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

With that thought in mind, Wang An casually tossed the fifth-grade ginseng seedling onto the moss and opened the fourth ginseng bun.

When Wang An opened the fourth ginseng bun, he only glanced at it briefly before becoming speechless.

Of course, after seeing the condition of the fourth ginseng seedling, everyone just sighed deeply and then fell silent.

It's not that I don't want to say anything, it's that I don't know what to say.

This is a perfectly good ginseng with six leaves. In terms of age, appearance, and size, it can be considered a top-quality ginseng. However, several of its ginseng roots have been broken off.

That's right, not one or two, not three or four, but several.

The appearance of this ginseng seedling is even worse than those two fifth-grade ginseng seedlings.

However, this can be explained, because compared to five-leaf ginseng, the rootlets of six-leaf ginseng are only longer, so the distribution of the rootlets will be more complex when digging.

Let alone someone who doesn't know how to dig, even a seasoned ginseng digger with decades of experience can easily break the tendrils if they're not careful.

Moreover, in these mountains, places suitable for ginseng growth are also suitable for other plants, and the tangled roots of various plants can affect the ginseng digger's judgment.

Therefore, for someone who doesn't know how to dig ginseng, digging out a single ginseng plant with all six leaves intact is an extremely difficult task.

Seeing everyone staring with regret at the six-leafed seedling with many broken roots, Wang An thought for a moment before smiling and comforting them:

"Hey, it's free anyway. So what if the whiskers are broken? A good thing is still valuable even with the whiskers broken, hehehehe."

After Wang An finished speaking, no one responded; everyone remained silent, making Wang An quite embarrassed.

Seeing that no one spoke, Wang An, too lazy to say anything more, turned to Yang Shuwen and said:

"Brother Yang, how should we divide these four clubs between our two groups?"

Yang Shuwen was still immersed in his heartache when he heard Wang An's words, and then he snapped out of it and said:
"Brother, you decide. If you ask me, we don't need to divide it among ourselves. We've been following you guys around these past few days and haven't had our share of trouble. We feel really bad about this."

Before Yang Shuwen could finish speaking, Wang An interrupted him directly:

"Brother Yang, that's not very meaningful. Let's keep things separate."

After saying that, Wang An didn't want to ask Yang Shuwen for his opinion anymore, and directly made the arrangements:
"Okay, this seedling with six leaves and this seedling with four leaves will count as one share, and those two seedlings with five leaves will count as one share. You get one share, and we get one share. Now, which share do you want?"

After saying that, Wang An grabbed the ginseng seedlings and divided the four ginseng seedlings into two portions.

In fact, under normal circumstances, there is not much difference between grade six wild ginseng and grade five wild ginseng. After all, grade five ginseng is over eighty years old, while grade six ginseng is over one hundred years old.

If you compare a five-leaf ginseng that is nearly a hundred years old with a six-leaf ginseng that is just over a hundred years old, apart from looking at the forks on the ginseng vine, even a wild ginseng hunter who has been immersed in the wild ginseng trade for decades cannot tell the difference just by looking at the rootstock.

The most infuriating thing is that ginseng with five leaves grown in fertile soil is very likely to be larger, heavier, and more aesthetically pleasing than ginseng with six leaves grown in barren soil.

Therefore, without ginseng seedlings, it is actually very difficult to determine whether a ginseng seedling is over a hundred years old.

Therefore, many ginseng growers will remove the leaves after finding large ginseng plants with five or six leaves, while the ginseng stalks continue to grow on the main root.

Even among the wild ginseng plants that were over a hundred years old in the hands of Wang An and his companions, a few ginseng stalks still had their roots growing on the ginseng roots, which the four of them did not cut off. There was no other way; those few ginseng stalks had rather short rhizomes, and the number of rhizome bowls was less than 100, making them the kind of ginseng that was more controversial.

If you encounter an inexperienced buyer, or one who wants to drive down the price, they might easily mistake a sixth-grade leaf for a fifth-grade leaf and offer it at the price of a fifth-grade leaf.

At that point, things would become very difficult if there were no branches on the ginseng vines as proof.

However, if all the ginseng seedlings had broken off their rootlets like these four ginseng seedlings, then the ginseng seedlings would not be of much use.

Because ginseng with broken roots is considered a defective product, it can only be used directly as medicine and is worthless regardless of the condition. Preserving the ginseng vine is pointless.
After asking his question, Wang An saw that Yang Shuwen still wanted to decline, so he pushed the two seedlings with five leaves forward and said:

"Alright, Brother Yang, I won't ask anymore. These two seedlings have much less damage to their fifth-grade leaves, so they should be able to sell for more money. You can take these two."

"Anyway, we're not asking to sell the sixth-grade leaves, so it doesn't matter whether they're damaged or not."

After Wang An finished speaking, Yang Shuwen blushed deeply and said, looking very embarrassed:

"Hey brother, you're being way too polite."

Wang An chuckled and said:

"Alright, alright, Brother Yang, given our current relationship, it would be too formal to talk about these things."

After saying that, Wang An pushed the two seedlings with five leaves towards Yang Shuwen.

Yang Shuwen nodded hurriedly before taking the two ginseng seedlings.

Each person rewrapped the ginseng in tree bark, and everything returned to calm, as if those people had never been there at all.

Wang An and the others continued digging for ginseng using sticks, each busy with their own tasks.

Time flew by, and two days passed in the blink of an eye. Wang An and his group had waded through the entire old village.

The output of this old dam is very average. Apart from one seedling with six leaves that is over a hundred years old, five seedlings with five leaves, and nine seedlings with four leaves, the number of seedlings with the second-highest quality and the third-highest quality is not very large.

However, Wang An and the others were already quite satisfied, because this was the normal output volume of the old mines. The previous old mine, where two old mines were placed side by side, was a completely isolated case.

Yang Shuwen still wanted to turn the tables, but Wang An firmly refused.

After wading through the last old embankment, they could go down the mountain and go home. How could Wang An possibly waste time in the old embankment that he had already waded through?

But when Wang An led everyone to the last old village, their hearts sank immediately.

To be precise, they're probably all cold now.

Because there are very obvious signs that someone lived here, and not for long, maybe only a few days.

In other words, this last old village has been snapped up by someone else.

Of course, while everyone else's hearts were utterly disheartened, Wang An was secretly overjoyed. (End of Chapter)