My village can't be like this

Chapter 713: Medicine Collection

Having promised Chen Ze during the day, Zhang An did not delay. At night, he entered the space, collected a batch of Davidia involucrata seeds, and soaked them in the spring water in the space.

Normal Davidia involucrata seeds have a hard shell, and it is very difficult to germinate them naturally.

But in Zhang An's hands, there is no need to worry about this problem.

After being soaked in the space spring water, the hard shell will slowly soften, and the buds sprouting from the hard shell will become more vigorous, and breaking out of the shell is inevitable.

However, although the space spring water is so magical, these seeds still need to be soaked for at least one night.

Although Zhang An could let them all complete the process from seeds to seedlings in the space at once, he thought about it and decided not to do so.

Because Chen Ze has been in the village all this time, he would come to him from time to time.

If he created so many saplings out of thin air, it might cause others to think too much.

Moreover, he has plenty of time now, and he has nothing to do recently. He might as well just use the space for germination, and then move outside to grow seedlings, and slowly cultivate this batch of seedlings, just to pass the time, and to prevent people around him from always thinking that he has nothing to do every day.

After germinating the Davidia involucrata seeds, Zhang An shifted his focus to other places. He harvested all the fruits of the crops in the space and put them in the wooden house.

In this day and age, although food is no longer in short supply, no one knows whether an accident will happen tomorrow.

Just like when the previous flood came, the preciousness of food was fully demonstrated.

In Zhang An's eyes, food has always been the foundation, and there is no shortage of storage space in the space, so whenever the stored food in the space is almost consumed, he will plant some again.

This means that even if something unexpected happens, having ready-made food can always give people peace of mind.

After finishing all this, Zhang An picked a fruit and put it in his mouth.

Nowadays, there are many kinds of fruits grown in the space. He no longer has any particular favorite food and just eats whatever he likes.

In the medicine field area next to it, the medicinal herbs planted by him personally all showed a thriving scene. If each of them was taken outside individually, it would definitely cause competition among those masters of traditional Chinese medicine.

Zhang An had stopped the breeding of the wild ginseng in the ginseng field, and only a part of them were still being planted, because there was already a lot of ginseng stored in the wooden house, at least enough for him to squander for a long time.

There are not many of these wild angelicas that are still being planted. The reason why they are being planted is that Zhang An wants to see how big they can grow and whether they can grow legs and run away as the old people say.

The next morning, Zhang An got up and planned to clear a piece of space in the depression by the river so that he could cultivate the Davidia involucrata seedlings that Chen Ze needed.

But he had just finished breakfast and had not yet picked up his hoe to go out when he was blocked by old man Zhang Yixing at home.

"Xiao An, you don't have anything to do today, right?"

The old man stopped Wang Fang who was about to cook breakfast for him and asked Zhang An.

For an old man who has to get up at dawn every day to practice martial arts, it is impossible that he has not had breakfast yet.

If it weren't for burning morning incense and cleaning, the old man would have come down the mountain long ago.

"There's nothing urgent to do, so it doesn't matter if I let it go."

Clearing the depression is not a pressing matter for Zhang An. It can be done a few days later. He doesn't care about one or two days anyway.

"That's good. I'm going to the mountain market to collect some medicinal herbs today. If you're free, come with me."

Upon hearing this, Zhang and his entourage explained the purpose of their visit.

"Okay, then I'll go pack a few bags and we'll be off."

After hearing what the old man said, Zhang An immediately realized that there might be a lot of medicinal herbs to be purchased this time, otherwise the old man would not have come to him.

But this is also normal. There are many patients coming to the old man now, and the demand for medicinal materials is increasing day by day.

In the past, the old man didn't have many patients, most of them were villagers from the surrounding villages, so he didn't need many medicinal herbs. The amount provided by the villagers and collected by the old man himself was more than enough.

With such a large amount of usage now, the original source of medicinal materials is far from enough and must be purchased from outside.

As soon as Zhang An finished speaking, Wang Fang came out from her own food storage room with a few nylon bags, saving him the trouble of looking for them again.

So Zhang An took the old man into the pickup truck and drove out of the village.

However, the destination was not the county town or Hongyan town, but a large village under the next town.

It is called Galaozhai, a minority village that is much larger than Changqing Village.

However, it is not a simple village, but was formed by the merger of several Miao villages in the mountains many years ago.

In addition, Galaozhai is located closer to the mountains than Changqing Village, so there has always been a market there.

However, there were not many people buying and selling other daily necessities in that market. Most of them were medicinal herb businesses, and the people setting up stalls were all villagers from the surrounding mountainous areas. Therefore, the Galao Market was also called the Medicine Market by the surrounding villagers.

There, you can find a wide variety of Chinese herbal medicines and various mountain products.

Especially in the past few years, some rare animals and plants could be seen there, because the mountain people at that time had no idea about the Wildlife Protection Act.

But later, the police station would often send patrol teams to patrol there and popularize legal knowledge to everyone.

After a few years, it has indeed been effective, and everyone now more or less knows what things can or cannot be collected, what can or cannot be caught.

By the way, the mink in Zhang An's family was the one that the old man exchanged for at the medicine store.

Galao is about 30 kilometers away from Hongyan Town, but the road conditions are not easy to travel on. In addition, there are many ox-drawn and horse-drawn carts along the way, and Zhang An has to give way from time to time, so the car cannot be driven too fast. It takes nearly an hour to arrive.

If you take the town's shuttle bus, it might be even slower.

"Godfather, how is Yan Qian's treatment going recently?"

On the way, Zhang An drove while asking the old man about the recent situation of little girl Yan Qian.

Usually Yan Qian liked to come to their house to play with Xiao Siqi, but since the little girl started receiving treatment, she has not come to their house again. Even Xiao Siqi would occasionally ask why Aunt Qianqian didn't come to their house anymore.

"Her condition is okay. It may be because the medicinal herbs you provided are very effective, so the treatment went smoothly. But it has reached a critical period recently, so she cannot be exposed to the wind during the treatment. It will probably be almost fine in about twenty days, and then she will be able to recover slowly." After hearing Zhang An's question, Zhang Yixing informed him of the girl's recent condition.

The prescription for Yan Qian's treatment, in addition to the two main medicinal ingredients, also contains some other medicinal materials, almost all of which are provided by Zhang An. They are all high-quality products produced in the space, and their efficacy is definitely guaranteed.

After hurrying for a long time, Zhang An and the old man finally arrived at Galao Village.

Although this village is very large, the construction inside is much more backward than Changqing Village. Zhang An's pickup truck cannot be driven into it, so he can only park it in the dam outside and then walk in.

When you enter the village, you can see many villagers wearing Miao costumes.

Nowadays, most Miao clothes are made by the Miao people themselves. In the sixth and seventh months of the lunar calendar, or in the twelfth lunar month, Miao women will make clothes by hand, so daily clothes are indispensable and very convenient to wear while working.

However, when Zhang An met the Miao villagers, he could hardly understand what they said. At most, he could understand one or two sentences out of ten. This was because he had only been in contact with them for many years.

Without any hesitation, Zhang An followed the old man towards the medicine market.

The medicine market is located in the southeast corner of Galazhai, which is a very spacious dam with two rows of two-story Miao wooden houses on both sides.

Because it was morning, the medicine market was very lively with many people setting up stalls or coming to buy medicine.

If you wait until after the afternoon, there won't be too many people here.

Because many people who set up stalls want to sell the treasures they got from the mountains early in the morning for money, so that they can go back home and work in the fields without wasting much time.

People who come here to look for medicine or make purchases hope to find some better treasures early. If they wait until the afternoon, the good things may have been taken away by others. Zhang Yihang also has this idea.

As soon as he entered the entrance of the medicine market, Zhang An saw a dark-skinned old man selling some precious magical herbs commonly used in novels about cultivating immortals - Ganoderma lucidum - on his stall.

Zhang An took a closer look and saw some relatively large tree tongue Ganoderma lucidum and some wild red Ganoderma lucidum.

Ganoderma lucidum is often considered a worthless mountain product because it is so common.

However, despite this, everyone will collect it when they encounter it. If someone takes a fancy to it, it will also be a gain.

Compared with the tree tongue Ganoderma, the red Ganoderma is much more popular. It is believed to be a treasure that absorbs the essence of mountains, rivers, clouds, rain, four seasons, five elements, yin and yang, day and night, and has very high medicinal value.

However, they were not on Zhang and his entourage's shopping list, so the old man didn't even look at them, but walked straight to the stall opposite.

This is an herb stall, piled high with fresh herbs, including motherwort, raw pullets and half leaves.

The stall owner was an old lady in her sixties. After seeing Zhang and his group, she took the initiative to greet them, which meant that they must know each other.

Motherwort can be called a friend of women. It was included in the prescription that Zhang An had used for Su Ying before, and it was also one of the goals of the old man's trip, because the old man seemed to have encountered quite a few diseases of this kind recently.

Although there are a lot of motherwort in the mountains, it is actually quite laborious to dig some good ones, especially since a lot of it is needed, so it is not as easy as purchasing it directly.

Next to the motherwort, there is a pile of fresh raw Leonurus japonicus. This thing is actually called Wupifeng. The water boiled with it has the effect of relieving cough and moistening the lungs. Many people have coughs and no effect after taking pills, but this thing has a miraculous effect. It is very useful. Because it is not difficult to find, it and rock cabbage can be regarded as the two commonly used cough suppressants in the nearby mountains.

The first two can be considered ordinary medicines, but the other medicine, Ban Zhang Ye, on the old lady’s stall can be considered a good medicine.

This half leaf is actually called cup-leaf passion fruit. Its leaves look like cups, hence the name. The fruit it produces looks quite like dates.

The reason why it is called half leaf is that its leaves seem to be only half compared to the leaves of other plants.

Don't underestimate this thing, its medicinal power is very strong. Old people used to say that it was because its medicinal power was too strong that it caused divine punishment, so a thunderbolt came down from the sky, striking half of it off, leaving only half of its medicinal power.

Zhang Yixing has a prescription that uses it as the main ingredient to treat terminal illnesses. It is a rare and excellent medicine.

While Zhang An was observing the herbs on the stall, Zhang and his group were already bargaining with the stall owner, but they were speaking Miao language, which Zhang An could not understand.

In the end, it seemed that the old man's bargaining skills were better and he convinced the other party to let Zhang An take out his bag and pack up all the herbs on the stall, including the small Kun and half a leaf.

There aren't many of these things, which is enough to show that they're not easy to find.

Originally, Zhang An planned to buy it and plant it in his own medicine garden, but its roots seemed to have been severely damaged when it was dug, and it could not be grown at all.

So Zhang An had to give up this idea and hope that when he goes into the mountains in the future, he can grow a plant with half a leaf and transplant it back.

After finishing packing and the old man paid, the two of them walked towards the next stall again.

Because the old man discovered what he needed again—the Ten Great Merits.

Obviously, this was another stall owner who often opened a stall in the medicine market and was acquainted with the old man. It didn't take much time to settle the deal.

In addition to the ten major merits, the stall owner was also selling his other things to the old man, such as kidney-essence grass, pyrrosia, and Polygonatum sibiricum.

However, Zhang An had already planted a lot of these two things in his medicine garden, so the old man did not waste the money.

Next, the old man began to sweep the street, and Zhang An was responsible for carrying the bags and packing the things, but most of what he collected were some common Chinese herbal medicines.

However, there are also some treasures among them, such as the Cynomorium songaricum that I just found among the herbs, and the rare Nine-Leaf Fritillaria.

Speaking of the seven-leafed aconite, it is a common plant in the mountains and is not difficult to find, but when it grows to nine leaves it is considered a good thing.

So after Zhang and his party discovered it, they directly negotiated the price with the stall owner in a friendly manner and accepted it.

At this point, the grandfather and grandfather had already visited the entire medicine market from beginning to end, and the cargo box of the pickup truck was filled with their gains.

However, before leaving, Zhang An saw an old man carrying two very good quality ground-growing golden lotuses.

Remembering that Chen Ze said yesterday that he wanted to do some landscaping, Zhang An asked the old man to help him get it down so that he could give it to Chen Ze when he got back.

The ground-growing golden lotus is actually not a good thing. It can be found everywhere, and most people use it to feed pigs.

But the two plants the old man has are of very good quality and can be considered rare, otherwise the old man would not have taken the trouble to carry them here.

Looking at the time, it was already noon, and the old man didn't have anything to buy at this time, so Zhang An dragged the old man to the village to eat a bowl of Miao red bean noodles.

You know what, it tastes quite sour, spicy and refreshing.

(End of this chapter)