Era: My backyard is the garbage dump of the universe

Chapter 360 Ground Mushrooms

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone became nervous and the atmosphere became tense in an instant.

But the strange thing was that everyone raised their shotguns and aimed at the direction of the tiger's roar, but after a long while there was no movement.

Just when everyone thought Liu Qingsong was making a fuss, the more than two-meter-high Miscanthus grass on the southeast side fell down in patches, and then a large colorful tiger was seen coming out.

This big colorful tiger is very large, more than twice as big as the little fat tiger.

As he walked, the intimidating power of the king of beasts made everyone except Liu Qingsong hold their breath.

Ye Xiaoxiao and Chen Liping were so frightened that they trembled and couldn't help crying.

Hearing the cry, the big tiger immediately turned its head to look over and stopped.

But it didn't pounce at the first moment, but stood there and watched.

In the pine forest, a porter saw the situation and wanted to shoot and kill the big tiger first, but was stopped by Liu Qingsong.

It's not that he wants to see Ye Xiaoxiao and Chen Liping die, but he knows that shooting might backfire and anger the big tiger.

And within these few seconds, the big tiger moved.

But it did not pounce on Ye Xiaoxiao and Chen Liping. Instead, it turned and walked towards the bushes on the right.

Soon, he disappeared from everyone's sight.

This made Liu Qingsong breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing that Ye Xiaoxiao had turned pale with fright, he immediately ran over quickly.

Liu Lijuan followed behind and was about to help Ye Xiaoxiao, who was slumped on the ground, up when the big tiger suddenly turned back.

Then he stared at Liu Qingsong and Liu Lijuan, brother and sister, with his big, copper-bell eyes.

Liu Lijuan was so frightened that she trembled and sweated profusely on the spot.

But Liu Qingsong was very calm, his eyes fixed on the big tiger.

In this way, the man and the tiger were in a stalemate.

After a stalemate of several dozen seconds, the big tiger turned around and left.

This time he really left and never came back.

Seeing this, Liu Lijuan could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground.

Liu Qingsong quickly reached out and helped her up: "Second sister, are you okay?"

"It's okay." Liu Lijuan replied in a trembling voice.

She wanted to stand firm to help Ye Xiaoxiao, but for some reason, she staggered twice and then collapsed back down.

Liu Qingsong knew that his second sister was frightened, so he had to support her with both hands.

He didn't let go until his second sister's complexion improved and her body stopped shaking.

"Brother, let's go quickly! It's too dangerous here." Ye Xiaoxiao also climbed up at this time and stood firmly with the help of Jin Yutou.

"Okay!" Liu Qingsong nodded and led them towards the pine forest.

Ye Xiaoxiao, Jin Yutou and Liu Lijuan followed behind.

"Wait for me." Chen Liping hesitated for a moment and chased after him.

But Liu Qingsong, Ye Xiaoxiao and Liu Lijuan ignored Chen Liping. After joining the porters and mule team, they headed straight towards the winding path.

We walked and stopped along the way, climbed mountains and waded through rivers, and finally arrived at the foot of the mountain at the entrance of the medicine market at around noon.

Due to the drought, the originally green mountains around the medicine market have all turned withered and yellow, and large tracts of southern bamboo have even turned into "bald trees".

Liu Qingsong frowned as he watched this scene. Just as he was about to ask everyone to speed up their pace, Zhao Yinwu appeared with a team of patrolling villagers.

"Uncle Zhao." Jin Yutou ran over happily after seeing Zhao Yinwu.

"Hey!" Zhao Yinwu responded. He was somewhat surprised to see that Jin Yutou, whom he hadn't seen for a few days, had not only gained a lot of weight, but his complexion also looked much better.

But he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he reached out, picked up the golden taro and walked towards Liu Qingsong.

As they got closer, Zhao Yinwu asked Liu Qingsong, "Why did you bring so many supplies this time? You even sent out a mule team?"

"Of course, it's for you, to help you get through the current difficulties." Liu Qingsong replied softly, "Hurry up and find someone to move them all to the medicine market."

"Okay! Okay!" After Zhao Yinwu understood the meaning of Liu Qingsong's words, he quickly put down the golden taro in his hand and ran away.

After a while, nearly a hundred original residents of the medicine market, including Chen Zhongju, Wu Niang, Zhao Xiaoying, and Jin Ruyi, were called over, and all the supplies on the porters and mules were sent to the entrance of the medicine market.

Seeing that their transportation process was in good order, Liu Qingsong did not bother to intervene and took Jin Yutou's hand: "Let's go! Let's go find our ancestors."

"Yeah!" Jin Yutou nodded repeatedly.

However, before he had walked even a meter, he was stopped by the limping Chen Liping: "Where are you going? Don't think of leaving me behind. I'm hungry. Go find me something to eat."

"Who do you think you are? How dare you tell me what to do?" Liu Qingsong glared at Chen Liping, then walked away with Jin Yutou.

Seeing this, Ye Xiaoxiao quickly followed behind.

"You guys..." Chen Liping stomped her feet in anger, but no matter how angry she was, she had no choice but to follow behind and walked towards the pine forest on the right.

Before he could get close, he was stopped by a group of villagers with hunting rifles on their shoulders.

"Xiaoxiao, please say something!" Chen Liping was extremely anxious.

"Brother..." Ye Xiaoxiao looked at Liu Qingsong hesitantly.

"Don't worry about her. After she meets the ancestor, someone will naturally bring her food and send her back." Liu Qingsong reminded softly.

"Okay!" Ye Xiaoxiao nodded.

Chen Liping also heard this.

But she was not grateful, instead she became angry: "Do you want to abandon me now? I tell you, I..."

The words are not finished yet.

Chen Liping was so frightened that she dared not to continue.

The reason why she didn't dare to say it was that two burly villagers appeared on Chen Liping's left and right, and then carried Chen Liping towards Zhao Yinwu's position without saying a word.

"What do you want to do? Don't touch me. If you touch me again..." Chen Liping, who was being held, struggled desperately. The two burly villagers thought that because she was a girl, they didn't dare to do anything to her.

Who would have thought that the next second one of the burly villagers raised his hand and slapped her loudly: "Stop making noise, or I'll throw you into the mountains to feed the tigers."

As soon as I heard the word tiger.

Chen Liping instantly became timid and extremely scared.

After all, she had experienced how scary tigers were before.

However, even though she was timid, she still bore a grudge against Ye Xiaoxiao and Liu Qingsong, and swore in her heart that she would return the "humiliation" she suffered today a hundredfold.

……

Next to a quiet cave.

Liu Qingsong, Ye Xiaoxiao and Jin Yutou saw the old ancestor sitting in a recliner in a daze.

"Grandma..." Jin Yutou shouted repeatedly when he saw this.

"Hey~~!" The old ancestor came back to his senses. When he saw that Jin Yutou had gained a lot of weight and looked much better, he happily sat up from the recliner and reached out to hug Jin Yutou: "Your illness seems to have improved a lot!"

"Well, it's mainly because the food at my brother's house is delicious. I eat two big bowls of it every day." Jin Yutou replied.

"Really?" The old man smiled, then looked up at Liu Qingsong: "Child, have you had lunch?"

"No!" Liu Qingsong replied.

"We didn't eat anything, and we were almost bitten by a tiger on the way to deliver supplies." Jin Yutou followed.

"Oh?" The old ancestor was slightly surprised, but did not ask any further questions. Instead, he ordered several women around him to quickly kill chickens and sheep and cook.

When everyone else had gone about their business, the old man walked out of the cave tremblingly with his cane, pointed at the Black Stone Reservoir at the foot of the mountain and said to Liu Qingsong, "Everyone still thinks we should open the gates to release water for irrigation. What do you think I should do next?"

"Well..." Liu Qingsong hesitated for a moment before replying, "I am not a native resident of Yao City, so I have no say in opening the gates to irrigate farmland. I just want to ask, do they know the secret of the Black Stone Reservoir?"

"I know." The old ancestor sighed.

There is a miraculous medicine in the Black Stone Reservoir. This is definitely no secret to the original residents of Yaoshi.

"Did you know that they were going to open the floodgates to release water?" Liu Qingsong was surprised: "Aren't they afraid of death?" "Of course I'm afraid of death, but if someone gave them enough money, what would you do?" The old ancestor turned his head and looked at Liu Qingsong, with a bitter smile in his turbid eyes.

"What do you mean?" Liu Qingsong hesitated to speak.

"Someone has infiltrated the medicine market and wants to get the magic medicine." The old ancestor replied softly: "This is also the main reason why I called you here this time, because I can't stop it with my current ability."

"Then do you know who is planning to develop the miracle drug?" Liu Qingsong asked.

"It seems to be the Zhao family." The old ancestor replied.

"Zhao family???" Liu Qingsong suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" the old ancestor asked in confusion.

"The Zhao family is courting death." Liu Qingsong brought a chair for the old man to sit on, and he also brought a bench to sit beside him: "They only know that the magic medicine can make people live longer, but they don't know that the chance of success is very small."

"If I were you, I wouldn't bother with the miracle drug."

"Let your men open the floodgates and find the magic medicine to sell to the Zhao family."

"This may seem like inaction, but it can actually kill the Zhao family."

“This…” The old ancestor’s cloudy eyes lit up, but soon dimmed: “It still won’t work. The magical medicine in the Black Stone Reservoir has not been picked for many years. I’m afraid it has mutated and become very powerful.”

"If ordinary people go to pick them, they will probably never come back."

"So what you mean is..." Liu Qingsong hesitated to speak.

"We can't let the Zhao family's conspiracy succeed. We can't open the floodgates to collect the magical medicine." The ancestor replied.

"But can you stop it now? Do I have the ability to stop it?" Liu Qingsong asked.

"This..." The old ancestor couldn't answer.

She is old. If she were young, no one would dare to disobey her, but now... she is old and her words have no influence, and she really can't be stopped.

"So!" Liu Qingsong said, "It's absolutely right to do as I say. These indigenous residents who want to open the floodgates and release the water, these indigenous residents who have taken benefits from the Zhao family, since they insist on picking the magic medicine, they must pay the price for their actions."

"Otherwise, the medicine market will never have peace again."

"That's true." The old ancestor had to admit this.

After a long silence, she suddenly came to her senses and laughed, "Then I'll listen to you. Let's not talk about the Black Rock Reservoir sluice gates. Now let's talk about the golden taro."

"What's wrong with Golden Taro?" Liu Qingsong asked.

"Doesn't his illness require ground mushrooms to be cured?" The old ancestor replied: "I asked my men to search in the mountains these days, and they really found the ground mushrooms that Old Nie mentioned."

"But it's a little difficult to pick, so I need your help."

"Oh?" Liu Qingsong immediately became interested: "Where is the ground mushroom?"

"It's in a big mountain southeast of the Heishi Reservoir. I'll let Zhao Yinwu take you there after lunch. Now you should take a rest and have lunch first." The old ancestor replied softly.

"Okay! Okay!" Liu Qingsong nodded.

After chatting with the ancestor for a few more words, he went into the cave to find Ye Xiaoxiao and Jin Yutou.

……

after an hour.

After eating and drinking his fill, Liu Qingsong said something to his ancestor, then took Jin Yutou and Ye Xiaoxiao to the medicine market to find Zhao Yinwu.

At this time, Zhao Yinwu was drinking and eating in the Nanzhu shed of Wu Niang's house. Liu Lijuan, Jin Ruyi and others were also sitting around and chatting.

Seeing Liu Qingsong coming over, Liu Lijuan immediately went to greet him: "Qingsong, why did you only bring Xiaoxiao and Jin Yutou here? Where is Chen Liping?"

"Isn't she with you?" Liu Qingsong asked.

"This Chen Liping, is she going to secretly go somewhere else again?" Ye Xiaoxiao also said worriedly.

"My people took Chen Liping to the medicine market and then went to move supplies. They didn't do anything to Chen Liping. I can be sure that she is definitely not with us." Zhao Yinwu saw that Liu Lijuan and Liu Qingsong were looking at him, and he spoke immediately.

This is the truth. After all, Chen Liping was a guest who came to the medicine market with Liu Qingsong. No matter what, they could not be cruel to Chen Liping.

Liu Qingsong was naturally aware of this, and he said, "If Chen Liping wants to commit suicide, then we should ignore her. Just take me to find the ground mushrooms later."

"Okay!" Zhao Yinwu nodded, picked up the chopsticks and quickened his eating pace.

A few minutes later, he took Liu Qingsong and several other villagers carrying hunting rifles and walked towards the mountains southeast of the Heishi Reservoir.

As for Ye Xiaoxiao and Jin Yutou, they were left in Wu Niang's bamboo greenhouse and looked after by Liu Lijuan.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to take him with him, but the process of searching for golden mushrooms is very dangerous. If something unexpected happens, he won’t have time to take care of him, so the best way is to stay in the Nanzhu greenhouse and wait for him to come back.

……

The water level of the Heishi Reservoir has dropped a lot compared to the last time Liu Qingsong came. In the center, one can even see a lot of blurry green shadows.

These green shadows are undoubtedly the magical medicine hiding in the water.

Judging from the number, there are probably tens of thousands of them.

But the villagers on the dam did not care about it and still gathered at the sluice gate ready to open the sluice to release the water.

Liu Qingsong, who was passing by the dam, frowned when he saw this scene, but he didn't bother to intervene. Instead, he asked Zhao Yinwu in a low voice, "Aren't they afraid of the magic medicine in the reservoir?"

"Alas! No matter how scared we are, we have to open the gates to release water to irrigate the seedlings! Otherwise, everyone will starve to death." Zhao Yinwu sighed and replied, "To tell you the truth, anyone who dares to go down to the reservoir has a special medicine powder in their hands. As long as you sprinkle it in the water, the magic medicine will not attack people."

"Really?" Liu Qingsong was a little surprised and didn't quite believe what Zhao Yinwu said.

However, he did not ask any more questions. Instead, he quickly left the dam of the Black Stone Reservoir and walked towards the mountains to the southeast.

The mountain is surrounded by steep cliffs, with only a rugged path leading to the middle of the mountain.

After more than an hour, they finally reached the halfway point of the mountain.

Zhao Yinwu pointed at the black mushroom-like thing on the opposite cliff and said to Liu Qingsong: "That's the ground mushroom. It usually grows in places with moss."

"But it's not easy to pick them. Except for eagles, ordinary people can't climb to that position because the mossy places are often very slippery."

"That's true." Liu Qingsong nodded in agreement.

After taking a look at the surrounding environment, he whistled.

After a moment, the little eagle was seen appearing in the sky, then flapping its wings and heading back towards the mushrooms on the opposite cliff.

Zhao Yinwu and several people around him watched this scene with bated breath.

Seeing that Little Eagle had quickly picked up a lot of ground mushrooms, he couldn't help but get excited: "These ground mushrooms are very rare. The purchase price at the medicine shop is 500 yuan per pound!"

"But unfortunately, no one dares to pick them no matter how high the price is."

"Really? Then I have to pick more today." Liu Qingsong whistled again when he heard that.

The little eagle understood what he meant, and after giving all the mushrooms in its claws to Liu Qingsong halfway up the mountain, it flew to the edge of the cliff and picked up more mushrooms.

It didn't fly away until it had picked all the mushrooms it saw and piled them up into a "small hill" in front of Liu Qingsong.

Zhao Yinwu was filled with envy when he saw Liu Qingsong packing mushrooms in sacks, so he asked the people around him to help.

After loading, the two men were about to leave carrying the sacks when they heard explosions and screams from the direction of the Black Stone Reservoir.

"What's going on?" Liu Qingsong looked over.

Zhao Yinwu also frowned.

When he saw countless green vines coming out of the Black Rock Reservoir and chasing the villagers who opened the gates on the dam to release water, he couldn't help but widen his eyes: "How could this happen? Why doesn't the special potion work on the magic medicine?"

"They used explosives, how do you think it worked?" Liu Qingsong said in a low voice: "It's obvious that these people are just trying to get the magic medicine, not really wanting to open the floodgates and release the water."

"No! No! This is impossible." Zhao Yinwu put down the sack of ground mushrooms on his shoulder, and then ran towards the Heishi Reservoir as fast as possible with the villagers around him.

But he fell down after running a few meters and didn't dare to run anymore.

After all, there are cliffs all around here, and they can't do anything wrong.

Liu Qingsong smiled at the scene, picked up the sack on the ground, and walked over quickly.

……

-

(End of this chapter)