Chapter 2713: Digging

After Manbao finished treating all the injured soldiers, she happily ran to find Bai Shan, “Let’s go dig up some plants!”

Bai Shan was busy, as the Emperor was recently handling the cities that had been captured. He was renaming some of them, selecting officials from the court to take over these cities, and he also needed to meet with some local clan elders to show the Emperor’s grace, then appoint them as local leaders or second-in-command.

After the Emperor decided on these matters, they needed to draft imperial edicts and official documents to convey them. Sometimes the Emperor couldn’t remember who was who, and they had to remind him.

Working as a secretarial officer for the Emperor wasn’t easy—anyone with a poor memory couldn’t stay around the Emperor. Otherwise, if they couldn’t answer the Emperor’s questions, they would be dismissed the next day.

Despite being so busy, Bai Shan thought for a moment and said, “Wait for me until late afternoon.”

“Forget it then,” Manbao said. “The days are short now, and after late afternoon, it will be completely dark in just a couple of hours. How about you let me take Daji?”

Bai Shan replied, “…You’re just looking for an excuse to take Daji, aren’t you?”

Manbao giggled, “I don’t want to take anyone else.”

Bai Shan sighed and said, “Alright, you can go, but take both of the family guards with you. Many defeated soldiers are retreating now, and the forest might not be safe. It’s not good if deserters are hiding inside.”

Manbao nodded in agreement and went to find Daji.

So after lunch, they shouldered their medicine baskets and headed into the mountains.

Knowing the place was far, Manbao rode a horse there.

At first, they could still ride the horse, but once they entered the deep forest, it was full of branches, making it difficult to ride. So they had to dismount and tether the horse.

Keke guided her to find the plants, and soon, they heard a ding sound. Manbao followed Daji closely, holding a medicine hoe, and said to Keke, “Don’t scan too far. If we go too deep, it will not only be dangerous, but we might not be able to get out.”

Keke ignored her and continued scanning. As for whether to dig or not, that was Manbao’s decision.

Manbao couldn’t argue and could only follow Keke’s guidance. Finally, she found the plant it specified, so she started digging it up.

Looking at it, Manbao didn’t think it was a medicinal herb, but she decided to collect it anyway.

On the way, there were also huge trees she hadn’t seen before. Manbao circled around one and finally used the excuse that the branches seemed to have a calming effect, asking Daji to climb up and break off a branch for her.

Actually, if Daji hadn’t stopped her, she could have climbed up herself.

The two guards clearly weren’t used to Zhou Man’s antics of going out to dig up things and couldn’t quite understand their master’s wife’s behavior.

But Daji kept a straight face as if it was perfectly normal, took off his shoes, climbed the tree, and used a knife to cut down a branch for her.

Manbao collected it carefully. Knowing that resources were hard to come by, she decided to divide it into several pieces once back home, not just for the encyclopedia collection but also to post on the forum.

Continuing forward, Manbao saw a patch of ginseng in a spot with thick decaying leaves.

It was indeed a whole patch.

It was her first time seeing such a thing; previously, she had only seen dried ginseng and never fresh ones.

Manbao ran over, squatted down, and began looking at the ginseng with shining eyes, asking Keke, “Are they big?”

“There are two big ones, and the rest are quite small.”

Manbao had heard from Shopkeeper Zheng that ginseng is hard to dig up, especially if one wants to keep it intact; it’s easy to break the roots if not careful.

Not to mention that this kind of Goryeo ginseng grows only in the Liaodong region and is different from those in the Central Plains.

Manbao put down her medicine basket, took her medicine hoe, and solemnly said to Daji, “We have to be careful when digging this up. Actually, better let me do it.”

She was worried they might damage it, considering it’s worth a lot of money.

So Manbao started digging with great effort. As it was her first time, she practiced on a smaller ginseng on the side, but despite being very careful, she inadvertently broke several roots.

Reflecting on her experience, Manbao began digging the second one and finally didn’t damage it.

The three of them were amazed when Zhou Man dug up the first ginseng. It was incredible that they found such a treasure, or rather, that their mistress had found it.

The two guards couldn’t help but swallow hard.

Daji was also surprised, but soon regained his composure. Seeing her struggling to dig, he took a hoe and offered, “How about I dig from the side for you?”

This way, it would be quicker, and with a larger area being dug, it would be easier to get the ginseng out.

Manbao agreed.

She managed to dig up five ginsengs, all picked by Keke for being reasonably good ones. The remaining ones were too small, so she left them.

After pushing the soil back in and filling the holes, Manbao dusted her hands off and happily looked at the five ginsengs lined up on the ground. Among them, two were particularly large with a thick head and plump body, branching out in four small segments, almost resembling human limbs.

Daji took out a dirty piece of cloth from a shoulder bag. This was originally intended to wrap medicinal roots, as he knew Manbao would sometimes bring roots back for planting and even dig some soil to take home.

“Mistress, use this to wrap them.”

“Alright.”

Manbao carefully placed the ginsengs onto the cloth, wrapped them up, and placed them at the bottom of her basket. She told the three of them, “You know about this, I know about it, but don’t tell anyone else, okay?”

The first guard asked dumbfoundedly, “What if the young master asks about it?”

Manbao was speechless.

The second guard slapped the first one and said, “The mistress will tell the young master.”

Only then did the first guard remember and lowered his head, embarrassed.

Manbao asked Keke, “Is there anything else nearby that hasn’t been recorded?”

“No, the nearest thing is on the other side of the mountain, which would take about two hours to reach from here.”

So that was it. By now, it was almost dark.

Manbao felt the basket and asked it, “You haven’t recorded the ginseng yet, right? So before you do, can you scan for fresh ginseng within the range?”

Keke seemed to understand what she intended and, after a moment of silence, answered, “Yes.”

Manbao instantly beamed with joy, her smile so bright that even Daji couldn’t help but grin, “Mistress is this happy?”

Manbao nodded, “Very happy.”

“Don’t get too carried away,” Keke said, “If you don’t record it soon enough and it loses viability, it won’t be possible to record anymore, and you might not have time to record the next one.”

It made sense. Manbao hesitated for a moment before saying to it, “I’ll think about it when I get back.”

Manbao happily returned to camp with her basket. By the time they got back, it was almost completely dark. Bai Shan was waiting at the camp entrance and, seeing them return before nightfall, heaved a sigh of relief and approached them quickly, saying, “I saved some food for you. You need to go out earlier next time; it’s dangerous at night.”