Da Zaojun

Chapter 24: Kitchen God Expels Epidemic
[Worship the Kitchen God in a Shengwang Style]: Following the virtue of fire, the Kitchen God is appeased. Smoke rising to the heavens dissipates foul air. This style demonstrates the Kitchen God's power and may also offer some protection from disaster.

"How is it?" asked the head of the Lu family.

Song Wuji said, "We have offered sacrifices to the Kitchen God. From now on, our home will be protected by the kitchen fire. The brighter the kitchen fire, the more vitality it will bring."

After saying this, Song Wuji continued, "From now on, when you offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God, you don't need to burn extra incense. Just place an offering in front of the Kitchen God statue for a while before serving the food every day, and that will be a sign of sincerity."

"I see," said Patriarch Lu. "No wonder the kitchen suddenly felt brighter and my mood brightened up."

"Thank you so much, Brother Xiao Song."

Next, under the arrangement of the head of the Lu family, Song Wuji completed the task of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god, sending kitchen sugar, and gathering kitchen fire to the neighbors on both sides and the wealthy families.

But not all wealthy families attach great importance to the Kitchen God worship.

Although Song Wuji diligently assisted in setting up the offerings for the Kitchen God, he never managed to create another special "game." He did, however, take the opportunity to collect dozens of incense sticks. However, he did manage to upgrade his fire-starting technique.

Fire-Starting Techniques: Eating Incense: Originally a minor technique used by the Kitchen God to light fires and cook, it also has some magical uses for purifying the home and enhancing the aroma of cooking. When the incense is lit, it resembles the smoke of a hometown cooking fire. Wandering ghosts, smelling this aroma, are transported back to the old home, their parents preparing meals.

Cooking rice adds fragrance, this is good. Song Wuji thought to himself: "I love eating fragrant food and drinking spicy drinks!"

However, the most urgent task now is to go outside the city to cook Xiangji Poyi Shuwei Soup to eliminate the plague.

After Song Wuji said goodbye to the head of the Lu family, he came to the city gate again.

The city gate was no longer open to the public, and Chen Xiu was guarding the gate.

As soon as Song Wuji arrived, he asked, "Are you the boy blessed by the Kitchen God? I heard that you have a great grudge and your loved ones were slaughtered by the pig demon. Do you want to avenge your family personally?"

Song Wuji immediately gnashed his teeth and said, "I wish I could cut you into pieces, keep you captive and torture you to death every day!"

This hatred came from the original body, full of emotion, and was not acted out by Song Wuji.

"Then you need to learn some martial arts. Just knowing how to cook won't get you revenge." Chen Xiu said, "We'll organize a team tomorrow morning and march out of the city to defeat the demons. You need to be prepared."

Song Wuji nodded vigorously: "Okay!" Then he was led out of the city gate.

The victims outside the city gate who were not seriously affected by the epidemic were still receiving relief porridge, but it was impossible for them to enter the city.

Some of the victims were conscripted as laborers. Some dug pits and buried the bodies, while others built temporary medical tents.

Several doctors from the Medical Department were busy, and the taste of the decocted herbs was bitter and unpleasant.

Song Wuji walked forward and said to Doctor Li, "Old man, you can start making the rat tail soup to cure the plague."

Only then did Doctor Li raise his head from observing the patient's wound and insert acupuncture needle into several major acupuncture points.

"The poison has already invaded his five internal organs. I can only seal his meridians temporarily. Come and boil it and see if it works. The aged mugwort is all there, a good seven or eight pounds. The giant rat tails are also piled up there. There's a big pot of boiling water, so you can use it directly."

Song Wuji nodded without saying anything more. He immediately pointed his hand like a sword and drew out the stove fire.

I saw the flames in three colors: red, yellow and white. Not only did they look warm, but there was also a faint and rich "food aroma" that appeared out of nowhere.

Next, Song Wuji took out the blood-stained kitchen knife and cut the rat's tail into pieces. Except for the base of the tail which was made of hard bones, the rest of the tail was made of cartilage. Although it was called a meat tail, it actually had no meat, but a layer of skin covering the cartilage.

When Song Wuji touched the tail of the meat, he felt that he had a very clear understanding of its structure. After a few cuts, he chopped it into small pieces the size of braised pork.

Then, he immersed the old mugwort in boiling water. When the water turned yellow or even faintly red, Song Wuji put the rat tail segment into the pot. This thing needed to be boiled for an hour using the fire-starting technique, and Song Wuji had to keep an eye on it.

This is not a problem. The strange thing is that when cooking the rat tail, it tastes like braised pork, braised pork elbow, roast duck, roast chicken, and other different dishes.

The fragrance lingered and was extremely stubborn. When it got on people's clothes, the clothes would smell like someone had just walked into a kitchen with a strong smell of oil smoke.

The victims were already hungry, and the smell of the fragrance made the relief porridge taste bland. They looked at Song Wuji cooking with green eyes, and kept swallowing saliva.

Several doctors from the Medical Department, upon smelling the smell, expressed regret: "Your stove smells of cooking fumes, but there's no smoke. If you were to use this to refine pills, wouldn't the pills also smell like cooking?"

Song Wuji said, "Actually, there are also ordinary fire-starting techniques that don't involve food incense."

"Forget it, forget it. Just be a good cook. Every profession has its own duties. Doing your job and governing your position is the right way." Old Doctor Li sighed. "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. If you can do a good job as a chef, you are no worse than us who prescribe medicine and treat illnesses."

An hour later, the cooked Xiangji Poyi Rat Tail Soup was also ready.

Or maybe the stove fire was excellent, and the rat tail became crystal clear after being stewed in mugwort water, which was a reversal of the previous disgusting feeling.

Doctor Li said, "Let me try the decoction first."

"I'll go first."

Doctor Miao said, "I'm good at making poisons, and I have some resistance."

Song Wuji was helpless. Didn't he know whether this was poisonous or not? He also ate a bowl himself.

After eating it, there is no need to refine it, and a temporary state of "breaking the epidemic" will appear. It is unknown how long it can last. In addition to breaking the epidemic, it also has the function of slowly restoring vitality. After all, rat meat is also meat. The rat tail soup made from the giant rat tail is better than relief porridge.

"I felt a heat and sweat on my back after eating it."

"It tastes sweet and flows through the spleen meridian. It can stimulate the body's innate energy, regulate the vital energy of the body's defense system, and also has a slightly nourishing and harmonizing effect."

"Mugwort can circulate qi and blood, and activate blood circulation. It is a perfect match for this. No other medicine is needed."

Doctor Li is indeed a veteran doctor who has been practicing medicine for many years and has also joined the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the City God's Twenty-Four Departments. He knows the properties of the medicine very well.

"Record the power of the giant rat tail, dry some of it, and see how much of its effect it still has. Also, see if you can make it into an anti-epidemic pill. Maybe it can be used to defeat the demons later."

Then the rat tail soup was given to the victims who were already sick with the epidemic.

He also asked Song Wuji to cook another pot, so that when the disaster victims received the relief porridge, they could each drink a small bowl, which could also prevent epidemics.

After the victims drank the Xiangji Poyi Shuwei Soup, the fire element in Song Wuji's body suddenly became hot.

You have completed [Kitchen God Exorcises Epidemic], Fire Destiny +1.

A picture suddenly appeared in Song Wuji's mind.

It is the New Year, and there are fireworks and firecrackers everywhere. Under the night sky, the lights are bright and the whole place is red. The Kitchen God is parading around, scattering sugar candies, and children are busy picking them up.

In front of the procession, the plague god and plague ghosts that were being driven out were dressed in tattered clothes, with flames burning on their bodies, and they were in a panic.

It is the virtue of fire that removes filth and the Kitchen God that drives away epidemics.

(End of this chapter)