Calm Students

"I'd like to ask you to help plant some medicinal herbs," Grandma Yun said.

Song He suddenly understood, then his brow furrowed as he pondered.

"I've heard that some mushrooms in Dian Province are non-toxic and edible on this mountain, but become highly poisonous when planted on another. It's the same with various medicinal herbs. In many places, the herbs grow into normal shapes, but their medicinal properties are very poor." Song He worried, "I wonder if planting medicinal herbs in North Africa will be successful?"

"The failure of medicinal herbs is mostly due to planting management, not the land itself," Grandma Yun said.

"What do you mean?" Song He asked curiously.

"Take codonopsis pilosula for example. Wild ones grow for five or ten years, while artificially cultivated ones are planted in February and harvested in September, and they're also given Rooting and Bulking Agent. As for Atractylodes macrocephala, it's processed with wheat bran in the north and rice husks in the south, and sugar is added during frying, so the outside is yellow but the inside is still white. And then there's mixing Big Black Head into Bupleurum, and apple peels into Radix Isatidis."

"There are also heavy metal residues and pesticide residues, which will change the medicinal properties. I used to prescribe medicine to a patient, but when I ran out, he went back to his hometown to get the prescription filled at a small pharmacy, and he got worse diarrhea the more he took it." Grandma Yun said, "I thought something was wrong, it shouldn't be like this, so I had him bring the herbs he got, and after testing them, they were full of Magnesium Sulfate, used for preservation."

"Damn." Song He's evaluation was concise.

"Sahara Farmland is a newly reclaimed area, and it's far from populated areas, so it's like a blank sheet of paper, good for drawing on. I hope to create a high-standard medicinal herb farm." Grandma Yun said, "I know the risk is high, but don't worry, I'll be responsible for the money, and you won't lose money if it fails."

"There's no need, Grandma, I have plenty of money. Just tell me what you want to plant, and I'll arrange for people to plant it. Tell me how to plant it, and I'll have people do it that way," Song He stated.

"I definitely have to invest some, I can't be too irresponsible." Grandma Yun opened a drawer and took out a list, "I checked the climate in North Africa, and these are the herbs that can probably be planted. I've written down how much to plant of each."

Song He took the list and looked at it, his face surprised. The planting area was really huge, Grandma Yun was ambitious.

"I know Cistanche, I used to work in the Northwest, and they plant that stuff there, it's parasitic on Haloxylon ammodendron," Song He said. "It's really suitable for planting in the desert."

"There's also Cistanche in Changbai Mountain," Grandma Yun said casually, "In the old days, the Qing Palace ate bear paws, and they fed the black bears Cistanche, Acanthopanax senticosus, Daphne Genkwa Fruit, and other things to relax their muscles and promote blood circulation, and then fattened them with honey. Have you ever eaten bear paws?"

Song He sweated, "Grandma, I remember bears are protected animals, eating bear paws will get you in trouble with the police, right? Maybe it wasn't strictly controlled when you were young, but it's not popular to eat them these days."

"You definitely can't eat them in the country, you can go abroad to the Russians or Eastern Ying to eat them, there's as much as you want." Grandma Yun said, "Hibernating bears will use one paw to lick their mouths, and the other paw to block their anus. The two have to be stewed in separate pots, the one blocking the anus doesn't taste good, and they used to throw it away in the Qing Palace."

"Useless knowledge has increased again." Song He smiled awkwardly, "I don't plan to eat that stuff."

He quickly looked down at the list of medicinal herbs, feeling that the conversation with Grandma Yun would unknowingly turn in a direction that could lead to arrest and interrogation, so it was important to talk about serious matters.

"Red Flower?" Song He stared at the list.

"It promotes blood circulation and treats women's diseases, it's drought-resistant and afraid of waterlogging, and sandy soil is the best, so it's very suitable for planting in the desert. But you have to find a cooler place, it will dry out if it's too hot," Grandma Yun explained.

"I know Scutellaria baicalensis, the laboratory has used the extract." Song He looked down.

"It's also drought-resistant and afraid of waterlogging, and you have to find a cooler place to plant it, but it's slightly more heat-resistant than Red Flower," Grandma Yun said, "Scutellaria baicalensis has good antibacterial properties, and it's great because it doesn't produce drug resistance."

"Apocynum venetum sounds like it's easy to grow."

"It is easy to grow, it grows wildly like a weed, it can survive high temperatures, drought, and salinity, but if you take good care of it, the yield is high, it's used to clear heat and protect the liver."

"I know Artemisia rupestris, we're already planting wolfberries, and Licorice is like a panacea, our laboratory sometimes uses Licorice to extract ingredients in an emergency, it has more than five hundred ingredients, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, a whole bunch." Song He put away the list, "Okay, I won't learn more, I'll hand it over to a professional team to plant! Grandma, don't worry, as long as the local climate is suitable, we will definitely produce the best medicinal herbs!"

"Good!" Grandma Yun smiled happily, "I will also introduce you to the best partner."

The day the National College Entrance Examination results were released.

Jinghai City Library, a private Study Room.

One hour before the results were announced, the young men and women in the room were surprisingly calm, each busy with a laptop.

Song He sat at the end of the long table, typing away on the computer, handling company affairs. Recently, Sahara Farmland was about to start trial planting of medicinal herbs, and the Rejuvenation Drug had just been put into production, with many factories under construction, so there were endless things to do.

Of course he was calm, anyway, he wasn't taking the National College Entrance Examination, and his Full Professor certificate would be issued in a few days.

Zhao Yiyi sat next to him, wearing a white tracksuit, chewing on a lollipop, watching an idol drama.

She was engrossed in watching it with her hands on her cheeks, and her eyes were red just now, as if she was immersed in the tragic love story, completely forgetting about the National College Entrance Examination results.

Ning Mo, Ding Yangze, and Zhang Zhilei were playing a shooting game online, wearing headphones and shooting, shouting non-stop.

"Old Ning, smoke first! Who are you saving your smoke bomb for!" Ding Yangze gritted his teeth, "Running in an 'S' to dodge bullets is so stupid, the sniper on the other side will shoot you like a crippled chicken!"

"Dead, dead, revive me, revive me!" Zhang Zhilei slammed the mouse angrily, "Why can't my KD rise above 1? Can't you manage the cheaters?"

"KD is zero point zero five, the pressure is on the teammates!" Ning Mo complained, "I'm not targeting anyone, I'm talking about you two! If it weren't for the friendship of old classmates, I would blacklist teammates like you after playing one game!"

"That's too hurtful, if I didn't block bullets for you, would your KD be above 1?" Ding Yangze retorted.

"It's not to save you guys, my K/D would already be 2! Annoying, I want to find some reliable teammates." Ning Mo suddenly looked up, "Old Song, do you play? There's a limited-time event, you get weapon skins for leveling up, and one skin costs sixty yuan!"

Song He was speechless, "Sixty yuan? Old Ning, what are you talking about? I could buy your whole crappy game!"

"Buying it would be great! Buy the game company and give us a set of top-tier skins!" Ding Yangze also looked up with great interest.

"Are you crazy, Old Ding! Buy a game company just to give you skins?" Song He almost spat blood.

"Can you buy Tencent Video? I don't want to pay for a membership anymore." Zhao Yiyi suddenly turned her head.

"Zhao Yiyi, stop watching those ridiculous CEO dramas!" Song He said with a headache.

A burst of cheerful laughter echoed in the Study Room. It wouldn't be a proper gathering of classmates without some jokes and banter.

Finally, Song He finished his work and slammed his laptop shut with a snap, letting out a long sigh of relief.

He checked the time, there were still forty minutes until the National College Entrance Examination results were released.

The four students in front of him were still sitting steadily in front of their computers, watching dramas and playing games, without any of the anxiety and unease of this time last year.

"Looks like you all did well on the exam, you're not nervous at all." Song He complained, "You should at least pretend to be nervous, doesn't the National College Entrance Examination results website have any face?"

"So nervous, so nervous, gonna die, gonna die!" Zhang Zhilei stuck out her tongue.

"Gonna faint, so nervous!" Ning Mo also rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

"Are you two turning into zombies?" Ding Yangze couldn't hold back.

The atmosphere really couldn't get tense.

Ning Mo and Zhang Zhilei had made it to the finals of the IMO Math Competition, and together with four other teammates from other provinces, they represented the national team. A few days ago, they successfully scored a perfect 252 points, defeating the Competition Teams from 103 other countries and winning the championship without any suspense!

With the IMO Mathematics gold medal, Ning Mo and Zhang Zhilei could choose any university in the world. Tsinghua and Peking University had already called, and Ivy League School teachers had added them on WeChat at the competition venue.

Ding Yangze was slightly worse, failing to enter the IMO, but he also received a significant score reduction offer. Anyway, his requirements weren't high, as long as it was a famous school, the suspense now was how famous it could be.

Zhao Yiyi didn't dare to check the answers after the National College Entrance Examination, but she felt that she did well. Before the exam, she had been ranked third in the city, several places ahead of the Tsinghua and Peking University line. If nothing unexpected happened, she wouldn't fail. The suspense was whether she could get a high Provincial Ranking.

Song He felt that these classmates were quite miraculous, gods actually gathered in one class, what a fate!

Of course, not to be modest, the students' good performance was also due to Song He's contribution, such as the Mathematics problems he gave Ning Mo and Zhang Zhilei, which accurately predicted many of the IMO question types.

The sound of a phone vibrating suddenly rang out.

Everyone was stunned, realizing what it was.

A phone call!

What kind of phone call could it be at this time?!

Everyone's eyes quickly swept around the room, then focused on the same phone.