Her Cultivation Diary

```

The spring rain intensified throughout the night.

Droplets pattered unceasingly in the quiet depth of the night, quickly moistening the soil, as the chilly water vapor spread wisps of white mist over mountains, ponds, and fields, deepening the green hues and making the tender leaves unfurl even more…

By dawn, the rain had stopped, but the skies remained gloomy.

Song Sancheng brought in some firewood from outside and stoked the stove to make it blaze even hotter, while clapping his hands, "What are we eating this morning?"

After being busy for several days, Wu Lan had finally found some leisure last night and today. She had rested well recently, everything about the air felt crisp and refreshing, and her mood was exceedingly pleasant.

"Let's have dumplings, those shepherd's purse from last night were so fresh."

The vibrant shepherd's purse, finely chopped and mixed with the granular minced meat, encased in soft dough wrappers, then dipped in a vinegar sauce…

Fresh.

So fresh that one's tongue could almost swallow itself.

Song Sancheng single-handedly devoured two big bowls.

Qiaoqiao did even better, polishing off nearly three small bowls, then slurped up half a bowl of dumpling soup: "Mom, it's so delicious!"

"Eating your old man out of house and home" wasn't just an empty saying; Wu Lan had made the dumplings last night thinking they wouldn't finish them and planned to freeze the leftovers for breakfast. But she hadn't anticipated everyone's appetite increasing so much recently that they gobbled up everything in one go.

Except for Song Tan.

Freshness was there, but so were the impurities. Eating one bowl felt to Song Tan like eating a bowl of perfumed rice mixed with sand.

With every meal, she vowed to grow her own food.

Wu Lan looked at her still slender figure, puzzled: "Have you ruined your stomach with all that work outside? You've been working hard every day, how come your appetite is still so small?"

In her heart, Song Tan thought: It wasn't that her stomach had gone bad, she had simply become fastidious.

But if she got picky about eating wild vegetables, her mother would probably roll her eyes and scold her, "You've just been spoiled by too much good food."

So, she changed the subject: "Were yesterday's wild vegetables tasty? After this rain, they must be even more delicious!"

Wild vegetables tasty?

How could they not be!

The vibrant green and red-stemmed Indian aster was blanched and chopped, then minced with some meat.

Next, crack a duck egg and beat it, add some cooking wine, salt, and MSG, and fry it into strands with a strainer in the pan.

Afterwards, sauté some chopped green onions and shredded ginger, then pour in the minced meat, Indian aster, and duck egg...

Crunchy, crispy, and refreshing – how could it not be appetizing?

The leftover water spinach was blanched, seasoned with salt and MSG, and mixed well.

Then Sichuan pepper was slowly fried in oil to bring out its fragrance, and combined with sauce, ginger garlic juice, sugar, MSG, Sichuan pepper oil, crushed chili, and chopped green onion—all added to the blanched tender segments of the water spinach...

Slurp!

Crisp, tender, spicy, and savory.

Accompanied by wild green onion and crucian carp soup and fried eggs, the family of four devoured the basket of wild vegetables from the day before completely.

Then, bloated, they chopped up the shepherd's purse for dumplings.

Thinking about it now made them crave even more.

Yesterday's wild vegetables were so tasty; with the boost from Spiritual Energy, today's should be even more delicious, right?

Thinking about her very first business venture, Song Tan asked, "Mom, how much do you think I should sell them for per pound tomorrow morning?"

Even though it was early March and the insects had just begun to stir, in reality, the spring greens hadn't yet sprung up. It was a time when the old crops were dying and the new ones hadn't yet appeared.

Lettuce tasted bitter, bok choy was already old, heart cabbage was no longer sweet; a trip to the supermarket meant that even a simple greenhouse vegetable starts at ten to eight yuan per pound.

Wu Lan adeptly managed the household but had zero experience selling wild vegetables. Thinking it over, she suggested, "How about you sell them all for ten yuan per pound?"

```

There's not much reason to it, just to make the accounting easier.

This price is indeed not expensive for today's green vegetable market, but after all, it is wild vegetables. Wu Lan knew that everyone in the city loved to eat them, but her childhood experiences still made her subconsciously undervalue them.

So she mentioned the ten yuan with particularly little confidence.

Song Tan thought about it and felt that ten yuan was actually fine.

Wild vegetables don't yield much after cooking. You might have a large handful, but once boiled, they shrink to a small clump. She believed that the quality nurtured by Spiritual Energy was definitely good, but since it was their first business deal, they had to let everyone taste it before they could talk about future dealings.

"Alright then, ten yuan it is!"

Song Sancheng discussed, "This year's shepherd's purse is really good. Why not make some more dumplings to freeze? Otherwise, in a couple of days when we start the mushroom spores, we'll be too busy and end up eating hastily."

In a few days, once the preparations were made, it was time to start with the mushroom spores. Song Sancheng consulted with Song Tan, saying there was no need to rush this task and it would be better to hire some elderly men and women to do it.

"They are older now, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're slow. Even if they are slow, Tantan, you mustn't fuss over it... Our village is down to so few households. When they grow old, they just sit there all day, staring into space or dozing off. It's a sad sight."

"We might as well ask them to come over. We don't talk about money—it's just taking their time. After the work is done, we can buy some meat to help them take home. If they need anything, we lend a hand. Your grandparents can help keep an eye on things while we're busy... What do you think?"

Sure.

Why not?

Song Tan agreed without hesitation.

Firstly, the mushrooms and wood ear fungus were not in a rush to sprout just yet... Her outer fence was not even set up!

Secondly, everyone was from the village. Who else would they hire if not them? Her grandparents had been growing increasingly despondent over the past few years, and having something to do was certainly better than sitting idle.

But...

Song Tan looked at her family's yard, complete with a motorcycle and flower beds: "Our yard is a bit small, isn't it?"

Starting the mushroom spores required pressing the spores into pre-drilled small holes in the chestnut tree trunks. The logs were somewhat long and heavy. The yard could accommodate them, but it was inconvenient to pass by.

Song Sancheng thought for a moment: "I'll go and talk to your grandpa later. We'll put them in his yard, which is more spacious. Your grandma can take care of the cooking, your mom can help... There are only about eight or nine elderly people in the village. They don't eat much, we can just bring over rice, flour, and vegetables from our place."

The family of four straightened out the details (with Qiaoqiao providing the humming soundtrack) and felt everything was arranged. Seeing that it was almost nine o'clock, Song Tan quickly called out to Qiaoqiao:

"Let's go! Bring a large basket to dig up shepherd's purse!"

And to check on how many wild vegetables the Spiritual Energy had stimulated overnight.

Climbing up the familiar hillside once again, Qiaoqiao was astounded.

His mouth fell open: "(⊙o⊙) Wow!"

"Sis, it's so green!"

Isn't it just very green?

Wild chives grew in bunches, as thick as layers of hair, covering the entire edge of the mountain forest slope.

The Indian kalimeris that could barely fill a plate yesterday were now vying to poke out their green heads, with green and red stems crowded together as though afraid people couldn't grab a whole plateful.

The shepherd's purse... well, there wasn't any need to say more about it. It grew densely in the crevices, their leaves so tender they seemed to weep with moisture.

Even before harvesting them, one could smell the strong fragrance of the fresh greenery.

The contrast and difference between the newly sprouted green buds of the neighboring woods were strikingly visible.

Song Tan had actually been mentally prepared and very confident. But at that moment, she still felt somewhat dazed and only managed to dig up a basket of fresh shepherd's purse with Qiaoqiao's help.

On their way back, they also made a detour to check the pond.

Very good.

The watercress and purslane had spread dense patches, growing wildly as if on steroids, covering the ground and water surface around the pond!

She suppressed the joy inside her—

These vegetables were now giving too much credit to the Spiritual Energy!