Night Talk Around the Fire

"I'm telling you, that's not a dragon at all. Stop calling it a dragon."

After this thing arrived, none of them felt like sleeping anymore.

Qi Chu took out a magnesium rod and lit the charcoal fire again. The group gathered firewood and built a bonfire.

Before long, it had risen to more than half a person's height.

The temperature was very low at night, but the firelight made it much warmer.

Fairy Li took out small blankets from her backpack and distributed them to the group. They drank hot water, wrapped themselves in the blankets, and chatted.

"I only heard about this thing once from my master. It's a kind of mountain spirit called Feifei. It often imitates Jackie Chan's appearance, but it's not a dragon at all. It just likes to scare people and eat their souls."

Qi Chu knew the most about the rules in the mountains, and he began to explain the rules for entering the mountains to the others.

"Then why didn't he attack us just now?"

Su Ziyang was still a little puzzled. Since it could devour people's souls, it must be a rather powerful spirit.

"That's what I'm going to talk about next."

Qi Chu took a sip of hot water, pondered for a moment, and said, "These kinds of things take advantage of people in their vulnerable state. Why do I say take advantage of people in their vulnerable state? It's because you have to be afraid of them. When a person is afraid, their soul becomes unstable, and that's when they can devour their soul."

"Do you know why this thing imitates a golden dragon? Because it knows that most humans will kneel and worship upon seeing it. And kneeling and worship are forms of faith; once people develop reverence and faith in it, then it has a chance."

"We were just shocked; we didn't think much of him, which is why we didn't give him an opportunity."

"The only way to drive this thing away is to call its name. Because a name is not only a label, but it also means that we know what it is, that we are not afraid of it, and it will naturally leave. Do you understand?"

Qi Chu looked at Su Ziyang, Su Ziyang stared thoughtfully at the flickering flames.

"What you said suddenly made me think of something. In other words, as long as the mind is calm and at peace, the spirit can naturally be stabilized. Kneeling and faith also affect the mind, so kneeling and faith cannot be done casually!"

Su Ziyang also took a sip of water and said softly.

"Yes. Faith has a blessing power. Even a stone can become a god if many people have faith in it."

Qi Chu's theory was quite illogical. Seeing Su Ziyang looking at him curiously, Qi Chu Su Ziyang to explain, "This actually happened in ancient times. Anyway, it's a long night, I can tell you a story."

I'd like to hear the details!

Su Ziyang and Fairy Li said in unison.

Mr. Mengfei listened with great interest as Qi Chu told his story.

I won't go into the specific year, just know that it was in ancient times.

Qi Chu organized his thoughts and said, "There was a person, an old woman, who suffered from an eye disease that had been treated for a long time without success, and her vision was deteriorating day by day."

One day, the old woman went out on her journey and got a little thirsty. She came across a spring, drank some water, and then washed her face and eyes with the water.

"After returning home, the old woman discovered that her eyesight was gradually improving. At this point, she began to believe that the spring was a sacred spring, imbued with divine energy and inhabited by immortals. She started to spread the word about it extensively."

"This story spread like wildfire, and many sick people went to the spring to fetch water, bathe in it, and drink it. Some of them actually recovered. Thus, the spring became even more miraculous."

"At first, this spring water could only treat eye problems and some skin diseases like sores and boils, but later it treated more and more diseases, and its reputation grew increasingly widespread."

"Finally, people even pooled their money to build a temple at this place, calling it the Sacred Spring. But then..."

Qi Chu stopped talking after saying this, pondered for a moment, took a sip of hot water, and then stared at Su Ziyang.

"And then? But what?"

Su Ziyang and Fairy Li said in unison again.

"Ugh, the water in this cup is gone, and no one's poured me any. My throat's really dry! Cough cough..."

Qi Chu continued to keep everyone in suspense.

"Brother Chu, have some water. Hehe."

Su Ziyang put the blanket on the ground and got up to fill Qi Chu's water glass.

"Alright, I'll tell you what happened next."

Qi Chu, as if taking pity on someone, said, "Later, the authorities discovered a limestone mine in that area, and found that this spring flows underground through the limestone mine."

"And so, the Divine Spring fell from its pedestal..."

Su Ziyang was studying medicine, and upon hearing this, Su Ziyang instantly understood the reason.

This involves knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine.

Lime is also a traditional Chinese medicine.

This stuff has many effects.

Lime is warm and dry, and it absorbs moisture and dispels cold.

It is used to treat carbuncles, scabies, tinea, scrofula, abdominal masses, hemorrhoids, fistulas, goiters, white scars, black moles, pine needles, polyps, watery diarrhea, red and ulcerated discharge, leukorrhea, rectal prolapse, uterine prolapse, scrotum prolapse, hair loss, toothache, mouth ulcers, pain relief, wound healing, tissue regeneration, abortion, insecticide, hair dyeing, and wound healing.

That's why Qi Chu just emphasized that initially the spring water was only effective in treating eye and skin diseases.

Presumably, most cured eye diseases still involve pterygium.

However, this so-called faith generates a blessing.

Qi Chu said that the spring water behind him could also cure other diseases, which demonstrates this point.

Later, due to the discovery of limestone, people realized that the spring was considered miraculous because it contained medicinal properties, not because it possessed any magical powers.

So the spring stopped working again later, because the power of faith collapsed, and the power of the spring dissipated from the people who were near it.

"This spring reminds me of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

Mr. Mengfei, who had been silent all along, said something.

"Why? It's like comparing a city gate tower to a hip joint—they don't fit together at all."

Qi Chu didn't understand what Mr. Mengfei meant either.

"Ah, it has nothing to do with faith. It's just that this spring you mentioned reminds me of the ' Mute Spring ' where Zhuge Liang fought battles. People who drank from that spring would become mute."

"Oh, you mean this?"

Su Ziyang realized that people initially thought the Mute Spring was a fictional story from a novel.

It wasn't until later, when people started explaining this phenomenon, that they discovered that such springs really do exist in the south.

The water of the Mute Spring tastes quite sweet, but drinking too much of it can cause poisoning. Those poisoned will experience hoarseness and loss of voice, eventually dying slowly.

After some chemical analysis, what people call "dull water" is a spring water containing copper salts, namely an aqueous solution of copper sulfate (copper sulfate pentahydrate), also known as bile water.

This water will cause poisoning if people drink it.

Mr. Mengfei made this connection because Qi Chu had just mentioned that the spring water contained lime.

It's just that one is a toxic mineral, and the other is a beneficial one.

"In these deep mountains and ancient forests, there are many treasures, but also many spirits and monsters. So don't let your guard down."

Qi Chu drank the hot water and said very seriously.

"Most stories about spirits and monsters are just legends. This is the first time I've actually seen one. It was just too sudden, and I couldn't take a picture. It's a bit of a shame."

Su Ziyang was still slightly disappointed.

Although it wasn't a real dragon, it was still dazzlingly golden; who wouldn't like it?

"Come on, no one would believe it even if you filmed it."

Fairy Li wasn't particularly shocked by this thing; she was just a little curious.

"Brother Chu, what exactly are you taking us to collect this time? You're being so mysterious and won't tell us."

Su Ziyang was still curious about this question, and asked while holding his hot water cup.

"I can't say. I can't say."

Qi Chu maintained his usual mysterious demeanor.

"Brother Chu, what's the deal with that Lao Men'er you went to see, and Bones? Why are they charging you such a high price for your medicine?"

Putting aside the question of the purpose of going into the mountains, Su Ziyang was still very curious about this matter.

"Ah. You mean Lao Men'er?"

Qi Chu chuckled, "That's a long story, a child without a mother."

"I can't sleep through this long night. Why don't you tell me about it?" Fairy Li leaned against Su Ziyang and said with a smile.

Qi Chu cleared his throat, stroked the dog's Bones, and said, "This old man is quite interesting. At first, I didn't know why this old guy had a nickname in the underworld: Lao Men'er."

"Because this guy is incredibly talkative, he talks a lot. And you all saw it when he was taking my things, his bargaining skills are top-notch."

"Later I learned the origin of his nickname. He was the youngest when he was learning his skills from his master, and back then in the north everyone slept on a large kang (heated brick bed), and he slept at the head of the kang."

"In rural areas, toilets are all outside. In winter, when it's too cold, there's a chamber pot inside. Because Lao Men'er's master had many apprentices and children, the chamber pot was particularly large, like a big bucket."

"This Lao Men'er was tired from studying all day, and for some reason, he couldn't sleep well at night. He rolled into the chamber pot, and his whole butt got stuck inside. He was covered in a really stinky smell."

"Later, his fellow apprentices kept calling him 'Old Lao Men'er,' because he was suffocated in the chamber pot."

Qi Chu chuckled as he spoke, and the others found it amusing as well. As if understanding what Qi Chu was saying, the Bones beside him also started howling loudly.

"What are you laughing at? Did you even understand what I said?!"

Qi Chu patted the dog's Bones and chuckled.

"Awoooooo... Awoooooo..."

The Bones was unhappy about being patted and started howling loudly.

The group teased the Bones a couple of times, then continued to listen intently to Qi Chu's story, "His lineage is rather mysterious, I don't know much about it. I do know that this guy is skilled at using rare medicines to treat strange and unusual diseases."

"One year, I was so bored that I went to a local market to sell medicinal herbs. I had a piece of fairy's robe, a snake slough, and several packets of 30-year-old Pinellia ternata."

The "fairy clothes" that Qi Chu mentioned are actually hedgehog skin.

This is something that most people rarely need.

However, this thing does have some useful applications, mainly treating various types of hemorrhoids, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, hernias, etc.

Su Ziyang could easily guess from the medicinal herbs Qi Chu Qi Chu selling that these three herbs were definitely not ordinary.

Leaving aside the mystique of this immortal's robe and snake molt, this thirty-year-old Pinellia ternata is extremely rare.

In traditional Chinese medicine, there is a concept of "fresh" and "aged." Some medicinal materials are better when they are fresh, while others are better the longer they are stored. For example, the tangerine peel that people often talk about is actually orange peel that has been dried for more than 3 years.

In traditional Chinese medicine, there is a saying about "six aged herbs," which means that the longer these six herbs are stored, the better their medicinal effects and the more precious they become.

These six herbs are: ephedra, tangerine peel, pinellia, evodia, immature bitter orange, and wolfsbane.

Pinellia ternata is one of them.

Qi Chu spoke, he set up a pot and started boiling water.

"Then this Lao Men'er came. After he arrived, he bought these three medicinal herbs from me. He offered a very high price at the time, and I could tell he knew his stuff. Gradually, we became familiar with each other and developed a relationship."

"That old guy was incredibly dark-skinned, and his knife was always gleaming. He was a real rip-off. I remember once, some rich guy, I think, had a broken Bones that hadn't healed for three or four years, and he came to him. He cured the guy with three doses of medicine and charged him over ten thousand."

"At first, I always criticized him for being shady, but later I learned that he had donated to build the primary school in their town, and he had also sponsored many impoverished college students."

"This is an extraordinary person!" Mr. Mengfei commented after listening.

"Hmm, a strange person."

Qi Chu finished recounting the matter, he neither belittled nor praised the person's actions; he simply used the word "strange."

"And what about it? I feel like it listens to you more, and not so much to Lao Men'er."

Su Ziyang pointed to the Bones.

"That guy's really something. This dog is a hunting dog that Lao Men'er got from somewhere. I don't even know what breed it is."

Qi Chu stroked the Bones's head repeatedly, saying, "You know, this dog is a damn strange dog. There's a reason why he listens to me."

"It was still small back then."

When Qi Chu said that Bones were "things," the Bones got a little upset and started Qi Chu's hand with a howling sound.

"Once, when Lao Men'er was delivering Chinese medicine to my house, this little guy secretly tore apart a bundle I was carrying. Inside were more than a dozen cordyceps, an old ginseng root, and a piece of poria cocos. He ate it all!"

"I thought I'd have to poison it, but not only was the little thing fine, it even got addicted to eating them. It eats any medicinal herbs it finds, and then it seems to have evolved, growing this big. Because I have a lot of medicinal herbs on me, it follows me around all the time and has eaten quite a few rare and precious herbs."

Qi Chu explained the origin of the Bones, and the group was amazed.

"Oh! No wonder this guy's fur is so shiny, and he doesn't have a single flea on him."

Su Ziyang understood why this guy was so clean.

"That's interesting."

Mr. Mengfei touched Bones's ear and scratched Bones.

The group talked around the fire until three or four in the morning. By then, everyone was exhausted, and the fire had slowly turned into embers.

The group went back to their tent and took a short nap...