Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

He casually picked a few and smelled them. "They're alright, we can use them. Brother Mu Nan, these are fruits from last year, let's pick them all and take them home."

Wang Qing'er helped pick some orchids for a while, then wanted to run off to find some. Mu Nan saw his wife looking like she wanted to slip away and couldn't help but smile. He told her with concern, "Don't go too far."

"Oh, okay!" Wang Qing'er smiled at him shyly when she realized she had been discovered.

Fortunately, she finally found a few living star anise trees, which were not in bloom this season, only had leaves.

There were many fallen fruits on the ground. Wang Qing'er squatted down and picked up the intact ones, which were in better condition than those bought from the pharmacy.

"Qing'er, come here for a moment."

"Okay." Wang Qing'er replied and walked towards Mu Nan. "What's wrong? Brother Mu Nan!"

"Look, there are a few cinnamon trees here," Mu Nan said, pointing to the trees in front of her.

Wang Qing'er stared blankly at the trees he pointed to. She had only ever seen cinnamon bark, but never the trees themselves, so she asked, "Brother Mu Nan, are you sure these are cinnamon trees? I don't recognize them."

"Yes, I used to peel and sell them. There's also a laurel tree over there, the one with bay leaves in the braised meat recipe."

"Huh? How do you know all that? Have you seen the other ingredients in that braised meat recipe before?" Wang Qing'er was surprised that he knew them all. She only knew the names of the ingredients, and she knew he definitely wouldn't recognize them if she came to the mountains to find them.

"I've seen them. They're all over the mountains, but it takes time to find them."

“Okay, I’ll pick the leaves, and you peel the cinnamon bark.” Wang Qing’er walked to the fragrant tree, reached out and picked a few leaves. She looked at them carefully and they really were fragrant leaves.

The two divided the work and did their own tasks. Mu Nan quickly peeled the bark off several trees, but he only peeled the lower half of each tree.

Wang Qing'er had picked most of the leaves; in fact, if she didn't sell them, she wouldn't need much to braise the meat.

The two then picked up some more star anise before returning to the orchid grove, where they broke off all the orchids that had opened.

Fortunately, she brought two cloth bags today, and put star anise and bay leaves in the bags.

The baskets on their backs were full of fragrant orchids.

Seeing how much she liked it, Mu Nan dug up more than a dozen unopened orchids, intending to plant them in the open space in front of their room.

Wang Qing'er happily walked down the mountain with a full basket on her back.

Suddenly, she stepped on something that felt like beans, and almost fell. Luckily, Mu Nan caught her quickly. "Are you alright? You have to watch where you're going in this area. There are fallen soapberries all over the ground."

"What? Soapberry?" Was this the soapberry she wanted? Happiness came so suddenly that she stammered. She had originally planned to go to the county town to see if she could buy soapberry.

"Hmm." Mu Nan casually picked up a few seeds from the ground, spread them out in her palm, and placed them in front of Wang Qing'er.

“It really is a soapberry.” Wang Qing’er looked at the dried yellow fruit lying in Mu Nan’s palm.

She looked down at the ground again and saw many trees in the roadside bushes. Looking up, she saw several tall soapberry trees. No wonder she hadn't seen them before!

"Brother Mu Nan, it's still early, let's pick some to take back."

Mu Nan only knew that this was called soapberry, but didn't know what it was used for, so she asked, "What is this used for?"

"This soapberry can be made into soap, which can be used to wash hair, bathe, and wash clothes."

"This can be made into scented soap? Aren't scented soaps made from soap pods?" Mu Nan asked with some doubt.

"Soap pods can be used, and so can this. In short, there are many things that can be used to make scented soap."

As Wang Qing'er spoke, she packed all the star anise from Mu Nan's large basket into a bag, poured the fragrant leaves into the same bag, and then squatted down to pick up soapberries.

There are too many to pick up, there are simply too many to pick up.

Before long, the two of them had filled the container with all the tools they could carry.

Wang Qing'er was finally satisfied and went home. As she walked, she thought, "The mountains in ancient times are really good, with abundant resources. When I have money in the future, I will buy all the mountains here and become a mountain queen, a female mountain queen."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Mu Nan looked at his wife, who was grinning foolishly, and asked, "Qing'er, do you want all of those on the ground?"

As Wang Qing'er walked, she said, "Hmm, this is a treasure! I wish I had more! This produces lots of foam as soon as it touches water, and it cleans clothes very well. For people like you who do heavy physical labor and sweat a lot, this can remove sweat stains and clean clothes very easily."

"It can also remove grease when washing dishes, and it's also great for showering, washing your hair and face."

"That's good? I know a few other places that have it, even more than here."

Wang Qing'er asked excitedly, "Really?"

"Okay, I'll take you to pick them when we get back from the county town."

"Brother Mu Nan, I suddenly don't really want to go to the county town anymore!"

"Why?"

"I want to stay home and pick orchids, and also gather soapberries. There were still plenty there just now!"

"I'll have my parents and Mu Xiao pick the orchids for you when they see them. Grandma has also learned how to extract hydrosols, so I'll have her and Mu Qin help you with the preparation. As for the soapberries, I'll come with you every day to pick them after we come back from the county town. Is that alright?"

Mu Nan wanted to take this opportunity to take her to the county town for a couple of days. He was familiar with the county town and knew which snacks were good and which restaurants had good food.

The main thing is to take her to meet her master.

"Alright! Then I'll have to trouble you, Grandma." Wang Qing'er reluctantly agreed.

"Brother Mu Nan, are you selling the He Shou Wu?" Wang Qing'er suddenly thought of the He Shou Wu. Although she had dug up some more later, she would need a large amount of He Shou Wu to make shampoo bars.

"Tomorrow I'll take what we dug up earlier to the county town to ask about the price. If it's reasonable, I'll sell it."

"Oh, okay!" Wang Qing'er was a little unhappy. She thought about it all the way, "If the price of Polygonum multiflorum is very high, then I'll sell it. The few small ones I dug up later are not bad either. I can go to the mountains to find more later."

"If only we could grow it—yes, grow it ourselves. When I come back from the county town, I'll dig up some roots and try it. Maybe it will succeed! It should even produce seeds, and those seeds should be able to be planted too."

Before I knew it, I had arrived at my doorstep.

As soon as the two entered the courtyard, two maids ran over excitedly, "Sister-in-law, brother, the rabbits have given birth to six babies!"

"Daddy, Mommy's little bunny is so cute." Mu Yao sniffed, smelling how fragrant Wang Qing'er smelled. The little girl looked up at her, "Mommy, you smell so good!"

"I can smell it too, sister-in-law smells so good."

Wang Qing'er smiled and patted the two children's heads, "It's not that I smell good, it's the flowers in my basket that smell good."