Chapter 43 Coriolus versicolor
Su Tong went to the trap he dug last time, and it turned out that no bunches of rabbits fell into it.
But fortunately, I still harvested a pheasant and a hare, which is pretty good.
In order to have a long-term supply of meat, she expanded the trap by a full circle and dug it twice as deep, and still set up marks before starting to walk back.
The back mountain is sparsely populated and the vegetation is denser than that of the front mountain. Su Tong was more attentive this time. She needed to know what herbs she could use in this mountain area.
The plant with small yellow flowers is the groundsel, which is a rare plant that blooms in winter and is a well-known "killer of sores".
The leaves with wide and long are Isatis indigotica, which is also a commonly used Chinese medicinal material. Of course, its rhizome is even more famous, which is the Isatis root that is well-known to everyone in modern times.
The most common thing that catches the eye is the winter mulberry leaf, which can clear the lungs and moisten dryness, clear the liver and improve eyesight, and is effective when used to soak in water and drink.
But the value was not high. She remembered that on the small blackboard of the Chinese medicine shop, a pound of winter mulberry leaves was only two cents, and the pound here referred to the weight after being air-dried.
Su Tong kept walking and picking herbs as she went. Although there were many Chinese medicinal herbs in the mountains, she could only pick them selectively, otherwise her small backpack would not be able to hold them all.
To get from the back mountain to the front mountain, one has to cross a ridge, where the terrain is higher. Su Tong wiped the sweat off his face, loosened two buttons of his cotton jacket around his neck, and sat down next to an old tree.
Looking at the endless mountains, the occasional chirping of birds and buzzing of insects set off the increasing silence in the forest. This environment made Su Tong feel familiar and relaxed.
She leaned back slightly, trying to rest against the tree, but she felt something poking her back and making her feel uncomfortable.
Looking back, she discovered that the thick old trees were covered with densely packed clumps of hard, yellow cockscomb-like things. The grass was so dense that she would not have been able to spot them if she had not gotten closer.
Su Tong looked up and quickly identified that it was an old boxwood tree. Oh my god!
Su Tong was delighted, it turned out to be "Poplar and Coriolus polyphylla"!
"Poplar Coriolus versicolor" is also known as poplar yellow. It can be called "soft gold" in the 21st century. It has extremely high medicinal value, but most of them are artificially cultivated. Wild Coriolus versicolor like this is extremely precious because of its small quantity.
In this era, artificial cultivation of Coriolus versicolor has not yet appeared, and this wild Coriolus versicolor is even more scarce.
When Su Tong used a small hoe to clear the grass around the old poplar tree, she was even more shocked. The mulberry fungus growing on the tree was more numerous and larger than she had imagined.
The growth cycle of poplar mulberry fungus is extremely long. The longer it grows, the higher its medicinal value and the more valuable it is.
Su Tong had seen wild Coriolus versicolor before, but never one this big!
The largest cluster growing at the root of the old tree was actually the size of a fan. The golden lines on it showed its growth age in circles. There were more than a dozen of them. This trip into the mountain was not in vain. I really found a treasure.
Su Tong carefully removed the mulberry fungus from the poplar tree one by one with a dagger, and put the pieces, big and small, together, which looked quite heavy.
Su Tong wrapped the mulberry fungus in large leaves and put it into the backpack. With the addition of the rabbit and the pheasant, the backpack was full. He had no choice but to bundle up the herbs he had picked and carry them in his hands. Then he carried the backpack and went down the mountain contentedly.
The days are short in winter, and it was already dark when we saw the cowshed.
I pushed the door of the courtyard and was surprised.
In the small yard, a pile of bamboos appeared in half a day. Two old men were sitting in the yard, one was trimming bamboo branches, and the other was rolling the trimmed bamboo branches into straw bundles. There was already a small pile of straw bundles next to them. There was also a faint smell of chicken soup in the air...
I don’t know if it was because Su Tong pushed the door too suddenly or the scene in front of me was too beyond my imagination.
Several people stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, and it was Lao Lin who took the lead in throwing away the straw in his hand and yelled:
"Girl is back! Eat, eat! I'm already hungry!"
Old Qi then stood up belatedly, pointed at the yard several times, and then said:
"Stone, stone cut down, they said they were going to make furniture for you."
Su Tong turned around and closed the gate, feeling a little surprised. Shi Tou was really quick. She had only mentioned it in the morning, and before she had even thought about it, he had already chopped her down.
Lao Qi pointed towards the house again, and said with some embarrassment:
"We've covered this leftover chicken soup from yesterday so it's not dirty. Let's eat it together!"
Su Tong walked into the main room and saw hot chicken soup and a large bowl of chicken offal fried last night on the square table, with a few roasted sweet potatoes neatly placed next to them.
It seems that these two old men had prepared the food in advance before coming to the shed. They also remembered that she loved to eat roasted sweet potatoes.
She suppressed her surging emotions, put down the backpack, and continued with a smile:
"Oh! That's great! We have food to eat as soon as we get back. Come on, come on! Eat, eat!"
The three of them sat down, and Su Tong served each of the two old men a large bowl of chicken soup with meat. If they were to drink the chicken soup like they did yesterday, it would probably take them ten days or half a month to finish it.
Su Tong bought only ceramic bowls. Pottery cannot be made so light, and for the sake of convenience, Su Tong bought only large bowls, which looked more exaggerated visually.
So Lao Qi felt his heart, liver and lungs ache when he looked at the big bowl of chicken soup in front of him. He stammered for a long time before saying:
"It's cold, it can be kept for a few more days... I, I don't need to eat so much..."
Su Tong turned around and took out the hare and pheasant from the basket.
"Look! There are still some left! What are we going to do if we don't finish these two?"
Lao Lin was happy, he picked up the chopsticks and started to put the food into his mouth...
"Eat! Eat! I haven't had such a big bowl of meat in a long time! We are so lucky! We can eat meat with the girl!"
Lao Qi was silent for a moment, and finally started eating.
However, the atmosphere at the dinner table was somewhat silent. Seeing that the two old men seemed to be getting sad again, Su Tong had no choice but to speak up to break the silence and asked:
"Old Qi can also do bamboo weaving work?"
Lao Qi looked up, a little embarrassed, "No... I just wanted to help prune the branches so that I can save some trouble later."
Lao Lin complained, "Lao Qi is clumsy. I asked him to give me the knife but he wouldn't let me. Look how neatly I can trim the grass. He is so slow at pruning that he can't even keep up."
Lao Qi glanced at Lao Lin and said:
"I can at least prune the branches. I'll just prune your fingers. Do you remember last year when the village was repairing the riverbank, you almost broke your foot..."
"Alas - alas - a good man never brags about his past achievements!"
The two old men chatted with each other and the atmosphere became lively again.
After dinner, Su Tong still boiled a bowl of Chinese medicine for everyone, including herself.
After he finished drinking it, Lao Lin was given another acupuncture. Lao Lin's cold was almost cured, and the rest needed conditioning. Fortunately, there was not much work to do now, so he had time to condition himself slowly.
The pheasants and rabbits that were caught from the trap were injured and would not live long, so we simply processed them, skinned them, washed them, smeared some salt on them, and hung them on the low beams. This was enough to eat for several days.
There were no boxes or cabinets in the house, so Su Tong had to hide the poplar and mulberry fungus in the corner of the straw bed where she slept. She planned to find an opportunity to go to the county in the next few days, as the grocery store in the town might not be able to sell it.
Afterwards, Su Tong walked around the cowshed again and covered the felt around the cowshed more tightly. It was cold at night and the cows were still seriously ill, so they had to be treated with care.
After taking care of all these and coming back to wash up, Su Tong discovered that the newly bought kettle was already filled with hot water.
I don’t know when it was cooked, but these two old men are... quite careful.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
