Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 194: A Tiring Body, A Light Heart

On the ridge of a rice paddy, an old man in a straw hat was waving at them.

Wang the Third’s body had completely recovered; he was as strong and healthy as ever.

His bronze-tanned face was etched with deep wrinkles, the very picture of an old farmer.

"Doctor Li!" Wang the Third came up to greet them, a wide grin revealing several yellow teeth. "The rice is perfectly ripe. I tasted a few grains this morning, and they’re so sweet!"

Li Xu squatted down, plucked a grain of rice, and rubbed it open. The kernel was crystalline and translucent. When he placed it on the tip of his tongue, he was surprised by a light, sweet, milky flavor.

It was a completely different taste from the brown rice they had harvested before.

It made you want to eat more and more.

’This will probably be even more effective for treating anorexia.’

Since there were no major roads here, it was difficult for a harvester to get in.

Besides, the paddy wasn’t that large.

Harvesting by hand would be enough.

Li Xu asked for a sickle, ready to help out as well.

"Doctor Li, you and Nurse Song can just rest. I can finish reaping it all myself," Wang the Third said.

Li Xu smiled. "It’s fine. I’d just be bored doing nothing anyway. It’s a good chance to get some work in."

"Uncle Wang, I’ll help too."

Song Sisi also got a sickle and swung it skillfully through the air a couple of times. "My family used to have rice paddies, too. I often helped my parents with the harvest when I was little!"

The three of them reaped for a while before dividing the labor. Wang the Third continued to cut down the stalks, while Li Xu and Song Sisi followed behind to tie them into bundles.

The SWISH of sickles slicing through stalks, the RUSTLE of the rice heads brushing against one another, and the WHOOSH of the mountain wind blowing across the field all wove together into a symphony of the autumn harvest.

Two people tying sheaves was much faster than one person reaping.

So, Li Xu and Song Sisi picked up their sickles and began reaping again.

Li Xu bent down and swung his sickle, his back quickly becoming soaked with sweat.

The slight resistance as the sharp sickle sliced through a stalk, the distinct, fresh fragrance of the rice plants, the damp scent rising from the trodden earth—these primitive sensory inputs gradually allowed his mind to go blank.

The fatigue, anger, and helplessness he had felt over the past few days were all flung away with each swing of the sickle.

"Boss, you’re cutting them a bit too high."

Song Sisi pointed to the long stubble Li Xu had left behind. "It’s easy to prick your hands when you’re threshing them like this."

Li Xu glanced at the sheaves Song Sisi had cut. They were neat and tidy. She was clearly an expert.

He mimicked her, adjusting where he made his cut, and sure enough, it felt much more natural.

"I didn’t realize you had this skill."

Song Sisi wiped the sweat from her brow, leaving a few streaks of mud on her face. "When I was a kid, I had to work in the fields during school breaks."

She laughed. "To be honest, I studied nursing specifically to escape the countryside. I just never expected..."

"Never expected you’d still have to harvest rice?" Li Xu joked.

They shared a smile, but their hands never stopped moving.

By eleven in the morning, all the rice plants had been cut down. They were tied into nearly a hundred sheaves, stacked neatly on the paddy ridge, and then loaded onto a three-wheeled farm vehicle.

"Time for a break!" Wang the Third called out, grabbing a few bottles of mineral water from the three-wheeler.

It wasn’t a major brand.

Judging by the production location on the label, it was bottled right here in Wangjia Gou.

But right then, tired and thirsty as they were, even this water tasted faintly sweet.

After drinking some water, Li Xu leaned back on a pile of sheaves and gazed up at the deep blue sky. Suddenly, all the darkness he’d been facing felt incredibly far away.

"Come on, let’s head to my place for lunch!" Wang the Third said, patting the dust off his pants as he stood up. "My wife has stewed a pheasant and steamed some cured pork. She’s just waiting for you!"

Wang the Third’s home was in Wangjia Gou, just on the other side of the mountain.

Chili peppers, corn, and various herbs were laid out to dry in the courtyard. A large dog rushed out, tail wagging furiously. Upon seeing Song Sisi, it went wild, circling and jumping around her like a complete suck-up.

"You still remember me, huh?"

Song Sisi bent down and stroked the dog’s head.

The big dog yapped even more excitedly.

Li Xu laughed. "Uncle Wang, this dog of yours has put on some weight."

A few months ago, this dog had been covered in what they called "dog beans"—ticks. It had been sucked so thin that it was practically emaciated.

Song Sisi had helped remove all the ticks.

That was why the dog was so affectionate toward her.

Wang the Third nodded. "Yep. After it was free of those ’dog beans,’ it started eating more and filled out."

They went into the courtyard and washed the dust from their hands and faces.

Wang the Third’s wife brought out lunch.

The meal was simple yet hearty: a clay pot of chicken stewed with wild mountain mushrooms, pork stir-fried with chili peppers, fresh seasonal vegetables, and a large bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup.

All the ingredients were homegrown, and the flavors were so delicious that Li Xu devoured three bowls of rice.

"Doctor Li, you can’t get chicken this tasty in the city, can you?"

Wang the Third’s wife said with a chuckle, "These are our own free-range chickens. They eat bugs, and sometimes they even get into the medicinal herb seeds."

Li Xu had a realization. "No wonder it has a faint herbal aroma."

After a short rest, the three of them prepared to thresh the grain. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Wang the Third’s courtyard was very large, so they just did the work right there.

Wang the Third brought out an old-fashioned wooden threshing barrel.

Li Xu and Song Sisi unloaded the sheaves from the three-wheeler.

Song Sisi was in charge of handing over the sheaves, while Li Xu and Wang the Third swung them forcefully, striking them against the rim of the barrel.

Golden grains of rice showered down like rain, quickly forming a thick layer at the bottom of the barrel.

"The younger generation doesn’t like to do this kind of work anymore," Wang the Third said as he threshed. "They all find it too tiring. A machine is so much faster. But machine-threshed rice breaks more easily, and the flavor isn’t as good."

"Doctor Li, don’t listen to his nonsense."

Wang the Third’s wife came over to help. "He only says that because he’s too cheap to buy a thresher," she said.

Wang the Third didn’t even blush, retorting, "We mainly grow medicinal herbs. We only planted a bit more than a quarter-acre of rice. There’s no need to buy a thresher for that."

Li Xu came to his rescue. "Ma’am, it’s true that threshing rice this traditional way is less efficient, but the grains stay whole and lose fewer nutrients. That’s very helpful for preserving its medicinal properties."

By the time the sun began to set in the west, all the grain had finally been threshed.

Wang the Third used a bamboo sieve to winnow out the chaff, then packed the gleaming golden grain into three large burlap sacks.

"I’d guess there’s about two hundred and twenty pounds here," Wang the Third said, patting a bulging sack. "You should get about one hundred and sixty-five pounds of polished rice out of it."

Li Xu grabbed a handful of the unhusked rice, letting the grains stream through his fingers.

These seemingly ordinary grains of rice could cure a severe form of anorexia that modern medicine was powerless to treat.

The wonders of nature would forever surpass human imagination.

This rice was incredibly precious. Every pound of it could potentially cure a patient with anorexia.

For that reason, Li Xu didn’t make a grand gesture of leaving some for Wang the Third. The farmer’s family had hearty appetites and could enjoy any food; they had no need for this special rice.

"Uncle Wang, I’m transferring five thousand yuan to you... Please don’t refuse. This isn’t ordinary rice; I’m using it as a medicinal ingredient. Thank you for looking after the paddy for me all this time."

Li Xu initiated the transfer on his phone.

Wang the Third had watched over it for him for months, inspecting the paddy every single day.

And today, he had helped with the harvest and threshing.

It was only natural for Li Xu to show his appreciation.

"Oh, Doctor Li, you’re embarrassing this old man! You saved my life! How could I possibly take your money...?"

Wang the Third adamantly refused.

’Sigh, I should have brought cash.’ Li Xu felt helpless. With a mobile transfer, if the recipient didn’t accept it, there was no way to force the money on them. If it had been cash, he could have just left it and gone.

"Alright," Li Xu conceded. "In that case, Uncle Wang, if you or your family ever feel unwell in the future, please don’t hesitate to come find me."

Wang the Third chuckled, nodding with a smile. "I will, I certainly will."

Afterward, Li Xu booked a delivery van.

He had the three sacks of rice transported to the Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory.

He planned to process the rice into Strongly Fragrant Dry Rice Pills.

...

P.S. Thanks to ’Fox Bat in the Starry Sky’ for the... umpteenth tip of 100 coins.

Also, Chapter 190 was censored and some parts were revised. I can’t say more about it, so it might seem a bit disjointed. My apologies.