To Wang An, the golden eagle chick was far more important than the ginseng. Thus, the moment he saw the ginseng, the powerful effects of the root immediately sprang to mind.
And so, Wang An took that sixty-year-old ginseng root, turned around and ran to the outer room, bringing out a garlic mortar as well.
After giving the ginseng a simple rinse, Wang An plucked off the head, the lateral roots, and the rootlets, tossing them into the garlic mortar.
Immediately following this, the sound of "clang, clang, clang, clang" echoed from the outer room as the mortar was struck.
It had to be said that the earthy, grassy scent of this wild ginseng was incredibly potent; perhaps this was why ginseng was hailed as a divine herb.
Once the lateral roots and rootlets were completely crushed, Wang An used a small spoon to carefully scrape out the ginseng pulp from the mortar, obtaining a paste only about the size of two kernels of corn.
When Wang An entered the room, Mu Xueqing asked instinctively
"What are you up to? Why are you even using the garlic mortar?"
Hearing this, Wang An said with a chuckle
"I figured I'd add some nutrition to this golden eagle chick to make it more spirited. Oh, right, put this half-stick away and don't lose it; it's a good piece of gear."
Filled with confusion, Mu Xueqing took the now-bald ginseng root and looked at the small spoon in Wang An's hand—specifically, the tiny bit of ginseng pulp inside.
After frowning and pondering for a long while, Mu Xueqing suddenly had a realization and said
"Xiao An, you aren't planning to feed the 'stick' to the golden eagle chick, are you?"
At this moment, Wang An was contemplating how to actually get the ginseng into the chick's mouth, so upon hearing Mu Xueqing's question, he replied instinctively
"Yup. I feel like this golden eagle chick is on the verge of kicking the bucket. If I don't give it some good stuff, I'm afraid it won't make it."
Wang An's words immediately left Mu Xueqing bewildered; primarily because Wang An's way of thinking was truly different from that of a normal person.
If a human were physically weak or suffering from a deficiency of qi and blood, eating ginseng would absolutely be the best choice.
Of course, the effects of ginseng were comprehensive. Beyond supplementing deficiencies, it had powerful therapeutic effects on things like loss of appetite, palpitations, insomnia, impotence, cold uterus, cold limbs, and weak pulses.
But the key was that these were all referring to humans!
Wang An, however, was feeding ginseng to a golden eagle chick—and a very precious wild mountain ginseng at that. Wasn't this just ridiculously extravagant?
Mu Xueqing looked at the hairless ginseng in her hand and said, feeling somewhat heartbroken
"Feeding such a precious stick to a golden eagle... isn't that a bit of a waste?"
Because of Mu Hua's health, Mu Xueqing was very well-acquainted with wild mountain ginseng.
In fact, the reason Mu Hua's body had been so frail previously was that after falling into an ice hole, he had soaked in it for a period of time, leading to a massive depletion of his physical vitality.
Strictly speaking, his body had become as weak as it could possibly be; it was only thanks to Mu Hua's good luck that he hadn't been frozen into a permanent cripple.
For a body in that state, there was no other way but supplementation, and more supplementation.
In the rural areas of this era, the only thing people could think of for supplementing the body was undoubtedly wild mountain ginseng.
Of course, there were many methods of supplementation, but without ginseng as the primary medicine, the effect would inevitably be greatly diminished.
Unfortunately, wild mountain ginseng was not easy to dig up; more importantly, it wasn't easy to encounter.
Therefore, to supplement Mu Hua—or more accurately, to prolong his life—they had no choice but to buy it.
And what do you do if you want to buy it but have no money?
Aside from borrowing from the "famine fund," there was no other way.
One must realize that this era was not like the future. In the future, if you borrowed money and didn't pay it back, there really wasn't much that could be done.
But in this era, didn't borrowing money work quite well? If they couldn't kill you, they'd get desperate enough to burn your house down.
Never assume anyone is superior to anyone else; when the day comes that you can't survive, even the Emperor himself is useless!
The phrase "a life for a life, a debt for a debt" was by no means an empty platitude at this time.
In fact, this was the reason why, in Wang An's previous life, Mu Hua and his wife had married Mu Xueqing off to Zheng Fei over a debt of 600 yuan.
600 yuan, for an ordinary peasant family of this era, was practically an astronomical figure.
Because after the grain rations were distributed at the end of the year, the money received was converted based on work points.
For example, if a village had a total of 1 million work points to be exchanged, but the money from the public grain plus other village income only totaled 10,000 yuan.
Excluding "bonus money" and the village's operational expenses, 1 work point would equal 1 cent.
Then, based on the work points earned during labor—for instance, if a woman earned 8 points a day, it was equivalent to earning 8 cents a day; a man earning 10 points a day would make 10 cents.
Of course, the "bonus money" and expenses had to be factored in, so 1 work point didn't actually convert to a full cent.
One could simply calculate that a man could earn 36 yuan a year, and a woman could earn 28.8 yuan.
But one must remember that there was no work during the winter lull, meaning no work points. At most, one could work half a year, so all that money had to be halved!
Of course, if there were other sources of income, they would earn a bit more, and the money converted from a work point would be slightly higher.
Remember, only slightly.
In summary, if a family only had a couple working, they could earn 30-some yuan a year at most. For a family like Mu Xueqing's, they only made 10-some yuan a year!
Even if Mu Xueqing and Mu Xueli worked during their school breaks, the family's annual income would be 20-some yuan at most.
With this method of earning money, how could they possibly pay back a 600-yuan debt?
Most importantly, at that time, Mu Hua still needed continued supplementation to stay alive, meaning they had to keep spending money.
So, between one person suffering and the whole family failing to survive, how do you answer that multiple-choice question?
Hearing Mu Xueqing's question, Wang An instinctively glanced at her and immediately saw the look of heartache on her face.
To be honest, Wang An was a bit confused, because given their current situation, there was absolutely no reason for Mu Xueqing to feel heartbroken over a sixty-year-old ginseng root.
Especially since it was just the head, lateral roots, and rootlets—the parts that weren't of much use.
Nevertheless, Wang An explained with a smile
"I'm telling you, wife, this golden eagle is of great use to me. Do you know about the cliff goats? I'm going to use this thing to catch cliff goats."
The fame of the cliff goat was well-known throughout the Northeast; similarly, the fact that they were incredibly difficult to catch was common knowledge.
Mu Xueqing was stunned and said instinctively
"I've heard that cliff goat blood is the best thing for supplementing a depleted body, even better than this stick..."
But halfway through, Mu Xueqing stopped abruptly. Clearly, she felt a bit embarrassed to say the rest.
(End of Chapter)