Chapter 7 Chun Tao

Chapter Seven

The next day, Long Xiaoshan woke early in the morning, and Long Dashan had already gone to work at the sawmill a few miles away.

Long Xiaoshan ate a few corn cobs and chatted with He Xiangyue at home for a while.

He took out a basket and a bucket from behind the door, ready to leave.

"Brother, where are you going?" Long Xiaoling asked as she saw Long Xiaoshan carrying a basket.

"I'm heading to the mountain streams to catch some shrimp to bring back. Mom's leg is broken; it must be due to a calcium deficiency. Shrimp can provide calcium, and I'll also see if I can dig up some herbal medicine," Long Xiaoshan said.

"Brother, I want to go too."

"You stay here and take care of Mom."

"Alright."

Long Xiaoshan, carrying the basket and bucket, quickly made his way to the Back Mountain. Elder Chang had given him a thick medical book when he had taught him medicine.

It contained many prescriptions.

Elder Chang had told him to read this book more often and never to let anyone else see it.

Long Xiaoshan was a studious person, and there wasn't much else to do in prison, especially after he became the boss there, with other inmates eager to do things for him.

So he would often flip through the medical book when he had nothing to do.

Over time, he memorized everything in it, but naturally, there were no herbs available to experiment with in prison.

He remembered there was a prescription called Bone-Regeneration Powder that was said to have miraculous effects on healing bone injuries, and he wanted to try making it.

On the way to Back Mountain, he had to pass through a large field of corn cobs.

Walking along the narrow path between the ridges for over ten minutes, when he got close to Back Mountain, Long Xiaoshan stopped. He heard some rustling sounds coming from the cornfield.

Could it be wild boars from the mountains coming down to gnaw on the corn?

Although the cornfield wasn't his, it still belonged to fellow villagers, and Long Xiaoshan didn't want to see the corn ruined by wild boars, so he hurriedly took a few steps in the direction of the noises.

Having practiced "The Art of Immortality," Long Xiaoshan's hearing was much keener than that of an average person, allowing him to faintly distinguish two voices coming from the cornfield.

"Uncle Fakui, let me go."

"Chun Tao, just give in to me, and I won't wrong you. Look, this is a gold bracelet I just bought for you in the county."

"I don't want it, Uncle Fakui... stop... if you keep this up, I'll scream for help!"

"Go ahead and scream. If others come, I'll say you seduced me, you little temptress. Let's see how you'll face the villagers after this!"

A sound of fabric being torn echoed from the cornfield.

Long Xiaoshan deliberately coughed loudly.

The noises from the cornfield abruptly stopped.

After a while, a man's pained voice was heard, and a woman, with her clothes in disarray, dashed out of the cornfield in panic and inadvertently ran into Long Xiaoshan, who steadied her with a hand.

This was a woman in her early twenties, her skin tanned but not enough to hide her naturally exquisite beauty. She covered herself with her hands where her top had been torn, revealing the delicate and fair skin below her neck. The glimpses of her flesh made a surge of heat rush through Long Xiaoshan's body.

"Chun Tao!"

Long Xiaoshan quickly recognized the woman. She was a young widow from his village. He remembers clearly the stir she caused when she first came to the village at seventeen; though Longyang Village was famed for its beautiful women, someone as beautiful as Chun Tao was rare. Perhaps it was a twist of fate or the curse of Widow Village, but her husband died suddenly from a stroke on their wedding night.

Long Xiaoshan had been in prison for three years and thought that Chun Tao, being such a beautiful woman, must have remarried by now, but to his surprise, she was still in the village, causing his mind to reel as if many lost memories were surging back.

Chun Tao looked up and saw a lean, tall young man standing in front of her, his features sharp and well-defined, with a knife scar adding a menacing air to his appearance.

Feeling more panicked by the support of a stranger, Chun Tao heard footsteps chasing after her, which threw her into such disarray that she quickly hid behind this unknown man.

Another man, middle-aged and about forty or fifty, emerged from the cornfield, wearing a shirt with a gold chain, his face dark and gaunt, one hand clutching his groin in discomfort.

Seeing Chun Tao hiding behind a stranger, and realizing it was this man's cough that had led to her kicking him in the groin, he was irritated and demanded, "Where did you come from?"

"Uncle Fakui," Long Xiaoshan said calmly.

In Longyang Village, the Long family was prominent and related by blood or marriage. This middle-aged man, known as Long Fakui, was a notable figure who had gone to the county to become a hoodlum. Later, it was said he started a business and even bought property in the county, returning only during festivals and holidays.

After a careful look, Long Fakui recognized Long Xiaoshan and said, "It's you, little Xiaoshan, you've come back from prison!"

Long Xiaoshan was also a notable figure in Longyang Village, a very talented student and the first from the village to go to college. People said he was like Wenqu Star descending to earth, previously considered a bit dull and only focused on studying. But now, he seemed different.

However, Long Fakui didn't think much of it, annoyed at being interrupted and asked, "What are you doing here in the cornfield?"

Long Xiaoshan answered, "I heard some noises and thought it was a wild boar digging through the corn; I came to check it out."

"Well, now you've seen there's no wild boar, so beat it," Long Fakui said impatiently, waving his hand.

Long Xiaoshan turned to Chun Tao, who was hiding behind him, and said, "Chun Tao, your clothes are torn, come with me."

Upon hearing this, Long Fakui became displeased and spoke in a dark tone, "Little Xiaoshan, you go back on your own. I will take Chun Tao home."

Long Xiaoshan smiled without responding and looked at Chun Tao, "Chun Tao, will you come with me?"

Chun Tao was scared, but the smile on Long Xiaoshan's face gave her a bit of courage, and she replied, "Yes."

"Uncle Fakui, I will take Chun Tao home first," said Long Xiaoshan, and with that, he tugged on Chun Tao's sleeve and headed out of the cornfield.

Seeing Long Xiaoshan actually taking Chun Tao away, a fierce light flashed in Long Fakui's eyes. He was the tyrant of Longyang Village; nobody dared to cross him.

As they reached the entrance to the village, Chun Tao whispered in a voice as soft as a mosquito's, "Little Xiaoshan, thank you. You can go about your business; there's no need to escort me further."

After saying that, she ran off quickly without looking back.

Watching Chun Tao hurry away like a startled rabbit, Long Xiaoshan shook his head. He guessed he wasn't much different from Long Fakui in her eyes. The idea that he was a rapist must have spread throughout the village.

Approaching noon, Long Xiaoshan came down from the mountain stream with his bucket half full of shrimp. Seeing that it was still early, he ate two pieces of corn and began searching for herbs in the Back Mountain. After all, his knowledge from prison was only theoretical, and he had yet to put it into practice.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up: "Stone-root Grass."

He ran over to a rock, dug out a plant with grey leaves and lots of veins, and after carefully examining it, he confirmed it was one of the herbs needed to make Bone-Regeneration Powder.

Luck was on his side, and he didn't expect to find a medicinal herb so easily.

Stirred by excitement, Long Xiaoshan continued his search and soon found another medicinal herb, Blackwood Vine. Although it was not used in Bone-Regeneration Powder, it was a key ingredient in another valuable remedy.

Zixiang Fruit.

Swiftflame Grass.

As Long Xiaoshan discovered more and more herbs, he wondered why the Back Mountain seemed to be covered with them. Was there really no one else collecting them?

Or was he the only one who recognized these herbs?

Caught up in enthusiasm, Long Xiaoshan ventured deeper into the mountain. Unbeknownst to him, the large basket he had brought for collecting pig grass was now filled with medicinal herbs.