Falling into the mortal world

The raw material for anesthetics is datura. If we can find datura, I wonder if we can use the formula for the anesthetic powder to exchange for meteorite iron.

It's already November, and there's a hot spring in the mountain valley where it's spring all year round. I've heard my great-grandmother talk about it before.

Wild animals roamed that area year-round, and no one dared to go in. Over time, fewer people talked about it, and few knew that such a place existed in the mountains. I used to just listen to it as a story.

But now I want to go and see for myself if it's really as spring-like all year round as my great-grandmother said.

Because of her pregnancy, Lan Qingqing knew that her mother was keeping a close eye on her, so she could only lie to her mother and say that she was going to stay with her master for a few days.

The clinic hasn't been very busy these past few days, so her master plans to test her learning progress. Mother Lan could only agree.

Lan's mother wanted Feng Caidie to go with them, and no matter what Lan Qingqing said, she couldn't persuade her mother, so she had no choice but to take her along.

Lan Qingqing quickly packed her things, then slung her basket over her shoulder and set off. She and Feng Caidie disappeared from her mother's sight until her mother went inside.

When Lan Qingqing couldn't see her mother, she looked back and saw her mother go inside. Then, Lan Qingqing pulled Feng Caidie towards the mountains. Feng Caidie was a little confused, but she could only follow Lan Qingqing's lead.

Once inside the mountains, Feng Caidie still asked curiously, "Why did the girl keep her going into the mountains a secret from her aunt?"

"I'm going into the mountains to find a medicinal herb. I don't want my mother to worry about me. What kind of herb do you want to find, young lady? You can draw it and I'll go into the mountains to find it," Feng Caidie said earnestly.

"The mountains are dangerous. What do you think your chances of surviving if you go into the mountains?" Lan Qingqing asked.

"Since you know it's dangerous, young lady, you still can't take the risk! What kind of herbs must you personally go to find?" Feng Caidie said, puzzled.

Lan Qingqing planned to tell Feng Caidie about it, so that someone could cover for her.

"I'm about three months pregnant. Aren't you curious why my belly is so big?" Lan Qingqing asked.

The Lan family wasn't curious because they thought the doctor had made a mistake. After all, the village doctors weren't very skilled; they could handle minor ailments like headaches and fevers, but for serious illnesses, you had to go to the town clinic.

Because of Lan Qingqing's past experiences, everyone kept quiet about them.

But Feng Caidie was different. She came out of there with Lan Qingqing, so she naturally knew when Lan Qingqing had become pregnant. Before that, everyone in the entire Menghua Tower knew that Lan Qingqing did not entertain guests.

Actually, Feng Caidie wasn't uninterested, but she didn't really understand these things herself.

Seeing Feng Caidie's puzzled expression, Lan Qingqing thought to herself, "This little girl in front of me has never had a child, what could she possibly know?"

Lan Qingqing said directly: "I'm pregnant with four children. Do you know what four children means? I could die at any moment during childbirth. What I'm looking for now is the kind of herb that can help me during childbirth; it might save my life in a critical moment."

Feng Caidie was terrified when she heard about quadruplets. She had once seen a woman in her old village who was pregnant with twins and died in childbirth. It was said that after giving birth to one, the other child was stuck inside her and couldn't come out, so both the mother and the baby died.

The more Feng Caidie thought about it, the more frightened she became. She was afraid that the girl would die like that woman.

At this moment, Feng Caidie's eyes reddened.

Seeing this, Lan Qingqing quickly comforted her: Don't worry, I'll be fine. What I'm doing now is just to survive.

"Girl, maybe we shouldn't keep this child!" Feng Caidie said, her eyes red.

Even if I abort this child now, I'll still face danger, so I might as well take a gamble and see if fate allows me to live. In ancient times, multiple births were rare; babies usually died at birth, often prematurely, and were too small. Without incubators, these infants were very vulnerable to death.

"Don't worry, I don't want to die yet. I have my loving family here, and you, my little girl who's always been so devoted to me. I'll do everything I can to survive," Lan Qingqing said firmly.

"Alright, if you want to gamble, then I'll gamble with you. You saved my life, and I'll do whatever you want to do," Feng Caidie said solemnly.

Lan Qingqing handed Feng Caidie a sickle, which was the knife her family used to dig for wild vegetables. Lan Qingqing had just found it. Feng Caidie took the knife, and Lan Qingqing said that it was dangerous in the mountains, and having a knife with her would help her defend herself. Feng Caidie nodded.

Lan Qingqing held a wood-chopping knife in her hand. Along the way, she tapped and banged on the ground with a wooden stick, scaring away any snakes, insects, or rodents that might be nearby.

The mountain path grew steeper and steeper, with fewer and fewer footprints. The further we went, the taller the trees became, and the denser the wild grass grew. Autumn and winter wildflowers and vegetables sprouted seeds, and the wild grass grew long, fuzzy tails that clung to our clothes like cotton wool.

Feng Caidie was on tenterhooks the whole way. Her fear wasn't about the surrounding environment, but about Lan Qingqing. How could one not worry about a pregnant woman walking in the mountains?

Lan Qingqing searched for the cliff her grandmother had mentioned along the way. Fortunately, she didn't encounter many snakes; it must be because of the cold weather that snakes were less active.

Along the way, Lan Qingqing saw some rabbits and pheasants. She casually caught two pheasants to keep for dinner. Lan Qingqing also intentionally avoided places where wild animals might appear. She was not in a good position to fight right now, and she was sure there would be plenty of wild animals at the bottom of the cliff.

In my past life, during training, no one cared about your life or death. They would just throw some half-grown children into a pack of wild animals. Whoever survived could continue the training. I survived one battle after another.

So none of this matters to Lan Qingqing; the only difference now is that she is pregnant.

She walked all day but still couldn't find the place her grandmother had described. She believed her grandmother wouldn't lie to her; in her memory, her grandmother was very kind and loving. When she was born, her grandmother saw a colorful bird flying onto their roof and decided she was their family's lucky star, thus always showering her with affection. Lan Qingqing believed everything her grandmother said.

As for the Lan family's old house, when Lan Qingqing was still an infant, Old Madam Lan found fault with everything about her. She only cried a few times, but then she slapped Lan Qingqing so hard that she lost her memory. What a vicious old woman!

As darkness approached, and knowing that nighttime in the deep forest was extremely dangerous, Lan Qingqing decided to find a cave to rest in for the night and continue her journey at dawn. Caves were plentiful in the mountains, but finding a safe one was proving difficult.

Fortunately, Lan Qingqing still had some wilderness survival skills, and before dark she found a cave that could accommodate two people.