Chapter 44: Who is this ugly monster?

Lan Jingtian took Lan Mo and Gu Yan’an to a noodle shop, where each ordered a bowl of noodles. After eating, he went to work.

Gu Yan’an went to find his friend who purchased medicinal herbs, while Lan Mo returned to the Western-style house, planning to try the human skin mask given to her by the “Peerless Little Divine Doctor.”

They had agreed to meet at four o’clock to inspect the medicinal herbs, so she had over two hours to go to the purchasing station and sell some grain. After all, she had already scouted the route.

Lan Mo closed the door and returned to the space. Following the steps, she first applied some medicinal liquid around the edges of the human skin mask, then slowly pressed it onto her face like a facial mask.

Damn, who is this ugly creature?

Originally, she had beautiful, large peach blossom eyes with slightly upturned corners, but now they had turned into narrow slits, as if the corners were smudged.

Her complexion was sallow, and what were those spots all about? Aside from her nose and lips, which were still somewhat presentable, everything else was bizarrely ugly.

Such features didn’t match her beautiful hair at all, so Lan Mo quickly chose a wig that looked malnourished and put it on.

Her hands looked too pale, so she put on a pair of work gloves. Once dressed, she was ready to go.

Lan Mo laughed at herself mockingly. Alright, ugly thing, let’s go! Time to sell some grain.

Lan Mo first took five bags of paddy rice from the space and loaded them onto the small tricycle. Any more, and she wouldn’t be able to pedal it.

It took Lan Mo a full twenty minutes of pedaling to reach a grain purchasing station.

During the autumn harvest season, there were quite a few people selling grain. Some pushed wheelbarrows, while fathers and sons pulled small carts. Some farmers even pooled resources to hire a tractor to transport their grain to the purchasing station. After all, selling grain here was legal.

Lan Mo waited another ten minutes before it was her turn to have her grain weighed. She had already weighed the grain in the space, and each bag was exactly one hundred catties.

She didn’t know what tool the worker was using, but he poked it into the bag and gently scooped out a handful of golden paddy rice.

He chewed on two grains and said, “Comrade, your grain is top quality, but unfortunately, it hasn’t been dried properly.”

Lan Mo was stunned. The grain had been harvested automatically by the system and hadn’t been sun-dried at all, but she had touched it and felt it was dry.

Lan Mo argued, “I did sun-dry it!”

“Your grain might need another one or two days of sun-drying. However, the quality is good. Others’ paddy rice sells for eight cents per catty, but we’ll give you ten cents per catty for yours, no more. If your family has more grain, bring it over when you have the chance.”

Five hundred catties of grain only earned fifty yuan, and the whole process took over an hour. With only three and a half days off per month, she didn’t have much time to sell grain.

Since she had already started, she wanted to earn at least one hundred yuan today to make it worthwhile. She decided to make another trip later.

“Comrade, please weigh my grain first. My brother has a few hundred catties of grain to sell, and I’ll bring it over for him later.”

“Alright, I’ll weigh it for you now!”

Lan Mo received five ten-yuan bills and sighed inwardly, “It seems selling grain isn’t an easy way to make money either!”

After putting away the money, Lan Mo found a secluded spot and secretly loaded another five hundred catties of grain onto the small tricycle. She then made another trip to the grain purchasing station, where she waited in line for about twenty minutes before it was her turn to have the grain weighed.

Though tired, the thought of the hundred yuan in her pocket made Lan Mo’s heart swell with joy. This was grain she had planted with her own hands—labor is the most glorious.

When Lan Mo returned to the Western-style house, Gu Yan’an had not yet come back. She guessed his friend who purchased medicinal herbs must have gone to raise funds.

Taking advantage of their absence, Lan Mo secretly took another thousand catties of paddy rice from her space and placed ten catties of fresh beef on the kitchen chopping board. This way, in a few days, she could eat the food she had grown herself.

Remembering this ugly face, Lan Mo quickly took out the solution to remove the human skin mask and carefully peeled it off.

These ancients really went to great lengths with such things. It would have been easier to just do a makeup transformation herself.

Since it was her first time, Lan Mo ended up making her entire face red and the edges near her hairline wrinkled. Recalling that the “Peerless Little Divine Doctor” had given her two bottles of Hundred Flowers Honey Dew Pills, she decided to try their effects.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to face anyone looking like this!

Lan Mo took out a small jade bottle and poured out two golden-yellow pills. As soon as she put them in her mouth, before she could even taste them properly, the pills melted instantly, leaving a faint, refreshing sweetness.

After waiting a few minutes, she looked in the mirror but saw no change. Might as well wash her face and put on a mask!

After another hour of effort, when her face was finally fair, tender, and dewy enough to pinch, she began harvesting apples from the few plots of land. Over the past couple of days, she hadn’t come across many good finds, only managing to “borrow” some worthless fruits and herbs from her friends.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

Hearing the knocking outside, Lan Mo knew Gu Yan’an had brought someone over. It was already 4:50—they were really late!

Opening the door and looking up, she saw it was indeed Gu Yan’an. Behind him were two men, one older and one younger.

The older comrade, around fifty, wearing black-rimmed glasses and carrying a briefcase, looked like a leader—probably the purchaser.

The other man appeared to be around Gu Yan’an’s age, though slightly shorter and fairer-skinned, likely an office worker.

“Momo, this is Manager Qian from the Hundred Herb Garden Pharmacy. This young comrade is my friend, surnamed Tan.”

“Hello, comrades! Please come in!”

The two men couldn’t take their eyes off the beautiful woman before them. This Comrade Gu had good taste—what luck!

They smiled and greeted Lan Mo warmly, “Hello! Hello!”

Gu Yan’an quickly ushered them inside and led them straight to the storeroom. “Tan Minghui, come with me to bring up the medicinal herbs.”

“Alright!”

The two went down to the cellar and carried up the herbs and cotton, bag by bag.

Manager Qian inspected each bag of herbs, carefully smelling their fragrance, then nodded and said, “These herbs are quite aged, of excellent quality, and well-preserved.”

“Yes, my relative’s ancestors were in the medicinal herb business.”

“Over thirty years ago, in Haishi, the Xu family was the largest in the medicinal herb trade. I wonder where they ended up moving to.”

Lan Mo knew he was talking about her grandfather but pretended otherwise. “Do you know them?”

“I don’t know them personally, I’ve only heard others talk about them. Young comrade, I’ll give you the highest price for these herbs. First, see if it’s suitable?”

“Comrade Qian, please go ahead!”

“This mugwort is good mugwort, but it’s been stored for too long, and most of the leaves are broken. How about 4.5 yuan per jin?”

Mugwort has the effects of warming the meridians to stop bleeding, dispelling cold and regulating menstruation, and calming the fetus. Externally, it can dispel dampness and relieve itching.

Therefore, in many places, there is a custom of inserting mugwort on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month to ward off evil spirits and repel mosquitoes. They also boil mugwort water for bathing to prevent diseases.

This aged mugwort is even more of a treasure and shouldn’t be sold too cheaply.

“Comrade Qian, this aged mugwort leaves are at least over twenty years old. Their medicinal efficacy is definitely better than fresh ones. Although the mugwort is a bit broken, it can be ground into mugwort powder or crushed to make moxa sticks.”

“Alright then, 5 yuan per jin. Fresh dried mugwort leaves are only 0.4 yuan per jin. The price I’m offering already exceeds its value.”

This stuff is light, and a sack of mugwort leaves only weighs a few dozen jin. This price is acceptable, so let’s sell it.

“Alright, this dried tangerine peel is at least fifty years old, so you should offer a bit more.”

Qian Lao raised his eyebrows and said, “Young comrade, you’re not being honest! I carefully smelled this dried tangerine peel, and it’s at most forty years old, probably around thirty-six or thirty-seven years. Don’t worry, I’ve been dealing with medicinal herbs since I was a child. I absolutely won’t deceive you.”

Earlier, when “having a mine at home meant no panic,” didn’t his father say this dried tangerine peel was fifty years old? Who is telling the truth? It seems that person was also half-baked!

“What about this aged tangerine peel?”

“This red tangerine peel doesn’t seem to be Huazhou aged tangerine peel either, but it’s about twenty-two years old. Aren’t you a doctor? How come you can’t distinguish between medicinal herbs?”

In her previous life, she also studied medicine. Yes, why couldn’t she tell the difference between red tangerine peel and aged tangerine peel? It seems she still needs to learn more from this old comrade.

Lan Mo said awkwardly, “Comrade, then you name a price!”

“Forty-year-old dried tangerine peel generally sells for 42–50 yuan per jin. Yours is only over thirty years old, so I’ll give you 38 yuan per jin. Twenty-year-old red tangerine peel, 12 yuan per jin. If it were aged tangerine peel, the price would be at least half as much again.”

Gu Yan’an walked over and said, “Qian Lao, the price can be raised a bit more. My wife also has several dozen twenty-year-old wild mountain ginseng roots.”

“Let’s take a look at those wild mountain ginseng roots first before discussing further. Wild mountain ginseng is hard to find, and you actually have several dozen?”

Regardless of whether Qian Lao believed him or not, Gu Yan’an directly opened the large rosewood box, took out a small box from inside, and quickly opened it. “Qian Lao, take a look!”

Old Comrade Qian looked at Lan Mo with a strange expression. Where did this young girl get so many precious medicinal herbs?