Chapter 47 Chapter 47 Capturing Leeches High Energy Ahead
The second day.
The weather was sunny and windy, and white clouds floated in the sky like floating cotton, adding a touch of mist to the blue sky.
Zhao Mingsheng arrived at the medicine field early, one to take care of the field, and the other to collect the medicinal materials needed for the prescription.
After a period of careful care, the herbs in the medicine field are growing very well.
Although the Atractylodes macrocephala is not yet mature, it has grown to about half a person's height and is in the bud stage.
Zhao Mingsheng took a pair of small scissors and snipped off the largest bud, saving it for next year's seeds. He placed it in a cloth bag and hung it under the eaves, where there was plenty of sunlight. It would be ready in less than two weeks.
The remaining buds that have not yet opened will absorb excess nutrients, so they should also be cut off. After completing the bud removal step, you can wait for them to mature.
The tomatoes in the vegetable nursery have also lost their vines and are producing unripe fruits.
Although the vegetables in this nursery don't grow as fast as those in the open space, Zhao Mingsheng feels that they will taste good when watered by the spiritual spring water.
When the fruits are ripe, any leftovers can be sold in town.
Aunt Wang's family had sent another sack of potatoes before. Zhao Mingsheng cut the leftovers into pieces and buried them in the fields. He would harvest many more potatoes in the autumn, and then he could make more potato flour.
It only took Zhao Mingsheng half a morning to find most of the herbs in the prescription.
In this case, there are only two medicinal ingredients left: leeches and cold-worm feces.
Leeches, small and adept at roaming, often appear and disappear mysteriously in rice paddies. They snuck onto people's skin and flesh unnoticed, sucking the flesh beneath with their mouthparts. They were a real headache for many farmers.
Bleeding is a small matter. The most frightening thing is that it sticks to your skin and bites you tightly.
At this time, you must not pull it hard, but use light salt water or boy's urine to water it.
The Zhao family's fields were all dry fields, but Zhao Mingsheng remembered that Aunt Wang's family had a paddy field.
I went to their house and asked, and it turned out to be true.
The leeches in Aunt Wang’s rice fields are almost becoming a disaster!
Even she herself had suffered a lot from this thing. Every time she went to the paddy fields, she had to tie her trouser legs tightly first and cover herself tightly before she dared to go down. However, she couldn't work efficiently this way, and her clothes soaked in water were particularly heavy.
So when she heard that Zhao Mingsheng wanted to find leeches, she immediately asked her to go to her own fields to catch them. She really wanted to catch all the leeches in the paddy fields.
Leeches are most sensitive to the smell of blood, so if you want to catch them, you have to lure them with blood.
After tying the two ends of a handful of dry straw, soak the middle part in chicken blood so that every stalk of straw is filled with chicken blood.
When the leeches smell the blood in the straw, they will naturally drill into it and suck it.
Cui Cen, who happened to be on vacation, insisted on going along, so Zhao Mingsheng had no choice but to take this free laborer with him.
Under the careful care of Zhao's father in this short period of time, Cui Cen's legs have improved a lot. Now he can walk a long way without the support of crutches.
Cui Cen followed Zhao Mingsheng, carrying a bundle of straw, but the corners of his mouth could not be concealed and slightly raised.
Zhao Mingsheng has been helping him with everything during this period, and now he can finally help Zhao Mingsheng.
When he arrived at the paddy field, Zhao Mingsheng looked around and found a stone on the edge of the ridge.
Just as she was about to step forward, Cui Cen put down the straw in his hand, picked up the stone before her, placed it at her feet, and carefully brushed off the dust on the surface.
"Sit down."
Zhao Mingsheng laughed for a moment. Cui Ergou was afraid that he was wrong. She shook her head and said:
"This stone is not for sitting on."
Cui Cen scratched his head awkwardly: "Then why do you want the stone?"
"The stones are used for weighting," Zhao Mingsheng explained. "Two hemp ropes are tied to the straw. One is tied to the stone. The weight of the stone allows the straw to sink smoothly instead of floating on the water. The other is left on the shore for easy collection."
Cui Cen nodded to indicate that he understood. After sinking the straw tied with stones into the paddy field, he turned around and asked:
"And then? What am I going to do then?"
Cui Cen did as she instructed, turned around and waited eagerly for her next instruction.
Zhao Mingsheng brushed the straw off his shoulders and said with a brilliant smile, "Then you should go home for dinner. We'll come back in two hours."
To reward Cui Ergou, Zhao Mingsheng made his favorite potato noodles at noon.
The sour and spicy red oil soup poured over the freshly cooked crystal clear potato noodles makes people drool.
Cui Cen picked up the big bowl and ate heartily in this hot weather.
After lunch and a nap, it was already two hours later when Zhao Mingsheng woke up. He specially brought a bamboo basket to collect the leeches.
Cui Cen used all his strength to slowly lift up the water-soaked straw and the stones that tied it to it.
Zhao Mingsheng took out a pair of scissors and cut off the bindings at both ends, and the straw spread out at once.
Among the withered straw are fat leeches. They are black all over, but upon closer inspection, they are black with a hint of red. After leaving the water, they twist their bodies wildly.
Before sucking blood, leeches are small and can squeeze through the gaps in the straw. After sucking blood, their bodies become much larger and naturally they are blocked in the straw and cannot get out.
Zhao Mingsheng took out two pairs of shoes and handed one of them to Cui Ergou.
"Just use chopsticks to pick them up and put them in the bamboo basket." As she opened the lid of the bamboo basket, she warned: "Be careful not to let these guys touch your skin."
Cui Cen nodded, "I see, you too."
The surface of the leech was very sticky and slippery. Zhao Mingsheng tried to catch it with a wooden stick several times and was about to succeed, but it always slipped down when it approached the mouth of the bamboo basket.
She couldn't help feeling discouraged. When she looked up, she found that Cui Ergou was fast, accurate and ruthless. After a while, Zhao Mingsheng hadn't caught a single fish, but he had already caught seven or eight.
Zhao Mingsheng couldn't help but envy, "You're amazing, you're so accurate." She humbly asked, "How can you be so accurate?"
Cui Cen was somewhat proud: "It's all acquired through practice. I used to be with the Saint..." when the Emperor was having a meal.
Cui Cen was so overwhelmed by the praise that he almost let the cat out of the bag. Fortunately, he stopped quickly, but he still let a word slip.
"What's left?" Zhao Mingsheng asked suspiciously.
Cui Cen suddenly had an idea and continued, "Grabbing leftovers. When I was a kid, I wasn't very good at using chopsticks. If I wasn't quick, I'd have nothing to eat, so I practiced."
Zhao Mingsheng didn't expect that his childhood was so miserable, and his eyes were filled with sympathy.
I was thinking to myself that I must make some more delicious food for him in the evening.
Cui Cen avoided Zhao Mingsheng's sympathetic gaze with a guilty conscience. But he wasn't lying. When he was a child, the emperor often liked to summon children like him to the palace to meet him.
When dining with His Majesty, the palace provided silver chopsticks. He was not used to them at first, so much so that he had not even taken a few bites by the time lunch was almost cleared away.
After being hungry a few times, you will know that it is time to practice how to use silver chopsticks.
With more practice, he naturally got used to it. Later, when he met the emperor again, he never went hungry again.
He is very comfortable with silver chopsticks, let alone wooden ones.
Zhao Mingsheng felt inspired. She picked up her chopsticks again, clearing her mind of distracting thoughts. Her gaze gradually grew more determined. With her unremitting efforts, she finally managed to catch her first leech!
"Cui Ergou, look!" She couldn't help but smile and show off to Cui Cen.
Cui Cen was now used to her address. He looked up and was about to compliment her, but the situation suddenly changed.
Cui Cen's pupils contracted violently.
"careful!"
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