Chapter 443 — The Experiment Fails

"A wish? Weren't you craving shark meat?" Gu Mengyao had no idea what Shen Yushu was up to, so she reminded her.

"Oh! Right, right! I want shark meat!" Reminded by Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu was so excited she was dancing about. "I'll make Zhong Yongliang take me to eat shark meat!" "Zhong Yongliang? Take you to eat shark meat?" Gu Mengyao was slightly taken aback.

"That's right. Just now Zhong Yongliang asked me what remedial measures might cheer you up a little," Shen Yushu said.

"Don't go looking for him. If you want shark meat, just have Wei Zhao catch some for you." Gu Mengyao did not want anything to do with Zhong Yongliang.

"Don't worry, Sister Yao Yao. It's me and Zhong Yongliang talking anyway—it won't drag you into it." Shen Yushu was already thoroughly practiced at this sort of thing.

"Suit yourself." Gu Mengyao could not be bothered to interfere anymore—over the past three years Shen Yushu had pulled this kind of stunt far too often, and Gu Mengyao had grown somewhat numb to it. She only wondered: after being tricked several times, how could Zhong Yongliang still keep believing Shen Yushu?

For the last class of the morning, Zhong Yongliang simply skipped it. He took Gao Xiaofu and rushed off to the night market street, bought two portions of fried mushrooms in a frantic hurry, then returned to school, and finally managed to set the two portions of fried mushrooms in front of Shen Yushu before the noon break.

"Oh. Wait till I've finished eating before we talk—they won't be crisp if they get cold." Shen Yushu waved her hand, signaling that Zhong Yongliang could leave.

Bowing and scraping, Zhong Yongliang returned to his seat. He and Gao Xiaofu had bought a few steamed buns; Zhong Yongliang had something on his mind, so he could not eat much.

At long last he saw Shen Yushu finish the fried mushrooms. Zhong Yongliang shot to his feet and chased after her. Shen Yushu was going to throw away the takeout box from the fried mushrooms, and seeing Zhong Yongliang's impatient look, she secretly laughed to herself.

There really were such fools in the world—never tricked enough, and even rushing over to let her trick them again.

"I say, Little Liangzi, can't you give me a little peace? I'm just throwing away some trash and you follow me..." Shen Yushu looked at Zhong Yongliang with feigned displeasure.

"Heh heh, Xiaoshu, I'm just anxious, that's all. Let me throw it away for you!" With that, Zhong Yongliang took the odds and ends from Shen Yushu's hands. "What did Yao Yao say?"

"She said yesterday's business was more or less acceptable, but she's been under too much study pressure lately and wants to go out and have some fun. The school summer camp won't be until May, and she wants to go out now!" Shen Yushu had long since made up her excuse.

"Oh, go out and have fun? That's wonderful!" Zhong Yongliang practically wanted to cheer long live—his dream was to go out and have fun with Gu Mengyao, to go out on a date!

"What are you thinking? How could Sister Yao Yao possibly go out alone with you? She's not your girlfriend right now." Shen Yushu shot Zhong Yongliang a look of contempt.

But to Zhong Yongliang's ears, this brought no disappointment—on the contrary, he felt excited, because what Shen Yushu had said was that she was not his girlfriend *right now*, which meant that later on she might be? Gu Mengyao actually had feelings for him?

At this thought, Zhong Yongliang was overjoyed. "Xiaoshu, tell me—where does Mengyao want to go and play?"

"How about the seaside? You organize a spring outing and have the whole class go. Otherwise, Sister Yao Yao could never go alone with you!" Shen Yushu said.

"Sure, no problem. A spring outing? I'll go organize it in a bit." Now that Zhong Yongliang had a goal, he nodded hurriedly and trotted off happily to throw away Shen Yushu's trash for her.

Having settled Zhong Yongliang, Shen Yushu hummed a song and went back to the classroom.

What surprised Divine Physician Kang and his family was that this clinical trial had produced no effect whatsoever!

Everyone in the family, including Divine Physician Kang himself, who had taken the "original" life-extending and detoxifying pill, showed nothing but varying degrees of nausea and diarrhea—not a single sign of detoxification appeared!

Apart from the cold sweat brought on by diarrhea and exhaustion, no filth was expelled from their bodies at all.

Propping up his weak body by sheer force of will, Divine Physician Kang sat in his study. He had no choice but to convene an emergency family meeting to look into this matter!

"Zhaolong, what exactly went wrong? Why haven't any of us achieved the detoxification effect?" Dr. Kang was puzzled. Logically speaking, even if the composition of the dog shit was off, he himself had consumed the original Life-Prolonging and Detoxification Pill! Kang Jingming had taken half of it and clearly felt its effects, while he had taken the other half—so why was his current condition no different from that of those who had merely eaten dog shit?

"I don't know either, Grandfather. Logically, the ingredient is dog shit, and you consumed the original Life-Prolonging and Detoxification Pill—how could it have no effect?" Kang Jinglong replied weakly, his head swimming.

"Could it be that it varies from person to person?" Dr. Kang wondered aloud.

"No, Grandfather, I didn't feel any effect this time either—" Before Kang Jingming could finish his sentence, he clutched his stomach and shot to his feet: "I can't hold it—I'm about to shit my pants! I need to get to the bathroom right now!"

With that, Kang Jingming bolted out of the study in a chain of foul-smelling farts.

But no one complained about the stench of his farts, because every person present had been passing gas all day long.

"What Zhaoming said is right—he didn't feel any effect either. Could there have been some error in our experiment?" Dr. Kang nodded and asked.

"Well... Grandfather, I've considered every scenario I can think of, but no explanation fits." Kang Jinglong shook his head. "Could what Zhaoming ate earlier be different from what you ate afterward?" "Different? Weren't they two halves split from the same pill?" Dr. Kang frowned.

"It's only my guess, and we have no evidence now, but thinking it through carefully, our research direction must have been wrong," Kang Jinglong said. "We were so swept up in our excitement that we believed the most unlikely thing was the most likely—that dog shit was the Life-Prolonging and Detoxification Pill! But if you think about it, could it really be that simple?" "You mean the Life-Prolonging and Detoxification Pill is not dog shit?" Dr. Kang quieted down and considered the matter. Kang Jinglong's words were not without reason—miraculous as the Life-Prolonging and Detoxification Pill was, if it were merely dog shit, wouldn't that be far too simple?

"Yes, that's only my guess, but I do have two bold hypotheses!" Kang Jinglong was, after all, a doctorate holder—the most highly educated member of the Kang family—and he laid out his analysis with cogent reasoning.

"Let's hear them!" Dr. Kang gestured for him to continue.