The Chinese girl from Hufflepuff is both timid and brave

At half past nine, at the door of the third greenhouse, Sun Zhu wrapped his school jacket tightly, checked his wand, and opened the door of the greenhouse with the key given by Professor Sprout.

When Cedric told her that Professor Sprout wanted to see her for something, she had no idea that this matter required her to come to the greenhouse at ten o'clock tonight to help pick the bubble pods that were about to mature.

"It is a very peculiar magical plant. When fully mature, it is pink, the pods are swollen, and the shiny beans inside will jump out easily. These beans will bloom when they touch a solid object. If they are not collected in time, they will cover the floor of the greenhouse into a flower carpet tonight." Professor Sprout said, "Zhu, after reading your thesis, I think you are a child who is very knowledgeable about herbs. Among first-year students, there are not many students like you who have rich knowledge reserves and thesis writing ability. I believe you can help me deal with them, right?"

Of course Sun Zhu had no reason to refuse, after all, this was his own dean. Professor Sprout said that she was busy preparing various medicines and antidotes for injuries recently and could not spare the time, so she could only trouble her to do it for her.

Although she was surprised that Professor Sprout thought so highly of her, she readily agreed.

She ran to the third greenhouse just before curfew, trying to find the patch of light pink, half-ripened beans in the southeast corner.

"When picking bean pods, you can use a floating spell and a clear water spell to let the water flow wrap the entire pod to prevent the beans from jumping out. At the same time, the surrounding liquid can also protect it from blooming. Well, you also need to use a cutting spell to separate the pods from the branches and leaves. That requires very precise operation..." Sun Zhu specially flipped through the notes her father gave her, which happened to record how to pick this troublesome plant. "I have no problem with the floating spell, and the cutting spell is also okay, but the clear water spell is a bit difficult. I can only summon a little water flow at most, let alone evenly wrap the pods... My father's magic level is too high."

Maybe she can only rely on Uncle Long and Xiao Tongzi for help, but before that she must try it herself first.

She looked at the light pink pods and counted the plants. "It looks like there are quite a few, at least a hundred..."

"One hundred and twenty-four plants, each with eleven to fifteen bean pods." A voice suddenly appeared. Sun Zhu turned around subconsciously and saw Cedric carrying a bag of things.

Seeing her surprised look, he couldn't help laughing and said, "Are you surprised to see me? I told you, Professor Sprout asked us to help her together."

"That's not the case... Well, how do you even know how many there are?" She pretended to be very interested in the bubble pods, staring at them hard, as if they would bloom in the next second. "There are so many, can the two of us pick them all?"

"Professor Sprout told me the number." He took something out of the bag and handed it over. "This glove was also given to me by the professor. The surface is covered with a layer of liquid using magic, which makes it very convenient to use for picking bean pods."

Sun Zhu took it with some surprise. The gloves fit his hands very well and felt a little cold to the touch.

“It turns out there is such a convenient thing.”

"Of course. Why would Professor Sprout go out of his way to embarrass two first-year students like us?" Cedric glanced at the mechanical watch. "There are still ten minutes to ten o'clock. The pods will mature within five minutes. We must get ready."

Sun Zhu looked at the color changes of the pods and said, "Let's start with the leftmost row. They should be the first to mature."

Cedric nodded, glanced at her pink cheeks, and said hesitantly: "Zhu, you..."

"What's wrong?" She looked at him innocently, "Pay attention."

He had no choice but to nod obediently, his face as red as an unripe bean pod.

Sun Zhu sighed silently.

Two minutes before ten o'clock, the crisp sound of bean pods popping echoed in the greenhouse.

They all started picking pods and beans at the same time.

"Bamboo, there is a bean pod on your right that has matured early." Cedric reminded.

Sun Zhu quickly moved aside to pick off the bunch of pink pods and threw them into Professor Sprout's special bag.

"Oh no! The beans on the bottom have all flown out and are about to fall to the ground." Sun Zhu pointed at the bean vine next to Cedric, "Be careful. If they touch you, they will bloom on you."

Cedric calmly pulled out his wand, used a levitation spell to make them float in the air, and then put them all into the bag.

"Puff beans should also be used to make potions. Although the pod shells have better medicinal value, these beans..." Cedric showed her the shiny things in the bag, "have a wonderful use. They can be used to repel trolls. If you encounter a troll, throw them at it and it will get angry and run away."

Sun Zhu looked at these crystal clear round particles and couldn't help but said, "It sounds like something Professor Snape would like."

"You mean Professor Snape can't help throwing bubble beans at students during class?"

Sun Zhu shrugged: "I didn't say that."

"It doesn't matter." He turned around and continued picking beans. "Professor Snape is not here anyway. He won't deduct points from Hufflepuff."

Sun Zhu couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

I thought the work was going to be huge, but it was actually finished in less than an hour. Sun Zhu rubbed his sore wrists and felt that he was destined to be busy all day.

Working overtime so late at night is too tiring.

Although it is said that those who are more capable should do more work, she still felt that it was a bit strange that Professor Sprout asked first-year students to do the work.

"Well, I think so too. She said that from my homework, she could tell that there is someone in my family who is proficient in plant care. You know, of course, my mother is better at these things. So she asked me to do this. It didn't sound difficult, so I agreed." After listening to her doubts, Cedric simply said, "Since you think this task is strange, why did you agree to it?"

"Although it's strange, Professor Sprout won't harm us. Bubble pods are not dangerous plants." Sun Zhu shook his head. "Except for the late time, there's nothing wrong with it. I have no reason to refuse."

She would be more than happy to help the professor.

"Okay then, we've picked all the pods here, we can go now." Cedric put the bag in the corner, "Professor Sprout said she'll come get it tomorrow morning, we don't have to worry about it."

"Okay." Sun Zhu looked at the pink bean flowers on the greenhouse floor and bent down to pick them up. They looked very much like the popcorn she had eaten in her previous life, but they felt much harder.

"It's almost eleven o'clock, and it's curfew." Cedric reminded, "I hope I won't run into Mr. Filch and his cat on the way back."

Sun Zhu shrank his neck in agreement. Although Filch couldn't do anything to them, the way he cursed at people in a sarcastic way still made people dislike running into him.