Chapter 216

Yan Yu planned to take a load of herbs to Crouching Tiger City to sell, then split the silver earned with everyone so they could experience the joy of making money firsthand. After that, she’d compile a list of what each household needed and make a group purchase. Who knows—maybe they could even snag a bulk discount.

Yes, it was a solid plan. Time to act!

Yan Yu was the kind of person who acted as soon as she had an idea.

She didn’t wait a moment. She was off in an instant.

She dashed over to the back of the Cui household, and before her legs had even crossed the courtyard gate, she was already shouting.

“Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!”

Physician Cui turned his head. That frantic voice—who else could it be but the second child of the Yan family?

There was no need to reply, no need to ask. This child would rattle off her reason for coming soon enough.

“How much of the medicine is ready to be collected? I need to count it so I can go home and prepare the sacks!”

That was how strapped they were—down to budgeting for bags.

Her father had already taken a batch, and only a few sacks were left at home. She wasn’t sure if they’d be enough.

If not, she’d have to borrow some from other families.

Ah, and she mustn’t forget—once the medicine was sold, they’d have to get the sacks back. They couldn’t afford to give them away with the goods.

They simply couldn’t afford it.

Physician Cui went to check the drying racks one by one. Though he looked them over several times a day and knew by heart what herbs were where, and which batch was drying on which day, and which were ready to use, he still insisted on inspecting everything again before making a decision.

“There are three racks that can be collected now. Another five will be ready by tomorrow,” he said. He figured it was best to err on the side of caution—after all, this was medicine meant to save lives. There was no such thing as being too careful.

Yan Yu asked him to point out which three racks were ready.

Physician Cui did just that.

Having gotten her answer, Yan Yu immediately left her cheap uncle behind.

She zipped off, circling around the drying racks like a whirlwind.

A quick mental tally—looked like six bags would do the trick.

She came fast and left even faster.

A passing gust of wind.

“Uncle, I’m heading back first! I’ll be back in a bit!”

Physician Cui calmly resumed grinding the dried herbs into powder.

This step had to be done by him. He didn’t trust anyone else with it.

It was tiring, but thankfully the villagers had already done a rough grind for him, which made things easier.

Honestly, Work Points had proven extremely useful.

He was getting more and more comfortable using them—and more and more generous in giving them out.

Still, a faint anxiety lingered in his heart. He wasn’t sure how many Work Points would eventually translate into silver, or if he’d given out too many already.

It wasn’t something he could talk about with others, so he kept it bottled up. And when it came to Yan Xiao’er, he became even more patient with her.

He hoped she could keep the numbers straight. Hoped she could plug the holes he’d opened.

Yan Yu went to her mother to ask for large cloth sacks.

“All our sacks are made of cloth, which won’t do,” Li Xuemei said. “I’ve seen other families using burlap. They’ll hold more herbs—you should start preparing those instead.”

Yan Yu nodded enthusiastically.

“I thought the same! Everyone in the village is busy these days—no one’s got time to weave hemp. Better to just buy them. It’ll save us time, and I doubt burlap sacks are too expensive.”

Their family didn’t have much to spare, and Li Xuemei, influenced by both her husband and daughter, had slowly learned to pinch pennies too.

Li Xuemei suggested, “Why don’t you ask about the price of grain while you’re at it? If it’s reasonable, we might as well buy some now instead of waiting for the autumn harvest. Most families probably don’t have much left in storage. If we share the grain among everyone, their grain sacks will be free too.”

Yan Yu gave her mother a big thumbs-up. “Mama, that’s a brilliant idea! Haha, saving is earning!”

Master Tian had distributed three months’ worth of grain to each household, but really, who would ever complain about having too much food?

Guanzhou was different from their hometown. This place was known as the “bitter cold land.”

Winters were harsh, and the people of Guanzhou had a custom of “hibernating”—doing almost nothing all winter long. Life essentially came to a standstill.

So if they stuck to the old routine of buying grain only after the autumn harvest, they might miss the chance for a better price.

If it were up to her, she’d definitely stockpile enough grain in autumn to last the whole winter.

And considering the current prices versus later on, they likely wouldn’t change too drastically.

Guanzhou only planted one crop per year, and now there was a sudden influx of disaster refugees…

Yan Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

This was bad. They hadn’t thought that far ahead.

And it was partly because the district magistrate had so generously handed out rations that everyone had lost their sense of urgency about food.

“We need to get Big Brother to talk to Village Chief Grandpa and the clan elders,” Yan Yu said.

Li Xuemei thought for a moment and added, “Didn’t we just trade for a big fishing net recently? Might as well ask if anyone knows how to use it. There are plenty of fish in that river—if we can squeeze out the time, catch a bit more, eat some fresh, dry the rest into stock. You can never have too much food.”

“Exactly! We have to make sure we don’t go hungry before we can help others,” Yan Yu said. “We can make money gathering herbs, but what if we’ve got silver and still can’t buy food? No matter what time it is, food is always the most important!”

This was a belief no amount of reason could shake—spoken like a true food lover.

Lately, Yan Xiangheng had been heading into the mountains with the other villagers.

They’d gather herbs in the morning, return for lunch, then do some house chores in the afternoon before neatly laying out his study materials and getting to work.

He had also started rereading the books he’d studied before.

To his surprise, the familiar texts now seemed to carry new or deeper meaning.

The words of the sages had been passed down through the ages for a reason. Not a single word was wasted—each one was a gem.

Every time he recited them anew, he came away with different insights.

He used to only feel that way in retrospect, with age and experience.

But these days, new revelations came to him often. He was gradually beginning to understand what his father meant when he said, “Reading ten thousand books is not as good as walking ten thousand miles.”

Yan Xiangheng was spending more and more time reading, without even noticing it. The joy of scholarly reflection and quiet ambition—these were things that words could never fully express.

He made it a point to descend the mountain by noon, and today, he quickened his pace on the way home.

They’d discovered a good spot that morning and managed to dig up a lot of wild ginger.

He knew that Granny Rong had excellent skills and used generous portions. The wild ginger his family dug up was never sent out to be processed—it was always kept for themselves—to eat.

So today, he’d returned a bit later than usual, and his stomach had long begun to growl.

Before he even stepped into the courtyard, Yan Xiangheng spotted Xiao Er squatting by the gate.

“Xiao Er, what are you doing?” he asked curiously.

His Xiao Er rarely ever stopped moving. She was full of energy, always darting around, constantly busy.

Such a small person, yet with so many things on her mind.

“Big Brother, I was waiting for you! I need to talk to you about something.” Yan Yu quickly stood up and started circling him, craning her neck to peek at the basket he was setting down.

“Wow! You brought back so many herbs! Big Brother, this basket must be so heavy. You really shouldn’t carry so much next time—what if it stunts your growth? We Yan family folks aren’t tall to begin with. Just look at Uncle, and look at my dad. But you’re growing so well! You might even end up taller than both of them, so you have to eat well and not overwork yourself. Whether our family gets a tall one or not—it’s all riding on you!”
(End of Chapter)