Chapter 158: Does It Work?
After gaining a mouth, Kuang Biao felt like his value had depreciated.
But Huai Yu had already listened for so long, and now she could tune him out completely.
At this moment, she squatted down to seriously examine the crying, shrinking, fat ginseng. She immediately prepared to take out a piece of red string to tie it up.
Whether it worked or not, she would tie it up first.
But the awkward part was, she didn’t actually have any red string.
This couldn’t be blamed on her. When anyone was gathering their belongings bit by bit, they wouldn’t necessarily pick out certain colors. She used to use neon purple and neon pink pillowcases!
Plus, ever since the plants mutated, everyone had started consciously wearing clothes in high-saturation colors. The idea was that if a mutated plant were to drag someone away or something, the bright clothing would help rescuers spot them more easily.
And among high-saturation colors, neon pink and bright red were undoubtedly the more popular ones.
Also, after several years of disaster, although the marriage market had slowed down, it was still ongoing. In a culture like China’s, where anything festive is associated with red, it made sense that Huai Yu’s home had no red string to spare.
She thought for a moment and then decided to untie her shoelaces.
—Her purple-red bedspread had been washed recently, and the shoelaces had been soaked in it, unexpectedly losing color. Now the laces were a mix of white, pink, red, and purple…
She thought to herself, “Does this count as red string?”
As Huai Yu tied the red shoelace around the fat ginseng, it hiccupped a couple of times and stammered, “I d-don’t need to w-wear, w-wear clothes.”
Huai Yu: “…”
She firmly tied the shoelace into a bow, realizing that this ginseng’s brain wasn’t very sharp.
But it didn’t matter. At this moment, she spoke with a calm and reasonable tone, “Since you can talk now, you should understand the importance of having some dignity—when you go outside, you should at least wear some clothes.”
The ginseng’s leaves drooped, seemingly inspecting the red shoelace wrapped around it. After observing for a while, it responded in a silly voice.
“Oh.”
The bamboo leaves above them rustled, causing the entire bamboo forest to shake. It was both startling and amusing, which made the fat ginseng nervous.
As Huai Yu dug around the fat ginseng’s surroundings, she quietly punched a bamboo stalk beside her to stifle Kuang Biao’s laughter.
At this moment, she sighed and said to the fat ginseng, “You’re so silly. If you go out, you won’t do well. Forget it, I’ll take care of you.”
“Don’t worry, since you can talk now, I won’t eat you. But can you spare a few of your roots for me? Cutting a few roots shouldn’t hurt, right?”
The fat ginseng was indeed easy to coax.
At this moment, its leaves above shook.
“R-really… won’t be eaten…”
Huai Yu nodded, “I’m so capable, I even helped you speak. Do you think I need this ginseng?”
This reasoning seemed quite sound!
The fat ginseng, despite its plump body, wasn’t very bright. After thinking for a while, it couldn’t find anything wrong with the reasoning and obediently let Huai Yu pick it up from the ground.
After thinking for a moment, it even obediently said, “Th-thank you.”
“Roots… I’ll give… not many, many would… hurt too much.”
“But… but if… all of them, it would… it would hurt… hurt to death.”
Huai Yu wasn’t sure if the ginseng still had the potent medicinal effects it originally had, but since she had already hastened its growth, she couldn’t waste it!
She’d try it when she got back!
Especially since the fat ginseng had stammered and told her, “In the soil… I have… I have one… broken… root…”
This surprised Huai Yu. She hurried back to the front, cradling the ginseng, and circled around the house.
“Do you want to run around freely, or should I plant you somewhere?”
She lifted it in front of her and gave it a quick look at the surroundings.
When the lush pink-white Rose Corridor came into view, the fat ginseng immediately stiffened, visibly nervous. After a long pause, it stammered, “S-so, so strong… strong rose, can’t… can’t fight.”
It started crying again.
Since last night, everything it had seen, it couldn’t defeat. No wonder that bamboo said it would be eaten by other mutated creatures if it ran away… the outside world was so dangerous!
If it had known, it wouldn’t have run.
At this moment, it choked up and picked a spot for itself, “Purple… wisteria.”
Huai Yu: “…”
It should have said this earlier! The ginseng, which weighed nearly ten pounds, had been in her arms for so long, and now it chose a place near the wisteria treehouse, a spot with scattered light.
“Fine!”
Huai Yu decisively agreed, carrying the ginseng toward the treehouse. She also reminded it, “There are seven of your brothers and sisters over there. I won’t hasten their growth, it’s too exhausting.”
“You, just stay nearby and watch them grow. If they’re lacking anything, just let me know.”
The fat ginseng was a bit confused.
It was just a ginseng, why did it sound like it already had a job?
But at this moment, it couldn’t fight back, the other was so strong, could make it speak, and was willing to find a place for it to rest according to its mood…
It shook its head. The leaves above it rustled, “Okay.”
As we can see, not all ginsengs are perfect. This one was indeed not very smart.
Meanwhile, Huai Yu couldn’t help but start thinking about the red ginseng fruit she had in her pocket.
Could hastening their growth also allow her to plant a small patch of ginseng?
She thought about it, noted it down, and then went back to the mound where she planted the ginseng yesterday. Sure enough, she found a root as thick as a toothpick.
The ginseng’s roots were so fine that when washing them, she had to be extra gentle, just in case she broke one by accident.
Huai Yu hesitated a bit while pondering whether to use it for water or soup, but in the end, she just boiled a pot of ginseng water.
Does it work? She would try and see, maybe it would grow another two centimeters!
With this pious hope, after the water had cooled, Huai Yu took a bowl and drank it all in one go!
It had a slight medicinal taste, but not much. She savored it for a moment, and at last, could taste that faint, almost imperceptible, bittersweetness unique to ginseng.
And then…
And then, nothing happened.
That day, she went to hasten the growth of every plant in the garden, watching the flowers wilt and tiny fruits form, before she finally released them, satisfied.
She followed that by refilling the water at home and continued sorting through the junk pile. She had already found several useful items and planned to organize the house properly once she was done sorting the pile.
And the peaches, because they smelled so fragrant, she didn’t dare bring them to the hospital. But after several days, their skin had started to wrinkle…
Overall, there was a bit of a boost in energy, but not much. She couldn’t even tell if it was because of a good night’s sleep or the ginseng soup’s effects.
