CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 51 THE VISITOR

Since Chen Family Village became famous, villagers occasionally come to sell medicinal herbs.

"Can this medicinal herb be purchased?"

"How much silver coin can be given?"

These are the two sentences Xie Liangchen often hears.

With the increasing quantity of medicinal herbs delivered to the Paper Workshop, Xie Liangchen now has some silver coins and thus has agreed with Chen Yongsheng to purchase some commonly found northern herbs.

For example, Chaihu and Fangfeng.

The villagers have also gradually learned to recognize these herbs.

The older people in the village, unlike the half-grown youths, are slower to recognize, but they have nimble hands and feet, often running around the mountains, asking about any similar herbs they encounter, and through repeated inquiries, they have come to understand them.

Even little kids like Hei Dan, with Chen Zigeng giving guidance nearby, have learned to identify many herbs.

Whenever it’s not herb-collecting season, people from other villages come to Chen Family Village to sell herbs, and a group surrounds them to inspect, everyone chattering away, making the outsiders dumbfounded, feeling like anyone from Chen Family Village can speak knowledgeably.

However, this time the villagers faced a challenge.

An elderly woman, around fifty years old, entered the village with a bamboo basket, filled with herbs mostly unrecognized by them.

After a silence, finally Chen Yuyu spoke: "This looks like Caowu. Yesterday, I saw Sister Chen drawing it, which looks similar."

The woman listened, raised her face expectantly: "Is this medicinal herb?"

"It should be a medicinal herb," Chen Yuyu’s cheeks flushed slightly, fearing her mistake might disappoint, "Please wait a moment, Sister Chen should come soon, and once she examines it, she’ll know."

The woman nodded, seemingly having walked a long way, she appeared breathless and simply sat on a stone at the village entrance to wait quietly.

Soon, she heard the bustling noise, raised her head to see a girl in coarse cloth attire being surrounded and coming towards her.

The woman’s eyes fell on the girl’s face, quietly scrutinizing her.

Xie Liangchen approached, first greeting the woman: "I will go take a look at the herbs you brought."

The woman responded.

Xie Liangchen took out the herbs from the bamboo basket and examined them carefully: "This is Milk Root, also called Pig’s Milk."

Hei Dan’s face instantly turned red upon hearing this, Sister Chen had told him during a mountain excursion, but he hadn’t remembered.

Hei Dan sheepishly said: "This looks different."

"This one is relatively large, so it doesn’t look quite the same," Xie Liangchen broke the Milk Root, white sap immediately seeped out, "Is it the same as what I showed you before?"

Hei Dan and Chen Yuyu nodded at the sight.

"Take your time," Xie Liangchen laughed, "Once you’ve seen enough, you’ll recognize them next time; if you learn fast, I wouldn’t have much use as a teacher."

The children laughed again.

Chen Yuyu pointed to another herb in Xie Liangchen’s hand: "I said this is Caowu."

Xie Liangchen nodded: "Yes, Caowu."

Chen Yuyu was delighted, turned to chat happily with the village girls.

Using the opportunity to gather herbs, Xie Liangchen hoped the people of Chen Family Village could recognize more medicinal herbs.

"Will you purchase these herbs?" the woman inquired Xie Liangchen.

Xie Liangchen nodded and truthfully said: "There are plenty of Milk Roots on the mountain, prices are low, but Caowu is alright. If you trust me, we offer thirty copper coins per jin for the herbs."

The woman seemed a bit surprised, but she didn’t immediately say whether she’d sell or not, instead gazed at Xie Liangchen: "Having traveled far, I’d like to rest at your home for a drink of water."

Xie Liangchen had Chen Zigeng assist the woman, Hei Dan carried the bamboo basket, and several of them returned home together.

Old Mrs. Chen was intrigued to see her granddaughter and grandson bringing in an elderly woman, and without a word, she took out a big bowl to serve water.

Looking at the wild mint in the bowl, the woman was slightly startled: "What’s this?"

"Wild mint," Old Mrs. Chen smiled, "Taught by my granddaughter, drinking it can refresh you, have a taste."

The woman picked up the bowl, took a couple of sips, then nodded, casually gazing around the yard.

In the yard’s sieve basket were Huang Jing that Xie Liangchen had steamed and dried several times.

Xie Liangchen went to the kitchen to stoke the fire, the pot still had unsteamed Huang Jing, returning, she happened to see the woman’s hand reaching into the sieve basket, then smelled the Huang Jing at her nose.

Xie Liangchen’s expression remained unchanged, but a slight ripple stirred in her heart.

Her black Huang Jing usually wouldn’t attract attention.

Xie Liangchen acted as if she hadn’t noticed, stepping back into the yard.

"What’s cooking in the kitchen?" the woman asked seemingly casually.

Xie Liangchen didn’t conceal: "Steaming medicinal herbs."

Old Mrs. Chen smiled: "My granddaughter loves tinkering with these, look at all the herbs in the yard, all her doing."

The woman listened and went admiring the Huang Jing being dried, as Xie Liangchen went over to put them away.

The woman seemed to speak offhandedly: "Is it finished?"

Xie Liangchen shook her head: "No, the timing is wrong, it needs to be redone."

Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen felt a pang in her heart—her granddaughter had said once finished, these could fetch a good price, and she had high hopes, for much of what her granddaughter said before had come true.

But one could not keep wasting time repeatedly like this, not only the herbs, even firewood was used up greatly. Last night, she accidentally fell asleep by the stove and nearly burnt her hair and eyebrows.

Old Mrs. Chen complained about the wasted firewood while looking at her granddaughter’s skinny face, her tone firm: "If this batch doesn’t steam well, you must stop doing it."

During the day, she leads everyone in herb gathering and selling, and returns home to help Chen Yongsheng check accounts, while everyone rests, Miss Chen starts tinkering in the kitchen again.

Even eating rice and eggs daily, her body couldn’t handle it.

Seeing Xie Liangchen so thin, the two ducks in the yard dared not look Old Mrs. Chen in the eye, fearing ending up like the two hens.

While pondering, Old Mrs. Chen heard the woman in the yard say: "Is there any food? I’ve not eaten all day, my legs are so weak I can’t move."

Old Mrs. Chen instinctively wanted to say no, but seeing the woman’s frail appearance, she softened: "There are leftover scraps from dinner, wait here."

The woman ate a bowl of mixed grain rice and drank several bowls of water but didn’t leave, eventually staying at Old Mrs. Chen’s home.

"Sister," Chen Zigeng whispered to Xie Liangchen, "Who could that woman be? Why has she come to our home?"

Xie Liangchen didn’t know either, but when the woman saw the Processed Rehmannia, there was a hint of surprise in her eyes, then lightly shook her head.

Clearly, the woman knew those Huang Jing weren’t correctly processed.

"I don’t know either," Xie Liangchen said, "Let’s see." She took the herbal drawings to show Mr. Li You and publicly recognized them at the government office to gain fame.

Second uncle’s leading villagers to gather herbs, now even near Zhenzhou, people know of Chen Family Village. She has prepared for anyone doing inquiries.

She still wasn’t clear of the woman’s intentions, just could only watch how it unfolds.

Seizing the moment when Old Mrs. Chen and Chen Zigeng weren’t paying attention, Xie Liangchen slipped out of the courtyard and walked behind the house.

Soon, Chang Yue came quickly.

Xie Liangchen greeted Chang Yue, who quickly dodged: "What instructions does Miss Xie have?"

Xie Liangchen said: "An unusual woman came to our home, when she leaves, please follow her and see."

"Miss Xie can rest assured, I’ll arrange it," Chang Yue responded.

Speaking finished, Chang Yue’s figure once again disappeared before Xie Liangchen.

The sky gradually darkened.

Late at night when the world was quiet, Old Mrs. Chen’s kitchen still had glowing light.

The girl leaned against the stove, seemingly asleep with closed eyes.

The kitchen door was silently opened, followed by a shadow slowly entering, softly picking up the nearby fire poker.