Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 65: Wood Tofu

Lu Ke came back shortly after she left.

Upon her return, Lu Ke saw Xu Yi picking some leaves.

"Xu Yi, what did you find?" Lu Ke asked in surprise, thinking that those leaves couldn’t possibly be to feed rabbits.

"Fire bean curd, have you heard of it?" Xu Yi turned around with a grin, as this was quite a good find.

"Uh, no." Lu Ke shook her head, looking at Xu Yi with a face full of surprise.

Since it’s called ’bean curd,’ it must be something edible.

But these are just leaves, how would they turn into bean curd?

"You’ve had turtle jelly, right?" Xu Yi continued picking leaves and asked.

Lu Ke nodded vigorously, of course she had eaten that before.

"It’s a food similar to turtle jelly, you can add some sugar water, it’s a kind of food that clears heat and relieves summer heat, and can also be eaten boiled."

"By the way, there’s mint over there too. I’m planning to dig some up and plant them back home." Xu Yi pointed to a spot not far away; he had been cutting grass for the rabbits and stumbled upon wild mint, which then led to the discovery of fire bean curd.

"Mint too?" Lu Ke was completely astonished and followed the direction of Xu Yi’s finger.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t recognize mint, she just glanced at it.

"You take the velvet grass back first, I’ll pick some fire bean curd leaves, so I can start making fire bean curd when we get back." Xu Yi was in a good mood, having discovered two nice plants.

After all, Xu Yi’s bow was just missing one arrow feather; today it would definitely be completed and ready for trial shooting.

With good luck, he might even bring back some prey.

"Alright, I might need to make two trips." Lu Ke nodded, then put the ground velvet grass into her basket, pressing it down before carrying it back.

Her pace was brisk, as she was wearing proper boots that allowed her to run freely.

Xu Yi picked all the fire bean curd leaves nearby and then dug up the mint that needed to be transplanted; there were a total of seven plants.

With these mint leaves, they could be mixed with charcoal powder to make new toothpaste.

Mint is a commonly used Chinese herb. It is a pungent, cool fever-reducing, sweat-inducing medicine, used to treat influenza, headaches, eye redness, body heat, sore throat, and painful gums. Externally, it can treat neuralgia, itchy skin, rashes, and eczema. Typically, mint is used as a tea, clearing the heart and eyes.

Its uses are truly extensive.

Its tender shoots can be used as vegetables, which is why Xu Yi thought to transplant them back and plan to propagate more by cutting.

When Lu Ke came back, she finally saw the mint.

After Xu Yi explained the uses of mint, Lu Ke was stunned.

Firstly, she was amazed by mint’s extensive functions, and secondly, she was surprised that Xu Yi knew so much about mint.

"Look at Loli Ke’s surprised expression, so cute, this is my new phone background."

"Not just Loli Ke, I’m surprised too. How does Xu Yi know so much? I just found out mint can treat so many illnesses."

"Is Xu Yi carrying an encyclopedia or something?"

"Emm, our Xu Yi is an online writer, knowing a bit about miscellaneous stuff is normal. But, his memory is scarily good."

"The environment here is great, Xu Yi and Lu Ke should explore more, there are more plants waiting to be discovered."

"Looks like they missed a herb called Huang Jing."

"Huang Jing is Polygonatum, it’s great stuff. But, it seems they don’t need it."

"It’s not just Polygonatum, I just saw a Notoginseng. There are quite a few herbs here, and they grow well."

"If Yun Qing were here, she definitely wouldn’t miss it. I learned to identify many herbs from her live stream, it’s full of insights."

"Although Xu Yi grew up in the mountains and had a skilled grandfather, he doesn’t know everything."

"He’s already pretty impressive, much better than me. If I were here, I probably wouldn’t even recognize mint."

"Mint doesn’t need recognition, just knowing its scent is enough, but others are not that simple."

While the live stream chat was discussing plants, Xu Yi and Lu Ke had returned to camp.

After returning to camp, Xu Yi planted the mint with an engineer shovel.

"Xu Yi, are you going to start making the fire bean curd?" Lu Ke asked, holding a bowl of water and glancing at Xu Yi.

Xu Yi grabbed a handful of wood ash and then took a pottery bowl to soak it in water.

"You do it. Grab a pottery basin, keep rubbing the leaves, and green pectin will come out. I’ll proceed to the next step when I get back." Saying this, Xu Yi washed a portion of fire bean curd leaves and handed them to Lu Ke.

Lu Ke took the fire bean curd leaves and rubbed them hard.

Sure enough, mucus appeared, and the more she rubbed, the more it increased.

"There’s also a basket of velvet grass. I’ll go back and fetch it. You keep rubbing." With that, Xu Yi left the task of making fire bean curd to Lu Ke.

"Alright, be safe." Lu Ke nodded, but her hands didn’t stop.

She thought this green pectin might also be great as a face mask.

Xu Yi carried the basket and then set off with his machete again.

When he reached the velvet grass area, Xu Yi stuffed the remaining velvet grass into the basket.

On the way back, he cut some tender grass as well.

"I’m back." With that, Xu Yi opened the fence gate.

"Xu Yi, I’ve already made one small basin, the leaves are completely rubbed out." Lu Ke reported to Xu Yi, still holding a basin of blue-green pectin.

She roughly understood the role of the wood ash Xu Yi soaked earlier—it was probably alkaline, which could be used to solidify the pectin liquid.

"Use the soft sack for salt to filter it, add some water. After filtering, mix the wood ash water evenly, and it will solidify after a short time." Xu Yi explained to Lu Ke, as the process wasn’t particularly difficult.

"Got it, I understand." Lu Ke smiled happily, confirming it was similar to what she guessed.

"I’ll go pick some lychees to make sweet syrup." After feeding the rabbits, Xu Yi prepared to set off again.

Since plain fire bean curd is relatively bland, adding some lychee fruit-made syrup would certainly improve the taste.

"Sounds good." Lu Ke nodded, as the house lychees were already eaten.

Thus, Xu Yi headed out once more.

By the time Xu Yi was back with the lychees, the green fire bean curd had solidified, looking quite appetizing. Now, it was just waiting for Xu Yi’s lychees to be brought back and some sweet syrup made.