Chapter 23: No Idle Grass in the Mountains (Three Thousand Chapters)
Zhou Huaian went to the woodshed and found two bamboos that were more than one meter long and twice as thick as his thumb. He walked to the door and handed one to Yang Chunyan with a fierce look on his face, "Take it."
The weather is getting warmer, and there are many snakes and insects on the mountain. Bring a bamboo pole with you to the mountain and beat the grass to drive them away.
Seeing his awkward look, Yang Chunyan felt amused. She took the bamboo pole, put on a straw hat, put on her backpack and hoe, and walked towards the gate of the yard.
"Chunyan," Zhou's mother shouted as she ran out and handed Yang Chunyan a small paper bag. "There is still some realgar at home. Take it with you."
"Thank you, Mom!" Yang Chunyan took it, "We won't be back for lunch, so don't leave any food for us."
"Okay." Mother Zhou glanced at Zhou Huaian and said, "Youngest, you are not a three-year-old child anymore. You are a grown man in your twenties. It's time for you to shoulder the burden of the family."
"I know. I think about it every day. Even if you're not annoyed, I'm annoyed." Zhou Huaian took Yang Chunyan and left.
Mother Zhou waved her hands angrily, "I get annoyed when I see you. I ate three bowls of ghost meat, but I can't stand seeing your ghostly appearance! Debt collector, I don't know how much I owed you in my previous life?"
Yang Chunyan and the other person left the house. Zhou Huaian turned and looked at her, "Where are you going?"
Yang Chunyan knew which places in the mountains grew Polygonatum sibiricum, which places grew Paris polyphylla, and where Panax notoginseng and Gastrodia elata liked to grow. Unfortunately, she was unlucky in her previous life, so even if she found any, they were only a few here and there.
The best time for her was when she climbed over two ridges in the back mountain and found twenty or thirty Magnolia officinalis trees halfway up the ridge.
This was the time to harvest Magnolia officinalis, and she wanted to go there to see if it was the same as in her previous life?
Yang Chunyan said: "Let's go to the back mountain to take a look."
It's far from the village and there are more good herbs there. It's the first time for the two of them to pick herbs. If they find good herbs and sell them at a good price, it will also better arouse Zhou Huaian's interest.
"It's up to you." Zhou Huaian turned left and walked towards the foot of the mountain behind the house.
When Yang Chunyan was alone in her previous life, her favorite thing was to carry a basket on her back and go up the mountain to dig herbs.
If she could pick a hard-to-find herb, she would be happy for a long time.
It feels like going out treasure hunting, because you don’t know what valuable herbs you may find in the next second?
When I’m in a bad mood, I’ll carry my backpack and go into the mountains to have a look. When I’m in a good mood, I’ll also carry my backpack and go into the mountains to have a look…
It’s just that everyone has their own luck in the mountains, and in her previous life, she was a person with particularly bad luck in the mountains.
The sisters-in-law went up the mountain to pick mushrooms together. Where she passed, others would pick matsutake mushrooms and chicken mushrooms...but she could only pick a few beef livers at most...
The two turned around and walked for four or five minutes before arriving at the back of the house. The foot of the mountain was about ten meters away from the old house. There was a clump of banana trees behind the house, but the bananas hanging on the trees were not the usual kind.
It is a local variety. The shape of the fruit is a bit like the imperial banana, with a short and thin skin. It tastes sticky and sweet. Locals also call it millet banana.
There are herbs everywhere in front of and behind the house, including leaves under the pearl, golden silk grass, ground ivy, and the ginseng with light purple flowers...
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Yang Chunyan pointed to a plant called Scutellaria barbata with small purple flowers blooming by the edge of the field and said, "Huaian, this herb is called Scutellaria barbata, and it can cool the blood and detoxify, relieve blood stasis and relieve pain, reduce swelling, and clear away heat and dampness. If you pick it and carry it back to the county town, you can probably sell it for a few cents per pound."
Zhou Huaian took a look and said, "This is a mountain-driving whip. Don't treat wild grass as medicinal herbs. It will be troublesome if you dig it up and eat dead people."
"The mountain whip is also called half-branch lotus. Don't worry, I have picked it with my old man and I won't make a mistake. Huai'an, you have a good memory, remember it well, and you will recognize it in the future."
"Everyone knows the Mountain-Driving Whip. Is there any need to remember it?" Zhou Huaian said this, and suddenly remembered that he was still angry. "I don't want to remember it." He rolled his eyes at her and climbed up the mountain.
Childish! Yang Chunyan shook her head and followed.
Zhou Huaian walked a few steps and was worried that she couldn't keep up, so he turned his head from time to time and said, "Hurry up, Xiaolin walks faster than you."
Yang Chunyan was both angry and amused. He was in his twenties but still so awkward, like a child who had not grown up.
The 30-plus acres of land on the mountain belonged to the Zhou family. After the land was divided, Zhou's father took them to dig up the land and planted a lot of rapeseed, soybeans, corn, sorghum, taro, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. For the places that could not be dug up in time, they dug holes and planted some peppers and fruit trees.
Further up, there are many small shrubs growing on the hillside. After a few days of vacation, all the edible wild fruits have been picked by the children.
In another ten years, the whole mountain was reclaimed by the villagers and planted with fruit trees, and her family had the least amount of barren mountain reclaimed...
On the hill to the east, you can still see villagers clearing land on the mountain.
The mountains in the Ning'an area are high but not steep, and the mountains rise slowly and continuously.
The two men walked through waist-deep corn fields, and herbs such as ginseng, ground ivy, plantain, and dandelion could be seen everywhere on the mountain path.
After climbing up a ridge, the vegetation on the mountain became lush.
Not long after walking downhill, Yang Chunyan found a lot of motherwort on the hillside. Perhaps because there had not been much rain during this period, the plants were not growing very lush.
Motherwort looks somewhat similar to mugwort, but its leaves are not as big as mugwort. Some of them have white flowers, while others have pink to light purple petals. It is said that motherwort with pink flowers is more effective, and in some places it is also called red flower mugwort.
The flowers of motherwort extend upwards one section at a time, and the locals call it mugwort.
Some places call it Jiujiecao. It is a plant that can be used as both food and medicine, and is also a Chinese herbal medicine commonly used in pharmacies.
Motherwort: It tastes bitter and cool. It has the effects of removing blood stasis, regulating menstruation, eliminating water, and treating irregular menstruation in women. It is also a commonly used medicine for women.
Yang Chunyan estimated that this patch might weigh 70 to 80 kilograms, and said to Zhou Huaian: "Huaian, these are all motherwort."
Seeing that the herbs she found were all common weeds found on the edge of fields and roadsides, Zhou Huaian looked at her with suspicion, "They are all weeds. Can weeds be sold for money?"
He thought that Yang Chunyan came to pick the magical herbs such as ginseng and ganoderma lucidum mentioned in the book.
How much can these weeds sell for?
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "There is no idle grass in the mountains, and knowing it is a treasure. In fact, many wild grasses are medicinal herbs, but we just don't know them.
Although one pound of rice can only fetch a few cents, it is better to accumulate a little bit than to be penniless and have to ask mom and dad for money for every penny. "
"You're the boss, if you say yes, then do it!"
As long as you can make money, just do it!
The two men put down their baskets, took out their sickles and started harvesting.
Yang Chunyan cut a handful and then reminded him, "Huaian, keep the seedlings. Cut those with lush stems and leaves. It's best when the flowers are just two-thirds open."
"Stop nagging, are you annoying?" Zhou Huaian yelled impatiently.
Yang Chunyan cut a handful of grass and turned to see how slow he was. "Hurry up! An 80-year-old woman is more skillful than you!"
"Besides, I won't cut it."
"It's a problem. If you don't cut it, go back."
Zhou Huaian: “…” Stupid woman, you can’t even say a nice word.
Seeing that Yang Chunyan didn't even look at him and was just working hard, Zhou Huaian felt embarrassed to continue slacking off, "You see, I'm working at full speed, you can't catch up with me."
After saying that, he picked up the sickle and started cutting.
"Awesome!" Yang Chunyan looked back and gave him a thumbs up.
After receiving the praise, Zhou Huaian worked even harder.
The two of them worked together and soon cut down all the motherwort.
Zhou Huaian wiped his sweat and sat down on the ground, "Damn, it's hot and tiring!"
Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes at him and said, "Not only does he not have the young master's life, but he also has the young master's disease. Go and see Old Man Ha and my brothers!"
Zhou Huaian narrowed his eyes, "Yan'er, I noticed something is wrong with you. Your mouth is faster than a sickle."
Yang Chunyan curled her lips, "You are the one with the shiny horse shit on your face!"
"If I don't get naked, how can I win your heart!" Zhou Huaian grinned at her, "Didn't you agree to it because I look fair and tender, as handsome as Pan An?"
Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes and said, "I admit that I was wrong. You shouldn't judge people by appearance alone."
Zhou Huaian nudged her, took the motherwort from her, and gave her a wicked smile, "Wife, other people don't know my inner feelings, but you don't!"
"Get out~" Yang Chunyan slapped him and found a rock to sit on.
Zhou Huaian glanced at her sideways, "Tsk tsk, I find that women are obedient when they are girls, but their true colors are revealed after marriage, and the kitten turns into a tigress!"
"Some people rush to do everything before they get married, but become lazy once they get married!" Yang Chunyan said, then picked up the bamboo tube and took a sip.
"Forget it. I'm a grown man and I won't bother with you." Zhou Huaian gathered the motherwort and turned around to shout, "Yan'er, go over there and clean up under the shade of the tree."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan walked under the tree, sat down with the sack as a cushion, and began to pick up the motherwort. "Huaian, after I sell the money, I want to buy two medicine hoes. Hoes are too heavy and inconvenient to carry."
"If you want to buy it, just buy it!" Zhou Huaian brought all the motherwort over and sat down next to her.
"Why are you squeezing? It's so hot, why don't you sit over there?"
"I won't. I want to sit next to my wife!" Zhou Huaian said as he picked up a stalk of motherwort and picked off the dead leaves and weeds on it and put them away. "How much can these be sold for per pound after drying?"
Yang Chunyan moved away a little, thought for a moment, and found that she couldn't remember either. She estimated and said, "The wet ones can probably be sold for 5 or 6 cents a pound, and the dry ones can probably be sold for 2 or 3 cents, right?"
Zhou Huaian thought about this huge pile. If he could sell it for three or four dollars, his 20% would be six or seven cents. He suddenly thought that digging herbs and selling them was better than farming. "Yan'er, let's find more. If we get enough, we can sell Ning'an."
"It's still hard to find such a large area. Let's find some other herbs to put together. If there are too many, we can go to the county town."
"Then can you give me 20 cents first? I don't have any money left to buy cigarettes."
Yang Chunyan looked up at Zhou Huaian who was looking at her with a smile, and nodded gently, "I heard that smoking too much is not good, you should smoke less."
"Tsk, you're the one who's in trouble. Look at my grandfather. He started smoking leaf tobacco when he was a teenager. Now he's over 70 years old. Except for his eyes, everything else is fine."
Zhou Huaian said this and when he saw that there was no one around, he suddenly leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "Yan'er, please don't let me sleep alone tonight!"
"What are you thinking about in broad daylight!" Yang Chunyan glared at him, "Hurry up and put the motherwort in the backpack."
This person is really like that. He shines brightly when given some sunshine and wants to lay eggs when given a nest.
"I have to think about it. She's my own wife, why shouldn't I think about her!" Zhou Huaian muttered as he got up, picked up the motherwort with a sullen face and stuffed it into his backpack.
Yang Chunyan didn't bother to pay attention to him. She picked up half of the motherwort and put it in her backpack. The two of them continued to move forward with the herbs on their backs.
On the way up the mountain, Yang Chunyan dug some wild patchouli and Houttuynia cordata and put them in the backpack.
Houttuynia cordata, also known as fish mint, is also a traditional Chinese medicine. It is mainly used to clear away heat and detoxify, reduce swelling and discharge pus, and promote diuresis and relieve stranguria.
It can also treat heat dysentery and can be used as a food. It is usually eaten cold or stewed with mung beans and small intestines.
As they walked, the two dug up more and more herbs, and their backpacks became heavier and heavier.
(End of this chapter)
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