PATGFM Chapter 24 This First Place, I've Set My Eyes on It
Lu Chuan's face darkened. "Uncle, you're underestimating me too much!"
Chu Shanhe sneered, "I had someone check your background yesterday. An utterly mediocre person with no achievements or talents, how can anyone respect you?"
He turned away. "Your approach to Meng Yao is nothing but trying to take advantage of her status to soar to the top. But I advise you to dispel this idea. Meng Yao is already engaged to the young master of the Long family. If you continue to deceive Meng Yao, the outcome will be nothing but death. I'm trying to save you!"
"As for today's competition, you're just wasting your time. Someone who can't even deliver takeout properly claims to be skilled in medicine. Don't you find it ridiculous?"
Lu Chuan clenched his fists but quickly relaxed. He raised his head, a confident smile on his face. "The past doesn't determine the future. I'll prove you wrong with facts!"
Chu Shanhe's face darkened slightly. He felt this kid truly didn't know his place.
At this moment, a young man in his mid-twenties, wearing glasses and with a scholarly demeanor, approached them. He respectfully called out to Chu Shanhe, "Uncle!"
Chu Shanhe nodded slightly. "Zihang, you're here. Have you registered?"
Du Zihang smiled and nodded. "I've already registered, Uncle. Don't worry, I'll definitely win first place this time to make you proud!"
He glanced at Lu Chuan and asked, "Uncle, who is this?"
Chu Shanhe was about to say "a jumping clown," but after a moment's hesitation, he said coldly, "A friend of your cousin."
Du Zihang asked, "Is he also here to participate in today's competition?"
"Yeah."
Chu Shanhe glanced around, seeing this as a good opportunity to taunt Lu Chuan, and said to him, "Zihang is a renowned doctorate from a prestigious Chinese medicine university specializing in herbal research. He has won numerous international awards and can be considered a true expert in this field."
"While he is just one of my many nephews with average achievements, Meng Yao is among the top. So do you understand the gap between you and Meng Yao?"
Lu Chuan grinned, "I don't understand. All I know is that I've set my eyes on this first place today!"
With that, he turned and headed towards the competition venue.
Chu Shanhe gritted his teeth, his gaze turning darker.
"Arrogance and ignorance lead to failure!"
Du Zihang curiously asked, "Uncle, does this guy intend to pursue my cousin?"
Chu Shanhe sneered, "He has no background or education. He's just a lowly person. What qualifications does he have to pursue your sister?"
"Zihang, in the upcoming competition, you must show your strength and let this lowly person see the gap between him and the offspring of prominent families!"
Du Zihang brimmed with confidence. "Don't worry, Uncle. I don't even consider those old Chinese medicine practitioners worthy opponents, let alone him!"
Chu Shanhe nodded and walked towards the judge's seat.
Not long after, a middle-aged man in a robe appeared with a microphone.
"Everyone, the competition is about to begin. Please enter the venue in order of registration."
On the competition venue, rows of tables were neatly arranged with numbers written on them. The participants stood in front of their respective tables according to their assigned numbers.
After everyone had taken their positions, the middle-aged man continued, "The rules of this Herbal Identification Competition are simple. Each of you will be given a board with one hundred compartments. In each compartment, there will be remnants of a different herb."
"What you need to do is to observe and write down the names and ages of these one hundred herbs within one hour. In the end, the rankings will be based on the number of correct identifications."
"No more talking. Let the competition begin!"
A group of staff members handed the prepared boards to the participants one by one.
After receiving the board, Lu Chuan glanced at it and found that many of the herbs inside had only a little powder, making it impossible to identify them. This greatly increased the difficulty of the identification.
But Lu Chuan wasn't worried at all. Even if they were all the same powder, he only needed to sniff lightly to distinguish the differences.
After all the participants received their boards, the staff members started the timer, and the middle-aged man announced loudly, "The competition begins!"
The participants immediately began carefully identifying the herbs. Some smelled, some tasted, and some used magnifying glasses to observe. Each herb had to be confirmed repeatedly before its identity could be determined. As for the age, it was even more difficult to judge. Some even tried eating the herb remnants but still couldn't determine the year.
In contrast, Lu Chuan could write down the names and ages of all one hundred herbs after just fifteen minutes. He then handed the written paper to the judge's seat.
Surrounding spectators were surprised to see Lu Chuan handing in his paper so early, but there was more mockery than surprise.
"This guy gave up so quickly. Isn't he just wasting the five hundred dollars registration fee?"
"I saw him just sniffing the herbs, not doing anything else. He's probably just a half-baked amateur who thinks he's great, but couldn't identify a single herb in half a day. That's why he gave up."
"But his paper seems to be filled with answers. Could it all be bluff?"
...
Du Zihang glanced at Lu Chuan, a disdainful smile on his face. Like everyone else, he believed Lu Chuan couldn't identify the herbs and had simply given up.
Without further thought, he continued identifying the herbs quickly.
The several judges on the judge's stand shook their heads secretly when they saw Lu Chuan handing in his paper so quickly.
According to their experience, those who ended the competition in fifteen minutes were usually just there for fun.
"Young people love to join in the fun. It's normal," muttered Chief Judge Zhou Siming to himself. He was a renowned old Chinese medicine practitioner in Yuncheng, a towering figure in the field.
When Lu Chuan handed in his paper, Chu Shanhe asked, "Is this what you call confidence?"
Lu Chuan just smiled faintly, ignoring him, and went to the rest area to wait.
Several judges showed no interest in Lu Chuan's paper. They knew even if they looked at it, there probably wouldn't be many correct answers. No one wanted to waste time.
Chu Shanhe, being an outsider, didn't understand what it meant for someone to correctly identify all one hundred herbs.
An hour later.
The competition ended, and the staff collected all the answers written by the participants.
The judges quickly began judging.
Chu Shanhe sat aside, his face gloomy, seeming to be waiting for something.
Du Zihang walked confidently to Lu Chuan and said, "Why haven't you left? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at when the results are announced?"
Lu Chuan laughed, "If I leave, the first place award can't be awarded."
Du Zihang was speechless, thinking that this guy was too arrogant, and immediately didn't want to talk to him.
On the judge's stand, several judges finished judging all the answers and scored them.
Zhou Siming smiled and said, "I didn't expect there to be someone who identified all the herbs correctly this time. It's rare."
Chu Shanhe immediately became alert and asked, "Is that person named Du Zihang?"
Zhou Siming nodded, "Yes."
Chu Shanhe breathed a sigh of relief, a relieved smile on his face. "This person is my nephew. He didn't embarrass me this time."
Zhou Siming smiled and said, "Congratulations to the Chu family then. He should have no problem taking second place."
Chu Shanhe frowned, "Second place? Didn't he identify all the herbs correctly? Why is he only second?"
Zhou Siming explained, "Although Du Zihang identified all the herbs, for one of them, he wrote the range of years as eight to ten years, giving a range. But Lu Chuan specifically wrote down that the herb was eight years old, and that's the correct answer. From this perspective, Lu Chuan is still ahead, and he wrote down all the answers in just fifteen minutes."
Chu Shanhe narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and said coldly, "This won't do."