Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 89 Gastrodia elata
Gastrodia elata is also called red arrow. The description of Gastrodia elata in medical books is: the stem is like a thin arrow shaft, less than two feet high.

Chen Weidong was very familiar with this thing, because he often collected this thing when he collected mountain products in his previous life.

Usually they buy them from farmers in the mountains for 70 or 80 cents, bring them to the city, and sell them for three or four yuan. They can make a lot of money in one round trip.

Collecting mountain products means buying at low prices and selling at high prices, but it is not easy, and most people cannot bear this hardship!

Basically, they collect the crops from some villages in the mountains. Transportation is inconvenient. If they want to make more money, they have to push the price down to the lowest level from the farmers.
So when he saw those stems, Chen Weidong recognized them at a glance. They were Gastrodia elata.

Of course, the price of three or four yuan was seven or eight years later. It certainly cannot be sold at this price now, but Chen Weidong estimates that it is at least 80 or 90 cents per pound (dry), and the wet one can be worth 20 or 30 cents. This thing is much more valuable than Platycodon!

The picking season of Gastrodia elata is from autumn to the following spring before it sprouts.

The part of Gastrodia elata that can be used as medicine is the rhizome.

Once the Gastrodia elata sprouts in the spring of the following year, the nutrients in the rhizomes will be absorbed by the branches, causing it to become shriveled and its value will plummet.

Until autumn, Gastrodia elata produces new rhizomes.

Therefore, at this time, Gastrodia elata is considered to be the best quality.

Gastrodia elata grows in clusters.
Generally speaking, if you find one Gastrodia elata plant, it means there is a field of Gastrodia elata nearby.

"Haha! Gastrodia elata, there are so many of them over there. Brother Weidong, do you know how much one pound of Gastrodia elata costs?"

"I don't know, it depends on the grade, but Gastrodia elata is much more valuable than Platycodon grandiflorum!" Chen Weidong said with a smile.

"It's more expensive than Platycodon grandiflorum. There's a lot of Gastrodia elata in this piece. Bingzi, you've done a great job today."

Shitou shouted excitedly.

"Okay, don't leave it there to read the rice seedlings, dig up the gastrodia elata quickly and see how much is underneath?"

Chen Weidong brought the two people to the foot of the hillside, broke off the Gastrodia elata stems, then used his hands to push aside the grass and soil under the stems, digging down little by little until the potato-like Gastrodia elata tubers were exposed.

However, he did not take out the tuber directly, but dug back the soil along the tail of the tuber.

Sure enough, not far away, four or five big cubs were pulled out. Looking further down, there were some slightly smaller ones.

Finally, within a two-foot radius, Chen Weidong dug out two large handfuls of Gastrodia elata.

Gastrodia elata is like sweet potatoes and potatoes. Under each Gastrodia elata stem, there will be a large nest of Gastrodia cubs.

"Okay, I've demonstrated it to you! You have to dig like me. I'm going to continue roasting the rabbit. You guys dig here!" Chen Weidong said slowly.

"Okay, Brother Weidong, go ahead! Leave it to us two, we won't let any of them go!"

Bingzi patted his chest and said. Shitou also nodded quickly.

"Okay!" Chen Weidong went to roast the rabbit.

With the temptation of money, the two men dug even harder.

Chen Weidong had just taken two steps and turned his head to take a look. He saw that the two men were working very efficiently. Then he heard that Bingzi and Shitou had already reaped the rewards.

Chen Weidong was very satisfied. He took the two people into the mountains because he knew that they were good at work. If he had replaced them with a lazy person, he would definitely not have taken them.

Originally, this time he could earn about 40 to 50 yuan from digging Platycodon grandiflorum. Chen Weidong planned to give 7 to 8 yuan to each person after selling them.

After all, seven or eight dollars is not a small amount of money these days. They usually only earn a few cents a day working in the countryside!
But now we have discovered Gastrodia elata,
I could give more, after all, these two are my younger brothers.

If you want your followers to be obedient and support you, it is not enough to just make promises. You have to let the people who follow you make money.

Of course, whether it is more or less is still up to Chen Weidong.

And the premise is that you have to make more money first! Only when you eat the meat can your brothers drink the soup.

The two of them were digging enthusiastically!

Chen Weidong concentrated on roasting the rabbit until both sides were golden brown. Rabbits are fat in autumn, so they need to be turned over more often to ensure even roasting and thorough roasting.

Not long,
The wild rabbit began to sizzle with oil, then slowly turned golden, and a rich barbecue aroma began to spread.

Chen Weidong carefully tore a piece and put it in his mouth.

A crispy and tender smell, with a fragrant aroma.

Rabbits may look cute, but rabbit meat is so delicious!
"Shi Tou, Bingzi, eat first and then continue after you finish eating!" Chen Weidong shouted loudly.

Although the trees on this hillside are sparse, the shrubs are dense.
Both of them were digging Gastrodia elata in the bushes. Not only could Chen Weidong not see them at this moment, even Shitou and Bingzi could not see each other at all.

I can only shout loudly.

"Here they come!" Shitou and Bingzi responded from the bushes.

Then Chen Weidong went to the puddle to wash his hands. He saw some wild onions growing nearby, so he plucked some and washed them. Then he returned to the fire.

At this time, Shitou and Bingzi also came over carrying backpacks.

"It smells so good!"

The two of them kept digging, and now their stomachs were rumbling.

"Go wash your hands and eat!" Chen Weidong called.

"okay!"

Shitou and Bingzi ran over in a hurry.

Chen Weidong took out the cakes he had prepared in advance from his cloth bag.

Roll the wild onion with a single pancake, then tear off a piece of rabbit meat, take a bite of the single pancake, and eat it deliciously with the rabbit meat.

You can wrap various vegetables in burritos, and they taste really delicious!

After washing their hands, Shitou and Bingzi also sat over and took out the dry food they brought from their bags.

Chen Weidong took a look and saw that it was a pancake made of mixed flour.

Not every family is like him, willing to eat white flour bread.

"Eat quickly, I feel like there is still a lot of Gastrodia elata in this piece. Let's get back to work after eating!"

Chen Weidong said.

"OK!"

The two of them ate happily.
The roasted rabbit is crispy and delicious, and the rabbit meat is tender.

"Brother Weidong, this rabbit meat is so delicious!" Shitou said happily with his mouth full of oil.

"Hmm, it's delicious!" Bingzi nodded.

"Do a good job! Follow me from now on, and you will get plenty of rabbit meat."

Chen Weidong said.

The fat rabbit weighing more than four pounds was eaten up by the three of them, and the rabbit bones were given to the two dogs!

Before going up the mountain, Chen Weidong fed Black Tiger some dog food, and considering that they were going up the mountain to collect herbs, Chen Weidong fed Black Tiger enough so that he would not be hungry!

After Shitou and Bingzi finished eating, they each drank some water, and then got up to work without resting.

After Chen Weidong put out the fire, he drank a sip of water and started digging.

Chen Weidong had just dug up one plant, and Bingzi and Shitou also dug out seven or eight Gastrodia elata plants.

The two of them had dug a lot just now, and now they were more skilled and adept than Chen Weidong.

After digging for a while, this piece was gone. Chen Weidong raised his head and continued to look for Gastrodia elata.

Suddenly, at the root of an oak tree not far ahead, a cluster of bright orange-red things appeared. The overlapping pieces looked very much like a rooster's comb at first glance, which attracted Chen Weidong's attention.

This is a clump of tree chicken mushrooms, a very large clump of tree chicken mushrooms, much larger than the one Chen Weidong discovered last time.

But just like last time, the best time to pick chicken mushrooms is in April and May. It’s a bit late now.
Then Chen Weidong found two more Gastrodia elata plants next to the oak tree.

The Gastrodia elata in this season has begun to wither and is mixed in with the bushes. It is not easy to find without careful search.

After finding two Gastrodia elata plants, Chen Weidong knelt on the ground and began to dig up the soil carefully and began to dig out the Gastrodia elata.

"Brother Weidong, I found five more Gastrodia elata plants here!"

Shi Tou excitedly shouted to Chen Weidong.

"I also found three here!" Bingzi's voice came soon after.

"Hurry up and dig! This is all money!" Chen Weidong replied.

Then he warned again, "Look carefully, maybe there are some around here."

"OK!"

Shitou and Bingzi agreed and started digging Gastrodia elata.

Under each Gastrodia elata plant, there is a large nest of Gastrodia elata cubs, at least four or five big cubs, and some small ones remaining.

After Chen Weidong dug up the two Gastrodia elata plants, he slowly searched around with the two plants as the center, pulling aside the grass to search carefully.

After a short while, two more Gastrodia elata plants were found.

Brother Weidong, there are too many Gastrodia elata. What should I do if I can’t fit them all in? "Shitou asked Chen Weidong anxiously.

They had just dug the Platycodon and filled up Shitou's backpack, and Bingzi's sack was also full.

By now, both of them had dug up more than twenty Gastrodia elata seeds and had no place to put them.

Bingzi and Shitou were asked to throw away the Platycodon, but they were reluctant to do so. Although Platycodon was cheap, they had dug it out with great effort.

Chen Weidong took out two sacks from his backpack, threw them to Shitou and said, "Put the Platycodon grandiflorum into the sacks, and put the Gastrodia elata into the backpack."

Free up the backpack and it’s easy to put it in!
"okay!"

Shitou and Bingzi agreed and took the sack to rummage, putting the Platycodon into the sack. It was just enough for one sack. The backpack at Shitou's house was not small, and it was estimated that one backpack could hold 100 kilograms without any problem.

After Chen Weidong dug up five plants of Gastrodia elata, he discovered two clumps of chicken mushrooms. Unfortunately, it was the wrong season. When the chicken mushrooms get old, they will become like wood, very tough and inedible.

So Chen Weidong could only give up with regret, and then remember this location and come back next spring.

These few clumps of tree mushrooms this year will surely produce many, many more clumps of tree mushroom offspring next year.

If you can't eat the mother mushroom, then wait to eat its children.

They dug up two more Gastrodia elata plants. They had just been digging for a while, and the three of them had dug up almost two hundred kilograms in total. If they sold them directly, they would be worth sixty or seventy yuan, so it was a considerable harvest.

Soon, Chen Weidong discovered another Gastrodia elata.

Good guy, this Gastrodia elata plant is really not very tall, it is more than two meters high.

You know, the average Gastrodia elata is only seventy or eighty centimeters tall, and some artificially cultivated ones are only about one meter tall.

This Gastrodia elata is considered a giant among Gastrodia elata.

If not, Chen Weidong happened to step on it and almost ignored it.

Now that you have discovered it, what else can you say?

Just dig right in!
There is a saying that blinding such a big man is in vain.

This sentence is also applicable to Gastrodia elata.

The Gastrodia elata was two meters tall, and Chen Weidong thought he could dig up a few more big ones.

As a result, Chen Weidong dug the entire three-foot radius around him.

But in the end, Chen Weidong only dug out four big cubs, and some small cubs.

Chen Weidong put the baby Gastrodia elata into the backpack, wondering if his previous good luck had run out.

After digging up this big Gastrodia elata, Chen Weidong didn’t find any more Gastrodia elata for a long time.

After digging two more Gastrodia elata plants, Chen Weidong decided to temporarily stop digging Gastrodia elata plants.
Because the three sacks were full, and the backpack was only half full,

But right now, there aren't many Gastrodia elata around, so it's better to go back early. After all, all together, there are about three or four hundred kilograms. If there are more, it will be bad luck for us to not be able to go back.

"Okay! It's almost done. Let's pack up and go back." Chen Weidong said slowly.

The two nodded.

There were two sacks of Gastrodia elata, one sack of Platycodon grandiflorum, and half a basket of Gastrodia elata.

"Brother Weidong, I am strong, so leave these two bags to me."

Shitou took a knife and cut a thick branch to use as a shoulder pole. Chen Weidong and Bingzi had already tied up the three sacks with ropes. Shitou used a stick to easily lift up the two sacks.

Seeing that Shitou was so relaxed, Chen Weidong didn't say much. Among ordinary people, Shitou was considered to have natural supernatural powers.

When I worked in a production team, I could carry a 200-jin sack and jog along the way.

Although Bingzi was not as strong as Shitou, he was also a laborer, almost as strong as Chen Weidong. He quickly picked up a sack.

Chen Weidong didn't bother to be polite with the two of them. He also had to lead Heihu, Dahuang, and the guards, so he didn't care whether they were willing or not.

But Shitou and Bingzi were very sensible, so Chen Weidong didn't need to say much.

Although the two of them carried a lot, they were very happy. After all, they were carrying money. Although the mountain road was difficult to walk on, it was much better than working all day in the countryside and only earning a few cents after working hard.

Thanks to the book friend Po Pi for the 500 Qidian coins reward

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Let me explain, this book is not at all saintly, because the author does not like to read books that are too saintly, I also explained this in the article,
It's just a period piece, the protagonist can't be too bad, just a normal person! A little selfish,
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(End of this chapter)