Age: Passionate youth, starting from graduation assignment

Chapter 122 Surprise harvest, priceless

After Xu Jichang said, Shen Qingrui stopped her tears, leaned her face on Xu Jichang's shoulder, and still hugged him tightly and did not let go.

Xu Jichang didn't say anything more, just stroked Shen Qingrui's hair with his hand: "How is your study recently, do you feel any difficulty?"

"I read the notes you gave, and I feel that I have gained a lot."

"It's not that hard, the notes you gave me are very detailed, and it's easy to follow along."

"Keep learning. I made some notes later, and I'll show you tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, I will definitely study harder when I return to the city..."

Shen Qingrui promised in Xu Jichang's arms.

"Hey, trust me."

After finishing speaking, Xu Jichang kissed her pink neck.

"Um... We... We weren't there just now... Oh... Are we still discussing studies... Um... Ah..."

Shen Qingrui twisted her body slightly, moaning uncontrollably.

……

Early the next morning, Xu Jichang got up in front of Shen Qingrui and wiped his shotgun.

The second snow of the year has fallen and melted.

In the future, snowfall will only become more and more frequent, and the snow will only become bigger and bigger, until finally the mountain will be blocked by heavy snow.

At that time, he will no longer go hunting in the mountains, and will only be active on the outskirts of the mountains until the snow melts next year.

So we have to seize the few remaining opportunities and go hunting in the mountains to replenish our wallets.

Xu Jichang was wiping the gun, when Shen Qingrui woke up.

As soon as she saw the shotgun in his hand, Shen Qingrui guessed his intention: "Are you going to go hunting in the mountains again?"

"Yes."

"Then... be careful and safe, I'll prepare the food for you."

Shen Qingrui expressed concern, then turned and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for him, as well as steamed buns and meat pies for him to eat in the mountains.

It's autumn and winter now, so there's no need to worry about the meat getting spoiled anymore, she wants Xu Jichang to eat good food when he's in the mountains.

After wiping the gun, Xu Jichang went out to find Zhou Qing from the power supply station, and asked him to rent a horse.

With a horse, the efficiency of hunting in the mountains can be much higher. He has long planned to get a horse to hunt.

The employees of the power supply station sometimes need to go deep into the mountains to build and repair telephone poles. They are one of the few public units in the county that still raise horses.

Outside the courtyard of the power supply station, Zhou Qing heard that Xu Jichang wanted to rent a horse, so he waved his big hand and laughed.
"Section Chief Xu is going into the mountains again, right?"

"Based on the relationship between the two of us, if we're talking about renting or not, I'll just lend it to you."

Xu Jichang opened his mouth and smiled,
"Director Zhou is open-minded. But after all, it is a public horse, so I don't want to use it for nothing."

"When the horse is used up, I'll buy it some fodder, grain."

Zhou Qing would definitely not accept it if he insisted on paying the rent under such circumstances, so Xu Jichang proposed this plan.

"Section Chief Xu, you are too polite, I will take you to pick a good horse."

Zhou Qing also laughed, admiring this young cadre who insisted on not taking advantage of the government.

After finishing speaking, Zhou Qing led Xu Jichang into the unit compound, passed through a row of small two-story office buildings and bungalows, and came to the quiet backyard.

In the backyard of the power supply station, there are two rows of mangers on the left and right, with stallions on one side and mares on the other, totaling six horses.

There are no trees in the yard, this is to prevent mosquitoes from breeding and disturbing the life of the horses.

"Here, look, these are our horses, you can choose one from them."

Zhou Qing pointed to the manger with a proud look on his face.

To be able to feed the horses so well is a very honorable thing for him, the head of the Institute.

"It's really well-raised."

Xu Jichang admitted that, stepping into the manger, he noticed the tallest and strongest horse with a sleek mane.

"Snoring..."

The horse sensed that a stranger was approaching, snorted, and moved its ears twice.

Xu Jichang stretched out his big hand and stroked its fur along its forehead: "Don't panic, I'm taking you out for some activities."

Hearing Xu Jichang's words, Ma'er glanced at him twice, stopped talking and fell silent.

"It's because it obeys you."

Zhou Qing added from the side, "You don't know this horse, and it will kick if it encounters someone who doesn't approve of it."

"It will be obedient when it meets someone who recognizes it."

"I see."

After Xu Jichang finished speaking, he took the steed out of the manger and rode it around the backyard twice, expressing his satisfaction.

As the saying goes, a mule is a horse, pull it out for a walk.

An experienced hunter like him can judge whether a mount is good or bad after riding for a while.

And the horse he was riding now was obviously a good horse.

"That's it."

Xu Jichang said.

Zhou Qing nodded, "Good eyesight."

"I wish you success in entering the mountain."

"Lend your auspicious words."

Xu Jichang said, leading the horse and leaving the backyard, walking towards his home.

Not long after leaving the power supply station, he rode on his horse and walked to the street.

In order to avoid bumping into people, Xu Jichang deliberately slowed down the speed of the horse, and at the same time, it was also to make the horse develop obedience.

The horse obeyed Xu Jichang's orders all the way, but slowed down when passing a state-run feed station, turning his head to look into the store from time to time.

"I know what you want to do."

Xu Jichang got off the horse, patted the horse's neck and said, "Even if you don't tell me, I will buy you something to eat."

After hearing "咴咴", the horse yelled twice, and rubbed its neck against Xu Jichang's hand twice.

Xu Jichang tied his horse to a tree beside the road, went to the feed store and bought forty catties of hay, ten catties of oats, and some beans for one yuan.

After all, raising horses has been exclusive to rich people since ancient times. This one yuan can only buy three or four days of feed, which is more expensive than raising a person.

Beside the road, seeing Xu Jichang coming out with two bags on his back, the horse stomped its hooves excitedly.

Xu Jichang didn't return to it immediately, but first turned into the grocery store next to it, bought a cloth bag and a bell.

"Let's go."

After buying these two small items, Xu Jichang went back to the horse, tied the two bags together, hung them on the horse's back after getting on the horse, and lightly touched the horse's belly with his legs.

The horse immediately walked forward quickly, and soon carried him back home.

At this time, Shen Qingrui had already left, and Zhu Chen in the nearby yard was watering the freshly planted plum blossoms. When he saw him riding a horse home, his face showed surprise: "Where did you get this horse?"

"Ask the borrower for the power supply."

Xu Jichang said, getting off the horse.

To be honest, he kind of wanted to ask Zhou Qing to buy the horse.

Of course, such a good horse is definitely not cheap, and whether it can be bought depends on the harvest of this hunting.

After tying the horse in the yard, Xu Jichang unloaded most of the licorice and oats and put them in the yard, went back to the house and took the steamed buns and meat pies made by Shen Qingrui, put them all in a bag, and picked up the shotgun and hunting knife.

As for deer bone sticks and other tools for entering the mountain, he put them all in his backpack.

When Xu Jichang was riding a horse with a gun and was about to leave the courtyard, Zhu Chen kept looking at him, as if he wanted to engrave his heroic appearance in his mind.

"Go and come back quickly, if the weather is not right, hurry back and turn back."

Zhu Chen said to him with concern.

Xu Jichang rode on the horse, and nodded to her in the yard next to her: "Don't worry, I will pay attention."

After Xu Jichang finished speaking, he rode away, leaving Zhu Chen with a tall and tall back that he will never forget for a long time.

The borrowed horse cooperated with him very well, obeying the command very much, let it enter as soon as it entered, and let it run as soon as it ran.

This time Xu Jichang didn't ride it along the streets of the county town, but rode along the small roads in the suburbs, heading for the distant mountains.

The road in the suburbs seems to be a bit detoured, but it avoids the crowds on the street. Xu Jichang can ride his horse and gallop as much as he likes, in fact, it is much faster.

After running along the suburban road with few pedestrians for a long time, there was no road ahead, only knee-high grass remained, and a vast mountain stood farther away.

"Call..."

Xu Jichang stopped the horse, dismounted, passed the cloth bag through the bell, and tied it around the horse's neck.

With the bell, the birds hiding in the grass can be driven away in advance, so as to prevent them from flying up and startling the horse when the horse approaches.

"drive!"

After fastening the bell, Xu Jichang rode his horse forward again.

The horses received his orders, and galloped at full speed with all four hooves, heading straight for the distant mountains, making jingling sounds along the way.

With a horse, it is much faster than walking alone.

What's more, this is an extremely fast horse, far surpassing ordinary horses.

After half a day's work, Xu Jichang arrived at the foot of the mountain and began to climb up the mountain along the path stepped on by people.

Leaving the knee-deep grass, the horses no longer need to tie the bells, and the sound of the bells can easily startle the prey in the mountains.

Xu Jichang got off his horse and took the bell off, and then rode back on and walked along the mountain road.

After walking for a while, he commanded the horse again, left the path stepped on by people, and headed for the place where he found the six ginseng leaves.

According to common sense, when ginseng is found in a place, it means that the climate and soil conditions here are suitable for the growth of ginseng.

If you go to that place again, you will have a good chance of discovering new ginseng.

Xu Jichang rode his horse all the way, passing by trees with bare branches.

The woods here are not very dense, and horses can still walk among them.

In some places in the forest, a little water accumulated after the snow melted, and the horseshoes made a clacking sound when they stepped on it, and there were still snow left in some places.

It's autumn now, and it's already cold in the mountains, so many of the bushes that used to be dense are dead, which is very suitable for horses to travel without worrying about the horse's legs being stumbled.

On the way, Xu Jichang also picked two wild apples, put one in his pocket, wiped the other with the skirt of his clothes, and put it in his mouth.

Wild apples are not as big as domestic apples, but they taste crunchy and have a particularly sweet and sour taste.

Sitting down on the steed, he heard the sound of Xu Jichang eating an apple, his ears moved, and his pace slowed down a bit.

Xu Jichang understood what it meant, took out another wild apple from his pocket, threw it on the ground in front of the horse's head, shook his head and patted its neck: "You are really greedy, you want to eat anything."

The horse immediately rushed forward happily, lowered its head and bit the apple, and began to eat it with a crunch.

After a taste, the horse simply stopped and refused to go when it passed another wild apple tree.

Xu Jichang pinched the horse's belly: "Boss, you can't eat too much of this stuff,"

Horses can eat some fruit, but not too much, or they will have stomach problems.

The horse understood what Xu Jichang meant, so he stopped being nostalgic and walked forward again.

After a while, Xu Jichang entered a linden forest, and on a particularly tall linden tree, he saw the mark he had carved with a hunting knife.

Compared with summer, this linden tree has no green leaves and looks very different, but the tree hole where six leaves were found is still conspicuous.

At this time, a little snow-melt water accumulated in the tree hole, and there were more leaves, and everything else was still the same as in summer.

Xu Jichang didn't plan to go into the tree hole again this time. He had already cleaned out the ginseng in the tree hole, and there would be no more ginseng to pick in two or three years.

For him, the focus is on the perimeter of the tree.

Xu Jichang tied his horse to a small tree that was as thick as a bowl next to him, and carrying a backpack with deer bone sticks on his back, he began to explore among the fallen leaves around him.

And that shotgun was always on his back.

This is the case in the deep mountains and old forests, and you can't relax your vigilance at all times.

When you encounter a beast rushing towards you, having a gun at hand gives you confidence.

In the woods, Xu Jichang searched for ginseng in a radius of tens of meters according to its growth habit.

After a long time, he really found a ginseng when he was peeling away layers of fallen leaves.

Due to two snowfalls, the leaves of this ginseng tree have fallen off seasonally, but judging from the length of the stem, it should be at least a top-quality fourth-grade leaf.

Xu Jichang took out the deer bone skewer and squatted down, carefully cleaned up the dead branches and leaves beside him, and then pushed the soil away little by little to prevent it from hurting its roots.

Next to him, Ma'er looked at Xu Jichang's actions and felt very incomprehensible. He kept staring at him motionless, trying to figure out what he was doing.

Xu Jichang was meticulous and threw a small hole in the ground, finally revealing most of the ginseng.

Hey, this ginseng tree is really a surprise. Judging from the size of the exposed part, there should be at least five taels.

The weight of this grade surpasses any ginseng with four leaves in Xu Jichang's impression, and it should be five leaves.

A burst of joy appeared in Xu Jichang's eyes, and he was more careful in his movements until finally he took out the ginseng tree completely without breaking even a single beard.

Four taels of silver, five taels of gold, and more than six taels are treasures.

The fresh weight is five taels, which is a hurdle for wild ginseng.Ginseng exceeding this weight has extremely high collection value, and its value is more than ten times higher than that of ginseng with more than four taels.

Later generations in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province once auctioned a fresh ginseng tree weighing five taels of money, and the final transaction price was 900 million.

And the tree that I dug up by myself is stronger than that one, so its value must be higher.

Xu Jichang thought happily, put the ginseng in the bag and put it away.

Looking at it now, this linden forest is really a treasure land of geomantic omen.

First, I found a six-leaf ginseng and its descendants, and now I have a five-leaf ginseng.

I am afraid that other ginseng pickers will not have such a harvest after entering the mountain for a lifetime.

Next to him, Ma'er watched Xu Jichang's back and forth actions, as if he understood something, but he didn't seem to understand.

It blinked, looked at Xu Jichang for a long time, finally looked around twice, and snorted loudly.

Xu Jichang heard the snorting of the horses, thought something was wrong, looked back, confirmed that everything was normal, turned around, and planned to continue searching for ginseng.

At this time, the horse snorted a few more times, so Xu Jichang turned his back and walked towards it.

In the deep mountains and old forests, we must pay attention to all abnormal reactions of animals, because they are more familiar with nature than humans.

Coming to the side of the horse, Xu Jichang patted its neck: "What's the matter, why are you snorting all the time?"

"Huh...huh..."

The horse still turned its head in the direction just now, and snorted two more times.

Xu Jichang looked in the direction its head was facing, but found nothing, so he broke off a branch and cleaned up the fallen leaves in this direction, trying to figure out what the horse saw, so it kept snorting. .

(End of this chapter)