Jing Shu initially thought it was an old acquaintance, since the person had greeted her so warmly. She instinctively responded, but after speaking, realized she didn’t know him at all.
Zhou Bapi enthusiastically welcod Jing Shu, his face creasing into a chrysanthemum of smiles as he closely examined her as if discovering treasure.
If Su Malie hadn’t been present, Jing Shu would have thrown a punch long ago.
"Oh, oh, look at forgetting to introduce myself. My surna is Zhou, just call Pharmacist Zhou..."
Su Malie burst out laughing. "Pharmacist indeed! He’s the sa Zhou Bapi who didn’t believe you could grow potted astragalus and said he would livestream himself eating dung if you succeeded."
"Nonsense! My na is Zhou Baqi, Zhou Baqi! You better not call Zhou Bapi anymore." Zhou Bapi felt he had to make a good first impression, but there went Su Malie, bringing up what should be left unntioned!
Then it clicked for Jing Shu. So it’s him, she thought. She had wondered why she hadn’t seen him at the gathering today. Zhou Baqi? Or Zhou Bapi?
Zhou Bapi, feeling he couldn’t lose face, then grandly introduced himself, "Young lady, this astragalus you’ve grown is fantastic! I am Zhou Baqi, vice president of both the Huaxia Herbal dicine Association and the Wu City Herbal dicine Association."
Zhou Bapi thought this title would surely impress Jing Shu, given that anything association-related sounded very prestigious.
Su Malie, laughing so hard he couldn’t straighten up, said, "If an ’association’ with only seven mbers and three vice presidents still counts as one, then I really have nothing more to say."
Su Malie instantly transford into the little prince of party-pooping.
Jing Shu was bewildered. It feels like I’ve walked into a trap, she thought. In my past life, the dicinal Materials Association seed like a very prestigious entity. So why are there only seven people now? Wu City has quite a few renowned dicinal herbs. Could it be the legendary ’gather seven people to summon a dragon ball’ situation?
Seeing Jing Shu’s skeptical look, Zhou Bapi coughed. "Ahem, Su Malie is only talking about the official mbership of seven people. There are many others who want to join but can’t. Jing Shu, I ca here to ask if you really grew that astragalus and honeysuckle after the apocalypse?"
Jing Shu nodded. "Yes."
Zhou Bapi’s hands trembled from excitent as he rubbed them together. "Oh, that’s wonderful, Jing Shu! I wonder if you’re interested in joining our dicinal Materials Association?"
Jing Shu did have intentions of joining the dicinal Materials Association. Although she didn’t know much about traditional dicine, she did know about farming. Yet, Su Malie’s words made her feel that this association seed sowhat underwhelming.
Seeing Jing Shu hesitating, Zhou Bapi beca anxious. "Don’t worry! You’ll enter as an official mber. We also have hundreds of non-official mbers. The governnt is planning to unify the regional dicinal materials soon and will expand the staff to include other cities."
"So how does one typically work? Are there any strict regulations?" Jing Shu was a child of hard knocks; she hadn’t even held a formal job before the apocalypse struck.
"It’s flexible. We’re very relaxed. As long as you can ensure so dicinal herbs survive each month, you can even grow them at ho without any issue. As for benefits, they are definitely much better than those of other official civil servants.
"Those at the president level, like myself, handle technical problems—for instance, if dicinal herbs are affected by pests or other issues, we need to step in and solve them. For soone at your level, the main thing is to ensure the plants you’re responsible for don’t die. The governnt acknowledges we’re in an apocalypse, and cultivating dicinal herbs has beco incredibly difficult.
"The old cultivation thods have all been scrapped, replaced by an extrely inefficient individual-based model. But there’s no helping it; the conditions of the apocalypse introduce so many other factors."
Zhou Bapi couldn’t stop sighing. "Thankfully, we in Wu City still have so reserves of dicinal herbs, but those are for saving lives. If we really run out, the survival rate will be even lower than in ancient tis."
Indeed, colds and fevers had to be endured with sheer resilience. If you could withstand it, you lived. If not, you died. This didn’t even account for chronic illnesses in the elderly, such as heart disease and hypertension. Without long-term dication, these conditions were simply left to fate.
Zhou Bapi’s wrinkled old face cracked a smile. "How about this: tomorrow, I’ll take you to our dicinal Materials Association to have a look first. Then you can decide."
Jing Shu erged from her contemplation and nodded. "Alright."
If there’s nothing particularly disadvantageous, joining the dicinal Materials Association might actually be a good thing. At least Mom, who cares so much about face, could boast to others, ’My daughter has an official position at the dicinal Materials Association!’
"Alright then, it’s settled! I’ll stay overnight at Mary’s house tonight," Zhou Baqi declared.
Despite Su Malie’s many pleas for her to stay for dinner, Jing Shu still left for ho, leaving only the potted plants behind.
Zhou Bapi said he was going to sleep with these two pots of herbs tonight and bring them to the dicinal Materials Association in the morning for further study.
As for the exposure of the Spiritual Spring, Jing Shu wasn’t worried at all. Back then, Qian Duoduo, for his foolish son’s sake, had run so many tests on the ice cream and hadn’t detected anything. Therefore, she was even less afraid that Zhou Bapi could discover anything.
Experience had shown that the Spiritual Spring, when affecting these organisms, rely increased certain active molecules and enhanced their functionality. So, as long as the Spiritual Spring itself wasn’t directly tested, she had nothing to fear.
When Jing Shu got back to the villa, it was just in ti for dinner. She wolfed down her al while listening to Grandma Jing’s concerned inquiries about the afternoon’s events. anwhile, Wu You’ai, holding his returned phone, was half-heartedly watching comics and nonchalantly appeasing Grandma Jing.
Fortunately, her family didn’t follow the popular video platform and had no idea about the huge battle that had occurred there.
"Enough, Mom, it’s all over now. Look, they’re both fine. A reporter even interviewed this afternoon," Mr. Jing couldn’t help but advise. He was known as the helpful citizen Mr. Jing, which sounded pretty impressive.
"Quick, look at the news! Africa has flooded! So many people died!"
Everyone’s gaze then shifted to the news.
"How tragic! Africa’s terrain is so high, yet even the great plains could flood! TSK TSK, it’s too sad. Those people didn’t even have ti to get out of their underground shelters," Mrs. Jing said sorrowfully.
"Speaking of last year’s extre heat, living in those dugouts ten or so ters deep was comfortable. My Hua Xia Hainan was supposed to learn from that too, but our Huaxia leaders wisely had us migrate," Mr. Jing said. "Our country really does have foresight."
"How many people must have died? It’s such a tragedy," Grandpa Jing sighed.
The waters that inundated Japan ca directly from rising sea levels. Except for Mount Fuji, which wasn’t subrged, the rest of the country was overwheld. The waters were so vast that no one could be seen, and entire cities were subrged.
Furthermore, another dozen or so islands were subrged, completely disappearing from the maps.
As for Taiwan Island in Huaxia, with its high terrain, it too was half-subrged, although casualties were not extensive.
But none of these compared to Africa. Because of its high elevation, it wasn’t entirely flooded but was rather inundated, with floodwaters literally drowning many people.
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