Chapter 202: The Seven-Person Herb Association

Jing Shu initially thought he was an old acquaintance. After all, the person greeted her so warmly, so she instinctively responded. But after speaking, she realized she didn't know this person at all.

Zhou Bapi warmly welcomed Jing Shu over. The old man’s face was wrinkled from smiling, and she watched as he carefully examined Jing Shu, as if searching for treasure.

If it weren’t for Su Mali being present, Jing Shu would have punched him on the spot.

“Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. My surname is Zhou. You can call me Zhou Yaoshi...” he began.

Su Mali burst into laughter. “Yaoshi? He’s the Zhou Bapi who doesn’t believe you can grow potted astragalus. He said if you manage to grow it, he’ll livestream eating shit.”

“Nonsense! My name is Zhou Baqi, Zhou Baqi! Don’t call me Zhou Bapi anymore,” Zhou Bapi protested. He felt that on their first meeting, he needed to make a good impression on this girl. Su Mali always knew how to undermine him!

Jing Shu understood immediately. So that was him. She said, “I came to the meeting today but didn’t see anyone. Zhou Baqi? Zhou Bapi?”

Zhou Bapi felt he couldn’t lose face, so he introduced himself grandly. “Miss, your astragalus is grown well. I am Zhou Baqi, the vice president of the Huaxia Herb Association and the Wucheng Herb Association.”

He thought the title would impress Jing Shu, as associations typically sounded impressive.

Su Mali couldn’t contain her laughter. “If an association only has seven members and three vice presidents, then I have nothing to say.”

Su Mali instantly transformed into the prince of undermining.

Jing Shu thought, “??? It feels like I’ve been deceived. In my past life, the Herb Association seemed pretty formidable. How come it only has seven members? Wucheng actually has quite a few famous herbs.”

Could it be the legend that gathering seven people can summon dragon balls?

Seeing Jing Shu’s suspicious gaze, Zhou Bapi cleared his throat. “Ahem, Su Mali was referring to the official structure, which only has seven members. There are many others who want to join but can’t. Jing Shu, I’m here to ask, did you really cultivate these astragalus and honeysuckle after the apocalypse?”

Jing Shu nodded. “Yes.”

Zhou Bapi’s hands trembled. He was clearly excited. He rubbed his hands together. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Jing Shu! I don’t know if you’re interested in joining our Herb Association?”

Jing Shu had been wanting to join the Herb Association. Although she didn’t know much about traditional Chinese medicine and only understood farming, Su Mali’s words made her feel the Herb Association might be a bit weak.

Seeing Jing Shu hesitate, Zhou Bapi became anxious. “Don’t worry. Once you join, you’ll be part of the official structure. We also have hundreds of informal members. Recently, the government wants to unify regional herbs, and the association will expand by integrating herbs from other cities.”

“So how do we work normally? Are there any strict regulations?” Jing Shu was a fortunate child; she had never worked a formal job before the apocalypse struck.

“Freedom. We’re very free here. As long as each month you ensure some herbs don’t die, it’s fine. You can even grow them at home without any issues. As for benefits, they’re definitely better than those of other official civil servants.

For higher-level members like our president, it’s a technical matter. If some herbs encounter pests or other problems, they need to come out to solve them. For your level, just ensuring the herbs survive is enough. Now that the country is in an apocalypse, herb cultivation is even more challenging.

The previous cultivation methods have all been changed to extremely inefficient personal modes, but there’s no choice. The apocalypse introduces many other factors.”

Zhou Bapi continued to sigh. “Fortunately, Wucheng still has some reserve herbs, but those are for life-saving purposes. If they run out, survival rates in the future will be lower than in ancient times.”

Indeed, colds and fevers relied entirely on toughing it out. If you could endure, you’d survive; if not, you’d die. Not to mention chronic illnesses in the elderly. Heart disease and hypertension could only rely on fate if medications weren’t taken for a long time.

Zhou Bapi’s wrinkled face broke into a smile. “How about this? I’ll take you to our Herb Association tomorrow so you can see it for yourself and decide.”

Jing Shu emerged from her contemplation and nodded. “Okay.”

If nothing special happened, joining the Herb Association would be good. At least Jing Shu’s proud mother could say to others, “My daughter is part of the official structure of the Herb Association.”

“Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll spend the night at Mary’s house tonight.”

Under Su Mali’s numerous pleas to have dinner, Jing Shu only left with her potted plants and went home.

Zhou Bapi said he would sleep with the two herb pots tonight and take them to the Herb Association for further study in the morning.

Jing Shu wasn’t afraid of her Lingquan being exposed at all because back then, Qian Duo Duo tested it in ice cream for her silly son’s sake and couldn’t detect anything even after a long time. She wasn’t worried Zhou Bapi could find anything either.

In fact, Lingquan only affects these organisms by increasing some active molecules and functionalities. As long as it’s not directly tested, she wasn’t afraid.

Back at the villa, Jing Shu arrived just in time for dinner. She wolfed down her meal while watching Jing Nai worryingly inquire about the afternoon’s events. Wu Youai was holding her returned phone, watching comics and half-heartedly responding to Jing Nai.

Fortunately, her family didn’t watch Dou Ying and were unaware of the major battles happening.

“All done, Mom. Look, they’re both fine, and some reporters even came to interview me this afternoon,” Jing’s father couldn’t help but advise. He was Mr. Jing, a passionate citizen who seemed quite nice.

“Quick, watch the news! Africa has been flooded! So many people died!”

Everyone’s attention shifted over.

“That’s terrible! Africa is so high in elevation, and even the great grasslands are submerged! Tsk tsk, so pitiful. Those people didn’t have time to escape through the underground tunnels,” Jing’s mother said sympathetically.

“Last year’s super high temperatures led to digging tunnels over ten meters deep, which was comfortable. Hainan in Huaxia was also supposed to learn from that, but our leaders forced migration. At least our country was foresighted,” Jing’s father added.

“How many people died? It’s a catastrophe,” Jing Nai sighed.

The water that submerged the island nations was due to the sea level rising directly. Except for Mount Fuji, which wasn’t submerged, the rest were underwater. The water was so deep that people couldn’t be seen, and entire cities were submerged.

Another dozen or so islands were also submerged, completely disappearing from the map.

Taiwan in Huaxia, being high in elevation, was half-submerged. Although there were casualties, it wasn’t severe.

These were nothing compared to Africa. Because Africa has high elevations, it wasn’t entirely submerged but was flooded, drowning many people.

Thank you for your support!

*(End of Chapter)*