LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 468 - 465 Fishy Grass
Chapter 468: Chapter 465 Fishy Grass
The mighty and fierce Wild Baizhi Ox departed. After waiting momentarily for it to be completely out of sight, Bi Fang rushed forward without worrying about the burning heat, pressing the still-smoking charcoal ash onto the wound.
Grass and wood ash is, after all, a byproduct of burning and has been sterilized by high temperatures, so there is naturally no need to worry about infection; in fact, rinsing with clean water carries a certain risk.
When the black charcoal dust met the swollen wound, Bi Fang felt as if he had plunged into cold water after running a 10,000-meter race, the soreness instantly subsided.
The previously unbearable pain in the wound became manageable, similar to the feeling of a common burn.
Getting bitten by a large centipede typically results in hours of intense pain, with the pain slowly spreading to the surrounding area, torso, or chest.
Fortunately, Bi Fang acted promptly and decisively cut open the wound, squeezing out most of the poison that had not yet spread.
Another person would not have been able to make such a decisive decision.
As he spread the black charcoal ash over the wound, Bi Fang explained, “The toxicity of many poisonous insects is acidic, like certain ants, centipedes, spiders, and bees, with only a few being alkaline, such as wasps, which are weakly alkaline. So in most cases, grass and wood ash are used, at the very least to alleviate your pain.”
“If it’s not in the wilderness but at home, then soap water or alcohol can be used to clean the wound, followed by some heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs to treat it.”
[Wait a minute, centipede venom is acidic and wasp venom is weakly alkaline. Do I have a bold idea?]
[Isn’t fighting poison with poison exactly like this? Dog’s head.jpg]
[Kennedy making sports cars, what an imagination!]
“That won’t work, fighting poison with poison is just a figment of novelists’ imaginations.” Bi Fang joked, his pain having subsided considerably, but the soreness in his wound still made the corners of his eyes twitch.
“Seems like I’ve gotten into a bit of unwarranted trouble now. Not only did I lose the lunch that was within grasp, but I also got injured for no good reason.” After applying the ash on his wound, Bi Fang shook his hand, his voice tinged with complaint, yet he wasn’t too disheartened.
The snake meat that was originally there had been completely eaten by the Wild Baizhi Ox, leaving nothing behind, not even the branches used to skewer the snake meat.
“The cooked duck has flown away; now, I’ll have to find something else to replace it.” Bi Fang wrapped the centipede’s body in leaves and moved next to the fire that had been lit.
Even now, the body of the centipede had not stopped twitching, a characteristic shared by all arthropods.
“The nervous system of a centipede is similar to that of an earthworm, belonging to a chain-like nervous system, so it can continue to struggle even when chopped into two. I simply removed its head, and look, its abdomen is filled with many small centipedes.”
Following Bi Fang’s gesturing, the mass of white maggots startled Leonardo, who, having been at a distance with dim lighting, had not seen as clearly as the audience thousands of miles away.
Despite the adult centipede being dead, these newly-born little centipedes appeared oblivious, having not yet managed to flee, or perhaps being too young to escape.
“Without snake meat, I’ll have to eat this.” Bi Fang chuckled coldly, picked up some charcoal from nearby, relit the fire, and shook all the tiny centipedes onto the leaves.
Even though his left hand was in pain, he could endure it and still do some work without a problem.
However, upon hearing Bi Fang say he was going to eat the centipede, Leonardo stammered, “Wai-wait, can, can this thing be eaten?”
If it were snake meat, Leonardo could understand, but eating centipedes was beyond his acceptance.
Is this something people can eat?
Isn’t it incredibly disgusting?
[Hahaha, we still have grilled centipedes at our night markets here.]
[With so many bug dishes, Little Leo might go crazy.]
Bi Fang smiled and turned the centipede with a stick, “Centipedes are really nutritious and can be used in medicine. In many countries, centipede snacks are quite famous. Did we not stroll through the night market a couple of days ago? Did you not see?”
Hearing Bi Fang say this, Leonardo also remembered.
It seemed there was such a thing, but night markets are clearly only at night, and he did not look closely at the time. He thought they were some kind of slender meat skewers, but now that he thought about it, didn’t they resemble centipedes?
Is eating this a misunderstanding? Is there nothing else to eat?
“Not at all, it’s not due to a lack of food, but rather because centipedes are delicious. They’re crisp and tasty and rich in protein. Chewing raw centipedes is dangerous, as the venom can enter the bloodstream via the upper digestive tract, and the amount is much more than if you are just stung.
It’s best to deep fry them. If grilled, there may be a burnt taste, but we don’t have the means to deep fry.”
While waiting for the barbecue, Bi Fang also took a stick to the spot where he had not been bitten by a centipede, walking back and forth, occasionally prodding with the stick in his hand.
“Centipedes have a gregarious nature, are easily startled, and like residing in dark, moist places. We can look for its peers, try to catch more. After all, one is not enough for two people to eat.”
“Wait, not two people. Just you.” Leonardo quickly shook his head, emphasizing repeatedly his aversion to these disgusting creatures.
“You’re not even going to try?” Bi Fang stood up, holding out the stick, and skewered a centipede he had just dug out, which writhed continuously on the stick.
Thinking about swallowing that creature made Leonardo gag.
“Hahaha.” Bi Fang laughed, not minding, and brought back the two centipedes he just caught. If he was any later, the one that had started cooking might have been charred.
The two newly caught ones were also fat and looked good.
Many viewers couldn’t accept it just like Leonardo.
[It feels too disgusting.]
[I’ve tried it, it’s not bad. It doesn’t really have a taste, just a pure crunchy sound!]
[I just can’t accept it, I feel a bit sick watching it.]
[Come on, if you were in a rainforest and had been hungry for two days, not to mention centipedes, you could eat three big bowls of cow dung.]
[Ah, this…]
“In the tropical rainforest, if there’s no food around, catching insects is also a good method, and we can even dig a pit to trap them. In places where centipedes frequently move, choose a shady and damp spot in the wild before early spring to dig a ‘plus’ shaped pit.
The pit should be one to two meters long, about a half-meter wide, and deeper than the length of a hand, filled with bird droppings and some decaying grass. Cover it with branches, soil chunks, or roof tiles to lure the centipedes into the cracks. Check the next morning, and if there are centipedes in the pit, you can catch them.”
Bi Fang threw the two newly caught centipedes into the fire pit, then took out the centipede that was just roasted, broke it in two, and put one piece directly into his mouth to chew.
The clear crunching sound rose, and a faint bitterness mingled with the unique fragrance of roasted arthropods wafted out.
Leonardo sniffed lightly and unexpectedly found the scent not too bad.
“Try a bit.” Bi Fang licked his lips and passed the other half toward Leonardo.
“No, thanks.”
Bi Fang insisted, offering it again, “Try a bit.”
“You won’t lose a piece of flesh, give it a try.”
“No…”
Leonardo originally wanted to refuse again, but he couldn’t hesitate any longer as the centipede nearly touched his face, so he reluctantly took it.
Looking at the curled-up half of the centipede in his hand, which was nearly as long as half of his palm and very thick, he looked up at Bi Fang to find him holding a leaf, pouring a freshly roasted pile of small centipedes directly into his mouth, chewing vigorously.
“Hmm, the small centipedes taste better, there’s no salt, but they’re sour, probably because the venom is acidic, similar to ants, with a bursting flavor.”
[How does Old Fang manage to eat this so deliciously…]
[I saw Hong Qigong pull out a small knife, chop off the head and tail of the centipede, gently squeeze, and the shell fell off easily, revealing the meat, which was white and translucent like a large shrimp, quite appealing. Yang Guo thought to himself, “With such preparation, perhaps it’s actually edible.”]
[Damn, I’ve also read this part!]
[Tasty, but lacks flavor]
[Still can’t accept it.]
[What do ants taste like?]
[Just very sour, and there are canned ones sold online, claiming to be for health purposes. I feel ants taste even sourer than damn lemons, don’t just trust Old Fang’s taste]
[If Master Fang says something is delicious, it’s not necessarily true, but if he says it’s bad, then it’s definitely inedible.]
[Master Fang really is, emmm, exceptionally experienced]
Viewers in the live stream come from all over the world, and not a few have tasted centipedes.
After hesitating, Leonardo still stuffed the half centipede into his mouth; as soon as he did, a faint bitterness spread in his mouth.
It was the charred shell. With a light press of his tongue, the crispy shell shattered, revealing the softer meat inside, which was still dry.
When his teeth bit into it, a mild sour taste came out, mixed with the flavor of protein, like burnt feathers.
The taste? It definitely wasn’t great, but it wasn’t too disgusting either.
Surprisingly, it’s not bad?
Leonardo was somewhat astonished, aside from the off-putting appearance, everything else was completely different from what he expected.
“How does it feel?”
“Not bad, I’ve never eaten this before.”
“Hey, if you really get lost in the rainforest, centipedes are actually a good source of food. If you can’t even find centipedes, you might have to resort to earthworms or even more disgusting things.”
By this time, the remaining two big centipedes were also roasted, but they were not as big as the first one, and Bi Fang finished them in two bites, with much less meat.
After finishing eating and cleaning up, Bi Fang continued to lead Leonardo along the riverbank.
“Because it’s about survival, not just staying alive, I was supposed to find a good place to start setting up a campsite several hundred meters away from the river, but because I just got bitten by a centipede, I now have to find some herbs for topical application.”
“If bitten by a centipede, you can use Fishy Grass or dandelion crushed for external application, these two traditional Chinese herbs are both heat-clearing and detoxifying, and can usually be found where weeds grow.”
“Dandelion?” Leonardo didn’t know what Fishy Grass was, but he was very familiar with dandelions; they could be found every spring, summer, and autumn, blown away in large clumps by the wind, “Dandelions have this effect, too?”
“Yes,” Bi Fang nodded, “Dandelions can also be used medicinally and are quite common in Chinese medicine, clearing heat and detoxifying, useful for colds and fevers.”
“I know this!” Leonardo said, surprisingly familiar with traditional Chinese medicine.
Bi Fang raised an eyebrow but didn’t seem surprised.
Strangely enough, these days foreigners seem to be more into traditional Chinese medicine than locals.
I can’t remember which report I saw, but it’s said that over 60% of Europeans use traditional medicines, and Europe accounts for 44.5% of the global herbal medicine market share.
Many countries have even included traditional Chinese medicine into their healthcare systems quite early on.
This phenomenon left Bi Fang at a loss for words.
Looking around, Leonardo noticed a peculiar phenomenon: “Since arriving just now, it seems I haven’t seen any dandelions?”
Hmm?
The audience was equally startled upon hearing this, realizing indeed that there were no dandelions in sight within the camera’s frame.
That’s not right, is it? It’s June; shouldn’t they be everywhere?
Bi Fang shook his head: “Although dandelions are widespread, nearly all over the world, they are indeed not found in the rainforest.”
“If you look at the dandelion’s method of seed dispersion, you’ll understand. Dandelions usually grow in relatively open, windy areas. They’re commonly found on hillsides, beside water bodies, and in open grasslands.
Plus, the dandelion is just a delicate herbaceous plant. The vegetation in tropical rainforests is dense, there’s little wind; tall plants heavily shade the area, lacking sunlight; and the rainfall is both copious and irregular. So, dandelions don’t really distribute in tropical rainforests. Therefore, my target is not the dandelion but Fishy Grass.”
“Fishy Grass might be familiar to many. It’s also called Fish Mint, and while some people love it dearly, others can’t stomach their food at the mere whiff of it.”
Just hearing Fish Mint’s names in traditional medicine—such as dog-fly grass, stinky vegetable, stinky pig nest—gives you an idea of its aroma.
Bi Fang was searching for it, partly to find the herb for further treatment and partly for food gathering.
[Let’s not even talk about it, I’m starting to feel nauseous.]
[I’m from the Northeast, went to school in Guizhou; ever since a roommate invited me to try it once, I’ve never wanted to eat it a second time — plain fishy taste, and it’s the kind that emerges when a fish dies.]
“Exactly, for some people, this fishy smell not only fills their mouth and nose but also irritates the eyes, achieving a trifecta assault on taste, smell, and vision.”
Bi Fang nodded: “But this is actually an allergic reaction, and the severity varies, mainly because of an allergy to something in Fish Mint called fishy grass essence.”
Fishy grass essence might not only make food unpalatable for some people, but it may also cause direct allergies.
Those with mild allergies might feel like they’re just chewing on traditional medicine with no other significant sensation.
But those with severe allergies will first lose all appetite, and those who are seriously uncomfortable might experience symptoms such as nausea, disgust, and dry heaving.
“Fishy Grass grows in rather damp areas and spreads widely. It’s often found near lakes and rivers, by soggy roadside patches, in the wild, or in the humid places of mountains.
It’s widely distributed in the wild. If we’re patient, we shouldn’t have trouble finding it. The best bet would be downstream, where the likelihood is higher, because the water tends to be slower there.”
Bi Fang was very focused, leading Leonardo around the riverbank in search. Fishy Grass in the rainforest was as common as reeds by the river, very easy to come by.
Therefore, persistent efforts paid off, and in less than half an hour, Bi Fang had his reward.
In a waterlogged corner, a spread of green “water grass” wound its way through.