Chapter 73 Salvia Plebeia
When she walked out of the room and yawned, Su Jiuyue saw that he was awkward in his movements, so she hurriedly ran over to him.
"Master, how can you do this?! Leave it with me!"
Instead of pushing himself too hard, Huang Husheng put down the axe, patted the dust on his hands and clothes, and said calmly, "Okay, it really doesn't fit me. But everyone is born useful. Pack up all the things and follow me to the mountain."
Su Jiuyue thought that he may feel bored because he had stayed at home for such a long time, so he wanted to go out and breathe some fresh air.
She then nimbly went to the kitchen, put two steamed buns
in the back basket, and went out following him.
Walking in the front, Huang Husheng looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. Su Jiuyue decided to remind him of something.
"Master......"
"What's wrong?" Huang Husheng responded without a backward glance.
Su Jiuyue deliberated for a moment before saying, "It's nothing. I guess that all the useful plants which were grown in the place close to our house in the mountain could be dug by them, so I'm afraid that we can find nothing."
Huang Husheng chuckled, "Don't be panic. Although they can not find, we may find some useful plants."
Su Jiuyue didn't believe what he said, and could not understand why he felt good about himself.
People had dug either the plants that could be eaten or those could not be eaten in the mountain. What was worse, there were few plants that could survive the winter.
Without any words, she thought that he would change his ideas when he got up the mountain......
They walked towards the green mountain, which turned into a scene of devastation.
Su Jiuyue was right that all the plants and even some of the barks had been dug.
Huang Husheng bent his brows because he realized people were experiencing hard times.
He took Su Jiuyue to go farther and farther away, but found nothing.
When Su Jiuyue was about to persuade him to give up, Huang Husheng suddenly stopped at a level ground.
He bent down to flick a layer of yellow leaves from the surface of the ground, and ugly green grass underneath the leaves was revealed.
This kind of weed had very ugly leaves thickly studded with pimples. At first sight the leaves resembled the outer skin of a toad.
When looking at the grass with curious eyes, Su Jiuyue heard Huang Husheng told her, "Dig!"
Su Jiuyue was slightly hesitant, "Can we really eat the grass?"
They were too ugly! She was afraid that they were wasting time to dig some poison. What was even worse, people would have trouble with diarrhea if they ate the leaves.
Huang Husheng got tired after walking for a long time. So he tidied up the robe and rested on the ground.
Hearing the question from her, he was not angry, but squint at her and said with a smile, "You know little about the grass. We call the grass Salvia plebeia, which is extremely fertile in winter every year. It can clear heat, promote urination, cool blood, and stop diarrhea. It can be eaten as a dish, and can be dried and soaked into water."
When Su Jiuyue gaped in astonishment, he easily picked up a branch from the ground, and scribbled the ground with the branch.
Su Jiuyue looked at him seriously and found two characters on the ground.
"What are they?" She asked curiously.
Huang Husheng knocked the ground with the branch, "These two characters are pronounced as Xue (means the snow) and Jian (means the meeting)."
After carefully looking at the two characters on the ground, Su Jiuyue picked up a branch and wrote them on the ground.
Seeing that she wrote the characters in the wrong order of strokes, Huang Husheng helped her correct the order twice and finally asked, "You got it?"
Su Jiuyue nodded, "Got it."
"OK. You should remember not only how to write these two characters, but also the effects of the Salvia plebeia. I'll test you again several days later."
"Okay!"