Mayapple Root

"It's nothing, Uncle-Master. I just twisted my ankle."

Upon hearing that Su Ziyang had sprained his ankle, Xuhui breathed a sigh of relief.

There are many venomous snakes in the south, and this is the season when they are most active. Xuhui was extremely worried that Su Ziyang would be bitten by a venomous snake. That would be a real problem.

"Why did you sprain your ankle?"

Xuhui quickly stepped forward to help Su Ziyang up, and without minding that Su Ziyang's shoes were smelly, he picked up Su Ziyang's shoes and helped Su Ziyang into the house.

"Here's Yunnan Baiyao spray, spray it on quickly."

Xuhui pulled a bottle of Yunnan Baiyao from a box in his house and told Su Ziyang to spray it on.

As the saying goes, even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. No matter how good Su Ziyang's bone-setting skills are, and how well he treats sprains and bruises, he still needs medicine.

To get medicine from here, the nearest place would be more than an hour away. Since there's no fracture, we'll just have to make do.

"Uncle-Master, I have a question for you."

Su Ziyang sprayed the cool Yunnan Baiyao spray, gently wiping away the dripping medicine as he asked.

"Just say it, why be so polite?"

Xuhui felt a little uncomfortable with Su Ziyang's sudden politeness.

"I just went out and saw that plant with eight-pointed leaves in your yard, is it a Podophyllum?"

Su Ziyang pointed to the area in the yard where things were planted.

"Ah! Yes. You recognize this? It's a good thing, excellent at detoxifying, especially snake venom! That's why we have some in my yard." Xuhui specifically introduced the effects of the eight-petaled lotus to Su Ziyang.

"Mmm. I know. Can I use one?"

Su Ziyang inquired.

"This can't cure sprains and bruises, can it? Lao Pang's secret recipe for you includes this medicine. If you need it, I have even better quality ones in my house, ones I dried years ago. It's fine. Use it freely. Don't be shy with your uncle."

Xuhui thought Su Ziyang wanted to use the eight-petal lotus to treat his sprained ankle.

Hearing Xuhui say that, Su Ziyang suddenly smiled and said, "Haha, no. I want to give Uncle Yang some of this medicine."

Why eat this?

Xuhui asked in surprise.

"The root of the eight-petaled lotus is also known as the ghost mortar, or the horse-eye poison mortar, because its shape resembles a mortar and an eye. The * Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica * records that it is pungent and warm in nature, and is used to kill poisons, demonic possession, and evil spirits. It dispels evil spirits and misfortunes, and expels all poisons. I still think Uncle Yang's illness is strange. Let's give him some; if it works, it will cure the poison; if not, then forget it!"

Su Ziyang gave Xuhui a brief introduction, and Xuhui's eyes lit up as he nodded repeatedly. Then he took out several pieces of the root of the eight-petal lotus from his room.

"Ziyang, how should we give it to him? Should we decoct it into a soup, or give it to him directly?"

Xuhui held the podophyllum in his hand and placed it directly in front of Su Ziyang.

I think it's more suitable to eat it as powder.

"Okay, okay, okay!"

Xuhui picked up the podophyllum and went to the kitchen to grind it. In no time, Xuhui had ground the two pieces of root into a small packet of powder.

"Ziyang, how much do you think is appropriate?" Xuhui asked anxiously, holding the podophyllum powder in his hand.

"5G, please."

After Su Ziyang finished speaking, Xuhui took a small spoon, scooped out a small spoonful, and took it into Xuyang's room.

Xuyang lay on the bed, his eyes becoming even more unfocused, and his mind somewhat unclear.

Xuhui called Xuyang for a long time before Xuyang slowly woke up.

"Here, Eryang, take this medicine!"

Xuhui told Xuyang to open his mouth, and Xuyang opened his mouth directly and swallowed a spoonful of powder.

After Xuyang ate a spoonful of podophyllum powder, Su Ziyang and Xuhui stayed by Xuyang side.

About forty minutes later, Xuyang said his stomach hurt and he needed to go to the toilet.

Xuhui quickly brought in a chamber pot from outside.

Xuyang was physically weak and barely managed to sit in the kind of chair that people often wear.

This chair is designed to make it easier for elderly people to use the toilet. It's the kind of chair with a round hole in the seat so that their bottom can be exposed.

After Xuyang sat down, he immediately vomited a full half basin of foul-smelling black substance.

After relieving himself, Xuyang was covered in sweat.

Xuhui naturally wouldn't let Su Ziyang take out that stinking stuff, so Su Ziyang took charge of helping Xuyang to bed.

"Uncle Yang, what do you think?"

Xuyang closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and without answering Su Ziyang's question, leaned over the edge of the bed and vomited.

A stream of greenish-black water shot out and sprayed directly onto the ground.

Upon seeing Xuyang's reaction, Su Ziyang immediately got up and limped towards the door to fetch a bucket of dirty water and a mop.

When Su Ziyang returned, Xuyang had vomited all over the floor. The vomit, combined with the lingering stench of his recent feces, made the whole room repulsive.

Su Ziyang found a spot where he could barely put his feet down and handed Xuyang a wet wipe.

"Uncle Yang, are you feeling better?"

Su Ziyang asked softly.

Xuyang closed his eyes, nodded, and didn't say anything.

After emptying the chamber pot, Xuhui returned and saw the vomit on the floor. He turned around, went out, and shoveled back a bag of sand.

Then, he gently sprinkled sand on Xuyang's vomit and opened the window, which relieved the unpleasant smell in the room.

"I'll go get some warm water to rinse my mouth."

Su Ziyang went to get water for Xuyang, but Xuyang weakly shook his head, indicating that Su Ziyang didn't need to go.

Then his breathing gradually became heavier, and then he began to snore softly.

After Su Ziyang and Xuhui worked together to clean the house, Su Ziyang carefully sprinkled some podophyllum powder on the floor to detoxify and ward off evil spirits.

The two returned to the living room. Su Ziyang looked at Xuhui, Xuhui looked at Su Ziyang.

"Ziyang, judging from Eryang's reaction just now, it seems you used the right medicine."

Indeed, Xuyang's reaction just now did resemble a healing crisis, and it was highly likely that he was expelling toxic and evil energy.

Although Xuyang mentioned that he had difficulty defecating, he did not say that he had not defecated for a long time, so it was impossible for him to expel so much stuff for no reason.

Su Ziyang nodded after hearing Xuhui's words, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's see how Uncle Yang reacts when he wakes up. I'll cook some porridge later so he can have some after he wakes up."

"OK."

Xuhui went to cook porridge, while Su Ziyang took out his phone to continue telling Mr. Mengfei about what had just happened.

Although there was a signal just now, I didn't have time to call Mr. Mengfei before I sprained my ankle.

More than two hours passed before Su Ziyang finally had some free time. So he decided to tell his master about these things and hear his master's advice.

To his surprise, Su Ziyang couldn't get through to Mr. Mengfei by phone. Helpless, he could only send Mr. Mengfei a few voice messages on WeChat, hoping that Mr. Mengfei would see them and reply.

Even by evening, Su Ziyang still hadn't received a reply from Mr. Mengfei, perhaps due to signal issues.

Su Ziyang had no choice but to go back to his room to rest.