I saw that my father was not at home and asked, "Mom, where is my dad? What is he doing?" My mother was cooking dinner. He raised his head and said to me, "Xiao Liang, your dad went to the team's livestock house to cut grass. It can be considered as overtime work. Your dad also wants to pay off the work points owed to the team as soon as possible. He can pay it back one day earlier. Our whole family will have a relaxing day, and once your brother’s waist heals, we will be able to pay it back soon.”
Hearing what my mother said, I secretly made up my mind to let my brother take Hu Haishan's herbal medicine as soon as possible so that he could get better soon and pay back his work points in the team earlier. I would also work more for the family in the future. Father and mother, please share some of the burden and let our family get better soon. Thinking of this, I said to my mother: "Mom, let me feed the pigs and our chickens." After that, I was ready to leave. At this time, my brother who was lying on the pit said, "Xiao Liang, our mother had already fed you when you were sleeping, so you don't have to go." At this time, my mother who was busy also raised her head and said to me, "Pig I have already fed the chickens. You can lie down for a while. We can eat when your father comes back." I quickly said to my mother: "Mom, I woke up. I'm fine now. I'll go now. Decoction the herbs for your brother!" The mother said again: "Xiao Liang, can you decoct the herbs? You haven't decocted the herbs before, so let me do it later."
To be honest, I have never decooked herbs before, and I don’t know how to do it. I saw my mother decoct herbs before, and I think it’s not too difficult. I should be able to do it. Besides, this is the herb prepared by Hu Haishan for his brother. There are some things that I can't say clearly. I can only feel at ease if I do it myself. And if my brother can get well soon, I will feel more accomplished. Thinking of this, I said to my mother: "Mom, don't worry, I can do it. Master Wuxin told me that these medicines should be put in order, so let's fry them in our family's medicine pot Where? At this time, my mother had already cooked and was cleaning up the stove. When she heard me asking for a frying pan, she said casually: The frying pan is in the house. You can go look for it under the big vat at the back, and I will I went to look for it under the big vat in the house. But I couldn't find it, so I asked again, "Mom, there's not one. I've searched all over the house and under the big vat, but I didn't see it?" Then my mother stopped what she was doing. He thought for a while and said, "Oh, I forgot. Look at my head. Uncle Li next door borrowed it some time ago. He said that your Aunt Li was eating herbs at home and needed to use our frying pot. This is so long. It's time. They should not use it at your Uncle Li's house. You can go and get it. Our local custom is that if you don't have a frying pot at home, you can borrow it from other people's houses, but you can't return it voluntarily. If you want to use it yourself, you can go and ask for it back. . Now it’s just dark, go and come back and soak the herbs first.”
I was still young at the time, and I didn’t know that there was such a rule in the village. After hearing what my mother said, I went to Uncle Li’s house next door. At that time, Uncle Li’s family was having dinner. I went to explain the situation, and Uncle Li quickly left. A frying pan was taken out from the corner. I returned home with the frying pan, now in the yard. Using the water in the water tank, I washed the decoction pot several times before taking the decoction pot back to the kitchen. I took the three packets of medicinal materials placed on the window sill. First, I took out the medicinal materials that my brother had taken internally. First, I put the dry medicinal materials into the pot and soaked them in water. There is no need to soak the wet medicinal materials in water. Just soak the dry medicinal materials and then put them together in the pot and cook them together. But these dry medicinal materials need to be soaked all night, and they have to wait until tomorrow morning to get up and boil the medicine. After boiling, before the sun rises, the brother has to take it quickly, so that the efficacy of the medicinal herbs can be reflected. After doing this, I took out another pack and gave my brother some herbs for external use. These herbs for external use do not need to be boiled, they only need to be steamed in a pot. My mother had already cooked the meal just now, and I could use the fire now.
Then I took out the steamer my mother used to steam steamed buns, put the steamer basket on it, put the medicinal materials evenly in the steamer, and closed the lid. Then he went outside to the west wall and brought back a bundle of firewood to heat up the stove and let the water in the pot boil quickly. When the water in the pot was boiled by the fire, he put some coal into the stove and let it boil. When the fire becomes smaller, steam these medicinal materials for two hours. After steaming, take these medicinal materials out and wait for them to cool down naturally before use.
Only when I was very busy, my father came back. As soon as my father entered the house, he saw me busy in front of the stove and asked, "Xiao Liang, what are you doing?" Dad didn't ask, he sniffed and said, are you evaluating those medicinal materials? Why do I smell like herbs? "
Before I could say anything, my mother, who was standing aside and looking at me, said to my father: "Xiao Liang is steaming herbs for his brother, as I said just now. He hasn't done it before. I'll do it after I finish cooking." , but Xiaoliang said that Taoist Wu Xin had told him that there was a sequence for putting the herbs, so he had to do it himself."
After listening to my mother's explanation, my father came over and took a look at the herbs I was steaming in the iron pot. and the herbs soaked in the medicine pot, and asked, "Xiao Liang, are the herbs in your pot also filled with herbs? What kind of medicine is this? Does it need to be steamed in the pot?" I quickly explained to my father: "Dad, You don’t know, the herbs steamed in this steamer are for my brother’s external use. It was Taoist Master Wu Xin who specifically warned that these herbs must be steamed in the pot and not boiled. Steam the herbs for external use for two hours, and then put them into the pot. Let it dry, and finally take it out and pound it into grass mud, filter out the residue, mix it with cinnabar amber, and apply it on the injured area, and your brother's injury will get better quickly." My father couldn't stop nodding after listening. "Well, it's like this. Taoist Wuxin is really a master. Normally, we ordinary people boil herbal medicines. This is the first time I've seen this steamed herbal medicine. This unique preparation method must be different. The effect. Then just do it as Taoist Master Wu Xin said, don’t forget anything.”
After saying that, my father patted the dust on his body, picked up the towel and went outside to wash his face.
The mother on the side then said to his father: "Xiao Liang's father, the meal is ready. After you wash your face, we will eat quickly. Father agreed and walked out." Then she said to me, "Xiao Liang, prepare the medicinal ingredients and cover them." Put the lid on, let's eat first. Don't you think the herbs need to be steamed for two hours? Now is the time for us to eat."
