Chapter 71: Victory
Wearing his anti-radiation gloves, Cheng Ran carefully dealt with all kinds of materials in front of him, drying and crushing the red jasmine grass, cutting the kudzu root into uniform segments, and soaking the yellow flower seeds nto the mixing liquid… In fact, it was better to do such delicate work without wearing anti-radiation gloves, but who made it so that in others’ eyes, he had no radiation energy?
Cheng Ran’s actions were very fast. He had done these procedures once under the guidance of Ran Xue before, and he had remembered all the essentials. Although he was not like others who dealt with the herbs with with the help of his assistant, he was not much slower than others. He looked very skilled, and his movements were even full of charm.
There was also a reason for this. Shi Qingyang and Gu Changjin both drank Almighty Elixirs daily, but the medicinal herbs used in the Almighty Elixir couldn’t be purchased, so they went out of the city to look for those herbs. Each time they went out to look for them, they naturally brought back other medicinal herbs along the way, and Cheng Ran processed these other herbs as well. As time went by, practice made perfect.
In contrast, for other people who were used to buying finished medicinal materials, even if they processed the herbs later, all they did was follow-up with some simple operations. Obviously, people like that couldn’t do so well.
After the materials were processed, Cheng Ran started the mixing process. As long as he had executed it once before, he would not forget the steps. At this time, his actions were like flowing clouds and water.
Shi Qingyang carefully watched Cheng Ran mixing the medicine beside him, his entire demeanor quiet. For a while, he had been running about getting things done, and had also been busy exercising. He had not watched Cheng Ran configure medicine for a long time…
It was good that he and Cheng Ran survived.
It was impossible to hear the outside chatter while standing on the competition field. Shi Qingyang didn’t know what the commentator said, let alone that people were guessing whether there was insider interference in this competition.
Cheng Ran’s performance in the morning made many people admire him, but some people suspected that he knew the examination questions in advance. If someone born in poverty had achieved very good results, others would believe his strength, but if a person from an excellent family achieved very good results, others would always doubt whether there was insider help.
What’s more, in the past competitions, there had never been a medication that needed radiant energy to be mixed. This time, the assignment was temporarily changed. Not only that, Ran Xue, a pharmacist who signed a contract with the Cheng family, also specifically proposed that he could bring an assistant…
Others had assistants to help, and they were still rushing in the face of making a medicine they had never configured before, but Cheng Ran could finish all this alone. This is why they thought the Cheng family wanted Cheng Ran to show off his abilities, to help pave the way for Cheng Ran, right?
Naturally, no one would say anything on the surface, but people on the internet were anonymous. The Cheng Family couldn’t blame the public if they wanted to investigate, and all kinds of guesses come out.
Even several pharmacists from Anhang City who came to watch the competition were suspicious. The content of the competition was suddenly changed. Ran Xue also specially asked for an assistant… At first, they thought that Ran Xue was worried about Cheng Ran’s failure and so she let Cheng Ran take an assistant, but now look, how did Cheng Ran’s skilled appearance seem to need an assistant? Wasn’t it that he deliberately brought such an assistant just to show his ability, and he didn’t need one at all, to set off the frantic appearance of others?
Several of their contestants in Anhang City were outstanding, but now they couldn’t compare with Cheng Ran at all. It could be said that they were just young, but Cheng Ran wasn’t even 18 years old, the same age as their contestants.
At this time, Cheng Ran’s medicine had reached the stage of beginning preparations. He slowly added various medicinal materials to the crucible in order. When it was added to a certain extent, these medicinal materials began to repel each other because of their mutual reaction and radiation, and bubbles also appeared in the crucible.
If it was not handled well at this time, the previous efforts of the medicine would be wasted. The so-called handling was that the pharmacist needed to use the radiant energy to start mixing, blending and adding other herbs at the same time.
High level pharmacists could feel every reaction in the medicine after using radiant energy. At that time, they didn’t even need to look at this moment, but pay attention to the color change of the medicine, close their eyes, and know what kind of medicine to add.
Cheng Ran’s previous performance was so good that everyone thought he would start to mix quickly at this time. Unexpectedly, he didn’t get the mixing stick. Instead, the assistant around him who hadn’t done anything for a long time picked up the mixing stick and began to stir slowly.
What’s going on? The people who watched the game became more and more curious.
However, Cheng Ran was not affected at all. As Shi Qingyang began to stir, he slowly added the follow-up medicinal materials, and occasionally instructed Shi Qingyang about the mixing method. This situation undoubtedly attracted everyone’s attention.
Some of the players who competed with Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran couldn’t help paying attention to them. They didn’t even take care of the potion they were preparing in front of them, and it finally exploded.
That was the only player from Jinshui City who entered the finals. She was obviously a little too anxious. She began to stir before the time came. But she didn’t have strong control over her radiation energy because she usually spent most of her time on making medicine…
After the medicine had begun to react, she suddenly added too violent radiation energy, and then this agitator was distracted by others? How could this situation not cause the medicine to explode?
There was a special anti-explosion device on the console, so that the people around wouldn’t be injured, but such a movement had distracted more people. Among all the contestants, only Cheng Ran was completely undisturbed.
Shi Qingyang glanced at Cheng Ran, who was concentrating on the preparation of medicine, and then looked at the people around him, appreciating his own vision even more.
The viewers couldn’t help sighing–even if Cheng Ran had practiced preparing this medicine before, at least his focused performance was already very outstanding.
It was just, why didn’t he stir it himself?
At this time, some people thought of a rumor on the Internet that Cheng Ran was an ordinary person without radiant energy.
Was this possible?
This time, because everyone was not skilled, the time given was not short. Seeing that Shi Qingyang had begun to stir, Cheng Ran took out another set of herbs for mixing. He did this not to suppress others, but to be safer. You know, when he and Shi Qingyang were mixing under the guidance of Ran Xue before, although there was no explosion, the medicine finally configured was not drinkable according to Ran Xue’s detection.
To be on the safe side, he’d better prepare another one.
Cheng Ran was right. Although this first potion made by him and Shi Qingyang was better than their previous practice one, it still looked a little miserable. Fortunately, the second set of materials was ready. This time, the mixing was still left to Shi Qingyang.
Shi Qingyang glanced at Cheng Ran and felt his seriousness. Although he didn’t have much talent in medicine, he had learned some things after preparing the same medicine twice, and he also knew some tricks…
More importantly, his radiation energy was very gentle compared with others, and his control was also very strong.
The bell rang at the end of the competition, and the ten finalists handed in their works. Even the person who had caused an explosion before also made up another version later.
Among these medicines, seven bottles were unqualified and inedible. Finally, they were ranked according to the degree of harm to the human body. There were three bottles, two of which are rated as inferior and one of which was of medium quality.
When Cheng Hong first saw Cheng Ran take Shi Qingyang to the stage, he had planned to watch a good show, but now his face was like the bottom of a pot. He had never expected that in the end, Cheng Ran came up with such a way to win and configure a medium-quality medicine!
He wanted to interrogate him in public, but he remembered Qin Liu’s conversation with him at noon this afternoon. Qin Liu contacted him, analyzed all the online situations to him, and told him that he should never display any more targeted behavior.
After thinking about that, Cheng Hong finally suppressed his wants, but there were other people who were curious about Cheng Ran’s practice. After praising Cheng Ran severely, the commentator couldn’t help asking, “Classmate Cheng, you are very skilled in dispensing medicine. Why did you leave the mixing to someone else? To save time?”
“No,” Cheng Ran shook his head directly, “I didn’t stir because I don’t have radiant energy.”
“No radiant energy?” The commentator was shocked. Nowadays, only one fifth of the total number of people had no radiation energy, and the proportion was slowly decreasing. Was Cheng Ran one of them?
When both parents were radiant warriors, the probability of giving birth to ordinary people was obviously very small…
“I’m sorry, this competition had a bit of unfair advantages given to me. Because I don’t have radiant energy, so after knowing the competition subject, my teacher Ran Xue specially applied for me to bring an assistant so that Shi Qingyang could help me finish it,” Cheng Ran added. This was what Shi Qingyang asked him to say. According to Shi Qingyang, many people in Spark City knew that he had no radiant energy. Sooner or later, they couldn’t hide it. It was better to take the initiative to say it, which could also make people feel better about him.
“It’s really admirable that Classmate Cheng insisted on competing without radiant energy. I don’t know how Classmate Cheng thought of two people working together to configure medicine? If this is really feasible, it may open up a new road for everyone!” The commentator was stunned at the beginning, but soon responded, complimenting the cooperative mixing without pause. This was the first time she heard of this.
“We just thought of it. Originally, I wanted to give up the competition, but Teacher Ran Xue said that I could find someone to help me… In fact, we failed when trying to make medicine before the contest. I didn’t expect that we could cooperate so well during the competition.” Cheng Ran was blunt, and his words also appeared in front of all those who followed the contest through the camera.
People who originally thought there was insider interference in this contest felt gossipy for a time. Cheng Ran didn’t have radiant energy, so how could he deliberately skew a competition that needed radiant energy?
Although he handled the medicinal materials very skillfully, the medicine he made the first time was obviously very poor, and it finally improved the second time. It was clear that he was slowly improving.
As for the attempts before the competition… All the participants had actually tried under the guidance of their tutors before the competition, which was really nothing.
For a time, everyone’s perception of Cheng Ran changed again. Think about Cheng Hong’s indifference to Cheng Ran as reported on the Internet, they felt even more sympathy for Cheng Ran.
Cheng Ran didn’t know other people’s thoughts. After communicating with the commentator, he followed Cheng Xuze to the villa that Cheng Xuze rented in Anhang City. At the same time, Gu Changjin, who went to the hospital for a detailed examination, had also been sent here. Not only that, he also woke up.
“The patient was very lucky. Although he drank the potential potion, he probably also drank a medicine that was beneficial to his body, so the degree of damage to his body is not high now. Although it is impossible to recover into a level-5 master in the future, there is no problem to recover into an ordinary person, and it is possible to recover a little radiation energy.” The doctor who took care of Gu Changjin was very excited. You know, Gu Changjin was not young. He also drank medicine that caused his body to overdraw, and lived in an environment lacking medical care for more than 20 days. It was a miracle to survive.
“Good, good!” Hearing this, Cheng Xuze was very satisfied.
Gu Changjin glanced at Cheng Ran and Shi Qingyang, and suppressed his surprise. He clearly remembered that he was weak before he fainted, but now his hands and feet could move…
As Cheng Ran said, the meat of the ant beast was really helpful for the body!
After knowing the role of the ant eggs, Gu Changjin had already talked with Shi Qingyang and Cheng Ran about never spreading the matter of the ant nest. At this time, he would naturally keep it secret.
“Grandpa Gu, I won first place in this pharmaceutical competition!” Cheng Ran saw Gu Changjin and spoke with a smile.
“The young master is really good,” Gu Changjin praised him.
“Ranran, you won the first place, but I don’t know how Shi Qingyang will perform tomorrow?” Cheng Xuze looked at Shi Qingyang.
“I will win.” Shi Qingyang was sure. He would hide a little of his strength, but in the current situation, even if he showed the strength of a level-3 rad-warrior, he would win.
“Then I’ll watch your performance tomorrow!” Cheng Xuze laughed. “Now, let’s go to dinner first. After eating, you can have a good rest.”
“Grandpa, were the ant eggs delicious? Would you like another one tonight?” Shi Qingyang suddenly said. After giving Cheng Xuze another one, he would freeze the rest.
“Yes, Grandpa, have another one!” Cheng Ran hurried to say.
Cheng Xuze’s face stiffened.
In order not to disappoint Cheng Ran, Cheng Xuze finally ate an ant egg, but seeing that Cheng Ran and Shi Qingyang didn’t eat any and only let him eat it, he couldn’t help but wonder whether these two people wanted to deliberately mess with him.
However, Cheng Xuze soon had no time to think more, because he received Cheng Hong’s communication. This time, Cheng Hong didn’t bear it like in the daytime. He directly quarreled with Cheng Xuze, asking why is it that when Cheng Xuze was so idle he didn’t even inform him in advance of Cheng Ran’s return, and why he wanted to help Cheng Ran instead of helping his own son.
Shi Qingyang sat beside him, looking at Cheng Xuze’s face getting worse and worse, finally scolding Cheng Hong in turn. Suddenly, he felt very happy. He didn’t have time to read the news during the day. At this time, he took his pocket computer and began to read all kinds of news on the Internet.
On the homepage of the portal of Anhang City, there was Cheng Hong’s news and several others.
“The son narrowly escaped death, and the father asked why he didn’t die–Cheng Hong seemed to be extremely unhappy with his son”, “Cheng Hong was indifferent to his son, and the guess of the son being a bastard might come true”, “Cheng Ran got won championship, and Cheng Hong leaves on the spot”…
These news were illustrated with pictures and texts, and videos were also shown. They weren’t fake, and because of this, it had a great impact on Cheng Hong. Under each news, there were countless comments accusing Cheng Hong.
“How can a father be like this? His son finally comes back and he doesn’t ask about the child’s injury. He is so cold!”
“Cheng Ran took a hit to his face to compete today. As a father, he didn’t even say a word of condolences!”
“Originally, I sympathized with Cheng Hong. I thought he was very pitiful without his son. I didn’t expect that it was all acting, hehe.”
“What a hypocrite! He doesn’t care about his son at all, but he comes and lies to us about having such a father-son relationship!”
……
At first, the critics accused Cheng Hong of acting. Later, the original theory of an illegitimate children was put forward–even if Cheng Ran didn’t have radiant energy, no one would know before he turned 16, but Cheng Hong still didn’t treat him very well even before then.
Seeing this, Shi Qingyang couldn’t help worrying that this might involve Cheng Ran. After all, many people didn’t like illegitimate children very much, but he soon relaxed his heart, because now people were more angry about Cheng Hong’s deception of them, and were very tolerant of Cheng Ran.
Even if Cheng Ran was really an illegitimate son, given that he was older than Cheng Hong’s current son and daughter, and had no mother who came out to grab a position, others didn’t think he was very bad.
Not only that, after watching Cheng Ran compete, others worshipped him and called him their inspirational emperor. After all, apart from Cheng Ran, no ordinary person dared to challenge the profession of pharmacist.
Cheng Ran was so popular. Shi Qingyang, who was beside Cheng Ran, naturally received much attention, but the evaluation was not very good. After all, he was born ordinary, with ordinary talent, and there was nothing outstanding about him, but he still called Cheng Xuze ‘grandpa’.
“Qingyang, obviously you are very good…” Cheng Ran also saw this, and frowned tightly. Just as Shi Qingyang didn’t like others to slander him, Cheng Ran didn’t want to see anyone say bad things about Shi Qingyang.
“It’s all right. Sooner or later, they will know my strength,” Shi Qingyang laughed and said. What did he care about other people’s opinions? When he got stronger in the future, those people would know that he had gone far beyond their vision.
In his last life, he was too concerned about other people’s views and had too strong self-esteem, which brought him to that tragic point.
“Good.” Cheng Ran nodded. He always thought Shi Qingyang was the best, but…
After thinking for a while, he finally decided to put on a vest, log into an alt account, and have a good debate with others!
T/N Idle comments
My favorite JP Vtuber, Mayuzumi Kai, is retiring… was watching one of his streams while editing this chapter _:(´ཀ`」 ∠):_
BL Translations 