In the past two years, every household in Dongchen Village has planted a lot of sesame seeds. Jiang Sanlang even spent money to learn how to press sesame oil from a castor oil pressing workshop.
When he came back, he taught the oil pressing method to his eldest brother-in-law's son Daniu, and asked him to build two thatched huts in the market outside Dongchen Village as an oil mill, specializing in pressing sesame oil for people.
Of course, Da Niu also collects sesame seeds and sells sesame oil that he squeezes himself. His business is quite prosperous. People from all over the country come to buy it, and the supply is simply in short supply.
Nowadays, every family in Dongchen Village likes to use fragrant sesame oil to cook vegetables and fried rice, and even eat less lard.
Yingbao led her second brother home, just in time to see A Niang serving out the fried sesame seeds.
Chunniang brought the sesame seeds to the table with a smile, preparing to crush them. She said to her daughter, "If Baoer wants to eat some, just grab a handful and try it. It's delicious."
Yingbao grabbed a handful and stuffed it into her mouth first, then signaled her second senior brother to grab some as well.
Zhang Min didn't hesitate to grab a handful and put it in his mouth to chew.
You know what, this thing smells really good.
It was his first time to eat fried sesame seeds, and he was immediately very hungry.
"Don't eat too much, it will give you a headache." Yingbao said, "Wait a minute, mother will grind the sesame seeds and we can mix them with sugar and try it."
Zhang Min nodded and said to Chunniang, "Aunt, let me help you grind it."
"No need, I can do it myself. It will be ready in a moment." Chunniang took a rolling pin, spread the sesame seeds on a clean panel, and pressed them hard. The fried sesame seeds were very crispy and were quickly crushed into crumbs.
The sesame flavor is more intense.
Chunniang put the crushed sesame seeds into a clean ceramic jar, kept some of them, mixed them with icing sugar, and added a little bit of freshly boiled water to make two bowls of sesame paste. She handed one bowl to Zhang Min: "Here, try it."
Zhang Min took it and ate it mouthful by mouthful, relishing the taste.
Chunniang gave another bowl to her daughter: "Bao'er, try it too."
Yingbao took a spoon, fed her mother a mouthful, and ate a mouthful herself, and soon finished all the sesame paste.
Chunniang asked, "Would you like some more?"
"No need, eating too many sesame seeds will make you feel sick." Ying Bao took the empty bowls of herself and her second brother to wash.
After Zhang Min had eaten and drunk his fill, he went out for a stroll and met Hu Zi who had come back to drink water. The two of them huddled together, arm in arm, and talked about learning martial arts.
Yingbao ignored them and sat at home talking to her mother. "Mom, why is there no one in our textile workshop?"
Chunniang took out a piece of cloth for her daughter to cut a dress and said, "The cotton at home has been spun, and now it is the busy farming season, so the weavers have all gone home to work on the farm."
"What about our cloth? Have you sold it all?"
Chunniang pointed to the dozens of rolls of cotton cloth piled up in the house and said, "Your father sold them to the cloth shop in Simen Town, and the rest are used to make some clothes for our family. We don't need to buy cloth for festivals or social occasions, we have it ready at home."
After a pause, he continued, "Your sister Dani has set a date with the Zhang family. They will get married in the early spring of next year. Oh, time flies so fast. Dani is getting married too. Your father and I are getting old."
What Chunniang lamented was not that Dani was going to get married, but that her own little girl had grown up in the blink of an eye. In five or six years at most, she would definitely find a husband for her.
Chunniang felt extremely heartbroken when she thought about her daughter getting married.
After getting married, she would go home less often. Even if Chunniang didn't want to admit it, once a girl got married, she basically became a member of someone else's family, and when she returned to her parents' home, she became a guest.
Yingbao looked at her mother seriously and said, "Mom doesn't look old at all. There are no wrinkles on her face."
Chunniang chuckled and touched her face: "Who said I don't have wrinkles? Look at my deep forehead wrinkles."
"I have forehead wrinkles, too." Yingbao tried to open her eyes wide, creating two wrinkles on her forehead.
Chunniang poked her daughter's forehead and said with a smile: "Your forehead wrinkles are not what you want."
Ying Bao touched her forehead and said, "Then I'll prepare some moisturizing cream for you. If you apply it every night, your skin will definitely be white and tender. All the ladies in the city apply it on their faces."
"Okay, I'll wait for Baoer's moisturizer."
The mother and daughter talked for a while, and then they heard someone outside calling, "Is Madam Xu home?"
Chunniang quickly put down the scissors in her hand and went out to check.
The people who came were two men in green robes and a middle-aged woman. They didn't look like they were from the village.
"What do you want?" Chunniang wiped her hands with her apron and looked at them.
The woman stepped forward and bowed, "My name is Wang, I am from Liushu Township, and today my husband and I have come to ask the little doctor to see me."
Only then did Chunniang look at the man next to her.
I saw a man standing unsteadily, being supported by his companions, and his face looked very bad.
Chunniang frowned, not knowing whether to agree or not. At this time, Yingbao came over and said, "Then please sit down."
She led the man to the grape trellis in the yard and asked the woman, "What's wrong with the patient?"
The woman walked behind her husband and lifted his collar. "My husband has a sore on his back that has not healed. It has become worse in the past few days. Please ask the little doctor to help him."
Yingbao walked over to check, and sure enough, she saw a fist-sized abscess on the back of the man's neck, which was emitting a strong odor.
"The doctor in our village said it was a back carbuncle." The woman covered her face and wiped the corners of her eyes.
"Back carbuncle?" Yingbao frowned.
She had seen methods of treating back carbuncle, but this method required first cutting open the wound to drain the pus, then removing the rotten flesh, and then fighting the infection. If you were not careful, it could be fatal.
But the carbuncle on this man's back was too big. If he underwent surgery rashly, he probably wouldn't be able to bear it.
Seeing Yingbao hesitate, the woman knelt down in front of her and said, "Please help me, little doctor."
Ying Bao said that she was in a dilemma: "The carbuncle on his back has gone deep. If I want to treat it, I have to perform surgery to remove the dead flesh. The process is dangerous. If something unexpected happens, can you bear it?"
The woman was stunned.
The sick man raised his head and said to Ying Bao, "Please ask the little doctor to operate on you."
He had been to several pharmacies and even the county hospital. They performed surgery on him at first, but then the wound relapsed and maggots grew inside. He couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to die, but someone told him that there was a little miracle doctor in Dongchen Village, Chuanhe Town. She would not treat patients easily, but everyone she treated was cured.
Yingbao: "In that case, let's sign a contract first. If I am cured, you have to pay the full medical expenses. If I am not cured, you can't blame me."
She didn't dare to guarantee that she could completely cure this person. If she couldn't, she didn't want to be blackmailed.
"Okay!" the man agreed without hesitation.
Afterwards, Yingbao went into the house to get pen, ink, paper and inkstone, wrote the contract on the spot, and asked the three of them to put their fingerprints on it.
Of course, I, the person who held the position, also pressed it.
Chunniang even specially invited the chief of the Chen clan and two village elders to put their fingerprints on the event as witnesses.
Then it’s time to get ready for knife action.
It definitely wouldn't work at home, so Yingbao asked A Niang to vacate a room in the textile workshop outside the yard for this person to live in temporarily.
Yingbao then began to boil the knife in a clay pot to sterilize it.
Take out another jar of liquor and set aside.
Medicinal herbs are indispensable, such as great thistle, licorice, astragalus, etc.
But these are only temporary solutions and can only provide temporary relief to patients.