“Husband, what if Chang’an and Xiaochun discover my Dimension? Living together like this, whenever I use it, it’ll be impossible to hide.” Bai Nianqing sounded both worried and troubled.
Until Bai Nianqing mentioned it, Shen Wenhe hadn’t considered this problem. It was indeed a serious matter. In these times, without using the Dimension, they might not survive at all, so not using it wasn’t an option.
Shen Wenhe pondered for a long time but couldn’t come up with a good solution. It truly seemed like an unsolvable dilemma.
“How about this? Let’s search carefully around here for a cave or safe spot. We can store needed items there later, and I’ll claim I obtained them through contacts. Chang’an and Xiaochun both signed Death contracts – even if they suspect something, they wouldn’t dare reveal it.” Shen Wenhe proposed this less-than-ideal solution.
“Alright then, we’ll have to manage this way for now.” Bai Nianqing had no better ideas either.
Shen Wenhe took Bai Nianqing around the wooden cabin again before heading to the upper cave.
Bai Nianqing first kowtowed before Xu Changming’s corpse, then went to the adjacent cave to collect the chests. Before storing them, she opened each one to inspect the contents. The gold bars and silver ingots went without saying.
The two chests of jewelry genuinely delighted Bai Nianqing – all pieces formerly worn by palace consorts, exquisitely crafted. She took out a Golden hairpin tassel and pinned it in her hair, playfully shaking her head as she asked Shen Wenhe: “Do I look pretty?”
“Beautiful. My wife looks gorgeous in anything.” With Bai Nianqing’s fair complexion and lovely features, the Golden hairpin tassel truly suited her – Shen Wenhe wasn’t lying.
After speaking, Shen Wenhe rummaged through a chest and produced a Jade bracelet, taking Bai Nianqing’s hand to slip it on her wrist. The snow-white skin contrasted beautifully with the emerald green jade, each enhancing the other’s brilliance.
Bai Nianqing adored it too – what woman could resist beautiful jewelry?
“Lovely, my dear. All these are yours – we’ll alternate wearing them later.” Shen Wenhe examined it carefully.
After wearing it briefly, Bai Nianqing removed the bracelet.
Seeing this, Shen Wenhe asked puzzled: “Darling, it looks so beautiful on you. Why take it off?”
“I’ll wear it when we return. I want to dig up all the mature ginseng first. Who knows how the weather might change? Better to collect and store them in the Dimension for security.” Bai Nianqing remained concerned about the medicinal herbs below.
“Reasonable.” Shen Wenhe agreed with her logic.
The herbs growing out there faced not only weather changes but also the risk of discovery by others. Wouldn’t they be heartbroken if someone else dug them up?
Ginseng required careful digging to preserve the root hairs intact. With numerous plants to harvest, even working together, Bai Nianqing and Shen Wenhe needed three full days to complete the task.
These ginseng plants had grown for unknown years – the thinnest were as thick as a man’s thumb, while the thickest reached the size of a child’s arm. Notably, the thicker specimens outnumbered the thinner ones.
“Husband, I just counted – eighty-three ginseng roots as thick as a child’s arm, and seventy-six slightly thinner ones. And we only harvested the larger plants, leaving the smaller ones to continue growing. Tomorrow we’ll collect the Cordyceps and Ganoderma, then we can return home.” Bai Nianqing announced excitedly.
“Indeed, these were likely planted by Old Master Xu, and now they’ve all fallen into our hands,” Shen Wenhe remarked with emotion.
In truth, both Shen Wenhe and Bai Nianqing were mistaken. While it was true that Xu Changming had cultivated this Herb Garden, he wasn’t its original owner. When he first discovered this place, the Herb Garden had already existed for countless unknown years.
He had been utterly astonished when he first saw it. One could say that aside from the area’s suitability for living, his reluctance to part with this Herb Garden was a major reason he chose to seclude himself here.
“A single one of these ginseng roots could drive people wild with desire, let alone the fact that we have so many. These are life-saving treasures—priceless in critical moments,” Shen Wenhe mused, feeling that with these ginseng plants, they could live in wealth till old age even without lifting another finger.
“So we must keep our possession of so much ginseng a secret. No one besides you and me should know. Wealth tempts people’s hearts, not to mention precious medicinal herbs that can save lives,” Bai Nianqing considered more cautiously.
They were just ordinary commoners and couldn’t afford to cross paths with powerful families.
Shen Wenhe nodded in agreement. “You’re right, wife. We definitely can’t let anyone know we have so much fine ginseng.”
Unlike Bai Nianqing who only had partial knowledge, Shen Wenhe was native to this ancient era and understood more deeply how the nobility viewed commoners’ lives as worthless. It was no exaggeration to say those aristocrats treated human lives like grass.
He had once witnessed a noble’s son take a fancy to a married woman. When she refused him, he had her husband killed and forcibly took her into his mansion. The husband’s family sought justice in vain, ultimately having to drop the matter.
“We also need to learn how to prepare medicinal materials. My Dimension can preserve freshness—things remain exactly as they were when stored. But we’ll eventually need to take them out for use. If people see us taking out fresh ginseng, suspicious minds might start wondering,” Bai Nianqing pointed out.
“Alright, I’ll find someone to learn from when we return,” Shen Wenhe promised.
Not only did Shen Wenhe agree, he planned to learn personally. He wouldn’t trust this matter to anyone else and intended to handle it himself.
As they talked, the two harvested all the Ganoderma and Cordyceps, storing them in the Dimension. They also collected any unfamiliar medicinal plants that appeared thick and large enough.
Only some decades-old or smaller specimens remained on the ground.
“Ah, finally finished collecting everything,” Bai Nianqing said as she stored the last medicinal herb in the Dimension.
“Yes, these medicinal herbs may be valuable, but gathering them is exhausting. Wife, you sit and rest first. I’ll tidy up the cave. Before we return tomorrow, take out some firewood, food, and daily necessities from your Dimension so we won’t need excuses when Chang’an and the others arrive,” Shen Wenhe said, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Alright, you sit and rest with me for a while too. We’ll clean the cave together later,” Bai Nianqing said, pulling Shen Wenhe outside to wash their hands.
After washing up, they sat by the pond as Bai Nianqing took a watermelon from her Dimension, cutting it open for them to share.
“Wife, what fruit is this? It’s truly sweet,” Shen Wenhe asked. He had seen Bai Nianqing eat this in dreams but had never tasted it himself.
“This is watermelon. I have plenty of other fruits in my Dimension—I’ll introduce them to you one by one,” Bai Nianqing replied, taking a bite of her own slice.
Bai Nianqing wasn’t sure whether these fruits existed in this era, so she didn’t dare take them out to eat.
She didn’t plan to bring them out in the future either, intending only to secretly satisfy her cravings by herself.