Chapter 87 - 88: Don’t Dare to Eat
While signaling for the He Family to keep up with the procession, Mrs. He Zhou waved over her clansmen. "Brothers! These people just appeared on the road claiming to be our relatives. Hurry, take a look and see if anyone recognizes them!"
"Tuping’s mother, if you don’t even know your own relatives, who else is going to claim you?"
"But I really don’t know them!" Mrs. He Zhou said. "They just jumped out and insisted we’re related by marriage. I only said something because they’re so big and strong. Aren’t I right to be afraid they’d bully a poor widow and her orphan?"
"Mrs. He Zhou, you’ve been calling yourself a ’widow and orphan’ for decades. Now you have a daughter-in-law and grandchildren, you can’t keep saying that.
And you lot, why are you blocking the road? Are you looking for trouble with us from Geda Village?"
Though everyone was still grumbling, when it came to a real conflict, they naturally sided with their own.
"A misunderstanding," Wu Changping said. He wasn’t about to rashly offend a group of strangers. "It’s all because of this father and son next to me. They insisted they were relatives of this lady, so we stopped them to ask."
Seeing the clothes scattered all over the ground, everyone frowned. "What is all this? We’re all refugees here. We shouldn’t be making trouble for one another."
"You’ve all misunderstood," Wu Changping said, quickly explaining that he had been deceived by the Lan father and son and now just wanted a little compensation for his trouble.
"Oh, so it’s *him*," many people realized, casting a meaningful glance at He Tuliang, who was slumped over He Tiping’s back. ’So, the so-called relatives are just brothers in misfortune. I guess that’s a kind of relationship, barely.’
"We know a little about the Lan Family’s situation, but we’re no relatives of theirs. If you have a problem, take it up with them directly. Don’t block the path; a lot of people are waiting to get through behind us."
As the crowd grew larger, Wu Changping had no choice but to let them pass. He knew how to read a situation.
In the end, not only did the Lan Family lose the Jade Pendant they had just handed over, but the father and son were also searched and completely cleaned out.
If Wu Changping’s group had any women with them to do the searching, the Lan mother-in-law and daughter-in-law probably wouldn’t have been spared.
Watching the group swagger off, the Lan Family was utterly devastated. But they had to worry more about their current predicament. They were halfway up a mountain path; if they got separated from the main group, their day would truly be a disaster.
This time, the Lan mother-in-law and daughter-in-law didn’t dare hold anything back. They furtively took out a large-denomination silver note and, after much difficulty, persuaded a family with many sons to take them along.
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The moment Jin Qianqian and her group returned to the lakeside, many people began trying to cook the yams and yam bulbils using the method she had described.
The families who hadn’t gone into the mountains gathered around curiously, wanting to see if this thing—supposedly both medicine and food—was actually edible.
It was Doctor Liu’s first time seeing a raw yam as well. He curiously got a small piece from someone and studied it for a long while, but he still couldn’t be sure.
"Doctor Liu? Well?" Gu Sanbu watched him intently. Everyone was waiting for the doctor’s word before they dared to take a bite.
"I usually pick and process my own medicinal herbs. For rarer ingredients, I buy them from an apothecary. I really can’t identify this on sight.
However, if this really is wild yam, it’s an incredible find. Properly processed, it could be sold for a great deal of money." Doctor Liu racked his brain, trying to recall the medical texts he had read with his master, but it had been too long, and the memory was hazy.
Seeing that no one was taking the first bite, Jin Qianqian knew exactly what they were thinking. She scooped some of the stir-fried yam slices from her pot, and she and Ancient Wenheng began happily eating them, piece by piece.
She even praised herself aloud, "See? My cooking has really improved lately. Not too salty, not too bland. It’s so refreshing."
Ancient Wenheng nodded as he ate. "Next time we should look for some wood ear mushrooms. It would probably taste even better stir-fried with those."
Jin Qianqian winked at him. ’I’m certainly not short on dried goods like that.’ The thought made her want to try it herself.
"How can you two just start eating?" Li Cuicui said, a little panicked. "Doctor Liu hasn’t said it’s okay yet! What if there’s a problem with it?"
"Don’t worry, Mother," said Ancient Wenheng. "Your son has a pretty good memory. I’m certain I wasn’t mistaken. Would you like to try some?"
Li Cuicui looked skeptical. "You’re studying with a Scholar, not a doctor. You can’t just go around making claims about medicinal herbs.
Besides, we’ve never seen anything like this before. Are you absolutely sure you didn’t get it wrong?"
Jin Qianqian silently rolled her eyes. ’Weren’t they all excited enough while we were digging them up? Why get all cautious now?’
Jin Qianqian secretly nudged Ancient Wenheng’s foot with her own, prompting him to answer.
Ancient Wenheng swallowed the piece of yam in his mouth before he began to parade his knowledge. "Yam can fortify the spleen and replenish qi, nourishing the spleen’s yin. It can be used for a weak spleen, or a deficiency in both qi and yin, leading to emaciation, fatigue, poor appetite, loose stools, or poor digestion..."
"Correct, that’s exactly it." Doctor Liu, who had walked over at some point, was now staring at Ancient Wenheng with excitement. "Young man, have you studied medicine?"
Ancient Wenheng shook his head. "I just happened to read about it in some miscellaneous books. I was curious, so I read it a few times and managed to remember it."
"It seems you weren’t mistaken, young man. This must be yam. It’s just a pity to eat it directly. This is a top-grade medicinal ingredient! If it were properly processed, it could be traded for a lot of grain."
"Doctor Liu, how is it processed? Can you teach us?" Liu Liu asked, looking regretfully at the yam pieces in her pot. ’Why did I have to be so hasty? What a huge loss.’
Doctor Liu hesitated for a moment. "I don’t actually know the specific processing method. I wonder, young man, if the book you read described it in detail."
Ancient Wenheng shook his head. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell them. The main issue was they lacked the proper conditions for processing. Besides, a novice wasn’t guaranteed to succeed, so it was safer to just fill their stomachs with it.
"What a shame," Doctor Liu said, clutching the small piece of yam he’d been given. "Still, eating wild yam can only do the body good, not harm."
’After all, those two have been eating it for a while and they’re still alive and kicking.’
"So, are there many more of these yams up on the mountain?" Gu Sanbu asked Ancient Wenheng directly.
Ancient Wenheng replied, "The patch we found is pretty much all dug up. As for whether there’s more on the mountain, we really don’t know. But now that so many people know what it looks like, they won’t pass it by next time."
Gu Sanbu stroked his beard. "It seems reading more is truly beneficial. From now on, Yuan Yu can go with you into the mountains more often. Perhaps you’ll make other discoveries."
Ancient Wenheng was speechless. ’This old man is digging another pit for me to fall into.’
Doctor Liu was also very interested in the deep mountains. He had already picked clean all the medicinal herbs in the vicinity. It seemed he would have to have a serious talk with the people from Bainiao.