They were busy until after 10 p.m. before they finally went to rest...

The next morning, the two of them set off with baskets on their backs to look for medicinal herbs. They wouldn't go too far that day, just near their home, and they could get home by evening.

The two first went to the other side of the river and retrieved the fish baskets they had set the night before.

Today's harvest was even better than yesterday's! We emptied five large wooden buckets of fish and shrimp before we could collect all the fish and shrimp from the fish baskets. This time we used more baskets, so the harvest was greater.

I moved the fish basket to a different spot and put it down again, planning to retrieve it when I came back in the evening.

After collecting the fish, they continued walking to find medicinal herbs.

Xu Han didn't know many medicinal herbs, or rather, she didn't know many valuable ones.

I only recognize some common herbs, which don't fetch much price, so I've never collected herbs to sell for money.

Today we mainly dug up root and rhizome medicinal herbs, which are relatively more expensive.

Finding these kinds of medicinal herbs mainly depends on Lu Chuan, since he goes into the deep mountains every year from late autumn to early spring to find medicinal herbs to exchange for money.

In this respect, Xu Han is indeed inferior to Lu Chuan, and she will need to learn more from Lu Chuan later.

Not long after they started walking, Lu Chuan stopped and pointed to a patch of medicinal herbs, saying to Xu Han, "This is Polygonatum sibiricum, a perennial plant. The main medicinal part is its rhizome. It has the effects of replenishing qi, nourishing yin, strengthening the spleen, and moistening the lungs."

He added, "You can easily identify it by its leaves and plant. It's just a little troublesome to process; it requires nine rounds of steaming and nine rounds of drying."

Xu Han looked at them and found them to be easy to recognize, and they were all growing in patches.

However, Xu Han was curious about how he knew these medicinal herbs, so she asked, "How do you know these medicinal herbs? Did someone teach you?"

“When I was little, I often lived with my mother at my maternal grandmother’s house. There was a doctor in the village, and I often went to his house to help him dry medicinal herbs. Over time, he would also teach me to recognize some common medicinal herbs. In addition, I later bought a book about medicinal herbs and learned to recognize some more myself.”

Xu Han had always known that Lu Chuan could read, but she really didn't know that he had also taken the initiative to learn about herbs. She only knew that he recognized herbs and assumed that he had learned them from Lu's father!

After listening to Lu Chuan's explanation, Xu Han stopped worrying and took out tools from her spatial storage to start digging for Solomon's Seal with Lu Chuan.

After digging it all up, we had dug up nearly half a basket of Solomon's seal, which was quite a lot.

The two continued walking forward, searching for the next Chinese medicinal herb. As they walked, Lu Chuan suddenly changed direction and walked towards a tree.

"This is He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum), which nourishes the liver and kidneys and replenishes essence and blood. It is a climbing vine. You can see that its leaves are shaped like hearts, which makes it easy to identify."

Xu Han knew this; many people nowadays buy shampoos containing Polygonum multiflorum to promote hair growth!

After finding the root, Lu Chuan cut the vine and began digging up the Polygonum multiflorum underneath.

Xu Han saw another tree not far away, greeted Lu Chuan, and then turned around to dig it up.

After Lu Chuan finished digging, he came over to help Xu Han dig up He Shou Wu.

They continued walking until they reached the pine forest, where Lu Chuan led Xu Han over.

As Lu Chuan walked, he said, "There are usually Poria cocos in pine forests. Let's go look for it."

"Poria cocos grows in pine forests, so it's relatively easy to find. If there's soil piled up at the base of a pine tree, there might be Poria cocos underneath."

Poria cocos is actually a type of fungus that parasitizes the roots of pine trees. Its main functions are to strengthen the spleen and calm the mind.

Xu Han listened patiently to Lu Chuan's introduction and searched along with him.

“There might be one here, let’s dig it out and take a look,” Lu Chuan said, pointing to a bulge.

Then they started digging, and sure enough, in no time they dug out a big, round ball of earth.

"This is Poria cocos. After you remove the outer skin, the inside looks like cassava," Lu Chuan explained.

“This pine forest is quite large. Let’s have the dogs search it like before!” Xu Han suggested.

"Okay! This will save time!" he said, then called the dogs over.

After the dogs smelled the scent, they immediately scattered and began searching.

Soon after, the sound of Maodou calling out could be heard. The two hurried over to see what was happening, and Tangyuan also started calling out. Helpless, Lu Chuan had no choice but to go over there as well.

Xu Han started digging for Poria cocos as Lu Chuan had instructed, and she actually found one; this one was much bigger than the previous one.

The two of them dug up a total of 17 Poria cocos in this pine forest, which must weigh at least 80 or 90 pounds!

It was still early, so the two continued walking and saw more He Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) and Huang Jing (Polygonatum sibiricum), as well as some other medicinal herbs.

"Look what this is? This is called Gastrodia elata," Lu Chuan said, pointing to a plant.

"Gastrodia elata is easier to identify; it has no leaves, just a straight stalk. Gastrodia elata has the effect of dispelling wind and unblocking the meridians. Today we dug up a lot of medicinal and edible herbs, which can be used as medicine and also as dishes."

"But I don't know how to make medicinal cuisine! What if I eat something wrong?" Xu Han said, looking completely bewildered.

"No, if it's prepared properly and eaten in small quantities, it will only benefit our health and won't cause any harm. I'll teach you how to do it when we get back," Lu Chuan reassured him.

Xu Han was skeptical of Lu Chuan's words. She believed in his knowledge of medicinal herbs, but doubted his cooking skills. Hmm! It was really hard to eat.

Let him do it himself when the time comes! Let's not waste the ingredients.

Seeing Xu Han's conflicted expression, Lu Chuan smiled but remained silent. He could more or less guess the reason.

After the two finished digging up the gastrodia elata in the vicinity, they ate lunch on the spot.

Lu Chuan said, "Come on, I'll take you to dig up some really valuable medicinal herbs."

"What?! Is it worth more than what we just dug up?" Xu Han asked excitedly as she followed behind Lu Chuan, jumping around on and off.

However, Lu Chuan deliberately wanted to tease Xu Han and refused to tell her.

When they arrived, Xu Han finally understood what it was. No wonder Lu Chuan said it was valuable! It turned out to be dendrobium!

"You recognize it?" Lu Chuan asked in surprise.

"Yes! I recognize it, it's dendrobium! I've seen it before, it's indeed quite valuable."

“This dendrobium was discovered a long time ago. Every year I come to harvest half of it and leave the other half to continue growing.”

This dendrobium grows on the edge of a cliff, and it is not easy to harvest it.

But this was clearly not a difficult task for Lu Chuan. He was already prepared and was about to go down!

"Should we harvest all of them this time? Or should we leave some to harvest next year when the drought comes?" Xu Han said.