Mountain God’s Forest Farm – CH90

Chapter 90: High Quality

After dinner, Ying Kongtu and the others prepared to process the softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum.

Dart and Jingwei had never seen this before. They rested their paws on the large wooden tub, standing only on their hind paws as they curiously examined it.

Ying Kongtu happened to be washing his hands. After he finished, he did not wipe them dry, instead flicking the water droplets onto Dart and Jingwei’s faces.

The two furry ones scrunched up their faces at the same time.

Dart put down its paws and loudly protested at Ying Kongtu. “Meow-ao.”

Jingwei, meanwhile, directly licked the water off its muzzle with its tongue, its eyes shining as it looked at Ying Kongtu and barked twice, signaling that it wanted more.

Ying Kongtu pushed Jingwei’s muzzle away. “No more playing. Stay farther away. Be careful your fur doesn’t fall into the softshell turtle blood.”

They had only killed five softshell turtles in total, so there was only a small basin of softshell turtle blood.

The amount of turtle blood was not quite enough, so Ying Kongtu specially poured some yellow rice wine into it.

He stirred the softshell turtle blood and yellow rice wine evenly before pouring it into the large tub filled with bupleurum, letting every slice of bupleurum be evenly coated in the liquid.

“All right. Let it soak and steep for a while first. Once the bupleurum has absorbed all the turtle blood, we’ll fry it.”

Ying Kongtu took the blood basin into the kitchen, washed it clean, then walked back out and said, “I’m exhausted. I’ll lie down first.”

The weather was hot, and they were used to cooling off in the courtyard. The two recliners in the courtyard had been moved out again.

Even Tiaozhu and the others had specially shaped recliners of their own, convenient for them to either lie down or sprawl on.

Ying Kongtu had handmade these based on the large cat trees sold on the market.

The cat trees on the market were mainly designed for cats, so Xian Niao, Jingwei, and Shuangzhong could not really use them.

The cat tree Ying Kongtu made himself was much more convenient. The furry ones could sprawl wherever they wanted, and even Shuangzhong had a special bird perch to stand on.

The furry ones all followed Ying Kongtu around. As soon as he came outside and lay down, the furry ones also followed him outside and lay down.

Wen Zhongshan washed some fruit and brought it out. He placed a small table beside Ying Kongtu’s hand, then set the fruit on it.

Today’s fruit was mainly peaches and plums.

Ying Kongtu reached out, took a plum, and bit into it. “Plums these days really are big and sweet. It’s a pity the plums in our mountains haven’t been cultivated properly yet.”

There were also plums on their mountain this year, but compared with the plums sold on the market, the ones they grew were a little sour.

Perhaps because no one had managed them for many years, even after fertilizer was buried in the short term, the quality of the plums still did not meet expectations.

Ying Kongtu would occasionally pick a pocketful to eat, but most of them were left on the mountain.

Now there were macaques in the mountain.

After Ying Kongtu shared the plum trees with the wild animals, the macaques became the main force eating the plums. In just a few short days, they ate the plums completely clean without wasting a single bit.

Wen Zhongshan said casually, “They’ll be cultivated by next year. This year, our oranges will definitely be delicious. Let’s look forward to the oranges.”

“I think so too. We’ll eat oranges when the time comes.” Ying Kongtu narrowed his eyes and looked at the starry sky. “We can also dry some chenpi while we’re at it. I haven’t dried chenpi in a long time.”

This year, with Wen Zhongshan and so many little fellows, the house was lively no matter when. Ying Kongtu was also more willing to make handmade foods.

They had already made many things before, and now the attic was almost full.

Speaking of farm work, Ying Kongtu said, “The rice should be top-dressed with another round of fertilizer soon. It’s already flowering.”

“How long after flowering before it can be harvested?”

“Still a long time. This batch of rice is growing slowly this year. It probably won’t be ready until October. That’s just right; let it grow longer and accumulate more nutrients.”

They chatted about household matters, and the furry ones beside them also pricked up their ears, listening seriously to the family situation.

Occasionally, Xian Niao would even give a solemn “awoo” twice, asking for more specific details.

After chatting, eating fruit, and cooling off, Ying Kongtu went to check on the bupleurum that had just been soaking in softshell turtle blood.

Now every slice of bupleurum was coated in turtle blood, overall moist and swollen, in very good condition.

After carefully checking, Ying Kongtu confirmed that it could be fried, so he and Wen Zhongshan went to the kitchen to fry the softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum.

Ying Kongtu specially said, “The fire can’t be that high today. If the fire is too strong, the bupleurum will easily burn. Medium heat is enough.”

“All right. I won’t pull the bellows.”

“Then let’s start frying. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go back to sleep. I’m a little sleepy.”

Ying Kongtu washed the wok clean and made sure there was no oil or water inside, and that the wok’s condition was fine, before pouring in the bupleurum.

He did not dare pour in too much at once, so he first poured in half.

After the bupleurum went in, he quickly stir-fried it to prevent the turtle blood from sticking to the wok and burning.

Wen Zhongshan had perfect tacit understanding with him. The fire he tended was neither too strong nor too weak, but just right.

As Ying Kongtu fried the softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum, he only felt that the work was going twice as smoothly with half the effort.

In only a short while, the softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum had been fried dry.

This batch of softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum had been fried until glossy and crisp. It smelled of a unique medicinal fragrance and looked to be in excellent condition.

Even Ying Kongtu himself had not expected that after so many years, his skill in frying bupleurum had not only not declined, but had even improved slightly.

After both batches of bupleurum were finished, he grabbed a handful and placed it in his palm, then let Wen Zhongshan look. “What do you think?”

“I’m not familiar with medicinal herbs, so I can’t distinguish them, but I can sense the medicinal nature inside.” Wen Zhongshan tried hard to organize his words. “I feel that there’s a very smooth sensation in it.”

“I can sense that the softshell turtle blood and bupleurum have perfectly combined. It is neither turtle blood nor bupleurum, but has formed something new, which is this Chinese medicinal herb in our hands.”

Ying Kongtu understood. “I have a similar feeling. Compared with several hundred years ago, this batch of medicinal herbs is even better. I wonder whether it’s because the quality of the turtle blood is good, or because the bupleurum was nourished by divine power and its quality improved considerably?”

Wen Zhongshan said, “I feel it’s both?”

“All right, I feel it’s both too.” Ying Kongtu muttered.

Wen Zhongshan asked, “What do we do with it now? Still put it in the online shop to sell?”

Ying Kongtu had suddenly wanted to fry a batch of softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum mainly because he did not want to waste the rare turtle blood.

Conveniently, they had an online shop, so the medicinal herbs they fried would not be hard to sell. They only needed to put them in the shop.

If plain decoction pieces did not sell well, they could also ask Old Doctor Zhai to help write a couple of prescriptions. When the time came, selling them should not be a problem.

But now—

Ying Kongtu looked at the softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum in his hand and said, “Selling it directly online feels a little like wasting a heavenly treasure. Why don’t we send it to the old doctor? There isn’t much anyway. Let him use it as he sees fit.”

Wen Zhongshan had no objections. “He should like this batch of medicinal herbs.”

“He definitely will.” Ying Kongtu placed the fried softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum into the cabinet. “We’ll send it tomorrow.”

Ying Kongtu and the others had an online shop, so sending express deliveries was extremely convenient.

Old Doctor Zhai was not far from them either. They sent the package on the first day, and the old doctor received it the next day.

After receiving the medicinal herbs, the old doctor tasted them briefly and immediately called them.

The old doctor said, “Kongtu, where did you get this softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum? Did you fry it yourselves? It’s fried with real skill.”

“We fried it. We caught a few softshell turtles two days ago, and when we ate them, we felt the turtle blood shouldn’t be wasted. There happened to be bupleurum on the mountain, so we fried a little.”

Ying Kongtu smiled. “I was worried it might fail, but I didn’t expect it to come out even better than I imagined.”

The old doctor said, “Then your skill really is excellent. I tasted it just now. This batch of softshell-turtle-blood bupleurum is neither acrid nor dry, and its effect of nourishing yin and cooling the blood is very good. I haven’t seen medicinal herbs of this quality in many years. I didn’t expect to get them from you.”

“The main reason is that the quality of the medicinal herbs was good. After being carefully fried, they naturally reached this level.”

“How much bupleurum is there on your mountain? Are you growing it to sell? Is there any more?”

“Not for now, and we don’t plan to grow it for sale. It’s all wild bupleurum. But we may raise softshell turtles. If you need softshell turtles in the future, you can look for us.”

These two days, Ying Kongtu had already gone to handle the procedures and had also reported the situation to the higher-ups.

The people above had even specially come over to inspect his family’s terraced fields, greatly marveling at the Chinese softshell turtles pairing and laying eggs in the terraces.

The experts had also specially discussed the possibility of raising softshell turtles in rice fields.

The price of softshell turtles was much higher than that of ordinary rice-field fish. If it succeeded, the benefits farmers gained from farming might increase significantly. This unique integrated planting-and-breeding model might even become a calling card for Changchuan County.

Ying Kongtu listened to the experts’ discussion at the meeting and found it quite interesting, but he had no intention of expanding the breeding scale and becoming a professional breeder.

If the seven-plus mu of terraced fields on Wuchuan Mountain and Bihai Mountain were utilized, the softshell turtles raised there would already be enough for their use.

When the old doctor heard this news, he said happily, “There are quite a few prescriptions that use softshell turtle among medicinal materials. Sometimes when I go outside to buy medicine, I worry it won’t be genuine. If you have it on your side, then there’s nothing to worry about.”

Ying Kongtu said readily, “Whether you need softshell turtle shell or turtle blood, you can come to us. It won’t be troublesome for us to save a little.”

“That would be wonderful. I’ll note this down first. When I need it, I’ll come to you.”

The old doctor said this cheerfully, then remembered something else. “A couple days ago, I was also saying that the medicinal herbs where you are are so abundant. I wanted to come over and take a look. Would that be convenient?”

Ying Kongtu agreed readily. “Sure. Come over and have a meal at home? We haven’t met in a long time. There are a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“No problem. Conveniently, I have something to discuss with you too.” The old doctor chuckled and said, “I’ll have my grand-disciple book the tickets right away. We’ll talk in person.”

With that, the old doctor hung up the phone.

Ying Kongtu had just been about to ask what matter it was. Seeing this, he could only look helplessly at the screen displaying “Call ended” and shake his head.

Wen Zhongshan said, “The old doctor is probably looking for us about medicinal herbs.”

“I think so too.” Ying Kongtu placed his phone on the table. “The various medicinal herbs on our mountain really do grow very well.”

Author’s Note:

Tiaozhu went to the park to rescue stray kittens, meowing as it walked.

From the opposite side also came meowing, sounding extremely similar to its own.

Its spirits lifted, thinking the kitten was learning from it.

It raised its tail high and pattered out to take a look.

The one imitating it was not a cat.

It was a person.

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