Demon Lord 3

Chapter 1878: All Good Stuff

When we arrived in the countryside, we found it wasn't quite what we had imagined. Actually, everyone had a decent environment, and the families lived normal lives. There wasn't true poverty, and not many people wanted to go to the city. Perhaps they didn't even know what the city was like. They simply grew grain and sold it in the city; they even had to voluntarily hand it over, otherwise they wouldn't have enough to eat. They felt like city people were vengeful ghosts. But they lived far from the city dwellers, and even after handing over a lot of grain, some of them didn't feel hungry. The capable ones would grow more, keeping a lot for themselves. The longer we stayed, the more we realized it was different from what we had imagined, especially the crops they grew, which were very different from those in the city. I had just heard that, apart from the two [unclear], the products directly supplied to the city are generally from the surrounding areas. These rural products are truly self-sufficient here, with low yields, and are almost all purely natural and pollution-free. The products from the city's vicinity, on the other hand, are almost all grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. I felt that the people in the city eat better, and perhaps their health is better. But city dwellers are different; besides having more advanced technology, almost everything they eat contains pesticides and fertilizers. Any residue can cause irreversible damage to the body. Zhou Chuyuan picked up some fruits and vegetables and said they were all good stuff. After hearing this, I nodded in agreement; indeed, these things were very good. Then I inquired about the herbs. The villagers were very enthusiastic, saying that there were indeed herbs on the mountain, and curiously asked where we came from. I was embarrassed to say I came from the city, but I was also embarrassed to lie. They guessed we were dressed neatly and looked like city people. When they asked if we were from there, we nodded and said we had spent some time in the countryside before. We were too embarrassed to reveal our true identities, afraid the villagers would be angry and our efforts here would be in vain. But they didn't discriminate against us. They said we were just hardworking laborers, and they understood that we were in the same boat as them. Some villagers whose children were doing well in school even came over to ask if we had seen their children over there, and if they were doing well. They said they heard that you start by doing very hard work, but then you gradually enjoy a better life. After listening to what several people said, I nodded in agreement. Indeed, we had met most of the people who came to the city that year. After staying here for a few more days, we went to the mountains with the villagers. You can't go up the mountain anytime; you have to wait for a certain period. They also keep a mountain god. I asked curiously if there really was something here, and the villagers had unwavering faith in the gods. I felt embarrassed to say that whether there really were gods here was unknown, but I was certain that the villagers' dependence on and worship of the gods was something we couldn't shake. It wasn't something we could easily tell them to stop worshipping the gods. Everyone has a faith and a spiritual anchor; there's no need to be so explicit. Perhaps their so-called gods are watching them from above, but we just can't see them. Zhou Chuyuan asked me if I was curious about what the herbs looked like, and I asked him if he knew. He drew a diagram, and I asked him what it was. He said he had done some research before and had just made a rough sketch. He said he could keep any herbs with leaves similar to these. Seeing how knowledgeable he was about herbs, I was a little surprised and asked him who he learned from. He said, "Lin Zhenfei! I learned a little bit from him when he was working with herbs before, but I don't know if it's useful. Last time I saw those people's symptoms, I remembered what he said to me, so I memorized the appearance of some herbs. Herbs with leaves like these are probably good." I was also curious and asked how to distinguish these leaves. He said that while most leaves grow from front to back, this one grows from both sides, with very clear veins in the middle and intricate veins on both sides. The rootstock is particularly sturdy and cannot be easily broken. The root of this herb is generally unusable; only the leaves can be used. Many herbs can be used entirely from the root, as they don't have much nutritional value. Some herbs are generally found growing on the top. This type of herb is often referred to as a "competitive herb," ​​meaning it doesn't hide itself well but exposes its advantages to others. I searched for a long time but couldn't find any leaves like this.