84 You’re Hurting a Little Life
The man in the bamboo hat listed out the herbs one by one. Zhou Wenxiu’s expression remained the same as she said, “How much do you want? We don’t have many herbs left.”
The man in the bamboo hat had been staring at Zhou Wenxiu’s expression. Seeing that there was no change in her expression, he seemed to be secretly relieved. “I’ll take as much as you have, I have plenty of money!”
He slammed the table in an extraordinary manner and set down 100 taels of silver.
“Alright, please wait a moment.” Only then did Zhou Wenxiu reveal a smile and began to pick the herbs with a smile.
Jiang Ming sat in the back hall. Through the aisle between the front and back hall, he inadvertently glanced at the man in the bamboo hat. Then, he continued to read the medical book in a seemingly distracted manner, and occasionally took a sip of tea.
Internally, his thoughts were whirling.
“These ingredients are all from the beast-taming prescription!”
When Jiang Ming snatched the beast-taming prescription from Old Ghost Huang back then, his first bucket of gold was earned from this prescription.
However, he would not take it for granted that there was only one beast-taming prescription in this world. It was just that today was the first time he had seen such a similar combination of medicinal ingredients. Moreover, it was at the ingenious time when the storm on the Cloudy Dream Mountain Forest was gradually rising. He could not help but overthink it.
“It’s also thanks to me changing my appearance to go to the Wang family’s medicine shop to buy medicinal herbs in large quantities,” Jiang Ming muttered internally. Otherwise, if he had kept buying these herbs, he would have been exposed.
“Don’t be in a hurry. Just observe the situation first.” Jiang Ming glanced at the bird’s nest under the eaves where a family of swifts was living.
Soon, the man in the bamboo hat left in a hurry with all the bags of herbs.
Zhou Wenxiu also happily jumped into the back hall and showed off today’s harvest to Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming praised her and sent her away. Then, he reached out his hand and said, “Xiao Yu!”
A swift immediately flew out of its nest and landed on his palm. This was the swift that he had trained the earliest. It was quick and agile and an expert at tracking.
Jiang Ming put the swift near his mouth, whispered a few words, stroked its feathers, and then let it go. The swift spun in the air and flew away.
Jiang Ming recalled the actions of the man in the bamboo hat.
“He’s from a good family, but he’s a little crude in doing things. He doesn’t look like an old fox from a big force, but like a young child who suddenly got rich. Bidding for a hundred taels of silver without saying a word is not something a normal person would do. Even if he’s good at martial arts, it’s not safe. Fortunately, I’m not a bad person who will get greedy at the sight of money,” Jiang Ming praised himself, then closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
In the evening, Jiang Ming asked Zhou Wenxiu to go home first. He had to keep watch at the medicine shop.
“Be careful—” Zhou Wenxiu started to say, but in the end, she just bit her lip and silently turned to leave.
Jiang Ming glanced at her back. His whereabouts were mysterious every day. This girl probably guessed that he had a secret, but she never asked.
“It’s not that I don’t want to, but I really can’t.” Jiang Ming sighed, shook his head, and stopped thinking.
Late at night, Jiang Ming sat quietly on the bamboo chair. The faint light of the candle on the table shone on his face, flickering.
A swift suddenly flew in from the window and landed on the table in front of Jiang Ming. It spat out a ball of tightly packed paper from its beak.
Jiang Ming opened it and saw Master Si’s crooked handwriting.
“Someone has entered the Cloudy Dream Mountain Forest. They are using blood to refine medicine.”
Jiang Ming’s eyebrows raised. “It’s the person who has the beast-taming prescription. Is he also here to find the immortal?”
Another swift flew in.
“Two disciples of the Liang family followed this person into the Cloudy Dream Mountain Forest.”
Jiang Ming frowned. “The Liang family is really a sh*t stirrer. They are involved in everything! Investigate and report to me again!” Jiang Ming waved his hand and sent the two swifts away.
* * *
The next evening, Jiang Ming threw another ball of paper into the tea stove at his feet. The flame suddenly sprang up and burned it to ashes.
He had already received more than thirty messages. It seemed that the man in the bamboo hat was indeed a rookie who came out of nowhere. He did not even know that he was followed into the mountain by the Liang family’s disciples, and they observed his refining process.
However, it seemed that this guy had not practiced medicine much. He had already lost a lot of blood in one day.
“By the time the medicine is done, I’m afraid he’ll be gone!” Jiang Ming was speechless.
He would either die from blood loss because he failed to master it, or he would be killed by the Liang family’s disciples because he succeeded.
Jiang Ming shook his head and did not plan to get involved in this for the time being.
Although neither of them seemed to be experts, he already had the beast-taming prescription. There was no need to get into trouble that had nothing to do with him. Besides, he was too lazy to run away again.
“Let’s go home for dinner!” Jiang Ming got up and asked Xiao Yu to pass on a message to Master Si. He only needed to report to Master Si three times a day. He was on vacation and did not want to deal with anything else.
“However, this beast-taming prescription can’t possibly be from the mountains, right?” As Jiang Ming walked, his thoughts were scattered, and his imagination was running wild.
It was summer and even the foot of the mountain was a little hot and stuffy. Many people were holding large fans and sitting in front of their homes to enjoy the cool air.
A group of raggedy kids were running and playing under the shade of the tree. Jiang Ming saw Tian Anan, who liked to play with mud, running around with a small wooden bucket. From time to time, she would squat on the ground. He did not know what she was doing.
Jiang Ming was walking when he suddenly stepped on something.
He lowered his head and saw a half-dead cicada making its final struggle before death.
At the side, a dirty little hand had already reached out halfway to grab the cicada, but it stopped in mid-air.
Jiang Ming looked at the owner of the small hand. Tian Anan’s face was full of sadness, and then she looked at Jiang Ming in disbelief, “Ming, you hurt a little life!
Jiang Ming glanced at Tian Anan’s small wooden bucket. In the shallow layer of water, more than a dozen fat and tender cicadas were already submerged.
“How did these little lives die?” he asked, his face expressionless.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Tian Anan did not know what he was talking about.
“I’ll catch ten to compensate you later!” Jiang Ming was speechless.
Tian Anan clutched his trousers and refused to let go. “You hurt a little life!”
Jiang Ming surrendered. “I’m going to eat rice noodles.”
Tian Anan immediately hugged his leg. “I want three bowls!”
Jiang Ming sighed and removed her dirty hands, asking her to send the cicadas back home.
Tian Anan complied happily. Soon, she came back with her little wooden bowl in her hands.
At the entrance of the courtyard, a woman with her hair tied up in a bun smiled and waved her hand, asking Jiang Ming to take Tian Anan out with him. She took a small bucket and went to fry the cicadas.
Jiang Ming looked at her and shouted, “Miss Qingqing, do you want me to bring you a bowl?”
The woman shook her head and smiled. “No need. You can go have fun.”
Jiang Ming looked at her and nodded. He carried Tian Anan on his shoulders and walked to the night market in the county. Zhou Wenxiu accompanied them.