Chapter 110: Finding a Rare Medical Book

Chapter 110: Chapter 110: Finding a Rare Medical Book

"It’s getting late. Go get some rest," Yun Zhen said. "There’s woodwork to do tomorrow, and the village chief and my father will also be leading the villagers to build the stone wall." Having nothing more to add, she sent them back to rest.

The village chief spoke up. "Tomorrow, we’ll set up the new kitchen and the warehouse while we’re at it. Where does the Goddess think it would be best to pitch these two tents? Should we put them next to the assembly room?"

Yun Zhen felt that was inappropriate. "Three tents in the middle are enough. Too many will block the light for everyone’s houses. Put the warehouse behind my tent so it’s convenient for me to store things, and place the new kitchen next to it."

"We will do exactly as the Goddess says," the village chief said with a nod.

Knowing that the woodwork business was now secure, the few men, who had arrived feeling apprehensive, returned with faces beaming with joy.

"What did the Goddess say?"

As soon as they stepped outside, they were surrounded by a large crowd of villagers. Everyone was deeply concerned about the village’s livelihood. This was the top priority—it dictated whether they could have mutton soup again, and more importantly, whether they could stay fed and warm.

Carpenter Zhao smiled as brightly as a blooming flower. "The Goddess said our woodwork completely sold out in the Immortal Realm!"

"Really?!" Carpenter Zhao’s wife grabbed her husband’s sleeve.

Hunters Wang chuckled. "Of course it’s true."

Someone couldn’t quite believe it and sought confirmation. "Chief! Is what they’re saying true?"

"It’s true," the village chief told everyone excitedly. "Our village has a new source of income now! Our days will only get more prosperous from here on out. Carpenter Zhao and Hunters Wang are our village’s great contributors.

"Of course, all of this was bestowed upon us by the Goddess. We must remain eternally grateful!"

"You don’t even need to say it, Chief! We will worship the Goddess for generations to come!" the villagers cried tears of joy.

Someone leaned in and asked, "Chief, Uncle Er Gou said the Goddess bought beef. Is that true?"

"I just saw Uncle Zhou and Uncle Tian carrying some kind of transparent bags earlier! They were packed to the brim. Was that beef? That’s unbelievable!" another exclaimed.

"The Goddess mentioned before that there are many stalls selling beef in the Immortal Realm. They skin and behead the cows, hanging them upside down on racks, and the government officials don’t care if people eat beef there. The Goddess even promised to let us have some, and now she’s already bought it so quickly!"

"Tonight’s mutton soup left such a lingering fragrance in my mouth; I’ll never forget that taste for the rest of my life. I wonder what beef soup tastes like. Life really is getting better and better!"

"I must have been a saint for ten past lifetimes to be reborn in Taoyuan Village! Even in a year of famine, I don’t have to worry about food or clothing, and I even get to eat the beef that only nobles and high officials can enjoy."

The village chief chuckled cheerfully as he told them, "Don’t get too worked up. Since you all want a taste of beef, tomorrow we’ll cut two large pieces and cook them with the cleaned offal to make a huge pot of beef offal soup. Just like tonight, we’ll let you eat until you’re stuffed before you go to sleep!"

"WOO-HOO!" Everyone jumped for joy.

The village chief then added sternly, "However, let me make one thing clear. Absolutely no one is allowed to speak of the village eating beef to outsiders! Whoever leaks this secret will be driven out, and they can forget about ever living a good life again!"

The crowd nodded profusely. They wouldn’t dare!

"Now, everyone go back and rest. It’s so noisy out here; it will definitely disturb the Goddess," the village chief added.

The villagers promptly shut their mouths and returned to their respective homes.

Just before Yun Zhen went to rest, Li Cuilan delivered the finished crocheted dolls to her. "Goddess, as per your request, each of us made one. There are sixty of them here."

Yun Zhen took a look and saw that they were even more exquisite than the previous ones. "Thank you for your hard work, Aunt Cui Lan. The crocheted dolls this time look much finer than before."

Li Cuilan said happily, "This is a major matter for the village. No one dared to be careless."

After she left, Yun Zhen also returned to her dorm room and had a wonderful night’s sleep.

The next day, she first went to the cafeteria to eat, then headed to class. At a store, she bought a hundred exquisite, palm-sized small plastic bags, spending five yuan. Afterward, she went to the Red Sun District to collect recyclables.

Today, the security guard on duty was the plump Liu Qiang. He greeted her and opened the side gate to let her pass. "Yun Zhen, hurry inside! A couple in the district is getting a divorce, and they’ve thrown out everything, useful or not. Go see if there’s anything you can use."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle Liu."

Yun Zhen was thrilled—she could scavenge for treasures again! When she arrived at the dumpsters, she indeed found a heap of things scattered haphazardly across the ground. It wasn’t neatly arranged for picking like last time. Perhaps the couple was in a bad mood, so whatever they threw out was just stuffed into the dumpsters. Whatever didn’t fit was simply tossed beside them in a chaotic mess.

Yun Zhen squatted down to search.

"Pots and pans? I’ll take them!" she murmured. "Wow! So many books! Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon? Treatise on Cold Damage? Essential Prescriptions from the Golden Cabinet? Detailed Analysis of Warm Diseases? Compendium of Materia Medica? Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold? Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica? Recipes for Fifty-Two Ailments? The Pulse Classic? Treatise on the Pathogenesis and Manifestations of All Diseases? Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion? Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library? Complete Collection of Medical Works Ancient and Modern? Orthodox Manual of Surgery? Comprehensive Prescriptions for Women? Direct Explanation of Pediatric Herbal Patterns?"

"They’re all medical books!" Yun Zhen was ecstatic. She flipped through them and saw that the characters were the same as the ones her father had taught her. She recognized every single word, even if she didn’t quite understand their meaning. But she knew these were medical texts!

Medical books!

Although books for the imperial examinations were precious, they were sold in bookstores and could be bought as long as one had money. Medical books, however, were mostly rare manuscripts. They were only kept in the hands of the wealthy and powerful. Let alone mountain dwellers like them, even the prominent families in the county town couldn’t possibly possess such medical texts. Describing them as priceless would not be an exaggeration.

Yun Zhen never expected to reap such a massive haul today. "If someone in the village could just learn the basics, they could treat the villagers’ illnesses. We do have a barefoot doctor in the village... I wonder if he’d be able to comprehend these medical books."

The books were thick and heavy; the thickest one was wider than her palm. She struggled to hold even one or two of them, let alone six large boxes full. Thus, she stored them all into the treasured land in her mind.

She rummaged a bit more and uncovered two quilts, which she also tucked away into the treasured land in her mind. Today’s greatest harvest was definitely the six large boxes of medical books.

She also found three large, colored charts. Drawn on them were two human figures, a man and a woman. One chart detailed the internal organs inside their bodies. Another was densely covered in red dots marking various acupoints. The last one labeled all the bones in the entire body. The people here were truly brilliant!

She also found a large box of clothes, containing both men’s and women’s apparel.

Getting a divorce? Yun Zhen suddenly recalled what Uncle Liu had told her. Did divorce mean an amicable separation? she wondered. Why would they throw away such precious medical books? They had even tossed out all their clothes.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yun Zhen spotted a green board with a few characters written on it, likely related to medical studies. Out of curiosity, she touched it, and the words surprisingly rubbed off. She then noticed a box of small cartons resting nearby. Upon opening them, she found them filled with long white sticks that left a coating of powder all over her hand. It was similar to the powder from the words she had wiped off the green board.

She picked up a stick and made a few strokes, which remarkably left marks on the green board. When she wiped the board, it became clean again, transferring all the white powder onto her hand.

It dawned on her. These sticks were probably a type of pen used for writing on the green board! Wasn’t this the perfect natural sign? She could write the goods she was selling on the board and wipe them off once they were sold out. Perfect!

She carried the board in her hand and tossed the box of powder-shedding pens into the treasured land in her mind.

After picking out the treasures, she gathered the rest of the recyclables. Once she sold the recyclables, she went off to work, and after finishing work, she headed to the entrance of Jiuzhou Mall to sell her goods.

Yun Zhen was so busy her feet barely touched the ground, but her heart was immensely satisfied.