A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

The ground was piled with herbs, some dried and some fresh.

The old doctor needed help; fresh herbs had to be cleaned of impurities, sorted, and then placed in a cool, ventilated place to dry.

Most of the dried herbs cannot be used directly; they still need to be cut into sections, slices, dried, stir-fried, steamed, ground into powder, etc.

Therefore, we moved all three small stoves out of the house and lit them in the yard. There's still a lot of work to be done.

Gu Xixi said helplessly, "Master, even though summer is here and these things on the back mountain are growing one after another, you can't just bring them home every day whenever you have a spare moment."

"So many, and they are all medicinal herbs used to treat internal injuries and sprains, stop bleeding from external injuries, and treat dysentery. How many patients like this do you see in a year? I'm afraid you won't be able to use them all by next year."

The old doctor said, "Who said I need this much for my own medical treatment? But..."

He turned to Gu Xixi, nodded and smiled with satisfaction, "You can recognize what kind of medicine I'm making, which shows you've been studying diligently all this time."

Ignoring her master's praise, Gu Xixi asked in confusion, "Why are you making all this if you don't use it yourself?"

The old doctor continued grinding the medicine, smiling as he said, "Naturally, I'm doing what I'm asked of someone, and I'm fulfilling my duty."

"Oh, don't ask any more questions. You've agreed to help the old man, so get to work."

Gu Xixi and He Jinglan exchanged glances, communicating silently: something's strange.

An Qinghe worked very diligently, volunteering to be in charge of three stoves and three pots.

The old doctor only needed to occasionally check the temperature of the fire when preparing the medicinal herbs; he left all the cooking and handling to An Qinghe.

After dinner, everyone lit lamps in the courtyard and worked for a while longer.

When the moon rose above the treetops, Aunt Zhang brought her two children to ask Gu Xixi how she was going to sleep that night.

Gu Xixi spoke as planned.

Qing'er was very attached to Shi Tou, holding his hand tightly and refusing to let go. "Qing'er wants to be with Brother Shi Tou."

“No,” Madam Meng said reproachfully, “Your Grandma Zhang will get tired taking care of two children.”

Qing'er didn't dare to be willful; she just pouted, looking somewhat unhappy.

Aunt Zhang glanced at them and said with a smile, "Shitou is sensible and I never have to worry about him. Qing'er is also so well-behaved. It's fine to let them both stay with me. As long as you, as their mother, are willing to let them go."

Shi Tou also raised his hand and said, "Don't worry, Aunt Meng, I'm here. I'll take care of Qing'er and make sure she doesn't cry."

Looking at her daughter, Madam Meng finally let out a helpless sigh.

"Then I'll have to trouble you tonight, Auntie. If she makes a fuss in the middle of the night, please tell her to come to the main room to find me."

After washing up, the children chattered and laughed as they followed Aunt Zhang into the house.

The old doctor smelled the pot of freshly steamed herbs and said, "Alright, put out the fire. That's enough for today."

Everyone went back to their rooms to prepare for sleep.

While brushing her teeth, Gu Xixi thought of a possibility and quietly asked He Jinglan, "Do you remember the day the person who locked the west room left?"

He Jinglan thought for a moment and then suggested a date.

Gu Xixi then asked, "When did my master start gathering herbs so recklessly?"

After a moment's thought, He Jinglan and the other woman looked at each other, both of them wide-eyed and gasping.

He Jinglan: "Did he do it again?"

Gu Xixi: "To be precise, it's them."

Thinking about it carefully, wasn't it only after Mu Nanzhao left that the old doctor started bringing herbs home every day?

Gu Xixi rinsed her mouth, spat it out, and said with a sullen face, "The more I think about it, the more reasonable it seems."

"My master is very skilled at making medicine."

"Internal injury medicine, trauma medicine, and dysentery medicine, and such a large quantity of them, are all things that the military camp needs regularly."

He Jinglan nodded in agreement, "Yes, I think that makes sense too!"

"I never expected that he would leave us with so much work, besides leaving us with a broken lock!"

She said bitterly, "When I see him again, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind..."

"His words made him feel utterly ashamed!"

Gu Xixi was also very unhappy. "They didn't even say hello, and they made my master keep it from me."

“Using my land, my stove, my charcoal, and our labor—what a brilliant plan.”

He Jinglan continued the accusation, "He still hasn't paid his wages!"

She asked Gu Xixi, "Shall we still do it tomorrow?"

Gu Xixi said, "Of course we should do it. If these medicines are for those soldiers, we should do our part to protect them."

He Jinglan thought of Meng Chengping and fell silent.

After a moment, she perked up and asked with a smile, "Should we continue to pretend we don't know anything about Elder Jiang?"

Gu Xixi nodded. "He and my master must have reached some kind of tacit understanding. My master has his reasons for not saying anything now."

When they returned to the room, He Jinglan brought up Anqing again.

Gu Xixi thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll talk to him tomorrow."

As a friend, she couldn't let Anqing be stuck here and cause things to go wrong.

The following morning, in the tea tree experimental field on the west side of Houshan Mountain.

Gu Xixi mentioned to An Qinghe that she wanted to return to Yunling County as soon as possible.

She couldn't be too explicit, so she could only say in a roundabout way that the war had just ended and she was afraid there would be further unrest. If she were trapped in the village and couldn't get back, wouldn't that delay important matters?

An Qinghe blinked, his expression turning serious. "Xixi, do you also know something about this?"

"Also?" Gu Xixi hesitated. "Have you heard something?"

An Qinghe looked around and whispered, "I'm not sure, but there are rumors that the Daye court is unstable."

"Moreover, I've heard that several wealthy merchants from Jiangnan who have connections in the capital have been secretly hiding and transferring their assets."

He cupped one hand to his mouth, lowering his voice even further, "I'm afraid things are going to get chaotic soon."

Seeing that Gu Xixi remained silent for a long time, An Qinghe assumed that she did not believe him.

Then she said, "Have you forgotten what I do?"

"Merchants value information most, not just news from the business world, but also news from the imperial court."

The seedling business of the Hu people in Yunling County had long been established in prosperous areas such as Jiangnan and Huaizhong.

Gu Xixi naturally understood that what An Qinghe said was not unfounded.

Commerce and agriculture share some similarities.

They are like the roots of a plant, extending to any place where humans live, omnipresent.

Both are directly affected by the needs and decrees of the imperial court.

Therefore, it is not surprising that some wealthy merchants could access such information.

Gu Xixi turned to An Qinghe and smiled, "What I know is about the same as what you said."

"So I picked some tea leaves for you today, so you should set off back to Yunling as soon as possible."

However, An Qinghe looked at Gu Xixi and said firmly, "I'm not leaving."

"I can't leave your side, especially in times of danger!"

The whole family worked together for two days. Gu Xixi assisted the old doctor in making medicine, while He Jinglan, An Qinghe counted pills, weighed powders, and packed them.

Finally, at dawn on the fourth day, all three kinds of prepared medicines were prepared and packaged.

Several people sat down on the ground, exhausted, leaning against the wall or the table, letting out a long sigh of relief.

An Qinghe said, "Finally, it's done in a super urgent way."

He Jinglan laughed weakly, "You always use idioms in a strange way."