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Zaoqie (Fermented Eggplant)
This refers to the eggplants pickled in sauce jars by ordinary households. For medicinal use, aged ones are preferred.
A miraculous prescription for treating itchy ears with pus discharge: Squeeze the juice from the fermented eggplant and drip it into the ear.
The Zhou Family Treasure Prescription for treating toothache: Burn the fermented eggplant to ash while preserving its medicinal properties (Cunxing), grind into powder, and apply to the affected area.
For "Bie Zha" (abdominal masses resembling a turtle) [a type of abdominal mass]: The Shouyu Prescription: Burn aged fermented eggplant to ash while preserving its medicinal properties, add a small amount of Moschus (Shexiang, 麝香) and Calomelas (Qingfen, 轻粉), mix with fat/oil, and apply as a patch.

*Shanhai Caohan* records: Burn to ash while preserving medicinal properties; treats "Ekou Gan" (oral thrush/infantile mouth sore).

It is also known as Guangchang Tugua (Wild Melon of Guangchang), produced in Jiangxi. Chang Zhongcheng's *Huanyou Biji* (Notes on Official Travels) records: Guangchang Tugua is not recorded in Materia Medica texts. Its shape is rather clumsy; round ones resemble gourds, or piled up like warts. It has no segments or pulp. Grown in the soil of Changsha, it is dirty on the outside but clean inside, with fine flesh and dense texture. When cut open, it is white as ice and jade, sweet and clear in the mouth without residue. It clears heat and relieves stagnation. Cooked and eaten, it is also excellent; it is likely an unusual variety among melons. Its nature is vining; planted in spring and matured in autumn, it appears in the market only in early winter. There are no seeds. After deep spring, cut the melon into small pieces with the skin, cover them with sand indoors. After a long time, sprouts will emerge. Dig pits in the sandy ground, making them deep and wide, cover with thatch to ensure ventilation and allow roots to spread laterally. Once growing, leaves become dense and vining, fruits hang in clusters. Insert bamboo poles to guide upward growth, fertilize with chicken manure to promote lush and large growth. Locals also call it Yugua (Jade Melon). *Baopuzi* states: Cai Dan from Wuyuan returned from entering the mountains and told his family: I went to Kunlun Mountain and obtained Jade Melons. Washing them with water from the Jade Melon Well made them soft and edible. Could these be their remnant seeds? Other counties in Jiangxi also produce them, but they are smaller and have more residue. Only those within five li of the county seat of Guangchang are the best. I tasted them after the Lantern Festival, pleased by their delicious flavor, and went to the prefectural city to seek them. With the east wind bringing warmth, the melons could no longer be kept.
Taste is sweet, nature is neutral. Regulates the Middle Jiao (Middle Burner), benefits Qi, soothes depression, resolves stagnation, aids digestion, clears fire from the Large Intestine and Small Intestine, generates body fluids, nourishes blood, harmonizes Ying (Nutritive) and Wei (Defensive) Qi. Cooked consumption tonifies the Spleen and strengthens the Stomach.

*Yuecao Zhi* records: Jiegua (Segmented Melon) is a smaller variety of Donggua (Winter Melon). It has white skin and grows vining on the ground. One melon grows per segment. It absorbs the most moisture, thus it can resolve summer-heat toxicity. Stops thirst, generates body fluids, dispels summer-heat, strengthens the Spleen, and promotes urination through the Large Intestine and Small Intestine.