Reborn as a girl, I will live forever in the world of immortality

The next morning, He Ling woke up early because she was hungry.

Touching his rumbling stomach, He Ling sat up and walked to the only, somewhat tattered wooden table in the house.

When I opened the lid of the pot, I saw that there was still half a bowl of oatmeal porridge left.

After drinking the cold porridge in one gulp, He Ling sat at the table and began to think.

She now has the treasure spring, and it would be a waste to use it to grow wheat. Moreover, that little bit is not enough for food. She'd better ripen high-value plants. The only thing she can think of now is medicinal herbs.

However, most of the more expensive medicinal herbs are found in deep mountains and forests, and those outside have basically been picked up.

Given He Ling's current powerless state, it is very likely that he will not be able to get out once he goes in.

As for buying seeds, He Ling is penniless now and no one can give her credit.

He Ling thought for a long time but couldn't think of a way to break the deadlock.

"Xiao Ling'er, are you there?" A voice came from outside the door.

When He Ling heard the voice, he stood up and hurried to the door.

In front of the thatched hut stood a lady in her forties, holding a small cloth bag in her left hand. As soon as she shouted, she saw a thin figure walking out.

"Aunt Zhang, why are you here?" He Ling said with a smile when she saw the person coming.

Aunt Zhang laughed and said, "Of course I came to see Xiao Ling'er."

As he spoke, he looked at the small mound beside him with a nostalgic look in his eyes.

When He Ling saw the look in Aunt Zhang's eyes, she naturally knew that Aunt Zhang probably had a close relationship with the grandfather who adopted her, and there probably was a complicated story between them.

After Aunt Zhang had expressed her longing, He Ling welcomed her into the thatched cottage.

As soon as Aunt Zhang entered the room, she saw the shabby state of the house: a wooden bed and a rice jar with the lid opened but no rice in it.

And on the table, there was an empty bowl with not a single grain of rice left.

Aunt Zhang sighed, "Xiao Ling'er, you might as well have agreed to the conditions of the old Tong family."

"At least now we have enough food and clothing."

He Ling just smiled and didn't respond.

The old Tong family was a wealthy peasant family in the village. When they saw that He Ling was a girl, they proposed to let He Ling marry into their Tong family and be a child bride for their son.

The Tong family had more than ten acres of land, so supporting He Ling was naturally not a problem.

If an ordinary woman couldn't even get enough to eat, she might agree, but for He Ling, who was once a man, she would not agree even if it meant death.

"By the way, Aunt Zhang, I wonder why you came here today?"

"I can't repay the food I owe you for now, but I will find a way..."

Aunt Zhang slapped He Ling's hand and said unhappily, "Xiao Ling'er, who do you think Aunt Zhang is? Although Aunt Zhang is not rich, she is not a mean person."

He Ling saw Aunt Zhang's expression change, and quickly said:

"I misunderstood Aunt Zhang. I just felt like I owed her too much, so I wanted to give her something in return."

After hearing this, Aunt Zhang's complexion recovered a little. She looked at the dilapidated thatched house, sighed and said.

"Old Liu was a good man when he was young, but he was too kindhearted. Was there anyone in the village who didn't receive his care?"

"If anyone asks you for food in the future, just come to Aunt Zhang. You'll see, Aunt Zhang, I'll scold him to death."

He Ling nodded quickly.

Aunt Zhang continued to talk. "But it's because he was so kindhearted. He helped everyone, whether he could or couldn't. If he hadn't been so kindhearted back then, I can't say for sure..."

As she spoke, tears welled up in Aunt Zhang's eyes.

"Aunt Zhang?" He Ling heard Aunt Zhang's voice getting smaller and smaller, so she asked.

Aunt Zhang wiped her eyes and said, "Nothing, nothing, I almost forgot something important."

"Here, Xiao Ling'er, this is for you."

As she spoke, Aunt Zhang handed a small cloth bag on her right to He Ling.

He Ling took it and opened it, and saw that it was half a bag of slightly yellow rice.

He Ling looked at the rice and felt happy, and had already accepted it in her heart.

But he looked a little anxious and handed the bag of rice to Aunt Zhao.

"Aunt Zhang, you've helped me so much, how can I accept your rice?"

"Take it back quickly."

Aunt Zhang also smiled with relief.

"Xiao Ling'er, just take it. My husband found a Gastrodia elata plant when he was working in the fields yesterday. We sold it in town today and it fetched five taels of silver."

"We sold new rice and bought meat, so we used up the old rice that was left in the rice jar."

"It would be a shame to feed it to the chickens and ducks, so I brought it to you. Just accept it."

He Ling nodded. The annual expenses of a family in the village were about eight or nine taels of silver. Aunt Zhang's husband had saved up almost enough food for more than half a year.

However, when he heard about Gastrodia elata, He Ling's eyes lit up.

She smiled and said to Aunt Zhao, "Congratulations, Aunt Zhang. If Aunt Zhang says so, then I will shamelessly accept it."

Seeing He Ling accept the cloth bag, Aunt Zhao stood up and said, "Okay, then Aunt Zhang will go back. You, a girl, should be careful living alone."

"Wait a minute, Aunt Zhao."

Aunt Zhang looked at He Ling in confusion, "Xiao Ling'er, do you have anything else to say?"

He Ling smiled and said, "Aunt Zhang, I'd like to ask where Uncle Li found the Gastrodia elata. I'd also like to try my luck."

Hearing this, Aunt Zhang also smiled and said, "Then you went too late. Everyone in the village heard that my husband picked up Gastrodia elata. They went to search everywhere but didn't find a single Gastrodia elata plant."

"It's okay, I just went there to try my luck."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade He Ling, Aunt Zhang thought that the place was just near the village and not dangerous, so she told He Ling the location.

Then He Ling sent Aunt Zhang to the door and watched Aunt Zhang's figure slowly disappear.

He Ling did not go to that place immediately, but picked up the cloth bag given by Aunt Zhang and weighed it.

According to He Ling's estimation, it should be about two kilograms. If He Ling eats it sparingly, it can last for about ten days.

This greatly alleviated He Ling's problem of eating, and he kept this kindness in mind.

He Ling cooked another bowl of porridge. She had only eaten the oatmeal porridge from last night and was now extremely hungry.

This time it was pure rice porridge, and it was much richer. He Ling took a sip and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

Alas, thinking back to the past, He Ling absolutely looked down upon this white rice porridge. Unless she had eaten too much meat or felt unwell, He Ling basically would not touch the porridge.

Now even eating a bowl of white rice porridge has become a rare delicacy.

She composed herself, closed the door and went out. Her thatched cottage was so poor that even a thief would cry if he came. She was not afraid of being robbed at all.

Arriving at a field, He Ling searched for a while and found some scattered hemp stalks.

There was a small pit on the ground, with some hemp stalks and some small white bumps scattered around it.

When He Ling saw the small white lump, her eyes lit up and she picked it up as if it were a treasure.

I searched around again and only found three.

Although it's a little less, it's basically enough.

He Ling became interested when she heard that Aunt Zhao's husband had picked up a Gastrodia elata.

When these villagers dug these medicinal herbs, they were not careful and gentle. Although they knew that the more complete the thing was, the higher its value was, they did not care much about the stems and seeds on top.

He Ling came over and looked for it, and indeed found three seeds.

He Ling didn't know many medicinal herbs, but this Gastrodia elata was something he just happened to know.

If she remembered correctly, Gastrodia elata usually matures in about three years.

He Ling now takes one drop of the precious spring water every day, and it only takes three days to ripen the Gastrodia elata.

When He Ling thought about the five taels of silver that would be deposited into his account in three days, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously.

At this time, a couple had been farming for the whole morning and were now sitting in the field to rest.

"Wife, look, there's someone there, grinning foolishly at the air."

The peasant woman took a look and said, "I recognize her. She's a little girl that Lao Liu adopted. I think her name is Xiao Ling'er."

"I guess he heard that the Li family picked up a piece of Gastrodia elata, and now he's imagining that he picked up a piece of Gastrodia elata too."

"Before, the old Tong family took a fancy to her and kindly let her be a child bride. Others still looked down on her, and now they are probably regretting it."

After hearing what others were saying, He Ling finally reacted, glanced at them, and started to return home.

The village is not as simple as it seems. Gossiping and talking bad about others behind their backs are commonplace in the village.

As soon as he returned home, He Ling looked around furtively, making sure that no one was around, and then he took out a large teapot.

This teapot is one of the only two porcelain pieces in He Ling's home.

However, she hasn't drunk tea since Grandpa Liu passed away, so the teapot is naturally useless.

He Ling filled the teapot with soil and dug a small hole. He took out a white Gastrodia elata seed and put it in the small hole.

Then He Ling closed her eyes and placed her index finger above the Gastrodia elata seeds.

Then a drop of water with a subtle golden-green light condensed on He Ling's hand.

He Ling moved her fingers slightly, and drops of water fell onto the Gastrodia elata seeds.

Then the next moment, a green sprout immediately emerged from the hemp seed, and white roots also penetrated into the soil.

Then the green sprout continued to grow longer, and stopped only when it reached half the height of He Ling's palm.

He Ling dug up some soil and checked. The root of the Gastrodia elata had already formed into a small lump, and then he felt relieved.

Although she knew Gastrodia elata, she was afraid that she might mistake the seeds of other plants for Gastrodia elata.

But now seeing the lumps under the roots, He Ling was sure that it was indeed Gastrodia elata.