It really did have something to do with her. Back then, Jing Shu had kept one trick to herself, the detail tucked away in her mind. She never disclosed the step about selecting only the old nematodes, their bodies thicker and slower in the water, so although everyone had witnessed the method, hands busy with the salt, no one knew the secret within it. Naturally, they couldn't reproduce the way to clear the eggs, the clusters remaining stubborn on the roots.
When Jing Shu and Zhou Bapi arrived, the room thick with voices, Xiao Xiao was arguing for her life, her words tumbling fast. "I didn't falsely claim the bounty. I was claiming it on behalf of our Medicinal Herb Association!"
Jing Shu's gaze slid to the young man standing to the side, his posture straight under the lights. It was Zhu Chuangshi, the one interviewed in her previous life.
She remembered the name because while others were named things like Jianguo, Chenglong, or Jiancai, his father had gone for broke and named him Chuangshi, Creation.
On the other side, the staff laid out the sequence of events, papers spread on the table. Last night, Xiao Xiao brought in a batch of gastrodia whose eggs had been cleared, the tubers smooth in the crate, and claimed she had discovered the method. She wrote out the process in detail, pen scratching quick. The inspectors asked her to try it on other plants, but it didn't work, the eggs clinging tight. After several attempts, Xiao Xiao insisted it needed half a day to take effect and said that was how the eggs on the gastrodia had been removed. She asked the staff to recognize her as the first to come up with the idea.
The reward was rich, with food and virtual coins, plus honors and even a post, the promises heavy in the air. It drew countless greedy eyes. After learning about the bounty, Xiao Xiao waited half a day, clock ticking slow. Jing Shu's friend still hadn't announced anything, so Xiao Xiao took her shot.
Naturally, the staff refused, saying they would wait until results appeared, eyes steady on the plants. They waited a long time, the room quiet but tense. Xiao Xiao tried every which way and still failed, solutions mixing without change.
Then the young man arrived, carrying a bucket of red nematodes, the water sloshing inside. Using the same method as Xiao Xiao, he cleared the eggs, the clusters dissolving clean.
The government prepared to recognize him as the first to solve the problem, forms ready on the desk.
But why did the same method fail in her hands and work in his?
Dangling in front of a massive prize, Xiao Xiao asked if he wasn't Jing Shu's friend, her voice rising. When he said no, she finally blurted out that the Medicinal Herb Association had thought of this method the morning before yesterday. The reward, she said, should go to their association. In the process, she inadvertently dragged Jing Shu into it. If the reward went to the Medicinal Herb Association, she would surely get a slice.
Since Xiao Xiao first claimed the method as her own, then slipped and said it belonged to the Medicinal Herb Association, the authorities brought in officers to assist the inquiry, uniforms crisp in the room.
"Given your statements, this amounts to using another's name to falsely claim a bounty," they said, tones firm. Even if you used it earlier, you weren't the one who came up with it.
Because Xiao Xiao belonged to the Medicinal Herb Association and held a special status, the police asked for a responsible leader. With the other presidents absent, Zhou Bapi came, his steps heavy through the door.
Jing Shu wore an oh-I-see expression, her brows lifting slight. So Xiao Xiao had wanted the bounty and, understanding only half, had rushed to present the idea. Of course it wouldn't work. Unwilling to watch the reward slip past, she tried to package it as the association's achievement.
"What a troublemaker." Xiao Xiao had even wrecked the cover story Jing Shu had set up.
The Medicinal Herb Association wouldn't carry the blame, nor would it steal what belonged to someone else. After listening to Zhu Chuangshi's method, his explanation clear and steady, Jing Shu applauded and endorsed it twice over, her hands clapping sharp, confirming that Zhu Chuangshi's version was more precise and practical. He deserved the reward.
The government staff hurried to publish the new procedure, keyboards clacking fast. They had no time for anything else.
Xiao Xiao was escorted back to the Medicinal Herb Association, her arms held loose at the sides. Given the severity of her false-claim stunt, Zhou Bapi stripped her of her full-time position, causing an uproar within the association, voices rising in the halls.
Everyone knew Xiao Xiao had tried to use Jing Shu's method to claim the bounty. The looks they gave Xiao Xiao turned strange, glances sidelong and quick, and the way they looked at Jing Shu, whom most had met only on her first day, shifted as well, nods warmer in passing.
Evildoers meet their comeuppance. This wasn't the first self-destructive type Jing Shu had seen. She had a feeling Xiao Xiao would end up ruining herself.
…
With that wrapped up, the air clearing outside, Jing Shu steadied her mood and dived back into work, focus sharp again. Chu Zhuohua had already driven the RV to Chen Nan's conversion shop, the engine rumbling away, and the major refit had begun, tools ringing in the space.
That day, Jing Shu had light gauge steel hauled over by Li Yuetian, the sheets clanging as they unloaded, then confirmed with Chen Nan's shop what materials were on hand and what was missing, lists checked under the lights. She made a list and headed downtown to salvage more. The drowned city was a natural treasure vault, buildings half-submerged and waiting.
She could still picture Chen Nan's pained face at the materials list, brows drawn tight. For the big sister's sake, when Jing Shu said she planned to refit a second vehicle, Chen Nan forced a smile, corners pulling up. Jing Shu wasn't about to stiff her. She paid 600 coins per vehicle in materials to help offset the RV costs.
She suddenly felt poor, wallet light in her pocket. If she hadn't salvaged that yellow bed and earned some virtual coins, she couldn't even have covered the materials. No, now that virtual coin circulation on the big data exchange had kicked in, transactions buzzing steady, she needed to speed up her own earning.
By the way, the items auctioned by Su Mali were delivered the next day, crates thumping down. Jing Shu transplanted the aloe to the villa yard, soil soft under her hands, where it had already rooted, leaves firm in the sun.
As for the cigarettes, Grandpa Jing and Jing An had divvied them up, packs sliding across the table. With tobacco on hand, they quarreled less, voices calmer over meals. It even made Jing Shu wonder if she should plant a crop of tobacco leaves, seeds small in her palm.
For now, Jing Shu planted another batch of grapes in the Rubik's Cube Space, vines curling quick, planning to brew wine. When the wine was ready, she could bring it out in the open, bottles dark and full. Wine could be explained as stock from before. Fresh grapes, though, would be hard to justify, their skins too bright and new.
She was so busy she almost forgot she was on the Medicinal Herb Association's payroll, days blurring full. Only later, at the old master's birthday banquet, when someone asked what she did, table lively with talk, did she remember. "Oh shoot, oh shoot, I'm with the Medicinal Herb Association. And I have barely shown up lately."
But that was for later.
Every day, Jing Shu piloted the amphibious shark submarine to Chen Nan's shop first to go over the refit progress with Chu Zhuohua, the sub cutting smooth through water, then pushed into the flooded city to scavenge usable materials, debris shifting in the currents.
The blood mushroom craze had spurred people on, boats clustering thick. Every few days, someone found a fresh patch, caps red in the finds. Deaths followed too, reports quiet but grim. Even so, the fervor held. In the apocalypse, grain drew people like a magnet, and everyone believed in a little luck, hands gripping tools tight.
When the first batch of red nematode mushrooms came to market, stalls busy under covers, Zhu Chuangshi's method had already been popularized, steps shared wide, but it did nothing for seeds. Su Lanzhi's vegetable plots hit a wall again, leaves wilting stubborn, and the government urged new experiments.
"Try boiling the water before irrigating. Boiling kills 99 percent of bacteria, but the fungus associated with red nematodes just happens to be in the other one percent and shrugs off heat."
"I have applied for an ultrafiltration system," Su Lanzhi said, her voice tired over the line, "but the materials are all waterlogged, crates sodden and waiting. Who knows how long installation will take. Until then, we may not be able to grow any vegetables at all."