Among the three types of wine, baijiu is the most ti-consuming and labor-intensive to make.
The location for brewing was solved first, but distilling baijiu presented quite a challenge for Jing Shu. Fortunately, she had a grandfather at ho who was skilled at crafting anything by hand. Hearing that Jing Shu wanted to brew baijiu but lacked tools, he imdiately began experinting and tinkering. It took him four or five days to make the distillation equipnt for the baijiu. Due to his limited skills, it was crude but usable.
Therefore, the alcohol content wouldn’t be very high, which perfectly suited Jing Shu’s objective of making dicinal wine.
The red wine would be ready to drink in twenty days. However, as Jing Shu was in a hurry to use the baijiu, she only brewed it for a month before starting to infuse large quantities of snake wine. After another half a month, this venture would earn her a handso amount of Silver and considerable prestige.
Currently, Jing Shu had a variety of businesses. The most profitable was the Blood Mushroom. Unfortunately, it only produced a batch every ten days or so, yielding only about a dozen mushrooms each ti. The yield was too small to propagate them further. Blood Mushrooms were originally a species that couldn’t be cultivated or propagated. The fact that Jing Shu could harvest them repeatedly like this was already defying the natural order.
Moreover, Jing Shu didn’t dare to auction them openly. Instead, she supplied them to Su Malie at a fixed price under a confidentiality agreent. Otherwise, if others discovered she could consistently produce Blood Mushrooms, she would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention.
The Red Earthworm Feed Factory was an investnt. Although it was not profitable now, its price was expected to skyrocket after this year, and it should beco Jing Shu’s most lucrative industry.
Next ca the dicinal wine industry. Priced at about 1,500 Virtual Coins per catty, it would provide a steady stream of Silver for Jing Shu. Moreover, during this year’s gift-giving season, bringing a 250ml bottle of dicinal wine as a gift when visiting soone’s ho was a very impressive gesture—even more so than Brain Gold. Additionally, the first batch of Jing Shu’s dicinal wine received excellent reviews. Those who had tasted it, like Li Yuetian and Su Xiangnan, found it extrely effective in eliminating dampness.
Su Xiangnan traded compressed natural gas for dicinal wine, and Li Yuetian exchanged 300 units of electricity for a bottle. Consequently, the dicinal wine sold effortlessly.
Next were the leeches. Currently, however, their usefulness wasn’t yet widely recognized. They would have to wait until at least the following year when the weather turned cold and people often suffered from chilblains and weeping sores. In an era when most could not afford dical treatnt, leeches could play a significant role.
Last was the tobacco industry. The tobacco grown at ho was used for cigars, while the tobacco from the dicinal Materials Association was processed into worm-killing dicine.
By now, houses all over Wu City were covered in green moss, and the ground was overgrown with thick mold. It felt soft underfoot, just like stepping on grass. When it rained or the wind blew, the moss would float in the rain, bringing to mind the lines: "Seaweed, seaweed, swaying with the waves, dancing in the foam, regardless of the terrifying waves, I am joyously carefree!"
Soon, various poisonous insects would begin to wreak havoc in residential areas. Those with weak immunity would directly contract infections, leading to many deaths. The worm-killing dicine made from tobacco would beco a necessity for everyone.
Jing Shu felt that since she was staying at the dicinal Materials Association, she might as well grow the most urgently needed dicinal herbs. Firstly, it would reduce the number of deaths in Wu City; a small amount of tobacco could be turned into a spray capable of saving ten families. If the dicinal Materials Association were to vigorously develop tobacco cultivation, it could definitely prevent many deaths. Secondly, she was about to be assessed for the position of vice chairman. A new official taking office was expected to make a significant impact, and a vice chairman should act the part. Previously, the difficult cases she had resolved weren’t considered entirely legitimate qualifications for the role. However, if she could now accomplish a few representative deeds, her position as vice chairman would be secure, resolving any lingering doubts about her suitability.
For this purpose, Jing Shu had intentionally planted the experintal fields full of tobacco, which would soon reach the standard required for dicinal use.
In May, Jing Shu’s assessnt for vice president finally ca through. She had t all conditions for promotion: all the dicinal plants she cultivated had reached pharmaceutical standards, and each was properly docunted and monitored.
However, the appointnt for the original vacancy had clearly been prearranged for soone else. Now that Jing Shu was poised to snatch this ’peach,’ so individuals were naturally unwilling. When Zhou Bapi inford Jing Shu that an additional interview assessnt had been added, she instantly understood the situation.
「On May 16, 2024, a Thursday」
The dayti temperature had dropped to 25 degrees Celsius, while nightti temperatures neared sub-zero. The weather had been growing increasingly colder, and the heavy rains were beginning to show signs of freezing.
Jing Shu received the notice for the vice president interview assessnt. At eight in the morning, she had nang with tea oil fruit and hot soup with Zhou Bapi at Mary’s house. Then Zhou Bapi drove his Alfa, bumping and jolting along the road, finally reaching the dicinal Materials Base just before ten o’clock.
Incidentally, the forr dicinal Materials Association was to be renad the dicinal Materials Base, as it now gathered all personnel related to dicine from the entire provincial capital. Consequently, it was much more crowded than before and developing very rapidly.
"You need to be careful. I don’t know what Old Tie is scheming, but he has resorted to every trick in the book to keep his position as vice president."
"Understood, don’t worry. I will make the most of this opportunity."
Jing Shu certainly intended to take full advantage of this opportunity. It was the only way she could think of to leap through the dragon’s gate, as other paths were not suitable for her. Moreover, for soone like her, proficient in plant cultivation, achieving the vice president position by demonstrating these skills was a much simpler path than others.
When Jing Shu and Zhou Bapi arrived, the place was already surrounded by people, three layers deep both inside and out. Jing Shu then realized that not only was she there for the vice president’s interview assessnt, but so was an individual from an esteed family of dicinal herb cultivators.
In other words, one of the two would be chosen as vice president.
Jing Shu finally understood. The long delay was to wait for this person to also qualify for the vice presidency, thus increasing the difficulty for her.
"Jing Shu, the vice president has a very significant role to play at the dicinal Materials Base. At the ti, Chairman Tie agreed that for every major challenge you resolved—which he terd an ’opponent’—it would count as solving one complex dical case. This allowed you to be credited with resolving three such ’problems’ at once, thereby imdiately fulfilling the conditions for promotion to vice president.
"Today, our main assessnt will focus on your respective cultivation achievents. Most importantly, we must cultivate what the common people need most. Otherwise, even if they are dicinal materials, if they aren’t widely used or in high demand by the populace, then the appointnt to vice president wouldn’t be truly legitimate, would it?" Chairman Tie said, smiling cheerfully.
Jing Shu replied with a slight smile, "You’re absolutely right. In that case, let’s see what each of us has cultivated."
"Then let’s start with Jing Shu. Co on, everyone, let’s go and see what Jing Shu has cultivated, and assess its current demand and efficacy. Today’s evaluation will be fair, based entirely on everyone’s votes!"
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