At six o'clock in the morning, it was already bright, and the workers who were cutting down trees had already gone to Xiaofushan by themselves.
Gao Mingcheng didn't have a supervisor, but no one would be lazy. Because of the hot weather, everyone came to work in the morning and evening, and took a longer break at noon.
After breakfast, Gao Mingcheng was ready to process the first batch of picked Poria cocos.
These Poria cocos are piled up to sweat, dried, piled up again to sweat, and dried again. This is repeated several times until the skin shrinks and turns brown.
There were a total of twenty Poria cocos in this batch, the big ones were as big as footballs and the small ones were as small as sweet potatoes. Gao Mingcheng called Duo Mei over. The two of them held knives and began to cut off the outer skin of the Poria cocos, revealing the white pieces inside. , some will show light red, this part is called red Fuling.
If Poria cocos is subdivided, it can be divided into four types, and each has different medicinal properties. For example, Poria cocos peel has the function of reducing edema.
Red Poria cocos has the function of expelling dampness and heat, while the most common white Poria cocos has the function of exuding dampness and strengthening the spleen. As for the Poria Goddess, it is the part of the white Poria cocos that holds the thin pine roots in the center. Cut it into square slices. It has the effect of calming the mind and calming the nerves.
While handling the Poria cocos, Gao Mingcheng explained to Duo Mei that he still had half a room full of Poria cocos, and Duo Mei's help was needed to deal with this.
Duo Mei also listened attentively. She is also considered a clever person and has some knowledge of medicinal materials, so she can learn it easily.
First, the skin of the Poria cocos was removed, and then it was cut into pieces. This was not a problem for Duo Mei. In her opinion, it was no different from chopping vegetables.
First cut into large pieces, then stack them together and cut into strips. Finally, align the strips and cut them crosswise into squares.
The length, width, and thickness of this square are about 4 centimeters. It will shrink some more after it dries.
The two men raised their knives, and the white pieces of Poria cocos rolled down from the chopping board into the bamboo sieve.
After all the Poria cocos were processed, Gao Mingcheng said to Du Mei: "Separate the leftovers, put them in another bamboo sieve and dry them in the sun. Keep this for your own consumption."
Poria cocos has many uses and can be eaten in many ways. The simplest one is to make porridge. The more complicated one is to mix it with different Chinese medicines to have different effects on treating diseases.
But for women, Poria cocos has another great benefit, that is, it forms Sanbai decoction with white peony root and Atractylodes macrocephala.
You should know that Sanbai Decoction was recorded in the book "Introduction to Medicine" in the Ming Dynasty. It has since been spread among the people and is deeply loved by women.
The recipe is very simple. Use 5 grams each of white peony root, Atractylodes macrocephala, and white Poria cocos, and 2.5 grams licorice root. Decoct in water and take it warm. After taking it, you can improve problems such as rough skin, chlorosis, chloasma, and heavy pigmentation.
However, this prescription is not suitable for people with damp-heat and liver-fire.
Leaving the follow-up matters to Duomei, Gao Mingcheng took the tools and bags and headed into the mountains again.
He has already visited the mountains and forests near Gaojiacun, and he plans to go further today. The mountains are vast and contain many treasures, waiting for treasure hunters to arrive.
He ran wildly into the mountains and disturbed many birds and beasts, but Gao Mingcheng didn't take it to heart. After he left, the small animals in the mountains would naturally return to peace.
As the altitude increased, the plants in the mountains also changed somewhat. Gao Mingcheng saw a large area of Asarum in the damp humus soil under the forest.
Asarum is also a medicinal herb. It is a perennial herb. The whole plant can be used as medicine. It has many functions, but the most well-known is that it can remove bad breath.
Asarum roots can be picked and dried in the shade in February and August. Now is also the season. Now that he encounters it, Gao Mingcheng will not show mercy and will pick it up.
Asarum has a very developed root system, mainly its roots, so you have to use a hoe to dig up the soil, and then carefully pull out all the roots.
Fortunately, it likes to grow in moist humus soil under the forest, so it is easy to pull out the roots.
Gao Mingcheng removed its leaves, leaving only the roots and threw them into the bag. After digging out this piece of asarum, he moved forward.
He didn't pick and choose. Whenever he encountered any medicinal materials, he just started to collect them. The various medicinal materials accumulated in small amounts and he could sell them in one go after going to the medicine fair.
Although it is dry this year, it is only partially dry, so the impact on the mountains and forests is not great. It is just that there are fewer streams on the surface. Looking around, there are not many ditches and puddles.
He passed by the place where he caught bullfrogs before and found that there was much less water here. Most of the bullfrogs lived on the ground, and the remaining water was also crowded with bullfrogs.
Upon seeing this, Gao Mingcheng felt that he needed to make some living space for the bullfrogs, so he put down the bag full of medicinal materials and picked up an empty bag, ready to have a close encounter with the bullfrogs.
He specially picked the big ones to catch, and his hand speed was amazing. Before the bullfrogs could react, he had already moved the bullfrogs to another space.
After grabbing half the bag, he stopped.
The water is almost dry. Although bullfrogs are amphibians, they can't survive without water. A lot of them will definitely die by then.
Not only bullfrogs, but also some fruit trees will reduce their production. He has discovered that the wild fruit trees in the mountains are not bearing as many fruits as in previous years.
There is nothing we can do about this. When encountering natural disasters, people can still seek help from similar people, but plants and animals are much more passive.
After some investigation, Gao Mingcheng found that there were still several ponds in the mountains where the water level had not dropped. These ponds were not affected by the weather. They either had springs underneath or were directly connected to underground rivers.
No matter what it is, as long as there is water, some aquatic animals will not die in large numbers, and the animals in the mountains and forests can also have water to drink.
When he discovered the water source, he also discovered that many animals had made their home nearby, the most conspicuous of which was a group of wild boars.
This group of wild boars is powerful. There are twelve in total, including eight adult wild boars and four piglets. They occupy a small area of water, where they play and drink water.
Gao Mingcheng left quietly without attacking the wild boars. Now is the time for Changqiu to gain weight, so let them eat and drink well!
He walked all the way, collecting medicinal materials, and was a little far away from the village. When he was ready to go back, it took him a lot of time even if he ran all the way.
When I ran to the mountainside near the village, I saw a crowd of people in the forest, and voices could be heard from time to time. This was because the villagers had also gone into the mountain to collect medicinal materials.
When he appeared carrying several sacks, he instantly aroused the envy of everyone.
Most of the people who come here to collect medicinal materials are women. They dare not go into the mountains, so when they saw Gao Mingcheng walking out of the mountains with so many things, they felt envious.
But there are some things that can only be envied. Not everyone has the ability to enter the mountains, and not everyone has free time.
For these women, their day is very busy. They get up early in the morning to cook porridge, then go to work in the fields, do housework at home, and then have lunch and dinner.
If you have children, you will be even busier. Even if raising children is very rough now, it still requires a lot of effort on the part of the mother to be able to raise the children.
After Gao Mingcheng said hello to people from a distance, he returned home all the way.
As soon as she put down the things she brought back, she saw Duo Mei coming out of the kitchen. She said, "Mingcheng, Shufang came here before and said that grandma has been feeling unwell for the past two days. Your father asked you to go back and take a look. I I have prepared ten eggs, do you think there are any missing? If so, I will go to my second sister’s house to buy some.”
Other people's eggs will be kept and sold for money, but his eggs cannot be kept. As long as they are available, they will be eaten. These ten eggs were made up by Duo Mei picking up a few from the chicken coop.
Seeing this, Gao Mingcheng said: "No, just bring ten. I got some bullfrogs in the mountains, and I'll just bring some more."
So he went to the miscellaneous room and got a bag, and picked out ten big bullfrogs from the bag containing the bullfrogs.
Despite its size, this bullfrog doesn't have much meat left after it's skinned and gutted.
(End of chapter)
