The Rogue Villager Chen Erbao

Bailong Village was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the sea on one.

Bailong Mountain, which bordered Bailong Village, was rich in natural resources, especially medicinal herbs. The most valuable among them was wild Gastrodia.

However, this plant usually grew deep within the mountains, making it extremely difficult to harvest.

In the past, Bailong Village had many Medicine Gatherers. They were exceptionally skilled, scaling mountains and crossing ridges as if walking on flat ground. But the village had suffered a major upheaval, and the art of medicine gathering was lost. Nowadays, there were no traces of Medicine Gatherers to be found.

But because of this, after a period of rest and recovery, there was bound to be even more wild Gastrodia in the mountains.

If Chen Erbao could just dig up that wild Gastrodia, would he still have to worry about money?

He immediately told Fang Yun his idea.

After hearing him out, Fang Yun refused on the spot. "No way!"

"Bailong Mountain stretches for hundreds of miles. The old forest is so deep that even experienced hunters don't dare enter. It's not that no one in the village has dreamed of striking it rich by digging up herbs, but forget about entering the old forest where the Gastrodia grows—very few people can even make it through the outer areas."

"Getting lost is one thing, but just running into the wild wolves in the mountains is more than you could handle."

"And right now is the wolves' breeding season. Going up the mountain now is just asking to be killed, isn't it?"

You might not find any wild Gastrodia, but you could easily lose your life.

"I won't allow it!"

Fang Yun's voice was firm as nails. "Even if you could talk a dragon into roaring, I wouldn't agree to you going up the mountain to dig for herbs."

Chen Erbao felt his face darken. He could just go secretly behind Fang Yun's back, but if she found out, she would inevitably be angry.

After thinking it over, Chen Erbao's eyes lit up.

"Sis, the only reason you don't want me to go is because you're worried I can't protect myself, right?"

"But did you forget? I just gave Chen Qing and his family a sound thrashing."

Fang Yun paused, then recalled what had happened earlier.

"Come to think of it, I remember you being so frail as a child. And even though Chen Qing's body has been ravaged by drinking and womanizing, he's still a frequent brawler. There's no way you should have been able to beat him."

Seeing Fang Yun take the bait, Chen Erbao immediately said, "Exactly! Sis, what you don't know is that I recently met an old immortal. He taught me a Fist Technique for strengthening my body."

"I'm really strong now. Even if there were eight or ten guys like Chen Qing, they wouldn't be my match."

"The wild wolves in the mountains are fierce, I'll give you that, but they usually hunt alone. They won't stand a chance against me. And if I bring a weapon, dealing with them will be a piece of cake."

"But…"

Fang Yun tried to say more, but Chen Erbao quickly used his silver tongue to wear her down with a flood of arguments, finally managing to convince her.

"Fine, but you have to promise me that if you run into any trouble, you'll run away immediately!"

"Money is important, but your life is more important."

"If something dangerous happened to you, I wouldn't be able to face your deceased parents."

Chen Erbao breathed a sigh of relief. "Sis, don't you worry."

...

Having convinced Fang Yun, and seeing that it was still early, Chen Erbao immediately grabbed a sickle and a burlap sack and headed straight for Bailong Mountain.

Bailong Village was only so big, and it was common for the village clinic to go two or three days without a patient. Even when people did come, it was usually just to buy medicine for a headache or a cold. It really wouldn't matter if he was gone for a little while.

If there was a real emergency, they would naturally call Chen Erbao.

So, he wasn't worried about missing anything.

Following the mountain path, Chen Erbao soon reached the outskirts of Bailong Mountain.

At first, he could still see a few villagers here and there, carrying hoes and sacks to gather mountain goods, but after a short while, they were gone.

The trees on both sides grew taller, and the sunlight could only just barely pierce through the canopy, leaving fragmented silhouettes on the ground.

This was the edge of Bailong Mountain's old forest.

Bailong Mountain could be roughly divided into three zones: the deep parts, the middle section, and the outer area.

The old forest before him, which stretched for several li, was what separated the outer area from the middle section.

The climate in this region was perfect for wild Gastrodia. Back when the wild Gastrodia was most abundant, experienced Medicine Gatherers could find a decent-looking specimen every few steps. Bailong Village even enjoyed a period of wealth because of it.

Chen Erbao himself had studied traditional Chinese medicine. Occasionally, when the village clinic ran out of herbs and he didn't have time to restock from town, he would go up the mountain to dig for them himself. Therefore, his experience was no less than that of those Medicine Gatherers.

Chen Erbao took a short rest at the edge of the old forest, getting himself into peak condition.

Entering the old forest meant he had passed the outer area. The danger level would multiply, and even with the Joyful Technique protecting him, he didn't dare to be reckless.

Once he was in peak condition, Chen Erbao stepped into the old forest.

He had only taken a few steps when he heard the howling of wolves. Relying on his keen hearing, he avoided their territory and soon spotted a patch of mushrooms growing amidst decaying leaves up ahead.

Chen Erbao's eyes lit up instantly.

Wild Gastrodia often has many companion plants growing nearby. These fungi, called Armillaria mellea, were one of them. 'Seeing these means the wild Gastrodia can't be far.'

Chen Erbao searched the vicinity carefully and, sure enough, found several stalks of wild Gastrodia.

His eyes immediately lit up.

According to current market prices, a kilogram of cultivated Gastrodia could sell for three to four hundred yuan. Top-grade cultivated Gastrodia could fetch up to eight hundred yuan per kilogram.

But wild Gastrodia was different.

Although its size and weight might be less than cultivated Gastrodia, its price was two to three times higher.

Even the crooked merchants from the town or county would have to offer at least seventeen or eighteen hundred yuan for truly pure, wild Gastrodia. And if he wasn't afraid of the hassle and sold it directly at a medicine shop in town or the county, he could get a price of twenty-three or twenty-four hundred yuan per kilogram.

Chen Erbao quickly dug up the Gastrodia. He weighed it in his hands and found that it was a good seven or eight kilograms in total.

"If I take this to the county, it could sell for at least twenty thousand yuan!"

You have to understand, Chen Erbao was already considered a high-earner in Bailong Village just by running his clinic, but he only made three to four thousand yuan a month at most. Now, in less than ten minutes, he had earned twenty thousand.

He was grinning from ear to ear.

Without a moment's hesitation, he hurriedly searched the area.

Rounding a patch of old trees ahead, Chen Erbao looked over and froze on the spot.

Ahead of him, a huge, dense patch of wild Gastrodia was growing.

Even based on the weight of the smaller stalks he held in his hand, he estimated he could dig up at least four or five hundred kilograms of wild Gastrodia!

"Even at two thousand yuan per kilogram, four or five hundred kilograms… that's almost a million yuan!"

"I'm rich! I'm really rich!"

Chen Erbao felt his mouth go dry.

Chen Jiaqi had only gotten eight hundred and eighty thousand for selling herself. If he threw himself into this with all his might, he figured it would only take an hour or two to gather all this wild Gastrodia.

And he had only taken a few steps into the old forest. If he went deeper, there was no telling how much more he might find.

"From now on, I'm going to be filthy rich."

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