Chapter 640

Based on the unclear cutting marks above, it could be determined that this was a ginseng-digging group of 9 people at the time, who had dug up a 5-leaf grade ginseng.

A 5-leaf grade ginseng is already a rare and valuable find! Normally speaking, the area near an "old sign" is the general region where large ginseng was once found.

So, after Wang An finished reading the information left on this "old sign," he circled around this large Korean pine and began to search carefully.

Unfortunately, at this time, the plants in the big mountains were just beginning to sprout green buds; it was the typical "bud-sprouting market" season.

However, Wang An had no experience in finding or digging ginseng—to be precise, he didn't even recognize it—so while Wang An was hunched over with his rear end in the air searching carefully, the digging knife in his hand never stopped; whenever he felt something suspicious, Wang An would poke at it with the tip of the knife.

It must be said that today, the two brothers, Wang An and Wang Li, had simply explosive luck.

Just as Wang An finally felt something unusual coming from the tip of his knife, Wang Li also shouted from not far away:

"Fourth Brother, Fourth Brother, there's another sign here."

But at this moment, Wang An couldn't care less about the sign; digging up the ginseng was the most important thing.

So Wang An shouted without even lifting his head:

"Mm, leave it there; I think I've discovered a ginseng root here."

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li ran over while shouting, "Where is it? Fourth Brother, let me see, let me see."

As he spoke, Wang Li ran up to Wang An's side.

Following that, under Wang Li's gaze, Wang An used his digging knife to dig open the spot where he had discovered the anomaly, bit by bit.

Lifting a ginseng root, which is the work of digging up ginseng, is a very delicate job; although Wang An had never dug one, Han Shuisheng had explained it very meticulously back then.

So Wang An didn't dare to use force, just scraping away the soil bit by bit with the digging knife.

When a small piece of the reed head, which is the ginseng rhizome, was revealed, Wang An was certain that this was indeed the legendary ginseng.

Because the appearance of the thing in front of him was not much different from the two dried ginseng roots Wang An had snatched before, or the two broken-root ginsengs that his uncle Liu Deyuan had given to Wang An.

Looking at the ginseng with a small section of the reed head exposed, Wang An smiled happily:

"Hahaha, this really is a ginseng root, hahaha. Fifth Brother, the two of us are going to make a small fortune again, hahaha."

The reason he called it a "small fortune" was because, based on the harvest Wang An and the others had made from gold panning, even a 6-leaf grade ginseng could only be considered a small fortune.

What's more, according to the method of identifying ginseng that Han Shuisheng had mentioned, the ginseng in front of him should only be a "lamp stand," which is the standard for a 3-leaf grade ginseng.

And according to the purchase price of the supply and marketing cooperative, a 3-leaf grade ginseng could only sell for about three or four hundred yuan.

Although three or four hundred yuan is not a small amount—it's about a year's salary for a formal employee—for Wang An and the others, it really wasn't much at all.

Of course, this price was just a rough figure; the specific amount of money would only count after being appraised by the appraiser at the supply and marketing cooperative.

One must know that the growth of wild mountain ginseng is extremely slow, so the so-called "leaf grade" in wild mountain ginseng is just a rough standard of judgment.

Because when there are branches and leaves, one can tell the "leaf grade," but without branches and leaves, it's just the rhizome of the ginseng, and naturally, one wouldn't be able to tell the "leaf grade."

As everyone knows, the longer the lifespan of ginseng, the more valuable it is, and the method of identifying the age is not difficult: it is determined by the number of reed bowls on the reed head. The "reed bowl" is the very top of the reed head, where the ginseng's branches and leaves connect to the ginseng; every year, when the branches and leaves wither, they leave a scar, and this scar is called a "reed bowl."

Of course, these can only serve as a reference.

Because for wild mountain ginseng, it's not the case that as long as it grows branches and leaves, it will definitely leave a reed bowl; many times, when branches and leaves grow and then wither, they won't leave a reed bowl.

And the growth environment of this thing is relatively harsh; things like being bitten by insects, stepped on by livestock, or even being hit by falling tree branches or fallen logs are all very normal occurrences.

This leads to such ginseng having only a few reed bowls left, or having no so-called reed bowls at all; if one wanted to judge the age based on the reed bowls, then naturally that would be incorrect.

Therefore, one must also judge the age based on the marks on the reed head, which are the area size and quantity of the horizontal lines, as well as the number of reed nodes on it.

Unfortunately, these methods can still only serve as a reference and can only roughly determine the age.

Because many times, the reed head of the ginseng is broken, leaving only the section below, meaning the reed bowls are gone, the reed nodes are gone, and there aren't many marks left, yet this ginseng has only grown two branches and leaves.

And such ginseng, even if its age is really long, is not worth much money.

Therefore, judging whether a ginseng root is valuable or not mainly depends on the length of the ginseng's age, the overall integrity of the ginseng's main rhizome, and the completeness of the root whiskers to roughly divide a standard of measurement.

It must be said that because of the different leaf grades of ginseng, the price difference is quite substantial.

The saying "seven liang for ginseng, eight liang for treasure" describes the huge price difference of ginseng.

Of course, this refers to the old scale, which is the standard of the 16-base system.

In today's terms, ginseng weighing more than half a jin, or over 250 grams, is a treasure, and the price directly doubles, or even doubles several times over.

It's just that such ginseng is a giant treasure that countless mountain-callers dream of; one might not even see one in decades, so very few people talk about it.

And those that don't reach 250 grams are in the normal category of ginseng, but the price difference is also quite huge.

Referring to the purchase price of the supply and marketing cooperative this year, a 6-leaf grade ginseng is over 5,000, a 5-leaf grade ginseng is over 3,000, a 4-leaf grade is over 1,000, a 3-leaf grade is over 300 yuan, and a 2-leaf grade is over 50 yuan.

But one must know that even for the supply and marketing cooperative, they might not be able to receive a single 6-leaf grade ginseng in a year, or even over several consecutive years.

Even a 5-leaf grade is as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns; it would be good to receive one or two in a year.

Only for 4-leaf grades, although the quantity is not large, they can receive about ten or twenty in a year.

The ones with the largest quantity are still the 3-leaf grade "lamp stands" and the "two-year-olds."

The reason for this is actually simple to figure out if one just thinks about it: a 5-leaf grade requires over 80 years of growth, and a 6-leaf grade requires over 100 years.

But from ancient times to the present, hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng has been a rare treasure; how could there be so many of these things?

Wang Li looked at the ginseng reed head in the small pit and asked Wang An with a face full of curiosity:

"Fourth Brother, how is this ginseng root? Is it top grade?"

Upon hearing this, Wang An nodded and said, "Mm, it's top grade; it should be a 3-leaf grade."

(End of chapter)