Chapter 641: Rules for Digging Ginseng

After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li said excitedly:

"Three-leaf grade? This little thing is a three-leaf grade? I remember the supply and marketing cooperative pays at least 300 yuan for a three-leaf ginseng root."

Wang An, while gently brushing away the soil next to the ginseng, said: "Go and whittle me a few wooden sticks. I'm going to get this ginseng out. You can't use a knife to dig for ginseng; if you accidentally damage it, it'll be a total waste. Oh, and after you whittle the wooden sticks, scrape them with the blade so there are no splinters."

Upon hearing this, Wang Li asked subconsciously:

"How big should the wooden sticks be? Is there a specific type of wood I should use?"

As soon as the word "specific" was mentioned, Wang An began to think carefully.

He was mainly recalling what Han Shuisheng had told him about the methods, rules, and taboos of digging for ginseng.

But as soon as he started thinking, Wang An immediately frowned.

Because Wang An suddenly realized that if he were to follow those rules and taboos completely, he wouldn't be able to dig this ginseng at all today—he'd have to turn around and go home! First of all, according to the rules, you have to tie a red string around the ginseng to prevent it from escaping into the ground.

But he didn't have any red string on him, not even a strip of red cloth. What to do? Secondly, the number of people digging for ginseng was against the rules.

Because according to the rules, the number of people digging must be an odd number—one, three, five, or seven—but never two, four, six, or eight. Ginseng diggers believe that ginseng has a spirit, meaning the ginseng itself counts as a person.

Therefore, only if you enter the mountain with an odd number of people will the ginseng actively allow itself to be found, thus achieving the goal of entering with an odd number and returning with an even number.

Of course, this implies that good things come in pairs, and that you'll find ginseng as soon as you enter the mountain. Although it's a rule, it's considered a good omen! But right now, there were only himself and Wang Li.

Thirdly, you aren't supposed to call it "digging for ginseng," but rather "lifting the club."

Eating is called "taking food," going back to rest is "taking the house," cooking is "carrying the pot," smoking and resting is "taking the fire," and snakes are called "money strings," and so on.

In any case, basically all verbs are either "take," "carry," or "lift."

And all tools must have the word "sharp" added to them, such as "sharp stick," "sharp shears," "sharp axe," etc. As for eating, you can't eat meat, only vegetables; mostly just millet, and for side dishes, only salted vegetables—no meat. Finally, besides these, there are many other rules, like worshipping the Mountain God, trying not to speak while digging, and "calling the mountain" when ginseng is found, followed by someone "receiving the mountain." To be honest, there are just too many rules for digging ginseng, and Wang An couldn't even remember them all.

Of course, with Wang An's brain, as long as he had listened attentively to something, he would definitely remember it.

And the only reason Wang An couldn't remember them now was that when Han Shuisheng was talking about them, Wang An hadn't taken it seriously at all!

But as the saying goes, "existence is reasonable."

So, although Wang An acknowledged the rules of the ginseng-digging gangs and wouldn't refute or disparage them, he himself would just do as he pleased.

Simply put, those are your rules, not mine. You can listen if you want, or not if you don't; I'm certainly not going to listen.

Besides, if one really followed all those rules, how would one explain the "two-year-old" ginseng that the supply and marketing cooperative buys, which shouldn't be dug according to the rules? Thinking of this, Wang An said to Wang Li nonchalantly:

"About the size of a chopstick is fine. Whittle the tip flat. Make sure to choose a hardwood."

"Got it, Fourth Brother." Wang Li agreed and ran toward a walnut tree not far away.

After Wang Li left, Wang An didn't continue digging for ginseng but instead carried his hunting knife toward the second "old marker" Wang Li had found. Soon, Wang An reached the second marker, and the new bark growing over it was even more than the first, covering almost half the size of the marker.

This meant that this "old marker" had existed for even longer than the first one.

Without a word, he went straight to work with the hunting knife.

To be honest, for a job like cutting pine bark, an axe is much better than a hunting knife. The main thing is that the hunting knife is relatively light, so you can't really put any force into the cutting; you can only hack away at it.

Fortunately, Wang An was young and had plenty of strength, so in less than 10 minutes, the "old marker" was restored.

But when Wang An checked the marks on it, he subconsciously widened his eyes.

Because the information on this "old marker" was that a five-person ginseng gang had dug up a six-leaf ginseng root.

You have to know that this was a six-leaf ginseng root; even if it weighed less than half a jin at the time, it could be called a genuine "treasure" from ancient times to the present.

Because six-leaf ginseng is like gold nuggets; in the Qing Dynasty and before, it was always treated as tribute.

After reading the information on this "old marker," Wang An's gaze subconsciously turned toward the surrounding large trees.

Because at this moment, Wang An suddenly felt that this old ginseng patch might still have some big goods left behind.

And likewise, there shouldn't just be these two "old markers."

Thus, Wang An began to wander quickly around the large trees nearby.

Sure enough, Wang An discovered another old marker that had completely grown over, and another one that only had a small slit left.

However, after finding these two, Wang An didn't discover any other "old markers."

Of course, even so, these discoveries were already enough.

Mainly because these four markers, plus the three-leaf ginseng Wang An had already found, were enough to prove that this area nearby was truly an old ginseng patch, and there must be big goods left behind.

The reason Wang An could be sure there were big goods was that Han Shuisheng had said that old ginseng patches like this were generally blessings left by ginseng gangs of the past for their descendants.

Then, generation after generation of people would dig ginseng in this old patch, "lifting the big and leaving the small."

So, if nothing unexpected happened, this old patch would definitely be visited by people digging for ginseng, either this year or next.

Seeing that Wang Li hadn't returned yet, Wang An used his hunting knife to brush away the soil bit by bit near the invincible large red pine where the last "old marker" had been cut.

To be honest, with Wang An's meticulous way of searching, as long as there was ginseng, he would definitely be able to find it.

Just as Wang An successfully found the second ginseng root, Wang Li returned with the whittled wooden sticks.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 642 =====