Chapter 156 Konjac
Sang Yu glanced at him casually, and when she saw that he was not injured, she was about to look away. Just as she turned her head back a little, she suddenly turned back and stared at him motionlessly.
This scene frightened Sang Xingjia to death. His whole body froze, the blood in his body turned cold, and he didn't even dare to breathe.
After holding his breath for a while, he asked in a low voice: "Little sister, don't scare me, is there a snake on my body?"
The situation was urgent, and he still remembered Sang Yu's previous advice - don't move or shout when encountering dangerous situations, stay quiet and stay where you are.
He could still control his body, but he couldn't control his fear instinct at all, and his voice trembled when he spoke.
"It's not a snake, I just saw something good." Sang Yu jumped up from the stone, walked to him in three or two steps, and studied the sapling he was holding.
A huge weight lifted off his chest, and Sang Xingjia sat down on the ground. It wasn't because he was tired, but because his legs were weak from fear.
Before that, in order to make them fully alert and vigilant when entering the mountains and forests, Sang Yu deliberately mentioned several types of venomous snakes with strong toxicity and high mortality rate.
He just thought that a snake was running onto him or at his feet, and now he felt like he had escaped death, so how could he not be weak in the knees?
When he recovered and was about to ask Sang Yu carefully why she looked at him with that look when there was no poisonous snake, he saw her waving a hatchet and starting to dig at the bottom of the sapling.
"Little sister, what are you doing?"
He looked at the sapling again. It was short and small, with three branches on the top. Each branch had many leaves, and together with the trunk it looked like an umbrella.
The trunk is covered with white and green stripes, and at first glance it looks like a poisonous snake standing upright.
Apart from that, it looks like a young sapling that has only grown for a short time. It doesn't look like a precious treasure at all.
"Brother, come and help me dig it. This is a great treasure." Sang Yu was still excited. She never expected to encounter this kind of plant here. It was such a surprise.
He had no idea why she was so excited, but Sang Xingjia still squatted down and picked up a stone to help dig.
As the two continued digging, the roots at the bottom of the tree gradually emerged. Unlike the tangled roots they had seen before, the roots of this sapling were actually clumped.
Sang Yu used a little force to pull the entire yellowish-brown rhizome out of the ground, and then used a hatchet to cut off the stem on it.
The corners of her mouth were almost stretched to the back of her ears. This was konjac. She never expected to see konjac here.
Konjac is actually a highly poisonous plant. It is rich in toxic bioalkaloids. If eaten raw, it will cause poisoning. However, after a series of processing, the toxicity of konjac can be removed.
It itself has no nutritional value, but it can give the eater a strong sense of fullness. Coupled with its smooth and tender taste, it is really suitable for making cold pot skewers.
"Little sister, what on earth is this? It's rare to see you smile so happily."
Seeing that she was staring at the rhizome and grinning foolishly, Sang Xingjia couldn't hold back his curiosity and couldn't help asking.
Sang Yu finally remembered that there was someone standing next to him, and began to explain to him: "This thing is called konjac, and it's poisonous."
Sang Xingjia, who was about to reach out and touch it, quickly retracted his hand and reminded Sang Yu: "Is it poisonous? Put it down quickly, little sister."
"It's fine for me to hold it like this. The effects will only come after I eat it. After a certain process, the toxins will be removed. This thing tastes pretty good. Big brother, can you help me find some more nearby?"
Konjac is not a solitary plant. If there is one here, it means there must be other konjacs.
Moreover, it grows in a very conspicuous place next to the bamboo forest but has never been dug up by anyone. Sang Yu has reason to suspect that the villagers do not know how to handle konjac.
If even the villagers who lived off the mountains didn't know how to prepare konjac, then the people in Lingnan City probably didn't know how to do it either. Perhaps the unique signature dish she wanted was now delivered to her door.
"Can you really eat it?"
Sang Xingjia was still a little skeptical. He even thought that this thing might be the same as the lacquer tree that his younger sister had found before, which would cause rashes all over the body if touched.
"Really? I'll do it for you when I get home tonight." Sang Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry for a moment. Why didn't he believe her?
After a careful search around the bamboo forest, they found quite a few saplings that looked similar to the konjac tree they had just seen.
Sang Yu used a hatchet to dig two more, but still felt it was inconvenient, so he gave up.
Anyway, no one except her would be willing to dig up these konjacs. She would bring a shovel next time and dig more. The main task today was to cut bamboo.
Cut down the bamboo, and cut it again from the previous node slightly downwards, and a bamboo tube will be formed without any subsequent steps.
After the bamboo basket was filled with bamboo tubes, Sang Yu cut two more bundles of bamboo to make bamboo sticks, and then went home satisfied.
They left quickly and came back quickly. Sang Yongjing's vegetable garden had been almost dug up, and the only step left was to break up and level the excavated soil. He was a little surprised to see them come back.
Putting the bundled bamboo aside, Sang Yu helped Sang Xingjia take off the bamboo basket behind him, and then poured out the bamboo tubes inside, as well as... three large ochre lumps.
Sang Xinghao, who was busy laying pebbles on the vegetable garden, saw them coming back and ran over excitedly. His attention was immediately attracted by the three big guys on the ground.
"Sister, what is this?"
As he spoke, he was about to reach out and touch the gap where the stem was cut, from which liquid like clear water was flowing out.
Sang Yu quickly grabbed his hand and said, "Don't touch it, it's poisonous."
Konjac is truly poisonous all over. Even the seemingly clear and harmless liquid that flows out of the stem can cause itching, burning, or redness and swelling if accidentally touched, just like touching the sap of a lacquer tree.
If Sang Xinghao really touched it, I'm afraid the scene of touching the lacquer tree sap before would be repeated.
"Poisonous?" Sang Yongjing, who was digging nearby, keenly caught these two words and his heart tightened. "Why did you bring it home if it's poisonous?"
"This thing is delicious. It won't be poisonous once I process it."
Sang Yu instructed Sang Xingjia to use a hatchet to split the bamboo they brought back into thin bamboo sticks, while he himself walked to the stream with three konjacs and had to clean the mud off the surface of the konjac first.
After washing the konjac, she dug out the cattail leaf gloves she had used to handle the golden berries. The gaps between the leaves were so large that they were visible to the naked eye, but it was better than nothing. Wearing gloves was better than touching the konjac with bare hands.
Wear gloves, peel the skin, cut into small pieces and soak them in water to prevent oxidation and discoloration.
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