"Still laughing." Ye Zi’an was a little annoyed by Yang Chuxia’s incessant laughter and suddenly pinched her nose.
"Alright, alright, I’ll stop laughing." She grabbed Ye Zi’an’s slender fingers.
Then she took out a small shovel from her basket. Looking at the Chinese aconite, she surprisingly found another one underneath. However, the one below seemed to have withered.
"Brother An, hold the shovel and dig around the plant with me. We need to dig a larger area." Yang Chuxia instructed Ye Zi’an, "The book says that the part of the Chinese aconite typically used for medicine is the rhizome below, and the harvesting time is usually in late autumn or early spring when the leaves wither and fall off. If the book is correct, then we should dig up the plant below."
She paused before continuing, "But this herb is so hard to find that even if the plant’s leaves haven’t fallen off yet, I still want to dig it up. So we should dig the soil wider around it and deeper below its roots. We can transplant it back home, wait for it to mature, and the leaves to fall off naturally."
"Alright, I understand."
With that, Yang Chuxia and Ye Zi’an began digging on both sides of the plant.
To ensure the roots were not damaged, Yang Chuxia dug very carefully. She swore this was not much different from digging up ginseng.
After digging cautiously for about half an hour, she finally managed to remove the plant with fallen leaves. The roots of the Chinese aconite looked like a carrot with a tapered end.
When they finally dug it out, Yang Chuxia carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief before placing it in her basket.
Then she also placed the plant dug up by Ye Zi’an, which was wrapped with a large chunk of soil, in the basket as well.
"Brother An, let’s continue searching to see if we can find more aconite roots, or even Tian Nan Xing. When making the medicine, we may need to ask Uncle Cai for help. But he might not be able to succeed in the first attempt, so we should look for more aconite roots as backup."
"Alright." Ye Zi’an replied, "In that case, I’ll search over there. We’ve searched this area quite a few times already."
Then the two started searching again. However, Ye Zi’an’s luck did not continue, as he couldn’t find any more aconite roots or the Tian Nan Xing mentioned by Yang Chuxia.
"Forget it, it’s getting late. Let’s stop for today. Just finding the Chinese aconite is already a big achievement." Yang Chuxia happily picked up her basket and pulled Ye Zi’an. "We’ve already found one rare ingredient, and we know the whereabouts of the Drunken Heart Flower. No matter what, I’ll get my hands on it. Now all we need is the Tian Nan Xing."
Privately, Yang Chuxia thought that if the young master didn’t want to exchange the Drunken Heart Flower or sell it to her at a high price, she would just steal it. She didn’t believe that her modern-day skills couldn’t procure a Drunken Heart Flower.
"Does Tian Nan Xing have any other names?" Ye Zi’an asked. "Actually, the owner of Mu’s Clinic has a point. Maybe the herb you’re looking for isn’t called by that name, and perhaps someone has seen it before."
Yang Chuxia shook her head, "No way. When I described it to Uncle Cai last time, he obviously had no idea what it was. Don’t worry, we’ll just keep searching."
As she spoke, Yang Chuxia saw pinecones on the ground again and quickly placed her basket down. "Brother An, pick up the pinecones."
"What do we need these for? The ones you picked up the other day are still piled up at home. I forgot to ask you what they’re for."