Along the way, Chiang Xiao had dug up quite a few herbs, and naturally, she picked some too, sneaking one plant after another into the Space from time to time.
As they were almost reaching the place where the wild rabbits were hidden, Chiang Xiao found a patch of Tianxiang Green, a patch of Tianlvxiang that was growing extremely well, with the first plant having fresh green sprouts.
Tianlvxiang is also known as tree vegetable, southern yang veggie, or Vietnamese veggie, a type of wild evergreen shrub that can be harvested all year round for its tender sprouts to eat.
After being stir-fried, this wild shrub vegetable has a unique fragrance and an excellent taste. In fact, there were some along the fields in the village too, and the villagers knew they were edible. As soon as the tender sprouts appeared, they were quickly picked by people, and not everyone could get their hands on them.
Tianlvxiang is rich in various vitamins and amino acids and has the effects of cooling, heat removing, and reducing blood pressure.
Chiang Xiao knew that in a few years, people would start growing it specifically to meet market demand, but no one had yet discovered this business opportunity. Although she was aware, she had never considered becoming a vegetable farmer. However, now that she had come across such a large patch of Tianxiang Green, how could she miss it?
"Strange, I’ve walked this path before, why haven’t I noticed it?" Chiang Songhai was stunned.
"Grandpa, maybe you were just too busy looking down for herbs before."
Chiang Songhai thought about it and agreed.
Previously, when he went up the mountain, he had a clear goal, which was to look for herbs. He had never paid attention to these bushes.
"Grandpa, let’s pick these tender sprouts of Tianxiang Green!" Chiang Xiao said and had already started picking.
Chiang Songhai glanced at it and after estimating, said, "Let’s pick a couple of handfuls first, we can’t finish so much."
Chiang Xiao thought about it and agreed. Although the Tianlvxiang wild vegetable was good, one couldn’t eat too much of it in a single day. They were not going to the market until the day after tomorrow, and if they picked it now and put it back, it would probably wilt by then and not fetch a good price for not being fresh.
If she was alone, it would be no problem. She could pick all of it and put it into the Space, ensuring freshness. By the day after tomorrow, it would still be as if it had just been picked from the tree.
"Grandpa, with so many tender sprouts, we could pick them and sell them at the market, not necessarily just for our own consumption."
"This thing, every village has it, taking it to sell..." Chiang Songhai was surprised.
Now with the reforms just having opened up, the villagers in the backward mountain villages had hardly any sense of business. This kind of plant was common in rural and wild areas, and everyone would just pick and take it home to eat, without ever having thought of selling it for money.
Chiang Xiao picked a tender sprout about ten centimeters long and brought it to Chiang Songhai, "Of course it can be sold. The villages all have it, but not in abundance. It’s not something every household can eat. Plus, we are going to sell it in town. The town doesn’t have Tianlvxiang, and they won’t go to the villages just to pick wild vegetables. Grandpa, look, we’ll pick each one at the same length, then tidy them up and bundle them with grass ropes—one bundle weighing a jin, and we’ll sell it for two mao. Don’t you think someone will buy it?"
At this time, there weren’t many types of vegetables available for the town’s residents to buy, and wild vegetables like Tianxiang Green were almost nonexistent.
A jin of wild vegetables for two mao felt expensive to Chiang Songhai. If it were him buying, he definitely wouldn’t.
Seeing his disbelief, Chiang Xiao simply started picking about two jin’s worth of tender sprouts herself. Each one was the same length, tidied up neatly, and tied into two bundles with green grass.
The presentation was now impressive.
The fresh, tender, and green wild vegetables looked crisp and succulent.
Truth be told, even Chiang Songhai, who hadn’t eaten them for a long time, couldn’t help swallowing his saliva.
"What if we sell a bundle for one mao?"
Chiang Xiao laughed with a snort. One mao?
"Grandpa, do you think this is a business with no costs involved?"
It certainly was, wasn’t it? These were all wild and not grown by themselves, so there were no costs, right?
Chiang Xiao shook her head, "We have to pick the sprouts, tie them up, climb up and down the mountain, and also carry our goods to the town. All these efforts are our labor, and we must include it as part of the cost. A bundle for two mao, listen to me, grandpa, there will definitely be buyers."