025 Nine Steams and Nine Suns (Please follow and vote for recommendations!)

Chen Anquan was surprised. He glanced at Chen Xinwu, who was eating with great relish across from him, and couldn’t help but marvel at the keen powers of observation children possessed.

The moment Chen Xinwu finished speaking, Second Aunt, who had been quietly eating, suddenly wore a strange expression.

She looked at Chen Anquan with an odd gaze. “That’s right. With how much you exercise every day, how can you go without some supplements?”

She didn’t specify what supplements he should take, but her expression seemed to say, “You’re a medical student—you should know all about this.”

“Exactly! Practicing martial arts requires tempering the body. As the saying goes, ‘When deficient, replenish; when excessive, drain.’ Anquan, you mustn’t focus only on training and forget to fortify your health in time,” Second Uncle reminded him as well.

“All right, I understand.” Chen Anquan looked at everyone with an assuring gaze. “I plan to head into the mountains tomorrow to gather medicinal herbs. Our place is surrounded by deep forests; I imagine there are plenty of herbs to be found.”

Second Uncle hesitated for a moment. “There are indeed many herbs, and in our generation, no one has really gone up the mountain to dig for them. Since you study medicine, I won’t stop you, but I must remind you: some herbs look genuine but are highly poisonous if eaten. Be careful when you go picking.”

“That’s just it! Gathering herbs in the mountains is hard work and it’s easy to make mistakes. It would be bad if you picked something toxic by accident. I suggest you let your Second Uncle help you get a prescription from the town doctor—that’s the safest way!” Second Aunt suggested.

Chen Anquan smiled. “Thank you for your concern. With the technology we have now, if I’m unsure about a medicinal plant, I can always look it up online. You really don’t need to worry about me.”

After dinner, the simple main room fell quiet once more.

Having realized after a long day of training that his efforts had yielded no effect, Chen Anquan gave up on further physical exercise and switched to practicing Tai Chi sword.

After an hour, he was thoroughly exhausted, and when he saw that his proficiency with the Tai Chi sword had increased by only one point, he decided to stop.

Having gone to bed early, Chen Anquan woke at dawn.

His family didn’t own a bamboo basket, only a few woven sacks, so he readied two of them to serve as makeshift herb carriers.

After washing up and eating breakfast, he set out early.

A major reason why Chen Anquan didn’t want to buy herbs from the pharmacy was that it would cost a fair bit of money, and with his savings almost depleted, he had to find a way to earn some income.

Collecting and digging up medicinal herbs was, for now, the best method he could think of.

When he’d worked in the county before, his commute took him past an old street.

Every morning when the market opened, the street would fill with customers and merchants trading medicinal herbs.

Nearly all the herbs sold were those the merchants had gathered themselves.

Chen Anquan had heard them say that on a good morning, one could earn several hundred yuan, and the herbs themselves cost nothing—just some effort and time.

Chen Anquan’s first target was the mountain directly in front of Aubai Village—Aubai Mountain.

This place was shrouded in mist year-round, lending it a mysterious air. Elders who had long since passed used to say there were tigers and spirits in the mountains.

Of course, Chen Anquan didn’t believe such tales meant to scare children.

Along the way, the most common herb he found was plantain. But plantain was too cheap to be worth the effort, so he simply ignored it.

“What’s this?”

Before bed, Chen Anquan had used his phone to look up common herbs in the southern regions and memorized their features, especially those used for injuries and replenishing deficiency.

He pulled out his phone and searched for information about Rehmannia.

Soon, the phone displayed relevant details.

Comparing the two, the plant’s appearance was identical.

“A good start!”

Chen Anquan took out his hoe and began digging up the Rehmannia from the ground.

As he expected, before long, he unearthed fresh Rehmannia roots, which looked much like ginseng.

He placed them in the sack he’d prepared and continued searching for other herbs. “It’s a pity we’re in the south—no wild ginseng to dig up here.”

He felt a twinge of regret. Nowadays, most ginseng was artificially cultivated under forest canopies, and the medicinal strength was far inferior to wild ginseng of old. If only he could find some wild ginseng in the wild, that would be ideal.

Still, the south had its own advantages. In terms of the variety of wild medicinal plants, the north couldn’t compare with the south.

All along the way, Chen Anquan dug up a good amount of Rehmannia, Polygonatum, fragrant screw pine, and five-fingered hairy peach among other herbs.

By the time he returned home, his sacks were already full of fresh medicinal plants.

No sooner had he arrived than he went straight to Second Uncle’s house and called for his nephew.

Washing and sorting the herbs would take a lot of time, and Chen Anquan didn’t want to spend all day on it.

Chen Xinwu, clever as ever, quickly rounded up some of his playmates, including the snot-nosed boy and the gap-toothed boy.

After a quick explanation of how to clean and sort the herbs, the children picked up the task quickly and soon got the hang of it.

Polygonatum needed to be washed, sliced, and dried.

Fresh Rehmannia just needed to be washed and dried. If he wanted to make prepared Rehmannia, which was more nourishing, it would require a complex process of steaming and sunning.

Last night, Chen Anquan had checked the market price for prepared Rehmannia. Dried Rehmannia went for about 20 to 27 yuan per kilogram, while prepared Rehmannia fetched around 30 yuan per kilogram—so there wasn’t much difference in price.

The “Treatise on Thunder God’s Roasting and Firing” recorded that the best prepared Rehmannia must undergo nine rounds of steaming and sunning before it could be used as medicine.

Nine rounds meant steaming until soft, then drying in the sun, and repeating the process nine times.

Most prepared Rehmannia on the market was lucky to go through three rounds.

This time, Chen Anquan intended to follow the ancient method himself.

The sliced Polygonatum was soon laid out in the sun at his doorstep.

The Rehmannia was all placed in the steamer, being steamed as required.

By noon, the children were tired out. Chen Anquan, not wanting to press them further, let them go home.

By afternoon, the Polygonatum was almost dry. He picked up about half a pound, put it straight in his mouth, and began chewing.

It was sweet, reminiscent of dried sweet potato…

At that very moment, Chen Anquan suddenly felt a warm sensation spreading from his stomach through his whole body. At the same time, the soreness in his muscles began to fade, replaced by a lightness in his bones and muscles.

So it really was overtraining that left him depleted—he definitely needed to replenish himself!

*

Let’s see if I can post a trial chapter this Friday. It’s already fifty thousand words—I really can’t afford to delay any longer.