There are several villages in the Yanglinpo area, built on the mountains and adjacent to the water. Behind the villages are large poplar forests in the deep valleys, where you can occasionally encounter rare medicinal materials such as Huangzhi.
The two soon found a mountain road opened by the villagers. The slope gradually eased in front of them, and the next road was much easier to walk.
Shen Yanchu took the lead and walked towards the valley. Under his sleeves, his fingers were slightly folded.
He lowered his eyes, and an indescribable feeling came over him. He always felt that the young man's face was strangely delicate.
Looking back behind her, Liu Ruyan was trudging through the heavy snow, one foot deep and one foot shallow, with green silk and a jade face, and red lips like pearls.
He secretly came to the conclusion that she was as beautiful as a woman.
Liu Meiren was not aware of this comment yet. In order to make things easier, she slightly modified her face and wore clean and neat Hu clothes. In addition to her tall figure, others only thought that she was a handsome young man.
As evening approached, we finally saw people on the road.
Liu Ruyan walked up to these villagers and asked them about the origin of the rumors about Huang Zhi, and learned that the production of Ganoderma lucidum in the Yanglinpo area has become increasingly scarce in recent years. Only Hangkou Village and Taiping Village still have villagers going into the woods to collect herbs.
In front of us is Hang Hau Village.
The sound of chopping wood could be heard from a farmhouse on the side of the road.
Liu Ruyan stood outside the fence and looked into the courtyard. An old man was gathering firewood in the courtyard.
"Old man," she called softly.
Suddenly, a yellow-haired native dog emerged from the fence, grinning and barking at her.
Shen Yanchu, who was standing aside, swept away with a flick of his sleeves. A strong wind rose out of thin air and overturned the native dog.
The dog fell into the snow and rolled several times before stopping. It howled, tucks its tail and slipped away far away.
When the old man heard the commotion, he immediately walked out, put his hands on his hips and shouted: "Which blind boy dares to bully my Ah Huang!"
Liu Ruyan silently took a step back and made way for Mr. Shen.
"Is that you?" The old man walked towards Shen Yanchu in three steps and two steps at a time, looking at him carefully, "Is that you, stranger? Are you from out of town?"
"That's right." Liu Ruyan stood up, crossed her hands and saluted, "Well... my attendant was ignorant and bumped into your Ah Huang, please forgive me."
Without raising his eyes, the old man wiped the ax in his hand with a rag: "We are in a remote and remote area, what are you doing here?"
"It's nothing." Liu Ruyan smiled again, "I just heard that villagers in the Yanglinpo area dug up treasures and wanted to come over and learn more."
The old man finally raised his head, looked at the two of them for a few times, turned around and walked into the fence: "Go back, don't enter the village again."
"Why?" Liu Ruyan asked, running to the old man and stopping him, "Why can't you enter the village?"
"Hehe, old man, I have lived here for most of my life, and I have never heard of giant Ganoderma lucidum." The old man paused and inserted his ax into the snow. "Recently, some drug dealers have come to the village for Ganoderma lucidum, but what about those people? I didn’t see anyone coming out.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the valley in the distance. In the poplar forest, there were houses scattered in an orderly manner.
"That's Taiping Village. In the early years, Huangzhi and Yuzhi could be found in the forest. The nearby villagers made a living on it, and their lives were quite comfortable. But recently, Ganoderma lucidum is scarce, and Taiping Village has covered the entire forest with it. It was surrounded and no other villagers were allowed to enter. It was only in the past few days that drug dealers and doctors started to visit. I live at the entrance of the village. I only saw people entering the village, but no one came out."
"There's something weird in Taiping Village!" the old man lowered his voice, "I think you're young, so it's better not to go in, and go back quickly!"
After that, he picked up the ax in the snow and stepped towards the fence.
Shen Yanchu stepped forward and asked her: "Is there a problem in this village?"
Liu Ruyan suppressed her smile: "Baizhi is nearby, let's go to the village to explore the truth first."
It gets dark early.
In the snow in winter, there is only the "rustling" sound of shoes stepping on the snow.
The two walked through a sparse forest, and suddenly a light appeared in front of them, which was Taiping Village.
Liu Ruyan stood in front of a farmhouse, and through the candlelight behind the window lattice, she saw that the owner of the house had not yet rested.
She raised her hand to knock on the wooden door, and said with a smile: "I have taken the liberty of disturbing the master's house. We are coming from the town. I wonder if it is convenient for us to disturb you for one night."
The figure on the window lattice suddenly moved, and the wooden door was opened immediately, revealing the face of a young woman.
She saw two men standing outside the door and shouted into the house: "Master, come here quickly."
"Who is it?" A villager followed out.
He pulled the woman into the house, blocked the door with his strong body, and asked Liu Ruyan: "Who are you, and why are you coming to my house so late at night?"
Liu Ruyan recited what she had said just now, and also took out a lot of copper coins and gave them to the villagers.
The villager took the money and looked at Liu Ruyan and the others again and again: "I do have a few vacant rooms here, but the mountains have not been peaceful recently, and bandits often appear. Who knows who you are?"
Liu Ruyan nodded in agreement and smiled kindly: "Actually, we only want to inquire about one person this time. I wonder, brother, have you seen a man named Bai?"
"Surname Bai?"
She added: "He's a pharmacist."
The villager turned his head and glanced at the woman in the house before replying: "There are indeed a few strangers who have entered the village. I guess they went to the valley behind to look for medicine."
Liu Ruyan expressed her understanding.
At this time, the woman in the room suddenly asked: "I wonder if you two are pharmacists or doctors?"
Liu Ruyan paused, thought a little in her heart, and said, "I know a little bit about the art of Qihuang."
Hearing this, the village man's expression soothed, and he invited the two people standing outside the door into the house: "It turns out to be the doctor who hangs the pot to save the world. Please come in quickly."
Shen Yanchu strode into the house, and when passing by the village man and woman, he glanced between their eyebrows.
This was the first time the woman encountered such a heavenly figure like Shen Yanchu, and she couldn't help but lower her eyes shyly.
Seeing this, the villagers looked angry.
Liu Ruyan smiled sarcastically and continued to ask: "I wonder if the only way out of the valley is the trail in Hang Hau Village? When we came just now, we heard that people who entered Taiping Village never returned, which was very strange. ah."
The villager said bluntly: "Taiping Village and Hangkou Village have always been at odds over the matter of Yang Shulin. The little brother must have heard this from Hangkou Village. Oh, there is obviously a mountain road behind our village to get out of the valley, so there is no need to take the original route. When they returned, they didn't see anyone, but they started spitting blood."
"It turns out it was a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding." Liu Ruyan tried to smooth things over.
The woman also smiled and said: "The two brothers have come a long way, and they must not have had dinner yet. Why don't you take a break first, and I'll go make two bowls of noodle soup."
Liu Ruyan was not polite and responded quickly.
In the west side room, Liu Ruyan blew on the hot soup, picked out the noodles with chopsticks, and asked in a vague voice: "What do you think about this?"
Shen Yanchu sat quietly aside, with a black pottery bowl in his hand that he had not yet used his chopsticks: "Weird."
She raised her head: "What kind of weird method?"
He opened his lips: "Just now the peasant woman asked you whether you were a medicine merchant or a doctor. This is one. Second, when you called yourself a doctor, their expressions were different!"