"Oh, Xiangdong knows how to cut grass for the pigs now." Aunt Niu, who had just finished work, was surprised to see Li Xiangdong carrying a child in front of him and a large basket on his back.
"Hehe, hehe," Li Xiangdong chuckled and hurried away.
This Aunt Niu is quite something; she also serves as the director of the Lijiapo Intelligence Center Committee. Her family is the hub for all sorts of gossip and insider information within a ten-mile radius. If she were to see what's in her basket, the entire Lijiapo would know within half an hour.
After walking for more than an hour, we arrived at Guangming Pharmaceutical Factory at around 1:30 pm. We found the gate closed and no one in the gatehouse. The old gatekeeper was nowhere to be seen.
Li Xiangdong unloaded the wicker basket and wiped the sweat from the face of the young woman, which was flushed red from the sun.
The midday sun was scorching, and the little girl's hair was sticking to her forehead from the heat. Li Xiangdong gently wiped her face with a handkerchief, and the little girl smiled cutely, her two big eyes curving into crescents, looking adorable.
After waiting for a long time, the old gatekeeper came back from outside, swaying back and forth.
Li Xiangdong offered him two more cigarettes as a token of respect before leading his sister and the thorn basket inside. "Uncle Yan, I brought the golden cicada skin. Please take a look."
Factory Director Yan looked at him in surprise, not expecting such high efficiency, bringing it today. "Where is it? Let me check its quality."
Li Xiangdong carefully removed the surface weeds, revealing a patch of golden cicada skin.
Factory Director Yan picked one up, smelled it, and then looked at it against the sunlight. "Hmm, not bad. Are they all like this?"
"They're all like this. Please check them carefully, and throw away any that are different."
"Okay, Xiao Wang, weigh it and check if there are any defective products."
"Okay!"
After Comrade Xiao Wang weighed it, it weighed a total of four jin and three liang, at ten yuan per jin, for a total of forty-three yuan.
Three black ten-yuan bills and three red one-yuan tractor bills were handed to him. Li Xiangdong was so excited that his heart was pounding and his hands were trembling. Even seeing 430,000 yuan in his previous life had not made him as excited as he was now.
"Thank you, Uncle Yan! Thank you, Brother Wang!" Li Xiangdong bowed deeply.
"Oh, don't be so polite," Factory Director Yan waved his hand. His eyes suddenly fell on Li Xiaomei, who was sucking on a "chicken drinking wine" flower. He paused for a moment, walked over to Xiaomei, squatted down, and said softly, "Little sister, may I show this flower to your uncle?"
"Here you go!" The young lady generously handed the entire "Chicken Drinking Wine" to Director Yan.
"Good girl!" Factory Director Yan affectionately touched the little girl's face, and the little girl giggled.
Li Xiangdong didn't know what Factory Director Yan meant, but his heart suddenly raced, and he had a gut feeling that this "chicken drinking wine" game was definitely not simple.
Factory Director Yan, carrying a "Little Chicken Drinking" plant with its flowers still intact and plump yellow stems, strode behind the counter. He then pulled out an old book with frayed edges and muttered to himself, "The flowers are like hanging bells, the corolla is purplish-red on the outside and golden-yellow on the inside, the leaves have serrated edges and pale purple down on the back, the stem has grayish-white down, and the stems are fleshy and thick, yellow when fresh..."
The flowers of the wild yellow clover are especially beautiful.
The root of Rehmannia glutinosa is also the actual medicinal part.
No one spoke in the room; everyone watched as Director Yan busied himself. "Xiao Wang, get a knife, and a basin of water, quick!"
Xiao Wang deftly brought over a knife and water, and Li Xiangdong quickly went over and took the basin of water from Xiao Wang's hands. Xiao Wang smiled at Li Xiangdong, thinking, "This kid has a good eye."
Factory Director Yan, with a somewhat serious expression, took a knife and cut off a piece of yellow rootstock, the side of which was white. He threw the cut rootstock into a basin of water, where it slowly sank.
"Hahaha, it really is Rehmannia glutinosa."
"Emperor? Rehmannia?! Liuwei Dihuang Pills?" Li Xiangdong asked.
"That's right!" Director Yan said excitedly. "Rehmannia glutinosa was first recorded in the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. It is one of the four famous Chinese medicinal herbs. In ancient times, it was used as a tribute to the Yellow Emperor. The Compendium of Materia Medica says that the floating one is called Tianhuang, the half-floating and half-sinking one is called Renhuang, and the sinking one is called Dihuang. When it is used in medicine, the sinking one is the best. Look, this half of such a light root is sinking to the bottom of the water. It is definitely Dihuang."
Li Xiangdong's heart was pounding as he cautiously asked, "Uncle Yan, would you buy this Rehmannia glutinosa?"
"Hahaha, I'll take it! Of course I'll take it! We've never seen Rehmannia glutinosa like this before in Huichuan County. Where did you find it?"
“It’s right by the big river in our village. We usually pick its flowers to eat as a snack. They’re sweet,” Li Xiangdong said without any hesitation.
"You've given me the address, aren't you afraid I'll dig it up myself and not make any money?" Factory Director Yan asked Li Xiangdong with great interest.
“Uncle, you’ve been so good to me, how could I lie to you? Besides, if you wanted to dig it up yourself, you wouldn’t have said these things to me. Even if I knew now that Rehmannia could be exchanged for money, I would have told you if you had asked me.”
"Haha, good boy. This is top-quality wild rehmannia. Judging by the thickness of the root, it's at least ten years old. Go dig some up, fresh rehmannia is only five cents a pound."
"Great!" Li Xiangdong exclaimed with delight. Although the price of Rehmannia glutinosa is low, fresh Rehmannia glutinosa is very heavy.
"Let me give you a piece of advice: don't dig them all up at once. Don't dig up the small ones. Wait until the Rehmannia glutinosa flowers and produces seeds, and new Rehmannia glutinosa will grow. Only in this way can we have a continuous supply of wild Rehmannia glutinosa to dig up."
“Uncle Yan, I know. This is called protecting while digging, and protecting while digging. We can’t exhaust the resources.”
"Hmm? Hmm! That's right!" Factory Director Yan was surprised that a teenager from the countryside could say something so philosophical. Of course, compared to Li Xiangdong, who had lived for over seventy years across two generations, this principle couldn't be simpler.
With money and a new mission in hand, Li Xiangdong placed his younger sister in a wicker basket and left Guangming Pharmaceutical Factory, expressing his deepest gratitude.
A short while later, Li Xiangdong returned, handing a box of Golden Leaf pastries and a packet of walnut shortbread to Director Yan, and a packet of honey-glazed pastries to Xiao Wang.
"Uncle Yan, I have another favor to ask. May I take your book home and take a look? I'd like to see if there are any other medicinal herbs in the wild," Li Xiangdong said apologetically.
"That book is almost worn out from reading it so many times. Xiao Wang, go to the warehouse and get a new copy of the 'Chinese Herbal Medicine Compendium' for Xiang Dong." Looking at the golden leaves and walnut crisps, Director Yan thought this was truly a very grateful and kind child.
Holding the "Compendium of Chinese Herbal Medicine," Li Xiangdong calculated his assets: a box of Golden Leaf tea cost 30 cents, a bag of walnut crisps weighed 1 jin (500 grams) and cost 80 cents, while the honey-glazed pastries cost 1 yuan per jin. The bag he had just bought weighed 8 liang (400 grams), totaling 80 cents. His income was 43 yuan. After deducting the 1.9 yuan spent on gifts, he paid Li Guoqing and the others a total of 18.9 yuan for their wages. His net income from the Golden Cicada Skin was 22.2 yuan!
It's incredibly profitable! Originally, Li Xiangdong thought the quantity of cicada molts was fixed and could only last for about ten days. Who knew that a golden treasure would fall from the sky? The inconspicuous "chicken drinking wine" was actually precious wild rehmannia!
My little sister is such a lucky star. If it weren't for trying to please her, we wouldn't have had this opportunity today.
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