There is a small village in Beiyan Mountain. There is a poor family in the village. The man is called Du Shan, and he and his wife and two children. The family is very poor. They have no food to eat and their life is very difficult. Du Shan asked someone to let his ten-year-old son Xiaoliang herd cattle for a rich family. Although he was not paid, he could at least have enough food.
Xiaoliang drove the cattle up the mountain every day, got up early and came back late, and also did odd jobs such as cleaning the yard and feeding chickens and pigs. As a young boy, he was often beaten and scolded by the old rich man because he did not do his job well. The ten-year-old Xiaoliang had never left his parents and missed his parents every day, but the old rich man would not let him go home, so Xiaoliang had to cry secretly behind people's backs.
One day, Xiaoliang's father came to the rich man's house and said that Xiaoliang's mother was sick. She sought medical treatment everywhere and took a lot of medicine, but it didn't work. Xiaoliang's mother was worried that she would not live long and missed her son very much. She sent Xiaoliang's father to ask the old rich man to let Xiaoliang go back so that the mother and son could see each other… However, the cruel old rich man said: "No, if the cowherd goes home, who will herd my cows?" No matter how much Xiaoliang's father begged, the old rich man would not agree to anything, so Xiaoliang's father had to go back with tears. Xiaoliang couldn't go home to see his mother, so he had to drive the cattle into the mountains to graze. There was a steep stone wall in this mountain, and under the stone wall there was a flat earthen platform, which was clean and no grass grew. After Xiaoliang dispersed the cattle, he sat on the platform and happened to see the cattle grazing on the hillside. Xiaoliang was thinking about his mother in his heart, and he sat alone on the platform and cried sadly. Xiaoliang was crying when suddenly a woman in her forties came up to him, wiped his tears and comforted him, saying, "Child, tell me if you are sad, I will help you find a solution…" Xiaoliang saw that the kind woman cared about him, so he told her about his mother's serious illness and the rich man didn't let him go home to visit her. The woman said, "Child, don't be sad, I have a solution, I can cure your mother's illness." The woman pointed to a piece of green grass next to Xiaoliang and said, "The roots of this grass are a kind of medicine that can cure your mother's illness. You can dig a few roots and take them home to boil water for your mother to drink, and your mother's illness will be cured…" After hearing what the woman said, Xiaoliang dug a few grass roots with a stone. However, he became worried again when he looked at the grass roots as thick as his fingers, and said to his aunt with tears in his eyes: "Aunt , please kill me , I can't leave. If I leave, the cattle will be unattended. If a cow gets lost, will my boss forgive me? Besides, this place is at least ten miles away from my home. How long will it take to walk back and forth?" The aunt said: "Don't worry, kid, this place is not far from your home. There is a shortcut." The aunt pointed to the mountain pass next to the northern cliff and said, "Your village is not far from there. Just go with peace of mind. I will watch the cattle for you…"
Xiaoliang kowtowed to his aunt, and walked happily towards the narrow mountain pass with the grass root in hand. It was strange to say that just after passing the mountain pass, he saw the small village where his family lived. It took less than half an hour to get home! Xiaoliang was very surprised. Why hadn't he heard of a shortcut here before?
When Xiaoliang returned home, his mother hugged him tightly and choked up, saying, "Did the old boss ask you to come back?" Xiaoliang shook his head and said, "I ran back secretly from the mountain…" His mother was so shocked that she trembled and said in a trembling voice, "How can that be? If you lose the cow, the old boss will beat you half to death. Besides, our family can't afford the compensation…" Xiaoliang told his mother about the encounter with a kind aunt in the mountain. He said that the aunt was looking after the cattle for him in the mountain and asked him to bring herbal medicine to treat his mother's illness… When Xiaoliang's father heard that his son had brought the herbal medicine, he immediately boiled a bowl of soup with the herbal roots and asked Xiaoliang's mother to drink it. After drinking the soup, Xiaoliang's mother broke out in a hot sweat and said to Xiaoliang, "This medicine is really a magic medicine. After drinking this dose, I feel much lighter… You go back and don't let the aunt wait anxiously." Seeing that his mother was energetic after drinking the medicine, Xiaoliang jumped up with joy! Xiaoliang woke up with a clang sound, and it turned out that he was dreaming. He kicked a fist-sized stone down the hillside… Xiaoliang rubbed his sleepy eyes and found that a patch of green grass like garlic sprouts had grown on the small earthen platform where he was sitting! Xiaoliang was very puzzled. The earthen platform was originally bare, so how could such an unknown grass grow after sleeping? Xiaoliang stared at the grass with his eyes wide open. After a long while, his mind suddenly brightened up – isn't this the "magic medicine" that the aunt specially sent to his mother? Thinking of this, Xiaoliang immediately became energetic, and dug some grass roots with a stone, ready to take it home to treat his mother's illness.
The next day, Xiaoliang’s father came to the rich man’s house in a hurry again. When Xiaoliang saw his father coming again, he was so shocked that he burst into tears – it went without saying that his mother was dead… Xiaoliang’s father patted his son on the shoulder and said, "Child, don’t cry to death . Your mother has recovered a lot after taking the medicine you brought home. You don’t have to worry about her this time…" Xiaoliang was stunned: "When… did I go home to bring medicine to my mother?" His father said, "Didn’t you go home specially to bring medicine to your mother yesterday? This time I come again to ask you to beg that aunt to get some more medicine for your mother…" Xiaoliang was so shocked that he stared at his father for a long time without saying a word. Could it be that he really brought medicine to his mother in his dream?
Xiaoliang asked his father to take the grass roots he dug home. His father boiled the medicine into soup and asked Xiaoliang's mother to drink it. Within three days, Xiaoliang's mother's illness was completely cured! The news spread quickly in the neighborhood. People said that the aunt Xiaoliang met in his dream was a fairy… Because the fairy knew what disease Xiaoliang's mother had, she gave this herb to Xiaoliang. So people called this herb "Anemarrhena". Because "Anemarrhena" has the functions of clearing heat and purging fire, nourishing yin and moistening dryness, it was later widely used and is one of the most commonly used herbs in Chinese medicine prescriptions.