Following the Barefoot Doctor around the mountains, the two of them gathered medicinal herbs like dandelion, cocklebur, and black nightshade; these were all planted by the Barefoot Doctor, making them relatively easy to pick.
The Barefoot Doctor asked with some confusion, "Shen Ruoxi, you seem to know a lot about medicinal herbs. How do you know this?"
Shen Ruoxi calmly replied, "When I went to visit the County Town, I met an old woman who was Selling Medicine. She told me all about these."
The Barefoot Doctor pondered for a moment, "Is that person from the Village that grows and sells medicinal herbs?"
Shen Ruoxi recalled that there was indeed a Village nearby whose livelihood depended on growing medicinal herbs, so she nodded, "Yes, they are from that Village."
The Barefoot Doctor didn't ask further. Shen Ruoxi spent her days either causing trouble in the Village or wandering around, so it wasn't strange that she knew these things. "Let's walk a bit more, and then we'll head down the mountain."
"Mm." Shen Ruoxi was secretly anxious; after walking all this way, they hadn't found anything edible.
Perhaps Heaven felt Shen Ruoxi was too pitiful, because after walking a few steps, she spotted a large Konjac plant in a mountain hollow.
Shen Ruoxi became excited. One Konjac Tuber could make a large pot of Konjac Tofu, meaning she wouldn't go hungry tonight. "Grandfather, wait a moment, I'm going to dig up that Konjac."
Before she finished speaking, she dashed toward the Konjac. This was her meal for the night; whether she ate or starved depended on this.
Seeing this, the Barefoot Doctor anxiously called out loudly, "That is Poisonous! If you eat it, your tongue will go stiff and lose sensation. You cannot eat it."
Shen Ruoxi said while running, "We don't eat the Konjac Tuber directly; we process it into Konjac Tofu."
Barefoot Doctor: "???"
He quickened his pace to catch up with Shen Ruoxi. "Konjac can be made into tofu?"
Shen Ruoxi put down her basket, took the small Hoe, and went to clear the weeds nearby. "It's not tofu, but the Konjac Tuber can be made to look like tofu. Only then can it be eaten."
The Barefoot Doctor looked utterly bewildered, but to avoid appearing ignorant, he didn't ask any more questions.
After clearing the weeds, Shen Ruoxi dug up the small sprouts of the Konjac and placed them in her basket to plant near her door later. Then, she cut down the leaves of the large Konjac and began digging deeply.
One hoe strike, two hoe strikes, three hoe strikes... it took a great deal of effort to finally dig out the Konjac Tuber.
Shen Ruoxi cleaned the dirt off the Konjac Tuber and looked at it happily. What a huge Konjac Tuber, weighing about two or three catties. Her meal for tonight was secured.
She placed the Konjac in the basket. "Grandfather, let's go."
The Barefoot Doctor was unconvinced. "No one has ever eaten this thing before. Are you sure it's safe to eat? You aren't planning to take it back to trick people, are you?"
Shen Ruoxi thought to herself that her vicious reputation probably wouldn't change in a day or two. "Grandfather, rest assured. From now on, I will abandon evil and embrace good. I absolutely won't do bad things anymore, so don't worry."
The Barefoot Doctor was half-believing, half-doubting, but he had no other choice but to trust her. Shen Ruoxi wasn't his granddaughter, so he couldn't control her anyway.
Sighing inwardly, the Barefoot Doctor led Shen Ruoxi down the mountain.
As they descended the mountain, the sun also set.
Shen Ruoxi placed the small basket at the Barefoot doctor's house and carried the Konjac and Konjac sprouts home.
The children playing on the small paths in the Village scattered immediately upon seeing Shen Ruoxi, afraid to linger lest she walk over and kick them.
Shen Ruoxi ignored them and ran all the way.
When she returned home, it was quiet. Except for the Original Owner's parents, no one else was there. It was the season for spring plowing, so they must have gone out to the fields to work.