Two almost identical roots lay in the medicine shed.
They were reddish brown, tangled with fine rootlets, each with a length of withered stem still attached. Elder Shi set them side by side and let Chen Xiuyuan choose first.
"Which one is scarlet whisker root?"
Chen Xiuyuan studied them for a moment, then pointed to the redder one.
Elder Shi switched their positions.
"This one spent longer drying outside, so its color darkened. What would you do out in the forest?"
Chen Xiuyuan withdrew his hand.
Only last night, Chen Xiuyuan had been thinking of preparing a medicinal meal for himself, yet now he had misidentified the very first root. He took out his notebook and moved closer to sit down.
"Teach me from the beginning. I'll take notes."
Elder Shi pulled one root away and placed it on another empty plate.
"Brown thread root has its uses too, but it cannot stand in for scarlet whisker root. Remember that first, then learn to recognize its appearance."
He soaked the scarlet whisker root in clean water and slowly peeled away the dead grass tangled around it, exposing the root crown.
There was a shallow depression where the stem joined the root, with two tiny rings beside it. The brown thread root had a flatter crown, and its rootlets branched to either side. When its color was pale, it actually looked like freshly dug scarlet whisker root.
Chen Xiuyuan sketched as he watched. The two roots he drew on the paper were ugly, so he had to add notes beside them, marking the places to examine.
Elder Shi took several more specimens wrapped in dried leaves down from the shelf.
Some were thick, some thin, and one had almost half its side gnawed away.
Chen Xiuyuan identified them one by one. The first two went smoothly, but he stopped again at the third.
He moved the third root into the light and stared at the bit of damp mud on its crown, unable to decide.
This root was not red, but the markings on its crown resembled a double ring. He looked at it from several angles, but still did not dare set it down.
Elder Shi took it and scraped his fingernail beside that "ring." A layer of dried mud fell away.
It had been a crack in the crust of mud.
Chen Xiuyuan moved it over to the brown thread roots and added a sentence to his notes: remove the mud first, then examine the root crown.
Rather than explain everything to him all at once, Elder Shi casually switched a few positions and had him identify them again.
Someone carrying water outside the shed bumped into the doorframe, and Chen Xiuyuan hurried to catch the tilting bucket. By the time the water had been poured into the vat, Elder Shi had mixed the medicinal roots on the plates together again.
He sat back down, cleaned the root crowns first, then examined the branching rootlets. One after another, he returned the kinds he had just identified to their original plates, no longer fooled by how dark or pale their colors were.
But he was still unsure about the gnawed root.
"I can't see all the features on this one."
"What do you do when you can't see them all?"
"Set it aside and wait for you to check it. It can't be mixed in with the good ones."
Elder Shi pushed over a third empty plate.
"Whenever you take in herbs from now on, keep a plate like this."
Chen Xiuyuan placed the damaged root on it and instead felt a little more settled. In the past, when conducting interviews, he would also make a note of conflicting accounts and ask about them later. Here, applied to roots, the same principle still held.
As the sun climbed higher, the medicine shed gradually grew busy.
Some people came to replace the herbs dressing their wounds; others returned empty jars. The hunter who had injured his hand yesterday arrived too. His injured finger had already been splinted with two thin pieces of wood, and as soon as he entered, he said the pain had kept him from sleeping well that night.
Elder Shi went to examine his hand, leaving Chen Xiuyuan to count the roots on the shelves.
One bundle was old stock delivered earlier, wrapped in dried leaves, with a small wooden tag hanging from its cord. The person who brought it said he still had these at home, and since they did not look spoiled, he had brought them to the shed for urgent use.
When Elder Shi accepted it, he had told someone to put it at one corner of the long table, to be used only after it had been cleaned and sorted.
Chen Xiuyuan untied the grass cord.
The outer roots all bore clear double rings, their rootlets fine and dense, just like the specimens he had studied earlier. He sorted one layer, then reached for those underneath and suddenly stopped.
A thick section of root was wedged between two plants. Its rootlets had been broken, and fine threads were tangled around the breaks.
Its color differed little from the roots beside it.
Chen Xiuyuan washed away the crust of mud first, then turned the root crown to its other side.
There were no double rings there, only a flat section, with fine rootlets parting to either side.
He shifted the entire bundle of herbs closer to himself.
Beside the stove inside the shed, a woman washing medicine jars looked up and asked, "Are these ready? Elder Shi said they needed to be prepared before noon."
"Not yet. Don't take them."
Chen Xiuyuan picked out that root, took another plant he was certain was scarlet whisker root, placed them side by side, and carried them over to Elder Shi.
The old man was securing the wooden splints on the hunter's hand again.
Chen Xiuyuan waited until he had finished tying the knot in his hands before offering him the plate.
"There's something else mixed into this bundle. It looks like brown thread root to me. Please take another look."
Elder Shi picked up the herb and cleared the last bit of mud from its crown. His expression darkened.
"It is brown thread root. Separate and check the whole bundle. Don't just look at the outside."
Chen Xiuyuan returned to the long table and removed all the binding cords.
Once the roots were spread out, several more unusual ones emerged from within, just as expected. Two others had broken crowns, and he could not identify them with what he had learned so far, so he placed them on the third plate.
Hearing the commotion, the person who had brought the herbs came in from outside the shed to look, his face reddening a little.
"These were all dried together last year. We moved house afterward. I'm afraid they must have been put away wrong."
Elder Shi waved a hand.
"It's good that you brought them. They have to be sorted before use anyway. From now on, don't separate the tags from the roots."
Chen Xiuyuan continued sorting until not a single loose herb remained on the table, then asked Elder Shi to check them all from the beginning.
The old man examined the scarlet whisker roots first, then the brown thread roots, and finally the two uncertain ones.
There were no mistakes on the first two plates.
Consulting his notebook, Chen Xiuyuan added sketches beside his notes of the various wet and dry forms he had seen that day. Remembering the crack in the mud crust that morning, he looked toward the third plate again. He could identify more now, but those two roots missing their crowns still could not go into the medicine pot.
"These are ready to use."
The woman by the stove took the first plate away, while the rest remained where they were. The person who had brought the herbs breathed a sigh of relief and gathered up the old leaves and cords. Before leaving, he made a point of nodding to Chen Xiuyuan.
Chen Xiuyuan pushed the third plate a little farther into the shelf so that no one would casually take it away.
Watching him, Elder Shi asked, "Why didn't you identify those two yourself just now?"
"I only know how to examine the features you taught me. If they're broken off, I have no way to check."
"Remember what you said today."
Elder Shi found another well-preserved scarlet whisker root in the cabinet and handed it to him, stem and leaves included.
"Take it and draw the whole plant. Tomorrow, Shi Lei and the others are crossing Broken Stream to gather these roots."
Chen Xiuyuan looked up.
"Am I going too?"
"If you want to go, learn from the herb gatherers. Looking at a shed full of dried roots won't show you what they look like growing in the soil."
Chen Xiuyuan held the herb without rushing to answer.
In the few days since he had entered the tribe, he kept remembering the shape of the Fang Wolf pouncing down at him. Now that he would have to walk back out through that gate, the scabbed places on his leg seemed to tighten a little again.
Elder Shi did not hurry him either, turning away to put the medicine jars in order.
Chen Xiuyuan lowered his head and drew the complete shape of the scarlet whisker root on the paper. There was still a dried leaf on the root, its edges curled. He gently flattened it, finished drawing, then wrapped it back as it had been.
When he put down his pen, he sat upright according to the Savage Elephant Great Strength Art and slowly evened his breathing. He could still pick up the method he had learned yesterday, and his entry-level attainment had not regressed because he had been busy identifying herbs.
People who had traveled these mountain paths knew more. If he truly wanted to find Qin Chuan and find the way home, sooner or later he would have to venture out again.
That afternoon, Shi Lei came to collect medicine packets to keep on hand for the journey, and Chen Xiuyuan tucked his notebook inside his robe.
"Can you take me along tomorrow? I can identify scarlet whisker root now, and I can carry some herbs too."
Shi Lei did not answer immediately. First, he had him walk a short distance outside the shed, then asked Elder Shi whether his injured leg could manage the journey.
"A short trip is fine. Don't let him carry anything heavy," Elder Shi said.
"Then stay in the middle with the herb gatherers." Shi Lei turned to Chen Xiuyuan. "When I say stop, you stop. If we really run into a beast, don't come pushing to the front with that little bit of tendon-cutting skill of yours."
"Understood."
"And if you see anything you don't recognize on the way, ask first."
Shi Lei untied a small herb basket from a beam in the shed, checked its bottom, and set it beside Chen Xiuyuan's feet.
The basket was empty, with only a few old dried leaves left inside.
"We leave as soon as the gate opens tomorrow morning."