Chapter 4: CH 4

Chapter 4 – Wiregrass/ Indian goosegrass/ eleusine indica*

There was a total of 68 households in Qili Village. They monopolised this large area…and so, one could just easily clear the wasteland on the hillside.

There was barely any wasteland on flat land. Moreover, the soil was infertile and mostly comprised earth and rocks. It was better to clear a piece of land on the hillside. So, Si Lang carried a hoe and a sickle and walked up the hill. He planned to survey the land from a high point. How would one choose a piece of land? Easy. Just pick one that was pleasing to the eye.

Si Lang wanted to be wilful, but would Man Bao agree?

Of course not!

Man Bao was carried to the mountain top. Si Lang looked around and pointed to a piece of land with the least amount of grass and said, “Let’s go there and clear that one.”

“No!” she refused without even thinking about it. She pointed to another area and said, “I want to clear that one.”

Si Lang looked at it. The land was infested with weeds, with some even as tall as Man Bao. Shrubs overran the land. He knew it was going to be very difficult to uproot them and immediately refused, “No. It’s easier to clear the land I chose.”

However, there were many grasses** and shrubs there. Perhaps there would be something Keke would like. Man Bao, who wanted to exchange sweets with Keke, insisted, “We have to clear that piece of land.”

Her rationale was sound. “Look at how well the weeds and trees are growing. In the future, the beans and melons planted will also flourish. Look at the land you chose. There are only a few patches of grass. Mine is much better. Oh, there are also stones. Grasses dislike stones the most. Beans and melons hate stones too.”

Si Lang was unhappy, “Are you clearing the land, or am I?

With arms akimbo, Man Bao said, “You. But you must listen to me or else, I will tell father when I get home, that you, lazybones, deliberately chose a poor piece of land. Let father beat you.”

He was livid, but he still had to listen to her, because their father would definitely listen to Man Bao.

He touched his wounds, snorted angrily said, “Fine! We’ll clear that one. Let’s go.”

Fifth brother wanted to carry her. Man Bao thought about it, waved her hand dismissively and said, “You don’t have to carry me. I want to go down on my own. Fourth brother, go ahead and start clearing the land.”

Si Lang had steam coming out of his ears, “How can you get down there on your own, shorty? Wu Lang needs to follow you and take care of you.”

“What’s the matter? Can’t sixth brother stay with me?”

“No, they have to help me clear the wasteland.”

The two younger brothers didn’t want to work, they shook their heads repeatedly and said, “Before we left home, mother instructed us to take good care of our younger sister. Fourth brother, go ahead and start cutting the grass. It’s useless for us to go since you only brought a sickle.”

Si Lang was dumbfounded, “You didn’t bring sickles?”

Wu Lang laughed, “We have to carry Man Bao. How can we carry a sickle?”

Si Lang looked at Da Tou and Da Ya.  Da Tou was a smart boy and quickly said, “We thought our uncles will bring the sickles, so we didn’t bring any.”

Si Lang instructed Da Tou, “Go back home now and bring the sickles. Hurry and go.”

Da Tou replied, “We will be heading home soon for breakfast. We can bring the sickles after the meal. Even if I go back and forth now, I still wouldn’t be able to do much work before breakfast. Fourth uncle, we’ll accompany little aunt to go downhill slowly. Please go ahead and start cutting the grass.”

Everyone, “That’s right! Fourth uncle/ fourth brother, hurry and go.”

Si Lang felt he was betrayed by his relatives, and the chief culprit was Man Bao.

Man Bao was fiercer than him, “Hurry up or else I will tell father when I go home for breakfast that you are lazy!

Si Lang took the hoe as well as the sickle and left.  

Man Bao was satisfied. With her short legs, she made her way down the mountain. From time to time, she grabbed grasses and picked handfuls of flowers. The rest of the children were used to playing around in the mountain.

When they saw Man Bao making her way down, they acted wildly and ran off to play.  Beautiful wildflowers, pick them!  Edible wild fruits, let’s pick and dig them all out! They can even spend half a day observing a colony of ants. The kids were delirious with joy!

Man Bao worked hard to dig out a handful of grass. She wiped her face, and asked Keke in her heart, “Do you want this?”

Keke was helpless, “Host, you’ve entered this wiregrass a long time ago.”

Man Bao disputed, “Are you sure? Why don’t I remember?”

The system displayed the wiregrass submitted by Man Bao, with its ecological characteristics, habitat, reproduction mode and main values, etc., all were clearly listed.

Man Bao enjoyed reading the most, and she was delighted to see the Chinese characters. She asked excitedly, “Where did these words come from?”

Keke replied, “Wiregrass still exists in my inventor’s world. This is the information in the Encyclopaedia. Once you have input a plant, the information in the Encyclopaedia will be shown behind the plant.”

The system paused and then added, “Host, I think even if you can’t find extinct plants or rare plant species from my inventor’s era, you should, at least, look for some precious or valuable plants to submit. That way, more people will click to download.  Only then can we obtain more points, and I will be able to exchange more sweets for you.”

To be honest, he had been following the little girl for more than a year. Except for the three plants which had been clicked and downloaded, no one cared about the other plants, and the click-through rates of these three plants were not high. Keke was basically using his own points to give sweets to Man Bao.

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Man Bao wasn’t discouraged. She was enthusiastically reading the analysis behind the wiregrass. She had already memorized the Thousand Characters Classic, and the day she met the system, was the day she received the book’s manuscript. Every day, she recited the words and learnt the characters. Although she only knew how to write a few characters, she can recognize all of them.

So, Man Bao understood about 80 percent of the information shown in the Encyclopaedia. When she didn’t understand, she asked Keke.

The system always answered all her questions. After all, Man Bao was so cute. Who can bear to refuse an adorable child who was just over four years old?

However, Man Bao had always insisted she was six years old this year. Well, that was her nominal age.***

Man Bao finished reading. She still didn’t understand the meaning of the analysis, but she didn’t ask everything. She basically just asked about those she was interested in. “It said wiregrass can dispel wind and dampness, clear away heat and detoxify, and dispel blood stasis and stop bleeding. What does this mean?”

Keke, “It means exactly that. According to traditional Chinese medicine, man consume whole grains and are affected by the environment. There will be damp and heat toxins in the human body.

“If one was heaty, they can drink wiregrass soup. That will dispel wind and dampness, clear heat and detoxify.  Removing blood stasis and stopping bleeding are even easier. If one falls and bleeds, just crush the grass and apply that to the wound to stop the bleeding. It can also be taken orally.”

Man Bao exclaimed, “Wow! This grass is so precious. I must dig a little bit more to take home.”

She grabbed the grass and pulled it. It took quite a bit of effort to pull the grass out.

The system also felt the grass was pretty good. So, he secretly encouraged Man Bao and thought of a way for her, “There are vines next to the grass. You can tie them up with the vines and then, carry them home.”

Man Bao felt Keke’s advice made perfect sense. She dug out a substantial amount of the wiregrass. When her two older brothers came over after having picked a handful of wild fruits, her face and hands were covered with mud, and she was sweating profusely. Both teenagers were shocked. They ran forward and asked, “Yao Mei, what are you doing?”

With sparkling eyes, Man Bao said, “Fifth brother, sixth brother, hurry and come help. I have found good medicinal material.”

The two boys stepped forward and looked at the wild grass in her hand. It was quite difficult for them to say, “Aren’t these just weeds? They are everywhere.”

“No. This is called wiregrass, it can detoxify and stop bleeding,” Man Bao instructed her two brothers, “Quickly, pull it with me.”

Wu Lang took the wild grass in her hand and threw them away. He cleaned her hands and said, “Don’t be silly. Come, we have found thorn fruit (刺泡 – could be Chinese box thorn), taste one and see if you like it.”

He stuffed Man Bao’s mouth with a bright red fruit. It was sweet and fragrant. Her eyes widen in delight, and she forgot about all the wiregrass strewn on the ground, “I want more!”

Keke was also very excited, “This plant has never been submitted. Man Bao, you must input this plant. I have just checked. We don’t have a picture of this kind of fruit in the system.”

Although the plant’s scientific name was recorded, they can still get a generous reward for including a picture since no pictures were available in the Encyclopaedia. These were the Encyclopaedia’s instructions. If someone clicked to view the picture, they would receive even more points.

Sure enough, allowing the host to go out more often was the correct policy.

Keke said, “Man Bao, quickly input it. It’s best to include the entire plant.”

Man Bao ate the wild fruit while asking her brother, “What kind of fruit is this? Why haven’t I had this before? Where did you pick it?”

Her brothers asked, “You never had this? The mountain is full of this fruit, and the fruit’s season is during Qing Ming (Chinese All Souls’ Day). It’s out of season now and only a few are available. If you want, I’ll take you up the mountain next year and look for the fruits to eat.”

Man Bao felt her brothers didn’t grasped the main point of her questions, and asked, “Where did you pick the fruit?”

“We picked all the fruits. There is none left. Let’s go down the mountain quickly, or fourth brother will be angry.”

With arms akimbo in anger, Man Bao, “I want to see what the fruit looks like so that in the future, I’ll know how to pick them.”

Wu Lang laughed, “That’s easy. Follow the path down the mountain. There are plenty of fruit plants along the path but there are no fruits left. Later, we’ll teach you to recognize them.”

Man Bao realized then her brothers weren’t lying to her when they said the mountain was full of the fruit plants.

Liu Lang carried her down the path and after a while, Wu Lang pointed to a cluster of thorny green vines on the side of the road and said, “OK, this is the box thorn. It blooms when the air is warm at springtime. It will bear fruit after the flowers bloomed. Once the fruits turn red, it’s so delicious, so delicious! Next year, during Qing Ming, we’ll take you up the mountain to pick the fruits.”

Liu Lang said, “I think the yellow ones are more delicious. They are firm and sour. They are more flavourful than the red ones.”

Wu Lang despised him, “Only the red fruits are delicious. All of us said the red ones are better.”

Liu Lang, “Definitely the yellow fruits.”

Wu Lang, “Red ones.”

Liu Lang, “Yellow!”

Wu Lang, “Red!”

Man Bao saw her two brothers were quarrelling. She never had any yellow fruits and so, it wasn’t appropriate for her to express her opinion. She slid off her sixth brother’s back and squatted down to observe the vines.

The two boys glanced at their sister. Since she was only staring curiously at the plants, they continued to quarrel, or shall we say, discuss?

Man Bao asked Keke in her heart, “Do you want to dig up the whole plant, or shall I give you a section?”

The system thought for a while and said, “Of course, it’s best if the entire plant can be dug up. If that’s not convenient, then a section would do.”

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