"You see..." Qian Qi looked troubled.
Seeing her expression, Zhang Feng felt like the sky was falling.
Could it be that Old Zhang really can't be saved? Is there really no way? He's already shamelessly chosen to believe in this dunce Qian Qi, and yet, there's still no saving it?
"...You'll have to pay more." Qian Qi said slowly.
Zhang Feng: ...
Zhang Feng: ???
"Wait? You mean there's still hope?" Once Zhang Feng realized, he didn't care about the money issue, he, like a drowning man grasping at the last straw, hurriedly asked, "How much do you want? As long as it can save Old Zhang, I can give you my meal money for this week!"
Old Zhang is, after all, his painstakingly cultivated twin-leaf magic plant. He doesn't want to give up!
"Hey~ we're classmates, how could I bear to see you starve for a whole week?" Qian Qi patted Zhang Feng's back comfortingly and put up two fingers, "Two weeks' worth."
Zhang Feng: "..."
Weren't you supposed to be unwilling to see that!!!
With great reluctance, he transferred 182 bucks, and Zhang Feng glanced at "Old Zhang", placing his last hope on Qian Qi.
Qian Qi took a quick glance at the information she got using her Decoding Technique.
[Magic Plant Name: Cannibal Red Grass (Sick)]
Rank: E-level
Case Analysis: Multifold bald leaf syndrome caused by hunger and lack of microbes
Treatment Method: Feed 1kg of Demon Beast Meat to replenish nutrition, replace humus every 15 days, feed 2kg of pork weekly.]
"Prepare yourself mentally," Qian Qi kindly reminded, "If you want to save Old Zhang, you're going to have to bleed money."
Zhang Feng misunderstood, "What do you mean? More money?"
"No no no~" Qian Qi pointed at the big mouth basin of the cannibal red grass, "It's got a big appetite; you'll have to prepare one kilo of Demon Beast Meat to fill it up first."
"Then replace the humus twice a month. Do you understand what humus is? It's nutrient soil resulting from decomposing and fermenting of plant leaves by microbes. There should be some where there are trees in the back mountain; if you really can't find it, buy it online."
"After that, regularly feed it two kilos of pork every week~" After rattling off a long list, Qian Qi got ready to leave.
"Wait a minute!" Zhang Feng was baffled, "Why feed it Demon Beast Meat and pork? What's the principle?"
"This is a carnivorous magic plant, a variety of man-eating grass," Qian Qi hummed, shaking her head, "Without meat, it can only absorb nutrients from the soil below, and when the nutrients are drained, naturally all the leaves fall off."
"Remember to feed it on time; regular feeding can build affection, and one day it might even stop trying to eat you."
With that, Qian Qi gave the cannibal red grass a regretful look. It's a pity it is a non-moving type magic plant; otherwise, it could have become a walking weapon!
Realization suddenly struck Zhang Feng. He'd been focusing on planting Old Zhang the whole time and had never fed it any food. If it lost its leaves because of hunger, it made perfect sense.
"Qian Qi, just where do you get all this knowledge from?"
Zhang Feng found it fascinating, because in his eyes and those of others, Qian Qi never attended class or planted magic plants. So, what kind of opportunity had she encountered to be able to diagnose the illness and prescribe a treatment plan just by glancing at a magic plant?
"Could it be that you've awakened some unbelievable superpower?"
Zhang Feng looked at Qian Qi with shining eyes, filled with expectation.
Qian Qi paused slightly.
A moment later, she suddenly slung a hoe over her shoulder and placed her other hand on her back.
Zhang Feng immediately tensed, an alarm bell ringing in his mind.
Damn it, he made a blunder, he shouldn't have asked too much!
Could Qian Qi be planning to beat him up as an excuse!
However, Qian Qi just lifted up the back of her leather jacket, and with quite an effort, pulled out a textbook "Magic Plant Study" from behind her waist.
"Read more books, Mr. Class President!" Qian Qi shook the textbook with great earnestness, "There is a house of gold in books, and a beautiful jade within, read more like me, and you'll naturally know things!"
Zhang Feng looked at the brand new textbook: ...
Why is it so hard for him to believe that Qian Qi would actually read a book???
Moreover, he's flipped through that book almost eighty times; how couldn't he think of those treatment methods?
"Well, Mr. Class President, do your best! Your Old Zhang is really starving, if you don't feed it soon, it might just eat you~" After establishing her persona as someone who loves reading, Qian Qi stuffed the textbook back in her waist, slung her hoe over her shoulder, and dashed away with an indifferent swagger.
Leaving Zhang Feng bewildered for a moment.
After a while, he turned back to look at the now nearly bald "Old Zhang", with only a mouth left, and couldn't help but ask, "Are you really that hungry?"
A gust of wind blew by, and Old Zhang's big mouth slightly wobbled, as if in disdainful response to his question:
Now that you know, hurry the heck up and feed me!
-----
That night, another desolate late night.
Climbing the back mountain of the Magic Plant Department again, Su Xingle wasn't as scared anymore, perhaps due to the feeling of security brought by the girl walking ahead, clutching a textbook with a hoe over her shoulder?
At the experimental field, Su Xingle opened the plastic box and proudly reported to Qian Qi, "Junior, I can buy it cheaply from a senior, I even haggled for you, 30 bucks a pound!"
This was undoubtedly a godsend for Qian Qi, and she was overjoyed, sincerely promising Su Xingle, "Good brother, if you ever fall into hard times one day, I will definitely help you!"
Su Xingle: ...
You might as well not promise! How could I possibly fall into hard times!
Sitting on a small stool beside her, Su Xingle noticed that there were many bottles and jars around, and Qian Qi was busily squatting in the field, planting seeds.
Curiously, he asked, "Junior Qian Qi, why are you planting so many magic plants?"
He heard that Magic Plant Department students only needed to successfully cultivate one magic plant to pass, but according to his observation, Qian Qi seemed to have planted no fewer than ten kinds of magic plants.
"Of course, it's because I love learning!" Qian Qi took out the textbook from under her arm and deliberately shook it in front of Su Xingle.
Su Xingle recalled the rumors at the time, glanced at Qian Qi, not quite convinced.
"Loving to learn means bringing glory to the school!" Qian Qi patted her chest again, "Trust me."
Su Xingle: ... "Alright, I trust you."
Qian Qi nodded in satisfaction, excellent, she had successfully established her persona as someone who loves learning!
As for why she planted so many magic plants, one was to strengthen her image as a scholarly and well-informed person, and the other... well, to mislead and obscure the truth.
Qian Qi thoughtfully touched her chin. Once she's made the Blood Stopping Magic Potion, surely someone would investigate the formula in secret, and she, being so clever, how could she let them succeed?
How exciting...
She raised a shining, gigantic pair of scissors, snapping it twice menacingly in the air, and laughed sinisterly.
Su Xingle couldn't help but shiver beside her.
Strange, why did it suddenly feel so cold?
Was it because the night wind was too chilly, or was the girl in front of him too terrifying?
Two days later, Qian Qi received a transfer from Li Shuyun, a grand total of sixty thousand bucks.
"Money! System, look! It's money!" Qian Qi looked at the sixty thousand bucks in her Light Brain account, her eyes brimming with tears of joy.
Finally, she, Qian Qi, no longer needed to be poor!
[Just sixty thousand bucks, and you're this happy (;￢＿￢)]
"What do you mean just! Do you know how long it takes an ordinary person to save sixty thousand bucks!" Qian Qi sneered, "You don't know! Just like you don't know how a whale opens its butt really wide when it poops, and after it's done, it takes a long time to close again, very painful. You don't know, because you only care about yourself!"
System: [???]