The scene of his mother falling in the snow in his previous life overlapped with this moment. He picked up the astragalus seedlings from the bamboo basket and stuffed them into his mouth.

The bitter juice exploded between his mother's teeth. Chen Changyuan pinched open his mother's jaw and passed the chewed herbs to her.

Wang Fugui took the opportunity to escape, but was blocked by a middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit.

The Revolutionary Committee Director's glasses were still stained with mud, and he was shaking a document in his hand. "Wang Fugui! How dare you embezzle the water diversion funds allocated by the county!"

"Heaven and earth, conscience!"

Wang Fugui knelt down in the muddy water and pointed his fat finger at Zhou Dazhu, "It's all because of this bastard that he stuffed dirty stuff into the water channel!"

Just as Zhou Dazhu was about to argue, Lao Yuantou's shovel hit him on the back of the head, spitting out muddy water mixed with fish scales.

Fang Suxia's throat rolled twice, and color finally appeared on her pale face.

Chen Changyuan knelt in the mud, his knuckles still stained with blood from the corner of his mother's mouth, and his back teeth were clattering.

"These astragalus seedlings are quite fresh."

The director of the Revolutionary Committee bent down to pick up some muddy herbs from the ground, his gold-rimmed glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose. "Old Zhang from the county hospital said your village wants to establish a medicinal material base. The provincial experts read the report and slapped their thighs—"

He suddenly paused, his eyes sweeping over Wang Fugui, who was lying on the ground. "I just didn't expect someone to stuff fish intestines into the water channel."

Zhou Dazhui's arms were handcuffed behind his back by the militia, and the urine stains on his crotch were turning yellow in the sun.

Wang Cuifen suddenly rushed over and pulled at the director's trouser leg: "Leader, please understand! It's all because of that damned Dazhu that he dumped slop into the water!"

Her gold-toothed mouth was spitting saliva, and her finger was about to poke her son's forehead.

Chen Changyuan helped his mother up.

She suddenly looked up and winked at him, the bicycle bell wrapped in red silk jingling at her waist.

"Take me to see the sunny slope on the back mountain."

The director took out a pen and began to write down the information in a notebook. Suddenly, he lowered his voice and said, "The province allocated 3,000 yuan for special funds, and it was just transferred to the commune account yesterday."

Wang Fugui, with half his face swollen like a pig, suddenly stood up: "Three thousand? Didn't you say eight hundred..."

Before he could finish his words, he was kicked by the militia and staggered.

The old man sneered, his pipe in his mouth. "Village Chief Wang has a sharp ear. Did he climb over the wall and eavesdrop on the window of the accounting office last night?"

Amid the crowd's laughter, Chen Changyuan felt his sleeve being gently pulled.

Fang Suxia hadn't known when she came up to him: "Remember to let the director have a taste of that honeysuckle vine in the southeast corner."

The wild roses on the path behind the mountain were in full bloom. Chen Changyuan pushed aside the thorny vines, revealing half an acre of newly turned brown soil.

About twenty bamboo baskets were neatly stacked under the camphor tree, and the fragrance of Codonopsis pilosula seedlings mixed with the scent of humus wafted in the air.

"Are you going to do three-dimensional planting?"

The director squatted down and rubbed the soil between his fingertips. "Plant the bupleurum on the shady slope, the astragalus on the sunny side, and build a frame in the middle to plant the honeysuckle..."

He suddenly turned his head and stared at Chen Changyuan.

Chen Changyuan rolled his fingertips over the moist soil and spoke under the director's scorching gaze, "The climbing vines of honeysuckle provide shade for the shade-loving bupleurum. And when we harvest the astragalus in autumn, the roots left in the soil will become ready-made fertilizer."

The director's eyes lit up behind his glasses, and the tip of his pen poked a hole in the notebook: "Those nerds at the Provincial Agricultural Science Institute haven't thought things through as clearly as this young man!"

He suddenly lowered his voice, "Three thousand yuan special funds..."

"director!"

Fang Suxia suddenly interrupted, her deerskin boots crushing a wild berry, splashing red juice on the director's trouser legs. "Look at this honeysuckle bud. Does it look like the candied fruit sold at the supply and marketing cooperative?"

She held a cluster of golden buds in her fingertips, and when she tilted her head, her silver earrings flickered.

Fang Suxia's skinny hand suddenly grabbed the director's sleeve: "Leader, try it..."

In her palm lay a few dried honeysuckle flowers.

Chen Changyuan's pupils suddenly shrank.

“This, this is…”

The director picked up a flower bud and brought it close to his nose. His eyes suddenly widened. "A companion species of wild ginseng?"

The mountain breeze carried the fragrance of medicine across the hillside, and twenty bamboo baskets suddenly opened their straw curtains in unison.

Thumb-thick wild ginseng roots peek out from between the Codonopsis seedlings, and the ginseng leaves covered with morning dew glisten in the sun.

"I dug it out from the old forest in the back mountain."

Chen Changyuan kicked away the pine needles at his feet, revealing a half-rotted basswood stump. "Humus soil nourishes ginseng, vines provide shade, and stream water guides water."

"Also, Director, I plan to open a breeding farm later on, so that many people in the village can earn a living."

The mountain breeze swept through the honeysuckle vines. Chen Changyuan used a branch to draw a winding curve on the mud. "Look at this sunny slope. It gets enough sunshine. The astragalus roots can grow as thick as a forearm. When we harvest in autumn, the bupleurum seedlings will be ready to grow a second crop."

The director's pen tip poked a dot of ink on the notebook: "The stream diversion..."

"Use bamboo tubes to build water channels."

Chen Changyuan kicked away the gravel at his feet, revealing half a green bamboo. "There are as many bamboos as you want in the back mountain bamboo forest. The leftover bamboo can even be used to build a chicken coop."

Fang Suxia suddenly coughed violently, and her skinny fingers tightly grasped Chen Changyuan's sleeves.

He caught a glimpse of the dark red stain on his mother's handkerchief, and his Adam's apple moved. "Once the farm is established, we'll start by raising 300 wild rabbits. After the rabbit manure is fermented and mixed with humus soil, the ginseng seedling production can triple next year."

"Three hundred?"

The director narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, "The county supply and marketing cooperative's purchase price is..."

"Each one weighs four and a half pounds, and costs seventy cents."

Chen Changyuan pulled out a scrap paper from his trouser pocket. The densely packed calculations rustled in the wind. "After deducting the cost of feed, I can earn this much in three months."

The pen clattered into the mud.

As the director bent down, his gold-rimmed glasses slid down to the tip of his nose. "Eight hundred and four? You're even better at calculating than the company's accountant!"

Suddenly, the sound of pheasant flapping wings came from the distance.

Chen Changyuan took out a slingshot from his waist, and with the sound of stones breaking through the air, colorful tail feathers fell to the ground.

He swung the still-kicked pheasant and asked, "Would you like to add a dish tonight?"

"Good boy!"

The director laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Come to the county tomorrow to complete the formalities, and the fifty acres of sloping land on the back mountain will be allotted to you!"

As dusk fell over the fence, Chen Changyuan was squatting by the stove, cutting bamboo strips.

Old Yuantou came over with his pipe in his mouth, and the sparks almost burned the bamboo tube in his hand.

"Did the county really approve it?"

The old man blew out smoke rings, his cloudy eyes shining in the smoke, "Fifty acres of sloping land is enough to support three production teams."

Chen Changyuan used the tip of his hatchet to carve three furrows in the dirt: "I'll plant 20 mu of medicinal herbs, 10 mu of hare pen, and the remaining 20 mu will be used to build a bamboo shed to raise pheasants."

The tip of the knife suddenly dug into the soil. "We need to find someone who can weave bamboo strips."

Fang Suxia paused as she lifted the lid of the pot. "Old Uncle Yuan said yesterday that there's a bamboo craftsman named Zhang living in the valley behind the mountain."

Steam rose up, covering her pale face. "I heard that the bamboo canal he weaves can make eighteen bends without leaking."

The firewood crackled and Chen Changyuan stared at the leaping flames.

In his previous life, bamboo craftsman Zhang was paraded through the streets for illegally weaving bamboo products and was eventually hanged on the old locust tree at the entrance of the village.

He gripped the handle of the axe tightly, and the bamboo splinter left red marks on his palm.

"Bring two pounds of bacon tomorrow morning."