At the beginning, the whole family fled from famine, and I used a milk bottle as a koi carp

Chapter 21 Continue up the mountain
  An Laoer and the others hurriedly ran back to the hillside. When the villagers heard the news, they immediately hit the road.

The mountains were steep, and the donkeys and cows had not been dealt with for a while, so they had to be pulled up. The people in the village gritted their teeth and pulled the carts, thinking that they must wait until a safe place to deal with all these.

Not only were they on this road, there were also many refugees following them. Those who were being chased fled in all directions, and many people followed them.

The pursuers drove away the refugees under the city gate and did not stop. There was a lack of soldiers on the battlefield in the north. The King of Huainan did not want to lose his fiefdom, so he could only send more troops. However, coupled with the previous recruitment and natural disasters such as drought, the increase in recruitment this time has not reached the imagined number.

Then when he heard that a large number of refugees had gathered in the south, the King of Huainan without hesitation ordered the local generals to forcibly recruit some young adults.

Oh, some of them are following behind, running desperately towards the mountain. These soldiers are riding horses. Can't they keep following them up the mountain? Everyone gritted their teeth and continued to climb up until the mountain was so steep that they could no longer move forward.

The villagers stopped to rest, and many people lost some things one after another. The village chief asked people to throw away the frames of the donkey cart and ox cart at the back, and use people to carry more things.

The village was filled with howls. Although they had been eating more frugally since fleeing the famine, they had not bothered to carry heavy loads on the road because of the donkey carts and ox carts. The villagers disposed of the cows and donkeys with tears in their eyes.

Mrs. An packed her luggage and threw away all the extra things she could do without. She tried her best to carry them separately for several people, as every house in the village did.

After resting for a night, I continued on the road the next day. It was obvious that there were a lot less things, and I threw away everything I couldn't afford to slack off. The little kids in the village had to climb the road by themselves on the road behind. The mountains were getting steeper and steeper.

An Ningning let go of her mental power and sensed some small animals. Without delaying the situation in the village, she even took Boss An to catch a pheasant.

Since walking on the mountain road, I have taken more breaks every day, my walking speed has become slower, and my journey speed has also slowed down. There was no way to tell the way ahead. I just looked at what was going on and kept walking in one direction in the deep forest.

Old Man Zhai really liked this kind of itinerary. He walked and collected herbs along the way. Even when he was resting, he would either look for herbs or concoct some Chinese herbal medicines.

When An Ningning saw this, she pulled Boss An behind to help. She had not forgotten that she wanted to study medicine with Old Man Zhai.

The group walked in the mountains for two days and couldn't walk anymore. The village chief had to ask everyone to stop and rest. Behind their team were followed by more than a dozen people, who were also the refugees who had followed them all the way when they escaped. They simply knew it and just followed without doing anything. People in the village were not cold-blooded and did not drive them away if anything went too far.

Fortunately, Old Man Zhai used anti-mosquito medicine made from mint leaves. The mosquito bites on An Ningning's hands and feet were much better, which further strengthened her determination to study medicine.

Sanbao saw that An Ningning was about to run away after finally resting, so he quickly pulled her and asked: "Ning Bao! Why do you always come to Grandpa Zhai's side? He only knows how to collect medicine, which is not fun."

Seeing this brat pulling her, An Ningning shook her head helplessly, "You don't understand. Grandpa Zhai's medical skills are very good, and I want to learn them! Don't you think you have fewer mosquito bites since you started using wild mint water?" "

"That's true, but..."

"Don't worry, look, the eldest brother and the second brother followed my uncle and continued to study all the way. I will study medicine in the future, what will you do in the future?"

Sanbao looked at his sister in confusion, "Can't I play every day?"

"Okay, but can I make money by playing?" Sanbao fell silent, carrying his own small basket, and followed An Ningning honestly.

Fine! Let’s learn it first!
  Mrs. An watched this scene without disturbing her grandchildren's decision, and looked at her smart and witty granddaughter with pleasure.

When Old Man Zhai saw his sister and brother following him to collect herbs, he didn't stop them. His own father was still following behind, so he didn't need to worry.

Several people were gathering herbs near the camp. Strictly speaking, they didn't know each other. They just picked whatever old man Zhai taught them. At this time, the villagers killed several donkeys and cows with tears in their eyes and ate them for many days, feeling that everyone was a little angry.

It's already September now, and there are a lot of wild chrysanthemums on the mountain. Old Man Zhai specially asked everyone to pick some, "Boss, why don't you go back and find a few more people to pick some wild chrysanthemums? Yes, this is the one, the yellow one all over the mountains and fields."

Boss An smiled naively and went back to call someone.

An Ningning took the opportunity to ask: "Grandpa Zhai, besides wild chrysanthemums, what else is there here? Why didn't I see ginseng, Polygonum multiflorum, and those?"

Before he finished speaking, Old Man An knocked him on the head, "You little kid, you have such beautiful thoughts. I have never collected ginseng or Polygonum multiflorum. It would be great if you can collect Polygonatum and Gastrodia elata from this place."

An Ningning was sweating. The two things Old Man Zhai said were buried in the soil. She saw him digging them out of the soil, but they were all the same. They were much harder to find in the barren mountains and wild mountains.

Sanbao blinked and stared at the ground for a long time, but found nothing except the wild chrysanthemums that Old Man Zhai mentioned.

Old Man Zhai didn't care about them. He just showed them what he picked so they knew what it looked like, and then he just let them find it. These dolls are so naive. Are they so easy to learn when studying medicine?

An Ningning walked to the side, exuded some mental power, sensed the situation underground, and took Xiao Qiaozi who was digging herbs.

Hey, this looks a bit like gastrodia elata. I squat down and dig it up, and it turns out it is!
  He raised the Gastrodia elata and raised it towards Old Man Zhai, "Grandpa Zhai, is this right?"

"You girl, you're really good. Just try the ones grandpa told you." Old Man Zhai looked at the sweaty little girl with satisfaction. Unexpectedly, this girl was still very persistent in learning. I gave her a silent thumbs up in my heart. If she can always be so diligent in the future, I feel that it would be great to have an apprentice at this age!
  Turning around to look at Sambo, he found nothing. He was already tired and sat next to her. He glanced at her with disgust and felt that this little Sambo was not as well-behaved as her sister.

Boss An had already arrived with about ten women from the village. Wild chrysanthemums were all over the mountains and fields, and everyone dispersed to pick them.

Wild chrysanthemums are great. Go to the fire to make tea. The forest people pick some every year. I am on the run this year, so I didn’t expect them to be found here.

When Boss An found his daughter, An Ningning had already collected a small pile of various Chinese herbal medicines. He wiped his daughter's sweat distressedly, took the little Qiao Zi, and helped his daughter dig the soil.

An Ningning wiped her sweat and felt that the weather was too hot, but using her mental energy to find Chinese medicine felt more tiring than hunting for prey before. It's like, before, it was just a matter of drawing with a broad brush and sweeping across to find the prey. Now that mental energy is used to find things underground, it feels like meticulously tracing specific things. The herbs are small and consume a lot of mental energy.

But I feel like this is also a good way to exercise mental strength.

(End of this chapter)