At this moment, Xiaoman's wailing voice from below the cliff carried far: "Grandma, be gentle, it hurts! It hurts!"
Jiang Zhi quickly took Peppa Pig, which was making a "ding-ding-dang-dang" sound, over there.
Inside the main room, a pile of charcoal was burning, making the room warm.
Beside the campfire, Xiaoman sat with her legs turned backward, lifted her clothes, and leaned against the back of the chair, exposing her back.
Behind her, Grandma Xiaoman held an earthenware bowl in one hand and a copper coin dipped in tung oil in the other: "What's your name? Don't move, just scrape it a few more times!"
Xiaoman's back was already covered in red and purple marks, it looked frightening!
Jiang Zhi's arrival instantly gave him a lifeline: "Auntie, I'm willing to take the medicine, no matter how bitter it is, I'll take the pills!"
"You wish! Your aunt went to great lengths to make those pills. Come on, scrape a few more times! Just a few more and I'll stop!" Grandma Xiaoman scolded while coaxing her.
Xiaoman was in so much pain that she twisted her back like a snake, making it impossible for her grandmother to touch her.
Jiang Zhi stepped forward: "Auntie, let me do it!"
Grandma Xiaoman was also fed up with Xiaoman's antics: "Sigh, this child is becoming more and more unruly! She's even afraid of the pain from gua sha!"
Jiang Zhi smiled and said that scraping and cupping are treatment methods in traditional Chinese medicine. They are easy to learn and master. Without pharmacological knowledge, everyone knows a few tricks for pinching the philtrum and scraping.
Gua sha has the effects of promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, and expelling toxins.
It is not only effective for pain, but also for coughs caused by external wind-cold. As long as the technique is correct, the effect is immediate.
If someone has a cough during the Lesser Fullness of Grain (Xiaoman) period, it's okay to use tung oil for scraping (gua sha) with their milk.
Tung oil is not only an industrial material, but it can also be used to treat diseases, but it can only be used externally and not ingested.
Applying tung oil within 10 minutes of a burn can reduce the pain.
Tung oil scraping is used for phlegm and asthma after a cold, and it has the effect of dispelling cold and resolving phlegm. However, Xiaoman's scraping technique is wrong.
Upon hearing that she would have to undergo gua sha, Xiaoman looked pained and said, "Auntie, can we skip the gua sha? It really hurts so much when you scrape my breasts!"
Jiang Zhi laughed and said, "Let's try again, this time it really doesn't hurt!"
"real?"
Xiaoman didn't believe it, but her grandma raised her hand and said, "You don't believe me, and you don't believe your aunt either. Who told you to keep changing your clothes and get cold! Do you believe I'll hit you?"
On one side, Jiang Zhi took a copper coin, dipped it into the small amount of oil residue that had been knocked out of the tung tree in the earthenware bowl, and then gently placed it on Xiao Man's already purplish-red back, scraping it with a gentle but forceful motion that penetrated deep into the skin.
Xiaoman didn't cry out, she just said, "Hey, it really doesn't hurt!"
Jiang Zhi said, "When scraping a cold, you don't need to scrape the entire back, nor do you need to scrape until it turns purplish-red. Don't use too much force; just enough to stimulate the acupoints."
She kept talking while her hands kept moving.
For gua sha (scraping therapy) for wind-evil colds, you need to first "open the Fengchi" and "open the Fengmen" acupoints, stimulate the Lung Shu acupoints, and stop scraping when red petechiae appear. It only takes a few minutes to complete.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the first step in treating wind-evil invading the body is to open the gates and expel the evil, mainly by relieving the exterior symptoms, while also cleaning the intestines internally.
If you eat greasy and fatty foods too early, it's like "closing the door to let the enemy in," making it difficult for good and evil to get along, turning your body into a battlefield, and even if you recover from the illness, both sides will suffer losses.
As soon as Jiang Zhi finished, she quickly told Xiao Man to get dressed, since the weather was cold and taking off her clothes for scraping would make her more susceptible to catching a cold.
It would be even better to do moxibustion after scraping (gua sha), as the opened acupoints can be used to replenish yang energy and dispel cold, doubling the effect.
Unfortunately, moxibustion requires aged moxa, the longer the better, as three-year-old moxa can protect the family's peace.
It cannot be stored for three years; it must be stored for at least one year to allow the heat and dryness to dissipate, so that the heat is gentle and the aroma of moxa is pure. Otherwise, moxibustion produces a lot of smoke and can easily cause internal heat.
Xiaoman rubbed her neck, shook her head, glanced at her grandmother who was about to scold her again, and asked Jiang Zhi with a smile, "Auntie, I... I still have a bit of bloating in my stomach, can I take some medicine?"
He ate an extra bowl of rice yesterday, and his stomach is still bloated today.
“Sure! I’ll give you some Vitex negundo seeds later, stir-fry them until fragrant, boil them and drink the water. You also have to avoid oil and drink white radish water for two days.” Jiang Zhi put down the tung oil bowl and wiped the oil stains on the firewood at her feet.
Upon hearing that she wouldn't need gua sha anymore, Xiaoman was overjoyed and asked, "Huangjingzi? The kind I prepared for you in the summer?"
In the summer, Xiaoman wandered around the mountains and helped find many medicinal herbs, including all the Vitex negundo seeds he picked.
Beside her, Grandma Xiaoman interjected, "I'll go find some more Vitex negundo branches. If we're going to treat it, we should treat it properly!"
Xiaoman exclaimed in surprise, "Grandma, please don't! I'll be good from now on!"
Jiang Zhi burst into laughter.
Vitex negundo leaves can be used to make fermented soybeans, and Vitex negundo seeds are a good medicine for treating colds, coughs, indigestion, and enteritis.
Vitex negundo
The thorny branches are said to produce good people; when wielded, they are powerful and vigorous. For rural children, they are just as effective as bamboo strips, and are an excellent way to subdue others.
They were still chatting and laughing about Xiaoman when suddenly Chunfeng, covered in mud, ran into the yard: "Grandpa, Grandma, Xiaoman, quick, quick, come over... Brother Dazhu fell down!"
The people inside panicked immediately. Xiaoman hadn't even finished dressing; her collar was loose, and she hastily pulled her belt together before stepping out the door: "Sister-in-law, where is my brother?"
"At the entrance of the wood ear fungus cellar!"
Chunfeng, disregarding her still-wet trouser legs, called for help and hurriedly ran back.
Xiaoman ran after the two of them so fast that they disappeared from sight.
Grandma Xiaoman's face changed, and she grabbed Grandpa Xiaoman, who came out from the side room, and said repeatedly, "How did you fall again? Go and see!"
Xiaoman was also about to leave with a serious expression when Jiang Zhi stopped him: "Uncle Changgeng, it's very slippery now that it's raining. Just stay at home and wait, don't fall again. I'll come over and check on you!"
For the two elderly people, falling down was not a simple action, but a big deal.
It's slippery and I'm panicking in the rain. I just fell off a pillar. If I were to fall and injure two more people, that would be a real problem.
Xiaoman Ye listened to the advice and knew that he wouldn't be of any help even if he went, so he didn't want to cause trouble: "Then I'll trouble Errui Niang."
Jiang Zhi didn't say much to them and went to the cellar by the terraced fields in the drizzle.
As soon as they reached the edge of the field, they saw Xiaoman carrying Xu Dazhu, who was also covered in mud, back home.
At this moment, Xu Dazhu's expression was very strange, neither smiling nor crying, his face was flushed red.
Chunfeng, supporting him, asked softly with a sob in her voice, "Brother Dazhu, where does it hurt? Does your back hurt? Does your leg hurt? It's all my fault for not standing properly and causing you to fall!"
Xu Dazhu didn't say anything, but just shook her hand tightly.
When they first decided to grow wood ear mushrooms, Xiaoman's family had cleared out a kiln and piled up sweet potatoes. Errui then cleaned up the broken kiln next to the terraced fields, covered it with soil, piled up straw to slowly ferment it, and then put in the wood ear mushroom spawn to grow.
The weather wasn't too cold a while ago, and the wood ear mushrooms actually grew in the warm and humid cellar.
Chunfeng and Xu Dazhu devoted themselves to this project, checking the temperature and humidity every day, and also ensuring ventilation and allowing the straw curtains to be lifted briefly for light.
Jiang Zhi only had a superficial understanding of mushroom cultivation, and the two of them had to figure out all the details on their own.
I was going even though it was raining, and then I slipped and fell!
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