Chapter 89: Can Be Used to Make Medicine
Ying Kongtu pulled Wen Zhongshan along and walked around the terraced fields on Wuchuan Mountain.
Soon, he discovered that there were far more Chinese softshell turtles here than he had imagined.
The Chinese softshell turtles had almost no natural enemies here. They floated very comfortably on the water’s surface, basking in the sun, occasionally dragging some red-backed duckweed from the side to eat.
At a casual glance, Ying Kongtu could spot several in a single field.
Not only did he see them, Tiaozhu and the others saw them too.
This group of Chinese softshell turtles was far too plump and comfortable. The furry ones were all itching to move, their round eyes fixed on the terraced fields, looking as though they might launch an attack at any moment.
Especially Tiaozhu. With a push of its hind legs, it was about to leap into the terraced field.
“Hey.” Ying Kongtu reached out and caught Tiaozhu by the chest, stopping it.
Tiaozhu’s fluffy chest was held back by Ying Kongtu, and it could not move. Very dissatisfied, it raised its head and cried at him. “Meow-ao.”
Ying Kongtu smiled. “It’s fine to taste them once in a while, but don’t catch them now. Let them keep breeding.”
Tiaozhu licked its mouth. “Meow-ao, ao!”
It roughly meant that even if it did not catch them, other people would.
Ying Kongtu said, “It’s all right. After they finish breeding, we’ll release them into nearby waters. No one will come up our mountain to catch them.”
As he spoke, Ying Kongtu glanced at Tiaozhu and the others, saying with a smile, “Anyway, you’re all so amazing. Whenever you want to eat them, you can catch them anytime. Let them live in the wild first. When we want to eat them, we’ll come catch fresh ones.”
Tiaozhu was convinced by this reason. It looked at Ying Kongtu, then at the Chinese softshell turtles, and regretfully gave up on the idea of catching them.
However, this group of Chinese softshell turtles was simply too comfortable, practically treating the terraced fields as their home.
Tiaozhu could not bear the sight of it. As it passed by, it stretched out a paw and stepped on the shell of a Chinese softshell turtle, pushing it into the water with a splash. Only then did it become happy.
Ying Kongtu called the furry ones to go home first.
The sun was too strong. The fur on the furry ones had been heated until it was warm, like fluffy bedding that had been freshly dried in the sun, and it even gave off a pleasant smell.
When Ying Kongtu picked Dart up, he took the opportunity to bury his face in its belly and inhale.
Dart gently rested its paw pad against Ying Kongtu’s arm. “Mi.”
Shuangzhong saw this. It hopped twice on the field ridge, hugged Ying Kongtu’s leg with its wings, and said, “Jiu.”
Ying Kongtu welcomed all comers. After putting Dart down, he also inhaled Shuangzhong. “Let’s go. We’re going home.”
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Ying Kongtu suddenly remembered something and said to Tiaozhu and the others, “You go back first. We’re going to pick out two chickens.”
Tiaozhu looked at Ying Kongtu. “Meow-ao?”
“The Chinese softshell turtles you brought back are of pretty good quality. It would be a pity to stew them with ordinary free-range chickens. We’re going to pick two better chickens.” Ying Kongtu waved his hand. “The weather is too hot. Hurry home and enjoy the air conditioning.”
Tiaozhu agreed. “Ao.”
The chickens on Ying Kongtu’s mountain had not been raised for long yet. If they wanted to eat chicken now, they mainly bought free-range chickens from the shop at the foot of the mountain.
Even among the same batch of free-range chickens, there were differences between better and worse meat quality. If they went to pick them personally, they could usually get better ones than the chickens delivered by the shop owner.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan were regular customers, so the chicken-picking process went very smoothly. Before long, they had picked the chickens they wanted.
Each of them held one chicken as they slowly walked home.
Ying Kongtu said, “It’s been so many years since I last ate softshell turtle stewed with chicken. In the past, we used to call it softshell turtle chicken stew.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “I haven’t eaten it in many years either. I usually eat in the cafeteria, and cafeteria dishes are relatively conservative. They don’t serve stranger dishes.”
“That’s true. Mainly, softshell turtles are troublesome to prepare too. Later, we’ll still have to boil water to remove the skin.” Ying Kongtu smiled. “But in the past, transportation in the mountains wasn’t developed. Usually, we ate whatever we caught, and there wasn’t much room to choose. So these common aquatic products were eaten quite often.”
“When we were on missions, it was almost the same. We ate whatever we caught. Fresh food was usually tastier than dry rations, and the young people were more willing to go through the trouble.”
“If you put it that way, then our situation was still a little better.”
“There are all kinds of food in the mountains. If you want to eat something, you can usually find it by searching the mountains. Sometimes, when the weather was hot or cold, we would specially find certain foods to nourish the little mountain gods.”
“Do softshell turtles count as nourishing?”
“They do. They nourish yin and enrich the blood. They can improve physical weakness and insufficient qi and blood.”
Ying Kongtu glanced at Wen Zhongshan and actually felt that it would not be bad to nourish Wen Zhongshan a little too.
“In the past, we would also specially save softshell turtle blood to process medicinal herbs. What we wanted was precisely that nourishing effect.”
“Softshell turtle blood for medicine?”
“Does it sound a bit dark? Softshell turtle blood nourishes yin and cools the blood. It can remove the dryness and heat from some medicinal herbs, so it’s quite useful. I used to have a friend who took the provincial examination for many years but never passed. His liver fire was strong, and he was anxious and restless, making his whole household unable to live in peace.”
Ying Kongtu slowly told Wen Zhongshan about the past. Wen Zhongshan listened attentively. “And then?”
“Later, the doctor said he needed to drink some decoction pieces that soothed the liver and relieved depression. He came to me for help, so I went up the mountain and dug some bupleurum for him, then processed it into softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum. After he drank it for a while, his condition improved quite a lot.”
When Ying Kongtu said this, there was a smile at the corner of his mouth.
Wen Zhongshan said, “Then he must have been very grateful to you.”
“Yes.” Ying Kongtu said slowly, “At the time, his wife even specially brought me cured meat as thanks. The cured meat from their family was extremely fragrant too. But it’s been many years. Now, I’ve already forgotten what the couple looked and sounded like.”
As Ying Kongtu spoke, he shook his head. “‘The affairs of the world drift endlessly with flowing water; in the end, this floating life is but a dream.’ It has been too long. So long that if this hadn’t come up today, I would have forgotten about it.”
Wen Zhongshan held his hand and applied a little force.
Ying Kongtu turned to look at him. “It’s all right. When that monk gave me my name back then, this was the meaning he chose. All things come to emptiness; do not cling.”
Wen Zhongshan thought for a moment. “Does that old friend have descendants now?”
“Yes. Several branches, in fact. When their family had the most people, they even developed into an entire village.” A nostalgic expression appeared on Ying Kongtu’s face. “They still have descendants now. Xing Chang is one of them.”
“That sounds truly wondrous. No wonder you’re quite good to Xing Chang.”
“We gods who live for a long time are like this. Sometimes, when we look after the descendants of old friends, our feelings become especially complicated.”
Ying Kongtu’s mood was a little low. After two seconds of silence, he recovered his optimism. “Speaking of softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum, the quality of this batch of softshell turtles really is quite good. It would be a waste to let it go unused. Why don’t we go up the mountain to dig some bupleurum and process a little softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum?”
“There’s bupleurum on the mountain?”
“Yes. And they’re all old perennial bupleurum. I’ll point them out to you later.” Ying Kongtu said, “Conveniently, the quality of the bupleurum on the mountain is also very good. If used to process softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum, the medicinal effect will definitely be excellent.”
Ying Kongtu knew every kind of plant on the mountain like the back of his hand. After taking an afternoon nap, he pulled Wen Zhongshan up the mountain to dig bupleurum.
The bupleurum in their area belonged to southern bupleurum, and its quality was very good.
Especially since the bupleurum on the mountain had been nourished by divine power these past two years. As soon as it was dug out, it carried a rich herbal scent.
Ying Kongtu showed it to Wen Zhongshan. “Actually, quite a few grasses nearby can be considered medicinal herbs. The batch of medicinal herbs I dug for Yue Chengmao last month included some from here.”
“In other words, even if we don’t intentionally plant them, the mountain can actually produce many medicinal herbs?”
“Yes. This place is a high-yield region for traditional Chinese medicinal herbs. Over seventy to eighty percent of the country’s medicinal herbs can be found here. It’s just that there’s no need to sell them outside. The resources for some medicinal herbs are also rather scarce now, so it’s better to let them keep reproducing.”
After digging the bupleurum and patrolling the mountain along the way, the two strolled back home.
They washed the bupleurum roots clean with well water, then placed them into the drying oven to dry at a low temperature.
After they were dried, once dinner was finished in the evening, they could process them further.
Tiaozhu and the others maintained a certain degree of wildness and were very curious about all kinds of prey.
It was rare to have softshell turtles today, so they had long since been guarding under the eaves, staring brightly at the kitchen like a group of furry little supervisors.
They watched the kitchen without even dozing off. Squatting neatly, they also looked like guardian beasts on a roof ridge.
Seeing them like this, Ying Kongtu felt as though his back was about to be stared through. “You don’t need to watch. Go play. I’ll call you when the food is ready.”
“Meow-ao.”
“Awoo.”
Tiaozhu and Xian Niao both gave him face and called out once, but their butts remained firmly planted at the kitchen doorway, without any intention of moving at all.
Ying Kongtu could only let them be and reminded them, “I need to keep the softshell turtle blood. Later, I’ll stir-fry it with the bupleurum. The other parts will all go into the stew.”
The little fellows let out another chaotic round of “meow-ao,” “awoo,” and “kiki.”
As Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan busied themselves, fragrance soon drifted out of the kitchen.
The taste of softshell turtle stewed with free-range chicken was different from all other soups. It had a unique, fresh sweetness.
The ingredients inside the big-bellied clay pot kept bubbling and rolling, while most of the fragrance was gathered inside the large ceramic belly.
The two kinds of meat stewed together until each contained the other. Their flavors promoted and completed each other.
The furry ones could no longer sit still and kept raising their heads to look toward the kitchen.
Seeing that the stew was almost done, Ying Kongtu first ladled out portions for them and placed them aside to cool.
Softshell turtle stewed with free-range chicken was a clear stew, so Ying Kongtu, as usual, mixed a dipping sauce.
Very soon, Ying Kongtu announced, “Let’s eat.”
The furry ones immediately lined up and sat neatly in front of their own food bowls, focused as they waited for their meal.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan divided the food for them, and they ate happily, purring in their throats. They sounded extremely delighted, and listening to them made Ying Kongtu’s heart soften too.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan also sat down at the dining table, ready to eat.
Before they began, Ying Kongtu lifted his bowl and clinked soup bowls with Wen Zhongshan.
The years were long. Fortunately, they had both now found someone with whom they could share dinner.
Ying Kongtu held the bowl and took a sip of soup. He was immediately startled by the delicious flavor. “So fresh. It’s so fresh my eyebrows are about to fall off.”
Free-range chicken was already very savory, and Chinese softshell turtle was even more richly fresh and fragrant. When the two meats were stewed together, with basically no other side ingredients added, the fragrance became even more concentrated. With one sip, it almost felt as though the savory taste had formed tiny pearls that burst open inside the mouth.
Ying Kongtu sighed contentedly. “Just for this bowl of soup alone, today’s work wasn’t in vain.”
Wen Zhongshan reminded him, “Try the meat too. The skirt edge is delicious.”
Ying Kongtu then picked up a piece of the skirt edge, placed it into his bowl, coated it fully with a layer of dipping sauce, and tasted it gently.
The skirt edge was plump and soft, with a somewhat glutinous texture. Its mouthfeel was exceptional. After being coated in dipping sauce, he bit into it and found it soft, glutinous, fresh, and fragrant, its flavor further highlighted by the sour-spicy dipping sauce. It could practically be described as flavor and texture advancing side by side, making it impossible to stop eating.
Ying Kongtu stared at the skirt edge. “As expected of softshell turtles that were raised in the terraced fields for a while. They’re truly delicious.”
Author’s Note:
Jingwei loves attracting people. Every time it smells Xing Chang’s scent, it starts running from dozens of meters away to welcome him.
Xing Chang is deeply flattered.
After learning Jingwei’s thoughts, Xing Chang gave Jingwei a collar as a gift, letting it wear it when it went out to play.
When humans see Jingwei wearing a collar, their mindset always shifts from “this puppy looks so much like a wolf” to “it’s wearing a collar, so it must be a pet puppy.”
Human, you’re just casually finding a reason to convince yourself, aren’t you?
