Chapter 26: Out of the City to Gather Herbs

It was the day Bai Jinxi had agreed to meet Xiao Chuyi again, and she rushed out early in the morning.

Hearing the report from the gatekeeper, Yun Moyi, who was having breakfast, put down her chopsticks and muttered thoughtfully.

“This stinky girl has been running out all the time recently, should I investigate what she’s up to?”

Tiandong immediately stepped forward and replied respectfully.

“Madam, on my way here, I just happened to bump into them. It seems they went to catch rabbits with that hunter.”

“Catch rabbits? How many times is that?! Don’t tell me she’s doing something else behind our backs. Tonight, you investigate and find out what that stinky girl has been up to.”

Yun Moyi felt something was off. For the past two months, Bai Jinxi and her group would go out for a whole day every five days, rain or shine. This didn’t seem like mischief, but like they were doing something important!

Thinking about it, Yun Moyi seemed to suddenly remember something and looked at Lu Yian with a serious expression.

“An’er, before you go to school, take a detour to Renxin Hall and see if that stinky girl is there.”

Seeing Lu Yian nod in agreement, she muttered to herself, “This stinky girl wouldn’t be secretly learning medicine, would she?”

Yun Moyi guessed correctly. Bai Jinxi had indeed been learning medicine from Master Puzhi recently.

On the day she had agreed with Xiao Chuyi to help her cover up, after leaving Qiao’s Restaurant, she went straight to Renxin Hall and visited Master Puzhi.

Master Puzhi listened to her situation and readily agreed, but he didn’t let her become his disciple, saying that their fate hadn’t arrived yet.

From then on, every five days, Bai Jinxi would gather all the doubts she had from reading books and go to ask Master Puzhi.

“Little benefactor, you are intelligent and have progressed quickly. You have already recognized most of the herbs in the books, the next step is practice. There are some herbs near Luoyun Temple, you can go and collect them yourself, and prepare them. A doctor must be absolutely familiar with herbs.”

Master Puzhi said this during her last visit to Renxin Hall.

So today, Bai Jinxi didn’t go to Renxin Hall, but instead, called Xiao Chuyi and went directly out of the city.

Because of this, Lu Yian happened to not see Bai Jinxi when he went to Renxin Hall.

“Master Chu, do you remember that place?” Bai Jinxi pointed to a patch of empty land that was out of place with the surrounding area, with a sweet smile.

It was a forest, with trees every few steps, but the place she pointed to was bare. Looking down from the mountain, the vegetation there was as if it had been dug out.

Xiao Chuyi rolled his eyes. This black-hearted girl knew exactly what to say!

That was the place where they had met, the place where he was called a mud monkey…

“Just go pick your herbs, the sun will be scorching soon, what will you do if you don’t collect enough herbs?” Xiao Chuyi retorted casually.

Bai Jinxi had tanned a lot more in this period, from a delicate and beautiful little girl to a little monkey from the mountains.

Banxia had wanted to persuade her that there was no need to be so hard-working, but seeing her mistress so happy every time she went out, her smile was more genuine, and her words and actions were more like a carefree eleven-year-old girl…

Banxia thought it was good. Let her be a little darker. After all, her mistress had good skin, she would turn back into a porcelain doll after a winter.

As she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard Bai Jinxi scream, which startled her. She hurriedly looked up to find her mistress.

“Ah!! It’s ginseng! Banxia! I found ginseng!” Bai Jinxi jumped up and down in excitement, her excited voice almost reaching the sky.

Banxia ran over and squatted beside Bai Jinxi, looking down at the leaves on the ground. “Miss, is this ginseng? Does this mean Miss is going to get rich?”

Banxia was also a little excited. Ginseng was something only rich families had!

“Silly Banxia, ginseng is only valuable when it’s harvested in winter. In summer, it just looks lush and leafy, but it’s actually just storing nutrients for winter!”

Bai Jinxi remembered the growth characteristics of ginseng mentioned in the medical books, and answered with a hint of pride.

“Miss knows so much! So are we not going to pick it today?” She looked at her mistress with admiration and asked curiously.

Bai Jinxi wiped Banxia’s face with her dirt-stained fingers and answered with a chuckle, “Of course you’re silly Banxia, since we’ve encountered it, why wouldn’t we pick it? We might not be able to find it again next time!”

Banxia quickly wiped her face and looked at Bai Jinxi’s energetic appearance. She sighed in her heart, it’s good…

Bai Jinxi carefully used her hands to dig away the soil around the ginseng, afraid of damaging its roots. When the whole plump ginseng lay in her hand, she was a little disbelieving. It was a ginseng that was over ten years old!

“Is this fresh ginseng? I’ve only seen processed ginseng, it’s much drier than this.”

Xiao Chuyi walked over leisurely, casually grabbed the ginseng from her hand, and looked it over left and right.

“Hey hey hey! Be careful! Don’t damage its roots!” Bai Jinxi saw his casual actions and shouted in distress.

After looking it over, Xiao Chuyi casually threw the ginseng back to Bai Jinxi. She was startled and quickly caught it, making sure the ginseng wasn’t damaged before raising her eyes and giving him a fierce glare.

Today was a big harvest, and the group was about to go down the mountain, but they had only walked a few steps when they met two middle-aged men with hurried steps and fierce faces.

Both of them were carrying medicine baskets, their skin was dark, and there were deep wrinkles at the corners of their eyes.

As soon as they saw Bai Jinxi and her group, they shouted, “Did you dig up our ginseng?!”

Bai Jinxi stopped and was a little stunned – did this ginseng have an owner?

“Two uncles, I did indeed dig up ginseng, but it didn’t have any markings, how can you prove it’s yours?”

She took a step forward politely, fearing a misunderstanding, and asked in a gentle voice.

“Don’t play dumb, little girl! We raised that ginseng there, and we wanted to dig it up in winter! We just heard you shouting about seeing ginseng, so we rushed over. Humph! I advise you to hand it over!”

One of them also took a step forward, his eyes narrowed, and he yelled at Bai Jinxi in a domineering tone.

“That’s right! You little girl, how dare you steal someone else’s ginseng! Hand it over, or you’ll be sorry!”

The other man, with a mouthful of yellow teeth, pointed at Bai Jinxi and yelled, his saliva almost splattering on her face.

Banxia quickly pulled her mistress back and stepped forward to block her.

“Speak for yourself, stay away from my mistress!”

At this time, Xiao Chuyi had already figured out that these two men were here to steal the ginseng.

He stood there with his arms crossed, watching the two men across from him with cold eyes.

He could choose to intervene, but he wanted to see what the little girl would do.

“Oh, she’s a young lady too? Tsk tsk, this girl is really tender, just a little dark.” The man with the squinty eyes looked up and down at the two girls, a hint of greed in his eyes.