Chapter 26

The system's mechanical voice echoed again: "Congratulations, Master. New medical knowledge from the Nüwa tribe acquired. Would you like to save it to the system?"

Emily ignored the system and cautiously asked Granny Feng, "Did I… get it right?"

Granny Feng nodded excitedly. Only then did Emily save the knowledge to the system, feeling somewhat regretful that there wasn't a medical book. If there had been a book, she could have read it, saved it to the system, and wouldn't have had to remember it herself—how convenient that would be!

Wow, the madam is so smart! They had barely managed to memorize this knowledge over several days, and the madam remembered it all just from listening once! Qingye and the others looked at her with starry eyes!

Emily, however, was extremely puzzled and voiced her confusion: "Granny Feng, why has it taken so many days to learn just this bit of content?"

She wasn't showing off; it was genuinely unbelievable.

Qingye and the others lowered their heads in shame, while Granny Feng sighed: "Learning medicine requires memorizing all the details perfectly. They either forgot this point or that point, and couldn't engrave it completely in their minds. As more medicinal materials are learned, it becomes easy to confuse them. Therefore, the speed of learning medicine cannot be rushed at the beginning. I also learned with the Saintess for nearly twenty years before barely attaining the current level of medical skill."

Emily pondered.

Granny Feng's reasoning wasn't wrong, but why was the memory of the Nüwa tribe people so lacking when it came to learning medicine? Was it because they were so focused on memorizing the details word-for-word that they ended up forgetting them due to stress?

Since Emily had undergone specialized training in short-term memory due to exam-based education from a young age, she found it easy to remember, needing only to review later.

Of course, with the system's storage function, she didn't even need to review—she could search directly in her mind whenever needed. Wow! Compared to Qingye and the others, she was so fortunate!

"Emily, this leaf with a long shape is…" Granny Feng pointed to another medicinal herb in the field and continued explaining. After Emily repeated it easily and stored it in the system, Granny Feng grew increasingly delighted and continued to teach her about the next one…

Having a boost really makes a difference!

As time flew by amidst Granny Feng's delighted exclamations, Qingye and the others' envy and admiration, and Emily's parrot-like repetition, dusk fell and Emily's stomach growled. All the medicinal herbs in Granny Feng's field had been stored in her system.

At this point, there was no more medicinal knowledge to pass on to a medical genius like Emily. Granny Feng felt a bit regretful: "The medicinal herbs I grow are limited. I'll take you to the mountains to find more herbs for you to study another day. Emily, starting tomorrow, you should follow me to see patients. It's getting late now, so let's all head back."

"Alright," Emily replied easily. She was unaware that Huang Ye, compared to these kids, could memorize medicinal knowledge faster, but she too had studied with Granny Feng for five years before she began accompanying her in seeing patients.

Qingye and the others, disregarding Granny Feng's presence, excitedly surrounded Emily: "Madam, madam, how do you remember all this? Can you teach us your methods?"

Emily felt gratified. These young people didn't envy her for memorizing faster; instead, they humbly sought advice and were eager to find learning methods. They were willing to learn, and Emily naturally tried to teach them all she knew about learning techniques.

After all, to change the current situation of the Nüwa tribe and progress faster, it required everyone's collective effort.

She pondered briefly and decided to subtly promote her method: "Actually, it's all thanks to the Nüwa Divine Messenger. It taught me a method for memory improvement, not just rote memorization but creating a mental image with some text. It's getting late today, but tomorrow afternoon when everyone is free, I'll explain it to you. Whether it's useful, you'll have to try it for yourselves."

Mental images? Text?

They didn't understand!

But it all sounded very impressive!

And it was taught to the madam by the Nüwa Divine Messenger!

And the madam was willing to share it with them!

Qingye and the others were so happy they smiled broadly, showing their teeth and gums. Granny Feng looked at Emily with increasingly affectionate and loving eyes.

They were grateful to the Nüwa Divine for sending Emily to the Nüwa tribe!

Since tasks now refresh at midnight, Emily wasn't in a hurry to complete them recently. She had even forgotten to submit the rabbit grass task, so upon returning to the tribe, she didn't pay attention to her growling stomach but first went to the large hibiscus tree in front of Granny Feng's house to submit the task.

The other children had already returned to their homes. Qingye, who wanted to take her favorite little rabbit back to her house, followed Granny Feng and Emily to Granny Feng's home.

Although Granny Feng was old, she was still quite strong and walked at a pace no slower than a young person's.

Huang Ye was waiting eagerly at the door of Granny Feng's house, apparently having prepared dinner for Granny Feng's return. She hadn't accompanied Granny Feng to the medicinal herb field today.

Seeing Granny Feng and the others return, Huang Ye's eyes flashed slightly, and she smiled as she welcomed them to the hibiscus tree: "Granny Feng, has something happened? Why did you come back so late?"

Qingye, who usually showed reverence toward Granny Feng and Huang Ye, was now excitedly responding to Huang Ye, breaking her usual quiet demeanor: "Sister Huang Ye, something did happen, but it's a good thing! Madam memorized all the medicinal herbs Granny Feng grew in just half a day. It's a pity you weren't there; otherwise, you would be proud of Madam too!"

Again with the "madam," Huang Ye felt a pang of discomfort but still maintained a gentle smile. She suddenly froze, her smile faltering: "Wh… what? Memorized all of them?"

How could this be possible? She had worked hard for several years to memorize all those herbs Granny Feng grew and still wasn't always sure of their details when needed.

How could this woman memorize all those herbs in just half a day?!

Granny Feng nodded with a smile: "Madam is exceptionally smart; she memorized everything after just one explanation. She will start accompanying me in seeing patients tomorrow."

Unaware of Huang Ye's stunned expression, Granny Feng frowned slightly: "Emily, continue doing your usual tasks. If anyone falls ill and needs a consultation, I'll have Huang Ye call you."

Emily nodded obediently. She had noticed Huang Ye's frozen expression but didn't mind.

As for Huang Ye, she had tried to harm her in the Forbidden Area before, but Huang Ye was smart enough to make most of the Nüwa tribe believe she had been guided by the Nüwa Divine Messenger to take her to the Forbidden Area.

If Huang Ye could keep a low profile, Emily would put the Forbidden Area incident aside and wouldn't actively target her. After all, solving the problem of basic necessities was more important. She had her guard up, and Huang Ye wouldn't be as easily successful as before. She didn't pose much of a threat.

But if Huang Ye tried any more tricks, she shouldn't blame Emily for settling old and new scores together when the opportunity arose!

Huang Ye, once Granny Feng's sole disciple, was suddenly faced with several new peers and felt quite unaccustomed. After a few days of adjusting, she repeatedly reminded herself that their current skill levels were still far behind hers, so it was not a big deal.

Especially that foreign woman, who, taking advantage of a minor injury, had stayed away from Granny Feng's teachings for nearly a week. Who would have thought that this woman could memorize in half a day what Huang Ye had spent years learning?!

And Granny Feng had the audacity to treat Huang Ye as a mere errand-runner now!

No, this couldn't be possible!

How could anyone master in half a day what she had learned over several years? Clearly, Huang Ye was the smartest in the Nüwa tribe!

That woman must be using some trickery!

Otherwise, she must have been learning for many years already and was pretending to be a novice!

Recalling Emily's peculiar methods for saving Qi and her advice to the Yong family, Huang Ye was increasingly convinced that her deduction was correct. This woman must have years of medical experience and was pretending otherwise for some unknown reason.

She had to expose this woman!

Huang Ye was usually calm, but the admiration Qingye had for Emily and Granny Feng's evident favoritism nearly overwhelmed her.

Yet, seeing Granny Feng's happy expression and recalling Granny Feng's previous warnings to her, Huang Ye forced herself to calm down and quickly plastered on a big smile, seemingly overjoyed: "Really? That's wonderful! Our Nüwa tribe has gained another healer so quickly. Madam, you're truly clever!"

Emily knew her words weren't sincere and didn't care. She simply smiled faintly: "There are many people smarter than me. I just got lucky and received help from the Nüwa Divine Messenger. Granny Feng, Huang Ye, we won't disturb you during dinner. Qingye, let's go see the little rabbit."

Having completed the task, the reward was actually a hundred cotton seeds, which made Emily even happier. Cotton and wool—if she could grow cotton, it would give her more leverage against the feared cold season mentioned by the Nüwa tribe!

She remembered a high school classmate's mother who would return to her hometown every August to October to help with cotton picking. Summer sowing might be worth a try. It was early May now; if she arranged for labor to clear and prepare the land, and with manure ready, she could start large-scale summer sowing around mid-June. By then, she would plant all the seeds the system had provided!

Qingye, happily carrying the rabbit cage, headed home. Emily walked toward the banana leaf house but ran into Male, who was looking for her.

Male and his group had been busy building the bamboo house and had only arrived at the banana leaf house when it was getting dark, finding Emily missing, so they had come out to look for her.

Male was puzzled about why she had returned so late. He gently placed his hand on her slender shoulder and looked her over. Seeing she was fine, he relaxed: "Why are you back so late?"

Feeling warmed inside, Emily smiled and shook her head: "It's nothing. I was learning about medicinal herbs from Granny Feng and lost track of time. Sister Banana Leaf, is dinner ready? I'm starving."

The two walked hand in hand, chatting and laughing, toward the banana leaf house.

Before they reached the house, they heard Yue Yue's excited voice from a distance: "Banana Leaf, you should have seen it with your own eyes! After my brother's bloodline power was activated, his work was… Forgive me, I can't put it into words. You should see it tomorrow when he's building the bamboo house! It's incredibly thrilling!"

Emily glanced at Male. His eyes were gentle, and his mouth was slightly curved in a smile. Emily gave him a thumbs-up, and Male looked at her in confusion.

Emily smiled and said, "That's a compliment."

Male, showing his white teeth, grinned happily. Emily, with a sly remark, dashed into the banana leaf house, adding, "It would be even better if you could squeeze a few fewer rabbits to death, hahaha…"

After making the remark, Emily realized that Male was rather petty. Uncle Feng had been sent to clean the toilets because he couldn't control his strength while joking with Male…

Emily regretted teasing Male and peeked out from behind Yue Yue to see Male still smiling as he walked in, seemingly not angry.

But in the middle of the night, after being jolted awake by something hard, Emily suddenly remembered her joke about Male and felt a chill run down her back. She quietly shifted a little farther away from Male.

In the darkness, a deep, restrained voice spoke: "Emily, don't worry. Until I can control my strength better, I won't do anything about having children with you."

"Okay," Emily sighed in relief.

When she groggily woke up again, she wondered why the neatly arranged bed grass felt so uncomfortable and warm. The same deep, restrained voice spoke again: "Emily, I'm afraid I might hurt you. But if you insist, I... I can try to be more careful."

Who is insisting? It sounded as if she were so eager that she was ready to force things.

Her drowsiness vanished in an instant, and it took a second for Emily to realize she had somehow ended up sleeping on top of Male.

Quickly, she scrambled off, apologizing awkwardly, "I'm sorry for my poor sleeping position! Haha… haha…"

Male sighed regretfully. In the darkness, Emily couldn't see his slightly upturned lips.

Oh well, he decided not to tease her any further; if she didn't sleep well, she wouldn't be in good spirits the next day.

The next morning, Emily joyfully jumped into Male's arms: "It's as if sleepiness delivered a pillow! Today's task is land clearing, and the reward is a hoe!"

Even without the system's task, they would need to clear the land, and now with the system providing a task and rewarding her with the long-awaited hoe, how could she not be thrilled?

This morning, she had planned to go hunting with Male and the others, capturing live animals for domestication and searching for plant-based food. Especially since she had already discovered peanuts, finding more and marking their locations, along with weeding and tilling the soil, would allow her to harvest many peanuts in about two months.

According to Male, recently, they only needed to hunt half a day to provide enough food for the entire tribe, leaving afternoons free for land clearing or other tasks.

However, as the weather gradually cooled, hunting would become increasingly difficult, requiring more people and longer periods to find game. Ensuring a full meal each day would be considered good. At that time, even the tasteless and thorny fish from the river would have to be caught to fill their stomachs.

But the more land cleared, the more worthwhile it was, with each plot yielding a hoe as a special reward for completing the tenth task. Considering each plot was less than 67 square meters, and since they had to clear the land anyway, getting an iron hoe—something impossible to obtain in this era—for clearing such a small piece of land was incredible!

Clearly, the more land they cleared, the more advantageous it became. So, temporarily, the search for domesticated animals or harvestable plants was put off.

Male still had to go hunting. Before he left, he instructed all the young laborers in the Nüwa tribe to follow Emily's directions for land clearing. When he returned from hunting, he would join in the clearing in the afternoon.