100 yuan
Drip, drip, she was so thirsty and hungry. "Ye Fan, pour me a glass of water. Is breakfast ready? Are you trying to kill me?"
"Little sister, little sister, get up and drink some water." The young woman's voice brought her back to her senses.
She opened her eyes and saw her eldest sister. Li Guorong tightly grasped her sister's hand, "Dad, how is Dad?"
Li Guolan looked troubled.
Li Guorong's heart skipped a beat, and his face turned pale.
Li Guolan realized she had misunderstood, so she quickly said, "He's unconscious right now and needs an X-ray. We need to pay a 100 yuan deposit, so Mom went to borrow it."
Li Guorong felt relieved. It was only 100 yuan, as long as it could cure her illness. She said, "How about we sell a pig first?"
The second brother leaned against the door. His hairline had started to recede when he was young. "You make it sound so easy. We only had one sow that needed to be kept for breeding. We had to scrape together 50 yuan by raising several piglets that hadn't grown up yet."
The older brother, thin and tall with a hunched back, came in and said, "Little sister, don't worry, we've already borrowed 25 yuan, and we only need another 25 yuan to film the movie."
Li Guorong jumped off the hospital bed, only to realize that nowadays a pig weighing several hundred jin (100 kg) can only be sold for 100 yuan, so how could she earn 25 yuan?
Mother Wu Cuihua entered the ward, reached out and touched Li Guorong's forehead, revealing her only smile of the day, and said, "Fortunately, he doesn't have a fever." She took out some brown sugar water from the thermos and held it to Li Guorong's lips, "Drink it quickly, you're exhausted."
Li Guorong's nose tingled with emotion. At this time, brown sugar water was a luxury. She drank it all in one gulp and smiled, "So sweet."
Wu Cuihua instructed, "Guorong and Guolan go home to take care of their younger brother. Let the older brothers stay here and keep watch."
The eldest sister frowned, about to speak, but noticing Wu Cuihua's disapproving expression, she shut her mouth and took her younger sister home to pick up her younger brother.
Li Guorong remained silent. She needed to figure out how to earn the 25 yuan quickly.
At this point, the second brother said with dissatisfaction, "Let the eldest sister keep an eye on it. She's meticulous, and I can borrow money from someone when I get home."
Li Guorong said disdainfully, "Borrow from whom? From your bunch of cronies, they don't have a penny to their name, and they're always begging for money."
The second brother glared at Li Guorong with displeasure, "You..."
Wu Cuihua growled in a low voice, "Stop arguing. Your father is still lying in bed. How can you still be in the mood to argue? Just do as I say."
Li Guorong made a face at her second brother, secretly pleased to see his angry expression. He always looked down on her, but she thought he was just a bunch of scoundrels. An idea popped into her head: if it worked out, she might be able to earn 25 yuan quickly.
She pulled Li Guolan towards home, but instead of going to the neighbor's house to pick up her younger brother, she turned around, grabbed a basket, and prepared to take her older sister up the mountain.
The older sister asked, puzzled, "Why are we going up the mountain? My younger brother is still at the neighbor's house."
Li Guorong urged anxiously, "Come up the mountain with me quickly, maybe we can earn money to pay for Dad's medical treatment."
The older sister shook her head. "Mom told us to stay home and take care of the house and watch over my younger brother. I'm not going up the mountain."
Li Guorong tried to pull her older sister away, but they were several years apart in age, and she couldn't move Li Guolan. She said angrily, "You only care about your younger brother, don't you think about Dad?"
After saying that, she turned and ran. Li Guolan couldn't stop her in time, so she could only shout, "Come back after you've gathered some pig feed. Don't go into the deep mountains; there are wild boars and wolves there."
Li Guorong ran incredibly fast, her mind constantly echoing the story of her second brother from her previous life boasting about how his friend had earned his first fortune by digging for medicinal herbs in the mountains. She looked up at the vast mountains, pursed her lips tightly, and headed down as she ventured into the depths of the mountains.
The sun peeks out from the foot of the mountain, casting a mesmerizing golden glow. Morning mist hangs over the woods, as if concealing unknown creatures.
Li Guorong gripped his machete tightly. He would climb another 100 meters to reach the deep mountains, territory that even seasoned hunters dared not venture into lightly. Villagers said that there were wild boars as big as cars in the mountains, capable of piercing through three or four adults, as well as packs of wolves. It was said that a child from a neighboring village had been carried off by wolves and found with his internal organs completely devoured.
"Click!" Something darted through the shadows of the trees beside her, and Li Guorong's heart pounded. "Who?" she shouted.
A gray rabbit darted through the bushes.
It turned out to be a rabbit. She had scared herself. She calmed herself down and carefully recalled what her second brother had boasted about. It seemed that he had dug it up next to a century-old tree that had already rotted. Anyway, her second brother's cronies were just eating, drinking, and having fun while they were in charge of the money. This money should be earned by her.
"Snap!" Li Guorong continued walking forward. There were plenty of rabbits in the deep mountains. The rabbits on the outskirts had all been eaten by the people in the nearby villages. He could set some traps in the deep mountains in the future. Everything was good when he was young, except that there was no meat to eat. He was not used to it.
A strange, foul stench wafted over, like a latrine in the countryside in summer or rotting meat, lingering and persistent. She looked in the direction of the smell and saw a wolf!
The wolf hid under the tree, its body almost completely hidden by the grass, but it couldn't conceal the eerie green flames. Saliva dripped from the corner of its mouth. Once discovered, it didn't hesitate for a moment and pounced on Li Guorong like an arrow released from a bow.
Li Guorong took off running, her hair standing on end. A stench hit her back, and she instinctively dodged to the left. The wolf flew past her, and this time she saw its full appearance. Its fur was dirty and matted, its right hind leg was bent abnormally with white bone protruding and white maggots faintly visible. There was a huge scar running from its abdomen to its neck, and its ribs were clearly visible under its dried-up belly.
This is a lone wolf, driven from its pack. Pain, hunger, and the will to survive unleash a power beyond its physical limitations.
Li Guorong quickly ran into the left fork in the road. The woods here were denser and deeper, and the branches whipped at her, causing her pain all over her body. She could only grit her teeth and persevere. Fortunately, the dense branches also slowed down the wolf's speed.
"Huff, huff..." It was hard to tell whether it was her heavy breathing or the wolf behind her. She had reached her limit, and the wolf behind her was also panting heavily. Neither of them gave up.
She lunged at an ancient tree, desperately climbing upwards. The stench of its breath pressed against her backside. She unleashed her potential, using both hands and feet to leap to the junction of the tree trunk. The vicious wolf also pounced from a distance to help, but unfortunately, it had a crippled hind leg and could only rush up a short distance.
Li Guorong was panting heavily in the tree. The wolf below paced back and forth before lying down and pretending to sleep. Li Guorong looked at the sky; the sun was about to rise high in the sky, and the danger would be greater at night.
After a while, the wolf under the tree stood up, seemingly giving up, and slowly walked deeper into the mountains, occasionally looking back as if it was very reluctant to leave.
Li Guorong rested on the tree for a while, looking into the distance but did not see any trace of the fierce creature. Could it really be gone?
But a vague unease always lingered in my heart.
She used a machete to cut a small branch off the tree, and then, in a flash of inspiration, she cut off a long branch, tied it to the machete, wrapped her coat around the small branch, and threw it heavily to the ground.
A dark shadow rushed out of the bushes, tearing at the clothes. It tasted no blood or flesh, and the wolf spat out the clothes, howling as if filled with endless rage. It lost its mind and leaped on one hind leg, its front paws constantly hooking onto the trees, eventually climbing up the tree and getting closer and closer to Li Guorong.
Li Guorong's face turned pale, and she trembled all over. She gripped the machete tightly and swung it with all her might. It was as if a boulder was blocking the machete, so she swung it even harder. The machete was swung so wide that the tree trunk under her buttocks swayed slightly.
"Awooo!" The wolf cried out in pain and fell from the tree trunk. Its front legs were covered in blood. Like a lamb, it lay on the ground, waiting to be slaughtered. Its belly heaved violently, and only its hateful eyes were fixed on Li Guorong.
Li Guorong's chest heaved violently as she climbed behind a tree and slid down. The wolf, disregarding its own injuries, opened its mouth and tried to bite her with its severed limbs. Terrified, Li Guorong slashed the wolf's head with a knife.
She turned and ran away from the wolf; if it stood up, she wouldn't be able to beat it.
"Ahhhhhh"
Li Guorong was so focused on escaping that she didn't pay attention to her footing and slipped, sliding down the hillside. The fertile soil and grass there prevented her from getting hurt.
She opened her eyes. Even at noon, the temperature here was chilly. Looking up, the slope was on the shady side, and she estimated that it would take a lot of effort to climb it. She lay on the grass, too exhausted to move. There was tall grass all around, and under the grass grew small flowers that looked like wind chimes, as well as a few small blue-purple fruits. Li Guorong licked her dry lips.
Li Guorong suddenly opened her eyes wide. Flowers were growing under her armpits. Could it be? She quickly rolled over and dug deep into the dark brown soft soil with her hands.
The soil became more compact as she went deeper. Ignoring the pain in her fingers, Li Guorong touched something hard and dug away the soil around it, prying out a piece of root that looked like a piece of ginger or a chicken head. She held it under her nose and smelled it carefully; it had a refreshing bitterness and an earthy aroma.
"Hahaha..." She took out a machete and dug around with all her might. This thing looked exactly like the Solomon's Seal that her second brother's friend had shown her in her memory. Her father was saved.
She dug up several rhizomes, each slightly different, weighing about 10 kilograms. She placed some green grass on her small basket, then put the rhizomes on top. She couldn't help but pray, "God, please let me go down the mountain smoothly."
Li Guorong gripped the machete firmly in her hand. Returning to the wolf carcass might attract wild beasts, so she had to change direction and head down the mountain. She smeared her whole body with the juice of houttuynia cordata to prevent wild beasts from ambushing her, and ran wildly through the mountains with her basket on her back, faster and faster.
In the distance, wisps of smoke rise from chimneys, and at the end of the mountain path, a young boy and a big girl hold hands.
The little one raised her arms and shouted, "Sister, sister!"
Li Guorong's eyes lit up, and he rushed into his sister's arms like a swallow returning to its nest, his fear and anxiety dissipating.
The older sister said with a sob in her voice, "Where have you gone? If you don't come back soon, I'm going to ask the village chief to go into the mountains to look for you. Dad is in trouble at home, how can we live if something happens to you too?"
Li Guorong had no time to listen to complaints. He showed his basket and said, "I'm going to the town's supply and marketing cooperative to sell medicinal herbs. Don't wait for me to come back tonight." With that, he disappeared in a flash.
People came and went at the supply and marketing cooperative. Li Guorong carried a basket on his back and was covered in mud.
The sales clerks inside had their eyes on the sky and wouldn't even glance at her. Only those who looked like workers, with no patches on their clothes, would get a second look.
Li Guorong sneered inwardly, thinking that someone like this would be fired in the future, but she still had to put on a smiling face for the moment, "Sister, what is the purchase price of Polygonatum?"
The female clerk glanced at her and said, "Two yuan, wash it and weigh it."
Li Guorong frowned. She clearly remembered that her second brother said it was 8 yuan per catty, so how did it become 2 yuan?
The female staff member spoke again, "Give me the data collection certificate." Li Guorong looked up in confusion. What was a data collection certificate?
The waitress, seeing this, had no idea what was going on. Her eyebrows shot up. "Without a collection permit, you're engaging in speculation and profiteering!" The moment this accusation was uttered, the hall fell silent.
Li Guorong shouted, "I was just asking about the price. What are you saying, you old woman? I didn't sell anything. Do you look down on us villagers? What, is this capitalist behavior?" After saying that, he carried his basket and disappeared into the crowd like a mouse.
Li Guorong kept looking back. Fortunately, no one was chasing her, but the medicinal herbs... she pursed her lips tightly. She had risked her life to pick them, and now what was she going to do with them?
"Hey~" A greasy, affected male voice rang out from ahead.
Li Guorong was also knocked off balance and stumbled. She yelled, "Who's so blind?"
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