abnabooks Chapter 9 Artemisia
Chapter 9 Artemisia
Yesterday, we cleared away the weeds and trees along the road. Today, we're mainly filling in the potholes and uneven areas.
The task was simple, and since Cai Xuan had eaten golden-edged turtle and red eel for lunch, he had plenty of strength, so he quickly leveled the road and drove the tricycle into the cave. After a few experiences, he understood: the wild game meat here contained a lot of vital energy, which could greatly nourish the body. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so energetic and in good spirits all day.
He had only experienced this feeling before when he ate wild animals that had been around for many years.
It's incredible that ordinary things can nourish the body here.
Cai Xuan circled the tricycle once, then took out his tools and removed the two doors and the sheet metal covering the front of the vehicle. He had initially thought it was just ordinary sheet metal, but after removing it, he discovered it was steel plate—the tricycle manufacturer is truly conscientious! If it were one of those electric cars, they would practically replace everything inside with plastic.
That's true. If the quality isn't good, even a haphazardly built road won't get you up there; you'll probably break down halfway.
Cai Xuan carried the dismantled steel plates back to the wooden house, preparing to make pots and iron buckets.
He didn't know anything about ironwork, so he found a round stone, placed the steel plate from the car door on it, and hammered it little by little until he got two iron buckets that were about two feet high and one and a half palm widths wide. After making the car door into iron buckets, there were still a lot of scraps left, which he hammered and made into long soup ladles, iron spoons, iron forks, knives and other kitchen utensils.
As for the steel plate at the front of the car, because it was quite large, he made it into a wok, a deep iron pot for stewing meat, making soup, and steaming, and two large iron basins.
It was obvious that a hammer alone wouldn't be enough to forge these things, so Cai Xuan also found an axe—which he had brought from the tricycle toolbox.
He heated a thin sheet of steel until it was red-hot, placed it on a stone, and slowly chopped it into the desired shape with an axe, then gradually hammered it into larger size. Being a non-professional, he couldn't hammer the sheet metal perfectly, so the tools he made were inevitably bumpy and uneven, but they were functional.
After the steel plate from the front of the car was made into a wok, a pot for stewing meat and making soup, and two large iron basins, there were still a lot of scraps left.
He used the remaining materials to make a pot lid, a bowl, a spatula, and a kitchen knife. After finishing, there were still some scraps left, which he couldn't bear to throw away, so he collected them all and put them in a corner, thinking they might come in handy later.
The iron bucket made by Cai Xuan had neither handles nor ears.
Of course, this was intentional. From the beginning, he planned to turn the iron bucket into a multi-purpose tool, which could be used not only for watering the ground, but also for cooking and washing starch, making it a versatile object.
As for how to carry water without ears, Cai Xuan also had a solution.
He found some mountain vines, removed the outer skin, wove them into baskets, put the iron bucket inside, tied a rope made of the flexible mountain vine bark to the baskets, and used a piece of wood as a carrying pole to make a watering tool.
To be honest, if you really wanted to use it for watering, you'd have to drill a hole in the bottom of the bucket, insert a thick pipe, and attach a nozzle with holes to one end of the pipe, or drill some holes in the pipe itself, to make it a proper watering tool. But Cai Xuan wanted to use it for other purposes, so naturally, he wouldn't do it that way.
After the iron pot was made, Cai Xuan dismantled the old stove in the kitchen and built a new one.
Because we used to only cook in a small iron box, we just casually built one out of stones. Now that we have both a wok and a steamer, we can't be so casual. We also need to build a chimney, otherwise the smoke will drift around the house and make the kitchen black with soot every morning and evening.
The stove is easy to build, but the chimney is difficult to construct.
There's no chimney pipe here, so we can't just roll it up with sheet metal!
However, this didn't stump Cai Xuan. He thought for a moment and slowly piled stones mixed with clay on top, eventually creating a very rough chimney, but it was usable. In this place, which he didn't know where he was, practicality was the priority; everything else was unimportant.
After the new stove dried completely, Cai Xuan suddenly wanted to celebrate, so he carried the basket he had made while making the iron bucket, along with a small iron box, an eel hook, and a loach trap, and headed towards the spring ditch, intending to catch something to eat.
Although he had caught the three-colored crabs several times, he found that there were still many of them in the ditch this time.
They crawled in and out of the hole, seemingly busy with something.
Cai Xuan put down his basket, grabbed a dozen or so of the larger crabs, and put them into the small iron box. He then closed the lid to prevent them from climbing out. He had initially pried open the lid of the small iron box to cook things, but later he poked two small holes in the side and used wire to connect the lid to the box, creating a hinged lid that could be opened and closed. He secured the other end in the same way, thus securing the box tightly and preventing the three-colored crabs from climbing out.
After catching the three-colored crabs, he began looking for red eels.
Not long after, they found one, but it wasn't as big as the last one.
He took the eel hook and tiptoed closer, slowly probing it towards the eel's mouth. Suddenly, the eel lunged forward, biting the hook and dragging it into the hole, just like the last eel.
At this moment, Cai Xuancai realized that the red eel would actively attack its prey.
Suddenly, cold sweat broke out on my forehead. If I had been bitten by that red eel last time, the consequences would have been dire. Fortunately, the heavens protected me, and I escaped unscathed, so I can have some oyster tofu first (a homophone for "Amitabha").
Just as the red eel was about to drag the hook into the cave, Cai Xuan quickly grabbed the hook. The sharp hook tip broke through the red eel's jaw, revealing its ferocious nature.
With another pull, the entire red eel was dragged out of the hole.
The red eel struggled frantically, but to no avail. He found a mountain vine, threaded it under the eel's gills, and tied it to his basket to prevent it from escaping. After that, he searched the ditch again but didn't see the golden-edged turtle, so he followed the spring water ditch forward and came to the stream he had crossed earlier.
The stream was shallow, barely reaching the ankles.
Sunlight penetrated directly to the bottom of the water, illuminating every single grain of sand and pebble clearly.
Suddenly, a group of dark figures darted across the stream. They moved with incredible speed, like arrows piercing the air, leaving trails of silvery white water in their wake.
If Cai Xuan hadn't happened to see it, they might not have noticed. If he wasn't mistaken, it was a school of fish. They weren't very big, only about five pounds each, but the row of sharp spines protruding from the water was truly frightening. In the sunlight, they gleamed with a cold metallic luster, like quenched steel blades; they were clearly not to be trifled with.
Cai Xuan stared at the direction where the fish had disappeared for a while, and suddenly an idea popped into his head: dig a hole in the stream, put a cage in it, and maybe some fish would swim in. After thinking about it, he felt it was a good idea and decided to do it when he got back.
Actually, he didn't know how to make cages; he'd just seen videos of them before, thought they looked good, and downloaded one on a whim. He never expected it would come in handy here. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if fate thought he was well-prepared, which was why it sent him to this godforsaken place.
Thinking of this, Cai Xuan couldn't help but glance at the sky. There was something he didn't say, after all, he had already been warned.
They're important people, so they might not bother with you, but that doesn't mean they're willing to listen to your rambling.
The streamside was damp and overgrown with all sorts of weeds. Cai Xuan searched through the grass for a while and soon spotted a plant that resembled mugwort, known as Xuanhao in the Great Wilderness Materia Medica. This thing was dark green, almost black, and emitted a strong odor.
The pharmacopoeia records that it can repel insects and mosquitoes.
As the weather gradually gets warmer, mosquitoes are becoming more prevalent. Cai Xuan had to find ways to prevent this, and while flipping through the Great Wilderness Materia Medica, he came across it and memorized it.
After picking the artemisia, he also picked some giant ferns to take back with him.
These giant ferns are even larger than those found in Southeast Asian island nations. Once you peel off the outer skin, you'll find plenty of tender, juicy flesh inside. I hadn't harvested them before because I didn't have the right tools. Now that I have a pot and bucket, it's time to pick some and try them.