The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Oh right, she has a fiancé in the city. What does he do again? He's a pig butcher! Bao Ya's lips twitched at the thought. The mention of a butcher reminded her of the character Zhen Guanxi from "Water Margin," and she felt a chill run down her spine.

What did he look like? Apparently, that guy came to the village last year to help slaughter the New Year's pig, and he immediately took a liking to Lin Baoya in the crowd, demanding a dowry of three turns, a radio, and two hundred yuan. Hmm, seems pretty rich. It's a pity the original owner didn't seem to remember him well. Should she find a chance to go to the city to see him and cultivate a relationship with her fiancé? Ugh, I'm getting goosebumps.

No, I have to find a chance to go and see. If he really grows up to look like Zhen Guanxi, I need to find a way to break off the engagement as soon as possible.

As Bao Ya pondered this, she rummaged through the grass on the ground, and couldn't help but sigh again.

"well……"

"Bao Ya, going up the mountain to collect herbs again?"

"Huh? Oh, Auntie, where are you going?"

"I'm going to work in the fields by the mountain. There's plantain in that valley. Go check over there. Huani and the others came by yesterday."

"Okay, I'll go take a look over there."

After saying that, the woman picked up her hoe and hurried away.

Bao Ya resignedly got up, slung her basket over her shoulder, and walked in the direction the aunt had pointed out. At least she had some gains.

Who says rural people don't know herbs? They've been farming for so long, they definitely know more than most people do now. Online articles are all lies.

The brigade has always collected medicinal herbs to sell to the supply station, and better quality ones to the hospital, but selling anything to the hospital or supply station requires a letter of introduction from the village. The ban on private buying and selling is certainly not just a figure of speech.

There are some common medicinal herbs found on the mountain, such as plantain seed, bupleurum, angelica, salvia miltiorrhiza, and cassia seed.

Forget about rare medicinal herbs like ginseng and lingzhi; they don't grow there. Usually, the children gathering pig feed would just casually pick them and give them to Baoya. Baoya would dry these herbs and give them to the brigade's barefoot doctor or sell them to the supply station. The money had to be given to the brigade and distributed to everyone at the end of the year. Baoya earned 5 work points a day for drying herbs.

This work has always been Grandma Su's responsibility, but Bao Ya has reached marriageable age, and in order to make it sound better, starting last year, the work has been recorded under Bao Ya's name.

With the lure of an exorbitant dowry, plus the 5 work points Bao Ya had earned, the Lin family went to great lengths to get Bao Ya back. The dowry would remain after the marriage, and the 5 work points would also go to the Lin family for the year-end grain distribution—what a shrewd calculation!

The Lin family! We must deal with them first, otherwise, whether I marry someone else or find another way out, I will be controlled by them.

No, we can't wait for them to make a move; we have to take the initiative. Offense is the best form of defense.

This time, we have to thank the original owner for her fiery personality; no matter what she does, no one is surprised.

The next day, Bao Ya packed up the commonly used herbs in the village, preparing to give them to the village's barefoot doctor. She placed the wrapped herbs one by one into her basket and headed south of the village.

Is Uncle Mancang home?

Bao Ya called out from the courtyard gate.

"Yes, yes. Baoya's here, come in quickly."

"Auntie's busy!"

Uncle Mancang and Aunt Mancang were tying hay for the livestock. The main animals in the brigade were mules and donkeys, which were kept by the members of the commune. The animals were strong laborers, and when there was no work, the members could borrow them by simply asking the brigade. Raising livestock was troublesome work, and it was paid for with work points. Only meticulous people could do it. If a animal died or was not raised well, work points would be deducted. Their family only kept one donkey.

"Uncle, I've brought over the herbs I've been preparing lately. Could you please decide which ones to keep?"

Currently, the production capacity of Western medicine is insufficient and the price is high, so villagers are reluctant to spend money to go to the hospital. If they have a headache or fever, they will ask the brigade's barefoot doctor to prepare some herbal medicine and boil it themselves. The herbs picked from the mountain are first given to the barefoot doctor to choose from, and only the rest can be sold to the supply station.

"Okay, you go inside first, I'll be done in a minute."

"it is good."

Bao Ya carried the basket into the room that served as the clinic and placed it on the table.

Yu Mancang's family is small; the couple has only one son and one daughter. Their daughter is already married, and their son will be getting married soon.

When his family was building their house, they originally planned to build three rooms, but the brigade leader decided to build four rooms instead, leaving one room as a clinic. This location was close to the brigade headquarters, so they could find someone there day or night.

"Bao Ya, you brought quite a few herbs this time."

After washing his hands, Yu Mancang went into the clinic and began to count the herbs in his basket.

"Yes, there are some left over from last winter, but the purchasing station said they had too many and wouldn't take them for the time being."

"Oh, if you find any more honeysuckle, patchouli, or other cooling herbs, don't send them to the purchasing station. It's hot now, and we'll still need them."

"Okay, I'll keep them all once I find them."

As Bao Ya spoke, she looked around the room. It was very simply furnished. To the left of the entrance was a single bed, and to the right were two bamboo chairs with a small rectangular wooden table between them.

To the north of the single bed was a table, about the size of a modern writing desk, with a chair behind it. Behind the chair was a locked medicine cabinet, which probably contained Western medicine. Western medicine was scarce; each brigade was only allocated a small amount for backup, and often herbal remedies were used instead.

There is a row of Chinese medicine cabinets against the east wall, containing commonly used Chinese medicines. The names of the medicines on them are worn out, indicating that they have been used for many years. This is the cabinet that Bao Ya's maternal grandfather used.

Bao Ya's maternal grandfather was the village's barefoot doctor, and Uncle Mancang was his apprentice. After her grandfather passed away, Uncle Mancang took over the job of the barefoot doctor.

She saw the shelf on the medicine cabinet labeled "croton" and suddenly said:

"Uncle, do you have any croton seeds? Give me some."

"What do you need that for?"

Yu Mancang asked her casually without even looking up.

"It's not me who wants it, it's my uncle. He's been constipated lately and his hemorrhoids have flared up. Drinking sesame oil isn't helping. My grandma asked me to get some croton seeds while I'm at it."

Bao Ya lies without batting an eye, without the slightest hint of guilt. Everyone here eats vegetarian food every day, so constipation is common. If they can't poop, they go to the barefoot doctor for some croton oil—it's perfectly normal.

Yu Mancang thought about it and realized that the brigade leader had been in a bad mood lately, and it seemed that he had been holding back a lot.

"Okay, I just made it. I'll get you some later, and tell the captain to use it sparingly."

Constipation is nothing new; it affects not only humans but also livestock. Barefoot doctors would prepare croton seeds themselves to keep on hand.

After placing the herbs, Yu Mancang took a small piece of paper about the size of a palm, put some croton powder on it, and just then, someone outside called out to Yu Mancang.

"Uncle, go take a look, I can wrap them myself," Bao Ya quickly said.

"Okay, you can wrap it yourself."

With that, Yu Mancang walked out of the room. Bao Ya quickly grabbed two large sheets of herbal wrapping paper, grabbed a handful from the medicine cabinet, placed them on the paper, wrapped them up, and put them in her pocket. She then patted the powder off her hands and closed the drawer. She folded two more sheets of paper and put them in her pocket; it was inconvenient to take out the large package, so she took a few sheets to divide into smaller packets. Only after doing all this did she go to wrap the small medicine packets on the table.