Chapter 245: Chapter 245

Jing Shu demonstrated through her actions that this was her treatment solution—crude, illogical, and without even an explanation.

Everyone: Is this some kind of joke? Just like that?

It seemed Jing Shu was telling everyone that no matter the poison, one sip of her Detoxification medicine would cure any ailment.

The mole hair beneath Cheng Qingzi’s lip seemed to tremble. He stared, wide-eyed, speechless for a long moment before finally managing, "We are all academics here. We focus on why such problems occur, how they can be solved, and the ultimate answer derived from that process..."

No wonder the noisy room had fallen utterly silent; most intellectuals had some sense of shame.

It was like a very difficult function problem. Everyone uses several sheets of scratch paper, or fills a blackboard with countless "solutions," "knowns," and "therefores," yet despite lengthy discussions, no one arrives at the answer.

Then Jing Shu steps up, glances at it for a second, and directly writes the answer: 0.

This left everyone stupefied. Most importantly, it didn’t seem like the answer could possibly be 0. It wasn’t as if Jing Shu could just break it off, shove it in, and solve everything that way.

Chairman Tie was the first to recover, laughing and giving Jing Shu a thumbs up. "Excellent! Truly Gao Ming! Our representative from Wu City, Jing Shu, that move was beautiful!" Perfect for taking the fall!

Cheng Qingzi’s lips twitched with anger. He had initially thought she was merely Bronze, then she looked like a King, and now, Bronze again... Could this be what young people call a ’Royal Bronze,’ someone who effortlessly alternates between King and Bronze performance?

In the end, Cheng Qingzi could only grit his teeth and say, "Then let us wait and see how it sprouts."

For the third medicinal plant, Panax notoginseng, Jing Shu examined it for a long time but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Panax notoginseng is notoriously hard to cultivate, and its high price is not without reason. It was difficult to grow even before the apocalypse, let alone after.

"It just looks malnourished, all wilted." Jing Shu pondered for a bit, feeling she couldn’t keep up the pretense any longer.

"So, young friend, how do you propose this Panax notoginseng should be treated? This Panax notoginseng is strictly cultivated according to specific parameters: soil pH 6, elevation above 1,000 meters, HCH less than 0.2 mg/kg, and DDT less than 0.2 mg/kg. The land was treated with quicklime, and the light transmittance under simulated sunlight is about 10%. The seeds were soaked in a 500-fold dilution of a 50-fold alcohol solution of ’64 alum’. It is free from black spot disease and root rot, and perfectly cultivated using all pre-apocalypse techniques. Yet, it still hasn’t reached the standard for medicinal use."

Cheng Qingzi wore a smug expression. Truthfully, they had brought out the Panax notoginseng to impress the government. See, Ta City could even successfully grow Panax notoginseng; what couldn’t they cultivate? The provincial Medicinal Materials Association should be led by them!

So, this Panax notoginseng wasn’t diseased. It simply wasn’t growing well enough to meet the medicinal standard. To make it grow as it did before the apocalypse... well, that would be impossible, even for gods.

Listening to Cheng Qingzi’s professional jargon, Jing Shu had to admit she didn’t understand any of it. So, what was really the situation with this Panax notoginseng?

After trying and failing to come up with an excuse, Jing Shu quietly took out the small spray bottle she carried. She started spraying the Panax notoginseng indiscriminately and then calmly said, "I think it’s just malnourished. Supplementing it with some special nutrient solution I prepared for plants should do the trick. I believe it won’t be long before it grows robustly and meets the medicinal standards."

"Don’t!" Cheng Qingzi dashed over, trying to stop her, but Jing Shu was too quick. She had already sprayed it more than a dozen times, completely soaking the plant.

The old man trembled as he touched the wilted Panax notoginseng, tears streaming down his face. "What are you doing, child? It’s ruined, ruined! It’s going to burn! Don’t you know you can’t just spray nutrient solution recklessly?!"

"We’ll see if it works in a few days," Jing Shu said.

Chairman Tie clenched his fist tightly. Well done! He almost hollered in support of Jing Shu’s actions. He had never seen someone take the blame so cooperatively. Now, such a foolish move had firmly ensured a perfect end to this stage of the competition, though the jeers from the audience were quite severe.

After all, there were few as unprofessional as Jing Shu; most participants had some real abilities.

Chairman Tie stepped onto the stage. Before the consequences of Jing Shu’s actions became apparent, he had to protect her from being beaten to death. "Alright, alright, Elder Cheng, let’s stop the competition here for now. If our Wu City genius says it’s useful, then it must be. There will be results within two days, just wait and see. If it proves useless, we in Wu City are willing to be trampled underfoot by you folks from Ta City."

Chairman Tie praised Jing Shu relentlessly and scolded the crowd, urging them to trust the person President Zhou had invited. This person came from a long line of medicinal material specialists, knowledgeable in many secrets not commonly shared. Latest content published on novel·fiɾe·net

"As everyone knows, Jing Shu is a seasoned expert in medicinal plant cultivation," Chairman Tie announced as he began to disperse the crowd. "She surely has many secrets that aren’t convenient to share, so let’s not delve into the principles. Everyone just needs to know that her method works, although it’s not feasible to promote it widely."

Just as Cheng Qingzi was finally coming to terms with the grim fate of his Panax notoginseng supposedly being burned, Jing Shu suddenly spoke up. "I have a question. If I win these next two rounds, won’t that make it 5-5, a tie? Shouldn’t there be a definitive winner in this competition?"

Cheng Qingzi nodded. "The problem is, your Wu City has no more difficult medicinal plant cases to present, and all we need to deal with on our end are these five coins."

Jing Shu then pulled out a palm-sized potted plant from her pocket. "This pot of astragalus has an insect infestation. It’s simple: just kill the insects on it and allow the astragalus to revive."

Everyone understood Jing Shu’s implication. Chairman Tie showed a gloating expression. "Jing Shu, don’t keep handing points over to the other side. With this one, they’ll easily score 6 points."

"Chairman Tie, if I don’t set a challenge for the other side and we both end up with 5 points, won’t it be a tie?"

"Aren’t you a little too confident?" Chairman Tie couldn’t help but ask, having held back for so long.

"I’ve never seen someone so arrogant in my life, assuming so early that she could secure those two points."

Although Cheng Qingzi doubted Jing Shu would get these two points, he still had his people come over to examine how to deal with the astragalus. Say what you will, Cheng Qingzi was very serious about his work.

"Isn’t this just a red earthworm?"

"Hmm, indeed it’s a red earthworm. This is too easy to deal with; everyone knows the solution for red earthworms, right?"

"It might just be a freebie question."

"How could that be? The opposing side can’t possibly test us with such a simple issue, right? I think there’s a trick to it."

Jing Shu handed over the astragalus. "Then take your time to study it. After I secure these two points in two days, you’ll still have time to figure out a solution. But I believe we in Wu City have this win in the bag."