At that time, Sha Ting was not yet six years old, and the Golden Crow Courtyard was like a golden light treasure hall hanging high in the clouds, although it attracted her, but it did not fill her life. Her life is all plain but warm things.

On the night when her mother went out to work, she was allowed to spend the night in the small building. Thinking that she couldn't read, Granny Di opened the storeroom, which no one else was allowed to enter, and asked her to clean it.

In fact, since she was three years old, her mother taught Sha Ting to read and write.

So she spent many wonderful moments alone in the pantry. She walked among the wooden shelves lined with pill bottles, wiping the dust off the glass bottles, revealing their glittering true colors and beautiful names—incense, spice, tortoiseshell, stone swallow, gentian, madder, strychnine, strychnine, white snake, prunella, oleander, cantharid powder, closed ginger. These new things intrigued her so much that the next morning, when her mother took her home from the mountain, she would tell her about the effects of these drugs and point out to her their original form in nature.

Her mother told her that in order to become an accomplished pharmacist, she must master the basic skills of learning about plants in nature. Whether the plant has just emerged from the ground, is fully mature, or is beginning to wither, it should be observed by its side. It is necessary to know both its shoots and its fruits. Because, the plant is always changing, the leaves will be deformed, the stems will grow taller, the flowers will open, and the fruits will bear fruit.

Mom would often point to the side of the road and ask her, "What kind of herb is that?" ”

Angelica Angelica

"Yes, it will bloom in May and June and bear fruit in July. After being picked and dried in August, it can be used for blood circulation and pus drainage of wounds, muscle building and pain relief. It can also be made into a medicinal powder to wipe the face of girls who love beauty. ”

"What about that? The leaves are wrapped in bead-shaped fruits. ”

"I don't know."

"It's half a summer." Mom stopped and pointed to the weeds on the side of the road, and Sha Ting bent down to look at the blades of grass.

"I've seen pale green rhizomes in Granny Dai's glass bottle, with Banxia written on them."

"Yes, she definitely has it there. Please don't show it to Caron. ”

Cuarón was a big dumb man who drove the horses and carts for Granny Cindy, and he lived in a wooden house at the back of the small building. Mom would often let him catch the car when she went out to work at night.

"Cuarón was never interested in anything other than food." Sha Ting pouted and said that she would not go to talk to the mute.

"Do you know what the effect of Banxia is?" Mom stared at Sha Ting. After seeing her daughter shake her head, she said slowly: "Taking a small amount can numb the mouth and tongue, and taking a large amount will cause the throat to burn and swell, unable to make a sound, and in severe cases, permanent loss of voice." ”

Seeing Sha Ting stand dumbfounded, thinking about the deep meaning of her words, her mother shook her head slightly. She went into the grass, picked two ginger leaves, rubbed them lightly on the palm of her hand, put one hand in front of her nose, and held out the other to her daughter. Sha Ting took a big breath, and the cool smell of good ginger rushed up from her nose to her head, and Sha Ting felt refreshed.

"Remember that feeling, daughter. Stay awake, you still have a lot to learn. ”

When she got home, her mother would ask her to repeat the appearance and effects of the herbs they had just talked about on the road, and when she got everything right, she would kiss her gently and reward her with a copper ring.

These were probably the winter of the six-year-old, and after the winter, Sharten would be seven years old, which is the age when she could go to school. Smog Town is a poor town, and there are not many children who go to school in the town, because tuition is a significant expense for every family. My brother didn't go to school, and at the age of seven he was apprenticed to a cable shop in the port. Mom had a few arguments with Dad over how Sha Ting could go to school. Sha Ting did not resent her father because of this, in order to save her tuition, her father had to wait in the cold mining area for almost the whole winter, and only returned home once for several days. She had saved up all the brass rings she had gotten from her mother, and she already had a small bag. At that time, she plans to use her own money to pay part of the tuition. She knew that her mother had high hopes for her future, and she would definitely work hard.

That winter was the last warm and cozy winter in Sha Ting's childhood memories.

During the three months of heavy snowfall, Granny Dai hardly had any work there, and her mother and Sha Ting always stayed at home. The owner of the cable shop decided to take advantage of the lack of business in the winter to renovate the interior of the shop, so my brother also got two months off. Outside, the wind whistled and the snowflakes whirled non-stop. Inside the house, the stove is always blazing, and my mother rubs the dried ginger leaves into small pieces and sprinkles them next to the stove, and the whole house is full of warm aroma.

"With a little light and some fragrance, life can continue to go on well." Mom often said this to the siblings.

Taking advantage of this rare free time, my mother taught my brother to write every day. He was eleven years old, and he could not read many words, and even fewer could write. My brother didn't want to learn much, because his right hand was born with only four fingers, and he always wanted to hide that misshapen hand, and he didn't want to pick up a pen in the lamplight. His mother gently told him that in the ancient legend of Goto, four is a number with magical powers. The first Great Shrine Maiden prayed for forty days in the blood and fire that destroyed the earth to usher in the return of the gods. In the War of the Gods and Gods, the gods chose to fight alongside them were four great warriors. The island of the sun god is guarded by four islands. More than a hundred years ago, during the battle over the mountain, it was the "Face God Four" who stood up to fight against Shadow Land. There is also a tradition of casting out talents in groups of four.

"Do you know Yaxun, to this day, there are still many cities on Poseidon Island where people think that children with four fingers on their hands are gifted." The elder brother was skeptical, but the mother nodded affirmatively to him, and continued, "I once went to Whale Wave City with Granny Dai when I was a child, and there was yellow fever there. I saw people gather around a girl with four fingers on each hand, painting her palms purple and going from house to house to place purple handprints on people's doors to protect the people in the house from disease. ”

Attracted by her mother's story, Sha Ting walked over and kissed her brother's right hand, and the brother smiled brightly at her. He was a handsome good boy, but he was a little shy because of his differences.

The elder brother was writing at the table, Sha Ting was lying on the bed and reading an old copy of "The Chronicles of the Shenlu Islands", and her mother took out her old cotton clothes and dismantled them, changed them to a smaller size, put on new cotton, and made a thick cotton jacket for Sha Ting. The excess fabric cut out made a thick scarf and leggings for my brother. When she sewed, she hummed softly.

"Unless flowers don't fall from the branches, unless the grass doesn't wither on the earth, unless you fall in love with me; Unless the sun rises in the west, unless the stars twinkle in the daytime, unless you fall in love with the ordinary me. ”

Her mother's singing voice was euphemistic and beautiful, which made Sha Ting feel as if she was floating in a dream. She often fell asleep in the swaying light of the fire and the warm smell of ginger, with a book on the back of her head, her fingers holding a small money bag full of brass rings, and fantasizing about a bright future in her heart.

These seemingly prosaic scenes and dialogues have always been remembered by Sha Ting with an unusually cordial mood. For example, when she cried, she was immediately answered, when she cried, she was quickly hugged, when she behaved well, she was given brass rings and kisses, and when she was wearing a soft new padded jacket, her mother helped her button them one by one. The impression from her childhood is always wrapped in a strong aroma of ginger, which can give her a sense of security at any time.

That's why eighteen-year-old Sha Ting braved the cold wind to climb Cedar Mountain in the early morning. Today was the day she left Smoky Town for the Golden Crowin Temple on the island of the Sun God. The road to realizing her childhood dream was extremely difficult and she endured unimaginable pain. When she finally got through this day, and the great expectations were about to unfold in front of her, her heart was filled with confusion about the future.

How can a poor girl from a remote town live alone in the glorious Golden Crow Courtyard? She had no clue. She may need a lot of ginger leaves in the days to come.