After the potatoes and winter wheat were sown, there wasn't much to do during the long winter.
Grandfather, Father, and the two uncles would either go help others with work, such as repairing houses or building new ones.
And when there was no work, Grandfather would take Father and the two uncles to the back mountain to hunt, hoping to store some meat for the upcoming winter.
Wu Guohua took the opportunity to follow along, ostensibly to help carry the basket, but in reality, he wanted to find more things that could be planted.
The bitter mountain wind of winter cut across Wu Guohua's cheeks like a knife; he hunched his neck and pulled his worn cotton padded jacket tighter.
Grandfather led Father and the two uncles along the frozen stream deeper into the mountains; everyone's straw sandals were tied with non-slip dry grass ropes, leaving varying depths of footprints in the snow.
"Keep up, don't get lost," Grandfather Wu Jiulong reminded him, turning back. The white mist he exhaled condensed into frost in the morning light, clinging to his grizzled beard.
The old man was only in his early forties, yet he walked the mountain paths with remarkable speed, his rough hands gripping a polished jujube wood stick, occasionally pushing aside thorny bushes that blocked their way.
Wu Guohua jogged a few steps to catch up with the group, the bamboo basket on his back swaying gently with his steps.
This bamboo basket was smaller, specifically used for carrying Chinese herbal medicine.
Although his eight-year-old body couldn't carry much, being able to go into the mountains already made his other siblings envious.
"Today we're heading towards Eagle Rock," Second Uncle Wu Wenzhang said, rubbing his hands, which were red from the cold. "Last winter, we caught a badger there."
Third Uncle Wu Wenwu's eyes lit up at the words, and he licked his chapped lips: "It would be great if we could catch a wild rabbit too; the family hasn't seen meat for half a month."
Father Wu Wenbin walked silently at the very front, clearing the path. The firewood knife tucked at his waist occasionally chopped off branches that blocked their way, making crisp "crack, crack" sounds.
Wu Guohua knew that Father was the most silent in the family, but also the most hardworking.
The deeper they went into the mountains, the thicker the snow became.
Sunlight filtered through the bare branches, casting mottled shadows on the snow.
Occasionally, soft clumps of snow would fall from the treetops with a light "plop."
Wu Guohua's straw sandals were already soaked through with snowmelt, and his toes were numb with cold, but he gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound.
The opportunity to enter the mountains was too precious; he had to seize it.
"Wait!" Grandfather suddenly raised a hand, signaling everyone to stop, his cloudy eyes fixed on a string of footprints in the snow. "These are pheasant footprints, and they're fresh."
The adults immediately lightened their steps and followed the tracks.
Wu Guohua was left behind to guard the basket, which suited him perfectly.
After the adults had gone far, he immediately squatted down and carefully searched the surrounding vegetation.
The soil in the deep mountains was much more fertile than in the village, and various plants stubbornly poked their heads out from under the snow.
Wu Guohua gently pushed aside some snow, and suddenly his eyes lit up—a few palmate compound leaves were faintly visible among the dead branches.
"It's wild ginseng!" He almost exclaimed, quickly covering his mouth.
His knowledge from his previous life told him that these were typical characteristics of wild ginseng.
He carefully used a twig to dig away the frozen soil around it, and sure enough, a section of yellowish-white rhizome was exposed, with fine, hair-like rootlets, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.
Excited shouts from the adults came from a distance; it seemed they had caught the pheasant.
Wu Guohua's heart pounded like a drum; he quickly pinched off a few small ginseng rootlets and carefully put the main root into his basket.
And next to the wild ginseng were a few inconspicuous plants with oval leaves and slender stems—gastrodia elata!
Wu Guohua quickly dug them out; there were four gastrodia elata in total.
He hid the smallest one in his embrace, placing it with the ginseng rootlets.
The cold root mass pressed against his skin, making him shiver, but his heart felt warm.
Just as he hid the gastrodia elata and ginseng rootlets in his close-fitting pocket, he heard Third Uncle's footsteps approaching from afar.
"Guohua! Come see what we caught!" Third Uncle excitedly held up a colorful pheasant, its feathers shimmering in the sunlight, weighing over ten catties.
"So beautiful!" Wu Guohua pretended to have just noticed and ran over.
When they returned, Wu Guohua's basket contained half a basket of Chinese herbal medicine, but the most valuable items were the ginseng and several gastrodia elata he had dug up.
Grandfather, Father, and the two uncles also had a good harvest; besides the pheasant, there were two wild rabbits and a gray fox.
It was evening by the time they returned home, with cooking smoke curling up from the chimneys of each house.
Wu Guohua used the excuse of going to the outhouse and secretly slipped into his secret base in the jungle behind the house.
The afterglow of the setting sun gilded the barren slope; the potatoes and winter wheat he had planted had already sprouted tender green tips, trembling slightly in the cold wind.
He knelt in the snow, used a branch to dig a few small holes, and planted the ginseng rootlets and gastrodia elata tubers separately.
When he poured a handful of water, a crisp notification sound suddenly rang in his mind:
【Planting Ginseng, Experience +20】
【Watering, Experience +1】
【Planting Gastrodia Elata, Experience +20】
【Watering, Experience +1】
Wu Guohua's eyes widened; he hadn't expected the experience points for planting medicinal herbs to be so high!
He brought up his attribute panel:
Name: Wu Guohua
Talent: Farming
Level 1 Talent (86/100): Crop survival rate increased by 100%
"Just 14 more points to level up!" His fingers trembled with excitement; he could almost see golden waves of wheat and plump potatoes before his eyes.
From a distance, he heard Mother calling him for dinner.
He took one last look at the newly planted herbs, carefully covered them with withered leaves, then brushed the dirt off his knees and ran home.
At dinner, half of the pheasant was stewed into a pot of soup, with golden oil floating on the surface, its aroma filling the entire house.
The whole family sat around the heated brick bed, each receiving a bowl of soup and a small piece of chicken.
Wu Guohua slowly sipped the hot soup, its delicious taste bringing tears to his eyes.
Watching his younger siblings devour their food, Wu Guohua slowly savored his own piece of chicken.
His eight-year-old body was at a time when it needed a lot of nutrition, so Wu Guohua eventually licked all the oil clean from his bowl, not wasting a single drop.
In fact, it wasn't just him; everyone in the family did the same, their bowls so clean they didn't even need washing afterward.
"The harvest today was good," Grandfather Wu Jiulong took a sip of his homemade persimmon wine, a rare smile on his face. "Tomorrow I'll go ask the Zhao family again to see if there's any house repair work."
Father Wu Wenbin nodded, his rough fingers unconsciously rubbing the rim of his bowl: "Before spring, we need to replace the thatch on the roof, or it will leak again during the rainy season."
"The weather is getting colder and colder. Tomorrow, you three brothers go to town and sell the Chinese herbal medicine collected these days.
Also, sell one wild rabbit and that gray fox, and buy some husks and wheat bran to bring back," Grandfather arranged the family's affairs.
Wu Guohua lowered his head, scooping the mixed grain rice into his bowl, calculating in his mind: In four more days, after his talent upgraded, he would try to persuade Grandfather to give him a small plot of land for experimentation.
Perhaps by then, he would be able to prove that sandy soil could indeed grow better crops.
Subsequently, Wu Guohua gave up his midday rest every day, secretly running to the jungle on the barren slope to water and weed the potatoes, winter wheat, ginseng, and gastrodia elata he had planted, gaining at least 4 experience points every day, as weeds were not present every day.
Four days passed in a flash, and when Wu Guohua watered all the crops, the familiar golden light flashed before his eyes again, and then the talent panel automatically opened.
Name: Wu Guohua
Talent: Farming
Level 2 Talent (1/1000): Crop survival rate increased by 200%, growth speed increased by 20%
Wu Guohua was immediately overjoyed.
After his talent upgraded, not only did the survival rate of planted crops double again, but their growth speed also increased by one-fifth, which was equivalent to shortening the growth time by one-fifth.
He decided to plant more crops to upgrade his talent faster, believing that the higher the talent Rank, the greater the help it would be to him.
