Falling into the mortal world

This startled Feng Caidie, who hadn't seen any wild animals along the way and had assumed there were none.

Lan Qingqing asked Feng Caidie to roast the leopard meat. If they couldn't finish it, they could roast it into jerky and take it with them. They couldn't eat on time these days, which was not good for the fetus. Roasting the meat into jerky would make it easy to eat whenever they were hungry.

Feng Caidie took it and started roasting. Lan Qingqing handed her the salt from the basket, saying that there wasn't much salt left and to use it sparingly.

Feng Caidie smiled and said, "I understand, miss."

Feng Caidie asked Lan Qingqing with some curiosity, "Miss, we haven't seen many large wild animals along the way, how come you catch them so easily?"

As Lan Qingqing added firewood, she said, "It's not that there are no wild animals here, it's that we are avoiding them. Of course, when I want to catch wild animals, I can find them."

Feng Caidie understood. No wonder they had been able to travel safely all the way. Her young lady could move freely even in the deep mountains and forests. Her young lady was indeed extraordinary.

As soon as it was light, Lan Qingqing began searching for datura. She told Feng Caidie to wait for her there, as there were still many wild animals outside, and this place was relatively safer. Lan Qingqing observed that the flowers around the cave entrance were highly poisonous, and neither small animals nor large wild animals dared to come this way.

Feng Caidie didn't dare to wander around after hearing Lan Qingqing's words, so she roasted meat inside and took the meat she hadn't finished eating yesterday with her.

You just need to stay inside the cave and try not to come out. If you need to come out to relieve yourself, please remember not to touch the flowers at the cave entrance.

Don't be fooled by its bright colors; it contains deadly poison.

Feng Caidie nodded repeatedly to indicate that she understood.

After instructing Feng Caidie, Lan Qingqing went out. She first searched around the cave entrance, then slowly extended her search outwards. The weeds on the ground were very dense, and Lan Qingqing walked very carefully. There were quite a few snakes in the mountains, but the scent of the medicinal powder on Lan Qingqing kept them at a distance.

After searching all morning, I finally found the datura flowers at the foot of a small hill. Some flowers had already withered and produced seeds, while others were still in full bloom.

Lan Qingqing excitedly put down the basket on her back and began picking datura flowers. There were quite a few datura flowers in this area, but unfortunately she couldn't take many with her. Lan Qingqing packed the datura seeds into a cloth bag.

Lan Qingqing looked at all these flowers; it would be such a waste to throw them away.

So they went back and called Feng Caidie, and the two of them picked together. After finishing a basket, they would take it to the cave. They did this for three days, going back and forth. Looking at the cave, it was piled high with datura flowers. Among them, Lan Qingqing even found a thousand-year-old ginseng. The deeper the mountains and forests, the more treasures they find!

Lan Qingqing exclaimed that this trip was definitely worth it!

"With so many girls, how are we going to take them all back?" Feng Caidie asked Lan Qingqing with some worry.

They dried the flowers. Although there were many flowers, they weren't actually very heavy. Lan Qingqing built a cylindrical container with stones, placed the datura flowers inside, and lit a fire around them to slowly dry them. This way, the flowers would also become smaller in size. The two of them spent the whole night drying the datura flowers.

Over two days, the flowers were dried out, and they could fit in a burlap sack. The dried flowers were brittle and easily broken, but this did not affect their medicinal efficacy.

After tidying up the datura, Lan Qingqing decided to go back tomorrow.

Since they had an afternoon to spare, Lan Qingqing and Feng Caidie first took a bath in the hot spring.

There are many wild fruits in the valley, and the flowers, grasses and trees are quite large, but these wild fruits are not very big, probably because they have not been pruned.

There were many beautiful flowers in the valley, but Lan Qingqing couldn't take them with her, so she could only pick some of their seeds.

After washing up and returning to the cave, Lan Qingqing took Feng Caidie to knock down saltpeter. The two of them knocked down two large pieces of saltpeter, filling two baskets.

Around 4 a.m. the next day, the two arrived at the place where they had descended the cliff before. Lan Qingqing put the saltpeter in a burlap sack, and tied the saltpeter and datura directly to the vines.

Lan Qingqing and Feng Caidie carried empty baskets up the cliff. Lan Qingqing tied strips of cloth to the rattan and a small quilt to her stomach before starting to climb the cliff.

When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, they naturally took all the bird's nests and dendrobiums with them, filling their baskets to the brim. There were still many bird's nests on the cliff, but their baskets were already full, so they had to give up.

It was nearly dusk when they reached the top of the cliff. As soon as they got up there, the two of them began to work together to pull the things up from below.

The two rested in a nearby cave, put their things inside, and Lan Qingqing found some vines around. That night, they wove a large net. Lan Qingqing poured the saltpeter into a basket and put the bird's nest into burlap sacks. The bird's nest and dried flowers were not heavy, so they put several burlap sacks into the large net woven from vines, which could then be pulled along the ground.

In Pear Blossom Village, Lan Qingqing thought that her mother would not find out so quickly, but little did she know that on the tenth day after Lan Qingqing left, her mother went to visit the old doctor.

Fearing that Lan Qingqing would get tired, Lan's mother brought her some eggs. However, upon arriving at the clinic, she learned that Lan Qingqing hadn't come, which greatly worried her mother.

When they arrived at the clinic, Lan's mother learned that Lan Qingqing was pregnant with quadruplets.

The old doctor was extremely anxious when he learned that Lan Qingqing was missing.

Lan's mother stumbled home and told her family that Lan Qingqing was missing.

Mr. Lan immediately went to the county government to report the incident. The two people, who were perfectly fine, had simply vanished. How could the family not be worried? The tofu shop was closed for a while, and the orders from the restaurants and peddlers were handed over to Aunt Li and the Tao family. Everyone else was sent out to look for Lan Qingqing and Feng Caidie.

The Lan family searched every village and town within a ten-mile radius.

Although the county government registered the case, they didn't send anyone out to search for it. They only made a brief inquiry and then nothing more.

Lan's mother handed over several hundred taels of silver to Lan Xiaotian, asking him to use his connections at the county government office.

Lan Xiaotian also sent several hundred taels of silver to the county government office, asking them to help him find it.

Having received the bribe, the constables of the county government naturally did their best to search, and in less than two days, they actually found some clues.

During the constables' repeated investigations in the village, they learned that someone had seen the two heading towards the back mountain that day.

Upon learning this news, the Lan family immediately went to search the back mountain.

The constables and the Lan family searched all the way to the back mountain. They searched for a whole day without any results, so the only possibility was that the two of them had gone deep into the mountains.

The constables were unwilling to continue their investigation after reaching this point, since venturing into the deep mountains was tantamount to risking their lives!

No matter what the Lan family said, the constables were unwilling to go into the deep mountains, so in the end the constables went back.

The constables felt they had already done them a favor by investigating this far; if it weren't for the considerable sum of money the family had given them, they would never have bothered to make the trip.