Journey to the West: The Immortal Clan Begins by Feeding Monkeys at Five Elements Mountain

Chapter 23 Tiger Bone Shavings
Jiang Yi spent some time turning over his ten acres of land.

Having found a spare moment, he plunged headlong into the land reclamation movement in Liangjie Village.

Liangjie Village is a village nestled in a mountain valley.

Every household has several acres of hardened, compacted soil that gets compacted year after year, so hard that when you hit it with a hoe, the soil bounces back onto the back of your hand.

I had intended to change in the past.

But if you hire cattle and people and provide water and food, not only will you be exhausted, but the land may not even be turned over properly.

After all the calculations, it's really not worth it.

This time, Jiang Yi did the work of three or five people all by himself, flipping things faster than an ox. Every family in the village was envious.

Jiang Yi had nothing better to do, and the effects of the medication were making him feel uncomfortable lying down.

Besides, neighbors are coming to visit, and it's not appropriate to turn them away after a few words.

Some people gave cash, others brought plump chickens and ducks, as well as smoked bacon glistening with oil, and wild ginseng and Solomon's seal picked from the mountains.

Even more generous were those who brought over two jars of aged wine that had been buried for ten years.

Jiang Yi accepted everything without being picky or asking about the price.

After two months, I collected quite a few good things, which would be worth about ten or eight taels of silver if converted into cash.

Jiang Yi knew in his heart that although tilling the land was a good job, it was only enough to do it once every three to five years, and it was not a long-term livelihood.

Before the few plots of land in the village were even fully tilled, more neighbors came knocking on the door.

Holding the hand of a half-grown child in one hand, and carrying chicken, duck, cured meat, medicinal herbs, and pastries in the other, they piled up a whole threshold, saying it was a gift for the apprenticeship ceremony.

The Jiang family's practice of stance training, martial arts, and medicinal baths was never kept secret in the village.

In the past, these were just folk remedies for strengthening the body, something to look at for fun and then forget about.

It wasn't until Jiang Liang was taken to the county that I heard he got a job in the yamen.

Then, seeing Jiang Yi swing his hoe and flip the ground with incredible speed, his strength was truly beyond the reach of ordinary people.

That's when someone figured out what it meant.

It turns out that martial arts training is not just about fists and feet.

Even in this simple life of toiling in the soil, they can be more assertive than others.

Naturally, some people had the idea of ​​sending their children to the Jiang family to try and get a way in.

Jiang Yi stood at the door, looking at all those formalities, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted.

The thought flashed through his mind, but he suppressed it again.

That breathing technique for regulating breath and the improved stance training are fine to practice among family members, but to spread them out without permission would inevitably be taboo.

Furthermore, I don't want Jiang Ming to get involved in these things at such a young age.

He politely declined each of their offers.

Later on, more and more people came to our door, and their conversations became more and more varied, but we couldn't resist their enthusiasm.

Jiang Yi couldn't refuse, so he went to the private school and found Master Cen.

After a brief exchange, the two men picked out the stance training technique left behind by Instructor Lin and passed it on.

They never mentioned taking on apprentices, only saying it was a method to strengthen the body and bones and improve blood circulation.

After that skill spread, a trend of learning martial arts swept through the village.

The open space behind every house, and the threshing ground beside every fence, have now all become "battlegrounds".

The kids, not quite grown up yet, were doing horse stances, punching and kicking, looking very serious.

The happiest of all was Physician Li.

The pharmacy has been making a fortune lately.

One person asked how to prepare the medicinal bath, and the next person yelled for liniment for bruises and sprains.

Doctor Li was so busy he barely had time to breathe, constantly running around, but he was beaming with joy, humming a little tune.

Time flies, the weather gradually warms up, and the Qingming Festival is just around the corner.

Qingming Festival is a major holiday; people must pay respects to their ancestors on the mountain, and the county magistrate's office should also be closed for the day. Judging by the dates, Jiang Liang should be back in a few days.

Liu Xiulian started preparing early, with a bowl of chicken soup on the left and a plate of cured meat on the right.

She wished she could make up for all the food she had missed or gone without during this time by giving it all to her youngest son.

Jiang Yi also thought of asking someone to bring some candy and snacks from the market.

But then I thought, my son has seen the world in the county.

The sticky maltose and wrinkled glutinous rice cakes sold at the market are probably not to be appreciated by children.

Just as I was pondering this, I suddenly heard footsteps outside the courtyard, their crisp sound echoing on the blue bricks.

It was Physician Li who had come to visit in person, a rare occurrence for him.

He was carrying a burlap sack, which didn't look big, but it was quite heavy.

Jiang Yi, with his sharp eyes, vaguely noticed some dark red seeping from the bottom of the bag, carrying a faint smell of blood.

"Brother Jiang!"

Before Doctor Li even entered the courtyard, and before he finished speaking, a smile had already spread across his face:
"Have you finished that packet of Polygonum multiflorum seeds from last time?"

Jiang Yi hurriedly welcomed the person in, but mumbled something indistinctly:
"No, there's no need to rush. With what we have at home, we still have more than half a bag left."

He would never mention that his two younger children chewed their medicine like it was water, and they finished it very quickly.

There was no surprise in Li Langzhong's eyes; on the contrary, he laughed even harder, his mouth stretching almost to his temples.
"It's good that it's not completely used up... It's very precious, so don't waste it."

As he spoke, he patted the sack in his hand, his expression becoming mysterious:
"I didn't come empty-handed this time; I'm bringing you some real stuff to go with you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yi raised an eyebrow, but without asking further questions, he turned around, poured tea, and handed it to the tea maker, casually replying:
"Oh? Your brother sent it, so it must be the right one."

Without mincing words, Dr. Li lifted a corner of the burlap sack.

A bloody stench immediately wafted out, not unpleasant, but carrying a lingering menacing aura.

Jiang Yi peeked out and saw that it was just some broken bone fragments.

The knife marks at the break were fresh, and the bone had a yellowish-red tinge, making it difficult to identify what had happened.

"Genuine tiger bones, fresh!"

Doctor Li lowered his voice, sounding rather smug:
"Ordinary medicinal herbs depend on their age, but this stuff is all about 'freshness'; the fresher it is, the more potent its medicinal properties."

Jiang Yi stared at the bag of broken bone fragments for a moment, and then he already had a good idea of ​​what was going on.

It's scraps, bone fragments, not a whole piece.

It's most likely another shipment from Liu's village.

Doctor Li still had a smile on his lips, and he spoke with great seriousness:

"As soon as I got my hands on such a fine item, the first person I thought of was you, Brother Jiang. I didn't let a word of it out."

Jiang Yi listened with a smile on his face, but he understood in his heart.

Such a potent medicine is too strong for an ordinary person to withstand.

Nowadays in Liangjie Village, if you were to ask who could cook and eat this stuff without any problems, there probably wouldn't be another household.

If we don't sell this half-bag of bone scraps to our own family while they're still hot...

They had to carry it for dozens of miles along mountain roads to try their luck at the market.

If you're unlucky and leave it for a couple more days, the blood and energy will dissipate, the medicinal effects will weaken, and it won't fetch a good price.

Jiang Yi remained expressionless, still holding his teacup, and slowly said:

“We are just a small family, how could we afford such a precious medicine?”

While there was a hint of bargaining in those words, it was also the truth.

Fresh tiger bones, even if not whole, will cost at least a hundred taels.

Even this small half-bag of crumbs is worth a few dozen taels of silver.

Although the Jiang family has become a bit better off recently, they wouldn't risk their entire fortune for such a small matter.

(End of this chapter)