The next morning, He Fengmian came to pick up Shulan.
Wang Yaozhi also came along.
Huang Qi and the others quickly bowed and said, "Disciple greets Master."
Wang Yaozhi looked at his apprentices and saw that they had not only grown taller but also gained some weight.
He said directly, "Your junior uncle has been quite busy lately, so you should stay here at the clinic and help out."
Upon hearing this, the apprentices were overjoyed: "Yes, Master!"
Wang Yaozhi looked at his apprentices, unable to contain his joy.
I scoffed inwardly.
It seems they're reluctant to go back.
That makes sense, though. Compared to his own carefree personality, his junior sister is more suited to be his master.
Since Wang Yaozhi had arrived, Huang Qi and the others no longer needed to return to the military camp; only Shu Lan went with them.
When He Fengmian led her to a place piled with sorghum stalks, there were at least ten juice presses there. At first glance, they looked like benches, but they were actually just benches with a round groove carved into them, and a hole opened from the groove to one side of the bench surface.
The opening is slanted, so that after the juice is extracted from the contents placed in the round trough, it can flow down the opening into the bowl or basin below.
Two wooden sticks were nailed to one side of the stool, with a crossbeam inserted between the sticks and a pressure plate placed under the crossbeam.
When the press plate is placed flat on the stool, a piece of protruding wood is placed next to the round groove. Then, using the lever principle, the straw is placed on the round groove, the press plate is pressed down, the straw is flattened, and the juice inside flows out along the round groove and the opening.
Now, after everyone removes the leaves from the sorghum stalks, they place one end on the juicing bed and press down with their other hand, squeezing out the light-colored juice, which then flows into the wooden basin.
A sweet aroma of sorghum wafted over, leaving Shulan stunned: "So fast?"
He Fengmian said, "After I came back yesterday, I had someone make it overnight. After it was finished this morning, I had someone bring over the straw to extract the juice."
After the entire stalk was removed, there was only a little juice left in the wooden basin, less than what remained in the trough.
A single straw needs to be pressed more than ten times; if you want more juice, you don't know how many times you need to press it.
Shulan's expectant expression faded slightly as she truthfully replied, "I forgot that manpower is too time-consuming these days. This kind of thing is fine if we're just eating it ourselves, but selling it would definitely be too much work."
Modern sugar production is possible because of juicing machines, which are fast.
Unlike now, it's time-consuming and laborious.
He Fengmian said, "It's alright. As long as we can brew it, it's fine to just make it for everyone to drink daily."
Wang Yaozhi, who had just arrived, also said, "That's right, if there were syrup this winter, it would definitely make everyone happy."
She leaned closer and whispered, "Those two brothers both love sweets."
Shulan hadn't expected that the He brothers would like sweets. After thinking for a moment, she said, "That's fine. My eldest brother hasn't had much of an appetite lately. Once we have some syrup, I'll have Aunt Chen make some hawthorn cakes to whet his appetite."
She had seen wild hawthorn trees in the mountains before, and they should be ripe now, so she could ask the people who went to the mountains to help pick them.
Because it would take too much time here, Shulan planned to go and study the Bone-Eating Poison with Wang Yaozhi first.
She came here today to talk about this: "General, Senior Brother, I thought about it last night and thought there were a few medicines we could try, but I'm just thinking about it and they might not work."
Even though she said that, He Fengmian and Wang Yaozhi's eyes lit up: "Junior sister, tell us in detail."
He Fengmian looked at her with an expectant expression.
She said, "I don't know if you've ever heard of the Yimi flower, the giant scorpion grass, the fire tree hemp, and the blood-sealing throat tree."
The more Wang Yaozhi listened, the wider his eyes widened.
After all, he only knew about the "blood-sealing throat" method; he had never heard of the others.
He asked, "Junior sister, can these really cure the Bone-Eating Poison?"
Shu Lan said, "I haven't tried this before, but I've heard of these herbs in medical books. They are very effective at detoxification. For example, ylang-ylang is known as the 'saint's herb' and has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting body fluid production and quenching thirst, and reducing swelling and relieving pain. The same goes for scorpion grass and fire tree hemp."
"Then the Antiaris toxicaria tree? Just hearing that name tells you it's poisonous."
"Yes, it is poisonous. Its resin is extremely toxic. The thick, fibrous bark on the trunk contains abundant milky-white resin. When the bark is cut, the resin will ooze out. I have heard that the local tribes often collect this resin to make poison, which they then coat with crossbow bolts to hunt ferocious beasts."
It is said that once this poison enters the bloodstream, wild animals will stop breathing. The poison takes effect extremely quickly, with the saying that they will collapse after seven steps uphill, eight steps on flat ground, and nine steps downhill. Animals struck by the poisoned arrow can only run seven to nine steps before collapsing.
He Fengmian asked, "Can this also be used as medicine?"
Shulan nodded: "Yes, although it is a poison, it can also save lives if used properly. The juice can strengthen the heart, induce vomiting, purge, and be used externally to treat lymph node tuberculosis, etc. The seeds have antipyretic properties. I want to use these kinds of flowers and herbs in medicine, and then find experimental subjects to test them."
However, I can't guarantee that these will be completely useful, and these plants may not even be available.
Like the Yimi flower that grows in the Gobi Desert of Africa, it takes five years for it to complete the process of its roots and stems intertwining.
Then, little by little, it accumulates nutrients, and in the spring of the sixth year, it sprouts green leaves from the ground and blooms a small four-colored flower. However, this tiny flower, which is extremely difficult to grow, does not last long. In just two days, it withers and dies along with its mother plant.
In modern times, this flower would not be hard to find.
But now, it's not certain that we can find this flower.
He Fengmian said, "Draw the shapes of these flowers and teach them to me, and I will find all the herbs."
Regardless of whether he could be completely cured, he would never give up as long as there was a glimmer of hope.
Shulan nodded: "Okay, I will draw them for you."
With hope on their side, Shulan and the others went to check on Zhao Yousheng, and his condition had indeed improved quite well.
Then, around noon, when they heard that there was already a lot of straw juice, they went over there.
There, a simple earthen stove had been built, with a large pot placed on top.
This big iron pot was made by Shulan, who told them that this kind of stir-frying was not only fast but also delicious. Chen Ma's family also has two big iron pots, and the taste is indeed better than that of the earthenware pot.
At this point, pour the juice into a large iron pot, turn on the heat, and watch as the juice begins to steam, and the remaining fine sorghum residue floats to the surface.
Just as Shulan was about to skim off the crumbs, He Fengmian stepped forward and said, "I'll do it. You just give the instructions. Don't burn yourself."
Shulan watched as he naturally took the shovel from her hand and quickly shoveled away the fine bits of food.
He turned to look at her, gazed at her intently, and asked gently, "Is this alright?"
"..." For some reason, Shu Lan was inexplicably startled by that gaze, causing her heart to skip a beat.
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