In less than a quarter of an hour, Uncle Cai also came over with a bamboo basket on his back, and soon after, Yang Chuxia and Uncle Cai entered the mountain together.
"What kind of medicinal herbs do you want to find?" Uncle Cai asked on the way.
"Chinese aconite, Arisaema, and dahurian angelica."
Upon hearing this, Uncle Cai looked at her in surprise, "Xiaxia, do you know medicine too?"
"Uncle Cai, I can’t say I know medicine, just some herbal knowledge and I can dress simple wounds," Yang Chuxia replied honestly. As a former special agent, she inevitably suffered injuries, so treating and dressing herself was no problem.
However, she knew more about Western medicine than traditional Chinese medicine, from reading a few medical books. Treating illnesses and measuring the pulse was impossible for her since modern society relies more on Western medicine.
"That’s already very good," Uncle Cai didn’t ask how she knew these things, and said, "Bai Zhi is easy to find, but I don’t know about Arisaema and Chinese aconite. I’ve never even heard of Arisaema, and I’ve only heard of Chinese aconite, but I’ve never seen it."
Upon hearing Uncle Cai’s words, Yang Chuxia felt disheartened, as making narcotics seemed to be extremely difficult.
She still asked, "What about Drunken Heart Flower? Or dog walnut? Ten Thousand Peach Blossoms? Mountain eggplant?" Yang Chuxia was actually talking about the mandragora, but she thought that since she was in ancient times, and it was a different time and space, the names might be different. So, she listed several aliases of the mandragora.
After listening, Uncle Cai became even more surprised.
"I didn’t expect you to know this!" Uncle Cai stroke his short beard and said, "Drunken Heart Flower does exist, but it’s extremely precious. I’ve heard that there are only one or two plants in the imperial family, and they were only used for ornamental purposes. Who would have thought they can also cure illnesses?"
Yang Chuxia shook her head, "It wouldn’t exactly cure illnesses. I accidentally came across a prescription that said several medicinal ingredients could be mixed to make people lose consciousness temporarily. In this way, people with wounds wouldn’t feel pain during treatment."
"Is there really such a prescription?" Uncle Cai asked in surprise again and then smiled, "You are looking for these herbs for Brother An, right?"
"Yes," Yang Chuxia didn’t feel embarrassed and nodded, "Isn’t it for his sake? You know his injury, and although it’s not incurable, the treatment process is very painful. That’s why I want to find these herbs."
"Yes, Brother An is very knowledgeable. If his leg heals, he will have a bright future ahead," Uncle Cai sighed and then said, "Let’s go. In that case, I’ll take you to a good place to look. It’s a bit far, deep in the mountains. There’s a pond there, and around it grow many medicinal materials. I haven’t seen many of them before. Since it’s far, I only go there occasionally when needed."
"Thank you so much, Uncle Cai!"
"There’s no need to thank me. If you can really find these things, you’ll be helping a lot of people. Not to mention the soldiers; they would be grateful to you."
At first, Yang Chuxia didn’t think about this. She just wanted to help Brother An. But upon hearing Uncle Cai’s words, her motivation as a military special agent – her sense of duty to her ethnic group – and the righteousness and goodness within her heart were ignited. Yang Chuxia became determined to find the herbs.
"Yes, Uncle Cai, I didn’t think of it as far-reaching as you did. I feel ashamed, but I’ll try my best to find them."