Jiajian

The porridge shop that Fairy Li mentioned was extremely popular; the two of them waited in a long line before they could order.

Fairy Li ordered a five-grain nourishing porridge and some other noodles. Su Ziyang, unsure which was better, ordered the exact same thing as Fairy Li.

When the porridge was served, Su Ziyang was surprised to find that it was actually a five-bean porridge, made with red beans, black beans, white kidney beans, soybeans, mung beans, rice, and millet.

Five-bean porridge is said to replenish the vital energy of the five internal organs and is quite effective. Su Ziyang couldn't help but think more highly of the owner and chef of this shop.

"After you left, weren't you with my master?"

Su Ziyang took a couple of sips of the porridge and found it quite delicious, so he started chatting with Fairy Li.

"No. After I went back, I went to see my master and took care of some personal matters. Your master and the others stayed with me for a few days. I don't know what they did, but when they came back they said they found you a teacher, but I don't know the specifics. I'm really not hiding anything from you."

Fairy Li explained to Su Ziyang while munching on a coconut milk bun.

"I thought you two had always been together. Um, you..."

Su Ziyang actually wanted to ask Fairy Li why she had left the monastic life, but he was a little embarrassed.

"You're asking why I left the monastic life, right? I've been a Daoist priest for thirty years; it's time for a change of lifestyle."

After finishing her coconut milk bun, Fairy Li took a satisfied sip of porridge and casually explained to Su Ziyang.

"Ah."

Su Ziyang nodded and stopped discussing the topic. The two chatted casually while eating, and to onlookers, they looked like a young couple deeply in love.

After the two had eaten and drunk their fill, Su Ziyang went to see patients as usual, while Fairy Li went to play with Daoist Master Xiao Yang.

Not long after Fairy Li left, Mr. Mengfei strolled Dada.

"Went to lunch? How was it? Did you confess your feelings?"

Mr. Mengfei was exceptionally Eight Trigrams, sitting next to Su Ziyang and asking questions incessantly.

No. Can you please stop being so Eight Trigrams?

Su Ziyang didn't look at Mr. Mengfei; he just looked down at the book in his hand.

"I have an idea for you. When you confess your feelings, you need to make it more heartfelt. You can't just talk the talk; you need to give a gift or something."

Mr. Mengfei stroked his chin, pondering carefully. "What should I give him?!"

"Master, aren't you worrying too much?"

Su Ziyang put down his book and looked at Mr. Mengfei, who was frowning in thought, and suddenly found it amusing. Mr. Mengfei racked his brains and finally came up with an idea for Su Ziyang: "Disciple, just send him cosmetics."

"So all that racking your brains about was coming up with a cosmetic product? Is that what you call originality?!"

Su Ziyang looked at Mr. Mengfei and saw that he had only come up with these three words after thinking for a long time, and immediately complained.

"No, no. How about we send one made entirely of traditional Chinese medicine? The kind that empresses used in ancient times, is that alright?"

Upon hearing Mr. Mengfei's words, Su Ziyang perked up and sat up straight. "You have?"

Mr. Mengfei's face darkened. "Where am I supposed to go? Let's make it now."

Upon hearing that he would be making it himself, Su Ziyang immediately felt troubled. "I don't know how. I've never even heard of it."

Mr. Mengfei patted Su Ziyang on the shoulder. "Who told me to be your master? If you can't do it, I can!"

Su Ziyang's eyes lit up!

"Real!?"

"Would I lie to you? I'll write down a prescription for you, and once you've written out the medicine, we'll go to Daoist Jin's courtyard tonight to have it made."

As Mr. Mengfei spoke, he took Su Ziyang's pen and an A4 sheet of paper from the table and began to write on the paper.

Spikeweed (125g), Artemisia (15g), Alfalfa (15g), Citronella (15g), Patchouli (45g), Tonka Rhizome (60g)

After writing down the first recipe, Mr. Mengfei deftly tore the paper in half and then began writing down the second recipe on the A4 paper:

30 grams each of the following herbs: Decoction of Acetonica, Morning Glory, White Ampelopsis, Nardostachys chinensis, Bletilla striata, Angelica dahurica, Atractylodes macrocephala, Bombyx batryticatus, and Poria cocos.

15 grams each of Schizonepeta tenuifolia, Angelica pubescens, and Notopterygium incisum

30 grams each of white aconite and white hyacinth bean

15 grams of Saposhnikovia divaricata and 30 grams of white clove

After writing down the two prescriptions, Mr. Mengfei asked Su Ziyang to get the Chinese medicine from the clinic, and then went out to buy some things himself.

Su Ziyang opened the prescription on the computer, then went downstairs to pay and went to the pharmacy to get the medicine.

"Doctor Su, are you planning to make incense sticks? You've prescribed so many herbs!" the old lady at the pharmacy asked with a smile.

"Yeah!"

Su Ziyang didn't know exactly how to use this medicinal herb, so he could only make do with it as is.

Just before it was time to leave work, Fairy Li came to call Su Ziyang to dinner. Su Ziyang said he had to make medicine that night, which made Fairy Li pout and be unhappy.

If it weren't for Su Ziyang's house calls, Fairy Li would have loved to stay by Su Ziyang side all day long.

"If you're making medicine, I want to come along! I want to see what kind of medicine you're making!"

Fairy Li's eyes darted around, and she found another reason to stay with Su Ziyang.

"No. No one can see us preparing the medicine. You know that's taboo."

Upon hearing Su Ziyang's suggestion, Fairy Li very sensibly agreed and went back home with a pout.

"No one sees the process of preparation, but Heaven knows the intention."

In ancient times, people had to keep the preparation of medicines a secret and not let outsiders see it.

Firstly, it's for the sake of keeping the formula secret; secondly, there are taboos. For example, some pills for preventing miscarriage will state. "Do not let children or white dogs see this..."

There are many taboos, so people are generally not allowed to see it, so as not to affect the efficacy of the medicine.

When Mr. Mengfei returned, he was carrying two large ceramic jars.

"Going home after work. I got the keys back from Lao Jin."

Daoist Jin 'Daoist Jin small courtyard was used for preparing medicine; it was fully equipped with all sorts of utensils, including pots for decocting medicine.

After setting up the tools, Mr. Mengfei took the firewood that Su Ziyang had chopped last time and started a fire.

"Ziyang, there's hemp in your Master Jin's room. Mix the hemp into the mud, then you can mix some mud with it."

Su Ziyang didn't know what to do, but he still shoveled some soil in the yard, added hemp to it, and started mixing it into the mud.

"Hehe, I knew Lao Jin would have alcohol, so I didn't buy any."

Mr. Mengfei happily carried a large bucket out of the house.

"Come on, watch this. Ziyang, stop playing with the mud."

Mr. Mengfei carried a wine barrel and a measuring cup, measured out 200 milliliters of liquor and put it into the pot for decocting the medicine, then measured out 1,000 milliliters of well water, and then poured all the various kinds of incense into the pot at once.

"The ratio of liquor to water is 5:1. Make sure you remember that! Lao Jin's liquor is really good. Even with so much water, it still has a wonderful aroma! Excellent, excellent!"

Mr. Mengfei praised the wine while stirring the medicinal herbs in the pot.

"Alright, let's leave this aside for now. How's the mud mixing going?"

Mr. Mengfei put down the bamboo skewer he was using to stir the mixture and looked at the clay that Su Ziyang had mixed.

"Add more sesame seeds, it's a bit dry, add some water too."

After instructing Su Ziyang to release the water, Mr. Mengfei immediately took action.

Mr. Mengfei. Mr. Mengfei made a loud "ku cha ku" sound as he mixed the clay. After checking that the consistency was just right, he brought over the two large ceramic jars he had bought that afternoon.

As they began applying mud to the ceramic jars, Su Ziyang watched Mr. Mengfei apply mud and then followed suit, applying it to another jar as well.

When the mud on the outside of the jar was about two centimeters thick, Mr. Mengfei said it was ready, and the two of them put the jar aside.

By this time, the pan of fried food had begun to boil. Seeing that the water had boiled, Mr. Mengfei immediately took the pan off the stove and set it aside.

"It smells so good!"

Su Ziyang felt instantly refreshed and invigorated by the unique aroma of the medicinal herbs.

As Su Ziyang was marveling at this, Mr. Mengfei used a net to filter the water and poured it directly onto the ground.

"Why did it fall over?" Su Ziyang asked, puzzled.

"This is just boiled to sterilize it, and then the aroma of the herbs is released!"

Mr. Mengfei explained, then put the incense in a basin and let it cool.

"Let this cool down before proceeding to the next step. Now we'll work on the whitening and beautifying formula from the herbal decoction."

Mr. Mengfei is truly a good teacher, teaching by example and guiding Su Ziyang to carefully learn every step.

The ratio of alcohol to water was still the same, but this time the medicine was not decocted in a pot; instead, the alcohol was boiled directly in the pot.

Then, the herbs used for skin whitening were thrown into a basin, and boiling wine was poured in.

Mr. Mengfei stirred the herbs continuously with a bamboo skewer until they were well mixed, and then soaked them thoroughly. When the water was no longer too hot, Mr. Mengfei filtered out the herbs.

"There's a medicine boat in that room. Go in, take it out, and then crush this medicine. Don't crush it too finely, just crush it a couple of times."

After Mr. Mengfei washed the medicinal herbs, including the herb Jiajian, two or three times with well water until the water became clear, he had Su Ziyang Mr. Mengfei the medicine boat to crush some of the herbs.

The herbs were wet, so grinding them wasn't too difficult. Su Ziyang quickly finished processing the herbs and placed them in a basin that had been prepared beforehand.

After finishing all this, Mr. Mengfei mixed the liquor and soaked the cooled incense in it.

"Alright, that's basically done for today. We'll have to deal with the rest tomorrow. You can rest now! This needs to soak overnight, then we'll work on it tomorrow! Tomorrow, go find that mill and buy a sack of chaff."

After Mr. Mengfei finished giving his instructions, he signaled to Su Ziyang that he could go back.

Why buy chaff?

Su Ziyang asked questions when he didn't understand.

"For starting a fire! Don't forget, just come over tomorrow, I won't pick you up."

"OK!"

When Su Ziyang got home, he went to the door and found it was ajar. He went closer and listened and heard noises coming from inside.

"Holy crap, have we attracted a thief?!" Su Ziyang was secretly alarmed, and all the ruthless skills he had learned from Daoist Jin and Yang Tianzheng instantly flashed through his mind.

Taking a deep breath, Su Ziyang opened the door and rushed into the living room.

Su Ziyang, who was about to unleash his power, was stunned when he rushed in. There was no thief in the house, but rather Fairy Li was guarding a soup pot and cooking soup.

Su Ziyang was stunned, and so was Fairy Li.

The two stood there, their eyes meeting...