Ultimate Village Doctor

Chapter Twenty-Three

When Long Xiaoshan ran to the vegetable plot in the backyard, he saw a lush green expanse where the vegetable seeds he had just sown had grown to the height of a palm, and only a few hours had passed.

He approached the edge of the vegetable plot and touched the leaves, which were emerald green and tender. Not a single insect could be found on them, and they were growing exceptionally well.

That silver Mysterious Liquid indeed had the effect of accelerating plant growth.

A wave of excitement surged through Long Xiaoshan.

After circling the vegetable plot twice, another thought occurred to him—hadn't he also poured a drop of the silver liquid into the water tank?

He wondered how the shrimp in the water tank were doing now.

Long Xiaoshan hurried over to the tank and peered inside. His heart skipped a beat as he saw shrimp as thick as thumbs swimming about, with long whiskers and imposing appearances.

The tiny shrimp, originally only slightly larger than grains of rice, had grown so much.

Long Xiaoshan was itching to laugh triumphantly.

Fortune had turned his way. Who would have thought that the Jade Purifying Bottle could be so heaven-defying, not only accelerating the growth of plants but of animals as well? With such a treasure, why would he even need to look for a job? Long Xiaoshan was a talented graduate from Shuimu University, quick-witted, and he instantly realized the vast business potential. Of course, he still needed to observe and experiment further to determine the full extent of the liquid's effects.

That night, Long Xiaoshan didn't sleep but snuck into the backyard.

In the darkness, if one looked at the vegetable plot sprinkled with the Mysterious Liquid with Divine Sense, it was covered in a faint glow, and a slight luminescence could be seen on the vegetables themselves.

The rest of the Gui Vegetable Plot wasn't quite the same.

The water tank also emitted a similar faint glow.

Long Xiaoshan sat cross-legged in the vegetable plot all night.

The next day, when he opened his eyes, the vegetables in the Gui Vegetable Plot had grown to half a meter tall. Their rate of growth was simply mad. Normally, vegetables of this size would have become old and their leaves turned dark green, but these vegetables remained vivid, glossy green, and when pinched, water could be squeezed out of them.

Long Xiaoshan hadn't even approached the water tank when he heard some rustling sounds.

He leaned in closer for a look and drew in a sharp breath. The entire tank was crawling with palm-sized shrimp, their bodies black with hints of red as if they wore a layer of armor. Their whiskers were especially large, making them resemble lobsters. These were supposed to be ordinary river shrimp, yet they'd grown almost to the size of lobsters.

Long Xiaoshan lifted one of the large shrimp and weighed it in his hand.

So heavy!

One shrimp must weigh almost half a pound.

This tankful of large shrimp, if weighed, would amount to a hundred pounds or so.

"Little Xiaoshan, what are you doing in the backyard so early in the morning?" He Xiangyue walked out from the back gate, and seeing the vibrant green of the Gui Vegetable Plot, she widened her eyes, "How did our vegetables grow so big?"

He Xiangyue walked to the edge of the plot, looking at the verdant greens in disbelief, "Our backyard soil isn't even that fertile, yet we managed to grow such large vegetables. Old man, come take a look."

At He Xiangyue's call, Long Dashan came out to the backyard.

He, too, was stunned.

Long Xiaoshan was hesitating, unsure how to explain, when He Xiangyue heard noises from the water tank. She walked over and looked inside. Oh my goodness, He Xiangyue screamed, startled, and sat down on the ground with a thump.

Long Xiaoshan hurried to help her up and asked, "Mom, what happened to you?"

"This... this, this must be haunted!" He Xiangyue's face turned deathly pale, as she shakily pointed at the tub full of prawns, packed and wriggling, brandishing their claws—a sight that was indeed spine-chilling at first glance.

Long Dashan looked into the tub and also became somewhat panicked, "Shall we ask the witch from the next village to take a look?"

Rural folks tend to be quite superstitious.

Faced with such sudden and inexplicable phenomena, they are extremely frightened, quick to think that it's the work of ghosts.

"Dad, Mom, don't let your imaginations run wild, what ghost is there?" Long Xiaoshan said with a mix of laughter and helplessness.

"Then what's going on here?" He Xiangyue asked in disbelief.

Long Xiaoshan figured that he couldn't keep the secrets of the Mysterious Liquid from his family forever, especially since he planned to make money from it in the future. He had to convince them he possessed extraordinary abilities. He put on a mysterious air, looked around, and spoke in a hushed tone, "Dad, Mom, I'm going to tell you a secret. I met a master in jail. Mom, do you think any doctor could make you stand up in a single day? With a broken bone like yours, even a hospital stay would require several months. All of this was taught to me by that master, including how to make these vegetables and prawns grow so fast. You mustn't tell anyone."

Long Dashan and He Xiangyue were visibly shocked upon hearing this.

Ordinary people would scoff at Long Xiaoshan's words.

But being rural farmers from the isolated Longyang Village, Long Dashan and He Xiangyue were more inclined to believe in these spiritual and ghostly matters.

"Could our little Xiaoshan have really encountered an immortal?" He Xiangyue wondered aloud.

"I think it's very likely," Long Dashan replied in a lowered voice. "It seems that little Xiaoshan has gotten lucky, but we mustn't speak carelessly of such things. It's a blessing that an immortal passed knowledge to little Xiaoshan. If word got out and angered the immortal, they might take back all of Xiaoshan's abilities."

"You don't need to remind me, old man," He Xiangyue huffed.

Long Xiaoshan hadn't expected it to be so simple to fool them.

However, this suited him just fine.

Now he had a pretext; whatever extraordinary things he did in the future could be attributed to his Immortal Master.

At noon, Long Xiaoshan harvested a handful of greens from the Gui Vegetable Plot and caught three large prawns to steam, tackling the cooking himself. The household rarely had any meat dishes, and on the odd occasion they craved something meaty, they had to rely on luck hunting game in the mountains.

Given Long Dashan's perpetual poor health, he was hardly capable of hunting any game.

So this was the first time in a long while that the Long family was enjoying such a sumptuous meal with meat.

The greens were fresh, tender, and completely different from ordinary vegetables—exceptionally crunchy, without a hint of bitterness—leaving a sweet aftertaste in the mouth.

The taste of the prawns was even more exquisite, their flesh translucent as jade, firm in texture, with heads full of rich roe. After eating a prawn that weighed half a pound, one didn't even feel the need for rice—the body seemed to fill with energy.

Especially so for Long Xiaoshan who noticed that the warmth within his body seemed to have increased a bit.

After practicing Longevity Art, the warmth reached a certain level and then stopped increasing. Unexpectedly, eating the vegetables and prawns grown with the Mysterious Liquid allowed for a slight growth in that warmth.

Could it be that these vegetables and prawns have magical effects on cultivation?

"Xiaoshan, I have to say, whatever the immortal has made is really different. I feel my waist and legs don't hurt as much anymore, and I also feel more energized," Long Dashan said.

"Haha, Dad, eat more in the future and try to improve your health. I'll prepare a few doses of medicine for you to get rid of some chronic problems," Long Xiaoshan said.

"Oh, Uncle Dashan, what are you eating, it smells so good!"

A somewhat slick voice carried over, as a youth walked in sporting a green shirt, suit pants, and a pair of sports shoes, with neatly parted hair and shifty triangular eyes.