Lin He was already hard at work in the abandoned vegetable garden behind the house.
"Swish, swish, swish-"
In Lin He's hands, the battered sickle he had bought for ten copper coins from the blacksmith's stall at the village entrance actually swung fast enough to leave afterimages.
A lush green gleam flashed past, and rows of thick-leaved Green Spike Grass fell in its wake.
Lin He straightened his back, wiped the hot sweat from his forehead, and let out a long breath of white mist.
Damn, that felt good!
So fucking good!
He felt as refreshed and invigorated as if, back in his previous life, he had slept for three whole days and nights after working overtime for a month straight, then woken up and taken a huge gulp of ice-cold cola.
Although that wisp of essence of the sun last night had put him through such agony that he had almost thought he was about to ascend to heaven on the spot, the strength contained in his body now made him feel it had all been worth it.
He looked down at his arms. His once-scrawny arms now had clearly defined muscles, and with the slightest exertion, the veins beneath his skin bulged like little snakes.
"If I went to haul bricks now, I could make at least eight hundred yuan a day."
Muttering smugly, Lin He bent down and gathered a large bundle of freshly cut Green Spike Grass in both arms.
Good grief, that huge bundle weighed at least forty or fifty jin. In the past, his weakling body would definitely have ended up with a wrenched back.
But now? Lin He felt as though he were holding a wad of cotton, and he tossed it all into the burlap sack beside him without any effort.
"Lin He! Be gentler! What if you shake all the seeds off?"
Sitting in her wooden wheelchair, which creaked and squeaked incessantly, Su Qiuran made her way out of the house with difficulty.
"Your reprimand is well deserved, my lady wife." Lin He turned around and gave her an awkward bow with a cheeky grin.
"But don't worry. This batch of Green Spike Grass grew up drinking essence of the sun. It's sturdy. The seeds won't fall off."
Su Qiuran rolled her eyes at him, wheeled herself over to the sack, and picked up a stalk of Green Spike Grass to examine closely.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Su Qiuran could not help clicking her tongue. "Look at this quality, this color."
"Ordinary Green Spike Grass has dull green, shriveled leaves. Look at ours-so green it almost drips, with seed heads as big as little ears of wheat."
"Of course. Just look at who grew it." Lin He lifted his chin smugly.
"Stop admiring yourself. The credit belongs to the jade gourd. It hasn't got a damn thing to do with you." Su Qiuran mercilessly punctured his vanity, then turned serious.
"All right, enough wisecracks. Hurry up and bag it. We won't dry and grind this batch into powder. That takes too much time, and what we need most right now is ready cash. We'll go straight to Spring Restoration Hall in town in a bit and sell it fresh."
"Sell it fresh? Will they buy it?" Lin He stuffed the remaining grass into the sacks as he asked, "Didn't you say Spring Restoration Hall only buys it dried and ground into powder? Five copper coins a jin."
"Rules are dead, but people are alive." Su Qiuran tapped her fingers lightly on the wheelchair's armrest, a habit from her previous life working in copywriting and planning.
"Our grass is such good quality that its medicinal effects are definitely stronger than the ordinary stuff. As long as Spring Restoration Hall's shopkeeper isn't blind, he'll be able to tell. We'll discuss a partnership with him and establish a stable, long-term supply channel."
Lin He tied the two bulging sacks shut with hemp rope and brushed the grass scraps from his hands. "All right, I'll follow my wife's arrangements. But town is over ten li away. How are we getting there?"
Su Qiuran pointed outside the courtyard. "I asked Granny Zhao for a favor just now and borrowed the village chief's battered firewood cart. There, it's parked by the gate."
Lin He looked where she pointed, and sure enough, a wooden handcart stood beside the dirt road. The corner of his mouth twitched. "You're not expecting me to pull you there, are you?"
"Obviously!" Su Qiuran glared at him with perfect confidence. "You're a 'hunk' who's successfully completed the initial stage of Body Tempering now, with more brute strength than you can use. What's wrong with pulling a cart?"
"Or do you expect me to push my wheelchair over ten li of dirt road?"
Lin He sighed and walked over in resignation. Picking up a sack weighing around a hundred jin in each hand, he tossed them onto the cart as easily as if they were chicks.
Then he walked up to Su Qiuran, gripped both sides of her wheelchair, and heaved.
"Holy shit! Lin He, what are you doing?"
Su Qiuran screamed in fright, clutching the armrests with both hands.
Lin He actually lifted her, wheelchair and all, straight into the air and set her securely in the gap in the middle of the cart.
"What else? Inviting you aboard!" Lin He clapped his hands, walked to the front of the cart, and grabbed the handles. "Hold on tight! The Cuishan Express is departing!"
"Lin He! If you fucking drop me, you'll never hear the end of it!" Su Qiuran cursed, still shaken.
Lin He roared with laughter, flexed his arms, and took off toward town, pulling the cart at a run.
The strength he had gained through Body Tempering was on full display at that moment.
A heavy wooden cart, two sacks, and Su Qiuran-the total weight definitely exceeded three hundred jin. Yet pulling it felt like child's play to Lin He.
At first, Su Qiuran was so frightened that her pretty face paled, and she clung to the wheelchair's armrests without daring to let go.
But after a while, she realized that Lin He was running both fast and steadily, with hardly any jolting, and only then did she slowly relax.
Over an hour later, the two finally saw the outline of the town.
The towns of the Cangming Realm were much like what Lin He had seen in historical dramas in his previous life.
Wooden shops stood packed together like scales on a fish and teeth on a comb along both sides of the flagstone streets.
People bustled along the streets, from commoners dressed in short, coarse-cloth garments to traveling merchants leading all sorts of strange spirit beasts.
Following Su Qiuran's directions, Lin He pulled the cart around turn after turn until they reached an imposing medicine shop at the eastern end of town.
Looking up, he saw three large characters on a black signboard with gold lettering: Spring Restoration Hall.
"We're here." Lin He stopped the cart below the steps and took a heavy breath. He was not actually tired at all; he was merely putting on a show out of habit.
They had barely stopped when an assistant in a long gray cloth robe walked out of the medicine shop.
The assistant looked them up and down, his gaze lingering on Lin He's dust-covered clothes and Su Qiuran's battered wheelchair for a moment as a trace of disdain flashed through his eyes.
"Shoo, shoo, shoo! Where did you beggars come from? Don't get in the way of Spring Restoration Hall's business!" The assistant waved his hand as though shooing away flies.
Lin He frowned and was just about to flare up when Su Qiuran tugged at the hem of his clothes from behind.
"Young man." Sitting in her wheelchair, Su Qiuran plastered a fake professional smile on her face. "We're not here to beg. We're here to sell medicinal herbs. We have a batch of fine Green Spike Grass and would like your shopkeeper to appraise it."
"Green Spike Grass?" The assistant sneered. "That stuff is rubbish some mud-legged peasants dig up in the mountains. Spring Restoration Hall only buys dried, ground powder."
"From the looks of you, you can't even afford a grinder, can you? Get moving, get moving! Don't waste my time!"
"You're mistaken, young man." Neither hurried nor annoyed, Su Qiuran spoke unhurriedly. "Ordinary Green Spike Grass is indeed rubbish, but our batch is top-grade."
"If you refuse to let us in and lose this fine deal, when your shopkeeper finds out and starts assigning blame, I'm afraid a mere assistant like you won't be able to bear the responsibility, will you?"
Su Qiuran's blame-shifting threats left the assistant thoroughly flustered.
Though he was only an assistant, he knew how much the medicine shop's shopkeeper valued fine medicinal herbs.
If these two really had something good and he drove them away, the shopkeeper would skin him alive.
"All... all right." The assistant hesitated. "Wait outside. I'll fetch the shopkeeper."
Before long, a scrawny old man with a goatee walked out of the medicine shop. His shrewd eyes held a merchant's calculation. This was Shopkeeper Qian of Spring Restoration Hall.
"I hear you have top-grade Green Spike Grass?" With his hands behind his back, Shopkeeper Qian looked down at Lin He and Su Qiuran.
Without wasting words, Lin He untied one sack, pulled out a large handful of lush green Green Spike Grass, and held it out before Shopkeeper Qian.
"Shopkeeper, see for yourself."
Shopkeeper Qian cast it a casual glance, but that single glance made his pupils abruptly contract.