Qiaoyun will start making mosquito coils on her own in a few days, and won't be able to come to the pharmacy to help out as often anymore.
While Li Laoshi was watching the children, the medicine in the pot was waiting for the second batch to be boiled, so there was a little free time in between.
Jiang Zhi, along with Qiaoyun and Tian Tao, prepared to clear the hillside behind the medicine shop and plant some vegetables.
Qingquan Bay is a mountain valley, consisting of two small bays. After passing the medicine shop, there is a section of mountain gully at the bottom.
There are no people living in the valley. The mountains on both sides have been cleared by three families who cut down trees and left a large area of bare hillside covered with lush shrubs and weeds.
At the bottom of the valley is a pool of rocks washed down by a flash flood. Several mountain streams converge here from the slopes on both sides before flowing to the water mill.
There were a few small vegetable plots around the pond, but there were no vegetables in them. The ground had been flattened by Xiaoman, who had been practicing his martial arts every day.
Jiang Zhi planned to plant some green onions and vegetables in the corners that Xiaoman couldn't reach, so they would be easy to eat. She also taught Tian Tao to recognize some common herbs found around them.
This place has been abandoned for more than two years, and the former vegetable garden is now overgrown with all kinds of weeds.
Excluding the moneywort that Tian Tao knew:
The most commonly used herb in traditional Chinese medicine is *Lysimachia christinae*, also known as *Lysimachia christinae*, which is quite effective in treating gallstones, kidney stones, and bladder stones.
There's also plantain, which grows close to the ground:
Plantain, also known as toad's skin or cow's excrement, has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, and stopping bleeding. It can be used for urinary tract infections, nephritis, and hepatitis, and can also be used in daily soups.
There are many wild grasses, and you can find medicinal herbs just by looking around. Apart from plantain, there is a kind of wormwood.
It's only a dozen centimeters above the ground now, so tender it breaks at the slightest touch, and it also has a strong smell.
Tian Tao was weeding, grabbing the artemisia and pulling it up haphazardly. Before she even exerted any force, her hands were covered in the sap and had a particularly unpleasant odor.
She quickly went to the water to wash her hands, but even after washing away the green juice, the smell remained: "This grass really stinks. I thought I could take it back to feed the rabbits!"
Jiang Zhi said, "Tian Tao, this is called bitter wormwood, it's also a medicine, and we'll be able to use it in the future."
Jiang Zhi removed the few stalks of wormwood without taking them. Although this grass is also a medicinal herb, it is abundant and can be found everywhere in the wilderness, by the roadside, and in fields.
A few seedlings are useless; if you want to collect them, autumn is the best time.
Artemisia annua, also known as bitter wormwood, green wormwood, and cow urine wormwood, is cold in nature and bitter in taste. It clears heat and relieves summer heat, stops bleeding, and treats summer heatstroke, tidal fever, vomiting blood, and nosebleeds.
Qiaoyun walked over and immediately recognized it as Artemisia annua: "Hey, Mom, you said that Artemisia annua could stop bleeding or something, and you even said how to use it, but I forgot!"
Over the past year, she has also gotten to know many medicines from Jiang Zhi.
I recognized the medicine, but when there were many of them, I got confused about how to use them.
True knowledge comes from practice. Simply watching and listening is boring and tedious. The knowledge you learn is like water flowing through your brain, coming and going without a trace. It's normal not to remember it.
Jiang Zhi didn't blame her for not remembering, and calmly said, "Just remember that this medicine can clear heat and relieve constipation. It can also be used if you have bone steaming fever or night sweats."
Bone steaming fever is when patients feel heat emanating from inside their body, even from their bones, every afternoon.
A sudden flushing of the face and profuse sweating, which lasts for a period of time and then subsides abruptly, like the ebb and flow of the tide, is generally seen in tuberculosis and menopause.
Night sweats are sweating while sleeping at night, which stops when you wake up. Only your palms and soles feel hot while your body feels cold, like a thief sneaking around.
Jiang Zhi briefly explained what hot flashes and night sweats are.
Tian Tao and Qiao Yun found it amusing: Just now they said that fever should be monitored regularly! Now they're saying that sweating is like a thief.
Isn't sweat only produced when you're hot? How can your body feel cold?
Jiang Zhi was just joking; whether Qiaoyun and Tian Tao could understand it was another matter.
Thinking is always delayed, but once you've heard about these interesting facts, dormant memories can always be revived.
Jiang Zhi continued to say to the two of them, "Artemisia annua should not be boiled for too long when used to treat illnesses, and it must be added to decoctions at the end of the process."
Fresh herbs can be juiced and drunk, or you can soak them directly in cold boiled water for several hours without boiling them, and the effect is also good.
Artemisia annua contains volatile oils and should not be boiled.
The use of cold water to extract artemisinin for the treatment of malaria is a scientifically proven and significant discovery in modern medicine.
In fact, this method was recorded as early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Ge Hong's book "Elbow-Side Emergency Prescriptions": Artemisia annua was soaked in cold water and the juice was used for malaria.
This book is also a Chinese medicine emergency treatment book, containing thousands of practical prescriptions.
While the three of them worked, Jiang Zhi would tell her two apprentices about the uses of artemisia annua with great interest.
1. Crush artemisia annua to extract juice and drink it, and also insert it into the nose to treat nosebleeds. (From *Easy and Simple Prescriptions for Health*)
2. For treating persistent purulent and bloody discharge from otitis media, grind artemisia annua into powder, wrap it in cotton, and insert it into the ear. (From *Sheng Hui Fang*)
3. Take a handful of artemisia annua, boil it in water, and use the decoction as a mouthwash to treat toothache and swelling. (From *Jiji Xianfang*)
4. Apply crushed artemisia annua as a poultice to treat bee stings. (From *Supplement to the Elbow-Side Prescriptions*, etc.)
Artemisia annua has more than 30 uses in the book "Elbow-Side Emergency Prescriptions" alone.
When Tian Tao first came into contact with medicinal herbs and heard her master talk about their uses, she felt both curious and surprised.
She was especially excited when she heard that if she had a nosebleed, all she needed to do was crush this wormwood into a fluffy paste and stuff it into her nostrils with the juice.
"Xiaoxi often gets nosebleeds in the summer, this method will make things much easier!"
My younger sister, Tian Xiaoxi, often gets nosebleeds every summer, which makes her face pale.
Grandma and several aunts disliked her because her nosebleeds made her dirty, so they always told Xiaoxi to go further away. In the summer, she could only wear the oldest and most tattered clothes.
My mother and father hadn't separated their household, and they didn't have any money to treat my younger sister, so they had to ask my grandmother and grandfather for money.
But the rest of the family said that nosebleeds weren't an illness and wouldn't let the grandparents spend money recklessly.
Since her parents couldn't take her to see a doctor, they could only pinch her nose to keep her from moving whenever she had a nosebleed.
Soaking her feet in cold water again helped stop the bleeding, but my sister's health still deteriorated for a long time.
Whenever she thought of the past, Tian Tao felt a surge of hatred.
Fortunately, her parents were kicked out and lived in Xujia Village, which she liked.
Following her master, Tian Tao felt there was so much to learn.
At home, my parents had already told me that as an apprentice, I must be obedient and diligent. If I do something wrong, I must endure being beaten and not make my master angry.
But faced with a master who taught her about medicinal herbs in a storytelling style, Tian Tao'er couldn't think of how she could anger him.
Qiaoyun thought so too.
Every time her mother talked about these things, she would think of when she first married into the family. Her mother would either be sullen and silent every day or point her finger and scold people. She had never spoken so gently and softly.
After Xiaotian left amidst the chaos of war, his mother stopped being angry.
Please, Xiaotian, don't come back!
The three of them talked as they quickly cleared the edges of the wasteland.
Sow the seeds so that the people who stay at the pharmacy can have vegetables and seasonings to eat later.
Although Li Ersaozi was watching over the medicine being brewed in front, they didn't dare to linger there. After sowing the seeds, they quickly washed their hands and went into the medicine preparation room to continue brewing the medicine.
In the afternoon, Xu Gensheng arrived at the town market, pushing a rooster cart loaded with various herbs and starches.
Besides the herbs, he also brought several living creatures.
Three chubby, yellowish-brown puppies were huddled in the basket, their round bodies and shiny black eyes making them look like beautiful yellow dogs.
Of course, it's just Little Yellow now, but it will grow into Big Yellow when it grows up.
"Aunt Jiang, these three dogs are for sale at the market. They cost five copper coins each. I bought them because I thought they had good temperaments!"
Xu Gensheng casually picked up a dog and played with it in his hand: "See! Dogs chosen this way will be obedient and won't bark at the slightest sound!"
As he spoke, he pulled each puppy's ear, pulled its tail, and lifted one of its legs and swung it around.
The three dogs remained calm and composed, only letting out a soft whimper when in extreme pain.
This is a method for testing dogs. Only dogs with very stable temperaments and personalities will not easily panic and bite people.
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