The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 10 [Parts 1 to 12] by Natsu Hyuuga

Author:Natsu Hyuuga
Language: eng
Format: epub

For the next two days or so, Maomao and the others helped Nianzhen with his work. They turned over the earth with farming implements, discovering ants and earthworms and small beetles in the damp soil—and something else: long, thin blobs that, on closer inspection, had tiny eggs inside.

The chickens started with the earthworms, but when those ran out they moved on to these bundles of eggs. Basen’s duck joined them, pecking away at the ground.

Grasshopper eggs?

Maomao would have liked to calculate how many there were likely to be in a one-tan field, but she didn’t have time. Whenever she found an egg bundle that the birds had missed, she would pluck it out of the ground and place it in a jar.

These are probably the larger ones, she thought.

It was the kind of work that would drive someone with a fear of insects insane. Even Maomao, who had a good deal of experience with grasshopper dissection, didn’t enjoy looking at the little egg bundles.

Lahan’s Brother and Basen both plowed several times as much soil as Maomao could manage. Lahan’s Brother showed his stuff as a true farmer—the way he held and used the hoe was just different—while Basen’s ridiculous strength, for once, served him well.

I’m glad Basen was willing to join us here. He could have refused on the grounds that this wasn’t soldier’s work; there wouldn’t have been much she could do then. He seemed to have taken Jinshi’s concern about the grasshoppers to heart, though, and joined in without complaint. It probably seemed easy compared to raising ducks.

Basen’s willingness to be part of this convinced the guards and farmers they’d brought from the western capital to help out too. It looked like they were going to plow the entire field within the day. Even Chue was there, scampering across the plowed earth picking up any stray grasshopper eggs. Two children followed close behind her—the brother and sister she’d given the potato to. They seemed to be under the impression that if they helped out, there might be another potato in it for them.

“Miss Maomao! Miss Maomao! I’ve got lots! Wanna see?”

“Miss Chue! Miss Chue! I don’t want to see them. Although if you have a praying mantis ootheca, I’ll gladly take it.” Praying mantis eggs could be made into a medicine called sang piao shao, or mantis egg case, which was pretty valuable in that it was hard to get in large quantities.

“These eggs are hatching—there’s little guys coming out of them! Sure you don’t want to see, Miss Maomao?”

“Well, it is spring. And yes, I’m sure. They’re disgusting; please don’t show them to me.”

From the insect encyclopedia in the Shi clan fortress, Maomao had learned that grasshoppers lived for about three months and could lay upwards of a hundred eggs at a time. The eggs hatched in spring, and the new generation would lay more eggs in summer.

I should’ve asked them to bring the Shi clan book about bugs—and the one about medicinal herbs, while we’re at it.

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