Everyone's eyes lit up as they looked at what the little girl was saying. Perhaps not many of them truly understood what she was saying, but they knew that these things could be sold for money.
Everyone listened intently as the little girl taught them how to dig out kudzu roots.
Several strong young men used machetes to cut through the kudzu vines, trying to find the main root below. It was a rather strenuous and patient task.
Looking at the vines covering the mountainside, the group needed to find the root system within this vast expanse of vines.
The old kudzu vine is very sturdy, and it is completely free from stress when suspended in the air.
Basically, every time someone made a cut, they would jump, causing everyone's arms to ache.
But the thought that these were medicinal herbs that could be sold for money made everyone more motivated.
To support the nutrients of so many vines, kudzu roots always grow quite deep, and the gravelly loess soil here makes digging even more difficult.
Soon, fresh kudzu roots were dug up.
Su Muyao watched from the side, gazing at the piles of kudzu roots on the ground, which weighed three to five hundred pounds.
I remember my college roommate once said that back then, rural areas were poor and children didn't have many snacks to eat.
They simply dig up the kudzu root, peel off the outer skin, and eat it.
It tastes a bit bitter at first, but becomes sweeter the more you chew. It's mainly for quenching thirst and is one of the few snacks that kids can enjoy.
I grabbed one, tore off the outer skin, and put it in my mouth.
When Su Sanlang turned around again, his little daughter was already munching away.
Seeing how much Xiao Fubao was eating, the villagers all wanted to try some too.
Soon, a large area of this place was dug out.
Everyone was at a loss, looking at the hundreds of kilograms of kudzu root on the ground.
Just as Su Muyao was about to lead everyone to find some more herbs before heading back, an old woman asked timidly.
"Little Lucky Star, this can really be sold for money! It looks just like an ordinary old tree root, and although it tastes a little sweet, is it really a medicinal herb?"
They all know that some grasses actually have sweet roots and stems.
A young man standing nearby looked at the village chief and asked, "Uncle Village Chief, look how much we've already produced. Why don't we have everyone take it to the town pharmacy to check if it's medicinal material? Otherwise, we can't let everyone's efforts go to waste, right?"
The village chief was aware of everyone's concerns, so he abandoned his work at home and came to the mountain to identify medicinal herbs. However, he ended up digging up a lot of uncertain things, so it was understandable that he had some concerns.
After all, in their understanding, herbs are valued for their rarity, and this situation completely overturned their understanding—where are there any herbs that can be dug up in quantities of several hundred kilograms?
After descending the mountain, everyone tied all the kudzu roots onto the flatbed cart.
The village chief was at a loss when he saw this group of people all heading to the town together.
"Listen to me, everyone. We can't have so many people going together. How about this, we can choose six or seven people to go together?"
"Village Chief, I'll go, I know how to bargain."
"Village chief, I can do it."
Seeing that everyone wanted to go, the old village chief couldn't really come to a conclusion in a short time.
He pointed directly at the crowd and selected a few people.
“Dazhuang, Tiezhu’s father, Su’s third son, Liu’s family, you guys come out together, and you too, you all come together.”
Immediately afterwards, the group pushed the cart toward the town.
Su Muyao clung to her father's leg and refused to get down.
"Father, will you take me there? I've never been to the county before, please take me there."
Su Laosan couldn't persuade his daughter otherwise, so in the end, Su Muyao sat leisurely on top of the kudzu root.
Su Laosan was standing nearby, afraid that his daughter would fall from above, and his eyes were practically glued to his little girl the whole time.
Upon arriving in the town, looking at the unusually bustling streets, I thought, "So this is what it looked like in ancient times."
Su Sanlang didn't hear clearly what his daughter said.
"Sweetie, what did you say? Are you calling me?"
"No, no, Dad, I just said it looks lively here."
After entering the city gate, they found that the people inside were no longer like those outside the city, dressed in tattered clothes.
Although most of them weren't dressed very well, they weren't patched up one after another. In fact, you could see quite a few men in fancy clothes strolling around in the crowd.
First, we arrived at a small clinic.
Judging from the small size of the clinic, it's unlikely she could consume so much kudzu root.
"Father, let's go to a slightly larger clinic. This one looks too small; it probably won't need this much kudzu root."
“Okay, I remember there’s a Renyitang clinic on West Street. The head of the clinic there is very kind. Whenever commoners go there to get medicine, she always substitutes them with cheaper medicines, but the effect is the same. It’s a clinic that every farming family loves to go to.”
Soon, the group arrived at the clinic.
The workers inside, seeing this, assumed it was someone causing trouble and immediately reported it to their manager, Zhang.
"Shopkeeper, shopkeeper, something terrible has happened! There are about ten burly men outside, and they don't look like they're here with any good intentions. What should we do?"
The old doctor frowned, thinking that he had been kind to everyone in his life and had hardly offended anyone, so why would someone come knocking on his door?
"Please prepare this medicine for the patient here, I'll go over and take a look."
The old doctor only realized when he got to the door that it wasn't some burly man coming to cause trouble at all.
This truckload of kudzu roots is here; they must have come to sell medicinal herbs.
"Shopkeeper, you can buy medicinal herbs here."
The old shopkeeper glanced at the man who had spoken, then at the kudzu roots on the back cart.
He nodded. "I accepted."
The villagers behind him finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The group went from feeling uneasy to feeling extremely excited.
The old shopkeeper continued, "I won't hide it from you, but our kudzu root costs six copper coins per pound when we buy it from outside."
However, since you cannot provide us with herbs indefinitely, we can only give you five coins.
Several villagers stared wide-eyed upon hearing this.
Six coins a pound! Good heavens, that's equivalent to so much grain!
Upon hearing this, Su Muyao said to the old shopkeeper, "Uncle Shopkeeper, we can send you other herbs if we have any in the future."
And look, ours is the freshest. When someone else delivers it to you, it takes many days for it to arrive."
The old shopkeeper listened to the voice but couldn't see anyone. Finally, after looking around several times, he spotted the little dumpling standing to the side.
She looks only about a year old, but she's surprisingly articulate.
The old shopkeeper asked the man next to the child, "Is this your little girl?"
Su Sanlang quickly bowed and replied, "She's my little girl, she just turned one year old this year."
The old shopkeeper nodded. "Not bad, not bad, you're quite clever. Since you've said so, I'll charge you six coins."
Su Muyao immediately cheered, "Yay! Uncle Shopkeeper is so kind. We'll come back to you again if we find any more herbs."
The old shopkeeper felt much happier looking at the lively child.
"Okay, come visit your uncle next time."
The old shopkeeper had already decided to accept this batch of medicinal herbs. Two assistants helped with the process, and the final weight was 940 jin (approximately 420 catties).
The old shopkeeper's abacus clicked loudly as he calculated, "The kudzu root weighs 940 jin, and at six wen per jin, that's a total of 5640 wen."
Upon hearing this number, everyone gasped in shock.
It costs 5640 copper coins, which is equivalent to 5 taels and 640 copper coins in silver.
Five taels of silver—that's the kind of money an entire family would have to save by not eating or drinking and farming for three or four years. I never imagined they'd have so much in just one hour.
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