Chapter 54: Special Ingredients

As Shen Yanming drove Bi Qiao’an towards the outskirts of Hai City, they realized something was amiss. 

Although some water had pooled in the city, it wasn’t severe enough to affect vehicle traffic. Only a few low-lying areas experienced minor flooding. However, as they headed towards the suburbs, cars became scarcer and the water grew deeper.

Gazing at the intersection ahead, which now resembled a vast lake, he silently maneuvered the car to the right side of the road. He grabbed an umbrella and stepped out to survey the area while ignoring the rainwater submerging his ankles. The original roads had transformed into small ponds, deep enough to raise fish.

After a brief assessment, he returned to the car, his expression grim. “It’s worse than we thought. Things might start to get chaotic soon,” he said, his voice laced with concern.

Bi Qiao’an felt a pang of anxiety. “What should we do then?” she asked, her eyes searching his face for reassurance.

He sat in the back seat and stored the desserts in his space. “The Zhang family has reported the situation to the higher-ups. I believe it won’t be long before they take action,” he replied, trying to ease her worries.

Shen Yanming’s guess was correct. At that moment, in the Qinghe Alliance office in the imperial capital, Chief Alliance Officer Li Cheng was losing his temper at Dean Xu from the research institute. 

“No abnormalities? This is the conclusion you’ve reached after a month of research?” Li Cheng bellowed, his face turning red with anger.

“I’m very sorry. We’ve examined the rainwater, soil, and even analyzed some plants, but indeed found no abnormalities!” Dean Xu replied, his voice trembling slightly under Li Cheng’s intense glare.

Li Cheng pointed his right hand at the peach tree bearing fruit outside the window and shouted, “Do you think that tree looks normal? It’s been raining for months, and the roots should have rotted, yet it’s producing more fruit than last year. You’re telling me this is normal?”

“Mr. Li, we’ve repeatedly analyzed the rainwater many times and truly found no abnormalities. Moreover, the samples used in the research were collected at different times,” Dean Xu said, feeling a bit aggrieved. The data showed these results; he couldn’t just lie about it.

“Dean Xu, you’ve been the dean for many years. Which young researcher did you assign this project to?” Li Cheng tried to suppress his anger. “Perhaps it’s time for you to personally take charge?”

Dean Xu wanted to say that he had personally conducted the research that yielded these results, but seeing Li Cheng’s dark expression, he swallowed his words. “Then, then I’ll go back and reanalyze it,” he stammered, his palms growing sweaty.

Dean Xu returned to the research institute, his mind racing with questions. Without delay, he summoned his assistant to his office. “Bring me the rainwater samples collected over the past few days. I’ll personally reanalyze them,” he ordered, his voice sharp with determination.

The assistant nodded and was about to fetch the samples when Dean Xu stopped him. “Never mind, you can go back first,” he said, waving his hand dismissively.

He had recalled Chief Alliance Officer Li’s specific words about “personally taking charge” and decided to go through the entire process himself. 

Yes, starting from sample collection. Dean Xu glanced at his left hand—5:50 p.m. Most of the institute’s staff had already left for the day. He got up, grabbed a beaker, and headed downstairs. At exactly 6:00 p.m., he placed the beaker in the rain. Ten minutes later, he retrieved the beaker and labeled it.

Without delay, he took the beaker directly to the lab to analyze the rainwater. That night, Dean Xu didn’t go home. Instead, he stayed in his office, setting an alarm to go downstairs and collect rainwater every hour, which he then took for analysis.

The next day, when the data came out, he was stunned. What was this? Was he seeing things? Why were there differences?  

He sat dejectedly on the sofa, unsure how to explain this situation to Chief Alliance Officer Li Cheng. Could it be that they had missed the crucial time point during sampling? But that couldn’t be right. Even if the previous samples were collected every two hours, it was impossible to have missed it so completely!

Dean Xu hurriedly called for his secretary and asked him to summon the person responsible for sampling. Shortly after, a young girl with an unfamiliar face entered.

He questioned the girl with utmost seriousness and even resorted to verbal trickery before uncovering the truth about the samples. It turned out that the girl had gotten the job through nepotism and had no prior experience with such work. However, the person assigning her the task thought that collecting rainwater at scheduled times was simple enough that even an elementary school student could do it. They never imagined that such a simple task would fail in this girl’s hands.

The girl didn’t understand the importance of sampling. When she received the assignment, she smiled on the surface but was dismissive in her heart. She was very dissatisfied with having to work overtime at night and not being able to sleep. She directly divided the rainwater collected during the day and submitted twelve samples.

The girl even argued vehemently, “Come on, it’s all just rainwater, isn’t it? What’s the big deal? You’re telling me the rain at night is somehow special?”

Because of this one girl, Dean Xu and his team’s efforts were wasted, and they lost more than a month’s time. In the end, the girl was fired, and the relative who brought her into the research institute was also disciplined. 

The incident lit a fire under Dean Xu. From that moment on, he scrutinized every detail, determined to leave no room for error. He arranged for people to collect new samples, this time every half hour for a week. Through research, Dean Xu discovered that the rain from midnight to 2:00 a.m. each day was different, containing a special ingredient or a type of energy.

Furthermore, experiments revealed that when this special ingredient or energy came into contact with plants, it was instantly absorbed, and the plants’ condition improved. When it came into contact with animals, agitated animals would instantly calm down, and tests showed that their health indicators improved.

However, these were all short-term results, and without long-term observation, it was hard to say whether there would be any side effects. After some thought, Dean Xu decided to report the findings truthfully to Chief Alliance Officer Li Cheng.

When Li Cheng received the report, he really wanted to beat Dean Xu to a pulp. So many people had been fooled by a young girl for so long. He summoned the thirteen big shots for a meeting to discuss Dean Xu’s research report. 

After a vote, the meeting decided to continue observing the impact of rainwater on plants and animals for one month. Then, they would have volunteers stand in the rain to observe its effects on their bodies.   

As the research project needed to be kept confidential for the time being, Li Cheng made a phone call and brought out five hundred volunteers from a classified unit, handing them over to Dean Xu to arrange.

A month later, not only did the five hundred volunteers show no health issues, but they became even healthier. Dean Xu and Chief Alliance Officer Li Cheng were shocked and immediately made arrangements.

Of course, these were all matters for later. 

Back to Shen Yanming in Hai City. After collecting the desserts, he and Bi Qiao’an returned home. They had a simple dinner and entered the cultivation space again. Bi Qiao’an picked fruits while Shen Yanming harvested beans, dug potatoes, and collected corn.

The two worked for about three hours before gathering all the crops and fruits into the storage space. The fruit trees no longer needed tending, blooming and bearing fruit on their own accord. However, the grain fields needed to be replanted. 

Shen Yanming put away the harvester and took out the seeder, sighing inwardly, “Fortunately, we bought a lot of agricultural machinery back then. Otherwise, if we relied on manual labor, we’d exhaust ourselves!”

“Yanming, wait a moment. Could you take out some medicinal herb seeds for me? Not too many, I want to try growing them,” Bi Qiao’an said, looking at the 25 acres of uncultivated land.

He directly retrieved a handful of Chinese medicinal herb seeds from the storage space. “Is this enough?” he asked, holding out the seeds for her inspection.

She nodded, a smile spreading across her face as she took the seeds from his hand. With a newfound sense of purpose, they set about planting the medicinal herbs, eager to see what wonders their cultivation space would yield next.