Chapter 38 Natural Wild Stone Flower Seeds
The sun sets.
The sky was sparkling with stars, and the cool moonlight shone down on the mountains and forests.
The village headman had the women light torches and go up the mountain to provide light for the people digging the ditches. The torches formed a line, like a fire dragon coiled on the eastern mountain.
Cheng Wanwan stood in the crowd, holding a torch, as the voice in her mind kept ringing out.
[Ding! Wild natural Gastrodia elata discovered!]
She saw something in the ditch, which looked like Gastrodia elata, but the light was poor and she couldn't see it clearly. Even if she could see it clearly, it wasn't a good time to dig it out of the ditch.
[Ding! Natural shepherd's purse root found!]
Shepherd's purse grows in the dug ditches. Shepherd's purse costs a few coins per pound, while shepherd's purse roots are more expensive, costing more than twenty coins per pound.
Cheng Wanwan stood calmly to the side. She still had 119 taels and 560 cash in her hands, which was a considerable sum of money. There was no need to accumulate too much of this kind of illicit wealth. The most important issue now was how to get the money out of the open.
She wanted to buy land, and even more so, she wanted to build a house before winter came.
[Ding! Natural wild agarwood seeds found!]
Cheng Wanwan frowned. What were stone flowers? She had never even heard of them.
She looked at the illusory panel, which showed a cluster of green plants with dark purple roots, heart-shaped leaves, and lantern-like fruits growing at the top.
She had seen this before; in modern times it's called agar-agar seeds, and it's an ingredient for making ice jelly.
She loved to travel back then and had been to Xinyang. Bingfen (a type of jelly dessert) is a specialty of Xinyang. A scenic spot she visited cultivated it and invited tourists to make their own bowl of bingfen. She could still vaguely remember the steps...
An idea immediately popped into Cheng Wanwan's mind.
Just when I was figuring out how to make money legitimately, this lucrative business opportunity came knocking on my door.
"There are so many lantern grasses here!" Zhao Sidan's playful voice came from behind. "Let's have a competition to see who can pick the most lanterns."
A group of teenagers started frantically picking lanterns, then carelessly throwing them on the ground and stomping on them. Cheng Wanwan was heartbroken.
She walked over with the torch in hand and said to the children, "Whoever can help me pick a pound of lanterns, I will reward him with an egg."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Sidan panicked: "Mom, I'll do it, I'll do it! Leave all the eggs for me!"
Cheng Wanwan chuckled: "As long as you can pick a pound, I'll reward you with eggs."
Aunt Wang asked curiously, "Big Mountain Mother, what do you need these lanterns for? Even chickens won't eat them."
"I vaguely remember my grandma making some delicious snacks with lantern grass when I was very young," Cheng Wanwan lied without blushing. "Anyway, there are so many lanterns on the mountain, let's take some back and try it out, what if we can make it work?"
Aunt Wang didn't believe a word of it, but picking lantern grass to exchange for eggs was a good thing she couldn't miss. She quickly waved and called over the children who were wandering around on the mountain: "Da Mai, Xiao Mai, Ni Qiu, you guys quickly help Aunt Zhao pick lanterns, the more the better."
Several women nearby heard this and quickly called their children over.
They had all heard that Sister-in-law Zhao had gone up the mountain a few days ago and brought back two large hens and a large rooster. Those two wild hens were particularly good at laying eggs, laying four a day, so Sister-in-law Zhao wouldn't have to worry about not having enough eggs.
The children who were originally digging for wild vegetables and playing around on the mountain all ran off to pick agar jelly seeds.
"Aunt Zhao, is this enough for a pound?"
"Aunt Zhao, my sister and I picked a whole basketful. How many eggs can we exchange for it?"
“I also picked a basketful. My mom said it weighs two jin (1 kg). Does that mean I can get two eggs?”
Cheng Wanwan looked at the three or four baskets, seven or eight baskets, and dozens of pockets in front of her, all filled with agarwood seeds, which she estimated to weigh at least twenty kilograms.
The children's efficiency is amazing; it seems that in the future, we can directly outsource such tasks to the children in the village.
She called Zhao Sanniu over and asked the boy to help transport the agate seeds back. He carried one basket on his back, another on his front, and four baskets in each hand. Zhao Sidan carried the rest. The two brothers went down the mountain with a good harvest.
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said to the group of children in front of her, "Our hen can only lay four eggs a day, so only four people can come to collect the eggs each day. Can the younger children go first?"
Wang Damai was very sensible: "I'll be the last one!"
Wang Xiaomai nodded in agreement: "I'll be the last one too!"
Zhu Huzi licked his lips: "Then I'll save it for the last day too."
Cheng Wanwan thought she would have to use her words, but she didn't expect these sensible children to be so proactive and modest.
She smiled and said, "I'll come to you again when I need lanterns in the future."
One egg for one pound of agar seeds is such a great deal!
If ice jelly can really make money in this era, she wouldn't mind raising the price to two eggs for these kids.
Night gradually fell.
Some children couldn't bear it any longer and went down the mountain with their older siblings, while the women remained on the mountain holding torches.
Cheng Wanwan stayed by Zhao Dashan and Zhao Ergou's side, occasionally handing them a sip of water. Although the children weren't her own, she still felt a pang of heartache for them.
The village headman worked tirelessly alongside them, and his eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion. Standing on a large rock, he shouted encouragement, "We'll stop after digging another three zhang! Everyone, give it your all!"
Everything went smoothly.
Just as they were about to wrap up, an unexpected incident occurred.
When Wang Yongcheng dug down with his shovel, he hit a hard object. He had encountered this situation before. There were many rocks on the mountain, so it was normal to dig up something hard. He could just move it to the side and pry the rock away. It was no big deal.
Wang Yongcheng changed his position and continued digging, but still encountered a hard object; it seemed this rock was quite large.
He moved several steps, but it still didn't work; the rock was bigger than he had imagined.
The whole process was affected by the obstruction here. A group of men gathered around and tried to dig with shovels, but they only dug five meters away.
Five zhang, that is, a large rock about sixteen meters long and wide, which is equivalent to a boulder that cannot be moved by human power.
Cheng Wanwan's expression was somewhat solemn.
In modern times, when digging trenches, large rocks are chiseled through by machines. But in this era, without machines, it's impossible to move rocks by manpower alone.
Taking a detour wouldn't work either, because there's a stone wall to the east and an ancient forest to the west. Each tree is very thick, requiring at least three people to encircle it, so cutting down these trees is no easy task.
Those who are exhausted think they have seen the light at the end of the tunnel, only to find that the real difficulties have just begun.
A hint of resentment spread through the crowd, then mingled into voices of condemnation.
“I told you long ago, Sister-in-law Zhao is just a woman, she doesn’t understand anything, I don’t know why we have to listen to her.”
"How old is Er Gouzi? Can his words be trusted? Why did he get the whole village to come and dig a ditch?"
"This huge boulder is blocking the way; even the Heavenly King himself couldn't do anything about it! Village head, you need to come up with a solution!"
"What other ideas could we have? Let's go back, wash up, and go to sleep. The crops in the fields will just have to be left as they are. It's not like our village is the only one suffering from drought. We might as well all starve to death together..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
