Chapter 105 - 96: Reishi Grass

Chapter 105: Chapter 96: Reishi Grass

When Xiao Man dropped off some buns for Lin Liuping, she also took five buns and five corn flour steamed buns over to Liang ManCang’s house. She pulled Liang Xiuzhen into Aunt Liang’s room and told her, "We’re going into the mountains tomorrow morning to gather rice pestles!"

Liang Xiuzhen was thrilled. She quickly lowered her voice, telling Xiao Man to keep it quiet and not let Xiuzhu find out. "Tomorrow, my dad and two older brothers are going to my maternal grandma’s house to help with house repairs," she explained. "We have to leave Xiuzhu at home to take care of Mom."

Aunt Liang said, "You two should just talk it over with her. If you hide it like this, there will only be another big fight when you get back."

Liang Xiuzhen stomped her foot. "Mom, you know what Xiuzhu is like! Do you think she’ll listen to reason? She’s been wanting to go to the mountains to gather rice pestles for ages. But there’s really no one else at home tomorrow, and she’s not strong enough to carry much back from the mountains. She has to stay home!"

Aunt Liang took the half bowl of water Xiao Man offered and drank it down. She sighed in comfort and said with a smile, "Fine, have it your way. But you two can do your own arguing, just don’t drag Xiao Man into it!"

"I know, Mom," Liang Xiuzhen replied.

While pouring the water, Xiao Man secretly added some spiritual spring water to Aunt Liang’s thermos before saying her goodbyes and heading home. This was the fourth time she had given Aunt Liang the water, and it was clear her spirits were much better than before. Her physical health was gradually recovering.

Early the next morning, everyone gathered at Xiao Man’s house. In addition to the eleven children from last time, Liang Xiuzhen and Secretary Mo’s youngest son, Mo Chengzhi, a 12-year-old fifth-grader, had also joined.

As before, Xiao Man boiled a large pot of water for everyone to fill their canteens. They each packed their own lunch—one bun and three steamed buns—and then set off with Grandpa leading the way.

For safety’s sake, Grandpa led them to the same mountain forest they had visited last time.

But now it was late autumn, bordering on early winter. After a few autumn rains, a thick layer of rice pestles, wild chestnuts, and hickory nuts from the trees blanketed the ground. The dozen or so children, big and small, had a wonderful time gathering them.

Grandpa gave them a few words of caution before heading off alone deeper into the forest to look for herbs.

Once everyone had gathered as much as they could carry, they broke into small groups to search the forest and surrounding thickets. Some were on the lookout for wild bird eggs, hoping to get lucky with rabbits and pheasants like last time. Others just wanted to find a few lemons. Guan Ailan noticed Xiao Man’s eyes were fixed on the trees and immediately thought of the parasitic plants, so she started searching alongside her. Meanwhile, Mo Shuixia and Mo Linghui led Liang Xiuzhen and a few other girls toward the ridge to look for wild grapes and figs.

Actually, Xiao Man had a plan for today. She intended to take some things out of her Treasure Pearl Space for Grandpa to sell for money. The weather was getting cold, and the family needed to buy some things. She herself had two new cotton quilts, but Grandpa and Grandma’s were old and had become hard and lumpy, offering little warmth. The whole family also needed padded jackets, thick clothes, and new shoes. Even though the South didn’t have heavy wind or snow, when it got truly cold—especially during a freezing rain—the bitter chill was enough to make a person curl up like a shrimp.

Having Guan Ailan tagging along didn’t interfere with Xiao Man’s plan. Seizing a moment when Guan Ailan wandered off in another direction, Xiao Man scrambled up a maple tree. Only then did she call out to her. As Guan Ailan turned to look, Xiao Man tossed down more than a dozen parasitic plants!

Guan Ailan was green with envy. "Why didn’t I see those?"

Xiao Man teased her, "You must be nearsighted. You should get a pair of glasses, it’d make you look so distinguished!"

"Bullshit! My eyesight is perfect! I’m not wearing one of those stupid things!"

The two of them walked on and found some mushrooms and wood ear fungus that had naturally dried on the branches. Xiao Man moved a dead tree lying on the ground and then picked up two Purple Ganoderma, each the size of a bowl!

"Ai Lan, look what I found!"

Xiao Man shouted to Guan Ailan, who was looking around a short distance away. Guan Ailan rushed over. "What? What is this?"

"This is called reishi grass!"

Guan Ailan stared, dumbfounded. "You mean the reishi grass from the story of the *White Snake*? The one that saved Xu Xian?"

Xiao Man was speechless.

"It’s probably not that magical," Guan Ailan mused. "I’ve seen Grandpa find reishi grass before, and he just tosses it in with the other common herbs. If it could really bring the dead back to life, wouldn’t he lock it up like a treasure?"

Guan Ailan thought for a moment and nodded. "You’re probably right. The movie talks about ’immortal reishi grass,’ which grows on the Zhongnan Mountain of the Nanji Immortal. The stuff that grows in a wild place like this is probably just a common herb. Pretty useless!"

Xiao Man was speechless again. ’It’s still a medicinal herb,’ she thought. ’You can’t just say it’s useless, can you?’

Guan Ailan had only seen Xiao Man "harvest" those two types of herbs with her own eyes. But later, back at home, the cloth bag Xiao Man handed to Grandpa contained four or five different kinds. When Grandpa saw the two stalks of Purple Ganoderma, his eyes widened with excitement. He picked them up with trembling hands, carefully inspecting them for any damage before finally speaking to Xiao Man.

"Haven’t I seen you looking through those medical books with the illustrations of herbs? How could you not recognize this? This is Purple Ganoderma, child! It’s incredibly rare! You just tossed it in there so carelessly. It’s a good thing it wasn’t damaged, or it would have been a terrible waste!"

Xiao Man played dumb. "I only flipped through that herb book, I haven’t studied it closely. I recognize Lingzhi, though, even without the pictures. You have some in your herb room! You just leave it lying around, so I figured it wasn’t worth much, right?"

"Well..." Grandpa was both exasperated and amused. "I can’t blame you. You’re still in school, it’s not so easy to master medical texts. It looks like from now on, Grandpa will have to teach you more about herbs!"

Xiao Man nodded. Grandpa pointed to the Purple Ganoderma. "The Lingzhi I usually find are the common kind. They have some medicinal properties, so I can’t say they’re worthless, but compared to this Purple Ganoderma, it’s the difference between heaven and earth! Do you understand? This type of Purple Ganoderma is incredibly difficult to find. At a critical moment, it can save a person’s life! In my entire life, I’ve only seen it twice, and both times were in an apothecary when other medicine collectors brought it in to sell. The older it is and the better its condition, the more valuable it becomes... Oh, Xiao Man... Grandpa has searched high and low for something like this to no avail, and you, you little slip of a girl, just stumble upon two of them while wandering around! But I suppose it comes down to fate and good fortune. There are thousands of rotting logs on the mountain, but who can tell which one has a treasure growing underneath? My granddaughter just has good luck! Grandpa reckons we can get a high price for these at Sun’s Renhe Hall!"

Xiao Man breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Grandpa wasn’t suspicious, everything was fine!

That night, Grandpa, Xiao Man, and Grandma were busy in the herb room until ten o’clock. Although Grandpa had recently returned to the production team to take on assigned work, Captain Guan mostly gave him light tasks like inspecting the irrigation channels, guarding the grain stores, or herding the cattle. This meant Grandpa still had more free time than the other members and could go to the mountains to gather herbs. After sorting through their haul that evening, they had filled three large bags.

Having acquired two fresh, high-quality stalks of Purple Ganoderma, Grandpa didn’t dare to delay. He wanted to take them to Wancheng to sell right away. He had already borrowed an ox cart from Secretary Mo’s family and planned to set out at midnight.

Xiao Man prepared some food and water for Grandpa’s journey. There were twenty buns and steamed buns left; Xiao Man packed ten of them, which should be enough for him on the road.