Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 55: Deserted Village, Da Huang
Li Xu popped the last piece of bread into his mouth, brushed the crumbs from his hands, and looked up at the mountain path ahead.
Two peaks to cross, a five-kilometer journey.
On flat ground, a distance like that would be nothing.
But deep in the Qinling Mountains, the mountain path was rugged and the forest was dense. Every step could hide unforeseen trouble.
He tightened the cap on his water bottle, stuffed it back into his backpack, took a deep breath, and strode forward.
After crossing the first peak, Li Xu’s pant legs were already soaked with dew from the tall grass, and the soles of his shoes were caked with mud.
He stopped to wipe away his sweat when he suddenly noticed the faint outline of several gray-tiled roofs on the slope ahead.
’A village?’
Li Xu was taken aback.
’It’s not on the map.’
’Could it be reclusive Daoists?’
He’d seen news reports about it—some Daoists, and people who couldn’t make it in the big cities, liked to live as recluses in the mountains.
’But most of them live on Zhongnan Mountain.’
’Are there some here, too?’
He adjusted his direction and headed toward the buildings.
As he drew closer, he realized it wasn’t an ordinary mountain village, but an abandoned one.
A dozen or so mud-brick houses were scattered about. Their tiled roofs had collapsed, and wooden doors hung askew from their frames, letting out a "CREAK... CREAK..." sound whenever the wind blew.
The stone mill at the village entrance was covered in moss. Beside it was a dry well, its rope long since rotted away, leaving only half of the wooden wheel-axle lying askew.
Standing at the entrance to the village, Li Xu felt a sudden, inexplicable chill.
He walked into one of the more intact houses. A thick layer of dust covered everything inside, and the corners were filled with cobwebs.
The iron pot on the stove was riddled with rust, and a moldy straw mat still lay on the kang-style bed, making it seem as if the owner had only left temporarily and would be back at any moment.
’Where did everyone go?’
He rummaged through the items in the house and found the torn-off bottom half of a calendar in a drawer. The date was from more than ten years ago.
Li Xu fell silent for a moment. He had a pretty good idea of what happened—the transportation was inconvenient and life was hard, so the villagers had gradually moved away.
Many villages deep in the Qinling Mountains ended up this way. The young people left for the cities, the old folks gradually passed away, and eventually, the entire village was swallowed by the surrounding forest.
He stood in the empty courtyard, gazing at the distant, rolling green mountains, and was suddenly filled with a sense of wistfulness.
The people were gone, but the mountains remained.
...
Leaving the abandoned village, Li Xu continued on his way.
At a little past four in the afternoon, he finally crested the second peak. The offline map on his phone showed that Bailingyu Village was just ahead.
However, when he stood on the slope and looked down, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
The village was eerily quiet.
There was no cooking smoke, no barking dogs, and barely even the sound of birds.
A dozen or so old houses were scattered in the hollow. The roof tiles were broken and incomplete, courtyard walls had collapsed, and weeds, taller than a man, sprouted from the cracks in the stone paths.
’Another deserted village?’
Li Xu sighed. In truth, he had already suspected it.
The last village was already deserted.
Since Bailingyu Village was right next to it, it was no surprise that it had been abandoned as well.
Li Xu had originally hoped to stay the night in the village, but now it looked like he’d have to make do with a relatively intact empty house.
However, his goal on this trip wasn’t the village, but the foxtail grass.
He recalled the intel: ’On a cliff near Bailingyu Village, in the Northwest Remnant of Niuti Mountain, grows a small patch of mutated foxtail grass that can effectively relieve eye fatigue...’
’A cliff...’
Li Xu scanned his surroundings and quickly zeroed in on a steep cliff face to the west of the village.
The cliff wasn’t particularly high, but it was very steep. Li Xu pulled himself up carefully, using cracks in the rock and shrubs for handholds.
As he neared the top, he suddenly caught the faint scent of fresh grass.
’Found it!’
Li Xu peeked over the top and, sure enough, saw a small patch of strange-looking foxtail grass growing at the edge of the cliff.
Unlike ordinary foxtail grass, the seed heads on these plants were much fuller, and their color was a greenish-gold that glinted in the sunlight. The stalks were also much thicker than the common variety, and the edges of the leaves were finely serrated.
Except...
Li Xu realized that what should have been a large patch of foxtail grass was now much smaller.
The leaves and seed heads were gone, as if some insect had gnawed them down, leaving only half-stumps of the stalks behind.
He didn’t think much of it.
The mountains were full of insects and animals; it was normal for wild plants to be eaten.
Li Xu climbed to the clifftop, rested for a moment, and was just about to reach out and pick them, when suddenly—
"WOOF!!"
A low bark came from the side.
Li Xu whipped his head around to see a large yellow dog trotting toward him. It stopped about three meters away, bared its teeth, and let out a threatening growl.
The dog was sturdily built with a glossy coat. A badly frayed piece of hemp rope hung around its neck, a clear sign that it had an owner.
’Where did this dog come from?’
Li Xu was taken aback. ’Could there still be people living in Bailingyu Village below?’
Unsure of the big yellow dog’s disposition, Li Xu didn’t dare make any sudden moves.
When the dog saw he wasn’t moving, it slowly walked over to the patch of foxtail grass. It bit off a few stalks and held them in its mouth, all while keeping a wary eye on Li Xu.
’Is it... eating the grass?’
Then it dawned on Li Xu.
Animals like cats and dogs will eat grass.
They eat it to induce vomiting, which helps them expel indigestible objects like hair from their stomachs and relieve bloating or pain.
Some of the grass can also pass into the intestines, where it promotes motility and acts as a prebiotic to maintain gut health.
If a dog’s diet is monotonous, it might also eat grass to get nutrients like fiber, potassium, and chlorophyll.
For instance, a deficiency in B vitamins or trace elements like iron and zinc can lead to pica.
But in the next moment, 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Li Xu realized he was wrong.
Because after biting off a few stalks of foxtail grass, the dog set them aside and went on to bite off more.
It wasn’t eating them at all.
It repeated this process several times. After harvesting a large patch, the dog gathered all the stalks in its mouth, gave its tail a wag, and ran toward the other side of the cliff, quickly disappearing from sight.
???
What was that all about?
’Why would a dog collect foxtail grass?’
’Was it saving it to eat later?’
Li Xu couldn’t figure it out.
He didn’t chase after it, though.
He crouched down to examine the remaining foxtail grass. He found that the patch near the cliff’s edge had been chewed down to the stems, but a few plants farther back were still completely intact.
Li Xu took out his herb-gathering hoe and began to harvest the plants.
There were still thirty to fifty plants left.
He didn’t harvest all of them.
He left a portion behind.
This way, they could continue to grow, and after the seeds matured, new plants would sprout next year.
He carefully stored the foxtail grass he had gathered.
Li Xu looked at the sky.
Summer days are long.
The sun was still high.
However, it was too late to hurry back now.
Time to head down the mountain and find a place to rest for the night.
The dog was proof.
Perhaps Bailingyu Village wasn’t completely deserted after all.
...
「Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.」
Miaoli stared at the special issue on the Dragon Country Virus.
She stared in a daze for a long time before finally coming to her senses.
She hastily flipped to the main article and began to read it carefully.
"...Celery contains large amounts of Apigenin. Apigenin has excellent antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. When used in conjunction with the ’Clearing Qi and Stabilizing Blood Formula,’ it can inhibit the tick-borne virus and prevent it from damaging the internal organs..."
"So that’s it!"
Realization dawned on Miaoli.
