Children of Loulan

Baiya Village is located at the border between Loulan Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty. As it is close to the Central Plains, the mountains here are full of herbs.

Most people in the village make a living by growing herbs. On this day, at noon, Hanguli, like usual, carried a backpack and small tools and headed for the mountains. Although their village has an advantage in geographical location and can grow herbs, the herbs they grow are not particularly precious. First, the planting technology of precious herbs is high, second, the cost of seeds is expensive, and third, the planting time is long.

Not only that, the survival rate of planting is even lower, only 10% to 20%! And for ordinary people like them, even if they successfully planted medicinal herbs with great difficulty,

Before the harvest, the herbs would be stolen by jealous people. Therefore, low-ranking commoners like them could only choose to plant some ordinary herbs. As for the precious and rare herbs, they were all planted by the powerful local gentry and wealthy people.

But then again, in addition to artificial cultivation, there are of course wild medicinal herbs. These wild medicinal herbs are more valuable, but due to long-term over-picking and digging, there are very few left now.

However, nothing is absolute in this world. Maybe there will be a glimmer of good luck? Maybe you can find one or two rare and precious wild herbs! With such expectations and hopes, Hanguli always takes a few more steps towards the mountains carefully after finishing her farm work every day.

After all, there were ferocious and terrifying wild animals lurking in the deep mountains, and no one in the village dared to set foot there easily. Naturally, she did not dare to go deep into the dangerous area, and could only wander around the mountain to explore. If she was lucky enough to find a precious herb, then her mother and brother would be able to have a delicious meal of meat.

Back then, Hanguli's family had a comfortable life. Unfortunately, fate played a trick on them. Everything changed when her mother became pregnant with her younger brother. The mother, who was more than seven months pregnant at the time, accidentally fell, almost causing the death of both mother and child.

This accident not only caused my younger brother to be born more than a month early, but also made him weak and sickly since birth, and he had to rely on long-term medication to maintain his life; my mother also suffered a chronic illness as a result of the fall, and her health is much worse than before.

In an ordinary family, if there is a patient who is chronically ill and needs medication, it would put the family under tremendous pressure and difficulties. However, Hanguli's family has two such "medicine jars", which undoubtedly makes their already meager family assets become even more empty.

In order to support the family and pay for medical expenses, Hanguli's father had to run around and work hard to earn money. At the same time, almost all the affairs of the family fell on Hanguli's young shoulders. Although life was so difficult, she always silently took on all of this and took care of her family without complaint.

Just a few days ago, Hanguli went up the mountain to collect herbs as usual, and unexpectedly found a precious red ganoderma growing under a slightly decayed tree. However, this red ganoderma is not yet fully mature, and there is still a circle of light yellow around its edge. If it is to be truly mature, it will take some time until the circle of yellow completely turns into reddish brown.

Because this red Ganoderma lucidum grew at the bottom of a withered tree, it was covered by a layer of loose and soft leaves and soil, and accompanied by some messy weeds, which resulted in it having not been noticed by anyone. However, just a few days ago.

When Hanguli accidentally discovered this deeply hidden red Ganoderma lucidum, a complex emotion suddenly surged in her heart - she was extremely excited about the unexpected gain, but at the same time, she was also deeply worried that someone else might get there first and snatch the treasure away.

Faced with such a precious and rare red ganoderma, Hanguli couldn't help but fall into a dilemma: should she pick it immediately? After all, although the red ganoderma picked in advance can also be exchanged for a certain amount of money, it is still less valuable than the fully ripe and higher quality ones!

After only a brief moment of thinking and weighing the pros and cons, Hanguli resolutely decided to give up the current time to pick the ganoderma, and quickly put the weeds that had just been cleared back in place. After all, it is wisest and safest to wait for the red ganoderma to mature naturally before picking it! And now is the best time to pick it~

Before daybreak, she had already properly settled her mother and brother. At this moment, she was full of trepidation, carrying a bamboo basket on her back and holding tools, and ran straight to the place where the red Ganoderma was.

As soon as she stepped out of the village and into the secluded path, her pace involuntarily quickened, and she seemed a little anxious. After all, since she found this extremely precious red ganoderma, she had never told anyone a word, not even her closest family members knew anything.

This was not out of distrust of them, but rather a fear that there might be "ears through the wall". Once the news leaked out, the consequences would be disastrous... Thinking of this, she became more and more nervous, her heart beating like a drum, as if it was about to jump out of her throat.

After all, no one could predict whether someone would pass by the door while she was talking. Therefore, she had been living in a state of anxiety and fear for the past few days, fearing that the red ganoderma would be discovered and picked.

With such extreme anxiety, she could not help but quicken her pace, and even trotted in the end. When she arrived under the dead tree, panting, her previous urgency had long disappeared. She stretched out her slightly trembling hands, slowly pushed aside the messy weeds and withered leaves, held her breath, stared at the dead tree in front of her with wide eyes.

When she saw a tiny bit of reddish brown color among the weeds, she breathed a sigh of relief, her heart finally settling down. She smiled slightly, patted her chest, and then carefully dug out the red Ganoderma.

After picking the fruits, she wrapped them in the cloth she had prepared in advance and put them in the backpack. She remembered her father had told her that wealth should not be leaked, and no one would care about their family's current situation.

The people in the village were also very friendly, but she always remembered to be vigilant. Hanguli's father was called Muhammad, and he had studied for a few years. Later, due to various reasons, he could no longer go to school, so he learned to read and write at home. Her father kept all those books. Her mother was called Rena and her brother was called Mamtim. Before her mother gave birth to her brother, her father often taught her to read and write. Later, her mother and brother had an accident, and her father went out to help, so he rarely taught her anymore. But whenever she had time, she would teach her brother to read, and told her brother that her father had been to school for a few years and had taught her for several years.

She and her father had not had good luck in studying, so she hoped that her brother would have the opportunity to go to school and achieve some success. She didn't want him to be very successful, but at least he could support himself. Putting aside all her thoughts, she picked up another load of firewood and walked briskly home.

Normally, she didn't feel anything when carrying a basket of firewood, but today was different. She felt that the basket of firewood was a little heavy, and at the same time, she felt a little excited. This heaviness and excitement were all because of the red ganoderma! After she got home, she put the firewood in the kitchen, took the cloth bag, closed the door excitedly and walked into the house.

There was a thin woman in her thirties in the room, with a cloth wrapped around her head, sewing a hole in her clothes with needle and thread in her hands. Suddenly, the woman felt a black screen in front of her eyes, and when she looked up, she saw her daughter, who was smiling mysteriously and her teeth were showing.

The woman asked curiously: "Guli, what's wrong? Why did you close the door? I'm still sewing clothes!"

Hanguli grinned and said softly with a smile: "Mom, I found a good thing!"

Seeing her daughter so happy, Jenna smiled and replied, "What good stuff is this? So mysterious?"

Although she was also laughing, she did not expect her daughter to come up with anything special. At this time, Hanguli shouted: "Mom, look!"