CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62: PLANTING MEDICINAL HERBS IN SPACE

Sun Kang smiled throughout the entire process, never growing tired or impatient, patiently answering every question Zhao Zhitong had. Even when she asked the same question multiple times, he still patiently explained it to her.

"Grandfather! Grandfather!"

At this point, Zhao Zhitong, holding a freshly dug herb, ran towards Sun Kang, proudly saying, "Grandfather, look what I dug up! I recognize this. This is Ge Gen."

Sun Kang put the harvested herbs into his basket, smiled, and nodded. "That’s correct. Do you remember the annotations about Ge Gen in *Essence of Medicinal Properties*?"

Zhao Zhitong nodded her little head, reciting in a childish voice, "I remember, I remember. It’s cold in nature. The book says, ’It cures muscles and relieves the exterior; Ge Gen is the first choice, followed by Chai Hu.’"

As Sun Kang stroked his beard, he became even more satisfied with his granddaughter. At such a young age, she could recite it and accurately recall it from memory. Her talent was indeed high.

In the end, he sighed with emotion. "Young girl, why weren’t you born a boy? Sigh!"

Zhao Zhitong tilted her head and asked, "Why does Grandfather say that? I don’t want to be a boy. Boys aren’t clean; they stink, love to have runny noses, and are just little snotty bugs."

The stinky, snotty-nosed boy she mentioned was none other than Zhao Yue, who always liked to go against her.

Sun Kang was momentarily stunned, then burst into hearty laughter. "Right, right. Girls are good too, girls are good too."

Zhao Zhitong said, "See?"

Having gained her grandfather’s approval, Zhao Zhitong was very happy. She carefully placed the herbs she had collected into her basket. Her grandfather had said that the herbs she collected were hers, so she needed to protect them well.

Afterward, she darted off to collect more herbs.

Soon, Zhao Zhitong discovered a treasure—polygonum multiflorum.

Her grandfather said that the root of polygonum multiflorum could be used medicinally. It could calm the mind, nourish blood, activate meridian channels, detoxify, and dissolve abscesses. Processed polygonum multiflorum could replenish essence and blood, darken hair, strengthen tendons and bones, and nourish the liver and kidneys. It was a common and valuable medicinal material.

However, the one she found wasn’t precious because it was too small. Her grandfather said that a hundred-year-old polygonum multiflorum would be worth a thousand taels of silver.

So, Zhao Zhitong squatted beside the polygonum multiflorum, looking disappointed. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she said, "Grandfather, why don’t we build a fence to protect it? We can come back to dig it up after a hundred years."

Her childlike idea made Sun Kang laugh helplessly. "Young girl, in a hundred years, we won’t be alive anymore."

Zhao Zhitong was puzzled. "Why? Why won’t we be alive? I want Grandfather to live for a hundred years, Tongtong to live for a hundred years, and my parents to live for a hundred years—all of us to live for a hundred years!"

Sun Kang laughed heartily. "Yes, Tongtong, you see, even you said it—only a hundred years."

Zhao Zhitong tilted her head to think for a moment, then said, "Then we should live for a thousand years, very long-lasting, extremely long-lasting, just like, um, a turtle. We should all be turtles."

Sun Kang’s face twitched, and he quickly changed the subject. "COUGH, COUGH. Alright, young girl, hurry up and go dig up some other herbs. Let’s leave this one for our descendants to dig."

"Oh."

Zhao Zhitong obediently nodded but wondered in her heart, What’s wrong with being a turtle?

Grandpa Bai in the space: "..."

After being rendered speechless by the young girl’s naive thoughts, Grandpa Bai said, "Young girl, have you forgotten again?"

Zhao Zhitong was puzzled. "What? What did I forget?"

Grandpa Bai patiently said, "Did you forget that you can grow things in the space? And if you plant something in the space and nourish it with Spiritual Spring water, it can grow rapidly. One day in the space is equivalent to one year outside, and the medicinal effect is very significant."

"WOW!"

Zhao Zhitong’s little mouth formed an O shape. A moment later, excited at the thought, she said, "Then I want to put the polygonum multiflorum in the space!"

Then, her consciousness entered the space.

At this time, the Spiritual Spring water in the space was a little larger than before, now the size of a large bowl. Grandpa Bai said this change was because her Merit Points were slowly increasing.

"Grandpa Bai, where’s the field? The field?"

As soon as she entered the space, Zhao Zhitong began to search around.

Grandpa Bai stroked his beard and chuckled. "It’s next to the Spiritual Spring. Go take a look."

So, Zhao Zhitong walked towards the Spiritual Spring and saw a checkerboard-sized square not far from it. The texture of the square was different from the surroundings. The rest of the area was made up of hard Shi Tou, but inside the square was soil, and a stream of gas-like substance flowed around its periphery.

Grandpa Bai explained that the gas-like substance existed because the rate of time flow was different.

Grandpa Bai further explained, "Young girl, your Merit Points are too low right now, so you can only develop such a small piece of land, just enough to plant one plant. When your Merit Points increase, you can expand it."

At that moment, Zhao Zhitong wasn’t thinking about the future; she was simply thrilled at the prospect of moving the polygonum multiflorum into the space.

First, she came out of the space and used a small shovel to carefully dig around the polygonum multiflorum. Grandpa Bai had said that if she damaged it, it wouldn’t survive.

But the roots of the polygonum multiflorum were so deep! She dug until she was covered in sweat, creating a large hole before she finally managed to extract the entire plant.

Then, she hurriedly put it into the space, her consciousness following.

Under Grandpa Bai’s guidance, she first dug a large hole in the special field, placed the polygonum multiflorum inside, covered it with soil, and watered it with Spiritual Spring water. Then it was done.

By the time she finished everything, her grandfather had already dug up more than half a basket of herbs. He glanced at the large pit Zhao Zhitong had dug but said nothing. Let the child dig if she wants; this polygonum multiflorum can’t grow for a hundred years in such a conspicuous spot anyway.

Zhao Zhitong had also done well, digging up almost half a small basket of herbs. Her basket was very small, so it wasn’t actually much, but having dug up a polygonum multiflorum made her feel incredibly accomplished.

When they got hungry, the grandfather and granddaughter sat under a tree. They ate the food Sun Mei had prepared for them: boiled eggs, scallion pancakes, and thin porridge in bamboo tubes.

Of course, Zhao Zhitong was drinking milk. She initially thought her grandfather was drinking the same thing, but when she tasted his, she found it was different.

It wasn’t Sun Mei’s fault for not preparing milk for her own father. She had prepared it but couldn’t explain its origin. Previously, they had wanted to ask Zhao Dong to buy a goat to pretend the milk was goat milk. However, a goat was outrageously expensive, so the plan had been shelved for now.

Since Zhao Zhitong was in her growth phase and rarely ate meat, Sun Mei made sure she drank more milk and ate more eggs to supplement her protein intake.

After the two had filled their stomachs, they continued deeper into the mountains. It wasn’t until the afternoon that the grandfather and granddaughter finally descended the mountain and headed home.

They didn’t go back to the Zhao Family home but directly to the Sun Family home.

After collecting herbs, one needed to learn how to process them. When the two returned with baskets full of herbs, Eldest Uncle was in the backyard processing medicinal materials.

Today, the younger cousins, both boys and girls, hadn’t gone to the Zhao Family home either. Seeing their little cousin-sister arrive, they all swarmed around her.

Zhao Zhitong began to tell them how much fun the mountain was.

Just as she was bragging about how many herbs she had collected, Sun Kang called over to her, "Young girl, come here."