Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 252: Snake Ginseng

Qu Shaoyang led a group of young men back to the mountain field where they had conquered the day before yesterday.

When we got here, we saw a river at the foot of the mountain.

Qu Jiang exclaimed and pointed ahead, "Yes, yes, it's here, this is the place in my dream."

Qu Shaoyang nodded, understanding what was going on, and arranged the sticks for everyone again.

Xingye was moved to the middle to serve as the waist stick, Qu Jiang was moved to the other end to serve as the side stick, and Qu Shaoyang switched to Xingye's previous position.

The order of other people was also adjusted.

Afterwards, everyone shouted in unison towards the mountain and walked up the mountain in a line.

A group of nine people climbed the mountain from the foot to the top, and then from the top to the foot, going back and forth in one trip after another.

Just as they were walking the third round and passing halfway up the mountain, Qu Shaoyang's eyes suddenly lit up.

Two or three feet in front of him, a bright red fruit appeared in the grass.

The fruit is the size of a child's fist and is made up of small fruits that look like red coral beads.

Looking down from the red fruit, there is a green-black stem as thick as a little finger, with six leaves on it.

Each leaf is palmately compound and consists of five ovate leaves of varying sizes.

"Bang hammer." Qu Shaoyang shouted the mountain explosion horn.

On the other side, Xingye was the first to react and asked hurriedly, "What grade of leaf?"

"Sixth-grade leaf." Qu Shaoyang replied confidently.

Everyone finally reacted and hurriedly congratulated him, “Hurry up and take the throne, hurry up and take the throne.” After saying that, they moved closer to Qu Shaoyang.

When they got closer, they saw the six-leaf tree in the grass.

At this time, Xingye asked, "Do you want to take it?"

Qu Shaoyang poked the rope-pulling stick in his hand into the ground and said firmly, "Take it."

This means that it’s time to start carrying out the ginseng work.

However, before starting to carry the ginseng, there is still something to do.

Qu Shaoyang turned his head and looked at everyone, then said directly, "Bring the fire."

After saying this, he untied the cigarette pouch at his waist, put a pack of cigarettes in it and lit it.

Seeing the leader do this, the others followed suit and filled a bag of cigarettes and lit them up.

Afterwards, Qu Shaoyang took a long puff of smoke and blew it towards the top of the sixth-grade Ye Honghong fruit.

When the other guys saw this, they also imitated Qu Shaoyang, taking a deep breath and exhaling thick smoke.

Just after everyone puffed out two puffs of smoke, they suddenly heard a rustling sound.

Looking closely, they discovered a huge snake as thick as an arm, entangled in the stem of the six-leaf plant. The snake's head was raised three feet high, and it kept spitting out its tongue at everyone.

"Money scammer." Everyone exclaimed.

Qu Shaoyang was not in a hurry. He took another deep puff of the cigarette and blew it towards the snake's head.

Seeing this, the others also followed Qu Shaoyang's example and sprayed smoke at the giant snake.

After a few puffs of thick smoke, the big snake lost its previous spirit. It drooped its head dejectedly, and its body limply let go of the six-leaf tree. It slipped out into the bushes and walked away slowly.

"Xingye, San Ge, you two smoke and follow it, puffing smoke as you walk, and send it farther away."

Qu Shaoyang waved to Xingye and Qu Jiang, asking them to send the big snake away.

The two of them came back only after the big snake had gone far away.

Qu Shaoyang also put away the pipe and started to put a bridle on the six-leaf tree and clear the weeds, tree roots and other debris around it.

Six idiots stood in a circle around the area to guard the area, and Qu Shaoyang arranged for Qu Jiang to go to the upper wind to build a fire. This time it was a sixth-grade leaf, which must be larger than the previous two-grade leaf.

The bigger the ginseng is, the more work it takes to lift it, so you need to build a fire and put some wormwood in to make smoke to drive away nearby mosquitoes and other insects so that you can concentrate on lifting the ginseng.

Qu Shaoyang squatted in front of the six-leaf tree, holding a deer bone stick in his hand, and moved the soil bit by bit.

When you encounter tree roots, use a sharp saw to cut off the roots. When you encounter grass roots, use a sharp pair of scissors to cut the grass roots.

Going deeper along the stem, I could see the head and neck of the reed.

After digging a little deeper, a large ginseng stem was revealed. The stem itself was as thick as a finger.

Qu Shaoyang was neither arrogant nor impatient. He continued to dig the soil bit by bit. After taking out the ginseng stems and roots completely, he covered them with soil to prevent water evaporation.

After a while, he finally saw the ginseng shoulder. As soon as Qu Shaoyang saw its thickness, he knew it must be a big one.

"Erniu, take a few people back to our shack and move all the things over. It's time to move on."

When lifting ginseng, the larger the ginseng, the more careful you need to be. If the skin is scratched or the roots are broken, the value of the ginseng will be greatly reduced.

The light transmittance in the forest is not high, so it is impossible to judge the time by sight, but Qu Shaoyang has a pocket watch with him so he can check the time.

It's already noon now, and we will definitely not be able to get the young ginseng out today.

So they moved their homes, huts and food supplies here, stayed here at night, and continued to carry ginseng tomorrow.

Upon hearing this, Erniu immediately led three people back to the shack, then packed up all the things they had brought up the mountain and carried them away, including the backpacks.

On the other side, Qu Jiang and Xingye led people to cut trees and build huts nearby, while Qu Shaoyang was concentrating on carrying ginseng.

It was getting dark quickly in the woods, and the mallet could not be seen clearly after it was half lifted out.

There was no choice but for Qu Shaoyang to stop, eat, rest for a night, and continue the next morning.

Early the next morning, Qu Shaoyang started carrying ginseng without even having breakfast.

It was not until the beginning of the Si hour that the sixth-grade leaves of the seedling were finally unearthed, and everyone could see its full appearance.

I saw that there were two ginseng wings, one big and one small, growing on the neck of the ginseng seedling, just like human arms.

The main body is thicker than a man's thumb and quite long. It is divided into two legs at the bottom, dragging long whiskers covered with pearly bumps.

At first glance, this young ginseng really looks a bit like a slim young girl.

Qu Shaoyang looked at the young ginseng again and again. Based on his experience, he estimated that the young ginseng weighed at least five taels, which was very large.

"Let's cut off the omen. Let's pack up and go down the mountain immediately."

After admiring the young ginseng, Qu Shaoyang immediately started making ginseng buns, then ordered people to chop the branches and pack up.

"Sir, didn't the Third Master dream about several young girls washing clothes by the river? Should we look for them again?" asked a stupid guy.

"No, if you encounter a sixth-grade leaf, no matter how much you harvest, you must immediately leave the mountain. This is the rule."

The rules summarized by our predecessors are all lessons learned from blood and tears.

There are many gangs in the mountains, and sometimes there are bandit gangs watching in the dark.

The sixth-grade leaves are big goods. Once they are carried out, they must be brought down the mountain immediately, otherwise it will easily lead to complications.

Although Qu Shaoyang and others entered the mountains with guns, they could not be careless. It was more important to return home as soon as possible.

In the gang, the leader's words are like an imperial decree, and no one can object. Since Qu Shaoyang said so, the others took action immediately.

Qu Shaoyang found a red pine tree nearby and chopped down the omen. The others quickly packed up their things and headed straight for the foot of the mountain.

On the way back, they did not take the same route they came. Instead, they walked downstream along the river and found their way home.

Qu Shaoyang didn't eat breakfast and was tired and thirsty after working all morning.

So when they reached the river, Qu Shaoyang squatted down and scooped up some water to drink.

(End of this chapter)