If not properly arranged, Third Son's Wife would definitely just fan herself; Qin Sang wouldn't give her a chance to slack off.
The stewed soup would at least be half consumed by her and her husband themselves.
Although Third Son's Wife was unwilling to work, she still agreed, thinking to herself that with so many chickens to pickle, she could sneak a few pieces for herself when the soup was stewed later.
After eating, Qin Sang didn't need to clean up. She put on a backpack basket, wore a bamboo hat, and led Eldest and Third Son towards the back mountain.
She wanted to look for other medicinal herbs. Eldest and Third Son didn't recognize herbs, so she had to take charge. However, she had also thought it through: as long as she made them properly recognize the herbs she found, they could be of help in the future.
This morning's breakfast alone used thirty mall coins, and the Mall balance was less than a hundred. If daily food, clothing, and expenses all relied on mugwort leaves, it wouldn't be long before they ate through their resources.
Earning money—Qin Sang urgently needed to save up mall coins.
Along the way, as the sun rose higher, it felt even hotter than yesterday.
Before even reaching the mountain, Qin Sang recognized a type of medicinal herb: Plantain.
The moment Qin Sang's hand touched the Plantain, a mechanical voice from the Mall sounded in her mind: 'Detected high-quality Plantain. One Mall coin per jin. Sell?'
Only one Mall coin for high quality?
Qin Sang had nowhere to reason with it, so she could only console herself with purchasing power: exchanging one jin of grass for half a jin of rice wasn't a loss.
Seeing Qin Sang go to dig up Plantain, Tian Dazhuang and his brother were both puzzled:
"Mother, do you want to eat wild vegetables?"
Qin Sang dug up one Plantain and placed it in the backpack basket:
"This wild vegetable is actually also a type of medicine. It clears heat and promotes urination. Boiling it in water can also clear the liver and relieve summer heat. It can be dried and sent to the Pharmacy."
Knowing this thing was both medicine and could be sold for money, the two brothers immediately wanted to step forward and dig it up, but Qin Sang stopped them:
"Don't rush. We can dig it up on the way down the mountain later."
Only then did the two brothers continue on their way.
Qin Sang recognized several more medicinal herbs. This mountain was rarely visited by people, and the villagers didn't recognize herbs, giving these herbs ample space to grow. Every herb identified by the system was high-quality, like Purslane, Dandelion, and Honeysuckle. Almost every few steps, she could find a few plants.
On the previous two trips up the mountain, she was busy looking for people, so Qin Sang hadn't paid attention. Although the prices of these herbs were a bit higher than mugwort—three or four mall coins per jin, with Honeysuckle fetching eight mall coins per jin—the quantity wasn't sufficient. They were scattered here and there in clumps, making it much harder to gather a full jin compared to mugwort.
Tian Dazhuang had been up the mountain many times and knew where the mugwort was. After walking for another incense stick's worth of time, the two brothers began bending down to collect mugwort leaves, while Qin Sang continued searching for herbs nearby.
Qin Sang didn't go too far, keeping her sons within sight for safety's sake.
While raising her hand to wipe sweat, her gaze involuntarily stopped on a hillside not far away.
That iron-red vine should be something good.
Qin Sang used a stick to beat aside the weeds as she headed over there. By the time she reached the foot of the slope, a prompt had already sounded in her mind:
"Detected high-quality Millettia root. Ten mall coins per jin. Sell?"
Millettia root is an excellent medicinal herb for invigorating blood and replenishing blood. It's also a woman's friend, capable of treating menstrual abdominal pain, irregular periods, premature ovarian failure, and more.
Qin Sang tugged at the Millettia root in front of her, which was as thick as Eldest Girl's arm. Looking at the amount covering the entire cliff face, she almost laughed out loud.
What's the difference between this and buying a scratch card and casually winning tens of thousands?
Qin Sang checked to ensure there were no snakes or insects on it, immediately put down her backpack basket, took out a wood-cutting knife, and began chopping.
One jin is ten mall coins.
Ten jin is a hundred...
A hundred jin is a thousand...
Qin Sang chopped continuously. As she cut off a section, it disappeared from her hand. Of course, she didn't forget to occasionally throw a piece into the backpack basket.
Who knows how many years this Millettia root had been growing on this mountain. With one chop of the wood-cutting knife, bright red sap stained Qin Sang's hands. Qin Sang harvested happily, completely forgetting how scorching and hot it was under the big sun.
By the time Qin Sang had harvested almost all the Millettia root from the cliff face, the Mall balance had reached two thousand, and she stopped.
Qin Sang didn't harvest it all, leaving the roots so she could come back to chop more in the future.
There was still quite a bit left in the backpack basket, probably thirty or forty jin. Qin Sang sat on the ground to rest. She hadn't felt tired before, but now her mouth was dry, her throat parched as if smoking.
Fortunately, she had prepared water and also exchanged a piece of chocolate from the Mall to suck on to restore her energy.
Sitting behind the waist-high grass, not afraid of her sons seeing, Qin Sang exchanged an old pumpkin from her space.
Based on inquiries from yesterday, Qin Sang learned from Old Man Xu that the era she now found herself in was not a historical dynasty she was familiar with. After the Han and Tang dynasties, it was not the Song Dynasty. The current Daxing Kingdom was weak in national power, its people impoverished and destitute, with low productivity. Unfortunately, the Daxing Kingdom's emperor was extravagant and decadent, not thinking of improving people's livelihoods but instead undertaking massive construction projects to build royal gardens, leading to widespread suffering and public grievances.
Qin Sang had no ambition to overthrow dynasties. The Tianjia Village she was in was just a small village in the eastern part of the Daxing Kingdom, far from the imperial capital. What she needed to worry about was how to improve her own life and then live well and smoothly in this era.
From her understanding over the past two days, this era still lacked high-yield crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and corn. Of course, chili peppers were also absent. This resulted in situations where, if the year's conditions were poor and the harvest was bad, people would starve to death.
If there were potatoes and corn, even if it didn't rain, the people wouldn't be suffering to this extent.
So, Qin Sang planned to slowly introduce these grains, first improving her own family's life.
Qin Sang shouldered her backpack basket and picked up an old pumpkin, walking towards her two sons.
Their harvesting speed was fast. The mugwort in this area had already been completely harvested. Tian Sangui's voice rang out:
"Big Brother, you can't carry this much. Let me help you carry it."
"Ah, good, thank you, Third Brother."
"Hey, we're family. No need for thanks."
From a distance, Qin Sang saw Tian Sangui carrying a large bundle of mugwort from a man-high pile of grass to the other side. By the time Qin Sang approached, Tian Sangui had made another trip back and forth.
Seeing Qin Sang return, Tian Sangui said with a smile:
"Mother, look how fast we are? It's all harvested."
Qin Sang looked at the two piles of grass of similar height. If she hadn't seen it from afar, she might have thought the two brothers had done an equal amount of work.
However, she didn't plan to expose it, merely grunting in acknowledgment:
"Da Zhuang, San Gui, look, what is this?"
Tian Dazhuang saw the round, golden-yellow thing Qin Sang was holding and immediately came over with his Sickle:
"Mother, where did you find this?"
Qin Sang casually pointed:
"Over there, at the base of the cliff. The ones growing outside had already been eaten by small animals. This one was hanging in mid-air. I thought since small animals could eat it, it should be non-toxic, so I picked it."
Tian Sangui also walked over:
"Mother, can this thing be eaten? This color... it might be poisonous."
Ancient people believed that the more vibrant the color, the more poisonous something was. Qin Sang smiled:
"It's fine. When we get back, we'll cut a little and feed it to the chicks first. If the chicks can eat it, people definitely can."
Tian Dazhuang said cheerfully:
"Good, we'll listen to Mother. If this can be eaten, this one must weigh several jin, right? It could last for several meals."
Qin Sang thought to herself, indeed. She had specifically exchanged for a large pumpkin, ten jin heavy, costing twenty mall coins.
The two brothers only took a small sip of water before starting to carry the mugwort home. The weight on each of their backs was no less than fifty jin, and they were tired and sun-exposed.
They hadn't walked far when a little boy wearing a yellow cotton long gown came towards them. Seeing Qin Sang, he ran over a few steps:
"Mother, did you buy me paper and brushes?"