CHAPTER 66: HISTORY IS ALWAYS WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS

Then I heard a man’s voice, "Have you all seen this too? Let’s go check out Deputy Director Su’s situation first! The plague of rotten corpse insects has been rampant recently, and the higher-ups haven’t allocated any pesticides. It seems we’ll have to figure things out on our own."

I saw a man in his thirties, tall and straight-backed, enter first, followed by a potbellied Liu Ke Yuan, whom Jing Shu recognized as the man who had negotiated prices behind Yu Caini during the house sale.

"Deputy Director Su, we need to present the experimental product for the competition tomorrow. How’s it looking? What else do you need here? Oh, and who is this...?" The man first smiled and shook Mrs. Jing’s hand, then turned to Jing Shu with a questioning look.

"This is my daughter Jing Shu, who brought frogs today to help eat the insects," Mrs. Jing introduced, then said to Jing Shu, "This is Director Zhu, who is going to be the minister once the position of the Artificial Sun is settled."

Completely ignoring Liu Ke Yuan standing behind him, who, with his pot belly, disdainfully rolled his eyes.

"Hello, Director Niu," Jing Shu said with a harmless smile.

"Hello, hello, are you getting used to being here?" Niu Mou appeared very young and kind, a man with high emotional intelligence. As is the case with successful politicians, they are always warm to their subordinates’ families.

Seeing the frogs tied with five strings in Jing Shu’s hands, eating insects, Director Niu’s interest was indeed piqued. "Jing Shu, that’s a good method. The Ministry of Agriculture also wants to curb the rotten corpse insects this way, but sadly many frogs have died. Plus, it’s not the breeding season, so mass breeding is difficult."

After asking some more questions and finding out Jing Shu had managed to breed a batch of tadpoles, Niu Mou’s eyes lit up.

"Director Niu, I’ll give this one to you to raise at home, to see if my idea is feasible. If every household raises frogs that eat insects, couldn’t we reduce the number of insects at home?" Jing Shu handed over a male frog she had raised in the space for two days.

Liu Ke Yuan, shaking his leg, rolled his eyes disdainfully. "Giving away frogs is really demeaning..."

Niu Mou kept saying it was too much, his embarrassment only enhanced when the chubby boy eavesdropping behind the door rushed in. Looking pitifully at his father, he said, "Dad, Mom says she’s had enough of those insects, and if we can’t think of a solution, she’s going to..." (He trailed off, but the unspoken threat was clear: she would make him) "...do the 1.9-kilogram kneeling."

Taking advantage of his father being dazed under the shadow of domination, the boy quickly grabbed the strings and said, "Thank you, sister," proving he knew the trick of misdirection.

Director Niu could only give in and expressed thanks very awkwardly, as if he had received a very valuable gift. To Jing Shu, it seemed that he truly valued the gift she had given, which was quite gratifying.

It would be an injustice if someone so savvy didn’t rise quickly. No wonder he became a director in his thirties and continued to soar even after the apocalypse.

Then, after inspecting the experimental products Mrs. Jing had been raising these days, he was very surprised. "It seems that artificially cultivated vegetables indeed have their unique advantages. Especially the oyster mushrooms you’re growing."

Later, the group went to see Yu Caini’s experimental crop cultivation. Director Niu raised a few questions, "Does using too much pesticide affect health? Is the catalyst in line with international standards, or does it exceed them? Do these genetically modified crops have any adverse reactions?"

Everyone was at a loss for words, but Liu Ke Yuan said, "We’re running out of grain now; who cares about all that? Hasn’t the government relaxed policies to let us increase production anyway?"

Director Niu nodded. "Note down the dosage that needs to be added; let those above make the decision."

The next day was the competition day for the experimental crops grown by the thirteen districts. At 4 AM, Jing Shu’s family had breakfast, and she went with Mrs. Jing to fetch the samples they had prepared the day before. To their shock, as soon as they opened the old warehouse, countless flying insects surged out.

"It’s the Mother Worms of the rotten corpse insects!" Jing Shu pulled up the zipper of her jumpsuit and turned to help Mrs. Jing with hers, while Mr. Jing used a stick to fend off the swarm of insects.

Mrs. Jing, disregarding everything else, turned on the light. She was horrified by the scene inside. Dense piles of rotten corpse insect larvae wriggled in various spots, having chewed all the vegetables in the warehouse until they were riddled with holes. Her hard work of many days was now completely ruined.

THUD. Mrs. Jing dropped to her knees, scattering numerous Mother Worms. "It’s her, it’s Yu Caini! She definitely did it on purpose, releasing these insects into my warehouse!" Mrs. Jing shrieked, utterly indignant.

This is also a lesson for Mother, to learn about the wickedness of people’s hearts. Jing Shu thought as she decided to call Director Niu. It wasn’t long before he hurried over and was taken aback by the situation before him.

"All the rotten corpse insects were eaten by the frogs yesterday. Before leaving and closing the door, Old Chen and I carefully checked every inch of the place. It couldn’t possibly have developed into this overnight, could it?" Mrs. Jing murmured, her eyes unfocused.

Director Niu called Yu Caini over. With a haughty air, she came with two people and said, "Do you have any evidence that I put the insects in there? Hmm? Be careful not to make slanderous accusations. Regardless, the competition is all about the results. They won’t give you another ten days or half a month to cultivate new samples, unless you can pull new ones out of thin air?"

Yu Caini sneered twice, pleased with the defeated look on Su Lanzi. She then said to Zhu Mou, "Director Niu, when you go over there, we should also cooperate well. If you need research personnel at the professorial level, just let me know. I believe integrating our resources could maximize the benefits."

Jing Shu raised an eyebrow. Yu Caini certainly has some connections. No wonder she could ride Zhu Mou’s coattails for promotions in her past life. But in this life, she might be taken down by me.

"Alright, I’m off to join the competition. Oh, and Deputy Director Su, I hope you’ll bring the money to buy back your dilapidated house when the competition is over. Otherwise, you won’t be Deputy Director for much longer." Yu Caini was wearing a tidy OL suit today. She had managed to get a few bottles of water from that good-for-nothing man to wash her hair and face and had even put on light makeup. She felt like she was on top of the world.

Of course, if you buy it back, I might reluctantly let you work for another month. Yu Caini thought quietly.

Sensing that the drama was ending, Jing Shu stepped in. "Mom, did you forget that we still have a sample at home that we brought back yesterday? Let’s go, let’s go get it quickly."

It took a good while for Mrs. Jing to come back to her senses. "Oh right, thank goodness we kept one."

"Then you’d better hurry. Don’t worry, if you win this time, I will certainly help you seek justice," said Niu Mou. His meaning was simple: if they couldn’t win, there was nothing he could do, as history is always written by the victors.

In a rush, Jing Shu’s family headed back home. Of course, the sample was gone; what they had were crops they had grown themselves. Repackaging them into the sample box was a bit of a hassle, but there was enough time. Jing Shu, eager for a stable win, kept adding diluted Spiritual Spring to the garlic sprouts and oyster mushrooms, believing they would grow further by the time they reached the destination.