Chapter 4: Achyranthes Root
They had a total of sixty-eight households in their Qili Village, occupying this entire stretch… well, hillside I suppose, on the hillside, clearing land wherever they pleased.
There was very little wasteland on the flatlands, and what little there was mostly consisted of rocks and poor, barren soil. It was better to clear land on the hillsides instead. So Zhou Silang shouldered his hoe and sickle and headed up the hillside. He planned to stand at a high vantage point and survey the area from afar, then clear whichever plot caught his eye.
Zhou Silang thought as he pleased, but would Man Bao agree?
Of course not!!!
After being carried to the hilltop, Man Bao took a look around and pointed to a patch with the least grass on the hillside, saying, “Let’s clear that spot over there.”
“No way!” Man Bao refused without a second thought, pointing instead to another area on the slope. “I want to clear that spot.”
Zhou Silang looked over and saw that not only was the grass lush and as tall as Man Bao there, there were also many short shrubs. He knew their roots would be extremely difficult to dig up, so he immediately refused, “No, that spot won’t be as easy to clear as this one.”
But Man Bao persisted, hoping to find things Ke Ke might like so she could trade them for candy. “I want to clear that spot.”
Her reasoning sounded quite valid too. “Look how lush the grass grows over there, and there are even trees. Our beans and melons will grow well in the future too. As for the spot you picked, there’s hardly any grass at all, and it doesn’t look any better than mine. Oh, and there are rocks too. Little grass definitely doesn’t like rocks, and beans and melons probably don’t either.”
Zhou Silang grew displeased. “So am I the one clearing land, or are you?”
Man Bao put her hands on her hips. “It’s you, but you have to listen to me. Otherwise when I go back, I’ll tell Dad you deliberately chose a bad plot so you could slack off, and he’ll beat you.”
Zhou Silang was fuming, but he had no choice but to listen to her, because their father would definitely take Man Bao’s side.
Feeling the aches from his previous injuries, Zhou Silang could only angrily say, “Fine, we’ll clear that spot. Let’s go.”
Zhou Wulang moved to carry her, but Man Bao thought for a moment and waved her hand. “No need, I’ll walk down myself. Fourth Brother, you go start clearing first.”
Zhou Silang was exasperated. “You little runt, how will you walk down? Won’t Fifth Brother have to stay by your side?”
“So what if he does? Sixth Brother can stay too.”
“No, they need to help me clear the land.”
But Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang didn’t want to work either, shaking their heads. “Mom told us before we left that we absolutely have to look after Little Sister. Fourth Brother, you go down and cut the grass first since you only have a sickle.”
Zhou Silang was dumbfounded. “You guys didn’t bring any sickles?”
Zhou Wulang smiled. “We’re carrying Man Bao, how could we hold sickles?”
Zhou Silang then looked to Da Tou and Da Ya and the others. Da Tou was quick to explain, “We thought you uncles brought some, so we didn’t.”
Zhou Silang then instructed Da Tou, “You go back and get the sickles right now, hurry!”
But Da Tou said, “We’ll be going back for breakfast soon anyway. We can just bring them after we eat. If I go back now, we won’t get much work done. Fourth Uncle, why don’t we accompany Little Niece and walk down slowly while you go cut the grass first?”
Everyone chimed in, “Yeah, yeah Fourth Uncle, just go ahead.”
Zhou Silang felt utterly abandoned, and the root cause was Man Bao.
Man Bao was even fiercer than him. “Hurry up and go! Otherwise when we’re back for breakfast, I’ll tell Dad you were slacking off.”
Zhou Silang turned and stormed off with his hoe and sickle in tow.
Man Bao was quite pleased with herself as she made her way down the mountain path with her little short legs, occasionally picking at grass and flowers. Fifth and Sixth Brothers, along with Da Tou, Da Ya and the others who were used to playing in the hills, saw their little sister obediently walking and went running off wildly to play. They would pick pretty wildflowers they saw, and especially any wild fruits they spotted, digging them up. They could even watch an anthill for ages, having the time of their lives.
Man Bao struggled to dig up a clump of grass, wiping sweat from her brow as she asked Ke Ke in her heart, “Do you want this one?”
Ke Ke’s voice carried a tinge of resignation. “Host, you’ve already recorded this grass called Achyranthes root a long time ago.”
Man Bao was skeptical. “Really? I don’t remember.”
The system then pulled up the Achyranthes root entry that Man Bao had recorded, complete with its ecological characteristics, origins, reproduction methods and main uses all listed out clearly line by line.
Man Bao loved reading, delighted to see the text. She asked excitedly, “Where did these words come from?”
The system explained, “Achyranthes root still exists in my creator’s world, so this is knowledge from the Encyclopedia. After you record a plant, any encyclopedia entries about it will be shown below.”
The system paused before continuing, “Host, I think even if you can’t find species that went extinct or became rare in my creator’s era, you should at least try to record some rare or valuable plants. That way, if more people download them, we’ll get more points and I can exchange for more candy for you.”
Truth be told, it had been following Man Bao for over a year now, and aside from three plants that a few people had downloaded, no one showed any interest in the others. Even those three barely had any downloads. Basically it had been using its own points to get Man Bao candy.
But Man Bao didn’t feel discouraged. She was thoroughly engrossed in reading the description after the Achyranthes root entry. She had already memorized the Thousand Character Classic, and the day she received the system was the same day she got a copy of that text. She spent every day reciting and recognizing the characters. While she still couldn’t write many of them, she could now recognize them.
So reading this passage, Man Bao recognized about seventy or eighty percent of the characters. For any unfamiliar ones, she didn’t hesitate to ask Ke Ke directly.
The system was always ready with an answer, especially since Man Bao was quite adorable. Who could refuse such a cute four-year-old child?
Well, no, Man Bao insisted she was six this year. By East Asian age reckoning, that is.
After finishing the reading, Man Bao still didn’t fully understand but she also didn’t ask about everything, only the topics that piqued her interest. “It says Achyranthes root can dispel wind, drain dampness, clear heat, resolve toxicity and unblock stasis and stop bleeding. What does that mean?”
Ke Ke explained, “It means exactly what it says. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that from eating grains and being influenced by the environment, people can accumulate dampness, toxicity and internal heat in their bodies. For example, if you have internal heat, you can decoct Achyranthes root into a soup to dispel wind, drain dampness, clear heat and resolve toxicity. As for unblocking stasis and stopping bleeding, that’s even simpler – if someone falls and gets a bleeding injury, you can grind it up and apply it to the wound to stop the bleeding. It can also be taken orally.”
Man Bao exclaimed in amazement, “This grass is so precious! No, I have to dig up more to take home.”
Man Bao then grabbed the grass stalks and pulled with all her might. It took tremendous effort before she could finally uproot them.
The system also thought this grass seemed quite good, so it secretly cheered Man Bao on and even gave her an idea. “You can use the vines next to it to tie the stalks together, then you can carry them back.”
Man Bao thought this was a great idea. After pulling up a good amount of Achyranthes root, when Fifth and Sixth Brothers came over with a handful of wild berries, her face and hands were covered in dirt from her strenuous efforts, shocking the two youths. They ran over asking, “Little Sister, what are you doing?”
Man Bao’s eyes shone brightly. “Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, quick come help! I’ve found a great medicinal herb.”
The two glanced over and saw the weeds in her hands, their expressions turning rather odd. “Isn’t this just a weed you can find anywhere?”
“No it’s not, this is called Achyranthes root. It can detoxify and stop bleeding,” Man Bao instructed her brothers. “Quick, help me pull some up.”
But Zhou Wulang simply took the weeds from her hand and tossed them aside, brushing the dirt off her hands. “Don’t be silly. Look, we found some tindora fruits, let’s try one.”
He then stuffed one of the bright red fruits into Man Bao’s mouth. It was fragrant and sweet, causing Man Bao’s eyes to light up as she forgot about the Achyranthes root on the ground. “I want more!”
The system was also quite excited. “This is a plant I’ve never recorded before. Man Bao, you have to record this, I just checked and there are no pictures of this fruit in the system.”
No pictures meant that even if the scientific name was in the database, adding images would earn them a decent bonus from the Encyclopedia. And if people viewed those images, they’d get even more points.
It seemed the decision to have the host go out and explore was the right move after all.
The system urged, “Man Bao, hurry and record it! It’s best to get the whole plant if possible.”
So Man Bao stuffed the wild berries into her mouth while asking her brothers, “What kind of fruit is this? I’ve never eaten it before. Where did you pick it from?”
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang were surprised. “You’ve never had this before? There are tons up in the hills. There were so many during Qingming, but not too many left now. If you like it, I’ll take you up next year to eat some.”
Man Bao felt her brothers had missed the point, so she asked, “But where did you pick them from?”
“We already picked them all, there’s none left. Let’s head back down. Fourth Brother is going to get mad in a bit.”
Man Bao put her hands on her hips angrily. “But I want to see what they look like growing, so I’ll know how to pick them myself next time.”
Zhou Wulang laughed when he heard this. “What’s so difficult about that? Just keep going down this path, and you’ll see plenty along the side without any fruits left. We’ll show you how to identify them later.”
Man Bao finally realized her brothers weren’t lying when they said the hills were full of these plants.
After walking a little further down, Zhou Wulang pointed to a vine covered in thorns beside the path. “Look, this is the tindora vine. It blooms as soon as it warms up in spring, then the flowers turn into fruits that turn red when they’re ripe and very delicious.”
But Zhou Liulang disagreed, “I think the yellow ones taste better, they’re firm and tart, way more flavorful than the red ones.”
Zhou Wulang scoffed at him, “The red ones are the best, we all agree the red ones are better.”
“No, the yellow ones!” Zhou Liulang insisted.
“The red ones!”
“Yellow!”
“Red!”
Seeing her two brothers start bickering, Man Bao hadn’t tried the yellow ones before so she didn’t voice an opinion. She slid off Sixth Brother’s back and squatted down to examine the vines.
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang gave their sister a glance, seeing she was just curiously staring, so they turned their full attention back to their argument. Or was it discourse?
Man Bao asked Ke Ke in her heart, “Does it need to be the whole plant dug up, or can I just pull off a section for you?”
The system considered for a moment. “If you can dig up the whole plant, that would obviously be ideal. But taking a cutting is also fine if digging it up isn’t convenient.”
满宝 (Man Bao) – Man Bao
钱氏 (Qian Shi) – Mrs. Qian
小钱氏 = Mrs. Xiao Qian
科科 (Ke Ke) – Ke Ke
周四郎 (Zhou Silang) – Zhou Silang (Fourth Brother)
周五郎 (Zhou Wulang) – Zhou Wulang (Fifth Brother)
周六郎 (Zhou Liulang) – Zhou Liulang (Sixth Brother)
大头 (Da Tou) – Oldest Nephew
大丫 (Da Ya) – Oldest Niece
二头 (Er Tou) – Second Nephew
二丫 (Er Ya) – Second Niece
三头 (San Tou) – Third Nephew
三丫 (San Ya) – Third Niece
