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Among these plants, the most expensive were dandelion and beggarticks, priced at five wen per catty.
In the original owner’s memory, there were many valuable Chinese herbs in the mountains, and she recognized a few of them. But why couldn’t the system detect them?
It was as if the system knew what she was thinking, and a flattering voice chimed in:
“The host’s level is too low, just a zero-level novice… The system can only detect red-tier organisms.”
“A friendly reminder, once the system upgrades to level one, it can detect orange-tier organisms and unlock the level one mall. The upgrade requires three taels of silver and unlocking requires recycling over a hundred types of plants and animals. Heaven rewards diligence, so please work hard, host, and upgrade soon ヾ(◍°∇°◍)ﾉﾞ”
Alright, red-tier had its benefits. They were everywhere, and there was no need to venture deep into the mountains. All she needed to do was swing the iron shovel until it smoked.
The system was super efficient, detecting wild vegetables and herbs in excellent condition. Most of them were freshly sprouted shoots, plump and looking delicious.
Bracken, wild onions, and shepherd’s purse were among those that the villagers collected. A few families had some connections and traded with restaurants or wealthy households in the town. The rich enjoyed fresh and less greasy food, and the common folk could earn some copper coins from it.
Song Anning decided on the spot that the less tasty and cheaper herbs would be recycled by the system. As for the wild vegetables, the good ones would be sold, and the rest would be kept for her family to eat.
The money earned had to be legitimate, so those gossipy women would be convinced and have nothing to say.
Ignoring the soreness in her legs, Song Anning was full of energy. She dug and dug with her small shovel, not even lifting her head. Sweat soaked her clothes, and a cool breeze made her shiver.
“A cool breeze, ah, refreshing…”
From the ravine between the two mountains, a mountain spring flowed down from above, making a tinkling sound, like the clinking of copper coins after the system recycled the herbs:
“Beep, the system has recycled three catties of plantain, six wen have been credited.”
“Beep, the system has recycled one catty of atractylodes, four wen have been credited.”
“The system has recycled five catties of capillaris (white wormwood), twenty wen have been credited…”
Down the mountain, the sounds of children playing grew fainter, and smoke rose from the roofs of a few houses. Song Anning rubbed her sore shoulders and leisurely made her way down the mountain with her basket.
“Big Sis, Second Brother asked me to wait for you here.”
Song Anyue ran up, quickly taking the shovel and sickle from Song Anning’s hands. She knew how tiring it was to go up the mountain. Even if Big Sis had only dug a basket of wild grass to feed the chickens, it was still hard work.
“Ah Yue is so sensible. The sickle is sharp, Big Sis will hold it.”
Holding Song Anyue’s small, dark, chicken-like hand, the soreness in her legs eased a bit. It felt so good to have someone waiting for her.
As she passed by the front door of her house, she didn’t go in, just placing the tools at the entrance.
“Come on, Big Sis will take you to Uncle Lin’s house to sell the wild vegetables and use the copper coins to buy you something delicious.”
Hearing this, Song Anyue wasn’t happy at all. Tears welled up in her eyes, about to fall:
What should I do! Big Sis has the same delusions as Mom. How can wild grass be exchanged for copper coins? People only collect the very best wild vegetables.
She was small and didn’t know what was actually in Song Anning’s basket, mistakenly thinking it was just the plantain that Big Sis had dug up.
No, she had to go home and find Second Brother. He was stronger and could pull Big Sis back. Uncle Lin and Aunt Lin were good people, and she couldn’t let Big Sis cause a scene there.
Halfway there, Song Anyue turned around and ran back home. Song Anning called out to her twice, but the child seemed to run faster.
It was getting dark, and Song Anning was in a hurry to go home and cook, so she didn’t think much of it and quickened her pace towards Lin Family’s house, where they bought wild vegetables.
The Lin family lived in the center of the village, and there was a large banyan tree at their entrance. Under the tree was the village’s information hub, where the women gossiped about this and that, even commenting on passing dogs.
Seeing Song Anning enter the village, the women pursed their lips and exchanged knowing glances, not hesitating to speak up.
“Song family girl, I heard you went up the mountain to dig up plantain?”
“Haha, you want to sell plantain? The nobles in town don’t eat that stuff…”
“You should take it home yourself…”
As Song Anning approached, everyone under the banyan tree suddenly fell silent, their eyes fixed on the fresh wild vegetables in her basket.
“This, this is what you picked? Where did you find it? I went up the mountain this morning and didn’t see any.”
“Good heavens. They’re all fresh shoots, and so many of them!”
“This must be five or six catties…”
“Just randomly dug them up on the back mountain.”
Song Anning casually replied as she headed towards the Lin family’s house. The Lin family was kind, and their prices for mountain goods were fair. Most importantly, the original owner hadn’t stolen anything from the Lin family, so there wouldn’t be any awkwardness in their conversation.
Lin Dafu and his wife were tidying up the wild vegetables they had collected that day in the courtyard. The old man’s face showed a hint of worry. For three consecutive days, they hadn’t collected any good items.
If this continued, the restaurants in town would surely find other suppliers, and their business for the year would be ruined.
The old couple sighed frequently until Song Anning entered the courtyard. Lin Dafu’s wife rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and stood up in disbelief:
“Song family girl, what is this?”
Today, she had also heard about Song Anning giving IOUs to the villagers. At this time of day, the child probably hadn’t eaten yet.
“Are you hungry? Grandma will give you two steamed buns. Go home and share them with the younger ones…”
She was about to go inside, thinking to herself that this silly girl had even brought a basket to ask for food. Who could give her a basket full of food?
Song Anning felt a warmth in her heart and quickly stepped forward to stop her. “Grandma, I’m here to sell wild vegetables, but thank you for offering me food.”
She quickly unloaded the basket from her back, revealing a basket full of plump, fresh wild vegetables in front of the elderly couple.
“…”
After a long while, Lin Dafu slowly extended his hand and gently flipped through the vegetables in the basket.
“Good, good, good…”
The village had no shortage of wild vegetables; they were everywhere, and anyone could pick them. However, such high-quality ones were rare. He was sure that these vegetables would be highly sought after by all the restaurants in town.
“Anning, did you pick all of these?”
Song Anning nodded, thanking the system in her heart several times, but she didn’t show it on her face. “Grandpa, will you take these? I just came down from the mountain and haven’t had time to sort them yet.”
“Yes, I’ll take all of these. Three copper coins per catty, what do you think?”
In the original owner’s memory, selling such common wild vegetables for three copper coins per catty was already a very high price. Since she hadn’t sorted them yet, she immediately agreed.
Lin Dafu finally showed a hint of joy on his face and quickly went to weigh them. However, the villagers watching the scene were buzzing with excitement:
“Three copper coins per catty? When did this girl get such a good deal?”
“Exactly, three wen per catty! I sold two catties at noon and only got three copper coins. It’s really…”
“A blind cat meeting a dead mouse, I don’t believe she can do this every day. Maybe she stole them…”
The villagers loved to watch the fun the most, and many of them stopped cooking, bringing their wives and children to gather neatly at the Lin family’s door. Seeing Song Anning, the troublemaker, making money made them feel a bit uncomfortable.
They always said that the Song family’s girl was the most useless, but if Song Anning was useless, what did that make them?