Take the Fox Fairy To Catch the Ghost

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-eight

Ginseng is a herbaceous plant for many years, it likes shade, the longer the age and the bigger the rhizome, the more valuable it is. Experienced ginseng pickers can roughly judge the growth year based on the berry leaves of ginseng. According to Xu Changfu, ginseng grown in one year has three small leaves, commonly known as Sanhuazi, and ginseng grown in two years has five small leaves. It looks like a human palm, so it is called horseshoe, which is grown in three years. Ginseng has five branched roots, each branch has five small leaves, called Erjiazi, and it has three branches when grown in four years, called Dengtaizi, and so on. Ginseng grown in six years has five branches. Each branch also has five small leaves, commonly known as five-pin leaves, which are considered the best in ginseng.

Ginseng, the king of herbs, is well known for its medicinal properties. A large number of local ginseng pickers flock to the Changbai Mountains every year, and ginseng like Wupinye has long been extinct. Most of the folk ginseng kings who have been famous for ten and a hundred years are fakes that have been artificially fooled.

The normal period for ginseng harvesting is from April to August. You can search for ginseng based on the branches, leaves and berries of ginseng. Nowadays, the mountains are covered by heavy snow, the ground is freezing and the sky is cold, and the thickness of snow is tens of centimeters below the foot. It is harder to pick a wild ginseng in such an environment than finding a needle in a haystack.

Looking around the surrounding environment, I didn't know what to do for a while. However, the three of us knew best in our hearts that what we picked was not ordinary ginseng, but ginseng essence with spiritual consciousness. Bai Ling was originally the incarnation of a spirit fox, and she was naturally able to sense whether there were any of her so-called comrades.

I stayed and got together with Bai Ling, and asked in a low voice, "Can you feel it?"

Bai Ling said: "As long as it appears within a radius of ten miles, I can sense it."

I said, "Is there no one here?"

She nodded.

Since Bai Ling can be sure of himself, why bother wasting time here, I hurried to stop Xu Changfu and said with a smile: "Uncle Xu, we have almost checked this forest. If there are really people... Uncle Xu's ability will definitely not escape your eyes."

Xu Changfu said: "The snow is indeed thicker now, and it is not easy to find clubs. However, you are right, and it is not my boast. With my more than 30 years of experience picking clubs, as long as I walk back and forth here, I can smell the smell of clubs and mallets. Obviously, there are none in this forest. Even if it is, I am afraid that it hasn't even been a year. Since it hasn't even a year, it hasn't grown into shape, even if it is found and picked. It's useless."

Roland said, "Aren't we wasting time for a few hours?"

Xu Changfu said: "To be honest, I also know in my heart that there is little possibility in this forest. After all, this is the only way to enter the mountains. Every year people who enter the mountains choose to enter the mountains from this forest area. Once a year, this place can't grow even if it wants to grow."

Roland did not say: "Since you know it, you deliberately spent a few hours with us here, what is your heart?"

Xu Changfu chuckled and said, "Xiao Luo, don't be angry. I am not holding a fluke. You just said that you want to pick a fresh stick. If we are lucky, we will find one in this forest. , We don’t need to take the risk to go further."

Jiang Yilong said: "Then what should we do now, it's impossible to go home, right?"

Xu Changfu said: "Of course I have this idea, I'm afraid that some of the bosses will not be happy. Haha...no joke, based on my more than 30 years of experience, now our only place is to go to Bailigou."

When Xu Changfu said the name of the place, I found his face was slightly different, but he quickly returned to normal.

Jiang Yilong said: "If Bailigou still doesn't exist."

"Then only go to Chi Lao Peak."

After Xu Changfu finished speaking, he pointed to the northwest direction, and saw the half-towering cloud and snow-capped mountain peaks standing in the sky. Just looking at the road can tell if the road is not close. In my estimation, there is no straight road, winding and winding, just want to go to Chi Lao Peak, it would take a few days less than our current foot journey.

After all, Xu Changfu is a local ginseng picker with many years of experience, and he certainly knows the most about the geographical environment here. He determined Bailigou, and we naturally stopped talking. However, on the way to Bailigou, Xu Changfu learned from Xu Changfu's mouth that although Bailigou is a treasured place for ginseng picking, this place is full of dangers. If you are not careful, you will die. In the past, there were no more than a dozen gangs and no one dared to go here, and these people did not dare to go deep.

Xu Changfu deliberately probed our tone, the purpose is to let us retreat. However, the top priority is that we must find a ginseng essence in this mountain range as soon as possible. In this way, Bai Ling will be saved. Even if it is really dangerous, we can't take care of that much.

We left the forest area and took the path from Xu Changfu straight to Bailigou. I don’t know if this guy was a little unhappy. He deliberately chose a very difficult and dangerous road, walking hard, comparable to natural dangers. Many times, the **** of death has been with us. Pass by. However, he said that this is the closest road, which can save at least half of the time. We compromise again. Since we can save half of the time, it stands to reason that we will be able to reach Bailigou soon. Unexpectedly, we didn't even walk more than half of the distance until dark.

We are okay. Even though we have some complaints, we still bury them in our hearts, but Roland is different. One is to blame us, and the other is to accuse Xu Changfu of doing it deliberately. After all, she was a woman who originally wanted to follow us on a tour of the mountains and rivers, but she didn't even think she would suffer in the freezing environment and find some ginseng. However, as soon as she spoke too much, Jiang Yilong rebuked her with a few words, and she immediately settled down again.

Roland said: "It's cold, what should I do now, this place is so cold, it is impossible for us to stay here overnight."

Right now is a ditch, thick snow accumulates, and there is no place to hang around. In order to reduce the packing and speed up the journey, we did not prepare overnight tents, just brought some dry food. Even if it was us, staying in this environment for one night, the next day was designated to be frozen into an ice-carved snowman.

"How can it be." Xu Changfu hesitated and said with a smile: "We people go to the mountains every year and want to get a big harvest in a limited time. The time to enter the mountains can be as little as ten days and a half, or as long as one or two months. Yes. So, a long time ago, some huts were built in some places where the clubs took root. There is a hut a short distance ahead, and we will spend the night there tonight."

There is no need to sleep on the ice and snow, which is naturally a good thing. Following in the footsteps of Xu Changfu, we walked forward for more than ten minutes, and then we found a straw shed in the middle of the open forest, and we hurriedly got into it.

The grass shed is supported by a few wooden pillars with thatch on it. Except for the gate, it is sealed all around. The moment we enter, we can immediately feel the warmth of our body. I looked around in the hayloft, and there was actually some firewood that I picked up early, and an earthen stove built with mud, and there was a big pot on it. According to Xu Changfu, this is the habit of ginseng pickers, mainly for the convenience of ginseng pickers who stay overnight from here. Of course, if the ginseng pickers who have stayed here before leave, they should also prepare for the next batch of ginseng pickers passing by. , That is, as much as you use, you have to replenish as much.

It's freezing cold and traveling all the way, what I need most now is a mouthful of hot soup. Xu Changfu quickly picked up the big pot and prepared to wash it with snow water outside the straw shed, and then boil a pot of hot water with snow water. At this moment, Xu Changfu suddenly said: "Oh, this is not right."

We looked a little inexplicable and asked, "Uncle Xu, what's wrong?"

Xu Changfu pointed to the charcoal under the earthen stove and said, "Looking at this situation, some people have stayed here for at most two or three days."

There are some charcoal burned by firewood under the earthen stove. According to the signs of charcoal, it should have been burnt in the past few days. At the moment, I couldn't even say: "In such weather and climate, how can anyone besides us have stayed here recently?"

Xu Changfu said: "This thing is really a bit strange. To be honest, in the first two days you entered the town, a group of people also came to our town."

We spoke in unison. "A group of people came to town?"

Xu Changfu said: "You have also seen the situation in the town. If you say it is big or not, you say it is small. Once an outsider enters the town, it won't take long for everyone to know it. Just two days after you entered the town. Suddenly, seven or eight foreigners came here. At the time, these people also claimed to be buying ginseng, and like you, they wanted the freshest ginseng."

"Then what?"

"Then they went into the mountain."

"They went straight into the mountain?"

"It's not easy to say that if I don't lead you into the mountain now, you will have to go back to the house if you enter the top of the mountain without authorization. If you don't want to go back to Baoding alive, maybe. Right." Seeing us nodded, Xu Changfu again Said: "Actually, as long as you are not a fool, you can understand this. It may be for this reason that these guys later marked the price clearly."

"How to clearly mark the price?"

"It doesn't matter whether they can get the ginseng. As long as they can be brought into the mountain and reach the designated place, one person will pay five thousand. To be honest, five thousand is enough for ten lampstands. As long as you are not so lucky, picking a dozen or so plants is not a problem."

"and after?"

"Later, the price was 10,000, and finally it was 50,000."

"fifty thousand?"

At this point, Xu Changfu was already a little excited, and said: "It's really fifty thousand. As long as you bring them to the designated place, you will give fifty thousand in cash. To be honest, we local ginseng pickers take advantage of that. For several months and seasons, I worked hard to sell the collected ginseng to the participants. With little luck, at most they could only make a living for one family. However, they actually offered a price of 50,000..."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I, I'm because they didn't look at it..."