#fu ling

DAI LUWA (代露娃) as Fu Ling / Bai Xi

👆 十七世紀波蘭籍天主教耶穌會來華傳教士卜彌格(Michał Piotr Boym/1612-1659)的著作《Flora Sinensis》（中國植物志）筆下的胡椒與茯苓樹根。He was a Polish Jesuit missionary to China, scientist and explorer. He was an early Western traveller within the Chinese mainland, and the author of numerous works on Asian fauna, flora and geography. The first European Chinese dictionary, published in 1670, is attributed to Boym.

茯苓 Poria /Wolfiporia extensa (syn. Poria cocos F.A.Wolf), commonly known as hoelen, poria, tuckahoe, China root, fu ling (茯苓), or matsuhodo, is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It is a wood-decay fungus but has a subterranean growth habit. It notably develops a large, long-lasting underground sclerotium resembling a small coconut. 它是多孔菌科真菌茯苓的乾燥菌核，常寄生在松樹根上，形如甘薯，球狀，外皮淡棕色或黑褐色，內部粉色或白色，精製後稱為白茯苓或者雲苓。它含有多種成份，包括茯苓聚糖、茯苓酸、蛋白質、脂肪、卵磷脂、膽鹼、組胺酸和麥角甾醇等，主要產於中國的雲南、湖北和四川等地區。在《神農本草經》中被列為木部上品之首。

👇(2 photos © 新譯漢方Seeinherb)

茯苓 味甘、淡，性平。歸心、脾、肺、腎經。 功效：被中醫學認為可用來調節體內的水分代謝，利水滲濕 (減輕水腫症狀)，健脾和胃，寧心安神(安眠)。茯苓的最隹的食用量是9~15g。 相較靈芝、冬蟲夏草這些同為真菌的珍稀藥材，茯苓無論在藥用或食用都平易近人許多，且功效廣泛、一年四季都能使用，因此又被盛讚為「四時神藥」。

⭐ 置乾燥處，要防潮收納儲藏。

📌 Reminder: "五苓散"中主要利尿藥物為桂枝、澤瀉、白術。五苓散是出自漢代中醫醫家張仲景《傷寒論》的經典方劑，由豬苓、茯苓、白朮、澤瀉、桂枝五味藥材組成，功能為利水滲濕，溫陽化氣。 其主要治療因水濕內停引起的膀胱蓄水症，表現為小便不利、頭痛、煩渴、水入即吐，或水腫、泄瀉等症狀。 該方廣泛用於治療水腫、肝硬化腹水、急性腸炎、尿瀦留等現代醫學疾病。 

藥用 Medicinal uses： 茯苓的不同部分在傳統中藥裡有不同的功效，大致可分為下列四部分：

▪ 真菌最外層的褐色外皮叫茯苓皮， ▪ 茯苓皮以下，分別是淡紅色的赤茯苓或朱茯苓、 ▪ 再之下是白色的白茯苓， ▪ 以及連接樹根的部分是茯神。 另外，也有一整塊茯苓連同松樹根一起切成片的，叫作「抱心茯神」。 而在雲南出產的茯苓，亦叫作「雲苓」。

在嶺南地區，茯苓可作為煲老火湯的材料（主要配搭為龜類）。而茯苓餅則為北京地區的特產；在閩南以及臺灣，亦有名為茯苓糕的糕點，是以茯苓粉與米粉過篩再蒸製而成。中醫認為茯苓的功效在於主胸脅逆氣、憂恚、驚邪、恐悸、心下結痛，寒熱煩滿咳，逆口焦舌乾。茯苓利尿，久服安魂、養神、耐飢、延年。

食物營養學則表明茯苓含有茯苓多醣體（例如：羧甲基多糖，有鎮靜安神作用）和不溶性膳食纖維，可促進胃排空，少身對於碳水化合物與脂肪的吸收，降低空腹血糖濃度，減少胰島素需要量，還能控制餐後血糖代謝﹔另外，茯苓能恢復自身胰島勁能，進而達到降糖的效果。

如偏於寒濕者，可與桂枝、白朮等配伍；偏於濕熱者，可與豬苓、澤瀉等配伍；屬於脾氣虛者，可與黨參、黃耆、白朮等配伍；屬虛寒者，還可配附子、白朮等同用。對於脾虛運化失常所致洩瀉、帶下，應用茯苓有標本兼顧之效，常與黨參、白朮、山藥等配伍。可用為補肺脾，治氣虛之輔佐藥。對於脾虛無法運化水濕，停聚化生痰飲之症，可用半夏、陳皮同用，也可配桂枝、白朮同用。治痰濕入絡、肩酸背痛，可配半夏、枳殼同用。用於心神不安、心悸、失眠等症，常與人蔘、遠志、酸棗仁等配伍。 via 《中國藥典》&《中藥大辭典》&《中華本草》：茯苓 ( http://www.zysj.com.cn/zhongyaocai/fuling/index.html )

📌 最知名的茯苓料理也是平日尋常的食補小吃：「四神湯」。 湯裡頭的四神指的就是「茯苓、芡實、蓮子、山藥」。 四神湯是四季皆宜的溫和藥膳料理，不僅冬天來一碗就能立即讓全身暖起來，酷暑盛夏沒有胃口時，那米白色的湯汁溫潤滋味，總讓人覺得飽足與親切感。

😋 今天我的早餐：朱氏排骨四神湯 ，特別再加一個荷包蛋🍳 。（我超愛吃荷包蛋的😄) 最近都在吃排濕、消腫的膳食。總之，少吃藥，天然的藥草食療養生，還有放寬心，不爭不搶，清心寡欲；此生便好。🪷 願大家身體健康！🙏🏼 Lan~*

👇白色的就是「茯苓」 Poria

But all good things come to an end, and the evil demon master (who tried to kill Chong Zhao off so many times, LOL) finds out that Chong Zhao is the shell of the Devil deity he wanted to resurrect all this time, so he accomplishes his mission, and the resurrected Devil deity occupies Chong Zhao's body.

"The Deity is back, bitches!" I don't like that the former dweller of a deity's shell in this drama is another person, not a part of deity's soul, because I'm against reproducing by budding while having genitals it cuts off deity's potential of broadening their mental horizons: while fusing their main soul with the "mortal" part of it, they could learn something that can be experienced only by mortals/humans. Although I find this plot decision strange, both in the main heroes' as well as in Mo Li's cases, I understand that otherwise it would be probably impossible to kill Mo Li the way he was killed: it would requite to study Mo Li's character and to remove focus from the main heroes to Mo Li's inner processes, and the luxury of it is affordable only for the main characters. The mechanics of interactions between Chong Zhao and Mo Li looks like the one of the different parts of the same consciousness, though. So, Mo Li is back. He regains control over his shell, and the first thing he sees when he wakes up is a lover of his "mortal" consciousness, lying unconscious on the floor. If I would be a deity, who absolutely doesn't care about the previous life of his "mortal" part of the soul, I would overstep her unconscious body and go further, but look what did this deity do:

Bridal carry [3], as a deity. He says that he didn't kill her because it would upset his future wife Bai Shuo (the main heroine, Fu Ling's mortal sister), but the truth is, he doesn't give a damn about Bai Shuo's unhappiness, Fu Ling doesn't matter in their "let's marry or I'll destroy the whole planet" thing. So, there is something else.

"He is still here, in the furthest corner of my mind. I know everything he knows". Btw, the Devil deity Mo Li is absolutely adorable (in a devilish way). He has nothing in common with Chong Zhao: he is charismatic in a way, infinitely bored with his unlimited power and full of crazy thoughts: for example, to kill everyone (but dude, why? you are the most powerful creature in the world anyways, no one is a threat to you!) or to have a forced wedding with a girl who doesn't like him (and, moreover, he doesn't like her either! What a crazy man!).

"You? Will kill me?"

The situation is desperate: Fu Ling is imprisoned in Mo Li's palace, her lover is a tiny part of Mo Li's consciousness now, and Mo Li himself is invincible to the killing attempts of mere humans/demons/whoever. Yet Fu Ling stupidly proceeds attacking him:

"Keep trying to kill me, I like it".

"Why wouldn't you kill immortals and humans for me, as you did it previously, when you were Fu Ling?"

It feels so painfully delicious: she knows her lover is gone, but, at the same time, he is somewhere there, inside of this ethereal, inhuman being. And the deity, in his turn, is slightly interested in her, not romantically, but still. If Mo Li and Chong Zhao were two parts of one consciousness, I would say it is the echoing of Mo Li's other self who loved her. Their feelings could be fused. A deity is too ethereal to fall in love with someone (Xing Yue laughs hysterically at this statement), but his mortal part isn't, so, when Chong Zhao would mingle into Mo Li's soul, he would bring this shade of unfamiliar for deities feelings with him, and it would look like this slightly different attitude towards her.

They look at the starry sky [2], Mo Li x Bai Xi version. "This purple moon won't protect any of them".

"Tomorrow it all will be over".

And now it's time for their story to be over. She was attracted to him since they had met each other for the first time as children, and he was touched by her attitude towards him, too. She wanted to keep him safe when they met each other anew, and he wanted to keep her safe, too. And later, as he became the Devil deity, he didn't plan to kill her either (can't say the same about her, but her attempts were hopeless and her goal was to free her lover's body from being possessed by the deity). But it happened that he did kill her. Unintentionally. She has shielded her sister from his spear with her own body and died.

The next scene is the most powerful moment of this drama for me. A heartless deity doesn't even understand at first what happened to him: a little piece of his consciousness takes over the body for a moment, fueled by the power of his grief over his deceased lover, and the deity starts crying:

And it is here where the destiny plays out: if Fu Ling would stay alive, no one could ever defeat Mo Li, because the only weapon that can kill him is the long lost Divine Bow of Xing Yue deity. And this bow is Fu Ling's soul.

This plot twist was so beautiful! It broke my heart, but, at the same time, left me highly in awe. I like it, when the only reason for a villain to get defeated is his own decisions. The unintentional killing of his lover that allowed his enemies to get the only effective weapon against him is a truly marvelous plot decision. She could be the person who would care about him the most but became his death. Their fates were intertwined long ago, but it was still up to him: was it "destined to love" or "destined to kill" fate, - and he chose the latter.

A little later: