After the Lantern Festival passed, Shen Huaisang received instructions from his superiors, but they were already able to return to the troops.
Despite his reluctance, Shen Huaisang obeyed the order and returned to the troops.
It proved to be the right decision for the troops to keep them at the Shen family's place for the New Year, as during this period, Shen Huaisang and his companions finally apprehended a group of foreign personnel in the mountains.
Like the first batch of people who came here, they were all desperate outlaws, willing to do anything for money.
It was Mo Xuan, who enjoyed venturing out at night, who discovered them.
As long as they were in the mountains, nothing could escape Mo Xuan's notice. When he detected unfamiliar presences in the mountains, he immediately informed Shen Yao.
Upon receiving the news, Shen Huaisang and his team surprised and subdued the individuals, who were then promptly escorted away.
"Little sister, when we return to the troops, I will hand over what you gave me to them, and I thank you on their behalf."
As Shen Huaisang left, he expressed his gratitude to Shen Yao with sincere words.
Although Shen Yao had never been a soldier, she understood what true camaraderie was. She knew it was likely similar to her experiences in the cultivation world, where she continued to clean up Mo Xuan's messes even after he became the Demon Lord.
Mo Xuan: You don't have to use me as a negative example every time, thank you!
After Shen Huaisang returned to the troops, it wasn't long before people from the military arrived.
Accompanying them were people from the research institute. Their objective this time was solely the medicinal herbs planted in the back mountain.
Apart from the ginseng that required longer cultivation, many other medicinal herbs were ready for harvest at this time.
Because they were in the south, the climate was very mild, and there was no concern of medicinal herbs withering, except for annual varieties.
"Hello, I apologize for disturbing you again," Sun Yue said to Shen Yao, extending his hand courteously.
Shen Yao shook his hand and replied, "You're not disturbing us."
Then, after her father inquired about their wishes and learned that they wanted to proceed directly with harvesting the medicinal herbs, he led them to the back mountain.
Knowing they would be coming in advance, the Shen family had already hired workers. Otherwise, with just their own family members, it could have taken months to harvest all those medicinal herbs!
The first batch of medicinal herbs to be harvested was naturally the Fritillary bulbs planted in the greenhouse.
Fritillary bulbs had numerous uses and were considered both medicinal and edible.
Because their plants and bulbs were very small, harvesting them from the mountains would have been extremely difficult.
Therefore, Shen Yao decided to plant them in greenhouses. The soil was loosened, a dense net was spread on top, the Fritillary seeds were sown, and then another layer of soil was added. Once they germinated, flowered, and withered, the Fritillary bulbs were considered mature.
Fritillary bulbs are also perennial medicinal herbs. If they were not harvested the following year, they would continue to grow.
Thanks to the irrigation from the spiritual spring water, even after just one year, the medicinal efficacy of these Fritillary bulbs was many times better than those that had grown for several years.
Harvesting Fritillary bulbs was simple. One only needed to find the dense net in the middle layer and lift it up; the Fritillary bulbs would be brought out by the net.
Since the soil on top was not particularly thick, lifting the entire net was much easier.
Although the amount of soil covering was not much, it still required several people working simultaneously to lift the entire dense net.
The Fritillary bulbs washed by the workers were then transported to the machines one by one.
Two machines were already set up nearby. When the Fritillary bulbs were placed on the machine, it would automatically remove excess soil.
This greatly reduced the labor.
Since the Fritillary bulbs still needed to be transported, the soil was not completely washed off during the screening process. Thus, each Fritillary bulb still had a small amount of soil on it.
However, this also helped to better preserve the freshness of the Fritillary bulbs.
The cultivation of Fritillary bulbs was not extensive, occupying only one greenhouse. However, the yield of harvested Fritillary bulbs was astonishingly large.
Seeing that some people were already harvesting Fritillary bulbs, Sun Yue asked Shen Yao to take them to the next location.
This time, they went to the patch of Dendrobium officinale cultivated by Shen's second brother.
Unlike other seeds, this Dendrobium officinale was not planted from seeds or seedlings.
Therefore, they were ready for harvest at this time.
If they had used the other two methods for propagation, even with the effect of the spiritual spring water, they would not have dared to expose them directly.
This was because ordinary Dendrobium officinale cultivation usually took two to three years, and harvesting at that time was the most effective.
The workers harvesting Dendrobium officinale each wore a small hat, carried a small bamboo basket on their backs, and held small scissors or knives in their hands for convenience in harvesting.
Dendrobium officinale did not require the entire plant to be dug up; only the largest small branch needed to be picked.
The remaining roots would regrow on their own the following year, effectively meaning one planting yielded profits for several years!
Due to the different cultivation method of Dendrobium officinale, which was planted on the sides of small pebbles, it was extremely inconvenient to harvest. Even starting from the morning, over a dozen workers had only managed to harvest one-third by this time.
Sun Yue, after watching for a while, couldn't help but want to try it himself. The Shen family did not stop him; they also donned their equipment and went to harvest Dendrobium officinale.
Like Fritillary bulbs, Dendrobium officinale needed to be transported to the processing plant as quickly as possible after being freshly harvested to preserve its medicinal efficacy as much as possible.
Therefore, harvesting Dendrobium officinale was akin to a race. If one wasn't careful, the medicinal efficacy would significantly decrease.
After witnessing the actual effectiveness of the medicinal pills made from the formulas Shen Yao provided to the troops, Sun Yue felt like he wanted to enshrine the Shen family.
Especially the medicinal herbs cultivated by the Shen family, as the difference between the Shen family's herbs and those of the same variety was striking.
Although he had initially hesitated at the high price of acquiring these herbs, the current price was ten times that of other herbs!
Although the number of people involved was not particularly large, the efficiency was very apparent.
Because the Shen family members worked quickly and nimbly, and also due to their cultivation with Shen Yao, everyone's physical constitution had greatly improved, making their work naturally more proficient.
The harvesting of Dendrobium officinale continued until evening, by which time that entire patch had been collected.
The harvested Dendrobium officinale was immediately driven away by Sun Yue's men.