exactly alike? The people from Ta City said it was snakeberry, so we took their word for it. I didn’t even consider it might be something else back then."

The old man glared at a man shivering in the corner and went up to examine the situation himself. He crushed the thorny mei fruit, and indeed, it was hollow inside! Latest content published on N()velFire.net

"Bastard, I told you to find some difficult medicinal herbs, not to just make up the numbers with fakes!" Cheng Qingzi furiously threw away the thorny mei fruit. Compared to snakeberry’s medicinal value, thorny mei fruit couldn’t be considered a medicinal herb, even though they looked identical.

The man in the corner shivered; he clearly knew.

"This point goes to Wu City," the old man said, panting, the hairs on the mole on his lip bristling.

Jing Shu then turned her head with a grin, asking Chairman Tie, "Does this one point count for me?"

Chairman Tie gave an embarrassed yet polite smile. "It counts, it counts."

"This person seems quite formidable."

"Indeed! Chairman Tie has boasted about her many times. You can tell at a glance; she must have real talent."

Chairman Tie felt a painful twist in his heart.

Regardless, Jing Shu managed to score a point for Wu City, regaining some honor for them.

Jing Shu moved to the second medicinal plant, the Chonglou that hadn’t sprouted, and frowned. Through her research, she knew Chonglou was very difficult to cultivate because the necessary techniques hadn’t been mastered. Furthermore, it had very specific requirements regarding soil, altitude, and other conditions.

Moreover, it required propagation by cuttings. It’s like cutting off your hand, disinfecting it, then planting it in the soil, and a new person would eventually grow, she thought. Overall, there were many reasons it might not sprout.

If she had to identify and test each one... Cough, cough, I don’t have the expertise for that. I don’t even fully understand it. Cutting propagation has requirements for the stem’s length and thickness, and the cut surface needs to be treated with plant ash. But I’ve never grown this thing before!

This problem was deliberately posed by a master from Ta City, challenging the Wu City personnel to find a solution.

It was like a Poison Master concocting a poison with a 99-step sequence and then asking someone to find the antidote—who the hell could do that?

Cheng Qingzi put away his contempt and said with a smile, "Little master, how would you solve this issue with the Chonglou that hasn’t sprouted? Do you want to describe the method, or try it yourself? Or do you need to look at the solutions already discussed?"

Not sprouting meant it was essentially dead, wouldn’t grow, and thus couldn’t be used for medicine.

Jing Shu shook her head.

At that moment, Jing Shu stretched out her hands. CRACK! She broke the precious Chonglou.

The entire venue gasped! Cheng Qingzi’s mouth fell agape. Oh my god, what did I just see?

Then Jing Shu casually stuck it into the soil on the other side, secretly applied a bit of spiritual spring water, and said, "Alright, it will sprout within two days. By the way, don’t try to imitate this lost technique, because you can’t learn it."