Chapter 4: Treasure Dragon Mountain She Loves It So Much
Shen Jiang's eyes lingered on the beautifully growing Cistanche plants and could not be taken away.
The towering Cistanches resembled the very essence of this mountain range, each one plump and firm. It had been ages since their clinic had seen such wild, natural Cistanches. Their appearance was pure, their color rich, and their quality was first-rate, judging by their appearance alone.
Many Cistanches are in bloom, and the spike-shaped inflorescences hang on the branches like wheat. These flowers have different colors, some are white with blue edges, and some are yellow with pink edges, which look very beautiful together.
This scene can be called a beautiful scenery for ordinary people.
But it really made Shen Jiang heartbroken.
You know, after the Cistanche deserticola blooms, it becomes hollow and most of its medicinal value is directly lost. She couldn't just watch the cooked duck fly away, so Shen Jiang subconsciously wanted to rescue those Cistanches that had not yet bloomed.
The dragon's evil smile suddenly flashed through my mind.
Shen Jiang just stopped his hand that was about to pull out the Cistanche deserticola and breathed a sigh of relief in shock.
She almost got into trouble and cleared away the precious medicinal herbs in front of the dragon's house as weeds.
In fact, Shen Jiang was always skeptical about the dragon's willingness to let her go. After all, sometimes when she saw cockroaches suddenly appear in the room, she would step on them to death without hesitation.
To the dragon, she may not be much worse than a cockroach, the difference is at most like that between a mouse and a cockroach.
Neither of them is something you would want to see at home.
Shen Jiang felt as if she had grasped the truth. The dragon she encountered might have some natural restrictions that prevented it from killing ordinary creatures at will. This was only possible if these ordinary creatures violated certain conditions, such as illegally picking the precious medicinal herbs at his doorstep.
By then, the big black dragon can attack without any scruples.
Suppressing her instinctive impulse, Shen Jiang tried her best not to look at the Cistanches that almost made her unable to walk.
Pulling weeds did not stop, Shen Jiang cleared the weeds in front of him one by one, and moved forward without stopping.
Soon, her eyes were drawn to a large cluster of red flower balls not far away, a sea of red flowers dotted across the landscape. As she got closer, she realized they weren't flowers. Besides the broad leaves at the base of each plant, the tip of its single branch was covered in spherical, bright red berries.
Just by looking at the extremely obvious appearance, Shen Jiang recognized these herbs.
"A Panax notoginseng of this quality must be at least ten years old. It's growing so well." Shen Jiang couldn't help but praise it.
Godwin Caesar, who was paying attention to the movements outside, was stunned when he heard this.
How would she know when the weeds here would grow?
*
Godwin Caesar listened to the occasional exclamations and gasps, and the excitement and joy in his tone were so exaggerated that it was as if he had seen countless treasures, and it didn't seem like he was pretending.
The dragon couldn't help but wonder, could it be that there were countless treasures buried under the weeds in front of his house, but he just didn't know about it?
If he were to come out and take a look at that moment, he would sigh that the human's expression was simply stupid.
Shen Jiang had never shown such excitement when he saw so many treasures under the dragon. But now his bright and shining eyes were staring at the plants in front of him, just like a country bumpkin who came to the city and gained some experience.
It's not Shen Jiang's fault for making a fuss. In fact, in her country, China, and even other countries, people have overexploited resources and discharged pollutants indiscriminately, resulting in a rapid decline in Chinese medicinal materials. The prices of medicinal materials have skyrocketed, directly increasing several times compared to the past.
As far as Shen Jiang knows, there are many Chinese medicine stores selling fake medicines in her city of Nanze. Those medicinal materials are almost indistinguishable from the real ones. It is impossible to tell them apart without experienced hands, not to mention how rampant they are across the country.
For example, mulberry branches are used instead of astragalus, platycodon is used instead of American ginseng, and cheap angelica is used as authentic angelica. The tricks here have been researched by drug dealers to such an extent that it is hard to guard against them.
What bothered her and her grandmother the most in the past was how to compete with this group of people and select the real medicinal herbs they needed from them.
Sometimes they can't even choose the quality. As long as it's real medicine, they will take it all back to the clinic.
Now outside the Julongxue, there are mountains and plains full of medicinal herbs that Shen Jiang can reach.
Thinking that their owner was a guy who was not easy to mess with, Shen Jiang swallowed his saliva and dared only watch from afar without playing with them.
But during this time, nothing really happened.
After pulling out weeds with his bare hands for more than three hours, Shen Jiang also took the opportunity to inspect the area within a radius of several hundred meters. In addition to Cistanche deserticola and Panax notoginseng, there were also many other medicinal herbs that exceeded Shen Jiang's expectations, such as Atractylodes macrocephala, Astragalus membranaceus, Polygala tenuifolia, and Coptis chinensis.
Julong said that the pile of weeds in front of his house was a complete lie. It was clearly a mountain of "auspiciousness".
This round of inspections yielded a huge harvest, but it also came at a heavy price. Even though Shen Jiang had been sorting herbs for years, the thin calluses on his palms were still bruised by the sharp edges of the weeds.
She raised her hands and looked at them. There were blisters of various sizes on her red palms, and faint traces of blood mixed with the green juice unique to plants. The crevices between her nails were dirty and filthy, and there was no trace of her original delicate and fair appearance.
"hiss."
Shen Jiang blew carefully on the palm of his hand, and the gentle coolness relieved some of the pain in his hand.
She simply stopped what she was doing and found a shade under a tree to sit down. Her hands would swell up like pig's trotters if she continued to pull out weeds. She really couldn't pull out any weeds on the mountain.
There are many kinds of medicinal herbs on this mountain, and they are all growing well, but just like the money in the bank, she can only look but not take.
It's so frustrating.
Shen Jiang looked at his hands which had begun to turn red and swollen, and then glanced at the herbs all over the mountain. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"well."
She now wants to become a follower of Lord Dragon.
It's a pity that the flowers I planted with care did not bloom, but the willows I planted by accident grew into a shade.
Shen Jiang had long forgotten the idea of playing a useless believer with good intentions but no power. However, she was a modern person who had enjoyed a comfortable life brought by technological convenience for 28 years. In this mountain, she was a pure physical waste.
She gave up. She couldn't take the herbs here anyway, and it wasn't a depressing thing that she couldn't become a follower of the dragon.
*
The noise outside gradually became quieter as time went by, and with the sound of rustling sounds, Godwin Caesar simply came out of the dragon's acupoint.
The scenery outside the cave was the same as usual, nothing new. The only difference was the fanatical human follower.
Those unknown, light melodies reached Godwin Caesar's ears more clearly and loudly than those heard in the cave.
He didn't realize that his emotions were also affected. His tail swept lightly behind him. In the warm afternoon sun, today's wind was particularly pleasant when it brushed against his body.
This is just the most worthless weed in front of the house of the great fire dragon Godwin Caesar, but it can make this ordinary human so happy. If she saw his real treasure... wouldn't she be stunned?
Godwin Caesar looked at the ignorant human not far away with a hint of sympathy. It was not until he heard the sigh that he noticed the sun had already set in the west.
Godwin Caesar had never expected that the other party could persist for so long.
You know, the dragon-slaying knights and magicians who came here before could only last about ten minutes at most, but she actually lasted for several hours.
Godwin Caesar walked to a spot near the tree trunk and said coldly, "Who gave you permission to be so picky and pick only the weeds you like?"
Shen Jiang had been working all afternoon, exhausted and thirsty. He was relaxing by the chirping of birds in the distance when he was startled by a thunderous roar behind him. He nearly jumped up from the ground.
"Go...Lord Godwin, I'm just taking a break. Don't worry, I'll clear away the other weeds right away."
Shen Jiang stood up as he spoke, walked straight around the Coptis chinensis beside him, and went to a bullwhip grass farther away. His hands trembled as he held the stems and leaves. Shen Jiang bit his lip, ignored the sour and stinging pain in his palms, and pulled it out with all his strength.
Godwin Caesar pointed in disbelief at the nearby Coptis chinensis plants. "How dare you lie to the great Fire Dragon Godwin? Why don't you pull out these weeds?"
When Shen Jiang heard this, he immediately let go of the bullwhip in his hand. When he looked up, he saw huge triangular claws pointing at several lush Coptis chinensis plants.
Shen Jiang didn't quite understand the situation. She asked cautiously, "Such a precious herb, do you want to pull it out too?"
Coptis chinensis is a well-known herb in traditional Chinese medicine, known for its bitter properties. In China, it is a commonly used and precious herb and has long been listed as a nationally protected second-class herb.
Godwin Caesar rolled his eyes. "That's enough! Are you not crazy? Can't you see that there is no magic power in this weed?"
In an instant, like lightning across the night sky, something flashed through Shen Jiang's mind.
Shen Jiang had never expected such a sudden turn of events to happen, and immediately released a huge enthusiasm:
"Respected Lord Godwin Caesar, I promise I can get rid of all these weeds! It just takes some time. Don't worry, as long as I'm here, these weeds will definitely not be an eyesore to you!"
Godwin was now quite certain that this human was truly mentally ill.
How come he looked so happy after being scolded by him? When he came over just now, he saw this person looking listless and as if he had lost all hope in life.
"Dear Lord Godwin Caesar, I will take these weeds away immediately after I clean them up. They will not be an eyesore to you." Shen Jiang saw that the atmosphere was good at the moment and took the opportunity to offer more considerate service.
Godwin looked deeply at the human whose face was full of joy, and his heart was full of complicated feelings: This stupid and strange human, just to become my believer, does he not care about his dignity as a magician at all?
"This is part of the cleaning work. Is there any need to say it?" Goodwin said this coldly and turned away.
It was too difficult to drive this believer away.
Godwin was completely confused by her sudden changes in mood, sometimes real and sometimes fake.
But Godwin Caesar knew there was a way around this problem.
*
The surprise came too suddenly, and Shen Jiang felt a little distressed.
She was a little confused about whether to dig Cistanche deserticola, Panax notoginseng, or picking some Angelica sinensis would also be a good choice.
Adults don't make choices. Shen Jiang decided that every household would receive her patronage today.
If her hand condition wasn't so serious, Shen Jiang felt she could finish all the medicine overnight.
Most herbs have their medicinal parts at the root, so simply pulling them out with brute force is not enough. Not only is it difficult to pull them out, it can also damage the herbs. Shen Jiang found a wooden stick nearby and planned to use it to dig out the herbs.
With a little force, Shen Jiang felt a piercing pain in the palm of his hand.
Shen Jiang looked at himself, ripped the sleeves of his shirt off his clothes, wrapped his palms tightly with the sleeves, and continued digging with gritted teeth.
Just as Shen Jiang was implementing her grand plan, she looked up and saw a big black dragon walking out of the dragon's acupoint. Without even glancing at her, it spread its wings and flew into the sky. Its movements were neat and decisive. Against the backdrop of the vast sky, it looked down at the sky with an arrogant look.
Shen Jiang: You know what, the moment the black dragon flew up, it was really cool and handsome.
It would be great if she could fly too. It would be best if she could fly back to Nanze City in one breath to see how her grandma is doing.
Thinking of this, Shen Jiang suddenly realized that the dragon had flown away, so why should she stay alone on this mountain?
She quickened her movements, picked out several herbs that she needed most, dug them out of the soil with branches, and tied them together with some weeds. Shen Jiang chose the easiest route and went down the mountain quickly.
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