Reborn under the White Mountain

Chapter 30 Gastrodia
Tong Yunhua's blind date was a complete success, and the Qin family hurriedly found a serious matchmaker and went to the Zhang family to formally propose marriage.The two families started the engagement process, Najib had already passed the name asking, and when it came to Nazheng, the matchmaker would naturally ask the Zhang family how much dowry, and the Zhang family said they didn't want too much, just five taels of silver.At this time, the dowry gift of five taels of silver was considered moderate, and the Zhang family really didn't ask for much.Qin began to feel sorry for the money, but it had to be paid. That night, she called her son and daughter-in-law to the east room to discuss the dowry.

"The marriage of the fourth child is considered to be settled. The woman wants five taels of silver as a dowry. It is said that this is not a lot, and there is another one that costs ten taels and twenty taels. But your father and I are also old. When the fourth brother gets married, he has to spend more, you see, you elder brothers have to give some of this dowry, don't you?" Qin began to repeat the old tune again, Fang has experienced it several times, and it has long been gone. Strange.

"Mother, that's not what you said. All the income of our family is in the hands of you and father. I'm afraid you have already prepared the money for the marriage of the fourth child. At this time, they want a dowry, and you don't care about us reaching out." Where are we going to get money?" Mrs. Zhou quit, and it was the same when Tong Yunfang got married that year, and the old lady just asked them for money. Happy to take the money.It's different now, I also have a son, and I want to save the money I earn from doing some embroidery work for my son.

"The last time Xiaojuan added makeup, we gritted our teeth and took out all the dowry from that year. This time, my mother still needs money, so where can we get it?" Liu Shi also said, she was also dissatisfied. It was the same when the third child got married, this Qin family was good at picking at his daughter-in-law's private house.Mrs. Liu glanced at Mrs. Fang, and admired her a little in her heart. When she got married, her mother-in-law must have cared about her asking for money.

"You are just such a younger brother, and he wants to get married, and you don't even pay any money, so why are you a brother and sister-in-law?" Qin became angry on the kang, and began to curse: "You are all wolves, so poisonous!" , They are planning on us two old people. Why don’t I die soon, and you don’t have to worry about it when I die.” This old cliché came out again.

Needless to say, this method still works. Yunsong, Yunbai, and Yunfeng all expressed their willingness to pay, and finally agreed that Yunbai’s family would get one tael, and Yunsong’s family would get two taels. They can make money now.To keep his ears clean, Tong Yunsong took a look at Fang and agreed.In this way, Qin's dowry is only one tael.

After the dowry was agreed upon, a matchmaker was invited and a date was fixed to go to the Zhang family to give the dowry.The betrothal gift in this place requires a pair of geese, a loin with four ribs, four boxes of tea, two boxes of four-color snacks, and two new clothes for the woman, and the woman also needs to make two clothes for the man.The woman keeps half of the things sent, and brings back half.The two agreed that they would get married on September 28, after autumn.As the day was certain, Qin's heart was relieved, and the Tong family began to tidy up Tong Yunhua's house and prepare some things for marriage.

Yuxian can't control these things. She and her brothers either go to the mountains to collect herbs every day, or pack the herbs at home.It’s not enough to dig the medicinal materials home, but also to deal with them, like piercing the keel, it needs to be cut into small pieces of inches long, and then dried in the sun. There are still some thin root hairs growing on the things, which also need to be removed.Yu Xian remembered that in her previous life, she always dried them in the sun first, and when they were completely dry, she piled up the keel bones and lit the root hairs with fire to burn them off.Yuxian also tried it, but these were too thick, and it was too difficult to cut them off after drying, so they had to cut them first, and then singe them after they were dry. The effect was not bad.In fact, Yuxian just kept her mouth open, and all the brothers did the work.

On this day, they went into the woods again. It was hot in summer, so they brought some dry food from home so that they didn't have to go home at noon.Today I walked a little further, and a meadow appeared in front of my eyes.Yuxian walked into the field, but saw clusters of small trees with many small long blue-purple fruits growing on them. "Ah, it's Dian jujube." Yuxian called out.

Dian jujube, scientific name is Lonicera indigo Lonicera, is a plant belonging to Lonicera family. The seeds in the fruit are extremely small and the juice yield is high. It is an excellent raw material for making fruit juice.It tastes sweet and sour, and can be used to make beverages, wine and jam. It contains a variety of vitamins, anthocyanins, etc. It is a very nutritious fruit. It is said that it is also effective for children with anorexia.In addition, pigments can also be extracted, which is widely used.

"Sister, what did you see again?" Da Lang and the others were no longer surprised by her sister's reaction, knowing that she might have discovered something that she hadn't seen before, so they walked up to Yu Xian, "Oh, yes Lamb, what’s so special about it? Just pick some up if you want to eat it, and be careful when you eat it, don’t get it on your clothes, it won’t get washed off.” Saying that, she found a big leaf and picked it for Yuxian. A big handful, let her eat with it.

Yuxian picked one up and put it in her mouth. It was sour and sweet, with a little bit of bitterness in it, forming a special taste. Yuxian narrowed her eyes and savored it carefully. She hadn't tasted this taste for a long time. No, even in the previous life, when I grow up, I will never have the chance to pick dates in the woods again. "Brother, can you help me pick some more? I want to use it to make some wine. This thing is great for making wine." Yuxian held her brother's hand and looked at him with big eyes.

"I really can't do anything about you. We all carried the baskets today. What's the matter?" Dalang thought for a while, found some big leaves and spread them under the baskets, and then called a few younger brothers to help pick them down. .It took about an hour for a few people to pick, and they made most of the basket.

Yuxian saw that it was almost done, so she said: "Brother, it's alright, it won't be easy to get back any more. Brother will pick some for me tomorrow, and when the wine is ready, we can drink some during the New Year." I have other plans, but I can't do it now. There are too many people in the family, so let's do some experiments first.

A few people put the baskets of jujubes on the only way back, and then continued to walk forward. The main purpose of Yuxian's visit today was to find gastrodia elata. Since there are hazel mills here in autumn, there should be gastrodia elata.Because Gastrodia elata is associated with Armillaria mellea, and Hazel Mole is the fruiting body of Armillaria mellea, so Yuxian guessed that there should be Gastrodia elata in this place.Gastrodia elata seedlings will be unearthed after the summer solstice, and now the summer solstice has passed for more than ten days. It is estimated that if there are any, they can be found.

Sure enough, not long after, Yuxian saw a Gastrodia elata seedling, a yellow-brown pole, a single stem standing upright, with a small tassel on the top, and the flower hadn't bloomed yet, "Brother, it's Gastrodia elata." With brothers.

"What is gastrodia elata?" Erlang approached Yuxian and asked.

"Gastrodia elata is also called Chijian, Dingfengcao, etc. It is a very precious herbal medicine. Since ancient times, it has been said that Gastrodia elata must be used for headaches. Although it is a bit too arbitrary, Gastrodia elata has a sweet and flat taste. It can calm the liver, relieve wind and relieve spasm. It is good for headaches Vertigo, limb numbness, epilepsy and convulsions all have excellent effects." Yuxian explained to her brother.

"It means it is a medicinal material, it is useful and can be sold for money, right?" Xiaosan asked directly from the side.

"That's right, third brother. It's actually better to dig Gastrodia elata in spring and autumn, but at that time there were no seedlings growing, so we had to dig them up one by one with a shovel. Now there are such seedlings, brothers, take good care of them. As long as you see them Then you can dig, first watch how I dig, and you will be able to do it in the future." Saying that, Yuxian went down the pole of Gastrodia elata to scrape away the soil, and saw a long oval potato-like thing lying on the soil Here, there are circles of links on it.Yuxian didn't take out Gastrodia elata directly, but scraped back the soil along the end where the seedlings did not emerge. After a while, she saw that there was a pile of gastrodia elata in the soil that was smaller than the one that emerged and was also oblong. come out. "This thing will grow in many layers, so don't worry when digging. You must dig a few more times at the back and dig deep. If there are two seedlings, there will be many between them, three or four. Together, too, there will be a lot of these youngsters in the middle, and the most valuable ones are not those that have sprouted, but those that have not sprouted. Okay, let's find them slowly." Yu Xian picked up a Gastrodia elata and gave it to The brothers demonstrated, and then everyone dispersed, leaving a short distance to look forward.

After a while, I heard Xiaosan shouting: "Sister, I saw it, come and see if it is this." Yuxian hurried over, and saw that it was indeed, and there were four of them, so I asked my third brother to do as she said. Grilled.Five or six catties of Gastrodia elata were harvested from these four trees, which made Xiaosan very happy.

After a while, the rest of the people also had a harvest. During the morning, they dug out about [-] to [-] catties of Gastrodia elata. At noon, everyone took out the dry food they brought and ate some with pickles.The brothers and sisters are very happy. Every time they find a medicinal material, it means that they can earn more money. The fourth uncle will get married this autumn. After getting married, the family should be separated, right?From the present point of view, grandma doesn't like Fang's family so much, she should separate them.It's just that I'm afraid that I won't get much, so I earn more, hoping to help my parents by then.

"Brother, these days we will mainly dig Gastrodia elata. This thing will bloom in a few days, and after it blooms, it will be a little empty, and the medicinal properties will not be good." Yu Xian told Da Lang.

"Okay, then let's go out with dry food like today, and if it's our turn to herd the cattle, let Xiao Si Xiao Wu herd the cattle. Let's go into the mountains and dig as much as possible." Da Lang put all his work together. After the arrangement was made, the younger brothers also agreed. "Sister, don't go up the mountain in the future, and spend more time with mother at home. Besides, we have to dig up the Gastrodia elata, and I want my sister to watch at home and dry it."

"Okay, listen to the elder brother." Yuxian nodded and agreed, Tianma is more troublesome to deal with than others, and she really needs to watch it at home.

"Remember, try not to choke with grandma. We are not at home, no one is protecting you, so be careful. It's just a year and a half. I guess the fourth uncle will be able to separate after the marriage. We’re home now. Let’s bear it any longer, especially the younger sister, you must hold back.” Da Lang is most worried about his mother and younger sister.

Several people started looking for gastrodia elata again, and they didn't come out of the woods until the afternoon, found the Dian jujubes lying there, and took them home together.

(End of this chapter)