Ningxia picked up the bowl and took a sip. Her eyes lit up instantly, "Delicious!"
The light yellow soup was still steaming, with a negligible layer of oil floating on it, and it smelled like ordinary chicken soup.
Despite its bland appearance, it surprisingly had no fishy taste at all. Instead, it had a subtle, yet undeniably sweet, fresh flavor! Ningxia was pleasantly surprised; chicken soup can't be judged by appearances!
"This is stewed by Xixi with ginseng, wolfberry and ginger. Qingtian likes to drink it too." Seeing that the three siblings liked it, Mu Yuanqing felt cheerful. Although she and Xixi were not very good at cooking, they were still good at stewing soup.
Upon hearing this, Ningxia picked up a light yellow, soft and sticky root and put it into his mouth. That's right, the sweet and fresh taste in the chicken soup was due to this thing.
Not only is the soup delicious, but the ginseng also has a unique taste when eaten. It absorbs the soup and tastes like a half-melted shaved ice when you bite it, which is very delicate.
Ningxia's thoughts became lively.
"Master, is this thing easy to find?" Ningxia looked at Liu Ximu flatteringly, even changing her address.
Liu Ximu scooped up a spoonful of soft white rice soaked in soup and put it into Qingtian's babbling mouth, "There's some here, but it's not easy to find."
The light in Ningxia's eyes faded.
Liu Ximu then spoke again, "But there are a lot of wild ginseng here in Bluebird, and the taste of stewed ginseng is better than this. It's just a little less nutritious, but it's not bad either."
“!!!Really!!” Ningxia widened her eyes.
Mu Yuanqing looked at the person who was very different from the cold and taciturn person in her memory, then looked at the brother and sister who were seriously eating beside her, and smiled knowingly.
Beside her was the voice of Liu Ximu gently coaxing Qingtian. People change, don’t they?
Mu Yuanqing collected his thoughts and replied to Ningxia with a smile: "Really, there are a lot of ginseng in the mountains here, but it's a bit difficult to dig them up."
"Do you have any plans to go out and dig this stuff?" Ningxia has never been afraid of hard work. Medicinal herbs that can nourish the body and are also delicious, isn't this a weight-gaining method tailor-made for the two kids at home?
"Why are you so anxious? Have you prepared the firewood that Yanhanyue will need soon? And the food in the fields, and the winter clothes for the two children, have you prepared everything?"
As Mu Yuanqing spoke, he stood up and filled Lin Yi's bowl with chicken soup. The ginseng standing upright in it almost fell out, so Lin Yi quickly reached out to take it.
Ningxia Yan'er came down and said, "Yes, there are still a lot of things to do at home. It's hard enough to collect the firewood that Yanhanyue needs. When will the mountains and fields be cleared?"
Seeing her frustrated, Mu Yuanqing scolded her, "It's not too late, why are you worried? There are still almost two months left, why are you panicking? Tomorrow, you and Xixi go and get that piece of Angelica dahurica back.
Together with the herbs we collected earlier, it's enough for Xixi to keep busy for a while. He stays home to take care of the children and prepare the herbs, and you and I will go out to collect firewood. I still don't have enough at home."
Ningxia nodded. If there was not enough firewood in the coldest month, it would be fatal. She knew what was more important than what was less important.
Seeing Liu Qingtian turning his head away and not wanting to eat, Liu Ximu finished the leftovers in the bowl with a few mouthfuls. "When the family is almost done, there should be some time. Then we can go up the mountain to dig together."
Ningxia naturally agreed, and then she asked, "Master, is American ginseng valuable? Do they accept it at the trading point?"
"Traditional Chinese medicine doesn't collect much, but it sells well in the shelter and the price is right."
Liu Ximu easily saw what Ningxia was thinking and continued, "But it's best not to sell it."
"Why?"
"This thing is easy to find but not cheap. Can you guess why?"
"Because it's laborious to collect?"
Liu Ximu nodded. "Not only that, but cleaning it is also not easy. You can only harvest 80 kilograms at most from digging from morning till night, not counting the time it takes to clean it. It will be much lighter after drying."
Ningxia nodded suddenly.
Mu Yuanqing also spoke up, "Generally speaking, it's not a rare thing, and it's not easy to come by. There are several children at home, so it's good to give them some tonic.
You take the trouble to dig some up, process it, and then you're reluctant to eat it. The price you sell it for is not as high as Xixi's casually prepared herbs. There's no need for that. We've collected some specifically to make supplementary food for our children."
"Master is so powerful?"
Mu Yuanqing smiled and stretched out his hand to pinch Liu Ximu's thick arm, "That's right, my Xixi Chuya was once a top student in the School of Pharmacology of the Central State Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine!"
Mu Yuanqing's sudden approach and intimacy made Liu Ximu's rough square face blush. Ningxia thought that Mu Yuanqing's praise made him embarrassed, so she kept teasing him.
Liu Ximu was really not good at dealing with this kind of chatter, so he took Qingtian and the full-fed Sangsang to play in the yard.
"That's just his personality, don't take it to heart."
Ningxia shook her head and put the slightly tough chicken in the bowl into her mouth. Compared with the soup and ginseng, the chicken was much inferior, but she did not waste it. She ate every piece.
"Speaking of which, how are you going to deal with that livestock shed? Even though Maomao was born after the first sprout, and everything has improved a lot, it's still tough for him to survive the cold months in your shed."
"I found materials to seal up the area around the shed, leaving only a small door for it to go in and out. I don't know if it can survive." Ningxia had no other choice. She even thought about taking Maomao into the house to raise him, but then she rejected the idea.
"How about you bring me here and keep me here? My place is spacious enough, and one room is more than enough to keep my two horses in and provide them with shelter.
And I only seal the hollowed-out middle section of my ring, the bottom half is all cement, which keeps it warm much better."
To be honest, if the house didn't come with two well-built and spacious livestock pens, she and Liu Ximu would not have chosen this place.
Walking further in, there were two other two-story villas. Although they were in a serious state of decay, they could be cleaned up. However, considering the two horses at home and various other factors, they finally chose this place.
Ningxia thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "If Maomao is willing to come, that would be great. I'll bring the fodder over, but I'll have to trouble you, Master, to feed him."
Ningxia would of course be happy to have a better environment for Maomao, otherwise how would she feel if Maomao really froze to death at home?
Mu Yuanqing smiled and said, "What's the big deal? Maomao should be able to eat a lot given his size. The hay and manure piled up will be cheap for my family." His tone was full of joking.
She and Liu Ximu chose a small piece of land to sow seeds. The hay and manure produced by the two horses at home were more than enough to use up, so how could they be greedy for the hair?
Besides, they didn't rely on the land for food, so just enough was enough. Their family made a living from medicinal herbs, so any more would be too much to handle.
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