hunting in 1986

Chapter 28: Chapter 28

After so many days in the mountains, I finally found a big wild ginseng.

Wang Yuan squeezed into the crowd, looked at the ground in front of Liu Hui, and saw a bunch of bright red ginseng seeds on top of a ginseng seedling. Perhaps Liu Hui's shouting was too loud just now, and some of the ginseng seeds were shaken off.

Ginseng seeds are quite beautiful, and Wang Yuan couldn't help but be fascinated by them.

More than 1000 years ago, Su Song of the Song Dynasty was ordered to write "The Book of Materia Medica", which contained a detailed description of the appearance of ginseng.

"Seedlings grow in spring, mostly in the moist places under the linden trees in the deep mountains. The small ones are about three or four inches long at first, with five leaves on one branch. , the old ones have four ya and five leaves each, and a stem in the center, commonly known as a hundred-foot pestle..."

Not only Wang Yuan was fascinated by watching it, but the others were also full of praise.

"lift!"

The old man thought that he would be satisfied if he could find a "three leaves", but he didn't expect to find a four leaves.

It is difficult to judge the age of wild ginseng, but there is a general reference range. Generally, wild ginseng with four leaves is about 40 to 60 years old, which is considered a very rare wild ginseng.

The old man unloaded the back basket, and asked Wang Yuan to light grass to repel mosquitoes while he was upwind, and he worshiped the mountain god, and then made a one-meter-long fence around the ginseng plant.

Put the quick dang ax and the quick dang saw next to it, and use the deer bone drill to lift the ginseng little by little.

The word "lift" is used instead of "dig", which means respect and attention.

The old man used a deer bone drill to scrape the soil little by little, while other people squatted or stood beside them, talking a lot.

The old man thought they were annoying, so he drove them to the side to find ginseng. There may be other ginseng around a big ginseng.

Time passed, and at 1 pm, a few tree roots blocked the old man from lifting the ginseng.

"Old man, I'll make you an ax quickly, and use the ax to cut off the roots of the tree."

Wang Shuai squatted beside him very actively. He felt that when he lifted the two ginseng plants in the near future, he could also lift his head like he always did.

"Go and go, the roots are very elastic, and the ginseng that springs back can easily hurt the ginseng."

The old man picked up his head and quickly used it as a saw, and began to carefully saw the roots of the tree, a little bit of sawdust fell on the fresh soil.

At around 4:70 p.m., the ginseng was finally brought out. It was long and thin, more than [-] centimeters long including the beard, and the roots were like two forked legs of a human being.

The old man was very excited, buried the ginseng pit, put a piece of red cloth on it, and then peeled off a large piece of moss under a big pine tree, and peeled off a large piece of birch bark.

Put the moss on the birch bark, sprinkle a thin layer of ginseng original soil on the moss, and then carefully put the ginseng on it.

Carefully roll up the birch bark, wrap the ginseng in it, and tie it with a red string—the "ginseng bun" is completed.

Carve the head photo on the birch tree—nine horizontal strokes on the left and four horizontal strokes on the right, representing nine people who discovered a plant of four-leaf ginseng.

Although Wu Qian was cooking at Diwozi, he was still counted.

There were no other ginseng around, so the veteran said directly: "Okay, let's go back early today and have a good night's rest."

Everyone was happy.

But apart from being happy, Wang Shuai also had a hint of disdain in his eyes. The large ginseng he found had five leaves on one plant, and six leaves on one plant, which was much more precious than ginseng with four leaves.

Back at Diwozi, Wu Qian was also very excited after knowing what everyone had harvested, and kept saying, "Let me see what the adult ginseng looks like."

"The ginseng is inside the ginseng bun. It's covered with Li Niang's soil and can't be opened. Come, let's worship the mountain god together." The old man put the ginseng bun in front of Laoye Temple, and everyone continued to worship.

At dinner at night, everyone was still talking about ginseng. Wang Shuai was very curious about how much this ginseng was worth, but the boss stopped him:
"Don't talk about money, talk about something else."

"Oh."

Money—may create a rift in everyone's hearts and affect unity, and there were bandits in the mountains a long time ago, playing money may make the bandits stare, so it is not allowed to talk about money if you dig the ginseng.

Of course, it may also be related to the fact that people value ginseng, respect mountain gods, and think that money that is too vulgar will destroy the sacredness in their hearts.

It rained all night.

The next morning, Wang Yuan woke up from the cold, and yawned involuntarily after waking up.

The fire that lasted all night was extinguished by the rain last night, and the old man lit a small fire at the mouth of the diner.

"Yuanzi woke up? Come here and enjoy the fire to get rid of the moisture."

"okay."

Wang Yuan sneezed, got up and glanced at the others. Wu Qian, who was carrying the pot, had already gotten up to cook, and the others were still sleeping curled up.

"Old man, are we still going into the mountain today?" Wang Yuan squatted on the right side of the old man, spreading his hands to warm the fire.

The scarlet flames were jumping, and a little bit of warmth began to spread from the palm of his hand to his body, and Wang Yuan couldn't help feeling warm.

The light rain was falling, and the mountains in the distance seemed to be a little foggy, while the nearby leaves, the ground, and some firewood were all wet.

"Wait until the rain stops before going into the mountains. If you get caught in the rain and catch a cold, you'll be in trouble."

In the next few days, no one could find ginseng, so the old man proposed to go home.

The languid Wang Shuai immediately raised his ears, and quickly agreed. Seeing Wang Yuan smiling at him, he couldn't help but cast a contemptuous look at the latter: "What are you looking at? I'll be able to buy a motorcycle soon."

"Ok?"

Wang Yuan was startled, and said with a half-smile: "Buying a motorcycle? Just dream, you can't even afford the wheels."

"Cut~ You just don't understand anything. When I buy a motorcycle, don't you stare with envy."

Wang Shuai thought that no one knew his secret. He had been in the west of the mountain for the past few days, far away from the two ginseng plants, so Wang Shuai didn't have a chance to take a look.

Too bitter in the mountains.

The freshness of everyone has long since disappeared, and now they all agree to go home.

So after packing their bags, a group of 9 people rushed back.

After walking for a while, Wang Yuan couldn't help but look back at the half-underground, gray and withered nest:
"The next time I come here again, I don't know when it will be. Maybe I won't come here for the rest of my life... There are still many things to come soon, many places worth remembering."

The old man is old and has a lot of senile diseases. Through chatting, I know that he may not press the mountain again in the future.

Even if the mountain is pressed down, it will not come to such a far place.

They set off in the morning and walked all the way. Maybe it was homesickness, or the food was consumed a lot and the carrying basket became lighter. Anyway, it was just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon when they returned to the village, which was much faster than when they went.

The little girl Wang Xiaodie was catching bugs to feed the chickens, when she saw Wang Yuan she screamed in surprise, and then ran over excitedly on her short legs.

"Second brother!!"

Well, in a trance, Wang Yuan had the illusion that he raised a puppy, and then the puppy came running quickly.

The little girl threw herself into his arms, then smirked and stuck beside him like a little tail.

(End of this chapter)