Unparalleled medical and martial arts skills, saving the CEO's fiancée at the start.

The angelica from the south slope has been harvested.

Seventh Uncle was so excited the night before that he couldn't sleep well, and before dawn he went to the fields with a hoe.

When Ye Chen arrived, he had already dug half a furrow.

Angelica root is thicker than Astragalus root, and has a very strong medicinal aroma. When you break it open, the cross-section is yellowish-white and oily.

Seventh Uncle held one up to his nose and smelled it again and again, saying, "Good stuff. Even better than the ones from the North Slope."

Ye Chen squatted down, plucked a stalk, wiped the mud off his sleeve, and brought it to his nose.

The flavor was rich and authentic, as if it had gathered the entire autumn earth into its roots.

He suddenly remembered what Su Qinghan had said: "To grow medicinal herbs, you must first nourish the soil. If the soil is well-nourished, the seedlings will speak for themselves."

This new field on the south slope was only planted for one year, but the crops that grew there were even better than those planted for three years.

The earth has a spirit; it knows when people treat it well.

Seven or eight workers came to collect the medicine; they were all veterans who had been working with Bai Zhigu for two or three years.

Their movements in the fields were swift and efficient, wielding the hoe one stroke at a time without injuring their skin or breaking their beards.

Jiang Ruoxi transferred two clerks from the company to help with weighing and registration, and Shen Jingqiu also came from Nancheng.

Shen Jingqiu squatted in the pile of herbs, sorting them, separating the thick roots from the thin roots, and then neatly stacking them according to their length.

As she divided the herbs, she said, "Recently, people have been coming to the pharmacies in the south of the city to ask about angelica. There's an old lady who comes to buy half a catty every month, saying that she's making soup for her husband. She says that the angelica from Anhetang is more fragrant than other places."

Ye Chen replied, "Then we'll take this batch, but we'll reserve two jin for her first."

Shen Jingqiu agreed.

Aygul also went to work in the fields.

She wasn't very good at digging angelica, so her seventh uncle taught her once, and she squatted down at the end of the ridge and slowly dug.

The movements were slow, but each one was intact.

The angelica root she dug up was free of mud because she had placed a small bucket in the furrow, and after digging it out, she would rinse it in the bucket before arranging it neatly.

Seventh Uncle glanced at it and said, "Your method is troublesome."

Aygul said, "Clean."

Seventh Uncle didn't say anything more and turned to leave.

But in the afternoon, he brought a bucket over himself.

At lunchtime, everyone set up a wooden plank on the edge of the field as a table.

Jiang Ruoxi stewed a pot of pork rib soup in the morning and carried it to the field in a thermos.

After Seventh Uncle drank two bowls, when he went to get a third bowl, Su Qinghan said, "We still have work to do this afternoon, don't eat too much."

Seventh Uncle said, "You need to eat your fill to have the energy."

Su Qinghan ignored him and turned to Ayiguli, saying, "You can grow more of your moonflowers next year. I checked the ingredients, and they are quite effective at stopping coughs. If you can grow them on a large scale, you can incorporate them into Anhetang's cough remedy."

Aygul was drinking soup when she heard this, so she put down her bowl and said, "Okay, I'll grow more seedlings in the spring."

Su Qinghan nodded and didn't say anything more.

But those two simple sentences were already the greatest recognition she, as the master, could give.

Ye Chen watched all this without interrupting, but simply put another piece of pork rib on Ayiguli's plate.

On the evening after harvesting the angelica, Ye Chen sat down to rest on the edge of the field.

Jiang Ruoxi walked over and sat down next to him.

Before them lay freshly turned earth, the brown soil glistening with moisture in the setting sun.

In the distance, Seventh Uncle led the workers to carry the last basket of angelica onto the truck.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "This year's yield on the south slope is 30% higher than expected."

Ye Chen said, "The land is good."

Jiang Ruoxi said, "It's because you chose a good location back then."

Ye Chen smiled and said, "That was chosen by Master Su. I'm just responsible for digging the ditch."

Jiang Ruoxi turned her head to look at him, her gaze gentle.

She said, "Ye Chen, have you ever thought about how much land we'll be farming in the future?"

Ye Chen thought for a moment and said, "I don't know, I'll just keep planting until I can't plant anymore."

Jiang Ruoxi smiled softly and rested her head on his shoulder.

Jiang Ruoxi said, "Then we'll plant until we can't plant anymore."

That night, Ye Chen had a dream.

In his dream, he stood in the middle of a vast medicinal field, with endless rows of ridges, each growing different herbs.

Astragalus, angelica, angelica dahurica, licorice, moonflower, and others he couldn't name.

A breeze blew from afar, carrying the scent of herbs in waves.

He looked down at his hands and found that he was holding a handful of seeds.

He didn't know where to plant them, so he just scattered them on the ground.

The seeds sprouted as soon as they landed and grew very quickly.

He stood there for a while, then heard someone call his name from behind.

He turned around and saw Su Qinghan standing by the field, still wearing that blue cloth shirt, and her hair was still white.

She waved to him and said, "Come and take a look. This is the land your father wanted to cultivate back then."

Ye Chen walked over and saw someone standing next to Su Qinghan.

The man had his back to him; he was thin and wore an old gray cloth shirt.

Ye Chen knew who it was, but he couldn't see their face clearly.

The man didn't turn around, but simply pointed into the distance and said, "I'm leaving it all to you."

Then it disappeared.

Ye Chen opened his eyes; it was just dawn.

Jiang Ruoxi was still asleep beside him, her breathing light and even.

He lay there, inhaling the medicinal scent from his dream once more.

It's faint, almost imperceptible.

But I feel very at ease.

During breakfast, Ye Chen told Jiang Ruoxi about his dream.

After listening, Jiang Ruoxi said, "Your father has come to see you."

Ye Chen said, "It could be, or it could just be a dream."

Jiang Ruoxi said, "Whether it's a dream or not, it means you've settled down in your heart."

Ye Chen lowered his head and drank his porridge, saying nothing more.

After finishing his porridge, he went to the courtyard, took the withered sword down from the shelf, and wiped off the dust.

The sword was still as heavy as ever, and as dull as ever.

Holding it in your hand feels like holding a pre-signed contract.

He wiped the sword and put it back in its place.

Then he walked into the yard and stretched in front of the rising sun in the east.

That afternoon, Ye Chen went to Baizhi Valley's warehouse.

Shen Jingqiu was leading the workers to sort and pack the newly harvested angelica, dividing it into three grades, with the highest grade packed separately in a bamboo basket.

Ye Chen walked over, took out two jin from the basket, wrapped it in oil paper, and wrote a note on it, asking Shen Jingqiu to take it back to Nancheng and leave it for the old lady at Anhetang who buys half a jin of angelica every month.

Shen Jingqiu took it and said with a smile, "Brother Ye, you now look more like someone from Anhetang than I do."

Ye Chen said, "That's right, the Anhetang plaque is still hanging at the entrance of my warehouse."

Shen Jingqiu carefully put away the angelica root and then said, "Grandpa asked me to ask you when you're coming to Nancheng for the New Year. He said he wants to prepare more New Year's goods this year so you can stay there for a few more days."

Ye Chen thought for a moment and said, "Around the 20th of the twelfth lunar month. I'll bring my master along this year too. She always says that winters in Nancheng are warmer than in Jiangcheng, so it'll be a good opportunity to escape the cold."

Shen Jingqiu clapped her hands and said okay, then turned around and went to call Shen Bo'an.

Ye Chen walked around the warehouse again.

The shelves were neatly stacked with this year's new drugs, the labels handwritten by Shen Jingqiu, her handwriting neat and beautiful.

The top layer was still that small porcelain bottle, containing the lung-warming pills given by Su Qinghan. Next to it was a small paper packet containing dried moonflowers left by Ayiguli.

Ye Chen reached out and touched the paper package, realizing that after a busy year, there were many more things on the shelf.

Every packet of medicine, every bottle of pills, every dried flower represents a person, a journey, and a story.

As he closed the warehouse door, he glanced once more at the old plaque above the door that read "Anhetang".

The wood gleamed with a warm light in the twilight.

He recalled what Shen Bo'an had said when he first handed him the plaque: "Someday someone will come to collect Anhetang."

Now the plaque has been put back up, and the pharmacy has reopened. People came, and then they left.

But everything is still there.

The scent of herbs is still there.

He locked the door and walked along the path beside the medicinal herb field toward the valley entrance.

Big Yellow chased after him from behind, circled him twice, and then ran ahead to lead the way.

The setting sun dyed the entire valley golden red, and a wisp of smoke rose from Su Qinghan's medicine hut in the distance.

Ayiguli squatted by the ditch, adding soil to the moonflowers, while her seventh uncle came down from the south slope carrying a hoe, humming an off-key folk song.

Looking at all this, Ye Chen suddenly remembered what Ye Changfeng had said in his dream: "I'm leaving it all to you."

He didn't have time to ask what he was given.