Chapter 62: The Wolf Divine Doctor
Ying Kongtu let the furry ones go buy milk tea.
They really did jump off the tricycle and run excitedly toward the milk tea shop. Even the little Ural owl stumbled down to the ground, transformed into a walking chicken, and moved its two legs as fast as it could, following the main group forward.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan parked the tricycle by the roadside and watched from a distance.
After the furry ones entered the milk tea shop, they pointed at the icons with their paws.
The young woman working at the milk tea shop studied them for quite a while before giving them animal cream ice cream, meow-meow milk tea, and woof-woof milk tea.
They carefully checked everything. After confirming that the items were correct and the change was correct too, they ran back excitedly.
“Awooo—” Jingwei shouted excitedly at Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan.
“Snacks bought with money you earned through your own labor taste especially good, right?” Ying Kongtu rubbed its head. “Everyone worked hard today.”
Wen Zhongshan also rubbed its head. “Get on. We’re going home.”
The rear bed of the little farm tricycle was not very spacious to begin with. After Xian Niao and Jingwei were packed solidly inside, Tiaozhu could only squeeze into one corner and let out a somewhat displeased “meow-aooo.”
Xian Niao picked it up in its mouth and placed it on Jingwei’s back. Tiaozhu had no objections now. It lay on Jingwei’s back and looked outside.
As for Dart, it hid under Xian Niao’s chest fur, utterly satisfied.
The Ural owl could only fly to the front and be held by Wen Zhongshan.
Ying Kongtu and the others returned home fully loaded. When the little farm tricycle arrived home, he even did a drift.
With a screech, the little farm tricycle stopped at the courtyard gate, and the furry ones in the rear bed were squeezed into a pile.
They found it extremely fun and started calling out in all kinds of meows and awoos.
With a creak, the courtyard gate opened, and Xing Chang’s head poked out from inside. “Good grief. You’ve managed to drive this little tricycle like a sports car.”
Ying Kongtu smiled. “Fun, right?”
Tiaozhu exclaimed excitedly, “Meow-aooo!”
Ying Kongtu let the furry ones get out first, then drove the tricycle inside.
Wen Zhongshan also got out, taking the back basket and waterproof cloth to put them away first.
Xing Chang came over to help, coughing twice as he walked.
Xian Niao raised its head and looked at him.
After everyone sat down to chat, Xing Chang coughed a few more times.
Ying Kongtu asked, “Caught a cold?”
“Wasn’t there a late spring chill a few days ago? I choked on some cold wind, so I’ve been coughing a little. It’s nothing serious. It’ll be fine in a couple of days.” Xing Chang finished speaking without much concern, then excitedly continued, “Yue Chengji’s price has dropped again. Now it’s only forty-one per mu.”
Ying Kongtu poured him a cup of tea and said, “I still think that mountain’s market price is thirty yuan per mu per year. Anything higher than that, and I won’t consider it for the time being.”
“I think there’s still room for the price to drop too, but the fact that he’s lowering the price on his own is a good thing.”
“That’s true. Thank you for keeping an eye on the news.”
“It’s nothing. I hope our Qianchongcui Mountain can come back sooner.”
Ying Kongtu lifted his teacup and clinked it against his. “Same hope.”
Ying Kongtu’s house had so many furry ones. Xing Chang had grown familiar with the furry ones in their family, and now he was very happy to come over and chat.
Soon, Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan went to cook.
Xing Chang sat in the courtyard petting the furry ones, his face full of bliss. Even though he occasionally choked and coughed, he did not care at all.
His cough was caused by cold wind entering his lungs. It was not contagious, so Ying Kongtu let him be.
It was already mid-March. Before long, April would arrive. The weather was getting warmer and warmer, and the power of the late spring chill was growing weaker.
Ying Kongtu hired the plowing master to plow the terraced fields again, then soaked the green rice seeds Fu Yuan had given them in large basins, preparing to start raising seedlings.
Their rice seedlings would be raised directly in the terraced fields and transplanted later.
He and Wen Zhongshan were busy with farm work, so patrolling the mountains was mainly left to the furry ones.
Tiaozhu and Xian Niao had always been reliable, so Ying Kongtu felt very reassured.
That evening, Xing Chang had just come home from work and was about to enter the kitchen to find something to eat when he heard the sound of claws scratching at the door.
He was a little puzzled and was just about to ask when a low wolf howl came from outside the door. “Awooo.”
When Ying Kongtu and the others had gone hunting for bees before, Xing Chang had been entrusted with taking care of Xian Niao and the others. Now, he immediately recognized that this was Xian Niao’s voice.
“Xian Niao?” Xing Chang happily went to open the door. “Why are you here?”
Xian Niao stood at the doorway of Xing Chang’s house and placed the thing in its mouth on the ground. It looked at him, then pushed the thing toward Xing Chang’s feet. “Awooo?”
“For me?” Xing Chang squatted down in surprise and delight, only to find that it was a tree root still covered in soil. “What is this?”
Xian Niao could not answer his question. It only used its paw to nudge the root toward him again.
Xing Chang quickly picked up the root. “Thank you, Xian Niao.”
Xian Niao said, “Awooo.”
After delivering the item, Xian Niao left.
This was the first time Xing Chang had received a gift from Xian Niao. He was delighted beyond words and took several photos of the root from every angle, enough for a nine-grid post. Then he posted it discreetly on his Moments.
After showing it off there, he specially sent the picture to Ying Kongtu.
Ying Kongtu carefully looked at the muddy root. He had some idea in his heart, but he was not completely certain.
Ying Kongtu said, “Why don’t you come to my house? Bring the root with you too. I’ll have to smell it before I can be more certain what kind of root it is.”
Xing Chang replied, “Hahahahaha, okay!”
“I’ll come right now. Wait for me.”
Xing Chang quickly rode his motorcycle to Ying Kongtu’s house.
He did not even put it in a container. He simply came over holding the muddy root directly.
When Xian Niao saw him, it seemed a little embarrassed. It walked to the eaves, found a place, and lay down sideways to them.
Ying Kongtu could not help laughing. He had not expected Xian Niao to learn how to do good deeds without leaving its name.
Xing Chang could not wait. “What exactly is this root? Did Xian Niao bring it to me so I could make soup with it?”
Ying Kongtu carefully observed the root, then snapped off one of the rootlets and smelled it lightly. “It should be stemona root.”
“That name sounds kind of familiar,” Xing Chang said.
Ying Kongtu reminded him, “It’s the stemona used to treat coughs. Xian Niao probably heard you coughing and specially dug it up for you.”
“Xian Niao even knows how to find medicinal herbs?”
“Yes. Small animals naturally know how to look for medicinal herbs. If something feels wrong with them, they usually find medicine in the mountains and eat it themselves. Xian Niao has lived for so many years; it knows quite a few medicinal herbs in the mountains.”
Ying Kongtu carefully inspected the root again and said, “It is indeed stemona root, and very high-quality stemona root too.”
“Then how should I eat it? Take it back and boil it in water?”
“Generally, it needs to be dried first, then processed with honey and so on.” Ying Kongtu turned back and glanced at Xian Niao, then thought for a moment. “You don’t know how to prepare it. I’ll process it simply and boil it for you.”
Ying Kongtu was afraid Xing Chang had no experience and would not know how much water to use, so he directly followed his own experience, cut the stemona into several portions, processed it, and handed it to him. “Take it home and boil it with pear water.”
“What kind of pear?”
“The ordinary large autumn pears you can buy at the market. It’s best to use a stew pot and steam it over water. I’ll send you a video later. Just follow it.”
Xing Chang nodded repeatedly.
Ying Kongtu said, “The toxicity of processed stemona is relatively low. Drink it according to the dosage I give you for a few days. If it doesn’t work, then forget it.”
Xian Niao did have some experience surviving in the wild, and it knew how to find medicine when sick, but it was not a wolf doctor after all. One could not rely entirely on it to treat illness.
Xing Chang had no objections at all. “I’ll go back and try it. If it really doesn’t work, I’ll just treat it as sweet soup. Drinking some pear water in this season is pretty good too.”
Ying Kongtu looked at him. “I’ve noticed that when it comes to Xian Niao and the others, you trust them a bit unconditionally.”
“Of course. Xian Niao personally found medicine for me. Even if there’s a problem, it’s only because my stomach isn’t strong enough.” Xing Chang happily held the medicinal herb. “Then I’ll head back first. I’m going to the supermarket now to buy a pear.”
Xian Niao’s life experience was indeed abundant, and the stemona root it dug up worked very well.
A few days later, Xing Chang excitedly came over with gifts. “My cough is cured.”
Ying Kongtu asked, “Really cured?”
“Really! I’m not coughing at all anymore!” Xing Chang laughed. “You have no idea. A couple of days ago, before bed and after waking up, I kept coughing until my lungs hurt. After drinking the pear water boiled with the stemona Xian Niao gave me, the effect was truly immediate.”
After saying that, Xing Chang asked, “Where’s Xian Niao?”
“It was just here.” Ying Kongtu called into the house, “Xian Niao, Xing Chang came to thank you.”
Xian Niao walked out from inside.
Xing Chang crouched down and gratefully rubbed Xian Niao’s neck. “I’m better now. Thank you, Xian Niao.”
Xian Niao looked at him with gentle eyes, divinity within its gaze.
Looking at Xian Niao, Xing Chang praised, “Xian Niao is really amazing. It might know some herbal medicine better than humans do, right?”
Xian Niao softly replied, “Awo.”
Xing Chang had brought half a lamb over. Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan made clear-stewed lamb for the furry ones and kept Xing Chang for dinner.
In any case, they were stewing fresh, high-quality lamb. For the human portion, they only had to scoop it out, mix a dipping sauce, and eat it dipped in the sauce.
While eating, Ying Kongtu said, “You reminded me. The wild loquat leaves on the mountain are growing nicely now. I can make some cough-relieving paste.”
Xing Chang asked, “Only with loquat leaves?”
“I’ll add some stemona and platycodon and so on. They’re all for relieving coughs.” As Ying Kongtu spoke, he said regretfully, “In the past, I could actually add a little fritillaria, but now wild fritillaria are all protected plants. It’s not good to dig them up casually.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “I suspect Xian Niao originally wanted to dig fritillaria for you. Since it couldn’t dig fritillaria now, it settled for stemona instead.”
Xing Chang sniffed emotionally. “Stemona was already very useful. Xian Niao really thinks things through. I only realized now that some medicinal herbs in the mountains are genuinely useful, especially for sick people. They’re practically lifesaving straws. Being sick is too painful.”
Ying Kongtu guessed that his cough this time had indeed been rather uncomfortable. He looked at him and said, “You’ve had it hard.”
“It was all right.” After saying that, Xing Chang mysteriously added, “Speaking of which, I heard a little piece of gossip.”
“What gossip?” Ying Kongtu asked casually. “Is it related to us?”
“Sort of?” Xing Chang lowered his voice. “It’s about Yue Chengji’s family.”
Qianchongcui Mountain was currently in Yue Chengji’s hands.
When Ying Kongtu heard him say this, he became very interested and signaled for him to hurry up and speak.
Xing Chang said, “Qianchongcui Mountain is especially big, right?”
Ying Kongtu nodded. It was his mountain, so he knew the mountain’s area very well. Qianchongcui Mountain was indeed a relatively large mountain.
Xing Chang said, “Their family was able to get such a big mountain mainly because they had a lot of people. Yue Chengji isn’t an only child. He has two older brothers and one older sister above him. Now his eldest brother and eldest sister have both passed away. Only his second brother is left. They say he does business outside, and his business is especially big. He’s especially rich, so he didn’t want the ancestral property and left it all to Yue Chengji.”
Ying Kongtu asked, “And then?”
Xing Chang said, “His second brother seems to have contracted a serious illness now. There’s no cure. I heard he’s coming back.”
Author’s Note:
Wen Zhongshan had to go out to attend an event.
Dart meowed and rubbed against his legs, acting spoiled and wanting to go out with him.
After being touched eight hundred times by people attending the same event that morning, it came back, meowing softly.
