Chapter 253: Earth Ginseng

Yang Chunyan stopped only after she had almost finished digging up the field of Viola yedoensis, and the three of them and the dog continued walking up the mountain.

It was already past twelve o'clock when we arrived at the forest farm. Dahei ran into the yard, and soon Wangcai, Lai Fu and Dahuang came out to greet him.

Zhou Huaian picked up Wangcai who was spinning around his feet and said, "You bastard, do you still recognize me?"

Zhou Yiding gently kicked Lai Fu who was biting his toes, "Even if you come next year, it will remember you."

Yang Chunyan felt that it was true. The dog in her family was adopted by her eldest brother, and it always remembered him no matter how long had passed.

Zhou Daqing followed him out, "Are you hungry? I thought you guys wouldn't be here until the afternoon!"

"I'm not hungry!" Zhou Yiding waved his hand. "My sister-in-law made some pancakes and we had a full meal. I have rented the barren mountain land next to Brother Huairong. Secretary Xu said he will go to the city tomorrow to help us get the land ownership certificate."

Zhou Daqing looked at him cheerfully, "You're pretty quick!"

Zhou Yiding smiled and said, "The youngest one helped me look at it. The second father said that it used to be Captain Zhou's family's private plot, and the families on both sides get along well."

Several people entered the yard, and Zhou Daqing took out a gun from the house, "Here, youngest brother!"

Zhou Huaian happily took it, "Thank you uncle, thank you!"

"Why are you being so polite to me!" Zhou Daqing looked at the two men seriously, "You two must remember, when you go into the mountains to look for mountain products, don't be greedy and don't go to the old forest. Remember?"

"Remember!" Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding responded in unison.

He touched the rifle in his hand curiously. This thing was much more powerful than a hunting rifle. From now on, when he and Yiding went up the mountain together, they would not be afraid of encountering wild boars.

Yang Chunyan took out the cantaloupe, watermelon, dry food and rapeseed oil that she brought up the mountain and put them in the kitchen.

Zhou Daqing packed up his things and prepared to go down the mountain.

Yang Chunyan hurriedly gave the two melons to Zhou Daqing to take with them. After the three of them packed up, they went out together.

Zhou Daqing went down the mountain to the forest farm. Zhou Yiding left Dahei and the two puppies behind, and took Dahuang with him and followed Yang Chunyan towards the burned forest.

Dahuang hadn't gone out hunting for a long time and was very excited. He ran to the front and then turned back and ran around the three of them again and again.

Not long after entering the woods, it pounced on a wild rabbit, held it in its mouth, and wagged its tail proudly at the three people.

Zhou Yiding took the fat rabbit from its mouth and rubbed its head. "Great job! I'll cook it when I get home later and give it to you and Dahei to eat."

"Woof woof!" Dahuang barked at him happily twice and ran into the woods.

Zhou Huaian mentioned the fat rabbit and said with a smile: "We hunters who are not even half-baked are really far behind the dogs."

"Don't talk about us." Zhou Yiding put the rabbit in his backpack. "Even the hunters in the mountains need dogs to go up the mountain with them to hunt good wild animals."

Zhou Huaian nodded, "I wonder how much my two little ones can learn from their master?"

Zhou Yiding smiled and said, "This little thing is quite clever."

Yang Chunyan listened to the two people chatting, her eyes scanning the woods like a radar.

The wild fungus on a dead tree in front of her attracted her attention. She pulled Zhou Huaian, who was talking about the lively scene, and said, "Let's go pick some fungus."

Zhou Huaian and the other man turned around and asked, "How could it be?"

"Look! Pick them up, dry them and stir-fry them with meat." Yang Chunyan pointed to the front, and the two turned their heads to see the dead tree trunks covered with brown wild fungus.

"Let's go!" The three of them went over and started working. Soon they had picked all the wild wood ears on the dead tree.

Wild fungus is nutritious, fresh and refreshing, and its protein content is said to be equivalent to that of meat.

Medicine believes that black fungus is sweet and cool in nature, non-toxic, and contains a variety of vitamins, trace elements and amino acids. It has the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, resolving phlegm and moistening the lungs, invigorating qi and lightening the body, benefiting the five internal organs, nourishing the stomach, and detoxifying.

Especially those who are engaged in barbering, mining, dust, sawing, repair, road protection and other operations should eat black fungus regularly.

Because it can also dissolve and oxidize indigestible foreign matter such as hair, husks, wood residues, sand, metal chips, etc.

Just as he picked up the backpack, Zhou Huaian pointed to the left side of the slope and said, "Yan'er, look, there are a lot of wild ginseng growing over there. The word ginseng is in the name, so it should be a herb, right?"

Yang Chunyan looked in the direction he pointed and saw a patch of lavender flowers. She didn't expect that the wild ginseng would be so beautiful after blooming. "It's a herb. There are many of them in the village, but I didn't pick any."

As she spoke, she walked towards the wild ginseng. As she got closer, she saw the purple flowers and thought they were even more beautiful. "This patch must have been growing for many years. Let's dig some up and take them back."

"Yes!" Zhou Huaian put down his backpack, took out the medicine hoe and started digging.

Yang Chunyan saw that the roots she dug up were fat and thick, "They are indeed quite old."

Zhou Huaian picked up a piece and looked at it. "I see that everyone calls it wild ginseng, and at most they pick some tender leaves to cook soup. It seems that no one digs it up to eat."

"My family hasn't eaten it either!" Zhou Yiding also stepped forward to help the two of them pick the tubers below and put them in the backpack.

Wild ginseng: Also known as false ginseng, wild Korean ginseng, wild American ginseng, purple ginseng, etc. It is a perennial herb of the Portulacaceae family.

Wild ginseng is the rhizome of Cotinus purslane, which is sweet and cold in nature and enters the spleen, lung and kidney meridians. It has the effects of replenishing qi, moistening the lungs, strengthening the spleen, relieving cough and warming the meridians.

The leaves of wild ginseng are thick and look similar to tofu vegetables. It has small purple flowers that are extremely bright. It likes to grow in front of and behind houses, in corners, and on the edges of fields.

The young leaves and stems before flowering are crisp and refreshing, and can be stir-fried or made into soup. They taste smooth and delicious.

The fleshy roots can be eaten cold, are suitable for stewing with meat, and can be used as a medicinal food.

The name of wild ginseng comes mainly because its rhizome looks like ginseng and can be used as a medicinal material, hence the name "wild ginseng" and "false ginseng".

The three of them were busy there for half an hour, digging about ten pounds of water, and then continued to move forward.

The weather was hot and humid, and the three of them were very careful, for fear of encountering long insects hanging on tree branches or hiding in the grass to cool off.

Halfway through the journey, Yang Chunyan found several Millettia reticulata and Pueraria root in the woods. She thought of going to the burned forest to collect pollen, but she skipped it for fear of wasting time.

The three men reached the rocks in the burned forest and looked down, but saw no prey.

Zhou Yiding said: "Maybe it's because it's noon, we should come earlier tomorrow."

"Yes, let's go get the beehive first!"

Zhou Huaian and his companion carried their tools and climbed up and down the rock to the beehive, where they saw the industrious little bees flying in and out of the cave.

The two men dug open the hole, Zhou Huaian lit the moxa stick, and after smoking away the bees, he began to mutter, "Don't be afraid, we don't want honey this time, just some pollen!"

Zhou Yiding grabbed a bee and pinched his throat, "You bad guy, you stole my nectar and my pollen, I'll kill you!"

"My pores are all standing up." Zhou Huaian rolled his eyes at him, put on gloves, looked into the hive, and took out two rows of honeycombs left over from last time. "There are some honeycombs in there again. I'll come back next year."

Zhou Yiding nodded, and the two of them sealed the cave entrance, returned to the rock, and walked towards the ditch together.

(End of this chapter)