Chapter 174 Herb Picking Incident

Chapter 174 Herb Picking Incident

Chapter 174 Herb Picking Incident
At night, Xiao Xia lay on the wooden floor of the main hall of the pharmacy. The night in Qingcheng Mountain was extremely quiet, so quiet that it hurt her eardrums. Xiao Xia had a few roe deer skins spread out under him and a thin quilt of coarse cloth covering him. Although it was early summer, the night in the mountains was still a bit chilly.

Xiao Xia was sleeping soundly. He hadn't been so relaxed for a long time. Being beside his mother, his heart was filled with peace and warmth. He threw away all his guard and slept more sweetly than ever before.

At this time, Xiao Chunyu quietly walked to her son and covered him with a blanket. She touched her son's messy hair lovingly, looked at her son's masculine face, sighed softly, got up and left.

Xiao Chunyu walked to her door, but saw a dark shadow tiptoeing towards her son. She was startled and involuntarily tightened the dagger at her waist.

Soon, the shadow walked into the moonlight. Xiao Chunyu heaved a sigh of relief and loosened his grip on the knife handle. He felt angry and amused at the same time, and cursed inwardly, "This damn girl!"

Under the moonlight, the black shadow turned out to be Aqiao. She also took a thin blanket and quietly covered Xiao Xia with it, then looked around, afraid of being discovered. At this time, Xiao Chunyu coughed lightly, and Zhang Qiao was frightened and ran away.

Xiao Chunyu smiled and shook her head. When she saw Zhang Qiao for the first time last year, she immediately fell in love with this beautiful and clever little Taoist nun. She regarded her as her future daughter-in-law, took her in as her disciple, and taught her her skills in alchemy and medicine preparation, especially letting her inherit her own method of refining Chunyu Pills.

It's a good thing that this little girl likes her son. Xiao Chunyu's only worry is that the Yang family will not accept her choice, but this is not something she can control. She just hopes that her son also likes A Qiao, then there is a possibility.

Before dawn the next day, Xiao Xia followed Zhang Qiao to collect herbs. The early morning in Qingcheng Mountain was filled with white fog, and the road could not be seen more than twenty steps ahead.

The two of them trudged along the roadless hillside. Xiao Xia wore a Taoist robe, leggings on his calves, and a pair of thick-soled boots to prevent sneak attacks from poisonous insects and snakes. In the mountains, they often encountered centipedes more than ten centimeters long, scorpions as big as fists, and colorful small poisonous snakes. These were the herbalists' biggest enemies, but they were also their treasures.

Therefore, studying various detoxification techniques is also a compulsory course for the female Taoist priests in Baiyun Temple. Xiao Chunyu received the true teachings of Yuan Miaogu and became a famous poison lady in Luoyang and Chang'an. Now Zhang Qiao has taken over Xiao Chunyu's mantle. In just one year, she can independently prepare Baiyun Temple's long-renowned detoxification medicine, the Scale-Bai Dan.

"Sister, be careful!"

Xiao Xia was quick and agile, and with one stick he knocked a small green snake hiding in the leaves more than ten feet away.

He entered the barrier-breaking state, and the poisonous insects and snakes around him had no chance of escaping his perception.

"Oh! This bamboo leaf green snake is a treasure."

Zhang Qiao hurried over, put on some deerskin gloves, grabbed the snake by the waist, put it into a leather bag, and tied the bag tightly.

"Hey! There's another Fritillaria here."

Zhang Qiao's eyes lit up. She found a large Fritillaria. She quickly squatted down, took out the medicine hoe, and dug carefully.

Xiao Xia walked forward and asked with a smile: "What kind of Fritillaria?"

Zhang Qiao dug out a large brown bulb and held it in his hand. It weighed about three or four pounds and looked like a flat round pumpkin.

Zhang Qiao smiled and said, "Today's harvest is really good. This mother-of-pearl is at least thirty years old."

“You can actually grow a little of this commonly used medicine.”

Zhang Qiao rolled his eyes at Xiao Xia, "Do I need you to remind me of this? We have planted a lot of herbs. Picking herbs is actually a form of spiritual practice."

"You won't be a Taoist nun for the rest of your life!" Xiao Xia said embarrassedly.

Zhang Qiao pouted her lips. "What's wrong with me being a Taoist nun? Let me tell you! If I go to your place, you have to prepare an empty room for me. I want to decorate it as a Taoist room."

Xiao Xia laughed, "Okay! I'll build you a Taoist temple."

"That's good enough. I'll recruit a few more disciples to satisfy my desire to be the temple master."

His eyes turned and he suddenly noticed the smirk in Xiao Xia's eyes. Zhang Qiao blushed and raised his fist to hit Xiao Xia's shoulders and back, "How dare you laugh at me?"

Xiao Xia did not run away either. He held his head and let her beat his shoulders and back. He smiled and said, "Knock on the left side again. My left shoulder is a little sore too!"

"You damn donkey, you big monkey, you thought I was giving you a back massage, now I'm going to strangle you to death!"

Zhang Qiao's face turned red with shame, and he pinched the flesh on Xiao Xia's arm hard. This time it hurt a little, and Xiao Xia quickly dodged.

"Sister, I'm telling the truth. There's an empty side yard in my house, which is perfect for you to build a Taoist temple."

Zhang Qiao became even more angry and attacked more fiercely, "I don't live in the side yard, you big monkey are not sincere!"

"Hey! Junior Sister Zhang, who is this?"

Suddenly, two young male Taoist priests, one tall and one short, appeared above. The tall Taoist priest looked at Xiao Xia and Zhang Qiao's flirting with jealousy. Zhang Qiao stopped, glared at the two of them, and said to Xiao Xia, "Ignore them, Junior Brother, let's go!"

Xiao Xia glanced at the two of them, then followed Zhang Qiao to the other side.

"Brother, this little girl is in love, who is that boy?"

The tall Taoist snorted, "I guess he's a Taoist from the Tianshi Temple. Find a chance to punish this bastard. How dare he steal my woman!"

After walking a mile, Xiao Xia looked back and saw that the two Taoists were no longer visible. He asked Zhang Qiao, "Who are these two Taoists?"

Zhang Qiao snorted coldly: "There are many Taoist temples here. You will always encounter some boring male Taoist priests. Just ignore them."

After a pause, Zhang Qiao explained, fearing that Xiao Xia might misunderstand him, "Those two young Taoists are from the Jade Emperor Temple. One is surnamed Jiang and the other is surnamed Wang. I met them the first time I came here to collect herbs. They were very enthusiastic and showed me where I could collect herbs. I even called them senior brothers.

But the second time I met them, they started talking nonsense, so I ignored them. Later, I changed direction and didn’t meet them anymore. Then I met a few young Taoist priests from Tianshi Temple. Oh! They were really annoying, like cockroaches, but they didn’t behave rudely, they just talked nonsense! ”

Xiao Xia groaned for a moment and said, "Senior Sister, if they keep an eye on you, you will be hard to defend against."

"Don't worry. The Taoists here have evil intentions but not the courage. If they dare to mess around, I will kill them with one sword."

Xiao Xia sighed and said, "Senior Sister, if they hide in the dark and shoot you with needles from behind, you won't be able to defend yourself at all."

"Then what do you say? I can't just not pick herbs!"

Xiao Xia thought for a moment and said, "I'll pay for Baiyun Temple to open a pharmacy to purchase medicinal materials. You can use them yourself or sell them to the capital. I'll be in charge of the sales. This way, you don't have to collect herbs."

This was certainly not a sudden idea on Xiao Xia's part. He had had this idea for a long time, but today made him make up his mind that he could grow and harvest herbs, as picking herbs was too dangerous.

Tongjitang, the largest pharmacy in the capital, is owned by my aunt Yang Lihua. Xiao Xia has thought about using this relationship to do the medicinal materials business.

Zhang Qiao shook his head for a while and said, "This is not something I can decide."

"I know. I'll come and talk to the Grandmaster!"

Xiao Xia mustered up his courage, gently held her in his arms and said, "You and mother are the most important people in my heart. I will never let anything happen to you."

Zhang Qiao lowered her head shyly, feeling sweet in her heart, and whispered, "Don't worry, I promise nothing will happen!"

"How can I not be worried? Look, there are two people following us!"

Zhang Qiao was startled and quickly looked behind Xiao Xia. Sure enough, there were two sneaky figures a hundred steps away.

The tenderness in Zhang Qiao's heart suddenly disappeared without a trace. She gritted her teeth and said angrily: "I will definitely cut off one of their legs this time, so that they dare to follow me again!"

Xiao Xia smiled slyly, "Just give the little snake to them."

Zhang Qiao thought about it and laughed, "That's a good idea!"

She jumped onto a big tree and disappeared in a flash. Xiao Xia was shocked by her speed. Zhang Qiao was so light and agile, at least in jumping skills, she could not compare with her.

Soon, there was a scream in the distance, "There is a snake, the snake bit me, help!"

Two dark shadows stumbled and ran wildly into the distance.

Soon, Zhang Qiao jumped down from the tree and snorted, "That bastard named Jiang got a bad deal. I wanted to throw it around his neck. If the snake bites him, he will definitely die. But I let him go and bit his wrist instead."

"Won't biting your wrist kill you?"

Zhang Qiao shook his head. "This place is not far from Baiyun Temple. As long as they get there in time and ask for a scale-avoiding pill, they can save their lives. They are Taoist priests from Yuhuang Temple. If they really kill them, Baiyun Temple will be in trouble."

Xiao Xia nodded. At this moment, he made up his mind that he must open a medicine shop for Baiyun Temple and not let Zhang Qiao and his mother go out to collect herbs. He did not believe that collecting herbs was a form of spiritual practice.

(End of this chapter)