Chapter 248: Never Seen Someone So Arrogant

Jing Shu demonstrated her solution with actual actions—simple, direct, and even crude, with no detailed explanation of the answer.

Everyone was left thinking: *Are you kidding me? That’s it?*

Jing Shu’s approach felt like she was telling everyone, “Who cares about the problem? Just drink my all-purpose cure, and the illness will be gone.”

The hairs on the mole near Cheng Qingzi's lips seemed to tremble as he widened his eyes, speechless for a long moment. "We’re all scholars here. We should be discussing why this problem occurred, how we’re solving it, and what the final answer is..."

No wonder the room had gone from chaotic to dead silent. Most knowledgeable people had at least some dignity.

It was as if they were all trying to solve an extremely difficult mathematical equation, using countless sheets of paper or covering an entire blackboard with complex calculations—writing out "given," "proof," and "therefore"—but still couldn’t find the answer.

Then Jing Shu walks in, glances at the problem, and simply writes down the answer: *zero*.

Everyone was left utterly dumbfounded. And to make it worse, it didn’t even seem like zero was the right answer. It definitely didn’t look like something that could be solved by just snapping the plant in half and sticking it back in the dirt.

Chairman Tie was the first to recover, bursting into laughter as he gave Jing Shu a thumbs-up. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! What a beautiful solution by our Wu City representative, Jing Shu!" Beautifully setting herself up as the perfect scapegoat, he thought to himself.

Cheng Qingzi’s lips twisted in frustration. He had initially thought she was an amateur, then a master, and now she was back to being an amateur again. Could this be what young people mean by someone effortlessly switching between being a master and a novice?

In the end, all he could do was grit his teeth and say, "Well then, let’s wait and see if it sprouts."

Jing Shu moved on to the third herb, *Tian Qi*. After studying it for a while, she still couldn’t figure out what was wrong. *Tian Qi* had always been difficult to cultivate, and it wasn’t expensive for no reason. Even before the apocalypse, it was hard to grow, let alone now.

"It looks like it’s just malnourished," Jing Shu muttered, realizing she couldn’t keep bluffing her way through.

Cheng Qingzi, with a smug look on his face, chimed in. "So, what do you think this *Tian Qi* needs? It’s been cultivated under strict conditions—pH 6 soil, 1000 meters above sea level, HCH less than 0.2 mg/kg, DDT less than 0.2 mg/kg. The land was sterilized with quicklime, sunlight was simulated at about 10% transparency, and the seeds were soaked in a solution of alum and alcohol. There’s no sign of black spot disease or root rot, and yet it still hasn’t reached the medicinal standard."

Cheng Qingzi’s tone was triumphant. This *Tian Qi* was meant to impress the government, to show that Tacheng could even cultivate such a precious herb. If they could grow *Tian Qi*, what couldn’t they grow? Obviously, they should be in charge of the provincial medicinal association.

In truth, the herb had no disease, but it hadn’t grown well enough to meet medicinal standards. If anyone could grow it perfectly in the apocalypse, it would be nothing short of miraculous.

As Cheng Qingzi rattled off his technical jargon, Jing Shu’s eyes glazed over. *What on earth is he talking about?* She had no idea what was wrong with this plant.

After thinking for a while and failing to come up with a plausible excuse, Jing Shu silently pulled out her little spray bottle and gave the *Tian Qi* a few thorough sprays. Calmly, she said, "It’s just malnourished. I’ve given it a dose of my specially formulated nutrient solution. It should thrive and meet medicinal standards in no time."

"Stop!" Cheng Qingzi rushed over to intervene, but Jing Shu was too quick—she’d already sprayed the herb at least ten times, soaking the entire plant.

The old man trembled as he caressed the withering plant, tears streaming down his face. "You’ve ruined it! It’s going to burn to death! Don’t you know you can’t just spray nutrients recklessly?!"

"We’ll see the results in two days," Jing Shu replied calmly.

Chairman Tie clenched his fists, barely able to contain his glee. "Well done!" He was almost ready to shout out in celebration. He had never seen anyone so willing to take the fall. With Jing Shu’s reckless actions, the competition was sure to end perfectly in failure, even though the audience was already shouting in anger.

After all, there weren’t many non-professionals like Jing Shu in the field—most people had at least some real skills.

Chairman Tie stepped onto the stage, making sure to protect Jing Shu from any potential physical retaliation. "Alright, alright, old Cheng. The competition ends here. Our Wu City genius says it will work, so it will work. Give it two days, and if nothing happens, we’ll accept defeat."

He continued to shower Jing Shu with praise and scolded the crowd, telling them to trust Chairman Zhou’s chosen expert. After all, she was from a prestigious medicinal family and knew many ancient secrets.

"Jing Shu is known for her extensive knowledge of herb cultivation. Of course, she has methods she can’t openly share, so there’s no need to explain the principles behind it. Just know that her method works, but it’s not something that can be easily replicated," Chairman Tie said as he began dispersing the crowd.

"Wait..."

Just as Cheng Qingzi was starting to accept that his precious *Tian Qi* was doomed, Jing Shu spoke up. "I have a question. If I win these two rounds, doesn’t that make the score 5 to 5? Shouldn’t there be a tiebreaker?"

Cheng Qingzi nodded. "The problem is, Wu City doesn’t have any more challenging herbs for us to solve. On our side, we only have *Wu Zhu* left."

Jing Shu pulled a small potted plant from her pocket, about the size of her palm. "I’ve got a pot of *Huang Qi* infested with pests. It’s simple—just get rid of the bugs and bring it back to life."

Everyone understood what Jing Shu was implying. Chairman Tie grinned with a malicious look. "Jing Shu, don’t give away any more points to the other side. If you do, Tacheng will win 6 to 5."

"Chairman Tie, if I don’t give them this challenge, and we both end up with 5 points, won’t it be a tie?" Jing Shu asked confidently.

"You’re a little too self-assured," Chairman Tie muttered, unable to hold back his curiosity any longer.

"Yes, she’s so arrogant."

"I’ve never seen anyone so cocky in my life, already assuming she’s going to win both rounds."

Even though Cheng Qingzi doubted Jing Shu would win the two points, he still had his team gather around to examine the potted *Huang Qi*. Despite everything, Cheng Qingzi was thorough and took his work seriously.

"Isn’t that just red worms?"

"Yep, definitely red worms. This is way too easy. We all know how to deal with red worms."

"Maybe it’s a freebie."

"No way. The other side can’t give us such a simple problem, right? There’s got to be a catch."

Jing Shu handed over the *Huang Qi* plant. "Take your time figuring it out. You’ve got two days. But I’m confident Wu City will win."