Farmhouse Green Plum

The next place still had no plants. Lai Di crossed her arms, shrunk her neck, and said tremblingly, "Don't be anxious, let's go to the next place."

Looking at Lai Di, whose lips were so frozen that they turned purple and who wished she could curl up into a ball, and then looking at Daya, who was also shrinking her neck and whose hands holding the torch were swollen like buns, Xiaoxiang's eyes blurred.

She wanted to say, stop looking and go back, but when she thought of her mother dying on the bed, she couldn't say those words.

The three of them went to two more places, but still found nothing. Xiaoxiang became even more desperate.

Lai Di was a bit hesitant, "Is it because there is no grass in this season? We have been looking for so long and haven't even seen grass that looks like it has sections."

"I don't know. They didn't mention the growing season at that time." Daya was also helpless. After all, she was just listening to the communication between Lin Wenxuan and Dr. Ma. She didn't study it specifically and did not ask for further details based on her own understanding.

Looking at her companions who were freezing, Xiaoxiang finally said with difficulty: "Let's find one last place. If we are not there, we will go back."

The fifth location was on the river bank. When the river wind blew, Daya felt as if her soul was frozen. She couldn't help but urge, "Look for it quickly."

This is a place I really don't want to stay in for even a moment.

The river wind here is obviously very biting, but strangely, the green plants near the water bank are much more lush than other places.

After searching for a while, Lai Di shouted in surprise: "Daya, come here quickly! Is this it?"

Without waiting for Daya to come over, she broke off one and held it up, "Look, it's section by section, exactly like what you described."

Daya took it, first observed it repeatedly, then crushed it to check inside, her joy came to an abrupt end, "This is not ephedra."

"No?" Lai Di turned around and broke off another torch, leaning closer to the fire and looking at it over and over again. "It's exactly the same as you described."

"This looks like knotweed. Doctor Ma said a very special thing about knotweed is that it is hollow inside, while ephedra is solid inside and contains yellow powder."

Lai Di threw away the plant that looked like knotweed in disappointment and asked, "What should we do now?"

Xiaoxiang's eyes darkened and she said softly, "Let's go back. It's too cold."

Daya felt a little reluctant, looking at the green knotweed in her hand, and said, "Look for more. There are knotweeds like this one, which means that even though it is hard to find in winter, it is not unavailable."

As she spoke, she raised the torch and looked at the river bank, trying to see where there were still grassy plants. Suddenly, she noticed something. "Hey, the grass by the river seems to be greener?"

Lai Di glanced at it and said, "Not necessarily. In those low-lying pits, the grass is mostly this dark green. There is also a lot of emerald green grass by the river, such as on the bank over there."

Daya thought so too. There were also low-lying areas on the mountain with dark green grass. Wait, by the river... low-lying areas...

An idea suddenly occurred to her mind, and she murmured, "Could it be that in dark and damp places, the grass is darker and greener?"

Lai Di thought about the grass she saw every day and said in surprise: "Huh? It seems to be true!"

Daya clapped her hands excitedly, causing the torch to shake and almost go out.

Lai Di quickly grabbed the torch and asked anxiously, "What's wrong? Are you too cold to hold it steady?"

"No, no!" Daya waved her hands quickly, "I remembered something. When Brother Lin was reciting the characteristics of ephedra, he said that ephedra is light green or yellow-green."

Xiaoxiang looked at the clusters of dark green vegetation at her feet in disappointment, "Then this is definitely not ephedra."

"No!" Daya was very anxious. "What I mean is, since it is light green or yellow-green, it shouldn't grow in dark and humid places. When we choose a place, we can directly exclude these places!"

"This saves a lot of effort, and what we find is more likely to be correct." Lai Di was pleasantly surprised.

Xiaoxiang was even more excited, and the blood in her body seemed to be burning and she was no longer so cold.

At that moment, the three of them began to think.

After a while, Xiaoxiang hesitated and said, "I think I saw it on a slope somewhere."

"Slope?" Daya frowned and began to think carefully about the slope of the mountain in Xinghua Village.

Uh, it seems like both.

"The soil is loose and sandy, and the grass is easy to pull out. Once you pull and shake it, the soil will almost fall off."

"Yuanbao Mountain!" Daya and Laidi said almost in unison.

Unlike most mountains, the top of Yuanbao Mountain is a huge round platform, hence the name Yuanbao Mountain. There is very little soil on the top of the mountain, and bare rocks can be seen in most places.

The soil on the mountain is sandy, and Daya's family also has a piece of land there, where they grow peanuts every year. Daya really likes to pick the peanuts from that land.

Just pull them out and shake them, then you can put them in the backpack. Unlike the peanuts from other places, even if you break the stems and leaves of the peanuts, you can't shake off the mud so cleanly and you have to break them with your hands.

The three of them immediately rushed to Yuanbao Mountain and searched in circles from the foot of the mountain upwards. Finally, they found a small cluster under the snow halfway up the mountain on the south side.

Covered by snow all day, the grass nodes were a little withered and the color was slightly darker, not like the usual light green and yellow-green, but still much lighter than the vegetation that looked like knotweed by the river.

"Is this ephedra?" Xiaoxiang looked at Daya expectantly, afraid to hear a no from her.

Daya broke off a section from the tangled and overlapping grass nodes, tore it open, and found that there was indeed yellow powder inside.

"It should be ephedra. The darker color may be because it has been soaked in snow water for a long time."

Xiaoxiang cried with joy, murmuring over and over again: "That's great, that's great..."

Daya and Laidi were infected by her and their eyes became red involuntarily. This was not only about saving Xiaoxiang's mother Zhang's life, but also about saving Xiaoxiang's future.

If Zhang died, Zhao Hu would definitely remarry, and there were many children who were abused by their stepmothers.

Lai Di wiped her eyes and said, "Oh, I'm freezing. Don't just stand there. Hurry up and pick some good ones to take back."

The three of them squatted down and rummaged through the grass, finally picking out a handful of complete grass nodes.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Go home, go home! I'm freezing to death!" Lai Di rubbed her hands and stood up. Just as she turned around and was about to leave, the torch suddenly went out and the surroundings fell into darkness.

She jumped up in fright and let out a short scream, "Ah—"

Xiaoxiang quickly asked: "Daya, what's going on?"

Following her voice, Lai Di reached out and hugged her, trembling her lips and said, "No, there can't be a ghost? Could it be your mother blaming us for finding the medicine too slowly?

Aunt Zhang, please don't take my life. We really didn't know there was ephedra here. We really tried hard to find medicine to save you. We didn't mean to delay.

If you want to take our lives, go find Uncle Zhao. It was he who was reluctant to spend money on your medical treatment and caused you to die. Don’t take our lives…”

Daya's mouth twitched when she heard this. Lai Di was a person with a loud voice, harsh scolding, and great courage. She was not afraid of fighting with boys, but she was very afraid of ghosts.