Chapter 58: Little Path Gossip
Ning Xiyue enthusiastically clicked on the learning link for making mosquito bite ointment.
She was transported to the familiar host training classroom, where she saw a familiar big turtle — only this time, it was wearing a blue hat and had green patterns painted on its shell.
“Hello, students. I am your instructor for today’s herbal preparation class — Teacher Mi Yang.”
Ning Xiyue picked up the tools and herbs on the table and followed the teacher’s step-by-step instructions, learning about various medicinal plants as she worked.
Teacher Mi Yang Turtle’s explanations were always easy to understand. Even the most obscure concepts became clear after his lessons, allowing Ning Xiyue to quickly learn and remember the material.
A small jar of ointment, about the size of a five-cent coin and roughly 3ml, gradually took shape in her hands. It was a bit runny — she hadn’t quite mastered the consistency.
After finishing, Ning Xiyue scooped some up and applied it to the mosquito bites on her arm.
The cool sensation felt wonderful, and the itching stopped — though she wasn’t sure how effective it would ultimately be.
Using herself as a test subject helped her feel the results more clearly. Ning Xiyue took out her herbal medicine notebook and wrote her first observation record:
[Entry 1: Hanxin Grass – Mosquito Bite Ointment]
Initial application: cool and soothing
1 minute: itching stops
10 minutes: redness and swelling ease
25 minutes: swelling gone, leaving only a small red dot
As she continued observing, she realized the ointment she’d made under the teacher’s guidance was far more effective than any medicine she had ever bought in a modern pharmacy.
It was truly an essential item for home and travel.
This class was an enormous success.
Using the remaining herbs on the table, Ning Xiyue made another jar. This time, the ointment had the perfect texture and worked even better. She almost felt reluctant to leave such a good product in the classroom as a display sample.
The main issue was that the herbal medicine course didn’t have a simulation room with practice exercises like the other subjects, so she couldn’t just “exploit” the free materials to make more medicine and take it out.
Ding! [Products made in the herbal medicine classroom — the host may take one sample upon leaving. Note: If the host wishes to take more, they may exchange herbs for additional portions. One 3ml jar of ointment can be exchanged for four Hanxin grass plants.]
“Exchange them — use four of the ones I planted in my space,” Ning Xiyue said. For a moment, she suspected the system had its eyes on those four herbs — it was a little too coincidental that four plants equaled one jar.
Still, she was happy to make the trade. Hanxin grass was abundant in the mountains. If she were to make the ointment outside, she’d need not only the herbs but other materials she didn’t have. Overall, she was still coming out ahead.
Ding! [Exchange successful. The host may take the items upon leaving.]
The biggest difference between the herbal medicine class and the weaving class was right here.
Ning Xiyue held the two small jars of ointment she had made and murmured to herself:
“I’ll keep the runnier one for myself. The other one I’ll give to Second Brother when I have time. He always gets bitten by mosquitoes… I wonder how he’s been doing in the countryside this past year. I should dig up more herbs from the mountain and plant them, so I can exchange for more later. Maybe I’ll try collecting other herbs too and see if I can unlock them.”
“Oh, right — System, what are the conditions to unlock new herbs?” This time, she had unlocked one by chance and wasn’t sure exactly what triggered it, though she had a guess it was related to Li Xiuxiu.
Ding! [After leaving the classroom, you can check the unlock conditions by clicking the small button in the bottom-right corner of the Han Xin Grass image in the Herbal Medicine Compendium.]
Ning Xiyue stored the two small jars and exited the learning space, returning to the weaving simulation classroom. There, she looked at the Hanxin Grass page in the compendium and noticed a small button at the bottom right corner.
When she clicked it, a list appeared:
[Unlock Conditions]
1. Study the material on this page ✔️
2. Plant two herbs ✔️
3. Treat one patient ✔️
Seeing this, Ning Xiyue flipped through every page she had studied. Each herbal entry now had a small “view” button, and the unlock conditions for each were similar, with only minor variations.
Now she had a clear plan — she could prioritize learning the herbs she needed most and unlocking them first, while leaving the less important ones for later.
With the weaving simulation room available, she had plenty of time to study.
She had to admit — this loophole was wonderful. She could sneak all kinds of side projects into the system and save tons of time.
Ning Xiyue even made a nightly study schedule before leaving the simulation room.
From now on, she wouldn’t need to rush around. Every night, she could just follow the plan — study according to the schedule, then move on to other tasks or go to sleep.
After planting the cherry tree, Ning Xiyue finally left the space.
The second day of work wasn’t much different from the first — except now, thanks to yesterday’s incident, the gossip had exploded.
Whenever there was a break, Ning Xiyue would squeeze into the group of aunties from the day before to listen. They now completely treated her as one of their own — pulling her in to chat. If she wasn’t around, they would even call out for her and wait until she arrived before starting.
For example, as soon as Ning Xiyue joined them this time, Aunt Liu — who lived near Wu Xiuli and Li Jiandang — launched into some explosive gossip.
“Let me tell you something big. Yesterday, when Wu Xiuli went home, Wu Laogen locked her inside and wouldn’t let her go out. Guess what happened next?”
Aunt Zhang was impatient. “We don’t know — hurry up and tell us, stop keeping us in suspense.”
Ning Xiyue shook her head blankly, her face showing eager anticipation, eyes sparkling as she stared at Aunt Liu.
It was basic etiquette as a gossip audience member — cooperate and feed the storyteller’s enthusiasm.
Aunt Liu, enjoying the attention, grinned and lowered her voice.
“This morning, I saw Li Cuihua bringing Matchmaker Wang into the house. They were in there for quite a while before Wang came out, grinning from ear to ear. When she was at the door, she even said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll find someone far away,’ before leaving. I reckon Li Cuihua wants to find a match for Wu Xiuli — and she wants her married off far away to avoid more trouble.”
Aunt Zhao curled her lip, unconvinced. “I think that’s Wu Laogen’s idea. Yesterday’s words from the captain probably scared him. After all, this isn’t Wu Xiuli’s first time causing trouble. If she doesn’t get married far away, she’ll probably stir things up again.”
Ning Xiyue nodded in agreement. From what she’d seen yesterday, it was clear Wu Laogen was the real head of the household — everyone in the family was afraid of him. A big decision like this could only have been his.
“If she really does get married, I bet Wu Laogen will lock her up until the wedding day. Otherwise, with how noisy and troublesome Wu Xiuli is, we’ll have plenty more drama to watch,” Aunt Qian said with a smirk, clearly looking forward to the show.
Mm, Aunt Qian had a point.
After each of the aunties had shared their opinions, Aunt Liu turned to Ning Xiyue, who had been silently nodding along. “Xiyue, what do you think?”
Four pairs of eyes turned toward her, waiting for her answer.
The question instantly reminded Ning Xiyue of the classic line: “Yuanfang, what do you think?”
Suppressing a laugh, she cleared her throat. “I think all of you are right. Either we’ll be attending a wedding banquet, or we’ll be watching the next round of drama.”
Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh excitedly. “Exactly! That’s it!”
“Shh, keep your voice down. Don’t let Li Cuihua hear,” Aunt Liu hissed, quickly covering Aunt Zhang’s mouth. After glancing around and confirming that Li Cuihua hadn’t noticed, she relaxed.
Once that round of gossip wrapped up, they all returned to work.
After a while, Aunt Yangliu called out to Ning Xiyue: “Xiyue, I’m going back to my mother’s place again this afternoon. Do you want to come with me to visit your brother? Then next time, you’ll know the way.”
Ning Xiyue smiled brightly. “That would be great — thank you, Auntie. I’ll go ask for leave now, and I’ll trouble you to take me this afternoon.”
