Not to mention anything else—just these medicinal herbs alone.
Most people in the village couldn’t recognize them.
As for the village physician, there was even less chance he would teach others how to identify medicinal herbs.
After all, that was part of his livelihood.
Whenever he processed the herbs he collected, he even deliberately avoided letting people see it—for example, drying them in the backyard.
And once the medicinal herbs were processed, sliced into dried strips and pieces, it became even harder to tell what they originally looked like when freshly harvested.
But Zhao Shiyu had memorized the entire plant encyclopedia, so identifying herbs was no problem at all.
She could even recognize poisonous plants ahead of time and avoid them.
That was why she recognized this as ginseng.
Thinking about how Madam Jiang was still waiting outside, Zhao Shiyu didn’t dare waste time.
She took out the shovel and quickly loosened the soil around the ginseng.
Using both shovels together, she dug underneath it and pried upward with force.
The entire chunk of soil containing the ginseng lifted up.
She placed her hand on it and directly stored the whole thing—ginseng and soil together—inside the space.
Then she entered the space herself.
She quickly dug a hole in the ground and scooped up some water from the small pond, pouring it into the pit before carefully burying the ginseng inside together with the original soil around its roots.
After filling the surrounding gaps with dirt, she watered it again, washed her hands clean, and hurriedly left the space.
The smell inside the space had become even stronger now.
Hopefully it wouldn’t contaminate the ginseng.
She pulled down two vines from the forest and first grabbed one rabbit, tightly wrapping its entire body in vines.
The rabbit looked utterly hopeless.
Aside from its head, its entire body was bundled up in vines.
She treated the second rabbit the same way.
After placing the two tied-up rabbits into the basket, she covered them with weeds before finally taking the harvested medicinal herbs out of the space and carefully arranging them inside the basket.
Not gonna lie—it was pretty heavy.
Her small body struggled a bit carrying it.
So before she even got close to Madam Jiang, she already began softly calling out:
“Mom, I’m over here.”
Hearing her voice, Madam Jiang hurried over.
After only a few steps, she spotted her youngest daughter.
The moment Zhao Shiyu saw her mother, she immediately stopped walking, set the basket down on the ground, rubbed her aching shoulders, and waited for Madam Jiang to come take over.
“Oh my, it’s pretty heavy. Looks like these rabbits are nice and fat.”
Madam Jiang couldn’t help reaching out to move aside the herbs and weeds on top.
The moment she saw the two plump rabbits underneath, she burst out laughing.
“How did you even tie them up like this? Only their heads are left sticking out.”
Zhao Shiyu laughed awkwardly.
Wasn’t she just afraid the bindings wouldn’t hold?
If the rabbits escaped, not only would she lose them, they might also ruin all the medicinal herbs in the basket.
Wasn’t there even a layer of weeds separating the rabbits from the herbs?
If there had been any way to seal the rabbits’ mouths too, she probably would’ve done that as well.
Madam Jiang only teased her for a couple more sentences before quickly reorganizing the basket and carrying it onto her back.
The path downhill had several steep slopes.
Combined with the heavy basket on her back, she had to carefully watch her footing to avoid slipping.
The mother and daughter pair spent quite a bit of effort before finally making it back onto the mountain road.
Luckily, the two of them had good fortune.
Not long after turning from the mountain road onto the main road, a donkey cart came up from behind.
Madam Jiang paid six copper coins for the fare, and the two of them hitched a ride.
The donkey cart clattered along for more than half an hour before they finally saw a row of buildings in the distance.
That was Qingshui Town.
Because the surrounding area was mostly mountains, the nearby villages were all hidden within the mountains.
Only Qingshui Town was located outside the mountain region.
Beside the town was the official highway, making it an important transportation route.
Because of that, Qingshui Town was especially prosperous and much larger than ordinary towns.
Its level of prosperity and architectural scale almost rivaled the county city more than fifty li away.
Before long, they arrived outside the town.
Although there was only one main road, countless smaller paths branched out from it.
Still, only the main road was wide enough for horse carriages.
And because this was merely a town rather than a county city, there were no city gates.
After getting off the donkey cart outside town, the mother and daughter walked in on foot.
Zhao Shiyu’s eyes could hardly keep up.
She looked east, then west, finding everything fresh and fascinating.
The original owner had visited town before, but Zhao Shiyu could only access those memories.
No matter what, it couldn’t compare to personally seeing an ancient town bustling with life.
The architecture was full of antique charm.
Some roofs were covered with dull gray tiles, while others had rows of gilded glazed tiles beneath the eaves, shimmering brilliantly under the sunlight.
The exquisitely carved window lattices embedded into dark brick walls created a sense of ancient dignity and elegance.
Pedestrians dressed in ancient clothing moved back and forth along the streets.
Shop assistants bowed and smiled while greeting customers.
Street vendors shouted nonstop as they hawked their goods.
Following behind her mother, Zhao Shiyu felt as though she had stepped into a living ancient painting.
However, a voice quickly shattered the beautiful scene and pulled her back to reality.
“Scram, scram, get lost! Don’t you know your own status? This is the most luxurious restaurant in Qingshui Town. Is this really a place beggars like you can enter?”
The rude shouting instantly broke the peaceful atmosphere of the street.
Nearby pedestrians were all drawn by the yelling and turned to look.
A pair of men—one older and one younger—stood there.
Although their clothes were shabby and worn, they had been washed very clean.
At that moment, a waiter dressed like a restaurant attendant was driving them from the restaurant entrance onto the street.
The older man’s face was flushed red from humiliation.
Frowning fiercely, he glared at the waiter while his hanging hands clenched tightly into fists.
Judging by his expression, it looked as though he wanted to smash his fist directly into the waiter’s face at any moment.
But in the end, he forcibly restrained himself.
The younger one looked around thirteen or fourteen years old.
Standing in the middle of the street, his face carried a trace of confusion, as though he didn’t fully understand what had just happened.
Seeing Madam Jiang stop walking, Zhao Shiyu also stopped.
Not just them—even the surrounding pedestrians did the same.
Only after the waiter cursed a few more times and finally ended the scene with a spit and a “Bah! Poor trash!” did the crowd begin moving again and continue with their own business.
Still, whispers quietly spread through the crowd.
Clearly, everyone was gossiping about what had just happened.
Occasionally, Zhao Shiyu could even hear phrases like “a dog looking down on people” mixed into the discussions.
Just as Madam Jiang started walking again, the younger man suddenly looked toward Zhao Shiyu.
How should she put it?
In Zhao Shiyu’s eyes, his gaze felt strangely odd.
It was as though he not only knew her, but was somehow very familiar with her.
Zhao Shiyu quickly searched through the original owner’s memories again and confirmed that she had never met these two men before.
So that look in his eyes…
Now that was interesting.