Xie Yushu then looked at Xie Tianqi and the Liu brothers. Xie Tianqi's digging was similar to Xie Yushu's.
Xie Yushu was worried that he would get tired and told him to take a rest, but he refused.
Fortunately, the Xie family will still be coming tomorrow, so we can dig up more and take it back with us!
Xie Yushu felt quite sorry for Xie Tianqi. He was only fourteen years old, which would be equivalent to a junior high school student in modern times. Yet, he was already thinking about how to make a living for his family. Perhaps this is what happens when children from poor families mature early!
Wasn't the original owner also like that? At only fifteen, there was no chore she couldn't handle, whether it was housework or other chores!
The original owner's eldest brother, Xie Tianlin, was seventeen years old. Just like an adult, he did all the heavy and tiring work at home with his father every day.
This is probably the tragedy of not being born in a prosperous era!
Let's take a look at the Liu brothers. They've already dug up three large bundles, each as big as two of Xie Yushu's bundles!
In the original owner's memories, Liu Qiang was only nineteen years old. The second son of the Liu family joined the army and died in battle. The third son, Liu Nan, and the fourth son, Liu Bei, were twins, sixteen years old. The fifth son, Liu Dong, was thirteen, the one who fought with Xie Tianqi.
There are four or five younger brothers below him, the youngest of whom is only six years old!
I heard that Old Man Liu also served in the army for several years and lost an arm on the battlefield!
The family had only about ten acres of land. The grain they grew was barely enough to pay taxes and even make porridge. The whole family depended on Liu Qiang, Liu Nan, and Liu Bei. But in this era, there were no convenient conditions like in later generations. They couldn't even find a place to do any work!
Lacking any skills or connections, the only way they could think of to avoid starving was to find their fellow villagers in Xiong Township!
Objectively speaking, they didn't do anything despicable like stealing chickens, killing people, or arson. At most, they would stop Zhang Fulai and Wang Jinbao and ask them for food! Sometimes they would even force them to buy some wild game!
Of course, both of them were wealthy; one was a rich man in the village, and the other was the son of a landlord!
But these two ordinary families are not to be trifled with, yet these brothers specifically chose to coerce and bribe them! These two aren't short of money, and they're also greedy, so they fall for their tricks! Over time, it can be said that one is willing to hit and the other is willing to be hit!
However, the Liu brothers' reputation for being domineering and tyrannical gradually spread!
The original owner was also afraid of the Liu brothers, but after Xie Yushu interacted with them for the past two days, she felt that the brothers were harmonious, efficient, and reasonable. They did not seem to be as domineering and tyrannical as the rumors suggested!
It's just that we're forced to do this because of life's hardships!
Seeing that they were digging hard, Xie Yushu didn't disturb them. Since there were many people in their family and many people would be coming tomorrow, it would be better for them to dig more!
"I'll go look for some medicinal herbs around here; they might be able to heal Xiao Yi's leg! You start digging them yourself, and if I'm not back by then, make sure you get the yams back to camp before dark! I'm going straight back to camp; don't look for me!"
"Oh? My brother-in-law's leg can be cured? Okay! Then go quickly! Come back soon!"
Xie Tianqi already felt guilty for marrying a cripple so that her whole family could survive, so she was very happy to hear that Xiao Yi's leg could be restored.
"knew!"
After giving her instructions to Xie Tianqi, Xie Yushu picked up her basket and left.
There are quite a few medicinal herbs in these deep mountains and forests, but the leaves have all fallen due to drought and are withered and yellow, so they are not easy to find. Xie Yushu had to carefully examine the leaves on the ground or make a rough judgment on what kind of medicinal herbs are suitable for growth based on the soil and environment.
The most common herbs were those that cleared heat and detoxified, and promoted blood circulation and removed blood stasis, such as carnations, isatis root, motherwort, and notoginseng. These were readily available outside, so Xie Yushu didn't step on them at all until she came across Dendrobium officinale, at which point she started stepping on them seriously!
Xie Yushu guessed that Xiao Yi's leg injury was likely beyond the help of traditional Chinese medicine, probably involving a broken bone or tendon, which would most likely require surgery. However, she didn't have scalpels or hemostats, and crafting a set of surgical instruments would probably be expensive. Her main task this time was to find some valuable medicinal herbs!
Indeed, money is the key to solving problems!
Dendrobium officinale benefits the lungs and generates fluids, nourishes yin and clears heat. It enters the stomach and kidney meridians and is an excellent medicine for treating febrile diseases with fluid depletion, stomach yin deficiency, yin deficiency with fire excess, bone steaming fever, and weakness of muscles and bones.
In my past life, wild Dendrobium officinale that was over five years old cost about 1,500 yuan per kilogram.
She didn't know how much it cost, because the original owner's maternal grandfather only treated ordinary people, and those who needed treatment for this symptom were given other cheaper medicines with similar effects!
But good things are good everywhere, and this piece of Dendrobium officinale is of excellent quality, looking to be over ten years old, so she felt the price wouldn't be too low.
It took half an hour to pick all the dendrobiums, filling a small half-basket. It weighed about twenty or thirty pounds. Xie Yushu was very satisfied; it was worth all the hard work she had put in under the scorching sun!
Looking at the sun, Xie Yushu estimated it was around 3 PM. She rested for a while, ate a piece of roasted meat, drank some water, and then began a new journey.
Actually, she didn't have any specific goal; she just wandered aimlessly in the mountains. The mountains were too vast, and no one could predict where any medicinal herbs would grow! Finding anything depended entirely on luck!
After wandering around for another two hours, they came across a beehive, which was bigger than a watermelon and weighed about six or seven pounds. All the bees had left, but the honey was still there. Xie Yushu picked it without hesitation. She could eat honey without getting stung, just like getting it for free!
Xie Yushu couldn't wait to cut off a small piece and eat it. It was fragrant and sweet, and very delicious. She felt like she had come back to life after being exhausted!
Looking at the sky, it was about 5 p.m., so I decided to rest for a while and then go back to the camp!
Looking around, I chose to rest on a rock under a big tree. As soon as I sat down, I was busy fanning myself to cool off, but after a while, I could faintly smell a stench, like the smell of rotting animal flesh. It was just faint and not obvious.
They're usually things that die of thirst! I looked around but didn't see any animal carcasses. Oh well, I'll just go somewhere else!
As Xie Yushu got up and bent down to pick up her basket, the smell became even stronger, making her frown. When she looked up, she saw that there was a round hole about the size of a thigh under the rock, but it was hidden by a patch of withered yellow weeds, which was why she hadn't seen it before!
Could some animal have died in the burrow? The burrow opening is so thick; it should be something like a pangolin's! But for some reason, she felt it was a snake's den, yet she doubted that there would be snakes that thick in the north!
Xie Yushu was terrified of snakes. Yesterday, she had no choice but to fetch water. She wanted to avoid seeing snakes if possible. So she suppressed her suspicions, picked up her basket, and left!
But after taking a few steps, she stopped. A snake this big—even smaller snakes could find water there. There was no reason for such a large snake to die of thirst in its burrow! A thought flashed through Xie Yushu's mind like lightning.
"Rare treasures are always guarded by exotic beasts!"
Could there be treasure nearby?
Whew! My heart is beating so fast!
Xie Yushu gritted her teeth and went back, determined to take the plunge! She was going to gamble!
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