Chen Xichun didn't stop for the entire day, except for a short time at noon when he went home and cooked some wild vegetables.
After digging for three days, they finally collected a certain amount.
Fortunately, she had dug these medicinal herbs before and knew how to process them. The sun was strong, so she finished in two days.
These past few days, she's been eating leafy greens every day, and it seems like she's turned completely green.
Today she plans to take all the prepared medicinal herbs to town to sell, but she hasn't left the village for several years, and all she knows about the town is from her friends in the village.
"Xichun, where are you going?" Aunt Zhang, who lives next door, asked curiously when she saw that Xichun was carrying a basket on her back and did not seem to be going up the mountain.
They were quite surprised that this girl could hold out for so many days and be so stubborn as not to go to the Ma family. She had even told her husband that she never expected this girl to have such a stubborn temper.
"Aunt Zhang, I'm going to town to take a look." Xi Chun smiled and explained when she saw that it was her, the person who had spoken up for her before.
"Oh, wait a minute, I'm going to town too. You've never been before, have you? Perfect, I'll take you there once, then you'll know the way."
Aunt Zhang soon came out carrying a basket full of eggs. They usually couldn't bear to eat them themselves, but instead saved up a certain number to sell in town.
Xichun was also worried about how to find the town, but now she doesn't have to worry anymore. However, she still needs to keep what she wants to sell a secret, after all, it can be exchanged for life-saving food, and she doesn't have that kind of ambition.
What are you doing in town?
"I dug up some wild vegetables myself, hoping to see if anyone would want them. If so, I could exchange them for some coarse grains."
Chen Xichun spoke frankly, after all, everyone in the village knew about her current situation. And she did indeed dig up some fresh wild vegetables as a pretext; if she couldn't sell them, she could just take them home and eat them herself.
"Oh, you silly child, nobody likes wild vegetables. They're everywhere in the fields. But I really forgot about them. I still have beans at home. I'll get you some when I get back. It's hard to eat wild vegetables every day."
"Thank you, Aunt Zhang, but I will earn my own money. I can't rely on the villagers to support me forever. I want to earn my own money too."
“You’re a tough girl, but these days, your family doesn’t even own a piece of land. What can you eat? A girl like you can’t find work. Don’t be stubborn. I’ll scoop you a bowl when we get back. It’ll be enough for a few meals.”
Aunt Zhang made the decision without any explanation, which made Xichun feel somewhat embarrassed.
The two chatted casually and soon arrived in town. Xichun calculated that it must have taken about an hour to walk there.
Aunt Zhang had a regular place to sell eggs, but Xichun made an excuse that she wanted to try other places, and that's how they parted ways.
Xi Chun wandered around the streets for a while before finally finding a Baicaotang (Hundred Herbs Hall) with its name written in traditional Chinese characters.
"Young man, I'd like to ask if you buy medicinal herbs here?" Xi Chun went inside and found that there was only one shop assistant dozing off in front of the counter, so he had no choice but to wake him up.
"You little brat, get out of here and stop causing trouble." The shop assistant was having a sweet dream when Chen Xichun interrupted him at the crucial moment. Judging from her appearance, she didn't seem to be there to buy medicine, so he wanted to kick her out.
"I'm not here to cause trouble, I'm here to sell medicinal herbs. I wonder if you buy them here?"
Xi Chun thought that many pharmacies are chains, and they have their own dedicated supply channels, so they won't accept loose medicinal herbs. Today, she came to test the waters of this pharmacy.
"Oh, don't talk big. You, a girl, can you even make medicinal herbs? Let me see?" The shopkeeper asked with some curiosity, seeing her determined expression.
"Look, isn't this Paris polyphylla? Isn't this Pinellia ternata? And this is a chrysanthemum I picked."
She took out a little of each and showed it to the waiter in front of her. At first, the waiter thought she was just talking casually out of boredom, but little did he know that her varieties looked just like the ones Dr. Xu made.
"You, you wait here, I'll go to the backyard to find our doctor." Chen Xichun watched the servant lift the curtain and enter the backyard, and couldn't help but feel fortunate that the servant was a good person, otherwise things might have been very difficult.
"Are you the little girl who came to sell medicinal herbs?" A middle-aged man came out after a short while and stared at Chen Xichun.
"Hello doctor, I'm here to sell medicinal herbs. Do you buy them here?"
"Of course we accept them. How many do you have? If it's just one or two, we can't really calculate the price," Doctor Xu said seriously, noticing the somewhat refined tone in her voice.
"Of course, everything I brought is here. Please see if it meets your requirements."
"Hmm, not bad. This was made by your family, right? The quality is quite good. Paris polyphylla is more expensive; we buy it for 300 wen per jin. Pinellia ternata is cheaper, 50 wen per jin. As for chrysanthemums, we also source them ourselves, so we'll charge you 30 wen per jin."
Dr. Xu only looked at her after quoting the price.
"Okay, let's go with this price. Please weigh it for me." She didn't have a scale at home and was just estimating the weight.
I never imagined that Paris polyphylla would have such a high market value. I wish I could encounter more of it, but unfortunately, I'm not always so lucky.
"You have two catties of Paris polyphylla, three catties of Pinellia ternata, and eight catties of chrysanthemum. That comes to a total of nine hundred and ninety coins. Poria cocos, check please." Poria cocos was referring to the waiter.
Doctor Xu immediately calculated the price, and Xichun did the math in her head and confirmed that it was indeed that amount.
"Thank you, doctor. By the way, if I find any other medicinal herbs later, could I bring them over?"
"Of course, but it depends on the quality. We'll take everything except plantain." Although plantain is a medicinal herb, it's indeed too abundant.
"Do you accept dandelions and violets?"
"I'll accept them all," Dr. Xu told her the prices again.
"Thank you, doctor. If I find any more, I'll definitely bring them over." She was overjoyed; this brought in nearly a thousand coins, meaning she wouldn't have to eat wild vegetables every day anymore.
To express her gratitude, Chen Xichun gave them half of the wild vegetables she had brought, which were the tenderest parts she had carefully selected.
With only half a basket of wild vegetables left, Chen Xichun decided to go out and try his luck. Medicinal herbs aren't something you can dig up every day, and even a mosquito bite is still a bite. Now is a time when money is tight, so he wants to grab as many wild vegetables and medicinal herbs as possible.
She carried wild vegetables and called out in the street for a while, but no one paid any attention to her. Many people thought the wild vegetables were not tasty, so they looked at them and shook their heads.
She found the place where Aunt Zhang was selling eggs, and saw her still haggling with someone.
"Xichun, your basket looks empty. Could it be that someone is actually buying these wild vegetables?" Aunt Zhang was surprised to see Xichun's basket after she had finally sold all her eggs.
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