Although she had achieved success in many fields in her past life, she really didn't know the first thing about farming. What should she do?
Chapter 24: Master, I've Finally Found You
Tian Guihua, along with Fu Baiwan and the Fu family's sons and daughters-in-law, watched as Fu Baiwan made a grand show of seating Fu Qiujiu right in the middle, surrounding her with grains and crops so she could choose like a baby at a *zhuazhou* ceremony.
Others might not have dared to speak up, but Tian Guihua certainly could: "You old codger, what are you up to?"
Fu Baiwan wouldn't dare pull this in front of outsiders, but since these were all his own family members, there were no such inhibitions. "My daughter is a lucky star. Whatever she picks will definitely be fine. Qiujiu, which one do you like?"
Fu Qiujiu blinked her big, watery eyes. Fortunately, she recognized all of these grains.
Yet leaving the entire year's harvest in her hands was a responsibility as heavy as Mount Tai.
"Qiujiu isn't choosing. Could that mean this year's harvest won't be good?" Fu Dajin was honest and simple-minded, and he blindly believed that Fu Qiujiu was the family's lucky star. At this moment, he was exceptionally worried.
Mrs. Zhou glared at him.
They were crazy. This entire family was out of their minds.
Something as major as what crops to plant, and they were actually letting a little toddler decide!
Although her mother had also told her to fish for information, she thought this was simply absurd.
Fu Baiwan propped his chin in his hand, worry flashing in his eyes. "Qiujiu, you're not picking anything?"
Fu Qiujiu was fully convinced that if she didn't choose, her old man might just give up farming altogether this year.
However, she couldn't communicate with these crops either. In the end, she decided to resort to an eeny, meeny, miny, moe approach.
"She grabbed it! She grabbed it, Qiujiu grabbed one!"
Fu Dajin was the most excited. Fu Baiwan also broke out in a sweat, though he didn't yell like Dajin. Instead, he gave Dajin a kick and hissed, "Keep it down, you'll scare my daughter!"
There were too many people in the family, and they were all crowding around. Tian Guihua hadn't even squeezed in.
"What did Qiujiu pick?"
Fu Baiwan opened his palm and smiled at her.
"Peanuts? We're planting all peanuts? Then what are we going to eat?"
Fu Baiwan was also a bit puzzled. Usually, peanuts were just planted along the edges of the fields, with the vast majority of the land dedicated to staple grains.
However, last year's grain harvest had been bountiful, so by scraping together what they had, they could barely manage to get through another year.
The whole family had all sorts of thoughts regarding this choice of Fu Qiujiu's.
Fu Qiujiu looked at everyone's varied expressions. What?
Did she pick wrong?
"Dad, Little Aunt doesn't even know what these are, and you're actually listening to her?"
"Last year's peanuts were all ruined by the floodwaters." Mrs. Zhou was actually doing it for the family's own good. If the grain harvest was abundant and life was good, she would be comfortable too, right?
But Fu Baiwan wasn't treating this like child's play.
"Qiujiu said to plant peanuts, so we'll plant peanuts. What isn't planting, anyway?"
The others: "..."
Once the head of the household spoke, objections from anyone else were useless.
Fu Baiwan's authority could not be challenged; this was something both his sons and daughters-in-law knew very well.
Still, planting *only* peanuts? That was completely unreliable!
What would they eat? Chew on peanuts all day long?
In the evening, Fu Baiwan painstakingly tended to the two "weeds" his little daughter had dragged back from outside.
Tian Guihua took one look and shook her head. "You're actually hoping these things will bloom flowers?"
"My daughter likes them. What if they don't bloom? We'll just keep raising them. It's no trouble at all, just give them a little water."
What he said made sense—it was just a mouthful of water, so Tian Guihua let him be. "About what happened during the day, were you serious?"
Seeing his little daughter also leaning on the windowsill, staring at the two pots of "weeds," and watching her smiling face, Fu Baiwan felt whatever he did was worth it.
"Yeah, it's decided. What isn't planting, anyway? This stuff is all up to the heavens. I'll go buy peanut seeds another day, and by the way, I'll go check on Sijin. I still feel uneasy."
Seeing that Fu Baiwan's mind was made up, Tian Guihua stopped trying to persuade him; trying to persuade him was useless anyway.
...
Tang Qi was squinting. He truly regretted moving out of the main room. Not only was it crowded here, but Fu Sanjin and Fu Liujin were also terrible sleepers; as they slept, a heavy thigh would inevitably end up flung across his body.
Then there was the snoring, and moreover, the smell in this room simply couldn't compare to the other one.
Suddenly, he heard some movement on the roof.
He rolled off the bed and hurried outside to take a look.
Although he was just a little kid, his martial arts skills were not weak. With a single leap, he flew up onto the roof. Seeing that it was someone he knew, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Master, your subordinate has finally found you. I thought..." Feng Ji was so emotional he was practically on the verge of tears. "Are you... all right?"
Tang Xian put on a stern face, carrying natural authority. "I'm fine."
Actually, he was quite emotional too, but he kept holding it back. After all, he was still a four-year-old child; having been through life and death, there was still some lingering fear in his heart.
"As long as you're safe. Shall I take you back to the Capital?"
Tang Xian shook his head. Feng Ji looked somewhat surprised. "It's too dangerous outside. Are you sure you aren't going back?"
"I want to wait a little longer."
Though young in age, he was the master; Feng Ji had no choice but to obey.
"Then could you change places? This place... is too shabby."
Feng Ji held his breath, terrified that a single misstep on his part would cave the roof in.
Shabby it might be, but Tang Xian had no intention of leaving. It was the same old phrase: "Wait a little longer."
"Your wounds from that day... are they healed?" When Tang Xian spoke, his voice was very low, almost as if he were feeling a bit shy.
This time, Feng Ji couldn't hold it back; tears streamed down his face. "Master, I'm fine. With just those words from you, even death would be a small price to pay."
Tang Xian awkwardly looked away. He hadn't really said anything special, had he?
Feng Ji wiped his tears, feeling that after just a few days apart, the young master had somehow changed—he had actually learned how to care about people.
"Master, it's fine if you don't want to leave. I found out that the Divine Doctor Hu Yiwan is right here in Qinghe County."
Hu Yiwan lived up to his name: no matter how difficult the illness, a single bowl of his medicine would cure it.
Their trip here had also been for the purpose of seeking him out for medical treatment.
Only, they had been ambushed halfway. But Tang Xian knew those weren't ordinary bandits; those people hadn't been after money—they had wanted his life.
"Master, how is it that your voice sounds much stronger than before?"
Naturally, this was thanks to Fu Qiujiu's Spirit Spring Water.
However, Tang Xian at this moment certainly had no way of knowing that. "Perhaps this rural countryside is home to hidden dragons and crouching tigers. I've also been feeling a bit more comfortable these past few days."
"No wonder you don't want to leave. I thought you couldn't bear to part with this family."
"How could that be?" Tang Xian asked coldly in return.
He certainly wasn't reluctant to leave them; he just wanted to get cured—yes, that's right, to get cured.
In the end, master and servant agreed that Feng Ji should not show himself for the time being and would protect Tang Xian from the shadows.
Besides, Feng Ji still had knife and sword wounds on his body, and the Fu family members were honest, simple folk; if they found out, they would be scared.
...
At the end of the month, Fu Wujin came back. He had already stopped studying for the imperial exams and instead switched to learning medicine from an old doctor in the county town.
Although his family found it hard to accept, they couldn't bear to watch him mope in misery day after day either.
Fu Baiwan figured that perhaps their family ancestral graves simply lacked that kind of grass, destined to never produce a scholar.
The very first thing Fu Wujin did upon entering the house was to go check on his little sister, but at a glance, he spotted the grand gift she had prepared for him.
"Mom, where... where did these things come from?"
Fu Liujin's voice was actually trembling.
Chapter 25: The Whole Family Goes into the Mountain
Tian Guihua looked at the books that had been sitting on the cabinet for days now. "Qiujiu picked them up."
That day, Fu Baiwan had taken Fu Qiujiu out for a stroll. With her sharp eyes, the little tot had spotted the books hidden inside a pile of firewood, pointing at them and babbling away.
She had even been murmuring "Ge-ge, ge-ge" in her mouth, so Fu Baiwan immediately understood: his little daughter knew her fifth brother could read and wanted to give them to him.
He couldn't read the things anyway, so he just brought them back, figuring that when Wujin returned, if he thought they were useless, they could just use them to wipe their behinds.
Paper was still way better than wooden sticks, anyway; he could afford to be a bit extravagant for once.
"Are they any use?"
Fu Baiwan was raring to go, just waiting for Fu Wujin to say they were useless.
However, Fu Wujin's eyes went wide and fixed. "Dad, they're too useful!"
Clutching the books, he scooped up Fu Qiujiu and planted a kiss right on her forehead. "These are medical books!"
They were ones he had never seen before, nor had his master ever mentioned them.
Fu Baiwan was somewhat disappointed. Ah, his behind...
"Useful? Then read 'em, go ahead."
Fu Wujin fished out some pastries he had bought for Fu Qiujiu. Now that he was studying medicine under the old doctor at the apothecary, although he didn't earn a wage, room and board were provided, and he hadn't spent a single coin of the money his parents had given him—he had saved it all up to buy things for his little sister.
"Qiujiu, eat up. They're super delicious."
Fu Qiujiu knew about all the major and minor events in the family, and she also knew that her fifth brother didn't have much money to his name each month.
She picked up a piece of pastry, gave it first to her mother, then to her father, and finally held it out to Fu Wujin's lips. "Ge-ge."
Fu Baiwan was simply overjoyed to the point of turning somersaults. "Look at that, look at that! My daughter is the sensible one, knowing to show filial piety to her mom and dad at such a young age."
Tian Guihua was also deeply gratified. Indeed, her doting hadn't been in vain; her daughter was truly thoughtful.
Fu Baiwan wasn't afraid of upsetting his sons either. "When you rascals were her age, you didn't even know how to use the potty, let alone share good food with your parents."
"Wife, wouldn't you say so?"
Tian Guihua smiled and nodded. "Children are all different—some develop early, some late. Everyone's doing just fine now."
That was no lie. Although the family was poor, every single one of her sons was filial, something she and her old man always loved to boast about.
Unlike other families where brothers fought like sworn enemies.
"When Liujin was her age, the moment he saw anything good to eat, he'd shove it straight into his mouth. He was afraid your third brother would steal his apricot, so he stuffed the whole thing in at once and nearly choked to death."
Thinking back on it now, Tian Guihua still felt a lingering fear.
While she was saying this, Fu Liujin was standing right nearby, grinning.
Thanks to Fu Qiujiu's joyous sharing and lack of food-guarding, everyone in the family got to taste the pastries, and even Tang Xian received a share.
Watching the Fu boys smack their lips as they ate, Tang Xian assumed these pastries must be exceptionally delicious.
Yet when he took a bite, he found they couldn't compare to the delicacies of the imperial palace at all.
...
This time when Fu Wujin returned, he also brought the Fu family some news: gathering medicinal herbs could make money.
Actually, he had known this all along, but previously he hadn't dared tell his family about wanting to become a doctor, so he hadn't dared mention that he could recognize medicinal herbs either. Besides, he had been self-taught back then, didn't recognize a complete range of them, and was afraid of misidentifying them.
Now, things were different.
He could openly and proudly tell his parents and brothers that he recognized many kinds of medicinal herbs.
Hearing his suggestion, Fu Baiwan nodded in agreement. "You know, studying to get ahead and support the family isn't easy, but being a doctor is different. You've only been studying for a few days, and already you know how to help the family make money."
Fu Wujin smiled. "Dad, I'm going into the mountain tomorrow to teach my brothers how to recognize a few more types of medicinal herbs. Whenever they have free time, they can gather herbs to sell."
What a great idea! Fu Baiwan decided he would tag along up the mountain too. He didn't consider himself old at all; an extra pair of hands meant an extra bit of strength, and when it came to doing hard work, he certainly wouldn't put on any airs as the head of the household.
What if they ran into that wild boar again, though?
Early the next morning, all the men in the family were dressed neatly, and even Fu Bajin and Fu Tianfu clamored to go along.
Fu Baiwan had some worries, but thinking about how many of them there were, this show of force should be able to handle a wild boar without any problems.
"Hold me~"
Fu Baiwan took Fu Qiujiu, and the little milky bun's hands immediately wrapped tightly around his neck, refusing to let go no matter how they coaxed her.
Fu Qiujiu was worried about them too; if she went along, she could at least negotiate with those wild beasts.
"Qiujiu can't go."
"Go~"
Fu Baiwan was startled. His little daughter had actually managed to say another new word, and he immediately beamed with delight, dancing around in joy. His little daughter was simply too smart!
Fu Qiujiu had squeezed those words out with sheer effort; she wanted to say a lot more, but her tongue always fought back against her.
"Qiujiu, be good. There are big beasts on that mountain. Are you scared?"
Fu Qiujiu shook her head and planted a wet kiss right on her old man's cheek.
She refused to believe he had the heart to refuse.
And her calculation was spot on—Fu Baiwan really couldn't bear to put this little daughter down. But thinking about the poisonous snakes and fierce beasts on the mountain, he still felt worried.
"Be a good girl, Qiujiu. Daddy will be right back."
"Hmph~"
The moment his little daughter pouted, Fu Baiwan instantly turned soft-hearted. "Alright, fine, we'll take Qiujiu with us."
When it came to his own daughter, what use were principles?
Though they were going, this meant the main focus of everyone's trip this time wasn't gathering herbs; instead, protecting Fu Qiujiu came first, and gathering herbs came second.
Actually, there was no need for him to give any orders—every single pair of eyes in the whole family was glued to the little milky bun.
"Uncle Fu, I'll go too!"
"You're going too?" Fu Baiwan glanced at Tang Xian. "The doctor said your body is weak..."
"It's fine, I definitely won't cause trouble for everyone. Bajin and Tianfu can go, so can I."
He had recovered quite a bit by now, and dealing with a wild boar should be no problem. Furthermore, that way Feng Ji could protect himself while also conveniently protecting these members of the Fu family along the way.
The mighty Fu family contingent set out. When people along the way met them and asked what they were up to, Fu Baiwan didn't keep it a secret.
"Gathering herbs?"
A man glanced at Fu Wujin, knowing he had stopped studying to learn medicine. "In our poor, backwater place, what kind of valuable medicinal herbs could there possibly be?"
Fu Liujin didn't say anything, but hadn't he tripped over a fleeceflower root before?
How could there be no treasures?
The Fu family ignored what others had to say and continued on into the mountain.
Herbs did exist, but they rarely ran into valuable ones; stumbling upon a fleeceflower root was truly a once-in-a-century stroke of luck.
"Wujin, stop talking about these cheap ones. Tell us about the expensive ones. Ginseng... what about ginseng?"
Fu Sanjin racked his brains and could only come up with that one valuable item.
"Third Brother, it's already not bad if we can find these cheap ones around here. Ginseng is expensive, but it's very hard to run into."
"Besides ginseng, Ganoderma is expensive too, and dendrobium is also good stuff. I'd love to point them out to you, but we just don't have them around here."
While listening to Fu Wujin's explanation, everyone had gathered into a circle, with Fu Qiujiu sitting on a dead tree stump in the middle, playing.
Fu Wujin lowered his gaze and caught sight of Fu Qiujiu seemingly grabbing something. He had heard all about how this younger sister of his loved bringing weeds home.
"Qiujiu, don't just grab things randomly. Some stuff is..."
Fu Qiujiu held up high something she had found growing on a decaying tree.
Look at that, what had she discovered?
Chapter 26: Picking Ginseng and Ganoderma Casual as You Please
"G-Ganoderma?"
Face-slapping came too fast; Fu Wujin hadn't even processed what was going on.
Wasn't Ganoderma a very difficult herb to gather?
How could it be seen everywhere you looked?
Fu Qiujiu had just asked these Ganoderma mushrooms, and they were willing to go home with her—healing the sick and saving lives was their destiny, plus it would rack up good karma for them, not to mention there wasn't much nutrition left in this rotting wood for them to absorb anyway.
The reason she said "them" was because right beside this rotting log there were another four, five, six, seven, eight more caps.
Unfortunately, her hands were too small; she could only hold one.
The Fu family members scrambled to harvest the Ganoderma mushrooms. "Wujin, how much will these sell for?"
Fu Wujin scratched his head. According to the prices at their shop, a single Ganoderma of this size should fetch about ten taels of silver. Of course, that was the retail price; the purchase price for the shop would be cheaper, but adding all these together, it would definitely exceed fifty taels.
Their family... had struck it rich.
When Fu Wujin announced the price, the whole family burst into loud laughter, shouting out that they had struck it rich.
There were no outsiders here, so cutting loose a little bit didn't matter.
Fu Baiwan scooped up his little daughter and kissed her repeatedly. "My little Qiujiu, you really are Daddy's lucky star! I was wondering why you made such a fuss about coming along—turns out you came to pick up silver for the family!"
They had just taken a trip up the mountain, hadn't even walked very far, and already they ran into so many treasures. Wasn't that just like picking up silver?
The whole family unanimously agreed that this was entirely the little milky bun's doing.
Fu Qiujiu was also baffled by her own good fortune.
She had just lowered her head and casually glanced around... and found treasure?
Probably because very few people in this village ever came up into the mountain; otherwise, these would have been spotted long ago.
The brush rustled and stirred. Fu Sanjin immediately looked over with a vigilant gaze, an arrow instantly appearing in his hand.
Fu Qiujiu babbled away, but apart from the animal in the brush, no one could understand what she was saying.
Fu Qiujiu: Is it you?
Wild boar: It's you again? Little kid, why are you here again?
Fu Qiujiu: Hurry up and run away. There are a lot of people in my family; you can't beat them this time.
"Dad, all the brothers are here this time. Let's catch this wild boar; we can sell it for a good price."
Out of consideration for their past acquaintance, Fu Qiujiu gave it a warning nudge. If it insisted on seeking its own death, she wouldn't stop it either.
Fortunately, the wild boar knew what was good for it. Sensing there were many people on this side, it turned tail and ran off.
The commotion stopped, but the nerves of the Fu family members remained taut.
"It left?" Fu Sanjin walked over with a bold step and found only trampled tracks on the grass, along with a puddle of fresh boar urine.
"Whose house's white radishes did this wild boar go steal?"
Radishes?
A flash of insight crossed Fu Wujin's mind. There were no white radishes at this time of year! A thought instantly surged into his head.
He strode over toward Fu Sanjin and cried out in renewed astonishment: "Ginseng! That's right, it's ginseng!"
Ginseng?
Fu Qiujiu thought to herself: Could it be that the wild boar left it behind?
After the initial excitement, Fu Sanjin felt that since their luck was so good today, bagging a wild boar might not have been impossible either, but Fu Baiwan stopped him.
"That wild boar even sent us ginseng, so let's spare its life."
You don't hit someone who brings you a gift. Fu Sanjin thought about it, and figured his dad made sense.
Even though they had acquired so many treasures, Fu Wujin still insisted on having everyone learn to recognize the medicinal herbs visible in the surrounding area.
However, no one had the heart to venture deeper into the mountain anymore; they needed to hurry back home and share this news with their respective wives.
Tang Xian watched the direction the wild boar had fled. Why had the beast inexplicably run off like that?
Last time it had tried to attack him, but this time it took one look and bolted. Could it be because of Feng Ji?
...
The Fu family's expedition to gather herbs had been quite a grand production, and everyone in the village had been waiting to see.
This wasn't just a matter for the Fu family alone; if they really gathered a lot, the villagers were planning to go ask for a share of the profits.
Yet as a result, when they saw the Fu family members coming back with just a tiny handful of herbs pinched in each person's hand, they immediately burst into mocking laughter. As the family walked past, the villagers began to sneer behind their backs.
"Just like I said, in this bird-skipping wasteland of ours, what kind of valuable stuff could there be? Our ancestors already picked it clean ages ago—would they leave it for the Fu family to pioneer?"
Mother Fan's husband, Fan Mantun, had been egged on by his old woman and also held a grudge against the Fu couple. Whenever he got the chance, he always liked to throw in a few disparaging remarks.
Fu Dajin had wanted to show off a bit, but Fu Baiwan felt it was better to keep a low profile, so he had shoved both the ginseng and the Ganoderma straight into his shirt.
When the three women—mother and daughters-in-law—heard that these things could sell for dozens of taels of silver, they shrieked with excitement.
"Then didn't our family just strike it rich?!"