Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 212: Stewed Mustard Greens
Qu Shaoyang bought pig's trotters and Doctor Chen prepared some medicinal soup for him. That evening, he started to produce a small amount of milk.

Newborns have small appetites, so a little bit is enough.

Gradually, the baby's appetite increased and my milk supply increased. It was absolutely no problem to feed the baby.

It is the busy season for autumn harvest. The Qu family has so much land, and there are still many crops that have not been harvested. How can Qu Shaoyang have the time to stay at home with his wife all day?

Fortunately, Li and Lin Ruolan were taking care of Chen Xiuyun and her son. Plus, the little kid was really easy to worry about. He just ate and slept all day and wasn't making any noise.

Only then was Qu Shaoyang free to lead the family's farmhands to bring back the crops in a hurry.

Because of the leap July this year, the solar terms are a bit messed up. In late August, the temperature is quite low.

Not only do the crops in the fields need to be harvested in time, but the autumn vegetables in the vegetable garden also need to be harvested in time.

In the winter in Northeast China, it is covered with ice and snow and no vegetables grow.

So every autumn, every household has to stock up a lot of autumn vegetables.

All the cabbages, radishes and potatoes in the garden were stored in the cellar.

If you don’t have a cellar, just dig a big hole in the garden, bury the cabbages and radishes in it, cover them with corn stalks, and then cover them with a thick layer of soil.

When it’s winter and the temperature outside is too low, we dig them out and bring them indoors, cover them with sacks, and eat them slowly until after the New Year.

In addition to stockpiling autumn vegetables, you also need to pickle sauerkraut and pickled mustard greens, which must be prepared before winter.

Otherwise, during the long winter, you will have empty bowls and no vegetables to eat.

Qu Shaoyang was busy with the crops in the fields, so in the vegetable garden, only Doctor Chen and Liu Dongshan were left to lead the people.

"My dear, why did your family plant so many mustard greens this year?
That thing has a spicy smell and doesn't taste good when fried. It's just like a pickled vegetable.

There are only a few people in your family. A small jar of pickled vegetables is enough for you to eat. What's the point of growing so many?"

When Liu Dongshan saw that the Chen family had planted a large field of mustard greens, he was stunned and a little confused about what Doctor Chen was going to do.

"Oh, that's not for pickling, it's for making medicine."

Doctor Chen was delighted when he heard this and quickly explained.

"My dear relative, you may not know that my family has a secret recipe, which is to use this mustard greens to make aged mustard greens stew.

This thing has many uses. It can treat symptoms such as high fever and cough.

It’s just that the process is complicated and time-consuming, and it has to be buried in the ground for ten years.”

Originally, Doctor Chen was hurt by what happened to the Tong family. He was disheartened and didn't want to practice medicine anymore. He just wanted to spend his remaining years in Maoer Mountain.

But there was only one Doctor He in Maoer Mountain. His medical skills were ordinary and he could not cure some illnesses, so he simply recommended people to see Doctor Chen.

They are all neighbors. Since they come to ask for help, Doctor Chen can't just ignore it.

In this way, many people's illnesses were cured.

Everyone advised Doctor Chen to just open a clinic, as it would be a pity to let such excellent medical skills go to waste.

Doctor Chen thought about it and felt that it was indeed too early for him to start retiring at his age.

Besides, his medical skills were taught by his father-in-law. The Li family has passed down medical skills for many generations, and it cannot be lost in his family.

My two sons have no interest in studying medicine, so it would be nice to have a few apprentices to pass on my skills.

Since Doctor Chen had plans in this regard, some things naturally had to be prepared in advance.

This aged mustard greens stew is said to have been created by monks from Tianning Temple during the Ming Dynasty and has miraculous medicinal properties.

It has the effects of eliminating phlegm, clearing away heat, and relieving cough, and is specifically used to treat symptoms such as lung abscess, vomiting pus and blood, and high fever.

This aged mustard greens stew has unique effects and a complicated production process. Although it has been recorded in some literature, it is not comprehensive.

After hundreds of years, it is almost lost. Coincidentally, among the medical secrets handed down by the Li family, there is a detailed method for making aged mustard greens stew.

When Doctor Chen was in Daqinggou, he would make some every year, bury them underground, and take them out and use them at the end of the year.

Doctor Chen didn't want the good medicine to be lost, so he planted more mustard greens this summer and planned to make some mustard greens stew.

After hearing what Doctor Chen said, Liu Dongshan understood.

"Oh, so that's what happened. OK, if you need any help, just tell me."

Liu Dongshan had long ago advised Doctor Chen to open a clinic in Maoer Mountain. No matter how much money he made, at least he could have a livelihood.

The most important thing is not to give up your medical skills. Besides, curing diseases and saving lives is also a merit.

With so many people in the family, just feeding them vegetables was a problem, so both the Qu and Liu families planted large areas of autumn vegetables.

Liu Dongshan and Doctor Chen led the team and worked for several days. They finally pulled out all the vegetables. They stored some of them in the cellar and kept the rest for pickling pickles and sauerkraut.

These tasks are not something that grown men can do. Lin Ruolan led a few hired young wives to pickle more than a dozen jars of sauerkraut and pickled vegetables in the new house.

In the blink of an eye, August passed, the weather was getting colder and colder, and when I got up in the morning, there was white frost outside.

All the crops in the field were harvested and temporarily piled there to dry. Jiang Chunfu led the people to reclaim wasteland again.

Qu Shaoyang specially opened up a small piece of wasteland next to his own wasteland.

He took good care of this land, plowing it deeply, crushing the soil into very fine pieces, and mixing it with some loess.

Afterwards, he dug large ridges and evenly scattered the ginseng seeds that had already sprouted and that he had buried in the earth during the summer on the ground.

There were too few ginseng seeds, only a handful, and in the end they were only scattered over an area of ​​six feet wide and two feet long.

This was the beginning of Qu Shaoyang's artificial cultivation of ginseng.

He has already made up his mind that if these ginseng seeds can germinate successfully next year, he will slowly explore and develop garden ginseng cultivation on his own.

If there is nothing next spring, he will go to the ginseng garden on Dianzi Street and find a way to buy some ginseng seeds and ginseng plants from others, and then learn some techniques.

The new house has been cleaned up and freshly painted inside and out. The kang and stove are lit every day, and it is ventilated every day. We can move in at any time.

The furniture ordered from the carpenter has been delivered and installed one after another, and we are just waiting for an auspicious day to move into the new house.

But Chen Xiuyun is still in confinement and the baby is still young, so it is not suitable to move them.

"Wife, I was thinking, after you finish your confinement, we can pick a day to hold the moving and full moon banquet at the same time, is that ok with you?"

After dinner, there was nothing to do, so Qu Shaoyang discussed things with Chen Xiuyun.

"The main room at the new house has a floor heater, a fire wall and a stove.

In winter, we light a fire, which is warmer than this room. You and your children won’t suffer if you live there.”

"Sure, that's fine. Just arrange it as you see fit. Anything is fine."

Chen Xiuyun didn't care about any of this. As long as her family was fine, it didn't matter to her whether they lived in these two small rooms or in the big house over there.

The young couple was chatting when the baby in the quilt next to them suddenly started crying.

Qu Shaoyang had no experience in parenting, and he was at a loss as soon as the child cried.

However, Chen Xiuyun has become very familiar with it after practicing it for these days.

So she quickly undressed herself, reached out and touched it, and sure enough, it was wet.

"The child has peed. Hurry up and give me two pieces of the quilt on the kang."

Li had something to do and went back to Chen's house, so Chen Xiuyun could only order her husband to do the work.

(End of this chapter)