Jing Shu let her actions speak in the sudden silence of the hall. That's her remedy plan: rough, unreasonable, and without a single line of explanation.
The expressions on the faces of everyone in the crowd were identical: Are you kidding me? That's it?
The way Jing Shu worked seemed to say that whatever the poison is, just take one sip of her panacea and all will be well. The fine hairs on the mole at the corner of Cheng Qingzi's mouth seemed to tremble with suppressed emotion. His eyes were wide as he struggled for words. "We're scholars. We identify why a problem arises, how it's solved, and then present a reasoned answer."
No wonder the hall shifted from noisy to silent; most people who live by knowledge still care about saving face. It's like a brutal calculus problem where everyone is filled thick white pages or dusty blackboards with Given, Therefore, and endless derivations of variables, yet hasn't reached the final result. Then Jing Shu walked up, glanced once at the variables, and wrote the final answer: 0.
It's left the room stunned into a collective hush. Nothing about the setup screamed zero. And how could snapping a plant and sticking it back in the soil be the solution?
President Tie was the first to react to the scene. He let out a sharp laugh and raised a thumb toward Jing Shu. "High. Truly brilliant. Wu City's Jing Shu has made a beautiful play." She was so beautiful in her confidence; she was practically the perfect scapegoat!
Cheng Qingzi's thin lip curled with a sharp twitch of fury. At first he thought she was bronze. Then she looked like a king. Then bronze again. Was this what young people meant by sliding back and forth between ranks, king-bronze at will? In the end he could only grit his teeth. "Let's wait and see if it sprouts."
Jing Shu studied the third specimen, Sanqi, under the bright stage lights. Even after a long look she couldn't see a specific disease. Sanqi has always been hard to cultivate. Its high price is a reason for its scarcity. It struggled before Earth's Dark Days, let alone after. "It looks malnourished. Limp," Jing Shu murmured, feeling there's no way to keep up the act.
"What does the young friend suggest?" Cheng Qingzi asked with a cold edge to his voice. "This Sanqi has been grown by the book. Soil pH of 6. Elevation above 1,000 meters. HCH below 0.2 mg per kg. DDT below 0.2 mg per kg. Plot disinfected with quicklime. Simulated sunlight at about 10 percent transmittance. Seeds soaked in a solution of alum and alcohol at 64 times and 500 times, respectively. No leaf spot or root rot. In short, the exact technology from before Earth's Dark Days. Yet it still falls short of medicinal grade."
Cheng Qingzi looked very pleased with himself. They had brought the Sanqi for the government to see. If Ta City could raise Sanqi, what could they not grow? Obviously the provincial Medicinal Herb Association should be under their lead. So this Sanqi wasn't sick, merely stunted and below standard. If anyone could make it grow as it did before Earth's Dark Days in these conditions, that would be a miracle.
Jing Shu listened to his technical recital and could only think, "I don't understand a word. So what exactly is the issue?"
After failing to invent a convincing theory, she quietly pulled out the small, clear spray bottle and sprayed the Sanqi from top to bottom with the liquid. "It looks malnourished, so I'm giving it a rare plant nutrition mix I've formulated. It will grow robustly soon and reach medicinal grade."
"Stop!" Cheng Qingzi lunged to block her, but Jing Shu had already clicked the plastic trigger a dozen times. The plant was drenched. The old man reached out and stroked the limp, wet leaves with shaking hands, real tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "You're being reckless. It's finished. It will burn. Don't you know you can't spray nutrient solution at will?"
"We will see in two days," Jing Shu said.
President Tie clenched his plump fist by his side. "Well done." He nearly howled his approval at her boldness. President Tie had never seen a scapegoat cooperate so well. Perfect. With behavior this foolish, the match will wrap up cleanly, even if the jeering is loud. There aren't many this unprofessional.
Most people here had real skills. President Tie stepped onto the stage. Before the pot truly boiled over, he had to keep her from being beaten to death by the angry experts. "Enough, Lao Cheng. Today's round ends here. Our Wu City genius says it will work. There will be results within two days. We'll wait and see. If it fails, Wu City will accept being trampled by Ta City."
President Tie spared no effort praising her, then began scolding the noisy crowd to have faith in the person President Zhou had invited. She is from a medicinal clan and knows many secrets that can't be shared. "As is well known, Jing Shu is a seasoned master in medicinal cultivation. She can't disclose all principles, so let's skip theory. Just know the method works, even if it isn't easy to popularize." He began dispersing the people in the lobby.
"Wait." Just as Cheng Qingzi seemed resigned to watching his Sanqi die from nutrient burn, Jing Shu spoke up. "If I win these two rounds, that makes it five to five, tied, yes? A ring match needs a decisive point to settle the score."
Cheng Qingzi nodded. "But you Wu City people have no more tricky cases to present. We only brought five to solve."
Jing Shu reached into the deep pocket of her coat and drew out a palm-sized ceramic pot. "I have astragalus with an infestation. Simple. Kill the bugs on it and restore the plant to health."
Everyone in the hall understood her intent. President Tie flashed a gloating look at the tiny pot. "Jing Shu, don't hand them a free point. Give them this and they will be at six."
"President Tie, if I don't give them a problem, and both sides finish at five, that's a tie."
"You're very confident," President Tie couldn't help saying after holding it in all this time.
"Yes, too cocky," a voice from the crowd whispered.
"I've never seen anyone this cocky, already assuming she will take both points."
Cheng Qingzi didn't believe she could take the two points, but he still summoned his team of experts to examine the small astragalus. To his credit, he was serious about the work.
"Is that not red nematode?"
"Yes, red nematode. This is easy. Everyone knows how to deal with them now."
"Maybe she really is giving away a point."
"Impossible. They wouldn't test us with something that simple. There must be a catch."
Jing Shu handed over the astragalus in its pot. "Study it slowly. When I have taken those two points in two days, you will still have time to propose a fix. But I think Wu City's going to win."