Grain Abstention (3)

Daoist Jin explained the method of Bigu by drinking water to Su Ziyang in detail, and then took Su Ziyang through it the next morning.

Su Ziyang, as an observer, stood in the courtyard watching Daoist Jin drink the water.

The whole process is not complicated, but it seems quite mysterious.

Su Ziyang was busy learning about Bigu from Daoist Jin, while Mr. Mengfei ignored the two of them.

After Su Ziyang finished learning the entire water-drinking method, when he was "showing off" to Mr. Mengfei, Mr. Mengfei finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"You really don't want to eat? The girl's cooking is so good now. Alright, your Master Jin has already passed on the Water-Ingestion Mantra to you, so today I'll teach you a convenient method too."

Mr. Mengfei put away the black book in his hand and then nodded to himself.

When Daoist Jin saw that Mr. Mengfei finally couldn't hold back any longer, he laughed too, "I told you you definitely had more to offer, couldn't hold it in any longer, could you!"

"Sigh! I don't think this thing is necessary, but it can be useful in crucial moments. One year after I went into the mountains, I survived for two weeks without eating using this method!"

Mr. Mengfei chuckled, glanced at Su Ziyang's eager and fervent thirst for knowledge, and then stopped keeping him in suspense. "Ziyang, this method is called the Light-Swallowing and Qi-Clamping Method,' also known as the Light-Swallowing and Distant Qi Method.' It involves rhythmically inhaling and exhaling breath, and collecting the essence of the sun and moon to achieve a feeling of fullness."

The method Mr. Mengfei mentioned is a very small, convenient method based on the Midnight-Noon Heaven and Earth Art.

The method is somewhat similar to the Visualization practiced by Su Ziyang, but instead of sitting cross-legged, one stands in a horse stance, makes a ball-holding gesture with both hands, faces the sun and moon, and imagines the essence of the sun and moon being inhaled through the nose, then takes the opportunity to swallow three mouthfuls.

Repeating this process will create a strong feeling of fullness.

Su Ziyang is a pragmatist; immediately after Mr. Mengfei finished speaking, he began an experiment facing the sun.

The sun was already very high in the sky. As Su Ziyang assumed a horse stance and entered a meditative state, Mr. Mengfei covered his mouth and chuckled to himself. Daoist Jin silent, simply watching Su Ziyang fuss around.

Su Ziyang aimed at the sun, followed the steps one by one, and finally opened his mouth and took a bite.

Logically speaking, it should have swallowed just air.

However, Su Ziyang felt a faint, slightly sticky gas in his mouth.

Without thinking twice, Su Ziyang swallowed the essence as it entered his mouth.

This swallowing incident caused Su Ziyang considerable discomfort. The sensation was similar to eating a chili pepper or drinking a large gulp of strong liquor.

Spicy and stimulating!

This energy kept burning Su Ziyang's chest and stomach.

At this moment, Su Ziyang also realized something was wrong. He immediately reversed his breathing and exhaled a little air through his nose, but most of it still entered his body.

Just from exhaling that small breath through his nose, Su Ziyang felt his nasal cavity was dry, as if he had a fever.

"Call!"

Su Ziyang circulated his True Qi again before he felt himself return to normal.

Watching Su Ziyang's repeated antics, Mr. Mengfei covered his mouth and chuckled.

"Master! You're tricking me again!"

Judging from the expressions on Mr. Mengfei's and Daoist Jin, Su Ziyang knew he had been tricked.

"Stop! I'm not lying to you. I hadn't finished explaining, and you went ahead and experimented. I'm asking you, what is the sun?"

Mr. Mengfei chuckled, "The sun is yang essence. It's at its peak right now, if you go up there and take a bite, who else would it burn but you? This method only works right after sunrise! I'm just teasing you, go learn from your Master Jin. I have other things to do!"

Mr. Mengfei left with these words behind his back, then strolled away.

"Master! Please take a look..."

Su Ziyang originally wanted to complain to his Master Jin, but seeing Daoist Jin laughing uncontrollably beside him, Su Ziyang swallowed his words.

After explaining the most profound methods of consuming medicine, Daoist Jin also told Su Ziyang several methods of taking medicinal pills, which are also written down here.

Take fresh Poria cocos, peel it, and cut it into small cubes or small pieces. Place it in a ceramic or porcelain container.

Then soak it in pure liquor, making sure the liquor completely covers the Poria cocos, preferably more, enough to fully submerge it.

Then seal it for ten days, and it's ready to eat. It's delicious and can be eaten as a snack, but you shouldn't eat too much.

Eat about a small piece each time, just a little bit, three times a day.

The primary purpose of this is for Bigu. If you eat it three times a day, you won't feel hungry or thirsty.

This can also help you gain weight, allowing thin people to build some muscle, and it can even whiten your skin. You could say eating a little every day is good for self-defense and health!

If fresh Poria cocos is hard to find, you can buy Poria cocos powder or Poria cocos slices. Then prepare honey; any kind of honey will do, but it must be genuine and not sugar water.

The ratio of Poria cocos powder to honey is 5 to 9, because one liter of honey weighs about 3 kilograms.

If you're making it, 500g of Poria cocos powder would require approximately 1500g of honey, something like that.

Find a ceramic decoction pot, then pour in the honey and poria powder, and simmer it over heat, just like you would decoct a medicine.

Stir constantly while frying, otherwise it will burn. Keep stirring until the honey is almost cooked through, then turn off the heat.

Find a garlic mortar (it's called a garlic mortar in Northeast China, but it might be called a mortar and pestle in the South), or better yet, the kind used for pounding medicine.

Put the cooked ingredients into a mortar and pestle and keep pounding. If you have the patience, you can keep counting and pound it about 30,000 times. Otherwise, you can time it and pound it for two hours. Anyway, the more the better.

Finally, the final state of this thing is marked "cooked," which is the same as making rice cakes.

Then make it into small pills, about the size of a peppercorn.

You should take about 30 pills a day, once a day. Its main function is to help you avoid hunger by Bigu.

This product is very effective when taken daily; it helps prevent illness and strengthens the body even when healthy (it also has some other benefits, but I can't go into details).

Su Ziyang felt that taking Poria cocos was a simple and easy method, at least it didn't require any other training foundation, which made Su Ziyang feel quite amazed.

Having learned how to prepare Poria cocos, Su Ziyang returned to his clinic, ordered some Poria cocos for himself, and asked the pharmacy to grind it into powder.

I bought more white honey and started making it.

Seeing Su Ziyang staring intently at the ceramic pot, Fairy Li secretly took a picture and posted it on her WeChat Moments.

The caption reads, "This kid has gone crazy."

As the saying goes, nothing is more coincidental than a story. Just after Su Ziyang learned Bigu, his fourth uncle, who had nothing better to do, actually turned on the phone.

"Hey, Ziyang, what are you busy with?"

My fourth uncle's voice, which sounded like he always had phlegm in his throat, came through the phone.

"Ah! Fourth Uncle, I'm fine. If you have something to say, please speak!"

While stirring the Poria cocos powder with a spatula, Su Ziyang put down his phone on speakerphone and chatted with his fourth uncle.

"Hey kid, I've got some awesome stuff to tell you! Hahaha! I recently discovered something really amazing, ever heard of Bigu?"

My fourth uncle's hearty and smug laughter came through the phone.

"Ah! I've happened to hear about it. Tell me about it!"

Su Ziyang turned the heat down a bit, thinking to himself, "You've just run right into my hands! Hahaha!"

"I haven't eaten for 14 days, just drunk water. Now I feel incredibly refreshed. Let me tell you, do you know how dirty the human stomach is?! For the first five days, I didn't eat, I just pooped! I pooped all the time! Detox! Now I've not only lost weight, but my mind feels exceptionally clear!"

My fourth uncle couldn't hide his excitement and pride over the phone.

"Oh? You haven't eaten for 14 days? How did you Bigu?"

Su Ziyang was also very surprised by what his fourth uncle said.

"Yes! It's been 14 days already, and we're getting ready to open the valley today! If you want to learn, if you want to know more, your fourth uncle will teach you! Hahaha! Is that okay?"

Uncle Si's smug laughter came through the phone again.

"Huh!?" Su Ziyang exclaimed, "Then tell me about it, I'll learn from you!"

Actually, Su Ziyang was chatting idly with his fourth uncle because he was constantly churning something in his mind. He was so bored that he figured he might as well beat the child on a rainy day.

"Okay! I'll tell you, there are two ways to Bigu. The first is to use your mind, to hypnotize yourself, saying, 'I'm not hungry, I'm not hungry!' The second is acupressure. The place where I'm Bigu right now is acupressure."

Fourth Uncle began explaining to Su Ziyang in a serious tone, while Su Ziyang listened with great interest, watching the pot from the side.

Where am I? You're not home right now!

When Su Ziyang heard his fourth uncle mention a place for Bigu, he immediately understood. With his fourth uncle's unrestrained and free-spirited nature, how could he possibly not eat or drink?

Auntie must have found this place somewhere; it's probably some kind of folk Bigu training class.

Just as Su Ziyang expected, his fourth uncle said on the phone, "Hahaha! He's not home. Your fourth aunt found a place where a teacher is leading a large group of us in Bigu. Every morning, he guides us with his mind, and at noon he uses acupressure! We really don't feel hungry!"

"So you've learned it?" Su Ziyang noticed that the honey wasn't boiling much anymore, so he slowly turned the heat up again.

"Absolutely! How can I teach you if you can't learn it yourself? Let me tell you, even though you have a master's degree, there's still a lot you need to learn. There are many experts out there! Your fourth uncle will teach you when the time comes!"

After a brief pause, Uncle Si continued, "Let me tell you the scientific principle Bigu. Normally, we metabolize sugar, but when we're hungry, sugar metabolism stops, and we start fat metabolism. It's like you can't start a fire without firewood, so you burn some junk and useless things in your house. It's very effective for health!"

"I'm not bragging, but my teeth have gotten whiter!"

"I've lost 25 pounds."

"Let me tell you, my belly is gone! And my skin feels better too!"

Fourth Uncle spared no effort in explaining the knowledge of Bigu to Su Ziyang, as well as the benefits he had gained after Bigu.

Su Ziyang was getting tired of listening, but his fourth uncle was still talking nonstop.

Moreover, one good thing about Uncle Si is that it's okay if you don't respond when he's speaking!

He could talk very happily on his own, but later Su Ziyang stopped talking and just kept muttering to himself.

Uncle Si only stopped talking when he saw Su Ziyang pour the decocted medicine into the mortar and pestle and start pounding it in a cool and collected manner. "Holy crap! What are you doing now! Crushing garlic?"

"Haha. It's alright, I'm grinding herbs, Fourth Uncle. You go on, it won't stop you! Please continue!" Su Ziyang put his phone aside and continued grinding herbs with a rhythmic thud.

Uncle Si couldn't stand the constant clattering and clanging from Su Ziyang's side any longer after a few words: "Alright. You're busy now. I'll teach you Bigu when you get back!"

Uncle Four quickly hung up the phone, and Su Ziyang lowered his head to continue grinding the medicine.

"Wow! Your fourth uncle is really a talkative one! You're not saying a word, but he can talk for over an hour!"

Fairy Li, barefoot, squatted next to Su Ziyang and took her phone onto the table.

"Hahaha. That's just how he is. You know, when I first started college, he called me. I didn't know he was drunk at the time, I really didn't recognize his voice. We talked all afternoon! It wasn't until my aunt came back that I found out I'd been talking to a drunk all afternoon!"

Su Ziyang was quite helpless with his fourth uncle, but if it weren't for his fourth uncle's talk of the Bagua Image-Number Therapy, he would have truly missed out on meeting such a master as Zhang Rongyi!

"How many times do you have to poke that thing?"

Seeing Su Ziyang constantly pounding and grinding, Fairy Li moved a small stool and sat next to Su Ziyang to watch Su Ziyang grind the medicine.

"Let me massage it for you! You take a break!"

Feeling bored, Fairy Li volunteered to help Su Ziyang grind medicine.

After only three rubs, I squeezed a blood blister onto my finger.

"You rest! I'll take care of it!"

Seeing the large blood blister he had squeezed, Su Ziyang felt sorry for him and quickly took the mortar and pestle from his hand.

"I'll go put some ointment on it. You can rub it yourself, ugh! It hurts like hell!"

Fairy Li shook her hand, stood up, and went to get medicine from her medicine box.

Fairy Li only looks cute and cuddly; she's not actually cute and cuddly.

After applying the ointment, Fairy Li ran over to Su Ziyang and said, "My older brother is coming the day after tomorrow. I told you so, so be prepared!"

Upon hearing that his brother-in-law was coming, Su Ziyang pounded the medicine even faster.

Su Ziyang didn't know why, but he always felt a little guilty when he saw his brother-in-law. He thought about it over and over again, and he hadn't done anything wrong, so why did he feel guilty?

Knowing Su Ziyang's condition, Fairy Li jokingly referred to it as bloodline suppression.

The eldest brother-in-law came to see Mr. Mengfei and his family, and Fairy Li secretly told Su Ziyang that her family wanted to find a date for the engagement.

Hearing this, Su Ziyang became even more nervous and quickened his pace!