Food for Healing

Fangsu gripped Tian like a lifeline. Her heart pounding against her chest, it was so loud you could hear it if you were close enough. Peering through her hair, she was amazed by the hidden passage in the mountain which leads to a hidden port leading out to the open sea. An elderly figure waits at the port, "Fang Su! You here!"

"Grandpa!" Fangsu urged Tian forward, who easily scaled down the rocky path towards the elderly man. Fangsu quickly dismounted from her horse, jumping into her grandpa's arms. Tears form at the corners of her eyes. As the deaths of her family members began settling in, she cried like she never had before. "Grandpa! They're gone! All of them are gone!" Fangsu sobbed. In the embrace of her grandpa who tries to comfort her even though he was also grieving.

Her grandpa wiped away her tears away with his thumbs, "Child... even though all of them a gone," tears also formed in her grandpa's eye. She returned the gesture wiping his tears with her sleeve. "We still have to continue living on."

Fangsu took Tian onto the ship that was already prepared, setting sail into the open sea with her grandpa navigating it. The sight of her home moving further away made the reality of the situation much heavier, the truth sunk its claw onto Fangsu and dragging her down into the depths of despair. Tears again formed at the corners of her eyes now falling into the ocean where it became a part of the mass of water. Turning her direction of attention to her grandpa who was navigating the ship, she saw an expression of despair and helplessness on his aged face. Fangsu decided that even if she grieves for her family, she still has to care for her grandpa who is the only family member left in this world. It would only be a matter of time he would leave her as well. At least before her grandpa passes, she should remain by his side and fulfil her filial duties.

Fangsu went into the ship's kitchen and decided to prepare dinner. Preparing bean sprouts, cucumbers, pickled garlic, green Sichuan peppers, ginger, dried chillies and an assortment of spices which included dried bay leaves, star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and rock sugar. She cooked them into the hot oil and allowing them to permeate into the oil and then adding Sichuan bean paste. After adding some water she added in pork aorta, duck blood, beef tripe and cucumber, letting it simmered for a bit. The bean sprout that was unused was placed into a bowl and pouring the sauce onto the bean sprouts completely saturating it with the delicious sauce, then placing the Green Sichuan pepper on the top for decoration. As a final touch, she poured a bit of hot oil onto the dish.

Fangsu prepared bowls filled with rice with chopsticks and placed it on the table, "Grandpa! Dinner is ready!"

Her grandpa walked into the room smelling a delicious meal that was fully prepared on the table with piping hot rice. Both of them ate in silent, the delicious meal helped them heal both mentally and physically. After the meal was finished, Fangsu cleaned up the finished dishes and wiped her wet hands. "Grandpa don't forget to sleep." Fangsu reminded her grandpa to look after his health. Her grandpa just nodded in response and went up to the deck to continue navigating the ship. Fangsu went to tend to Tian who was patiently waiting for her, she fed Tian some feed and wrapped a blanket on Tian to keep warm during the cold night.

Fangsu went into a spare room on the ship, changing into new clothes. Fangsu began writing in her book to formulate new fragrances. She had already perfected the chrysanthemum aromatic dew. Peony was slightly tricky as it was a very light and fragrant however can be easily overpowered by other extremely fragrant flowers such as chrysanthemums, jasmine or roses. However, in terms of fragrance magnolia flowers are moderately sweet with an intense, candy-violet scent. Fangsu could not start on the preparation of creating the aromatic dew since she had no equipment or material to work with.

Nevertheless, she wrote possible combinations of peony and magnolia ratios and various other flowers. Without realising dawn had already arrived, Fangsu donned a cloak to keep herself warm from the cold of the early mornings. Worried about her grandpa not sleeping do his own room she also took a thick blanket. Harsh cold winds prickle Fangsu skin, turning the tip of her nose and cheek rosy. Upon arriving at the control of the ship, her grandpa sat against the pole that held the sail in place, with no warmth. Fangsu wrapped the thick blanket around her grandpa's shoulders.

Congee would be a good choice for a light breakfast along with some meat product and pickled vegetables. Fangsu went into the kitchen to prepare rice, pork belly and pickled vegetables. Placing rice with water she allowed it to boil and swell while waiting she cooking the pork belly and cut up the pickled vegetables. Once the rice thickened in a congee, she scooped the congee into a two bowl and placed a generous helping of pork belly and pickled vegetables. Fangsu thinking her grandpa was in the cold for so long decided to make ginger tea. Grabbing two cups of hot water, Fangsu added honey, crushed the ginger to allow the flavour to release and adding it into the hot water.

After finishing making the meal, she placed all of it on a tray and delivered it up onto the deck where her grandpa sat awake staring at the early morning, the sun slowly rose waking up the world to a new day. "Grandpa! Breakfast is ready!" Fangsu placed the bowls of congee on the small table, again they ate in silence. Noticing three stone tablet that had three names engraved, her heart throbbed painfully. After finishing their meal, Fangsu gave her grandpa a hot cup with honey and ginger. "Grandpa next time, don't stay out without warm clothes otherwise you will get sick." Fangsu collected the finished dish to go clean them.

The grandpa lightly chuckled after being scolded by his second granddaughter, sipping on the hot tea warmed his body quickly due to the ginger's properties to heat up the body when consuming it. His granddaughter now had no parents that could support and teach her and it was now his responsibility to care for his grandchild until she was fully capable to care for herself. His granddaughter was secluded from the outside world and was bound to fall into the traps of others and give in to the desires of others. It was one of the reasons why his ancestors decided it was best for his family to go into hiding away from the schemes of malicious people. Since the family was once prestigious due to having the title of Gardner easily meant easy access to especially precious herbs and plants that are extremely difficult to cultivate and many people simply did not have the knowledge to preserve it.

However, since they could no longer return to their home. They had to return to their ancestral home where there was an abundance of plant life that flourished exponentially under the care of the Chen family. Fangsu had never been or heard about there being an ancestral home so she was completely unaware of this destination. Fangsu returned back up to the deck to see her grandpa steering the wheel, "Grandpa where are we going?"

"We are going back to our ancestral home." Her grandpa replied

"Ancestral home? We have an ancestral home?" Fangsu was confused but excited at the same time to see the ancestral home now that it was mentioned.

Her grandpa smiled at Fangsu and patted her head, "Why do you think I go out so frequently?"

Fangsu pursued her lips, "Is it because you have to bring plants back home?"

Her grandpa chuckled, "Partly, but because it's because I have to maintain all the plants at the ancestral home otherwise they would wilt out and it would be hard to try to resurrect a nearly extinct plant species."

Fangsu was instantly fascinated by the plant species. Her eyes shone brightly, imagining the abundance of plant life that grew at the ancestral home that her grandpa mentioned