Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Wang An and his four companions, along with Yang Shuwen and his seven companions, a total of 11 people, spent nearly nine days in this old village before they managed to dig up all the valuable ginseng.

It's worth noting that when they were digging the old embankment, these 11 people finished the job in just over two days.

This shows just how wealthy this old village must be, and how large the number of people living there must be.

But that is indeed the case.

In this old village, besides the baby ginseng with seven leaves weighing more than 6 ounces, Wang An and his three companions dug up nine ginseng seedlings with six leaves.

In other words, in this one old village alone, Wang An and his three companions obtained a total of 10 wild ginseng seedlings that were over 100 years old, which was more than the total number of wild ginseng seedlings over 100 years old that had come from the previous old villages.

Most importantly, among these nine six-leaf ginseng seedlings, three are large specimens weighing over half a pound each.

Indeed, following Huang Zhong's discovery of a ginseng with six leaves weighing over half a pound, Mu Xueli also dug up a ginseng with six leaves weighing over half a pound each day for two consecutive days.

Moreover, the heaviest of the six-leaf ginseng seedlings weighed an astonishing 291 grams, even heavier than the ginseng king seedling in the Great Hall of the People.

That guy made Wang An and the other three laugh so hard they could hardly close their mouths.

There's no way around it. Even in this era, a wild ginseng weighing more than half a kilogram would easily cost at least 10 yuan per seedling. In later generations, it could easily fetch over 200 million yuan. It's absolutely impossible for anyone not to be happy about it.

Wang An estimated the price based on the ginseng in the Great Hall of the People. In any case, the ginseng in the Great Hall of the People weighed 285 grams and was said to be worth at least 200 million in later generations.

In addition to the seven- and six-leaf varieties, a considerable number of five-leaf varieties were also unearthed in this old burial site. Wang An and his team dug up a total of 34 seedlings over the course of eight days.

As for the four-leaf variety, there are even more, a full 121 seedlings, that's a huge pile.

There were also a dozen or so ginseng roots that had undergone a "rebirth" (a traditional Chinese medicine practice), but their quality was generally poor and their weight did not exceed half a pound. They could probably only be sold at the price of a fourth-grade leaf, or at most a fifth-grade leaf.

So far, Wang An and his three companions have dug up a total of 2 ginseng seedlings weighing over half a jin (250 grams) each (7-leaf variety), 3 ginseng seedlings weighing over half a jin each (6-leaf variety), and 10 ginseng seedlings weighing less than half a jin each (6-leaf variety).

There are a total of 47 five-leaf ginseng seedlings that are over 80 years old, and a total of 228 four-leaf ginseng seedlings that are over 50 years old.

As for the *Dendrocalamus simonii* and *Dendrocalamus simonii*, there should be at least a thousand or so seedlings. The exact number of extra seedlings is unknown, mainly because no one is keeping track of them, and there is no point in doing so.

To make it easier to carry when going down the mountain, Wang An and his three companions decisively disassembled and repackaged the ginseng buns containing the four-leaf ginseng.

The so-called splitting and repackaging is actually like wrapping a large number of ginsengs in the same ginseng bun, just like wrapping the lampstand and the second ginseng bun.

There's no way around it; if each ginseng root were used to make one ginseng bun, the number of ginseng buns would be far too many, and even with horses to help carry them, it would be a very troublesome matter.

Wang An and his group of four reaped a great harvest, and Yang Shuwen and his group of seven also naturally reaped a rich reward.

Although Wang An and his group of four did not keep count of how many seedlings of *Dendrobium nobile* and *Erjiazi* they had dug up, based on the proportions, it should be several hundred or even a thousand seedlings.

Of course, the number of lampstands is definitely less, about 300 seedlings, and the rest are worthless second-generation seedlings.

As Huang Zhong dug out the last 4-leaf sapling and Wang Li was packing it with bark, Yang Shuwen and the others, who had already finished digging up the saplings of the *Dengtai* and *Erjiazi*, gathered around. As soon as the seven of them arrived, Yang Shuwen, who was walking at the front, smiled and said to Wang An:
"Brothers, does Old Anzi need a few of us to help him spread out the sticks?"

Although Yang Shuwen and his six companions only dug up lampstands and 200-yuan coins that weren't very valuable, the seven of them were still very happy.

Not counting the ginseng they dug up before, the seven of them could sell the ginseng they dug up in this old village for about 130,000 to 140,000 yuan, so it's no wonder they were happy.

Before they met Wang An and his group of four, they were originally going to go home empty-handed. But after meeting them, digging for ginseng became as easy as digging for wild vegetables. This huge turn of events made everyone overjoyed.

Wang An was in a very good mood, thinking that he could go down the mountain and go home after wading through the last two old ridges. Hearing Yang Shuwen's question, Wang An thought for a moment and did not hide anything, saying:
"I have two more old houses here. If you want to come along, you can come with me."

If Wang An remembers correctly, today is September 26th. In five more days, Wang An and his three companions will have been out for a month.

When Wang An left, he promised his mother that he would return within a month, regardless of whether he could find ginseng.

Therefore, if Yang Shuwen and others went along, they could speed up the process of digging for ginseng with the poles. Otherwise, Wang An really wasn't confident that he could finish wading through the remaining two old ridges and go home in five days.

After Wang An finished speaking, Yang Shuwen became even happier, and said with a big smile:

"Thanks for taking care of us, bro. Where shall we meet tomorrow?"

Wang An determined the direction and pointed to the fork in the road ahead, saying:

"Just meet at the fork in the road where we always go back. Those two old folks aren't far from here, it's only a 20-minute walk."

Yang Shuwen nodded and agreed:

"Alright then, brother, we'll head over there and wait for you tomorrow morning."

Wang An waved his hand and said with a smile:

"No need to go too early. You've been busy all day and are quite tired. It's okay to sleep a little longer. We're all in a hurry."

Yang Shuwen smiled and nodded, but didn't respond to Wang An's comment.

It was Wang An and his three companions who led them to wealth, not the other way around, so they certainly couldn't keep Wang An and his three companions waiting for them.

Just as everyone was about to leave, Wang An brought over the ginseng buns that Wang Li had already packed and called to Yang Fuqiang:
“Brother Fuqiang, this seedling with four leaves is over 70 years old, which is quite a good thing. I’m giving it to you as a reward for helping us find that seedling with seven leaves that day.”

Logically speaking, Wang An could have given this fourth-grade ginseng seedling to Yang Fuqiang or not, since the two groups had made it very clear when they started cooperating.

However, the ginseng seedling that Yang Fuqiang found was a seventh-grade leaf, and it weighed more than six ounces.

Such a rare treasure should rightfully benefit everyone connected to it, so Wang An felt he should offer something in return. (End of Chapter)