Chapter 604 Trial by Dirt

The next morning, Yunice joined the hands-on training session organized by the school. She had assumed “hands-on” meant anatomy class—dissecting cadavers with a group of students pushing their limits. That kind of thing. She actually felt confident at first; with her experience, this kind of coursework was child’s play.

But when the teacher had them pick up hoes, rakes, buckets, and shovels, and led them into a greenhouse covered in plastic sheeting, she realized this was way out of her expectations.

“Students,” the teacher announced, “aside from your core subjects, we also offer electives. This month’s hands-on training is about learning real-world skills. You see this patch of land? It’s an experimental field. I planted all these herbs myself. Your task is to observe how their different growth patterns affect their medicinal properties. Then you’ll write a research report. If it doesn’t meet the standard, you lose points.”

Yunice, like everyone else, widened her eyes in disbelief and bent down to touch the sea of lush green. Around her, the other students were whispering to each other.

“What kind of herb is this? It’s growing like crazy…”

“It’s not listed in any of the textbooks. Maybe it’s a new variety the teacher cultivated?”

Yunice plucked a strip of long, narrow green leaves and hesitated. “This is just grass…”

The other students paused. Her words were like a bucket of cold water, snapping them out of their daze. They had all secretly suspected it too—but no one dared say it. They assumed it must be some kind of herb that looked similar to weeds, and they were too afraid to speak up and get called ignorant.

After voicing her suspicion, Yunice continued digging around the patch and spotted a pitiful little plant. “Amidst all this grass, there are a few Polygonatum plants.”

The teacher folded his hands behind his back, smiling slyly at them. “We have eighty-four students. This field has been divided into eighty-four sections, each marked with a student ID and name. Find your own plot and begin your research.”

Yunice asked, “So you’re saying our task is to weed out everything except the herbs?”

The teacher nodded with a smile. “Exactly.”

Yunice strongly suspected this whole training course was the teacher’s personal idea. His experimental field had clearly been overrun with weeds, and instead of clearing it himself, he roped in a bunch of clueless students to do free labor.

The fresh-faced students had already started finding their sections.

“Yunice! Yours is over here!”

“Hey, mine’s right next to yours!”

“Aww man, Lena, mine’s so far from you guys!”

Yunice’s two roommates were also in the training class—Lena and Jennie. Both were nineteen, bright-eyed and easy to get along with.

Jennie’s plot was next to Yunice’s, so the two could chat while they worked. Pushing her glasses up her nose, Jennie muttered, “Yunice, is the teacher just making us pull weeds?"

“That’s part of it,” Yunice replied. “This stuff’s called ‘old grass.’ If you use tools, it often leaves the roots behind, and it’ll regrow. So it’s best to pull it by hand, making sure the entire root comes up. But it’s rough on the hands.”

“Still, I think there’s another reason behind this.”

Jennie looked at her curiously.

“Our course is about identifying herbs at different stages of growth. I think what the teacher really wants us to do is learn to tell the difference between weeds and medicinal plants.”

If you don’t have a solid grasp of herbal identification, how could you possibly know which to pull and which to keep?

“You make a good point,” Jennie nodded.

All around them, students were already at work—some digging with tools, some pulling by hand. One mistimed pull left a student falling on their butt and flattening someone else’s field.

The teacher strolled through the field with his hands behind his back, not the least bit worried about stepping on any herbs. Then he paused behind Yunice, watching how she worked.

Unlike the others who yanked big clumps at a time, Yunice was more methodical. She found the midpoint of a single weed, used a utility knife to slice into the soil, and split the root mass into four parts before removing them one by one.

Old grass was notorious for its deep, thick roots and strong grip on the soil. Only a few wispy shoots were visible above ground, but below could be a root system the size of a fist. Grabbing a whole bunch and yanking often just tore your hands apart. By cutting it up first, she broke the resistance, making it much easier to pull.

“You’re a student from this year’s class?” the teacher asked.

Yunice looked up. She was three or four years older than the others and had been a non-enrolled outsider until now. Even in the same uniform, her eyes held a completely different energy.

The teacher said nothing more, simply walked on with his hands still behind his back. “This month’s training has five assessments. This is just the first. Only those who pass this part can move on to the next. Use your time wisely. Don’t slack off and hold up the rest.”