Chapter 12: Medicinal Herb Seeds

After leaving Renji Hall, Xia Qingfeng stored the silver notes and coins in the space and pulled Xu Xiaoxiao to the grain shop. They needed to be low-key and couldn’t buy too much at once.

“Mom, I think the young master of Renji Hall must have an impressive background,” Xu Xiaoxiao remarked.

“You noticed that too?” Xia Qingfeng replied, “But it doesn’t really matter to us. The fact that they didn’t haggle on the price for the ginseng and even gave us medicinal herb seeds shows they’re honest and straightforward merchants. From now on, when our village sells herbs to them, there will be fewer worries.”

At the grain shop, Xia Qingfeng bought 200 jin of rice and flour, 100 jin of millet, 50 jin of glutinous rice, and 100 jin each of red beans, green beans, and yellow beans. When the shopkeeper saw such a big order, he was very enthusiastic and offered to deliver it for free.

But Xia Qingfeng couldn’t afford to make such a big show of stockpiling grains, especially when it was hard to explain to the villagers. So, she asked the shop assistant to leave the grains in a quiet alley, saying someone would come to pick them up later.

Once the assistant left, Xia Qingfeng put the grains into the space. They then used the same method to visit the general store, blacksmith shop, bakery, and butcher shop, buying a little of everything. Since the space could preserve items, they didn’t need to worry about anything spoiling.

While shopping, Xia Qingfeng couldn’t help but marvel, “This space is really amazing. We should thank the space spirit. Not only has it brought us back to this ancient time to live another life, but it also provides so much convenience.”

Xu Xiaoxiao, pulling on her mother’s sleeve, said with a smile, “Then you should treat Space Uncle better. After all, he’s our lifesaver.”

“Still, Xiaoxiao understands.” Xia Qingfeng glanced at her daughter, “You’re too strict with me!” 

Just then, the voice of the space spirit echoed, a faint hint of grievance in its tone.

“I’m not being strict with you. I was talking to Xiaoxiao, you don’t need to interrupt,” Xia Qingfeng said.

The space spirit didn’t dare to speak anymore.

“See, see, you’re scolding Space Uncle again. There’s nothing left to buy. Let’s go back, I’m hungry and tired,” Xu Xiaoxiao said, clearly too exhausted to continue.

“Alright, alright! We’ll take the ox cart back,” Xia Qingfeng relented. She bought two meat buns at the side of the road and hired an ox cart at the city gate to head back to Yong’an Village. Xu Xiaoxiao fell asleep again, swaying gently in the cart.

Once home, Xia Qingfeng carried Xu Xiaoxiao to the kang (heated brick bed) and released Xia Yingjun from the space to watch over her. Then, she took some red date cakes she had steamed earlier from the space and went to the village chief’s house.

The village chief’s house had a large yard, with seven or eight rooms on either side. Only the two rooms on the east side were made of blue bricks with large tiled roofs, while the other rooms were built with mud bricks. It was said that the village chief originally planned to build all his rooms with big tiled roofs. However, when his elderly mother fell ill, he spent a lot of money on her medical treatment, so the funds for the house ran out. As a result, the blue-brick rooms and the mud-brick ones were mismatched and had stood like that for many years.

Xia Qingfeng stepped forward and knocked on the door. She heard the sound of footsteps running from the yard, and then the door swung open. A round little head popped out from inside, with a cute little braid tied with a small hoe-shaped knot on top of it. This was the village chief’s little grandson, Suo Tou.

“Little Suo Tou, is your grandfather home?” Xia Qingfeng couldn’t help but tug on his little braid and ruffle his round little head, then casually slipped a piece of malt candy into his mouth.

Little Suo Tou immediately hugged Xia Qingfeng’s leg and said sweetly, “Aunt Xia, grandfather’s at home.” Every child in the village liked Xia Qingfeng because she always had snacks to give them, as if by magic.

Hearing the voices, the village chief came out from the house and said, “Girl, you’re here. Quickly, wife, go get some water!”

“No need to bother, Uncle Village Chief. I came to discuss the medicinal herb seeds,” Xia Qingfeng said as she handed a box of pastries to the village chief’s wife.

“The girl is helping our village, and now you’re bringing pastries. This is too much!” The village chief’s wife felt a little embarrassed when she saw the pastries.

“It’s all homemade, don’t be shy. It’s for Suo Tou to have something sweet,” Xia Qingfeng said with a smile.

Seeing the little Suo Tou holding his finger in his mouth and looking up with a pitiful expression, the village chief’s wife couldn’t resist and took the pastries.

“Uncle Village Chief, I came to discuss the medicinal herbs today. Renji Hall in the town has agreed to provide us with herb seeds. Tomorrow, you can send someone to go pick them up from the hall!”

The village chief was overjoyed when he heard this and then hesitated before asking, “These seeds must cost a lot, right?”

“Renji Hall has agreed that if we can successfully grow the herbs and sell them all to them, the seeds will be free. We just don’t know the exact quantity and types yet, so we’ll need to wait until tomorrow to get the seeds and discuss it further,” Xia Qingfeng explained.

“That’s great! That’s great!” The village chief clapped his thighs excitedly. “No matter how many, as long as we have some to plant, it’s good. I’ll go tell everyone now; they’ll be even more motivated to start clearing the land.”

Xia Qingfeng was also happy. “Uncle Village Chief, it’s best to send two reliable people tomorrow. Since it’s our first time planting herbs, it’s better not to make it public yet.”

“Right, right, right,” the village chief agreed. “I’ll have Dafa and Li Dazhu’s second son go with you. My eldest is steady and capable, and Li Dazhu’s second son usually works in town during the off-season and is a good talker, so I trust them both.”

“Alright, I’ve already marked the herb seedlings on the mountain with the other women. Once we clear the land, we can transplant the seedlings.” 

After a brief discussion, Xia Qingfeng bid her farewell and headed home. Before she left, the village chief’s wife shoved a lot of vegetables into her hands and also gave her a small basket of eggs.

On the way home, the space suddenly spoke up: “Feng’er, aren’t you planning to go to Youzhou? What about the medicinal herbs here?”

“It’s spring now, the perfect time for planting herbs. I’ll help the villagers plant the herbs and remind them of a few things to watch out for. These common herbs shouldn’t be a problem for them to grow,” Xia Qingfeng replied.

“The villagers have taken in the original owner, and they’ve been very helpful to me. So before I leave, I want to do what I can for the village, so they can live better lives. It’s my way of repaying the original owner’s kindness,” Xia Qingfeng continued, feeling a little reluctant. She had grown fond of the villagers here. It was rare to find such a warm, harmonious, and simple village. After all, most people were selfish, but even in their poverty, these villagers were willing to show kindness. It was truly rare.

“Our Feng’er is the kindest,” the space said with a hint of pride.

Xia Qingfeng rolled her eyes at the sky after hearing this and didn’t respond.

Once she was home, Xia Qingfeng used the cotton fabric she had bought in the town to make two sets of clothes each for herself and for Xiao Xiaoxiao. After she finished, she suddenly realized she had forgotten to buy shoes. Forget about the layered soles, those were too much trouble. She’d just buy a few pairs next time she went to town.

Thinking back on the promise she made to the shopkeeper at the fabric store, she found some brushes and started drawing patterns. The brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone were all things the original owner had left behind. When it came to painting, Xia Qingfeng was absolutely confident. The original owner was already very good at painting, and Xia Qingfeng had studied medicine in her previous life. Back then, there were no printers, so when she studied anatomy and physiology, she had to make her own drawings. Her sketching skills were solid.

Next, she began to think of designs. She wanted to draw some cute animal cartoon patterns, the kind that girls would love. With Xiao Xiaoxiao’s help, one would describe, and the other would draw. The mother-daughter duo quickly created several patterns together.