Changbai Mountain is rich in species and is rich in various wild medicinal materials, especially wild ginseng, which is known as the number one medicinal material among the three treasures of Changbai. Wild ginseng is particularly valuable for medicinal purposes. If consumed properly, it can nourish yin and strengthen the body, activate cells, and prolong life.
Six off-road vehicles parked in front of a two-story building, and more than 20 people stepped out of the vehicles. Li Mo wore sunglasses and looked at the rolling, gloomy Changbai Mountains in the distance.
"Check the equipment immediately, especially detoxification tablets, gas masks, insect repellent liquid, ropes, mineral water, etc." Brown Bear ordered loudly. Although the weather is very hot now, they are all soldiers, and such environmental conditions are not suitable for them. Pretty bad. Besides, everyone knows very well that as long as they follow the boss on missions, the bonus next month will definitely be very generous.
The last time a group of people went to sea with the boss, two people not only ate expensive seafood every day, but each received a bonus of 100,000 yuan and ten days of paid leave. I don’t know how many people are looking forward to the opportunity to go on a mission with the boss.
But not everyone has a chance. Every time we go on a mission, we select from the security guards with the best performance in the previous month. It's very simple. If you work down-to-earth in the company and do your duty, your chances of being selected are very high.
When the first six generals who followed the boss got married, the boss directly gave each of them a house in Kyoto. Those are not houses in third- and fourth-tier cities, but houses in Kyoto. Calculated, each house is worth more than five million.
There are also rumors circulating in the company that the boss's personal bodyguard, Brown Bear, is estimated to have an annual salary and bonus of more than one million, which makes countless people jealous.
So even in the hot weather like August, every security guard who followed was extremely excited. It was foreseeable that the bonus would be big next month.
A tricycle parked next to the convoy, and a young man in his twenties and a middle-aged man in his fifties got out of it. He is tall, has a bronze complexion, some deep wrinkles on his face, and his hands are covered with calluses. At first glance, he looks like a local who has been working outside all year round.
The most important thing is that he is still carrying a bow and more than a dozen arrows on his back. The surface of the bow is thickly patinated and has been around for a long time. It should be an old item passed down by the elders in the family and has been well maintained.
"Associate Professor Li, this is Uncle Bangzi. He has been hunting in the mountains since he was a teenager. Now he is an expert at collecting herbs."
"Uncle Bangzi, this is Mr. Li Mo, our associate professor in the Department of History at Beijing University."
It was Qiu Yang who made the introduction. This time he came to Changbai Mountain and needed a guide who was familiar with the environment. Li Mo contacted Qiu Yang and asked him to help introduce a good person in this field.
"Uncle Bangzi, I have to rely on you a lot this time when I go into the mountains."
Uncle Bangzi is a conscientious local, otherwise Qiuyang would not recommend him to Li Mo. He smiled naively and said, "Mr. Li, you're welcome. Qiuyang said you were going to go into the mountains to look for wild ginseng. I know more than ten routes for collecting herbs. This season is a great time for collecting herbs, but there are also many people collecting herbs." , so it’s really not easy to find wild ginseng.”
"Uncle Bangzi doesn't know. One of my relatives was seriously injured. A very good Chinese medicine doctor said that if old wild ginseng is used as medicine, the recovery effect will be particularly good. But the quality of wild ginseng on the market There are really too few, so I organized a group of people to come to Changbai Mountain to try their luck."
"I understand now that wild ginseng has many effects. Mr. Li, let's go into the mountains immediately while it's cool in the morning."
Uncle Bangzi was also holding a big bag in his hand. He grabbed some powder from it and said: "This is the powder we prepared ourselves to repel insects and snakes. The smell is a bit pungent, but if the headquarters is bitten by poisonous insects and snakes, it will be strong." .”
"Associate Professor Li, this medicinal powder is very powerful. Apply a little on your trouser legs and clothes, and you will know the benefits after going into the mountains. I used to apply this on people when I went into the mountains."
"Okay, then let's all Tu Tu."
After everyone was painted, they started hiking into the mountain. Li Mo didn't let Qiuyang follow, and he didn't know how long it would take to enter the mountain. Their team was the largest along the way, and many small teams looked at them curiously.
"Uncle Bangzi, how many children do you have at home?"
"One son and two daughters. The daughter is already married, and the son has a partner but has not yet started a family. They all live in the city. Only my wife and my old parents are there in my hometown. My three children have no future, no It's amazing that Mr. Li is already an associate professor in Kyoto at such a young age."
"I'm just a little better than my peers."
"Mr. Li is being humble. The boy from the Qiu family is such a proud person, but when he mentioned you, he was respectful. I don't have much education, but I can still see it. Mr. Li, can you really give me 50,000 yuan as the reward you mentioned?"
"Uncle Bangzi, don't worry. No matter whether we can find old wild ginseng in the mountains this time, I will pay you every penny after we come out of the mountains."
Uncle Bangzi smiled innocently again and said: "I believe you. Hey, the housing prices in the city are so expensive now. I also want to give my children more support. They T-shirted us for our hard work. When we gave them money before, , they don’t want it, and they still give us money every year during the holidays. We parents also know that children are under great pressure living in the city, so we try to earn as much money as possible to give our children some support and help at critical moments. Mr. Li, Kyoto Are house prices more expensive?"
"Yes, the house price in a slightly more remote place is 40,000 to 50,000 yuan per square meter."
"Oh my god, I've worked hard for a year and I can't save this much."
"Who says it's not the case? House prices are so expensive that it's scary. Many people have worked hard for a year and suddenly find that all the money they earned has been handed over to the bank. Their pockets are empty and they don't dare to get sick or get married and have children."
While rushing on the road, Li Mo and Uncle Bangzi chatted.
"Mr. Li, there are five routes to enter the valley. One of them is relatively steep, so not many people take it. The other four routes are easy to take, but there are also many people taking them. I want to find the ones that have been missed. Wild ginseng is very difficult. I have walked all five roads, which one does Mr. Li plan to take?"
"The main purpose of our entry into the Changbai Mountains is to find wild ginseng, so we naturally choose the road with fewer people. Everyone, please be careful later."
"Okay, everyone, follow me closely. The probability of finding wild ginseng is higher on this road, but the danger is also great. You may encounter miasma when you get deep into the mountains. Inhaling too much of that stuff will cause headaches. The consequences of dizziness and confusion. Many people have fallen in the old forest before, but it has to be said that the greater the risk, the greater the reward."
"We will take your words to heart."
When Li Mo traveled through the virgin forests of northern Myanmar, he also encountered many situations along the way. Fortunately, he was well prepared in advance and could prevent poisonous insects, poisonous snakes, miasma and other things. Now that they are entering the Changbai Mountains, although they are prepared, they still have to listen to the advice of the old hunters, which will save a lot of trouble.
The deeper they went into the mountain, the more steep the mountain road became. At the beginning, they could still encounter two or three people, but as time went by, they no longer encountered people who went into the mountain to collect herbs. A group of people moved forward carefully in the mountain. .
After walking for about an hour, Uncle Bangzi asked everyone to stop and drink some water to replenish their energy. It's August now, but in the Changbai Mountains, walking under the broad-leaved woods is not that sweltering.
"Ginseng likes shade, so the rest of our journey will basically be on the shade side. The identification of ginseng is also very simple. I believe you have made such preparations in advance, so I won't say more. I will remind you one point, If you find wild ginseng, you must be extremely careful when digging it up, and it is best to keep even one ginseng root intact.”
"Uncle Bangzi, you have been collecting medicinal herbs for decades. What is the quality of the best wild ginseng you picked?"
"Mr. Li, you really asked the right person. More than 20 years ago, I collected a wild old ginseng that was nearly 40 years old and sold it for more than 80,000 yuan. More than 20 years ago, Eighty thousand yuan is really not that small, and it is estimated that it could be sold for more than two or three hundred thousand yuan now. But it was also very dangerous that time. I was bitten by a poisonous snake and almost couldn't get out."
Uncle Bangzi rolled up his sleeves, and Li Mo saw that there were still four clear poisonous snake fang marks on his right arm.
"Fortunately, I had some snake medicine prepared with me at the time, and I finally made it out of the mountains alive. Now more and more people go to the mountains to collect medicine every year, and you are very lucky to encounter a wild ginseng that is more than ten years old. I heard that now every year The highest value of wild ginseng found at auction that is over a century old is nearly 10 million. It is precisely because of this that more and more people come to the mountains to try their luck every year, but the number of people who get into trouble every year is also increasing."
"Uncle Bangzi, where is the wild ginseng you found?"
"It's this route. After passing through the broad-leaved forest in front of you, you can see a valley. I found it on the sunny slope on the opposite side of the valley."
"Uncle Bangzi, is the valley ahead big?"
"The span must be at least five meters. I heard the old man say that during the rainy season, the water in the valley may rise to a depth of two or three meters, and the ship can freely pass through it without any problem. But I have never encountered anything like that. At most, the water level in the valley rose by more than one meter."
Li Mo was thoughtful, took two sips of mineral water and asked, "Uncle Bangzi, where does the water in the valley go?"
"To the north is the Tumen River, to the west is the Songhua River, and to the south is the Yalu River. Anyway, it is connected in all directions." Uncle Bangzi stood up and patted the things on his buttocks and said with a smile, "Everyone is ready to go. If If the powder on your body is wet or has almost fallen off, add a little more in time."
The group of people continued to move forward. After walking for more than thirty meters, Uncle Bangzi suddenly ran towards the right, shouting as he ran, "Mr. Li, we found a wild ginseng, and it also bears red fruits."
Li Mo quickly followed and saw that Uncle Bangzi had laid a moisture-proof mat on the ground that he had brought with him. Then he found a branch as thick as his thumb and carefully fixed the ginseng fruit branch.
"Uncle Bangzi, can you tell how old this old ginseng is?" Li Mo's first reaction was to check it with the alien child's perspective, but the alien child did not show any abnormal reaction, which means that the wild ginseng in front of him was Old ginseng is of younger age.
There is a saying about wild old ginseng: ginseng with a growth period of 60 years is called ginseng, and ginseng with a growth period of 70 years is called treasure. The general meaning is that the real wild ginseng is called the 'ginseng winner' after seventy years of growth.
"We can't tell now. We have to dig out the whole ginseng to know. Mr. Li, you can dig up this wild ginseng."
"Uncle Bangzi, you discovered this wild ginseng first and it's up to you to dig it up. If you are willing to sell it, I can buy it at a high price. You don't have to worry about the price. It will definitely be higher than the market price."
Not to mention a hundred years, not to mention seventy years, wild old ginseng with a growth period of only sixty years is relatively rare. As for those over a hundred years old, they were immediately bought by mysterious buyers as soon as they entered the market. "
"Then you're welcome. I'm digging here. You can spread out and look for it. Maybe there are other wild ginseng nearby."
"Uncle Bangzi, you work first, I'll take people for a walk around."
You won’t be able to finish picking ginseng in half a day. If you take advantage of this time to search for it yourself, you may be able to find better wild ginseng. "
He also arranged for two people to stay and look after Uncle Bangzi, and told everyone to be careful before heading towards the valley. About twenty minutes later, Li Mo and Brown Bear had already passed through the woods and saw the valley. The cliffs on both sides of the valley looked relatively steep, and there was clear water gurgling at the bottom of the valley. The amount of water is not large, but in this almost unpolluted environment, the water looks quite pure.
Taking the telescope from the brown bear, he was observing the surrounding environment. After looking carefully several times, Li Mo handed the binoculars to the brown bear in disappointment.
"Use the walkie-talkie to ask other people. If you don't find it, go back the way you came. If you are not careful, you will get lost in this deep mountain and old forest. It will be very troublesome then."
"Okay, let me ask."
The brown bear was communicating there, so Li Mo walked to the edge of the valley, stretched his head to look at the bottom of the valley, and then looked at the winding direction of the valley. I don't know what I'm thinking, I'm in a daze.
"Boss, shall we return now?"
The brown bear came over and asked. Li Mo finally came to his senses and turned around and said, "Go back the way you came. How to go next? We have to comply with Uncle Bangzi's arrangements."
When they returned to the place, Uncle Bangzi had formed a circle around him, carefully watching the ginseng picking process.
"Everyone, please step back." Uncle Bangzi finally began to slowly dig out the whole ginseng. He carefully identified it before saying, "Unfortunately, this kind of wild ginseng only has a growth period of ten years at most."
Wild ginseng cannot be dug out and eaten at any time. If any part of it is damaged, it will be very distressing.
Uncle Bangzi first filled a bag with some soil and some moss, and then put the wild ginseng in and said happily: "As long as there is a harvest today, Mr. Li, the next main journey will be along the valley. Go, judging from my experience, the deeper you go, the greater the danger, but similarly, there is a high probability that wild ginseng of different years will appear in dangerous places."
