My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 239 No Idle Grass in the Qinling Mountains

"Ginseng? Where can I find ginseng?"

Qin Rongxian's shout startled everyone downstairs, and they all rushed upstairs, their eyes scanning the four of them closely.

"In the dog's mouth. It looks really like it, I don't know if it is."

As Qin Rong pointed, Wang Cunye had already grabbed the little yellow dog by the scruff of its neck and was pulling out what looked like ginseng from its mouth.

The little yellow dog thought the old man was playing with it, so it kept shaking its neck, puffing around with its ears behind its back and grinning. This annoyed Wang Cunye so much that he slapped it. The dog stopped, still in a daze. Wang Cunye then took the thing out of its mouth, held it in his hand, and squinted at it.

He immediately burst out laughing: "I knew it! It's not that easy to find ginseng these days. This is ginseng's sister. No wonder Mr. Rong admitted his mistake."

After saying that, he tossed it to the little yellow dog to continue chewing on it.

"Huh? This isn't ginseng?"

"Of course not, do you know what this is?"

Aside from Chen Ling's entire family, everyone else could only shake their heads at this question.

Wang Cunye laughed: "It's bellflower."

"Bikyou?"

Everyone was completely baffled when they heard the name.

"Yes. There is ginseng in the deep mountains and forests here, but it is extremely rare. However, there is a kind of herb that looks very similar to ginseng, and it grows all over the mountains and fields. That is the bellflower."

Wang Cunye praised the bellflower, saying, "The roots of the bellflower are a medicinal herb, used to clear phlegm. They can also be pickled and eaten as a side dish, which is delicious. They can be ground into powder and steamed into cakes, which are also delicious. They can be used to make wine, which is also very tasty. The bellflower flowers are beautiful. The flowers are blue with five petals, quite bright, and they bloom for almost half a year, covering half the hillside with blue flowers. Tomorrow the weather will clear up, so you can go for a walk up the mountain to take a look."

Wang Cunye continued, "Platycodon and ginseng look alike, like two sisters born from the same mother. They are very close and can play together. Later, as more people went into the mountains to collect herbs, Ginseng Goddess was afraid of having no offspring, so she prepared to move."

Ah, it's the old herbalist telling a story! Everyone realized this and immediately perked up, listening attentively and gesturing with eager eyes for the old man to continue. "Please, old man, keep going!"

Wang Cunye coughed twice with a smile, his face wrinkled like a chrysanthemum: "Before leaving, the Ginseng Goddess instructed the Platycodon Goddess never to divulge the news. The Platycodon Goddess swore to heaven that she would never reveal the secret, or else she would be black-hearted and rotten-livered. The Ginseng Goddess was relieved and ran off to Liaodong."

"Later, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fell ill and sought medicine everywhere. He took some medicinal herbs sent from the mountains here and recovered quickly. Emperor Xuanzong was so happy that he slapped his thigh and wanted to reward her. But then, Emperor Xuanzong didn't recognize the herbs and mistook the platycodon for ginseng. Just as he was about to reward her with ginseng, the Platycodon grandiflorus lady couldn't hold back and quickly said, 'I am platycodon, not ginseng. Ginseng has long since gone to Liaodong...'"

At this point, the children were also intrigued and whispered, "And then, Grandpa, didn't Lady Kikyō say that we shouldn't tell anyone about this?"

Wang Cunye nodded and said, "That's right. We agreed not to tell anyone, but as soon as we said that, it was a leak. Everyone knows that the ginseng went to the Northeast, so everyone went to the Northeast to dig for ginseng. Because the Queen of the Platycodon grandiflorus made a vow, it came true after she broke it. She will really be black-hearted and rotten from now on."

"Hey, don't you believe me? You can compare them. In other places, the bellflowers are all white inside when you break them open, but most of the bellflowers here are black inside, and that's why."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and they all praised Wang Cunye for his excellent and vivid presentation.

Lynx laughed and praised sincerely, "Uncle Wang is the best storyteller. After listening to your story, compared to what Ah Zhong told, Ah Zhong's stories seem unpleasant to listen to."

Wang Qingzhong just scratched his head and chuckled, saying that he couldn't compare to his father. His father had been through countless medicinal herbs and had seen it all; he had a wealth of stories to tell.

"Hey, just kidding, just kidding."

Wang Cunye waved his hand, "Everyone says there are no idle herbs in the Qinling Mountains. In the past, as long as you entered the mountains, medicinal herbs were everywhere. But now it's getting worse. The plants in the Qinling Mountains have a spirit. They must be like the Ginseng Goddess. We humans have picked too many of them, so they've all moved away. But with the Platycodon Grandiflorus incident before, no one dares to say anything this time. So we don't know where all the herbs have moved to."

Towards the end, he gradually fell silent, gently tapping his injured leg, his expression unreadable.

Everyone suddenly fell silent.

The old man wasn't highly educated, but his words had a thought-provoking quality.

"Grandpa Wang, Grandpa Wang, what kind of herb is this?"

At this moment, Little Chestnut suddenly ran up to Wang Cunye with a "tree root" covered in wet mud.

"Oh, this is wild yam."

"Grandpa Wang, is there a story behind wild yams?"

"There is a story? Well, there is one. Wild yam was originally called 'shuyu', the 'yu' in 'taro'. But during the Tang Dynasty, there was an emperor named Li Yu, and 'Yu' and 'taro' are homophones, so 'shuyu' could no longer be called that, and it was changed to 'shuyao'. In the Song Dynasty, there was an emperor named Zhao Shu, so 'shuyao' could no longer be called that, because 'Shu' and 'shu' are homophones."

"After all this fuss, the emperor is such a hassle, so let's just call it yam then?"

"Later, we were still worried that it wasn't safe. We saw that this thing has a lot of hairs, and we had to singe the hairs with fire before cooking, so we mountain people gave it another name, Fire Vine Root. Hey, that's a good name. No emperor was ever named Fire Vine Root."

Wang Cunye then told people stories about herbs, and everyone listened intently.

After hearing this, Liang Yuemin suggested to Chen Ling, "Your family has an elder like a treasure, Fugui. With Uncle Wang, a living encyclopedia of medicinal herbs, why don't you get involved in medicinal herb cultivation?"

"Oh, I have thought about it. I even inquired about it before the new year, but unfortunately there aren't many good sales channels, and it's easy to get ripped off."

Chen Ling shook his head. There were still a lot of herbs growing in his cave, with effects far exceeding those of ordinary herbs, but he couldn't sell them.

Firstly, it's not a good thing if the medicinal herbs are too effective, as it can easily attract attention.

Secondly, most medicinal herbs cannot actually be sold at high prices.

This includes what most people consider rare medicinal herbs, and the same applies to them.

Many people believe that if they find Ganoderma lucidum, Cordyceps sinensis, Panax notoginseng, Gastrodia elata, or other medicinal herbs that are as famous as ginseng in the mountains, or Dendrobium officinale, Polygonum multiflorum, or snow lotus, they can resell them for a lot of money.

actually not.

In most cases, it's just news hype to inflate prices.

Although the medicinal herbs are just as effective, the price may not be to your liking.

The price of medicinal herbs that mountain people collect from the mountains is extremely low when they first sell them.

However, once medicinal herb merchants or others collect the herbs from the farmers and transport them to county towns, cities, big cities, and even the capital, the prices immediately change, increasing several times over.

Those adorned in silk robes are not the ones who raise silkworms. Medicinal herbs are not like grains, where the price difference is fixed, just a few cents or dimes. The medicinal herb industry is far more complex and murky than that.

Moreover, in those days, there were many swindlers and cheaters in business, and local transportation was also not very good.

Instead of cultivating medicinal herbs, it's better to buy some ginseng seeds, use spiritual water to accelerate their growth, and claim they are wild ginseng dug up from the mountains. No one can find out where they were dug up from, right?

Selling one or two of these roots each year will ensure you have enough money. It's much easier than growing medicinal herbs; it's simple, straightforward, and practical.

“I’ll help you find sales channels. If you’re worried, I’ll pay you in advance,” Liang Yuemin said.

"No, no, I'll try it on the mountain this year first. If it works, we'll see. Brother Yuemin, if you have time, you can bring me some ginseng seeds. I'll try to grow them first." Chen Ling waved his hand, thinking that it would be better to do it his own way.

"Oh? Ginseng seeds? You want to grow ginseng? Okay, okay, okay, I'll bring them back for you next time."

"Hmm, talking about ginseng earlier made me really craving it, but unfortunately it's too difficult to find ginseng in the Qinling Mountains."

At this moment, Wang Cunye, having overheard their conversation, chimed in, "Looking for ginseng? There are strict rules for looking for ginseng. You have to take a stick and push through the grass into the mountains, and you can't say a word. If you make any noise, the ginseng will run away."

"When you see ginseng, you must quickly shout 'Bangchui!' This is to cast a spell on the ginseng. Once you shout, it will freeze and won't be able to escape. Before it comes to its senses, take a red string and tie it to the ginseng stem in a tight knot. This is called 'tying the baby.' Only then can you slowly dig up the roots to find the ginseng."

"When digging for ginseng, you can't use iron tools or bamboo or wood, for fear of damaging the ginseng roots. You have to use animal horns to dig the soil bit by bit, and the most particular one is deer antlers. Only in this way can you dig up ginseng. Otherwise, the ginseng will run away, and you won't be able to dig anything out."

Everyone clicked their tongues in astonishment. The lynx asked, "How is this different from the ginseng-hunting methods in Liaodong?"

Wang Cunye shook his head and said, "There's not much difference in general, except that the ginseng from the Qinling Mountains is more spiritual. Knowing that people want to dig for them, they hide early. Knowing that you're coming tomorrow, they might run away tonight. They run fast and hide deep, making them very difficult to find."

……

After another round of lively conversation, Chen Ling listened for a couple of sentences before turning back to the kitchen to prepare lunch. There was a special dish today that required his personal attention: drunken shrimp.

The white-skinned river shrimp caught this morning are mostly only the size of two finger joints. Many of them have been carried down by mountain streams and have become quite plump and tender after staying in the irrigation ditch for a while.

If you catch them from a mountain stream, you can eat them raw after removing the head and skin.

However, after being tossed around in the rain for so long, it couldn't be handled carelessly. After carefully soaking it in salt water, Chen Ling came over and rinsed it several times, then soaked it in fruit wine.

"These shrimp are very clean."

Looking up, I saw that both Wang Qingwen's and Wang Qingzhong's families had followed me. Clearly, my father-in-law's story was nothing new to them and held no appeal.

"It's alright. It would be even cleaner if it didn't rain. It's a pity that they don't jump out, so I never thought of making this dish."

As Chen Ling was talking to them, he got up and went to the storeroom to fetch two jars of fruit wine.

Then, I took a large, rough porcelain basin, used a strainer to scoop out the shrimp, drained them, and put them into the basin.

Once all the shrimp have been caught, prepare a large bowl of sauce with scallions, fruit wine, soy sauce, and sugar, then pour it into a basin to marinate.

Then cover the large porcelain basin containing the shrimp with the pot lid, and you can still clearly hear the "plop, plop" sounds of the shrimp jumping and hopping inside, struggling.

The shrimp kept making a loud noise, and just by listening to the sound, you could imagine how vigorously they were jumping.

The shrimp are cooked, but the crabs and fish caught shouldn't be left unattended.

The fish was stir-fried with eel paste and fried with fish pieces. There were quite a few people in the family today, so Chen Ling focused on cooking a lot, resulting in a large quantity of dishes.

The crabs were cooked in a soup with small crucian carp roe, and simmered over low heat for nearly an hour, until a rich aroma wafted out.

Lifting the lid, the soup was whitish, and the crabs were cooked until very tender. Chen Ling scooped a spoonful of soup, and the delicious flavor made him take a deep breath. This was truly fresh and delicious soup, without any unpleasant fishy or strange smells.

At this point, the drunken shrimp was ready, and someone called out, "Dinner's ready!"

"Hey, it's coming."

Hearing the shouts, people came one after another to bring the dishes back to the front to prepare for lunch.

It was just past noon. The sun hadn't come out after the rain, and there was a slight breeze, making it quite cool.

Eating hot food this way won't make you feel too hot.

The eel paste has a base flavor from garlic chives and shredded ginger, but it tastes great. It's savory, fresh, and fragrant, and the eel meat is so tender that it just slides down your tongue without needing to be chewed.

Women and children especially love to eat it.

Braised fish fillets, incredibly fragrant, are a perfect snack for men to enjoy with drinks. Paired with wine, eating and drinking at the same time is pure bliss.

However, if we're talking about popularity, the drunken shrimp dish is definitely the most popular.

Because the method is novel and unusual enough.

Fresh river shrimp, after being infused with fruit wine and marinated in sauce, are not only simmered until they are slightly dazed and drunk, but also detoxified, have their fishy smell removed, and their freshness enhanced.

The shrimp is wine-red, with a translucent, semi-transparent texture. It looks extremely beautiful even before you take a bite.

"Uncle, why did the shrimp turn red?"

Little Chestnut asked questions in her childish voice. This little girl's favorite thing to do when she sees something new is to ask "why," as if her head is full of a hundred thousand "whys."

"Oh, it's because the shrimp drank alcohol. Just like when people get drunk, their faces turn red."

Chen Ling explained it in a way that she could understand.

"Wow, I see, that's amazing."

The little girl's eyes lit up when she heard this, and her interest was piqued. She picked up her chopsticks, grabbed one, and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Slow down, don't swallow it whole, be careful not to prick your mouth."

Chen Ling reminded everyone that the alcohol content of the drunken shrimp was low, so it was okay for children to eat a little. He then invited everyone to try it, and he also picked some up and ate some himself.

When you pick up a drunken shrimp and put it in your mouth, you don't need to bite hard. Just gently squeeze it with your teeth, and the shrimp meat will come out smoothly from the shell. Instantly, the fresh, tender, smooth, and elastic meat, with the sweet and sour taste of fruit wine and the sweetness of river seafood, will spread in your mouth. The taste is full and the aftertaste is long. It is really wonderful.

"Hmm, the little shrimp in my mouth is jumping."

Liu Yinhuan covered her mouth and exclaimed in surprise.

"It's okay if they jump. As the saying goes, fish eat fresh and shrimp eat jumping. Live shrimp can jump, so they taste the freshest and most tender," Chen Ling said with a smile.

"Wow, I got to eat some too! It really is jumping around in my mouth."

As soon as Chen Ling finished speaking, Xiang Wenxia indicated that she had also eaten some.

The two women got to eat, and the men became envious, each trying to find a shrimp that would jump around in their mouths.

The chubby boy was even more spoiled than Little Chestnut. He couldn't get his hands on the bouncy shrimp, so he sat down on the ground, kicking his legs and crying loudly. Liu Yinhuan was so angry that she held him down and spanked him, which made the chubby boy cry even more miserably.

Everyone burst into laughter.

Chen Ling picked out two more toys for him to jump around in before he stopped crying. He then told Chen Ling that he would bring Rui Rui his toy car next time he came, as a thank you.

In short, after finishing the dish, everyone was all smiles, finding it delicious and fun.

……

The full moon celebration was interrupted by heavy rain, and the group spent another four or five days playing before finally dispersing after the weather cleared up.

The Wang Qingwen and Wang Qingzhong brothers' families stayed a few days longer than others. Firstly, it was a rare opportunity for them to come, and secondly, it was summer vacation, so the children didn't have to go to school, and Wang Qingwen and his wife didn't have to attend classes either. As for Wang Qingzhong and his wife, they had been busy with the wheat harvest season for a while, but before they could even resell a few wheat deals, the recent heavy rains forced them to take a break.

Both families had a great time at Chen Ling's place, because compared to other places, there were more things to do here, and the farm was much cooler and more comfortable to stay at.

After playing for a few days, the two brothers followed Chen Ling to the county town to sell eggs, and then went to the village market to look at livestock and buy sheep. When it came to buying sheep, Chen Ling went straight to Erwazi's house, but Erwazi felt that Chen Ling kept trying to buy from him, so he refused to sell to him no matter what. He was a strange person.

Having no other choice, Chen Ling led his brothers-in-law to the mule and horse market again, and finally selected six female goats and one large ram, which were all taken home by tractor.

Including the two adults and four children at home, there are a total of thirteen sheep.

Including the two young rams that grew from lambs, there are three rams. With three rams, the ten ewes can be distributed fairly.

Otherwise, rams are restless and if too many are raised, they will easily fight over the ewes. Now that there are too many ewes, they will only feel tired and will no longer have the energy to make a fuss or fight.

After buying the sheep, they stayed for two more days. Wang Qingwen's brothers and their families left, but his father-in-law and mother-in-law stayed. Rui Rui was only a month old and needed constant care, so they stayed to look after her. Otherwise, if only Chen Ling and Wang Susu were left, they would be too busy to manage anything else, and the farm and crops would be neglected.

With everyone gone, life returned to normal for Chen Ling's family. Wang Cunye continued to graze sheep in the orchard all day, now letting them eat the wild grass growing in the fields. Chen Ling, after selling eggs twice, spent the rest of her time preparing to plant sunflowers, buying seeds and planting tools, taking her time to work and rest as she pleased. She would occasionally take her son for a stroll or take him back to the village for a walk, living a very leisurely life.

On the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, Chen Ling, who had just finished selling eggs at the county market the day before, was idly watching the fish in the lotus pond with his son in his arms when uninvited guests arrived at the farm again. It was the same few county leaders who came with some other people.

Upon entering the farm, he greeted Chen Ling with a smile. After exchanging a few words, he revealed his purpose: he had come to buy wine.

"What? Buy alcohol?"

These words stunned Chen Ling, who remained speechless for a long time.

(End of this chapter)