The sun gradually set.
The sky sparkled with starlight, and the cold moonlight cast its glow over the entire forest.
The village chief sent the women to light torches on the mountain to illuminate the ditch diggers. The torches formed a long line, like a fiery dragon occupying the eastern mountain.
Cheng Luanluan held a torch, standing amidst the crowd, the voice in her head constantly ringing out.
[Ding! Wild natural Gastrodia elata discovered!]
She noticed something in the ditch, which seemed to be wild Gastrodia elata, but the light wasn't good enough to see clearly. Even if she could see it clearly, now was not the right time to go down into the ditch to dig it up.
[Ding! Natural shepherd's purse discovered!]
Many shepherd's purse plants were dug up from the ditch. Shepherd's purse only cost a few copper coins per catty, while the roots were a bit rarer, costing more than twenty copper coins per catty.
Cheng Luanluan stood calmly by. She currently had 119 taels and 560 copper coins in her hand. This was a considerable sum of money, but this kind of hidden asset didn't need to be accumulated too much. The most crucial issue right now was how to make this silver appear legitimate and reasonable.
She wanted to buy land and build a house before winter arrived.
[Ding! Wild natural stone flower seeds discovered!]
Cheng Luanluan frowned. What were stone flower seeds? She had never heard of them.
She looked at the blurry interface, which showed a green plant with dark purple roots, heart-shaped leaves, and many lantern-like fruits.
She had seen this before. It was currently called stone flower seeds, and it was the raw material for making ice jelly. Back then, she loved to travel and had once visited Xinyang. Ice jelly was a specialty of Xinyang, a scenic spot that specialized in growing this plant. Tourists would be invited to make a bowl of ice jelly themselves, and she still vaguely remembered how to make it…
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An idea immediately sparked in Cheng Luanluan's mind.
Just as she was wondering how to legitimately acquire money, this business opportunity presented itself.
"There are so many lantern grass here!" Zhao Sidan's excited voice came through. "Let's have a competition to see who can pick the most lantern grass."
A group of young boys began frantically picking lantern grass. After picking, they casually threw it on the ground and trampled on it with their feet, which pained Cheng Luanluan to death.
She walked over with her torch and said to the children, "Whoever can pick a catty of lantern grass for me will be rewarded with an egg."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Sidan became eager: "Mother, I'll do it, I'll do it, all the eggs are for me."
Cheng Luanluan chuckled: "As long as you can pick a catty, you'll be rewarded with an egg."
Aunt Wang asked curiously, "Dashan's mother, what do you need these lantern grass for? Chickens don't even eat this."
"I vaguely remember that when I was very young, my grandmother used lantern grass to make a very delicious snack," Cheng Luanluan lied without batting an eye. "Anyway, there's so much lantern grass on the mountain, I'll pick some and take it back to see. What if I can make something?"
Aunt Wang didn't believe a word of it, but hearing that picking lantern grass could be exchanged for eggs, such a good thing certainly couldn't be missed. She quickly waved her hand, calling over the children who were wandering on the mountain: "Daimai, Xiaomai, Nitu, come quickly and help Aunt Zhao pick lantern grass, the more the better."
The women nearby also quickly called their children over.
They had all heard that a few days ago, Auntie Zhao had gone up the mountain and brought back two large hens and one large rooster. Those two wild hens laid many eggs, four a day, so Auntie Zhao never had to worry about not having chicken eggs.
The children, who had originally been digging for wild vegetables for fun, now all ran off to pick stone flower seeds.