"So you’re saying you want to look up some information on Chinese medicine, but you don’t know any experts, so you’re hoping I can introduce you to someone?"

"That’s right!"

"? You should know that our school doesn’t have a Chinese medicine department! If you were looking for someone in clinical medicine, I could try to help you, but Chinese medicine..."

"I checked. Jinling University of Chinese Medicine is less than three kilometers from here! It’s a nationally renowned school of Chinese medicine. Can you contact someone over there?"

"???" The counselor put down the papers he was holding, stared at Chu Bamboo, and sank into thought before finally asking, "Do you have some sort of misunderstanding about me?"

’How am I supposed to find a contact for Chu Bamboo at the Chinese medicine university next door?!’

’Seriously, why does Chu Bamboo think I have those kinds of connections?’

’I’m just a counselor, not some medical professor!’

"Can’t you do it?" Chu Bamboo arched an eyebrow.

"...It’s not entirely impossible!" The counselor pursed his lips. If it had been any other student, he would have already told them to get lost—

But the person before him was the future "pride of the Chinese people" that Zhang Song had mentioned, someone even the principal was paying close attention to.

"I’ll try to make some calls! But this is for official business, right? What is it, specifically?" The counselor conceded but still set a bottom line. He definitely wouldn’t agree if Chu Bamboo was just looking for someone to hang out with.

"...You’re looking for a few traditional herbs? What do you mean you have a prescription? Wait!" The counselor was horrified. "You’d actually dare to prepare medicine from an unverified prescription! What’s it even for?"

Chu Bamboo remained noncommittal, simply watching the counselor in silence.

"Alright, how about this..." Now the counselor didn’t dare to refuse. After all, if someone was really going to take medicine, they had to ask the right questions. "Tell me your questions. I’ll ask a contact to see if they can forward them to an expert professor at Jinling University of Chinese Medicine."

"Okay." Chu Bamboo gathered his thoughts, then described the specific medicinal properties and general appearance of the four remaining herbs. On a whim, he even picked up a pen and, with a few quick strokes, sketched their shapes on a piece of paper.

"This drawing of yours..." The counselor examined it again and again, clicking his tongue in amazement. "It’s beautiful! I never knew you had a talent like this."

Chu Bamboo paused for a moment. He’d almost forgotten. Back in the Dream World, he had practiced and acquired many impressive Skills in his youth, thanks to the unlimited resets—

’Before becoming Extraordinary, his dream memories had been blurry, making it impossible to use the Skills he’d learned! But now that his memories were synced... hmm.’

Chu Bamboo had learned to draw from Xu Zihong, a master of traditional Chinese painting and literature who lived in Jinghai City.

While not the best in the world, his skill was still quite remarkable. Xu Zihong himself had once praised him, saying that if he was a once-in-thirty-years prodigy of traditional painting, then Chu Bamboo’s talent was at a once-in-a-century level. Of course, the man had given him such high praise because Chu Bamboo was constantly resetting at the time, making his rate of progress terrifyingly fast.

But even if you discounted that by half, it was no stretch to call Chu Bamboo a leading figure among the younger generation in the traditional painting circles of the Daqian Kingdom in the Dream World.

Still, it was obvious he couldn’t expect the counselor to have an artistic bone in his body, or to recognize the exquisite skill and profound foundation behind the casual sketch!

"Okay, I’ve contacted a professor from our school’s medical department! I asked him to pass the question along... but I have to say it again, don’t experiment with medicine! Be careful you don’t get sick." The counselor was still a little uneasy.

’This guy was clearly going to be the apple of the principal’s eye. If something happened on his watch—’ just imagining it made the counselor want to let out a piercing shriek.

"Just send me a WeChat message when you get the answer!" Chu Bamboo waved, and just as he turned to leave, the counselor’s phone rang.

"?? Principal! Hold on..." The counselor shot to his feet upon seeing the caller ID, a look of shocked surprise on his face. He quickly collected himself and instinctively said to Chu Bamboo, "Wait, don’t go just yet! It might be..."

The counselor answered the phone and held it to his ear. "Yes, yes... that’s right... what a coincidence! He’s right here with me now... Chu Bamboo, the principal is looking for you! He said he couldn’t get through to your phone for some reason."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’It’s probably because my phone is on silent!’

Wordlessly taking the phone, Chu Bamboo said, "This is Chu Bamboo."

"You’re on campus, right?" Li Quanyuan’s voice came through the phone. "Come to my office now. You know where it is, don’t you? If not, have your counselor bring you."

"Is someone from the National Sports Bureau here?" Chu Bamboo realized what was happening; after all, he had been pretty direct last time.

"You could say that..." Li Quanyuan paused, then decided to be more specific. "To be precise, people from both the national and the provincial bureaus are here."

"Technically, the proper procedure is for you to go to the provincial sports bureau for testing first. If you pass, you join the provincial team, and then you get recommended to the national team... But! You said you wanted this done as quickly as possible, so we’ll do it this way."

Li Quanyuan might have been friendly, but his status was extremely high. With him making the call, and with Zhang Song, who already had the right connections, they could indeed bypass a lot of tedious steps. Besides, track and field carried that kind of weight.

After hanging up, Chu Bamboo handed the phone back to the counselor. "Lead the way."

"?" The counselor’s cheek visibly twitched. Staring at Chu Bamboo, he opened his mouth to speak several times but stopped himself. He had always wondered, how could Chu Bamboo be so calm about this? He himself hadn’t been this composed when facing the principal earlier. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

’Not to mention, people from the national bureau were here! A potential track and field championship... Even just the possibility was like a meteoric rise to fame!’

’Their university was quite good, but the job market was brutal these days! If he really became a track and field champion... it would be like getting a first-class ticket through life!’

Though a thousand thoughts raced through his mind, the counselor ultimately said nothing and simply led the way. At the same time, he was wondering, ’Could the principal’s guess have been right? Is Chu Bamboo really the heir to some massive corporation?’

’If that’s true, why haven’t I heard a single rumor about it...’

After mulling it over, the counselor shot a subtle glance at Chu Bamboo and remarked, "You sure are good at keeping secrets!"

Chu Bamboo: "...?"

「In the Principal’s Office.」

Coach Yuan Qiang from the National Sports Bureau and Coach Guo Jun from the Provincial Sports Bureau were sizing up Chu Bamboo with peculiar expressions.

"Pardon me." Yuan Qiang said. After getting a nod of consent, he squatted down and felt Chu Bamboo’s leg muscles. His brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Finally, he stood and said, "Let’s skip the pleasantries and get right to it... Hmm, first, we’ll do a urine test and some other checks, and then..."