This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 81 Catch the Mountain
After nearly an hour's drive, the bustling city center has transformed into a suburb with rolling hills and rivers.

As a less-visited location, Shuiche Mountain is so remote that even the road leading up the mountain isn't clearly marked on the map.

Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin got out of the car and, following the map, groped their way along a country road. From afar, they could see the small hill hidden in the folds of the countryside.

"Which way do we go up from...?"

"The way is in your mouth; just ask a local villager."

Chen Shi'an casually approached an old farmer carrying a hoe and asked, "Uncle, how do I get to the top of Shuiche Mountain?"

"You're going mushroom picking? There's not much to pick now. If you want to go up the mountain, go in from that side, past that crooked tree, and walk two miles along the pebble path by the stream. When you see that half-rotten old waterwheel in the valley, you'll be at the foot of the mountain."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle."

With the signs, finding your way is much easier.

When I was in school, my roommates and I would climb mountains that had been developed into tourist attractions. Climbing tourist attractions made things much more convenient, but it lacked the wildness of nature.

Li Wanyin, who grew up in the countryside, is now an older sister, but she still has the adventurous spirit she had in her childhood.

If it were anyone else but Chen Shi'an, she wouldn't dare to come to this desolate wilderness. But she's not afraid when she's with Chen Shi'an. She feels inexplicably safe when she's with him... That's not right! I'm the one who should be protecting him!

"Shi'an, over here!"

"..."

Seeing Li Wanyin suddenly quicken her pace and walk half a step ahead of him, as if she were leading the way, Chen Shi'an found it amusing.

With his level of skill, there was really nothing that could be considered dangerous. On the contrary, the more he was away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the more he felt like he was coming home.

The path up the mountain was gentler than I had imagined, with a small trail worn by pedestrians through the bushes on both sides.

Before long, the iconic old waterwheel came into view.

"There really is a waterwheel on Waterwheel Mountain..."

"Sister Wanyin, be careful, the stones by the stream are slippery."

"Yeah, you too."

The old waterwheel sits on this mountain stream, where the water is very clear. However, the waterwheel no longer turns, and many of its parts have begun to rot due to prolonged exposure to moisture.

Li Wanyin bent down and washed her hands in the stream. The cool touch brought a smile to her face.

"It's so cool~ The water here is so clean. There are still water stains here. I guess villagers come here to fetch water often?"

"Yes."

Chen Shi'an also bent down and washed his hands.

Fei Mo disdainfully jumped a little further upstream, lowered his head to drink water, and refused to drink their handwashing water.

"Let's go, let's walk upstream along the stream. There are more wild mushrooms in the humid areas."

"You seem quite experienced."

Li Wanyin smiled and followed Chen Shi'an.

There's no way you can find anything good in the shallow parts of the mountains; if there were, it would have been picked clean long ago.

As the two continued to walk deeper into the area, the paths trodden by their footsteps gradually disappeared, and they could no longer hear the noise of traffic outside, only the chirping of insects and the calls of birds.

"The air feels so good." Li Wanyin took a deep breath.

Having walked such a long way without finding anything to gather, she was almost ready to give up and treat it as just a sightseeing trip.

Chen Shi'an clearly had no intention of giving up. He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, turning his head to the left front.

"How about we walk over there?"

"it is good."

There was no road here, and Chen Shi'an picked up a stick from somewhere and used it as a sword. He used the stick to clear away the bushes and weeds in front of him. The thorny vegetation seemed to have an unstoppable force under his seemingly light stick, and he easily pushed it aside.

"Shi'an, are you being bitten by mosquitoes?"

"No, did Sister Wanyin get bitten by mosquitoes?"

"No! I didn't expect this mountain to be so clean, there aren't even any mosquitoes."

Li Wanyin was very surprised that there were no mosquitoes in such a dense jungle with a humid environment.

"Then Sister Wanyin, you'd better stick close to me. I can repel mosquitoes."

"Hahaha, you're like a human mosquito coil!"

After walking quite a distance, it became clear that few people visited this area, and various wild and natural environments came into view.

Li Wanyin took out her phone to check the map location. Although Shuiche Mountain was remote, it wasn't a big mountain, and the signal was still very strong. As long as there was a signal and she could see the approximate location on the map, she didn't have to worry about getting lost.

"Sister Wanyin, look what that is."

Chen Shi'an raised the wooden stick in his hand and pointed to a small ditch in front of him.

"...Wow, dog liver vegetables! So much of it!"

Li Wanyin was stunned. She recognized it as the dog liver vegetable that her mother often added when she cooked mung bean soup when she was a child. She definitely couldn't find it in the city anymore, but she didn't expect to see such a large area of ​​it here.

"Great, great! Then we can add some to the mung bean soup tonight."

Li Wanyin was very excited. She thought she might go home empty-handed, but she didn't expect to have such a small gain.

She bent down and picked some, took out a plastic bag from her bag and put it in. Chen Shi'an also cooperated by turning around and facing her with his basket. She tied the plastic bag and put the auspicious dog liver greens into the basket.

"This doesn't count as air force anymore~"

"It's only just begun, and Sister Wanyin is already satisfied?"

Chen Shi'an smiled and led her along a winding mountain path for a while.

"Let's go up here and take a look. This slope isn't too steep, but there's a lot of slippery moss. Be careful, Sister Wanyin."

"Small idea."

Li Wanyin rested for a while, supporting her waist with both hands. Looking at the small slope in front of her, she followed Chen Shi'an's example and found a stick to use as a hiking stick.

Seeing Chen Shi'an and Black Cat start walking uphill, Li Wanyin quickly followed.

With her extensive mountain climbing experience, she used a stick as a fulcrum for leverage, but she underestimated the slippery surface of the stone, which was greenish from the morning dew. At the steepest point, as soon as she exerted force with her knees, the soles of her shoes slid backward on the stone with a whoosh, and she lost her balance uncontrollably.

Just as her heart skipped a beat, a warm hand grasped her wrist, the force neither too light nor too heavy, but just enough to steadily stop her from losing her balance.

"Is Sister Wanyin alright?"

"No, it's okay..."

Li Wanyin's heart was still pounding, and for a moment she couldn't tell whether she was frightened or burned by the heat of his palm.

"I'll hold your hand, and you can just walk where I've walked."

"it is good……"

The moment their palms met, Li Wanyin could clearly feel the calluses on his hands, but she didn't find them rough at all. Instead, they gave her an incredibly solid and reassuring feeling.

The stone steps underfoot were still slippery, and with each step, Li Wanyin couldn't help but lean slightly towards him for support.

Chen Shi'an also took care of her, naturally slowing his pace to keep in sync with her.

Fortunately, the slippery slope was not long, and after walking a few steps, the slope gradually became gentler.

Chen Shi'an loosened his grip.

Li Wanyin calmly withdrew her hand from his palm.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves in the mountains, falling on her flushed face.

Li Wanyin felt her heartbeat like an echo hitting a mountain wall, thumping loudly.

He was fanning himself with one hand, his eyes darting around in his surroundings, and for a moment he was too embarrassed to look at him.

Uh...

How embarrassing!

She even said that as his older sister, she had a responsibility to protect him, but instead, he ended up taking care of her instead...

Fortunately, Chen Shi'an didn't laugh at her and walked a few steps in a certain direction on his own.

"Sister Wanyin, look what that is."

"...Elm mushroom!"

"Sister Wanyin knows."

"Of course I know! Pick them and make dumplings, they'll smell amazing! I'm rich, so many!"

On the trunk of a dead tree, clusters of elm yellow mushrooms grew, resembling flowers. Their plump, egg-yolk-like flesh looked tempting, as if waiting to be picked.

"These elm mushrooms are so beautiful! They're completely wild. There must be at least five or six pounds of them!"

With an excited heart and trembling hands, Li Wanyin hurriedly picked the best-growing elm mushrooms, put them in a bag, and then placed them in Chen Shi'an's basket.

"Looks like we're in luck today. Nobody found us. Shi'an, you're amazing. You even saw us hiding so well."

"There are also a lot of black fungus here."

"……Wow!"

Seeing the large, plump black fungus, Li Wanyin was dumbfounded. For a moment, she couldn't tell whether it was the good resources of Shuiche Mountain or their good luck.

Chen Shi'an is like a treasure hunt tool; he always manages to find something good along the way.

Originally, Li Wanyin said she was there to lead the way, but in the end, she became a helper following Chen Shi'an around picking up the scraps.

There are many kinds of wild mushrooms in the mountains, but not all of them are edible. Li Wanyin couldn't recognize many of them, but Chen Shi'an introduced her to the taste and cooking methods of each kind of mushroom as if they were his own.

Li Wanyin's main battlefield was sweeping up these wild mushrooms, while Chen Shi'an was also searching for some useful medicinal herbs while looking for wild mushrooms.

If we don't limit the types, there are actually many kinds of medicinal herbs. Different plants have different effects and uses. Chen Shi'an would pick some that he found useful for later use. Seeing Chen Shi'an bending down to pick some 'weeds', Li Wanyin also squatted down to take a look out of curiosity.

What are you picking?

"Haven't you seen Sister Wanyin before?"

"It seems to be quite common, but I don't know what it's called..."

"This is Hedyotis diffusa, which can clear heat and detoxify, promote blood circulation and diuresis. When taken internally, it can treat enteritis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis and other symptoms. When used externally, it can treat boils, carbuncles, bruises and sprains, and snake bites. It has many uses."

"Ah! I always thought they were weeds!"

"If you've ever kept dogs in the countryside, you've probably seen this before. When a dog is sick, it sometimes looks for grass to eat on the ridges, hillsides, and roadsides."

"You're very observant. I've seen dogs eat grass before, but I don't know what they eat..."

Li Wanyin was amazed. Who would have thought that a weed commonly seen in the countryside could have such a function? She then saw Chen Shi'an picking a few 'weeds' with obovate-lanceolate leaves.

"Then what is this?"

"This is a red snow lotus."

"I don't see any flowers..."

"It blooms in April and May, and the flowers are quite pretty, small rose-red flowers. Look, this is its fruit, a spherical capsule enclosed in the calyx. The whole plant is harvested for medicinal use and can be used to make a medicinal dish, stewed with chicken. It can promote blood circulation and treat coughs, irregular menstruation, and blood deficiency."

"...You know a lot."

Li Wanyin didn't know how Chen Shi'an recognized and distinguished these various 'weeds'. He was like a walking encyclopedia. As long as it was something that was common in the mountains, he could name it and even tell you its effects, regardless of whether it was useful or not.

"I thought medicinal herbs were hard to find in the mountains..."

“Rare herbs are definitely hard to find. But there are so many common herbs. As the saying goes, ‘Medicine is like roadside grass; as long as you can recognize it, you can find it.’ Many people see them but don’t know what they are. Sister Wanyin, do you know what this is?”

"do not know……"

"This is Solomon's Seal. You should have eaten it before, but you wouldn't recognize it when it's still growing in the ground. Once you dig up the rhizome, dry it, and slice it, you'll be able to recognize it."

"So this is what Solomon's Seal looks like!"

……

Chen Shi'an searched for a variety of Chinese herbs, but unfortunately, he couldn't find all the herbs needed for the beauty and health tea he had promised Xiao Zhi in Shuiche Mountain.

But there's nothing we can do about it; resources in the mountains are limited, otherwise my master wouldn't often have to borrow herbs from others on credit.

Chen Shi'an thought that after going down the mountain later, he would go to the nearby market or pharmacy to see if there were any good quality medicinal herbs, and then he would pick some to prepare for Wen Zhixia. Hmm... the class monitor would also prepare some stomach-soothing herbs for her.

Besides wild mushrooms, Chen Shi'an also found quite a few other odds and ends.

"Shi'an... what do you need this tree bark for? And these wild fruit pits... are they all Chinese medicine?"

"Making incense."

"fragrant?"

"Yes, things like tree bark, fruit pits, and herbs can all be used to make incense. When made into medicinal incense, it can have different effects."

"You can do this too!"

Li Wanyin was shocked. If he hadn't mentioned it, she would have thought it was all garbage.

Pine cones began to ripen in September. Seeing the large pine trees in front of him, Chen Shi'an took off the basket on his back and called over the black cat that was catching butterflies.

"What are you going to do..."

Seeing him roll up his sleeves, Li Wanyin followed his gaze to the towering pine forest.

"Pick some pine cones. Pine cones can be used to make incense, and the pine nuts inside are also good. They have the effects of dispelling wind and cold, replenishing deficiencies, moisturizing the skin, and nourishing the five internal organs. Sister Wanyin, have you ever tried pine nut candy? Pine nut candy is also very delicious."

Li Wanyin didn't quite understand what he said, but she understood his eager actions—

"You want to climb this tree to pick pine cones?!"

"Yes, we can't just cut down the trees."

That's what I meant!

It's dangerous!

"Maybe we should just forget it. This tree is so tall and doesn't look very sturdy. The pine cones are all stuck in the branches; it would be dangerous for you to pick them!"

"It's okay, Fei Mo will help pick the ones that we can't reach."

Before Li Wanyin could continue to persuade them, Chen Shi'an and the black cat climbed up the tree trunk. It was as if the two of them were racing, and in the blink of an eye, they had climbed to the top of the tree.

Li Wanyin's heart was in her throat!
Not daring to make a sound and disturb him, she could only look up at his movements, her arms instinctively outstretched as if to catch him at any moment.

"You...you be careful...!"

"Don't worry, Sister Wanyin, just move away a bit, or the leaves will fall into your eyes."

"How could I dare to leave!"

Pat pat pat——

One by one, ripe pine cones fell from the branches and leaves as the little Taoist priest and the cat toyed with them.

Li Wanyin didn't even have time to pick them up; she was still looking at the two of them with great concern.

Not content with picking the fruit from one tree, the man and cat climbed up to another.

Under Li Wanyin's anxious watch, the two troublesome guys finally landed safely.

After worrying for most of the day, the older sister finally stepped forward with a stern face to help Chen Shi'an brush the debris off his clothes, and said in a reproachful tone:
"That's too dangerous! What if he falls and gets hurt!"

"..."

The worry and concern in Li Wanyin's eyes were genuine, so Chen Shi'an honestly smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sister Wanyin, I know what I'm doing. I used to pick pine cones in the mountains all the time. If I didn't have that skill, I wouldn't dare to do anything reckless."

"..."

Hearing him say that, Li Wanyin finally felt relieved.

"Hurry up and help pick up the pine cones, we'll make pine nut candy for Sister Wanyin later."

"I haven't eaten it yet."

“Very delicious.”

"..."

The siblings looked at each other, and Li Wanyin's tense expression finally melted away, and she burst out laughing.

It feels like he's the one who's actually coaxing her, not the other way around!
There were many pine cones lying on the ground, and the two of them, like little squirrels, bent down and quickly picked them up...

……

The basket that I thought I would return empty was unknowingly filled up.

It was already one o'clock in the afternoon. Luckily, we had brought some dry food. The two of us and the cat sat on a big rock in the mountains, enjoying the cool breeze and sharing our picnic.

"Let's go, it's about time to head back. Let's stop by the nearby market and see what medicinal herbs we can buy."

"The basket is very heavy. Can you still carry it? Or I can help you carry it for a while."

"fine."

The heavy basket felt weightless in Chen Shi'an's hands; he carried it lightly onto his shoulder.

"Sister Wanyin, are you tired? Do you want to rest a little longer?"

"I'm not tired."

Li Wanyin felt it was amazing. Although the waterwheel mountain was not steep or high, she had been busy for most of the day and did not feel very tired. When going up and down the mountain, she felt as if she was going with the wind, which saved her a lot of energy.

After walking for so long, she had no idea where she was. Just as she was about to take out her phone map to check, Chen Shi'an was already leading the way.

"No need to look at the map, Sister Wanyin, just follow me."

"You have such a good sense of direction!"

"Fortunately, I've been used to the mountain environment since I was a child. If I didn't know the way, I would have gotten lost long ago."

After descending the mountain, the two went to a nearby market.

Chen Shi'an picked and chose at the medicinal herb stall, bringing almost every item to his nose to smell it or carefully examining its quality.

That's how they managed to gather the medicinal formulas for making beauty tea and stomach-soothing tea for Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu. They also bought some tea bags to wrap the herbs so they could easily brew them later.

Of course, Li Wanyin was not forgotten either.

Seeing her sister's complexion, Chen Shi'an decided to prepare some calming tea for her.

They were all common medicinal herbs, not particularly expensive, but buying them all still cost him over two hundred yuan.

Chen Shi'an had no concept of spending or making money; he only had one reason for spending money: he would spend it if he felt he should.

Li Wanyin had been by his side the whole time, so she naturally saw that he had spent a lot of money. She also knew that Chen Shi'an, like her, didn't actually have much money in his pocket, and he even had debts.

This made Li Wanyin a little embarrassed.

"Shi'an, you can just get one for your classmate. I was just joking last night. You don't actually need to buy mine..."

"I couldn't have done this hike without your help. Sister Wanyin was being so polite with me. If that's the case, I'll feel bad about drinking your sweet soup in the future."

"Don't, don't, don't..."

"So you're heading back without anything else?"

"Let's go back, I'll cook tonight!"

When the bus arrived at the station, Li Wanyin still swiped her bus card twice before anyone else.

(End of this chapter)