“I don’t believe it.”
Seeing Fang Qiu’s confidence, the PD directly questioned, “We have explored this forest many times. I’ll see how you can get wild ginseng.”
“Then you’ll have to keep your eyes open.”
Fang Qiu laughed and continued to move on.
The sound of the stream flowing beside his ear was getting louder.
It seemed that he should not be far from the stream.
Fang Qiu bypassed some trees, went through some thistles and thorns, and stopped again.
“I’m lucky today.”
Looking back at the camera and smiling, Fang Qiu immediately walked to the side, squatted down next to a small pile of bushes, and carefully put his hands into the bushes.
He pressed his hands on each side to separate the bushes, and a Chinese medicinal herb was exposed.
Taking a closer look, he found that this herb had an erect stem with many branches and edges on the top and was covered with soft white hairs.
“This is Astragalus membranaceus.”
Fang Qiu beckoned the VJ to come up and shoot the Astragalus membranaceus at close range. Then he opened his mouth and said, “Astragalus membranaceus is a herbaceous plant that grows on the edge of a forest, in bushes or a sparse forest. It may also grow on hillsides in grasslands or meadows and is one of the traditional Chinese medicinal materials commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine.
“Astragalus membranaceus has the functions of enhancing immunity and protecting the liver. Moreover, it is diuretic, anti-aging, anti-stress, antihypertensive, and has a wide range of antibacterial effects. However, its exterior asthenia has pathogenic factors, leading to the stasis of Qi and damp obstruction. Furthermore, the user may develop ulcers at the beginning and suffer heat toxins after the ulcers fester. Those who suffer from yin deficiency and yang excess are prohibited from taking it!”
After the introduction, Fang Qiu dug out the Astragalus membranaceus and throw it into the basket.
Aside, the PD was speechless.
Along the way, he found that Fang Qiu could always find a medicinal plant within a few steps. It was as if he were not looking for these medicinal plants but that they had come across him.
“By the way, I’ll popularize some science.”
After putting away the Astragalus membranaceus, Fang Qiu stood up and said to the camera, “The number of wild Astragalus membranaceus has declined dramatically in recent years due to long-term and extensive harvesting, and it is in danger of becoming extinct. Therefore, the country has identified it as an endangered plant, and it has been listed as a third-level national protected plant.”
After that, Fang Qiu blinked at the camera.
Then he turned and walked on.
As he walked, he looked around and continued to look for medicinal herbs.
“I suppose there’s a stream ahead.”
After looking around and finding that there were no medicinal materials nearby, Fang Qiu looked up at the source of the sound of running water in the distance.
However, he was suddenly shocked by what he saw.
“I’ve found it at last!”
As Fang Qiu looked ahead, his eyes lit up, and he ran there at once.
Found it?
What did you find?
Another medicinal plant?
The PD looked puzzled and chased for Fang Qiu with the VJ.
Led by Fang Qiu, the three came to a pine tree quickly.
They saw that there was an independent stalk, and a small cluster of dense red seeds grew on the top of the stalk, which looked like fruit but not.
“What is this?” the PD asked in doubt.
He was just a regular PD of a TV station. He had not done much research on Chinese medicine, and he knew nothing about herbal medicine.
“How about having a guess?” Fang Qiu asked with a smile.
“I don’t know.”
The PD shook his head, pursed his lips, and seemed to think it was boring.
“You’ll know when I dug it out.”
Fang Qiu immediately squatted down and pulled apart the pine needles that covered the ground under the stalk.
The pine needles were emptied.
Several green leaves appeared under the stalk.
These green leaves grew very low and were very far from the red seeds on top.
This time, Fang Qiu did not explain but dug directly.
After a while, a medicinal plant was dug up.
Fang Qiu held it in his hand, turned proudly, and said to the PD, “Look, wild ginseng!”
Looking at the wild ginseng in Fang Qiu’s hand, both the PD and the VJ were stunned!
Damn!
It really existed!
Although they did not know about medicinal materials, when they came to explore this mountain forest, they had the three highly-skilled doctors as their companions. They explored the forest carefully and made sure there was no wild ginseng. How did Fang Qiu find it?
“You’re peerlessly lucky!”
The PD smiled bitterly.
“Ha-ha.”
Fang Qiu smiled smugly and packed the wild ginseng.
The wild ginseng was not a medicinal material on the Herb-gathering Evaluation List. For Fang Qiu, it was a complete surprise!
“What time is it now?”
Putting away the wild ginseng, Fang Qiu continued to walk towards the location, from where the sound of the stream came.
Because his phone was taken away and there was no watch, Fang Qiu could only ask the PD.
“Twelve twenty,” the PD replied.
“It’s noon, and it’s time for lunch!” Fang Qiu murmured.
He took out the compressed biscuits and mineral water prepared by the coaching staff from the basket on his back. He was about to tear open the bag to eat when he suddenly saw the PD swallowing at one side.
“Hey, what do you eat?” Fang Qiu asked.
“We eat compressed biscuits as well,” the PD replied.
Then he took out two bags of compressed biscuits from his carry-on bag, ready to eat.
“Hey, why are your program group so stingy?”
Fang Qiu, shaking his head with a wry smile, said, “When I was recording in the capital, the program group was not so stingy.”
“We have no other choice. We came to another place to do the recording this time, and we are now struggling with finance!” the PD replied awkwardly.
He was also a member of the show’s crew, and when he faced this problem, he would naturally feel awkward.
“Well, stop eating.”
Fang Qiu pursed his lips and put the compressed biscuits with an intact bag into the basket. Then he stood up, smiled at the camera, and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to eat something delicious.”
“Huh?”
The PD froze and looked at Fang Qiu in confusion.
“Let’s go.”
Fang Qiu ignored the two and just walked forward.
Seeing this, the two hungry men put away their compressing biscuits and continued to follow Fang Qiu.
They had no other option for Fang Qiu was the protagonist.
For them, shooting everything Fang Qiu had done was more important than eating.
They went all the way forward.
A while later, they saw water, but it was different from what Fang Qiu had imagined. Originally, Fang Qiu thought it was a stream in the mountain, but he didn’t expect it to be a river.
It was a small river under the hillside.
The river was nearly two meters wide, and the water was clear, with a depth of about one meter.
It didn’t look like mountain spring. It was more like a river dug in the early years or a naturally formed drainage channel.
“What did you bring us here for?” the PD asked.
“You’ll know later.”
Fang Qiu smiled slightly, walked to the bank of the brook, and looked down into the river.
Fang Qiu immediately discovered that there were indeed fish in the river.
It was just that the fish were not big.
The largest one was about the size of a palm.
The fish were hiding under the thick vegetation on the other side of the river, as if because of the high temperature.
The vegetation on the shore was thick.
The aquatic plants in the river were luxuriant too. A few palm-sized fish were quietly hiding among them, motionless as if they were taking a nap.
If it weren’t for Fang Qiu’s good eyesight, he couldn’t see them.
After making sure there were fish in the river, Fang Qiu immediately turned his head and glanced around the surrounding bushes. He found that the bushes were very short, so he immediately went to cut a branch with a hoe for picking herbs.
Then he took some vines from the bushes, tied them to the branch, and sharpened one end of the branch, using the hoe.
In just a few minutes, he finished making a new javelin.
Fang Qiu’s action stunned the PD and the VJ standing aside.
“Our show is about herb gathering. It’s a competition. What you are doing is outdoor survival. Aren’t you afraid of being overtaken by others?” the PD whispered.
He realized that the delicious food mentioned by Fang Qiu was the fish in the river.
Fang Qiu was going to catch fish.
Initially, as a PD, he could not influence Fang Qiu’s actions, nor could he remind Fang Qiu. However, when he saw that Fang Qiu was so eager to catch fish for them, he could not help feeling a little apologetic, so he reminded him softly.
“I really forgot about it. Thank you for reminding me.”
Fang Qiu grinned and asked, fiddling with his javelin, “Do I have the right to know the progress of others?”
“Yes.”
The PD nodded immediately.
Fang Qiu asked, “How many herbs has everyone found now?”
Hearing that, the PD took out his mobile phone and looked at it, and then opened his mouth and said, “The first place is you, and you have collected ten herbs. The second place has collected seven herbs.”
“Oh?”
Fang Qiu nodded knowingly and asked, “Why are you so clear about these?”
“It’s the rule of the show.”
The PD said, “Every time you find a medicinal plant, I will inform the director of it as soon as possible. The director will send all of us a statistical message every ten minutes, telling us the ranking and number of the medicinal plants each contestant has found.
“The reason we can tell you this is to give every contestant a sense of urgency and urge you all to concentrate on the competition.”
“Ok.”
Fang Qiu nodded knowingly and then said, “Look, now that I’m still the first place, it doesn’t matter if I waste some time here. By the way, I see two herbs on the other side of the river that I haven’t collected. When we’ve finished eating, we’ll go and dig them. I guess I’ll still be the first place by then?”
Hearing that, the PD was completely speechless.
What?
He could find herbs even when he was having fun?
Others had toiled for hours, trying to find as many herbs as possible, but you found more herbs by eating fish.
That was simply outrageous!
Though speechless, the PD was quite happy for he was going to eat fish.
“All right.”
After finishing making the javelin, Fang Qiu abruptly stood up and said, “Stand back a little bit and don’t get hurt by me.”
The PD and the VJ immediately retreated to the side.
The VJ continued shooting.
He gave Fang Qiu a close-up every now and then.
On the shore, Fang Qiu held the javelin in his hand, then looked into the water to make sure that the fish were still there, and threw the javelin into the water!
“Swish!”
The javelin left his hand and broke water instantly.
Underwater, the fish hiding in the grass didn’t even respond, and one of them was penetrated directly by the javelin.
Of course, although the fish’s memory lasted only seven seconds, to avoid pain, Fang Qiu used the internal Qi in advance to shook the fish to death before the javelin penetrated it.
He succeeded in one hit.
Fang Qiu tugged the veins and pulled the fish out of the water.
Then he threw the javelin again.
Another one!
When he was about to catch one more, Fang Qiu found that the fish in the river had run away.
“Two fish. Okay.”
Throwing the javelin away, Fang Qiu immediately crouched on the ground, cut open the fish by the river, washed them carefully, and then looked up at the PD and asked, “Do you have a lighter?”
“No.”
The PD shook his head.
“I do not have, either.”
The VJ shook his head immediately.
All three of them froze.
Fang Qiu had caught fish, but none of them had a lighter!
How could they eat fish?