Chapter 066: History is Always Written by the Victors

Hearing a man’s voice, they turned to see a tall, thirty-something man entering first, followed by the portly Officer Liu, whom Jing Shu recognized as the man who had discussed prices behind Yu Cai Ni during a property sale.

“Vice Director Su, the competition is tomorrow. How are things going? Do you need anything else? Oh, and who is this…?” The man shook hands with Jing Mom and then turned to Jing Shu.

“This is my daughter, Jing Shu. She brought frogs today to help control the insects,” Jing Mom introduced her, then added to Jing Shu, “This is Director Zhu. He’ll be moving on to a ministerial position once the location for the artificial sun is finalized.”

They completely ignored the balding Officer Liu behind them, who, not to be outdone, rolled his eyes disdainfully.

“Hello, Director Zhu,” Jing Shu greeted with an innocently bright smile.

“Hello, hello. Are you getting accustomed here?” Director Zhu appeared young and friendly, a man of high emotional intelligence—typical for successful politicians, always warm to their subordinates’ families.

Noticing the ropes in Jing Shu’s hands and the frogs actively catching insects, Director Zhu’s interest was piqued. “Jing Shu, this is a good approach. The Ministry of Agriculture has been wanting to control corpse worms this way, but it’s been difficult due to the high mortality of frogs and it not being the breeding season.”

After some more discussion and learning that Jing Shu had successfully bred a batch of tadpoles, Director Zhu’s eyes lit up with interest.

“Director Zhu, I’ll give you this male frog to take home and try out my idea. If every household could raise a frog to eat insects, wouldn’t that reduce the problem?” Jing Shu handed over a frog that she had raised in her space for a couple of days.

Officer Liu scoffed dismissively, “Giving away frogs, how demeaning…”

Director Zhu, however, kept expressing his embarrassment at accepting such a ‘valuable’ gift, appearing genuinely appreciative of Jing Shu’s contribution.

“This kind of person, if he doesn’t climb fast, it would be against natural law,” Jing Shu thought to herself. No wonder he became a director in his thirties and continued to rise after the apocalypse.

They then visited Jing Mom’s crops, and Director Zhu was impressed by the flourishing artificially grown vegetables, especially the oyster mushrooms.

The group then proceeded to Yu Cai Ni’s experimental crops. Director Zhu raised several concerns, “Does the extensive use of pesticides affect health? Are the growth enhancers within international safety standards, or are they excessive? Do these genetically modified crops cause any adverse reactions?”

Caught off-guard, nobody had ready answers, except Officer Liu who argued, “We’re out of food; we can’t afford to be picky. Didn’t the higher-ups also approve policies to increase production?”

Director Zhu nodded, “Note down the dosages used, and let the higher-ups make the decisions.”

—

The next day, at 4 AM, Jing Shu and her family joined Jing Mom to retrieve the samples they had prepared the day before. But upon opening the old warehouse, they were confronted with swarms of flying insects.

“It’s the mother corpse worms!” Jing Shu quickly zipped up her protective suit and helped Jing Mom with hers, while Jing Dad tried to fend off the insects with a stick.

Jing Mom, overwhelmed by the catastrophe, collapsed to the ground as countless mother corpse worms fluttered around, “It’s her, it has to be Yu Cai Ni! She must have deliberately released these worms into my warehouse!” she screamed in despair.

Jing Shu thought, “This will be a harsh lesson about human malice for my naive mother.”

Director Zhu arrived hastily and was shocked by the scene. “All the corpse worms were eaten by the frogs last night, and I checked every inch of the place before we left. It couldn’t have escalated to this extent overnight, could it?” Jing Mom said hopelessly.

Director Zhu summoned Yu Cai Ni, who arrived with her entourage and arrogantly denied any wrongdoing, “Do you have any proof that I put those worms there? Don’t make baseless accusations. Anyway, the competition only cares about results. You won’t get another ten days or a half-month to produce new samples unless you can pull a miracle.”

Yu Cai Ni scoffed and looked very satisfied with herself. She then turned to Director Zhu, “Director Zhu, I hope we can cooperate well when you take your new position. If you need professor-level researchers, just let me know. I believe that combining our resources can maximize benefits.”

Jing Shu raised an eyebrow; Yu Cai Ni indeed had some clout, no wonder she rose through the ranks in the previous life. But this time, Jing Shu planned to disrupt those plans.

“Alright, I’m off to the competition. Oh, and Vice Director Su, when the competition is over, I hope you bring the money to buy back that broken house of yours, or you might not be a vice director much longer,” Yu Cai Ni said, dressing sharply in her OL attire, looking self-assured.

“Of course, if you swap it, I might let you stay on for another month,” she thought silently.

After watching the drama unfold, Jing Shu stepped up, “Mom, did you forget we kept a sample at home? Let’s go get it.”

Jing Mom, slowly coming to her senses, exclaimed, “Oh right, thank goodness we kept one.”

“Then hurry. If you win this time, I promise to get justice for you,” said Director Zhu. His message was clear: victory would dictate the narrative because history is always written by the victors.

Jing Shu and her family rushed home. Naturally, the sample was gone; everything they had was home-grown. It was a bit troublesome to repack it into the sample box, but they had enough time. To ensure victory, Jing Shu kept adding diluted magical spring water to the garlic shoots and oyster mushrooms, confident they would grow further by the time they arrived.

—

Author’s Note:

Thank you to Yun Shan You for your generous donation! Much love to everyone who votes daily, your effort is appreciated! 💕