Chapter 3
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“I heard that you tried to kill yourself by jumping into the river!” Wang Ru exclaimed, “I called your house, but nobody answered the phone, so I rushed back in a hurry.”
“Who said such nonsense? I was trying to save someone!” Wang Yao said angrily.
Such gossip had even managed to reach his sister who was ten miles away from town. Wang Yao really wanted to give that blabbermouth a piece of his mind!
“It’s fine now that I know that you are okay. I think you should stop planting the herbal field. It wastes your time; you should go to town to find a job. Or you could try your hand at being a civil servant. You have good foundation since you recently graduated from a famous university.”
Wang Ru sat down and drank some water. When she graduated from college, she was lucky to have passed the national examination and work in the agricultural bureau. As an older sister, she was naturally worried about her younger brother.
“Ah, what is this? It’s so tasty!” Wang Ru looked at the cup of water in her hand.
“Your brother’s classmate gave it to him.”
The family was happy and united at the dinner table as the bowls and chopsticks were laid out in front of them.
“Ru, when will you bring a boyfriend home?” Zhang Xiuying cared more about her daughter’s love life than Wang Yao’s job future. It was an important event in the life of a woman and her daughter was so beautiful and had a good job—she should find a good man.
“Soon, soon!” Wang Ru answered with a smile.
“Every time I ask, you say ‘soon’. You must bring a boyfriend home to me this new year,” Zhang Xiuying said angrily.
“Got it, Mom. I’m so pretty that I don’t have to worry about not finding a man.”
“Sister, I do appreciate your confidence!”
“Shut up!”
Having finished dinner, they sat down to watch TV and talked about some trivial things. It was mainly about the job of Wang Yao; he was center of the conversation. Wang Yao, however, was thinking about his route tomorrow. He had to visit a couple of Chinese herbal growers, but he only had one day and the town was a very big place; he needed to have a good plan.
The next morning, Wang Yao got up early and finished washing up and brushing his teeth. He went to the hill after he had some food, which was the habit that he had cultivated in these three years. Sometimes, he lived in the house on the hill to take care of the herbal field.
When he went to the hill, a dog rushed up to him from afar
.
“San Xian, morning!”
Woof! The dog shook his tail happily.
“What happened?”
Having entered the herbal field, Wang Yao was immediately shocked. In the herbal field, the leaves of sealwort had become larger and much greener. Wang Yao hurried to open the house and took out a ruler to measure them.
That’s right. It is not an illusion—they really are larger! So the ancient sprint water is working? Wang Yao thought for a long time but he still came to the conclusion that it was the work of the ancient spring water.
“One bucket per day…so, I should water them again today!”
He hurriedly opened the pharmacist system and then he took out the kettle from the taskbar.
So, the root and stem should be watered at this time!
The harvested part of the sealwort was its root, which was similar to that of sweet potatoes and ginger. Wang Yao mixed the ancient spring water and the water from the dam with the pump, according to the ratio of one to 20. The entire herbal field was watered evenly; the dozens of jujube trees and chestnuts nearby the herbal field were also watered.
“Grow up, try hard to grow!” Wang Yao watered and said at the same time. When he finished everything, the sun was high in the sky.
“San Xian, you are in charge.”
He walked around the herbal field several times and then went back home.
One hour later, he brought some gifts to the house of a Chinese herbal medicine grower nearby. The man was in his 40’s; he was so warm-hearted that he told all the secrets that he knew to Wang Yao. He could not help but smile when he heard that Wang Yao wanted to increase the productivity of his sealwort within one month.
“The possibility is slim. You have to plant sealwort for more than two years, so the productivity has already been fixed. It can’t be promoted within one month unless you use some kind of hormone, but then the quality would be affected. So, you would lose more than gain.”
“Okay, thank you.” Having left his phone number, Wang Yao left quickly.
The second herbal grower he visited was not that generous since he did not want to talk much with Wang Yao. Wang Yao did not stay there for long and instead he just left politely.
I guess there really are two sides to every coin.
In total, he had visited three herbal growers in the morning. At midday, his sister called him.
“Where have you been? Did you go into town today?”
“I am in town—I’m just walking around.”
“I will wait for you. Let’s have a lunch.”
Wang Yao tried to reject his sister’s offer but he ultimately failed, so he had to go to town. Lianshan was a county that had existed for more than 50 years. During that time, a lot had changed, including the expanse of the roads and the construction of new buildings.
At lunchtime, Wang Yao tried hard to cheat his sister. He went to the fertilizer wholesalers in the county and bought two packs of organic fertilizer suitable for the planting of herbs. He went back home with these packs on his motorbike. He did not go directly to his home when he returned to the village since he thought his parents would be mad at these things, so instead, he went to the foot of the hill to carry these fertilizers to the herbal field.
Having taken a rest, he entered the herbal field again.
Yeah, they got taller!
He found that the sealwort became higher than that they were in the morning. He measured them with a rule and he found that they were three centimeters high and the leaves were indeed greener. The entire herbal field was so vibrant.
Is it because of the ancient spring?
He opened the pharmacist system panel and opened the package to take out the kettle. He opened the lid and saw that there was a little bit of water left inside.
What is the effect of this ancient spring? Wang Yao asked the system.
Ancient spring is water that has absorbed the essence of the hills and the rivers. It can promote the growth of planting and people who drink it will become healthier and live longer.
Healthier and live longer? This is so useful and effective!
Looking at the kettle, Wang Yao decided that besides watering the herbal field in every day, he would also use some of it for his family.
Ah, these jujube and chestnut trees seem to be lush—I’ll water you in the future. Wang Yao pat the trees contentedly. When he contracted the hill, it was written in the contract that these trees belonged to him since there were not that many trees on the southern hill. All of them were low trees that were useless and priceless. As a result, the branch secretary agreed to give them to Wang Yao.