Chapter 8

"Uh..." Lifting her head, the little girl saw someone standing before her, bare-chested and glistening with sweat, quite captivating. Her face turned slightly red again, remembering the first time she met Brother Xiaoyuan, and her cheeks were still a bit flushed, but she didn't expect to run into him again.

Though this... seemed quite interesting, ...

The little girl suddenly felt her throat a bit dry, and with a slightly red face, she handed two bowls to Jiang Yuan, whispering, "Brother Xiaoyuan, Mom asked me to bring these dumplings over..."

After saying this, she turned and ran away like a frightened deer.

Jiang Yuan stood there, dazed, looking at the two bowls in his hands and the little girl who ran away like a deer, her cute ponytail bouncing. He was quite confused...

"What's up with this little girl today? Why did she just drop the bowls and run?" Jiang Yuan, still dazed, carried the two bowls of dumplings back to the yard and placed them on the small stone table.

"Ah... Xiaoyu brought the dumplings again..." Grandpa Jiang glanced curiously at the door and said, "The little girl is in such a hurry today, she didn't even come in?"

The two of them wiped their sweat and sat down at the small stone table to eat the dumplings while they were hot.

"Xiaoyuan... go up the mountain later and check out the three ginseng plants we found yesterday. They're not bad, but only enough for one dose of medicine. We also need to find a few old mountain ginseng plants, otherwise, the effect won't be strong enough..."

While eating the dumplings the little girl brought, Grandpa Jiang remembered this and hurriedly reminded him.

Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Wild ginseng is relatively easy to find, but old mountain ginseng is a bit tricky. Yesterday, I only saw two small ginseng plants that were about six or seven years old. I thought it would be a waste to dig them up, so I didn't."

"Uh-huh... let those small ginseng plants grow a bit more. Digging them up now won't make them much more effective than the ginseng from regular pharmacies. As for the old ginseng, we'll just have to see. If we can't find any, we can use regular ginseng, which will still have some effect..." Grandpa Jiang nodded in agreement.

Having seen the effect of Jiang Yuan's bamboo spears, Grandpa Jiang didn't insist on him taking his old musket this time. He just put a few boiled eggs in Jiang Yuan's medicine basket and watched as Jiang Yuan, carrying the basket and holding a machete, quickly walked up the mountain. Standing at the door, Grandpa Jiang had a complex expression on his face.

"Xiaoyuan has grown up and is capable... but... he should be in school right now..."

"By the beautiful river, there are two white birches... We hold our vodka and sway happily..." Jiang Yuan hummed a cheerful Russian tune as he climbed the mountain. At the spot where he had encountered the bamboo groves yesterday, he cut down six or seven more bamboo spears and put them in his medicine basket. Today, he planned to stay in the mountains all day, so he prepared two more bamboo spears than yesterday. If he encountered any new wild animals, he could bring them back to supplement his grandfather's diet and change things up a bit.

After climbing for about half an hour, Jiang Yuan stood on a small hilltop with a wide view. Looking at the lush forest, the small village below, and the town in the distance, he felt a gentle mountain breeze on his face. He smiled contentedly, spread his arms, and closed his eyes, enjoying the cool mountain breeze.

"Hmm... the smell of pine, the freshness of the stream, the faint decay of fallen leaves... no hidden dangers, no traps of death... so comfortable..."

After a brief moment of relaxation, Jiang Yuan continued deeper into the forest. Only in the deeper parts of the forest would he find more medicinal herbs, and have a better chance of finding wild ginseng and old mountain ginseng.

As he walked, he beat back the dense ferns on both sides and in front of him, carefully observing his surroundings...

Suddenly, he caught a faint, slightly astringent fragrance carried by the mountain breeze. Recognizing this somewhat familiar scent, Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow and turned to look in the direction the breeze was coming from. A thought suddenly popped into his mind: "Gardenia! About a hundred meters in the ten o'clock direction..."

This sudden thought made Jiang Yuan pause. How did he know it was definitely gardenia? And how could he determine the direction and distance so quickly and accurately?

Despite his surprise, Jiang Yuan couldn't help but walk in the direction of ten o'clock. Soon, he saw a sunny spot on a small hill ahead, where a few short trees were swaying in the wind. On the branches, dozens of yellow, strange fruits were gently swaying.

"Damn... so accurate!" Jiang Yuan stared at the gardenia trees not far ahead, then looked back at the direction he came from. He estimated that the spot where he had been standing was indeed about a hundred meters away from the gardenia trees.

Looking at the gardenia trees swaying in the wind, Jiang Yuan touched his nose and then turned to continue in the direction he had been going. Since gardenia is a common Chinese medicine and not his target this time, there was no need to waste time on it.

However, from then on, he began to pay special attention. He would occasionally sniff the air, trying to see if his nose had really become so powerful, or if it was just a coincidence. After all, he had seen gardenia many times as a child and was familiar with its scent, so recognizing it was possible.

As he carefully walked through the mountains, his eyes occasionally scanned the tangled vines and trees. Suddenly, he caught another special scent.

"Phellodendron... about fifty meters in the twelve o'clock direction..." Another thought popped into his mind before he could react. Jiang Yuan recalled the sudden thought and walked forward with a strange expression. Sure enough, he found a tree about four or five meters tall, which he didn't recognize, about fifty meters ahead.

Looking at the tree and smelling the faint bitter scent from its bark, Jiang Yuan's expression became even more puzzled. Although he had gone up the mountain to collect herbs with his grandfather since childhood, he had only been deep into the forest a few times due to his poor health. While he recognized most herbs, he was not very familiar with some rare local herbs.

Phellodendron was one of them. Although he had been forced to read a stack of old herbal books by his grandfather, and recognized the processed Phellodendron in the medicine cabinet at home, he had never seen a Phellodendron tree in real life. He was certain he had never seen one.

But if he had never seen it, how could he identify it from a distance of several dozen meters, and be so sure that the tree in front of him was Phellodendron? The processed Phellodendron in the medicine cabinet was dried and cut into thin strips, and its appearance was nothing like the tree in front of him, except for the similar scent.

Jiang Yuan rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit dizzy. This could be a coincidence, but it had happened twice now. Not only could he accurately identify a herb from a faint scent in the wind, but he could also determine its exact location.

What was going on? What was wrong?

Jiang Yuan sat down under the Phellodendron tree, staring blankly at the large tree in front of him...

After a moment of intense thought, a light bulb went off in his head. He remembered that last night, he had a dream about collecting herbs. The old man in the dream kept talking about different herbs, their properties, and their uses...

Although he couldn't remember the details clearly, he had a vague impression that Phellodendron was mentioned in the dream. What did the old man say about it...

"Bitter and cold in nature... functions to clear heat and dampness, purge fire, and detoxify, and treat bone steaming and fever. It can be used for damp-heat diarrhea, jaundice, leukorrhea, heat dysuria, foot qi, atrophy, bone steaming, night sweats, seminal emission, sores and ulcers, and eczema. Salt-processed Phellodendron nourishes yin and reduces fire. It is used for yin deficiency with hyperactivity of fire, night sweats, and bone steaming..."

The detailed information about Phellodendron that popped into his mind without any effort left Jiang Yuan stunned.

In the old herbal books he had read, there was indeed a section on Phellodendron, but the information was not as detailed. It was only a few dozen words, and there was no mention of salt-processed Phellodendron being used to nourish yin and reduce fire...

Could the information in his mind really have come from the old man in his dream?

Thinking about this, Jiang Yuan's handsome face was full of shock. The idea of receiving teachings in a dream was something he had only heard of in ancient books, like the story of Cheng Yaojin learning axe techniques from a fairy in his dream. He never thought it would happen to him.

How could there really be immortals in the world? Who was the old man in the dream? Even if there were immortals, why would they choose him for no reason? And now, thinking about it, the clothes the old man wore in the dream seemed somewhat familiar...

At this moment, another light bulb went off in Jiang Yuan's head, and he remembered the statue of the ancestor on the family altar...

"Damn... could it be..." Connecting the dots, Jiang Yuan felt his eyes go wide. Last night, when he bowed to the ancestor, he suddenly felt dizzy, and then something cool seemed to enter his head. Could it be...

Jiang Yuan was completely stunned. He felt that his long-held beliefs were being completely overturned. It seemed he would have to go home and bow to the ancestor again after he came down the mountain.

"Uh... I've bowed to the ancestor many times before, why did he choose me this time?" Jiang Yuan scratched the back of his head, muttering, "Could it be that the ancestor ate the rabbit I caught yesterday and thought I had potential, so he gave me a reward?"

"Alright... maybe I'll catch another one..." Jiang Yuan rubbed his chin, feeling a bit troubled. He finally decided that, regardless of what had happened, it couldn't hurt to offer more sacrifices to the ancestor. Besides, the more sacrifices, the more they would end up in his and his grandfather's stomachs.

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