Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

The next morning, Zhao Lian woke up early. She wanted to go up the mountain again today to see if she could find anything good.

Tomorrow is market day in Changting County, and I want to take some things to the market to buy, and also buy an oil lamp, because it's really inconvenient not having one at home.

In addition, she also needed to buy some oil and salt. For Zhaolian, not having meat to eat was bearable, but oil and salt were essential.

I don't know what time it is now, but it's already broad daylight. Zhaolian quickly washed up.

While I was cooking the porridge, I carefully sorted out the things I brought back last night, found a winnowing basket, and put it in the backyard to dry.

If only we could find more of these termite mushrooms, they'd be perfect to sell fresh, but right now there's just a tiny bit, so Zhaolian has no choice but to dry them.

After breakfast, Zhao Lian carried a basket on her back, filled it with water, took a machete, and also put in the black bread that someone had given her the night before, and went up the mountain.

This time, Zhao Lian changed her strategy. She planned to walk all the way to the top of the mountain and then follow the mountain path to see if she could find anything good.

After all, there's not much to find halfway up the mountain. As for the sea gold sand and the buck-toothed wolf, since no one else has picked them, we'll leave them for now.

Go up to the top of the mountain and see if there's anything more valuable there. If not, you can pick those two things when you come back.

This time, with a clear goal in mind, Zhao Lian didn't linger halfway. She kept walking towards the summit, encountering hardly anyone along the way; she guessed no one had arrived before her.

After walking for about half an hour, Zhao Lian reached the top of the mountain. She hadn't seen anything along the way, and she couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.

It seems there's nothing good on the mountaintop, since villagers go up there every day.

Suddenly, a plant caught Zhao Lian's attention, and her heart skipped a beat. The plant looked just like motherwort, with clusters of pale red flowers arranged in a line.

Zhao Lian quickly went over to check and found that it was indeed motherwort. She never expected there to be such a good thing. She wondered if the villagers just didn't know.

Zhao Lian quickly checked around to see if there were any more. Fortunately, not far ahead, there were about ten more plants, each over a meter tall.

"That's wonderful!" Zhao Lian jumped up with joy. This thing is a great medicine for gynecological problems; the whole plant is a treasure.

Zhao Lian took out a machete and carefully began to dig. When she had dug enough, she pulled it up by the roots with all her might.

It probably took about half an hour to dig up all of these dozen or so motherwort plants.

By this time, the sun was rising higher, and Zhao Lian was covered in sweat.

Because the buds of this motherwort are a bit prickly, they are not easy to pull out, so it takes some effort.

Because the motherwort was too long, Zhaolian cut it into three or four sections and put them into her basket, which was half full.

Zhao Lian tried carrying it on her back; it wasn't particularly heavy. These motherwort herbs probably only weighed a few kilograms.

I don't know if Doctor Liang buys these herbs, or if he buys fresh or dried ones.

Zhao Lian put on her basket and continued walking forward, where she saw many more daisies.

Zhao Lian knew that this was also a medicine, used to clear heat and detoxify, but it wasn't very valuable.

Even if they're not worth much, they can still be exchanged for money, which is better than nothing. Zhaolian pulled up the daisies by the roots and put them into her basket.

Then, she spotted a few more dandelions and plantains, and picked them all up. Today's harvest was better than yesterday's.

And so, with all sorts of odds and ends, Zhaolian's basket was almost full.

Thinking that she wouldn't be able to carry too much stuff, Zhao Lian made up her mind to go down the mountain first.

Let's see if we can find Dr. Liang and see if he'll accept these things. If he will, that would be great. We still have half a day this afternoon, so we can come up after lunch.

Back at the spot where the fanged lang was, Zhao Lian dug up a few plants.

She planned to dig up a few to test the waters and see if Dr. Liang wanted them. If he did, she could dig up more later.

Then, she tore off a handful of sea lynx and threw it behind her basket, and picked some wild mustard greens. When she came down the mountain, her basket was full of things.

On the way down the mountain, we encountered people coming up one after another.

What a coincidence! Besides meeting Mrs. Niu, I also ran into Aunt Wang, the third aunt. They both came up together today.

Before she even got close, Madam Wang said, "Zhaolian, why are you up so early? No wonder I went to call you earlier and didn't hear you. I thought you hadn't gotten up yet! I didn't expect you to be up the mountain so early."

When Zhao Lian saw Niu Shi and Wang Shi, she smiled happily and then replied in a crisp voice, "Good morning, Third Aunt and Auntie. I was thinking of going to the market tomorrow, so I'm going to see if there are any good things on the mountain that I can take to the market to exchange for money!"

Mrs. Wang smiled with satisfaction: "You are such a sensible child."

“That’s right!” Niu Shi interjected immediately, “She came up yesterday too, and I saw that she had quite a lot of things in her basket.”

At this point, Niu stretched her head to look at Zhaolian's basket again, and then said with a look of surprise, "Wang, look, Zhaolian actually picked this thorny grass."

When Wang heard what Niu said, she also peeked out and saw Zhaolian picking this weed. She looked puzzled and asked, "Zhaolian, why are you picking this weed?"

Zhao Lian said earnestly, "These are wild vegetables, you can eat them."

Mrs. Niu looked terrified: "You child, can you eat something covered in thorns? You might get poisoned later."

Zhao Lian told her not to worry, adding that she had eaten everything last night, and now she was standing perfectly fine in front of her.

Niu and Wang looked at each other, unsure whether to believe Zhaolian's words, but she looked so serious.

As they were about to descend the mountain, Zhao Lian turned back to ask Wang Shi if she had brought the black pancake that had been hanging on the doorknob the night before.

Ms. Wang nodded, saying that she had brought it herself.

"Thank you, Third Aunt!"

Zhao Lian looked at Wang Shi with a serious expression: "However, I'm better now and I can find food to eat by myself."

"Don't bring me anything anymore. If Chunju's grandma finds out, you'll get scolded too."

"Okay, okay!"

Wang nodded with relief, her eyes reddening as she spoke. She then turned away to wipe her eyes, saying, "Now that I see you're better and can go up the mountain to find food, I'm relieved."

"By the way, Third Aunt, have you seen my eldest and second eldest sisters these past few days?"

Suddenly, Zhao Lian thought of Zhao Feng and Zhao Di. She hadn't seen them for a while and wondered how they were doing.

Wang looked at Zhaolian, her face showing a hint of hesitation, afraid that if she spoke, Zhaolian would worry.

Seeing that Wang remained silent, Niu bluntly said, "To be honest, your eldest and second sisters are really pitiful. Not only are they beaten, but they also don't have any food to eat."

“That day I saw the two of them kneeling in the yard, and your grandmother was scolding them for not giving them food!”

What are you saying?

Wang glared at Niu, then told Zhaolian not to worry, saying that she was next door and would go over to check on things from time to time if Old Yang went too far.

Zhao Lian knew that there were some things outsiders simply couldn't help with. Many times, Old Yang would agree readily in front of the neighbors, but after the neighbors left, she would become even more unreasonable behind their backs.

She knew it was because of her that the old woman lost two taels of silver, and Yang Sen and his son were beaten again.

Now that she's no longer with the He family, Old Madam Yang is taking out all her anger on Zhao Feng and the others.