Taming The Hidden Bigshot By Kissing Him
Chapter 352: Xiang Mingzhu, You Lost

Chapter 352: Chapter 352: Xiang Mingzhu, You Lost

Qiao Xi could see

a thin, young figure, coughing while covering his mouth as he pushed Li Songwen aside.

Li Songwen’s head hit the cabinet, and he was momentarily dazed.

When he could see the man clearly in front of him, he became annoyed and embarrassed, "Shen Xuanzhi, what are you doing?"

Shen Xuanzhi ignored his anger, handed a portion of gentian and a portion of poria to Qiao Xi, and said, "I saw you trying to take these herbs earlier, guessed you drew the Gentian Soup, so here are the gentian and poria."

Qiao Xi looked at him in surprise.

Li Songwen’s face turned livid, "Shen Xuanzhi, this is a competition! You are helping her cheat!"

Shen Xuanzhi, with his cold, fed-up look unwavering, said, "And you pressuring her, isn’t that helping Xiang Mingzhu cheat? You can exploit loopholes in the rules, and we can’t? Does your family own the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association?"

"You..."

Li Songwen was left speechless, about to fetch an examiner to report this behavior.

But the examiner, squinting his eyes and leaning back in his rocking chair, said very calmly, "Actions not forbidden by the rules are permitted. As peers, we should help each other. Mr. Zhong had this in mind when he supervised the early needle trials. Unfortunately, it took so many years for someone to understand."

Li Songwen looked even worse, "Then why didn’t you clarify?"

The examiner replied coldly, "We didn’t anticipate someone making it so hard for a colleague. While the rules have loopholes, there are also ways to counteract them. Did you really think we old folks are pushovers?"

Li Songwen, mocked, could only clamp his jaw and glare resentfully at Qiao Xi.

Qiao Xi, unabashed, took the medicine from Shen Xuanzhi and said, "Thank you."

She had heard early on about Shen Family’s friction with the Lu Family of the Imperial Capital; Shen Xuanzhi’s actions were likely targeted at Xiang Mingzhu.

"A trivial matter."

Shen Xuanzhi, carrying a few packets of medicine, slowly left the herbal medicine cabinet.

He had prepared the medicinal decoction already.

Qiao Xi quickly withdrew her gaze from him, following the prescription to take another herb, licorice. Amidst everyone’s attention, she pondered and then took another portion of Angelica.

By the time she had finished everything and handed the kraft paper seals and medicine to the examiner,

the timer reset to zero.

The competition ended.

The large screen displayed the score settlement in progress.

Many in the audience held their breath.

"Did the National Doctor’s disciple finish the competition?"

"Is her prescription correct? Why has it only settled and not updated?"

"This is iffy. Who would cut it so close; probably she just grabbed whatever since she failed to gather the herbs. Speaking of which, Xiang Mingzhu is more reliable."

Many came for the betting stakes and were eager to witness the grandeur of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Festival, hence they were highly concerned with Qiao Xi’s score.

When Qiao Xi sat down in the resting area, Xiang Mingzhu was glaring at her intensely.

"Qiao Xi, you added an extra herb to your medicine, Gentian Soup totals ten herbs, but I saw you take eleven. You must have remembered the recipe wrong, right?"

Xiang Mingzhu’s smile was dense, "Such a simple medicinal decoction’s recipe, how could you get it wrong?"

She was initially upset with Shen Xuanzhi, the oblivious fool, for helping Qiao Xi, but it seemed some couldn’t be helped after all.

"Miss Xiang, she must be too nervous, seeing such a large crowd for the first time."

"Haha, how could Gentian Soup have eleven herbs?"

Xiang Mingzhu signaled them to hush, then said to Qiao Xi, "Miss Qiao, don’t forget our bet. We agreed to admit defeat publicly, and today seems like a good opportunity."

She didn’t want Qiao Xi to welsh.

Qiao Xi, looking at Xiang Mingzhu and others, said with a cool voice, "The second round of the test treats symptoms, not merely reciting recipes. If I lose..."

She extended her slender finger toward the center stage of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic, and said, "If I lose, I will stand there and fulfill the bet in public."

Xiang Mingzhu’s lips curled, "Good, the same for me."

Han Jia, sitting nearby, seemed to think of something.

When would Gentian Soup need Angelica? He too specialized in pediatric symptoms and had read this prescription.

The answer was clear!

Xiang Mingzhu claimed to be familiar with all sorts of prescriptions, had she not learned to integrate her knowledge?

He gazed blankly at Qiao Xi’s delicate, cool face.

At that moment,

the scoreboard on the large screen updated!

Everyone looked at the top name, and many opened their mouths wide, unable to speak for a long while.

"This..."

Qiao Xi slowly looked up, her eyes reflecting that familiar name.

Her plump and lustrous lips parted as she stood up and said to Xiang Mingzhu, "You lost."

Xiang Mingzhu was astounded.

Her mind went blank, nearly unable to withstand the blow. Then she exclaimed sharply, "This is impossible! How could her Gentian Soup with 11 herbs win! I strongly demand that Qiao Xi’s competition questions be disclosed!"

Tang Chengde, the honorary chairman of the Haicheng City Traditional Chinese Medicine Association, had close ties with Qiao Xi; he might have deliberately helped her!

Anger rose in Xiang Mingzhu’s heart; she had clearly instructed Ma Hongwen to arrange the most difficult question for Qiao Xi, yet it was just a Gentian Soup! She should have been given a decoction with at least 20 herbs to start!

Was Ma Hongwen also helping Qiao Xi?

Xiang Mingzhu’s mind was in turmoil, feeling that many had betrayed her!

It was supposed to be a foolproof situation; how could it turn into her loss?

How could she lose!

The situation had become utterly chaotic!

"Miss Xiang is right!"

"We want to see too!"

"Disclose Qiao Xi’s questions!"

The wager on the forum had stirred up much discontent, and Xiang Mingzhu’s supporters had not anticipated such an outcome. They always felt there was some trickery, perhaps the Huo Family had pulled some strings.

But insiders knew no connection could influence those old conservatives in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association.

Yet outsiders speculated.

Young Master Sun remarked sarcastically, "So if Qiao Xi wins, there is a problem, but if that pig wins, it’s natural? These people are unreasonable."

Shu Xue said coldly, "Who lets them be related to the Lu Family. I believe Qiao Xi must have her own considerations. Honestly, I love watching this kind of face-slapping drama; let’s swell their faces!"

Didn’t Qiao Xi know that Gentian Soup is composed of 10 main herbs?

When she was assisting Qiao Xi at Hai City Hospital, she saw her treat many pediatric patients and prescribe Gentian Soup.

The Liu Family was worried.

Old Mrs. Liu said softly, "I did ask several old friends to pull some strings, hoping that those gentlemen could judge fairly and objectively. But I didn’t bribe them to help Qiao Xi cheat. I don’t understand these medicinal decoctions. What in the world is going on?"

Xu Yunye’s expression remained calm, "It appears so, she couldn’t have cheated."

...

The noise of voices was loud, the will of the people strong.

The elderly examiners decided to teach them a lesson and agreed to disclose Qiao Xi’s questions. Hence, Tang Chengde, holding Qiao Xi’s prescriptions, walked up to them.

He passed Qiao Xi’s drawn questions to them, and the camera captured it all in high definition.

"Yes, pediatric epilepsy should use Gentian Soup. At the age of three or four, a dose increase is necessary. But why overcomplicate by adding Angelica?"

"Fever, vomiting, wheezing, abdominal pain. Wheezing, abdominal pain... I remember there’s a record in ’Thousand Gold Prescriptions’! This seems to be... I understand now!"

"I think I understand too!"