Chapter 48 Ginseng

Tan Yanlu’s tears were a precious thing, serving as an excellent tonic for both the human body and plants.

Back in the city, Tan Yanlu had once used her tears to cultivate flowers, which grew exceptionally vibrant and lush, even producing some color variations.

Now, with these ginseng seeds right before her eyes, how could she let this opportunity slip by?

If she could successfully grow them and sell them on the black market, it would be a decent income, just enough to replenish her nearly empty wallet.

Thinking about her dwindling savings, Tan Yanlu couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional. This was the first time in her life she had experienced the feeling of being short on money!

Lately, Tan Yanlu had been pondering ways to make money and even considered visiting the town to see if the supply and marketing cooperative sold medicinal seeds.

She planned to nurture them with her tears. As long as she didn’t shed too many tears at once, it wouldn’t affect her health. Once grown, she could sell them at the town’s purchasing station to earn some extra income.

Little did she expect that she would stumble upon these ginseng seeds without even trying. Naturally, Tan Yanlu wasn’t going to let this chance go to waste.

So, she spoke up: “Auntie Huniu, could you exchange these seeds with me? I’d like to take them back and try growing them myself, just for fun.”

Huniu’s Mother was quite surprised. These were medicinal seeds, and they had been found by her father-in-law. She didn’t dare to make the decision to give them to Tan Yanlu without consulting him: “If you want these seeds, I’ll have to ask my father-in-law. After all, they belong to him, and I can’t just give them away without his permission.”

Tan Yanlu didn’t dare to show too much eagerness and simply smiled: “Sure, go ahead and ask. I just find ginseng seeds fascinating and want to try growing them for fun.”

“Alright, wait a moment. I’ll go ask my father-in-law,” Huniu’s Mother said before turning and entering her in-laws’ room. After a while, she returned.

With a slightly apologetic expression, Huniu’s Mother said: “Youth Tan, my father-in-law said it’s not impossible to give you these seeds, but they are wild ginseng seeds and can be used as medicinal herbs. They could fetch a decent price at the purchasing station.”

“My father-in-law said he’d exchange one seed for two eggs. If you want them, that’s the deal.”

By the end, her voice had grown softer. She felt the price was too high. Even if the seeds were valuable, they wouldn’t fetch much at the purchasing station. Yet, for six or seven seeds, they were asking for over a dozen eggs.

At the supply and marketing cooperative, eggs cost five cents each, and a pound was 48 cents. A dozen eggs would be close to two pounds, amounting to nearly a dollar.

No matter how valuable the ginseng seeds were, they couldn’t possibly be worth a dollar!

Hearing this, Tan Yanlu frowned. She wasn’t naive and quickly realized the old man was asking for an exorbitant price.

Even though she felt she was being taken advantage of, Tan Yanlu knew she had to buy the ginseng seeds. However, she didn’t need to buy all of them.

After all, her “Golden Finger” ability was incredibly powerful. With just one seed, Tan Yanlu could cultivate countless more.

Tan Yanlu pretended to ponder: “In that case, I’ll just exchange for one seed. I’m just curious and planting it for fun, so I don’t need that many seeds.

But I didn’t bring any eggs with me. How about I have Hu Niu come back with me to get the eggs?”

Hu Niu’s mother had originally thought that since the ginseng seeds required so many eggs in exchange, Tan Yanlu would definitely not want them.

She had been contemplating when to take these seeds to the purchasing station to exchange for some money. She never expected that Tan Yanlu would still be willing to exchange for the seeds, even if it was just one. It was still a profit.

Jiang Pan Yu naturally didn’t know about these matters, but even if she did, she would pretend not to. After all, this was someone else’s golden finger, something to be envied but not attainable.

After obtaining the ginseng seed, Tan Yanlu was eager to plant it.

Despite the freezing weather, she went outside to dig up some frozen soil and placed it in a discarded broken clay pot. She left it by the heated brick bed overnight to thaw the soil.

Then she filled it mostly with clear water. With a blink of her eye, a tear fell into the bowl, turning the clear water into Spirit Spring Water. Tan Yanlu thought of using the Spirit Spring Water to nourish the soil first.

She also found a bowl for the ginseng seed, soaking it in the Spirit Spring Water. After a day and a night, she planted the seed in the clay pot and placed it solemnly by her sleeping area on the heated brick bed.

Although it didn’t receive sunlight, the indoor temperature was pleasant. The ginseng seed sprouted within a day and night.

Seeing the tender little sprout, Tan Yanlu felt as if she saw money waving at her, and her mood was delightful.

In her good mood, Tan Yanlu’s cooking skills soared. Jiang Pan Yu’s cheeks were stuffed with food, and she couldn’t understand how Tan Yanlu could make such ordinary ingredients taste so delicious.

Thinking back to the communal pot rice made at the educated youth residence, it wasn’t exactly bad, but compared to Tan Yanlu’s culinary skills, it felt like a disservice to her stomach.

Pan Yu truly admired Tan Yanlu’s endurance, having eaten that way for two or three months without a change in expression. If she had even half of Tan Yanlu’s cooking skills, she would have probably moved out on her own long ago!

Since the ginseng seed sprouted, Tan Yanlu’s focus shifted entirely to it. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was meticulously nurturing it, after all, she was counting on the ginseng to grow and exchange for some money. How could she not be attentive?

The ginseng, nourished by the Spirit Spring Dew, underwent a dramatic transformation in just half a month, growing rapidly from a small sprout into a full plant.

Just by looking at the stems and leaves, one could tell how robust the ginseng buried in the soil was. During this time, Tan Yanlu also collected seeds once, counting over 20.

The plants nurtured by the Spirit Spring were all excellent, especially the medicinal herbs, which had even purer efficacy. Now that she had new ginseng seeds, Tan Yanlu naturally didn’t plan to idle. She prepared a few more clay pots to plant ginseng. As long as her portable Spirit Spring remained, Tan Yanlu could keep planting ginseng, and it wasn’t impossible for her to make a fortune from this.

Jiang Pan Yu naturally noticed Tan Yanlu’s little actions, but she could only pretend not to know.

During this period, Gao Shaolin and Gao’s Sister-in-law got married. Their wedding was very low-key, with only a simple notification to a few relatives. They prepared Brown Sugar Water for the relatives who came to congratulate them, and that was considered the formal acknowledgment of their marriage.

Gao’s Sister-in-law quietly moved her belongings into Gao Shaolin’s house, and the two children also started calling Gao Shaolin “Dad.” Now, they had truly become a proper family of four.

Jiang Pan Yu wasn’t concerned with the Gao family’s affairs. What she was thinking about now was what she should do when Tan Yanlu took the cultivated ginseng to the town, as that would mark the beginning of the third critical event.

After all, this was the crucial moment that would lead to Tan Yanlu’s demise, and she couldn’t afford to be careless.