The Blessed Farm Girl Has a Spatial Storage
Chapter 76: Wicked People Abound in Poor Mountains and Evil Waters

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Wicked People Abound in Poor Mountains and Evil Waters

Zhao Zhitong was wearing a gray short shirt today, her hair tied up in a bun on top of her head. Her small face was rosy and fair, making her look just like a refined young lad. This was all Sun Mei’s intentional styling. At this moment, she was standing next to Sun Youwei, watching him buy medicinal herbs.

After inspecting the herbs, Sun Youwei said, "Sir, this fresh honeysuckle of yours isn’t very damp, so I’ll offer you two coins per pound. What do you think?"

It wasn’t the first time Sun Youwei had bought herbs from them, and the villagers trusted his character. So, the old man smiled and nodded. "Alright, whatever you say. Oh, Doctor Sun, I have another basket here. I don’t know what it is, but I found it in the mountains yesterday. Could you take a look and see if it’s a medicinal herb?"

The old man took out a basket. The herbs inside were clean, with no dried leaves or anything; even the roots had no dirt left on them.

Some villagers recognized that Sun Youwei was doing them a great favor. They understood that when someone showed them kindness, they shouldn’t be ungrateful or try to take advantage of that person in return. Therefore, most of the villagers selling herbs would shake off the dirt from the roots before bringing them to Sun Youwei.

Zhao Zhitong also leaned in to take a look, then said in her childlike voice, "This is Xiao Xuanhua, also known as Bowl-breaking Flower. Its roots can regulate menstruation, promote blood circulation, nourish yin, and tonify deficiency. It is a medicinal herb."

Sun Youwei smiled and patted Zhao Zhitong on her small head. "Mm-hmm, well done."

The old man looked at Zhao Zhitong in amazement and praised, "Doctor Sun, your young lad here is quite remarkable, knowing so much at such a young age!"

A proud smile touched Sun Youwei’s lips, but he humbly replied, "Not at all. She’s only been learning from my father for a few days and only knows a few types of medicinal herbs."

Then, he bought the Bowl-breaking Flower at the same price of two coins per pound.

Zhao Zhitong leaned to one side, intently staring at the trumpet-shaped, pale purplish-white flowers on the Bowl-breaking Flower. After a while, she suddenly said in her childlike voice, "Uncle, Qiao Jiaojiao said that if you pick this flower, you’ll break a bowl, so that’s why it’s called Bowl-breaking Flower. Grandpa, when you dug up so many, did you break any bowls?"

The old man was startled for a moment, then burst out laughing. "This young lad is really interesting! How could picking a flower break a bowl? No, Grandpa didn’t break a single bowl."

"Oh." Zhao Zhitong nodded and said happily, "Then I’ll go back and tell Qiao Jiaojiao she’s wrong. Picking flowers doesn’t break bowls at all. HEHE."

Just then, a few more villagers arrived, and even the Village Chief came, carrying herbs he had dug himself. While Sun Youwei was busy buying herbs, Zhao Zhitong opened up and chatted happily with the villagers.

Zhao Zhitong asked, "Uncle Village Chief, do you dig all your medicinal herbs from the mountains?"

A villager chuckled. "You little child, if herbs aren’t dug from the mountains, where else would they come from? The sky?"

Zhao Zhitong pouted and said in her childlike voice, "Of course, they could be grown in the fields."

The Village Chief laughed heartily. He found this young lad quite endearing, so he chatted with her a bit more. "Fields are for growing food crops; otherwise, what would we eat? It’s just that we don’t have much arable land here in the mountains, and most of what we have is infertile. After paying taxes, there isn’t much left. So, we have to rely on the mountains, digging up herbs to supplement our household income."

Zhao Zhitong thought for a moment, then asked with confusion, "Uncle Village Chief, since you have so little land, why don’t you move down the mountain? There’s plenty of land at the foot of the mountain. A few days ago, I even heard our village chief encouraging everyone in our village to actively reclaim wasteland."

Upon hearing this, the Village Chief sighed. "Child, have you ever heard the saying? ’A palace of gold, a palace of silver, is no match for one’s own humble shack.’ Even if it’s poor here, these are our roots."

Zhao Zhitong didn’t quite grasp the concept of "hometown" at this point, so she couldn’t understand what the Village Chief was thinking. Thus, she suggested that Uncle Village Chief could grow medicinal herbs, and then they would have lots and lots of herbs to sell for money.

The Village Chief and the surrounding villagers all thought the child’s idea was indeed simple and naïve. The Village Chief laughed and said, "You’re still just a child, full of fanciful ideas. Medicinal herbs aren’t that easy to grow. Even farming crops requires technique, let alone herbs. What season to plant, how to plant, when to water, when to harvest—we have no experience with any of that. No one would dare to try."

Zhao Zhitong blinked her eyes. "If you don’t know, you can learn. If you don’t have experience, you can explore. Isn’t all experience gained through practice? Our current farming experience, wasn’t that also figured out by our ancestors through exploration?"

The villagers just thought this child was quite articulate; to hear her talk, anything could be learned, and experience could be gained through exploration. They chatted with her mostly for amusement, and no one truly took her suggestion to heart.

Zhao Zhitong chatted with the villagers about all sorts of things, eventually leading to the origin of their village’s name. The villagers told her the story, and Zhao Zhitong listened, captivated. It wasn’t until Sun Youwei called her, saying it was time to go to the next village, that she reluctantly bid the villagers farewell and skipped along with Sun Youwei to continue their trip.

The trip to Longmen Village went very smoothly. The villagers were amenable and generally honest. Of course, if there are honest people, there will also be cunning ones.

And so, when they arrived at the second village, they encountered a scoundrel. The herbs he had dug not only had large clumps of mud stuck to them, but even the leaves were smeared with mud. It looked as though it had been deliberately applied.

Zhao Zhitong squatted beside the basket, her small mouth forming an ’O’. Waving her hand like a little adult, she said, "That’s mud! Mister, our family doesn’t buy mud, you know. You should take it back."

The surrounding villagers were amused by Zhao Zhitong’s adult-like demeanor. The scoundrel, however, grew angry and glared at Zhao Zhitong. "You little squirt, what do you know? These are freshly dug herbs! The dirt keeps them fresher!"

With that, he lifted his basket and placed it before Sun Youwei. "Doctor Sun, hurry up and weigh my herbs. See how much money they’re worth."

Sun Youwei glanced at it, and his brow furrowed. This scoundrel was named Lv Dan, and he always secretly added stones to his herbs. This time, he was even more outrageous. Looking at these herbs, it seemed he had directly dipped them in mud!

Previously, after Sun Youwei had reprimanded him a few times and removed the stones, he had still bought Lv Dan’s herbs. He hadn’t expected that this time he came to collect herbs, not only would Lv Dan be more outrageous, but several other villagers in this mountain village had also started to imitate him. Indeed, one shouldn’t indulge such behavior; give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile. Therefore, Sun Youwei was quite angry.

So, he said with a cold face to those few villagers whose herbs were also caked in mud, "Take yours back. I’m not buying these."

Those few villagers were stunned for a moment, then began to argue persistently, "Hey, why won’t you buy them? Aren’t these medicinal herbs? Besides, you bought Lv Dan’s the last few times. Why won’t you buy ours this time? Are you looking down on us?"

It’s often said that poor mountains and treacherous waters breed unruly people. These unruly villagers seemed certain Sun Youwei would compromise, so they pressed him step by step.

At this moment, Zhao Zhitong ran over and asked angrily, "Uncles, aunties, how old are you this year?"