Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1267: Chapter 1269: It’s Better to Teach Someone to Fish Than to Give Them a Fish_1

”Yes, Village Chief, hurry up and bring the herbal medicines for Doctor Bai to see, and she’ll pay you on the spot!” Shanzi called out again.

Only then did everyone’s attention shift from the handsome couple and their tall horses to the promise of silver, with many asking if it was true and then quite a few dashed away in a puff of smoke to fetch their herbal medicines.

Of course, many people stayed behind, including the elderly, women, and children of the families, since one person from each household was enough to go get the herbal medicine.

Bai Ruozhu and Jiang Yichun dismounted and paid their respects to the Village Chief, exchanging a few pleasantries, and soon people began bringing over their herbal medicines.

Bai Ruozhu had the people line up, and then she checked each one’s medicines, handing out silver in return. Jiang Yichun didn’t want her to overexert herself, but Jianqi and the others didn’t understand herbal medicine, so he took the initiative to help Bai Ruozhu collect it.

He called for the villagers to form another line, but his face was always stern, so the timid ones didn’t dare join his line. Instead, the queue in front of Bai Ruozhu remained long. He realized this and forced a slight smile, trying to make his tone as gentle as possible as he said, ”Everyone, you can come to my side as well, it’ll be faster so you can take your money home for dinner sooner.”

Bai Ruozhu almost laughed out loud when she saw his effort. He really was having a hard time.

”You’re doing a good job as a member, I’ll promote you when we get back,” Bai Ruozhu said with a teasing smile.

Jiang Yichun gave her an amused look and said, ”Forget about the promotion, I want a reward.”

Seeing the sparkle in his eyes, she immediately realized what ”reward” meant, and, thinking about him saying such a thing in front of so many people, she couldn’t help but feel her face burning. Fortunately, the sky had darkened, and lanterns were lit on either side, shining a dim yellow light that made it hard to make out the color of her face.

Thankfully, the village didn’t have a large population, so they soon collected all the herbal medicines, with the villagers taking home two or three times more money than usual, all grinning from ear to ear.

”Doctor Bai, you are such a good person! Come to my house for dinner tonight, I will cook a chicken for you!” an enthusiastic old lady said.

”Come to my place, I just caught a wild rabbit today, and I’ve asked my wife to stew it, you’ll love it!” a man in his thirties said.

”Come to my house, come to my house, we have lots of people and it’s lively,” another elder shouted.

”...”

Faced with the villagers’ warm invitations, Bai Ruozhu felt a warm feeling in her heart. The people here were simple and kind-hearted. If you treated them sincerely, they would think of ways to repay you. Her actions were not only for securing a steady supply of medicinal materials for the Medical Alliance in the Northwestern Region but also to help these villagers. That was why she insisted on making the trip despite being busy and tired.

In the end, it was the Village Chief who spoke up, ”Stop arguing, everyone. The guests are worn out. Tonight, they’ll come to my house. I will host them for dinner on behalf of everyone, and they will also stay at my house for the night.”

This time, there were no objections. The Village Chief was highly respected in the village and indeed could represent everyone.

Finally, the Village Chief told everyone to disperse and took Bai Ruozhu and the others back home, but he also invited Xiaoliu and Shanzi, who had contributed to the day’s success.

Xiaoliu and Shanzi had already received praise more than once from everyone, and their faces were glowing red. They felt that running to the city to sell the medicines at the beginning was the right decision; otherwise, they wouldn’t have met Bai Ruozhu.

The Village Chief’s House had many offspring, and hence many rooms, but it wasn’t much better than the other villagers’ homes—just that it could spare a few more rooms.

Bai Ruozhu worried the village chief’s family wouldn’t rest well, so she only took two rooms, sharing one with Jiang Yichun, while Jianqi and the others squeezed into the other.

The village chief quickly cleared out the rooms, and the big table was set up in the main house. Soon, dishes were served one after another.

At that moment, a voice called from outside, ”Village Chief, I’ve brought some rabbit meat for Doctor Bai.”

”These are egg pancakes from my stall; let Doctor Bai and the others have a taste.”

”I just caught these fish; Village Chief, cook them for Doctor Bai and the others.”

Before long, quite a few people had gathered at the entrance of the village chief’s house, offering their gifts. Even if they couldn’t invite Bai Ruozhu for a meal, they wanted to give whatever they could.

Bai Ruozhu walked out into the yard to thank everyone, saying with a smile, ”Everyone, don’t be so formal with me. We can’t eat that much. If you have good things, let the children eat them so they can grow well.”

The villagers handed over their gifts with a grin and left, not daring to delay Bai Ruozhu and the others’ mealtime.

The village chief’s house also added more dishes, and with the items provided by the villagers, the table was laden with food. Even though it was all home-cooked, Bai Ruozhu found it exceptionally delicious. The dishes were imbued with heartfelt warmth, making even the most ordinary green veggies taste sweet.

After the meal, Bai Ruozhu spoke at length with the village chief.

”Village Chief Wang, since you can represent all the villagers, I hope to sign a contract with the village. On one hand, it stipulates that the herbal medicine you collect will be supplied to me. On the other hand, we agree on a fair price; I won’t arbitrarily lower the price to your disadvantage.” Since it was a long-term collaboration, it was best to clarify the terms of the contract.

The village chief hurriedly replied, ”We trust Doctor Bai’s character.”

”One thing at a time. With a contract in place, I can entrust this matter to my subordinates without worrying that they might bully you behind my back. As for the price, should the market rates increase, I will also raise the rates accordingly, so you don’t end up at a loss,” Bai Ruozhu assured.

The village chief nodded and said, ”Alright, we’ll follow Doctor Bai’s instructions.”

”There’s another thing; I noticed that many of the herbal medicines provided by the villagers are not dried properly, affecting their medicinal potency. It’s really a pity,” Bai Ruozhu continued.

The village chief tensed, ”I, I’ll talk to them later, tell them to be more careful.”

”Village Chief, you’ve misunderstood me. I’ve observed that there seems to be no one in the village who knows how to properly process medicinal materials,” Bai Ruozhu quickly interjected.

”Yes, we only know how to collect herbs; there isn’t even a real doctor in our village,” the village chief sighed.

”I’ll send someone later to teach the villagers how to properly process the medicinal materials. Each household can send someone to learn, or we can teach a few people first, who can then teach others. When buying the herbs, those that are well-processed will fetch a higher price.” Bai Ruozhu had already thought this through; she wanted to help the people of West Mountain Village, but such assistance should not be based solely on sympathy. Giving someone a fish is not as good as teaching them to fish. Well-processed herbal medicine is more valuable than those hastily dried, allowing doctors to get better use out of them, and the people of West Mountain Village would gain a new skill.

The village chief’s hands began to tremble with excitement, ”Th-this is really too kind of Doctor Bai.” He got up to kowtow to Bai Ruozhu, who quickly grabbed him, saying, ”An elder kowtowing to me is like cutting my life short. I dislike seeing people bow or kowtow; please don’t make things difficult for me, Village Chief.”

Hearing this, the village chief no longer persisted and instead continually bowed to Bai Ruozhu, ”On behalf of all the villagers, I thank Doctor Bai for your great kindness and mercy!”