A night of deep, restful sleep.
At dawn the next morning, just as the sky began to pale with the faint white of early light, Liu Xiaoman opened her eyes and felt sticky all over—but lighter than she had ever felt before.
She reached up to touch her forehead.
The scorching heat that had nearly burned through her very soul had completely subsided, leaving only the weakness and fatigue of someone recovering from a serious illness.
Li Xiuxiu had barely slept all night. Hearing movement, she immediately hurried over and placed a hand on her daughter’s forehead. The coolness made her burst into tears of joy. “It’s gone! The fever’s really gone! Shitou… he’s shown his power… he really has…”
Liu Xiaoman didn’t interrupt her muttering. Instead, she struggled to sit up, her voice slightly hoarse but firm. “Mother, I’m fine now. You and Congming stay home—I need to go into the mountains.”
“The mountains? No!” Li Xiuxiu immediately objected, grabbing her arm. Her eyes reddened again. “You’ve just recovered—your body is still weak. The mountains are dangerous! What if you catch cold again, or run into wild animals…”
Liu Xiaoman turned her hand and held her mother’s cold fingers. Her dark, bright eyes seemed to burn like twin flames in the dim hut. “Mother, the porridge Father gave us can only last for a while. We can’t just sit and wait to die. There’s food in the mountains—there’s a way to live.”
She glanced at Liu Congming, who was rubbing his sleepy eyes, and added, “I’ll take Congming with me. He can help me recognize the paths. We’ll just stay near the foot of the mountain—we won’t go deep inside.”
Seeing her daughter’s determination, Li Xiuxiu’s objections gradually weakened.
Looking at this daughter who seemed reborn overnight, she felt both worry and a faint sense of reliance.
In the end, she could only repeatedly remind and warn her, taking off the only slightly thicker tattered outer garment she had and draping it over Liu Xiaoman’s shoulders.
The back mountain in the early morning was shrouded in a thin mist.
The air was filled with the fresh scent of earth and vegetation, mixed with the coolness of dew. Breathing it in refreshed the spirit.
But this body was truly too weak. After walking barely a hundred steps, Liu Xiaoman began to feel tightness in her chest, her legs turning soft, cold sweat forming on her forehead.
Liu Congming followed obediently behind. Though his gaze was still somewhat dull, he reached out to support his sister’s arm, using his small body to help bear her weight.
Warmth stirred in Liu Xiaoman’s heart. After steadying her breathing, she silently said in her mind: “System, activate scanning function.”
In an instant, the world before her underwent a drastic transformation.
Her vision seemed overlaid with a transparent data screen. Every plant and stone around her was precisely marked with faint blue data boxes, streams of information flashing rapidly across her sight.
Liu Congming looked at his sister curiously. He saw her stare blankly at an ordinary weed one moment, then reach out to touch a bush by the roadside the next, muttering under her breath. Though he didn’t understand, he simply followed quietly without making a sound.
【Scan result: Common foxtail grass. Recyclable. Value: 0.001 points.】
【Scan result: Wild hawthorn tree. Fruit unripe. No recycling value.】
【Scan result: Maidenhair fern. Ornamental plant. No medicinal value. No recycling value.】
A string of scan results cooled Liu Xiaoman’s initial excitement.
She currently had a pitiful 0.35 points—0.3 from recycling the empty medicine box and porridge bowl yesterday, plus 0.05 remaining. Not even enough to exchange for a bowl of rice.
It seemed this system wasn’t some all-powerful money printer. Finding truly valuable items wouldn’t be easy.
She wasn’t discouraged. Instead, she calmed down even more.
As a top agricultural scientist, she knew better than anyone that true treasures often grew in the most inconspicuous, least-traveled places.
She stopped scanning aimlessly and began carefully observing the terrain and vegetation patterns.
Leading Liu Congming, she avoided the common firewood-gathering paths used by villagers and headed toward a shaded, damp rock face.
The place was covered year-round by tall tree canopies, receiving little sunlight. Moisture seeped from the cracks in the rocks, and thick moss grew everywhere.
She stopped in front of an unremarkable patch of vines.
This kind of vine was well known in the village—if cattle or sheep ate it, they would suffer severe diarrhea, even dehydration to death. Elders always warned children that it was poisonous and not to touch it.
Liu Congming instinctively clutched his sister’s clothes, tugging gently, and whispered in a barely audible voice, “Sis… poison… Grandma said don’t touch.”
Liu Xiaoman felt a pang in her heart—again, that old woman.
She turned around, crouched down, and gently patted her brother’s head, looking directly into his slightly confused eyes. “Congming, trust your sister. This isn’t poison—it’s something that can save our lives.”
She had him step back a few paces, then took a deep breath and activated the scanning function again, locking her gaze firmly on the vines.
【Ding! Rare medicinal plant detected: Hemostatic Vine (variant)! Due to its unique growing environment, its roots contain trace amounts of unknown active elements. Its hemostatic and healing effects far exceed ordinary varieties. Recycling value: 15 points per plant. System suggestion: This species is extremely rare in the current era. The host may process it independently and sell it to apothecaries or traveling merchants for even higher estimated value!】
A string of system notifications exploded in Liu Xiaoman’s mind like heavenly music.
Her heart began pounding uncontrollably, blood rushing to her head, her fingertips trembling with excitement.
Hemostatic vine!
And a superior variant at that!
In this ancient cold-weapon era, it was practically hard currency—
A top-tier ingredient for wound medicine urgently needed by the military!
A high-quality plant could fetch an astronomical price.
She forced herself to suppress her excitement and carefully observed the surroundings.
On this shaded rock face, there were over a dozen similar vines growing in clusters.
She didn’t harvest recklessly. Instead, she carefully selected the largest one, with the darkest vines and the most mature appearance.
Pulling out her only tool—a chipped firewood knife—from her waist, she began digging along the root, carefully loosening the soil bit by bit.
Meanwhile, back at the Liu family estate, Wang Jinhua was animatedly exaggerating last night’s events to Old Madam Tian.
“Mother, you didn’t see how arrogant that little wretch was! Not only did she curse me, she even tried to scare me with meat from the mass grave! I think she’s possessed—something’s very wrong with her!”
Old Madam Tian’s face darkened. She slammed her hand heavily on the table, making the bowls and chopsticks clatter. “She’s rebelling! A dying little slut dares to defy me!”
A vicious glint flashed beneath her drooping eyelids as she sneered, “Ignore them. I want to see how long the three of them can last. When they’re starving and crawling back to beg me, I’ll deal with them properly. By then, not to mention a bowl of porridge—even if they’ve hidden a needle, they’ll spit it out obediently!”
At the foot of the rock wall, Liu Xiaoman knew nothing of the coming storm.
All her focus was on the treasure in her hands.
Finally, with the last cut, the hemostatic vine—roots and a large clump of soil intact—was completely dug out.
But as soon as she had it, a more serious problem arose:
How was she supposed to take this to the town over a dozen li away?
She was a fifteen-year-old girl who had just recovered from illness, accompanied by a ten-year-old brother with impaired intelligence. Together, they were as thin as bean sprouts.
Walking openly with such a rare medicinal plant would be like writing “rob me” on her face.
A perfect moving target.
The thought instantly calmed her down.
She glanced at Liu Congming, who looked curious, and decided not to tell their mother Li Xiuxiu for now.
With her mother’s timid nature, knowing would only cause constant worry without helping.
She needed a foolproof plan—one that would turn the herb into life-saving money while ensuring their safety.
Liu Xiaoman scanned her surroundings and quickly came up with an idea.
She used her knife to cut several large leaves, carefully wrapping the vine and its roots in them. Then she smeared a layer of mud over it and tied everything together with flexible vines.
With this disguise, the priceless treasure now looked like nothing more than a lump of freshly dug dirt.
She slung the heavy bundle onto her frail back, took Liu Congming’s hand, and walked down the mountain.
Standing at the foot of the hill, looking at the winding dirt road leading to the distant town, a bold and meticulous plan rapidly took shape in Liu Xiaoman’s mind.