After passing the bamboo house, you will see the path leading into the mountains. Usually after the rainy season, villagers will follow the path into the mountains to pick mushrooms to take back and cook.

At the foot of the mountain, on both sides are lush bamboo forests. Most of the bamboo is as thick as a bowl, stretching straight upwards. The bamboo is strong and vigorous, having endured many years of wind and frost in the mountains, leaving traces of time on its surface.

Sun Miao'er followed behind Fu Yuchi, stepping on the withered leaves on the ground. The leaves crunched underfoot.

The mountains here are completely different from those she had climbed before. The mountains she had climbed before all had steps to follow, but these mountains are purely paths made by people walking on them, and they are extremely steep and difficult to traverse.

"Are you getting used to it? Should I slow down?" Fu Yuchi would occasionally look back at the people behind him, and when he saw that they hadn't gotten lost, he would continue to lead the way.

Despite saying that, he didn't slow down at all, and Sun Miao'er could barely keep up. She just needed to grab the branches on both sides for support, otherwise her thin arms and legs would have been a bit too much for her.

"It's alright, Master, I can keep up." Sun Miao'er's clothes were caught on a tree branch, so she tore off a piece of cloth and hung it on the branch. Footprints were left on the damp soil.

When they reached a slightly flatter slope, Fu Yuchi suddenly stopped, bent down, took out a small shovel, and scooped up the herb on the ground. Sun Miao'er quickly followed and unloaded the bamboo basket from her back.

"This is Asarum heterotropoides. You can see that its leaves are shaped like horseshoes, so it is also called horseshoe fragrance. Asarum heterotropoides can only be used as medicine after the roots are sun-dried. It is mainly used to treat colds and can also be used to make bath water, which has the effect of making the body fragrant." He knew the effects of these herbs like the back of his hand and explained them in detail.

Sun Miao'er quickly memorized the appearance of the herb, took it from Fu Yuchi, and carefully placed it in the bamboo basket.

"There is another herb called Jiji, which is seven or eight parts similar to this. It blooms white flowers between the leaves and has no fragrance. However, you must remember that Jiji is poisonous and should not be taken internally. It can only be ground into powder to treat boils and carbuncles. Nowadays, many doctors cannot distinguish between the two and often use them interchangeably. This can cause vomiting in mild cases and even death in severe cases."

As you walk further on, the trees in the mountains are tall, reaching straight into the sky, blocking out the sun. Only sparse sunlight seeps through the gaps in the trees and falls on the ground, forming dappled shadows.

"boom--!"

A clap of thunder came from not far away, and the sky seemed to flash. The sun was quickly and completely obscured by the approaching dark clouds. Fu Yuchi rubbed his temples and said, "It's going to rain soon."

Pingnan City is located in the south, and it is common for it to rain a lot in the summer. However, the rain comes and goes quickly, lasting only for a short while, but it usually comes in strong and pours down.

"Let's find a place to take shelter from the rain for now." Fu Yuchi looked up at the sky, his gaze falling on a cave on the north slope of the mountain. The cave was extremely well hidden, but he knew it all too well.

Because more than ten years ago, he touched almost every inch of soil in these mountains.

Sun Miao'er followed him up the slope. The ivy vines had almost completely blocked the entrance to the cave. She wondered what her master was planning.

Fu Yuchi took out a short dagger from his sleeve and cut the tangled vines in a few strokes. The cut vines instantly lost their vitality and scattered, leaving a gap wide enough for one person to pass through.

"Let's go in." Fu Yuchi pushed aside the broken vines and went into the cave, with Sun Miao'er following closely behind, crouching low as she went in.

suddenly see the light.

The cave wasn't as gloomy as it looked from the outside. Once inside, there was a small hole in the ceiling that let in some light, and the space wasn't small either; it could easily accommodate two people. "Master even knows about places like this! If we hadn't had somewhere to shelter from the rain, we would have been soaked to the bone today!"

“I often go into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs. Heavy rain and flash floods are common occurrences, so I always need to find places to take shelter.”

The thunder outside grew clearer, and after a gust, a downpour followed. The sounds of wind and rain mingled together, and water began to leak from the small hole above the cave, gushing down.

Sun Miao'er had just learned about a herb that morning when the weather turned bad and a heavy rain came. "Master, come and have something to eat."

As he spoke, he took out two sesame seed cakes from the oil paper package. They were already cold, but still crispy, and the cave was immediately filled with the aroma of sesame seeds.

"You can make this too?" Fu Yuchi took the sesame seed cake. He hadn't expected that someone could even make sesame seed cakes. In this poor countryside, it was common not to be able to eat sesame seed cakes.

Sun Miao'er smiled, took a bite of the sesame seed cake, and said, "It's just a trivial skill."

It was already much colder up in the mountains than down below, and with the sudden downpour, the cave suddenly got even colder. Sun Miao'er hugged her shoulders and sneezed several times. Fu Yuchi told her to take out a tinderbox from the bamboo basket, gather some dry branches from the cave entrance, and light a campfire. "Make do for now, warm yourself by the fire, otherwise you might catch a cold when you go down the mountain."

"Thank you, Master."

Suddenly, the campfire blazed up, the flames making Fu Yuchi's face glow red. The burning fire radiated heat, which reached Sun Miao'er's limbs and bones. She rubbed her hands together by the fire, secretly peeking at Fu Yuchi's face out of the corner of her eye.

From this angle, it was difficult for Fu Yuchi to notice that he was being watched. Fu Yuchi was sitting half-turned, eating the sesame seed cake without saying a word, and his slow and deliberate eating suggested that he was quite satisfied with the cake.

Sun Miao'er stuck the sesame seed cakes on a tree branch, roasted them over the campfire for a while, and handed them to Fu Yuchi, saying, "Master, eat this, it's hot."

"No need, keep it. We'll see how the weather goes. If we can't get down the mountain today, we might have to spend the night there." Fu Yuchi's expression turned slightly serious. He looked up, and a raindrop fell from above, landing on his forehead, sliding down silently to the ground.

Hearing that she would have to stay in the mountains overnight, Sun Miao'er couldn't help but worry. When she came, she had told Xiaoman to wait for her to return. If she couldn't go down the mountain today, Xiaoman and Grandma Sun would probably be very anxious. However, the rain was passing quickly. Just as she was lost in thought, the sound of the rain outside had lessened considerably.

"The rain seems to have stopped, let's go out and take a look."

Sure enough, the rain in the mountains came and went quickly, and now the sun has come out again. Apart from the water droplets still clinging to the leaves, there is no trace of the rain that had just fallen.

As they walked under the shade of the trees, the water droplets that hadn't dried were blown off by gusts of wind, making it almost like rain. Sun Miao'er's hair was wet with water droplets, and a few strands of hair were scattered at her temples, making her look a little disheveled.

"Take a look at this." Fu Yuchi, who had spotted something ahead, gestured to Sun Miao'er thoughtfully, "Do you know what this is called?"

Sun Miao'er shook her head.

"Polygonatum, also known as 'poor man's herb,' is, as the name suggests, extremely easy to grow and can be found almost anywhere. During famines, the young seedlings can be stir-fried and eaten to fill the stomach."