Volume One, Chapter Seventeen: Tang Tang Is Still a Prodigy of Rare Talent

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“Xian, you’ve arrived just in time. Remember yesterday when we passed by here and the ground suddenly collapsed? This morning, someone from Liu Fulu’s family accidentally fell in. But they found some water inside, and the soil has become soft and saturated. That’s why everyone rushed over to rescue him. Liu Fulu said the water inside is almost calf-deep, so I sent someone down to investigate what’s going on.”

Jiang Xian immediately recalled that in some special geological areas, prolonged drought or excessive river water extraction can cause underground rivers to dry up, resulting in sudden collapses that expose subterranean conditions.

If they could make use of this and start digging here, it could greatly reduce the time villagers spend watering their fields.

Taoyuan Village is built near a large river, but the river is quite a distance from the farmlands. Digging irrigation channels would be costly and laborious, and they lack the means to dig a canal. What if the fields get flooded?

Villagers have no choice but to carry water by hand or use donkey carts to haul water for irrigation. The severe drought of recent years has invisibly increased the workload, and every household has endured much hardship.

Jiang Xian’s face brightened with joy as she looked at the village chief and explained, “Chief, I once read in a geography journal that drought can cause river levels to drop, leading to the collapse of karst caves near underground rivers, exposing the subterranean waters. If we can excavate this area and channel the underground river water to irrigate the fields, it will save a lot of irrigation time by next spring.”

“Really? Such a fortunate thing?” The chief found it hard to believe. If they could indeed uncover the spring of this underground river and build a water-lifting windmill here, it would benefit the entire village immensely.

“Yes, but we need to confirm the area and plan carefully. Once the underground river reaches a stable water level and no longer rises, we can dig nearby channels and use water-lifting windmills to irrigate the fields efficiently and conveniently.”

The chief couldn’t contain his excitement. If things went as Jiang Xian proposed, it would be a great blessing for the whole village.

In these three years of drought, although the great river near Huanxi Village has not dried up, its riverbed has become increasingly exposed, the clear water revealing the silt beneath. The chief had worried that if the drought persisted, the day the river dried would be when they must abandon their homes and flee.

Now, with this underground river mouth discovered, the chief felt reassured.

“Very well, I’ll call some knowledgeable elders to come and see how we can build the channels and windmills!”

“Alright!” Jiang Xian watched as the chief’s forehead flushed with vitality, guessing it was the good fortune returned to him after his efforts yesterday for Tang Tang’s matter.

The chief wholeheartedly wished to lead Taoyuan Village to prosperity and benefit everyone; his good fortune was a matter of the entire village. Truly, the chief was a selfless and virtuous man!

After taking leave of the chief, Jiang Xian carried Tang Tang and headed to Doctor Chen’s house. Tang Tang asked, “Mother, why is Grandpa Chief so happy?”

Jiang Xian relaxed her brow and smiled, her eyes curving into crescents, “Because your Grandpa Chief is a selfless and public-spirited man. The drought has been severe, reducing harvests year after year. Suddenly discovering this underground river mouth and building channels to irrigate fields would solve his biggest worry. Of course, he’s happy!”

“Grandpa Chief will definitely make it happen!” Tang Tang said with firm conviction.

Jiang Xian nodded slyly, “Of course! With our Tang Tang around, anything is possible!”

Tang Tang was a little puzzled, “Mother, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“No worries, you’ll understand when you grow up!”

Seeing Jiang Xian smile, Tang Tang smiled back, her clear big eyes curved like moons, revealing small shell-like baby teeth.

Mother and daughter soon arrived at Doctor Chen’s solitary thatched house. Though small, the courtyard was neatly arranged by Doctor Chen himself, giving it an elegant simplicity.

Several racks of herbs were drying in the yard. The small house was divided into two rooms: an inner room with a kang bed, a low table, a low cabinet, and beside it a large locked chest; the outer room had a bamboo bed for patients, an eight-immortals table with two bamboo chairs, and wooden shelves filled with various medicinal herbs.

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Outside under the eaves was a shed with a stove and two pots—one for cooking meals, the other for boiling or frying herbs prepared by Doctor Chen.

The entire courtyard was filled with the fresh fragrance of medicinal herbs. At this moment, Doctor Chen was inside tending a hanging stove, brewing a tonic tea. A medical book lay open on the table.

Doctor Chen appeared about twenty-eight years old, very lean with a perpetually serious face, dressed in a long azure robe. Jiang Xian often thought that if Doctor Chen tied his hair up and stuck a peach wood hairpin in it, he would look like an immortal Taoist priest.

Upon seeing Jiang Xian and her daughter enter, Doctor Chen put down his work and asked, “What’s the matter with Tang Tang?”

Jiang Xian chuckled and set down her basket, “I brought you some good things and also brought Tang Tang for a little outing!”

Tang Tang obediently stood on the ground, holding Jiang Xian’s hand, her bright eyes curiously fixed on the herbs on the racks. She never imagined that a flower or a sprig of grass could have medicinal uses.

Recalling how delighted her mother was when she saw the herbs on the mountain, Tang Tang immediately trotted over to the racks, standing on tiptoe to examine the herbs very earnestly, memorizing their appearances.

Both Jiang Xian and Doctor Chen were startled by her behavior.

Doctor Chen raised an eyebrow at Jiang Xian and said thoughtfully, “Your daughter seems quite interested in my herbs!”

Sensing their gaze, Tang Tang turned and gave them a radiant smile.

“She has such a beautiful smile!” Doctor Chen couldn’t help but say.

“Of course! How could Jiang Xian’s daughter be anything but lovely?” Jiang Xian smiled proudly and took out some fleeceflower root and half a jin of gastrodia from her basket, handing them to Doctor Chen. “See how much this is worth? I still have half the gastrodia at home and a single piece of fleeceflower root. If you can pay the bill, I’ll bring you more next time!”

As for the lingzhi mushrooms and century-old ginseng, Doctor Chen wouldn’t earn much, so Jiang Xian planned to sell those to Songhe Hall.

Doctor Chen calmly picked up the fleeceflower root and gastrodia, examined them carefully with serious concentration. “Finding these two herbs in the middle of winter, your luck is good. Including the ones you have at home, give them all to me. I’ll pay you ten taels of silver. If you agree, I’ll take them all!”

Coincidentally, his prescription needed those two herbs, and now he finally had everything.

Jiang Xian was quite surprised. After all, Doctor Chen still owed her money from the last herb transaction. That he could suddenly pay ten taels made her curious. “Have you become rich from finding fool’s gold?”

Doctor Chen couldn’t help but laugh and cleared his throat, “I actually tricked the owner who found the fool’s gold!”

Jiang Xian was curious, so Doctor Chen truthfully told her about the two children injured in the Chen family last night and how Chen San the leper was hurt again today.

Jiang Xian glanced at Tang Tang, still studying the herbs, and teased, “Looks like Chen San the leper’s family’s good luck has run out. They’ll have to suffer for a while.”

“What do you mean?” Doctor Chen quickly caught the certainty in Jiang Xian’s words.

Jiang Xian shook her head, “Nothing. Now you can get me the money!”

Doctor Chen accepted the herbs and went inside to fetch the payment.

With money in one hand and goods in the other, Jiang Xian weighed the silver coins, adding the one tael she had earned from tricking Chen San the leper earlier that day. Eleven taels of silver in total—it was a satisfying income. Today she could leisurely spend the afternoon strolling with her daughter.

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After the transaction, Jiang Xian noticed Tang Tang still seriously observing the herbs, though she stood politely by the racks without touching or disturbing anything.

Jiang Xian walked over and gently patted Tang Tang’s head, asking, “Tang Tang, are you very interested in herbs?”

Tang Tang’s eyes widened, remembering how happy her mother was when she saw the herbs, and she nodded vigorously.

Doctor Chen came over, squatted down, and handed Tang Tang a piece of rice candy. “Since you’re so interested in herbs, would you like to learn to identify them with Uncle later?”

Jiang Xian shot Doctor Chen a sharp look.

“Not again? You’re at it again?”

She recalled when they first met, she was only thirteen. Doctor Chen had stared at her from afar, and she had thought he was a bad man. However, with his crimson and gold-marked forehead, he looked like someone wealthy and noble. She never understood why a dark aura always lingered above his brow without bringing him misfortune.

Jiang Xian ignored him. Later, when he said the herbs she carried were valuable and paid promptly for several transactions, they gradually became familiar.

One day, Doctor Chen smiled and asked if she wanted to learn medicine from him.

Jiang Xian had no real interest and refused outright, but she did follow him to learn how to identify herbs, so she could know which were valuable and which were weeds when she went up the mountain.

Doctor Chen always felt a twinge of regret when he saw her, having failed to persuade her to become his apprentice.

Jiang Xian’s one remark once made him blow his beard and glare.

“What kind of tone is that? I’m not harming your daughter! Humph!” Doctor Chen stood up, hands behind his back, chin raised proudly. “I don’t teach just anyone! You know, back when people wanted to follow me—”

His recollection abruptly stopped.

Jiang Xian and Tang Tang both looked at him curiously.

Doctor Chen cleared his throat, a trace of awkwardness flashing across his face. “Anyway, being able to learn medicine from me means I think highly of you. If you don’t want to learn, fine!”

With that, he went back inside.

Jiang Xian smiled helplessly and shook her head. Doctor Chen truly was a kind-hearted eccentric.

She turned to Tang Tang and asked, “Do you want to learn about herbs with this uncle?”

Tang Tang’s gaze was resolute as she nodded, “Yes, I want to learn. I want to know all the herbs in the world and pick them to give to Mother!”

“Pfft!” Jiang Xian couldn’t help but laugh, a bit moved inside. “So, you want to learn because you’re curious about these herbs, just like Mother likes them?”