Xu Lanyin sneered. Did this bitch think the villagers were all deaf, blind, and stupid? Because the original owner had betrayed the Gu family and had already caused public outrage, she was still lying with her eyes open.

Before Gu Wangchen returned, he had to make sure everyone in the village saw through the shameless plot of this mother and son. He couldn't let it be like in the book, where the original owner was bullied to death, the Xu family's money was wasted, and Gu Wangchen was still seen as a loyal and righteous man by the villagers, while the original owner's reputation was in tatters.

Xu Lanyin scolded Gu Po for denying her previous accusations. Seeing more and more people gathered, she stopped talking and walked west. Gu Po's voice gradually faded until it was gone.

As she walked, she thought about how she had to cancel the engagement with Gu Wangchen as soon as possible, and she couldn't let the mother and son tarnish her reputation. She had no fault in breaking off the engagement, and she could still get some money back. It wouldn't be possible to get it from far away, but the forty-five taels of silver given last spring could be witnessed by many villagers. Not only had Xu Lanzhou made a scene, but even Old Lady Xu and the eldest wife's family had come to the Gu family to demand the money. She had to find a way to get it back.

With Gu Wangchen as a reference, Xu Lanyin suddenly felt that all the blind dates she'd dated in her previous life were innocent, adorable little white rabbits. Even that double-faced man, obsessed with her family's wealth, was much purer than Gu Wangchen. At least he had no intention of killing her.

By the time they reached Yefeng Ridge, Xu Lanyin was sweating profusely. Her original owner, accustomed to rough labor to save more money for Gu Wangchen, didn't feel tired.

Xu Lanyin had come to Yefeng Valley, a flank of Yefeng Ridge. It was late summer, early autumn, and some leaves were beginning to turn yellow. The mountains and valleys were a riot of yellow and green, with cascading waterfalls and gurgling springs at the bottom of the valley, creating a scene of unparalleled beauty.

Although Xu Lanyin had the memories of her former owner, she still didn't dare to go up the mountain lightly, nor did she dare to go too deep. There weren't many people coming here, but there were some, some coming to pick wild vegetables, some gathering herbs, some collecting firewood, some passing through the mountains to hunt, and even some just for sightseeing. Whenever someone came, Huazi would bark, giving her a lot of courage.

The original owner had a very good nose, not only able to see, but also to find medicine by smell. The original owner's knowledge of medicine was limited. Aside from precious Chinese herbs like ginseng, ganoderma lucidum, and gastrodia elata, she only knew common herbs. Xu Lanyin, on the other hand, knew more, such as Panax notoginseng, cordyceps, and dendrobium.

Seeing this familiar scene, an old man with a gray beard appeared in Xu Lanyin's memory. He was a herbalist who lived in the mountains in front. It seemed that he came here last summer and left again this spring.

The original owner liked to come here to pick herbs. He had seen the old man from afar several times. The old man was unkempt, with dirty clothes and messy hair.

At the end of April this year, the original owner stumbled upon two jasmine plants growing together in a crevice beneath a boulder. They smelled unusual, so she dug them out. Upon extraction, she discovered their oval roots were much larger than those of ordinary jasmine plants, about the same length and thickness as her hand, and had turned a purple-black color.

As she was looking at the grass, a man came running towards her on a gust of wind. It was the herbalist she had met by chance.

The herbalist snatched up the two plants, his eyes sparkling, his body trembling with excitement. He murmured, "It really is blackroot... one beetle... becomes one... I actually got two at once... I can finally..."

The original owner couldn't bear to listen to his mumbling. Seeing that the old man was very fond of the two blades of grass, he took them back and said, "You are stealing me. These blades of grass I dug, how did they become yours? If you want them, bring me a hundred coins."

The original owner thought he'd bid an exorbitant price. Even twenty kilograms of jasmine wouldn't sell for a hundred coins, let alone two. Furthermore, it was clearly jasmine, but the old man insisted it was blackroot.

The original owner was unable to deceive the old man by asking for a sky-high price. Gu Wangchen was going to take part in the provincial examination this autumn and needed a lot of money. She tried every possible way to raise money for him.

The old man's eyes and eyebrows knitted together, and he said bitterly, "Silly girl, you've suffered a huge loss by selling these two blackroot grasses for a hundred coins. Even I, an old man, feel bad for you. Each one is worth a fortune..."

The original owner thought to himself, "You call me stupid, but you're the stupid one. How can a buyer help a seller raise the price?" He raised the price again, "Then give me two hundred coins. I won't sell it for less than two hundred coins."

Seeing that he could really make more money from these two jasmine plants, the original owner couldn't help but be happy.

The old man pounded his chest and opened his mouth, still feeling sorry for her. Pulling at his beard, he thought for a moment, then pulled out a small wooden box and said, "This box of ointment is worth the price of a bunch of blackroot grass." He added, "You ladies all like to be beautiful. The little girl is pretty, but her skin is a little rough and dark. This box of ointment can whiten and refine the skin, and it can also heal scars. Use it sparingly, and it won't go bad for twenty or thirty years."

In the old man's opinion, young ladies all love beauty, and she will definitely like this ointment.

The original owner didn't believe the ointment was as good as he said. He shook his head and said, "Don't lie to me, father-in-law. If this ointment is really that good, your face wouldn't be so rough. I don't want this ointment. You'd better pay more."

The old man frowned and muttered, "What a silly girl." Then he took out a silver coin from his pocket and gave it to her.

The original owner saw that such a large silver coin was worth much more than two hundred coins and said, "I don't have any change for you."

The old man said, "You are such an honest silly girl. No need to look for it. I will give it all to you."

The original owner was so happy, but was afraid that the old man would go back on his word, so he quickly stuffed the jasmine into the old man's hand, took the silver coins and stuffed them into his arms, and was about to go home.

The old man hurriedly pulled her sleeve and said, "Silly girl, this medicine is very expensive, much more valuable than that silver coin. But what should I do, I don't have that much money with me." He was worried to death, "I have lived for so many years and have never taken such a big advantage, and it was a silly girl's advantage. If I tell others about it, people will laugh at me. How about this, I will teach you a few skills so that you can earn a living with these skills in the future." He sniffed again and said, "I didn't expect that silly girl still smelled like snail powder."

The original owner looked at the old man's dirty clothes and the tattered cloth shoes with exposed toes, shook his head and said, "I won't learn. If you had real skills, you wouldn't be a herbalist. I can also collect herbs, and my nose is pretty good. I'd be lucky to earn 300 coins a month."

The old man was so angry that he wanted to spit blood. He said with bulging eyes, "I can not only collect herbs, but I can also cure diseases."

The original owner still shook her head and said, "Healing isn't that easy to learn. My mother and brother both say I'm a fool and I definitely can't learn it. Besides, if you really knew how to heal illnesses and make money, how could you be so poor and still live in a shabby house in the mountains, collecting herbs every day, exhausted to death?"

She patted the small silver coin on her chest, feeling very happy. She returned to the village and gave it to Brother Gu. She broke free from the old man's hand and ran out of the valley.