Because the front and back courtyards were quite large, Chen Lan and the others went up the mountain a few times to cut rose branches and prickly ash trees in the mountain forest. They actually found the rare purple rose – a vow of love. However, they did not find black or blue roses.
Finding goji berry bushes was much easier. There were several along the road to the hot springs, and also by the hot springs. Chen Lan took the three of them directly with hoes and back baskets to dig in those places a few times. After digging them up, they planted a circle in the front courtyard.
Finding prickly ash trees was a bit more difficult. They had been searching the mountain for several days and only found a few small prickly ash saplings. It's strange how some things are; when you're not looking for them, you see them everywhere, but when you are looking for them, they become difficult to find!
However, as the saying goes, there are gains and losses. Fortunately, they were very lucky! While looking for prickly ash trees, they accidentally entered a red pine forest. In the red pine forest, Chen Lan discovered a flowering plant. The plant's stem was relatively thick, and it was blooming with pale yellow-green flowers at the top. The flowers had five petals, and there were six pairs of whorled compound leaves at the top of the stem.
At first, Chen Lan didn't pay much attention, only thinking it was a bit strange, with flowers of such an unusual color, neither yellow nor green. Chen Lan felt the flower was quite special and looked at it a few more times. As she looked, she felt it resembled a plant she had seen in books in her previous life, but for a moment, she couldn't recall what it was. She couldn't confirm what it was immediately. Chen Lan habitually opened the system's sales function with her mind, and a scan prompt appeared: "Seventy-five-year-old wild ginseng from Changbai Mountain." Chen Lan saw these words and didn't look further. She immediately opened the system's search function with her mind to search for ginseng within a 500-meter radius. Sure enough, the system screen displayed a prompt with more than ten small red dots. She then looked at the system screen's description: "Ginseng compound leaves are palmate, with 5 to 6 small leaflets. The middle six leaflets are roughly the same size, with small petioles; the small leaflets are oval or slightly obovate, the front of the leaf is pointed, the back is wedge-shaped, the edge of the leaf has fine serrations, and the leaf surface has a few hairs. The underside of the leaf does not."
A one-year-old ginseng plant has only one large leaf at the top of the stem, with three small leaflets below, commonly known as "three flowers." A two-year-old plant still has only one large leaf on the stem, with five small leaflets below, commonly known as "a palm." A three-year-old plant has two opposite whorled compound leaves at the top of the stem, commonly known as "two jia zi." A four-year-old plant has an increase to three pairs of whorled compound leaves at the top of the stem, commonly known as "a lampstand." A five-year-old plant has an increase to four pairs of whorled compound leaves at the top of the stem, commonly known as "four pi ye." A six-year-old plant has five pairs of whorled compound leaves at the top of the stem, commonly known as "five pi ye."
Wild ginseng is a very finicky plant, liking light but fearing light, liking moisture but fearing moisture. Its growth environment requirements are very demanding, making it extremely difficult to survive and grow in the wild, hence its extreme preciousness.
Chen Lan searched the area based on the system's search prompts. Sure enough, not far from this spot, she found two "six pi ye," two "five pi ye," three "four pi ye," and some "lampstands," a few "two jia zi," and the rest were "palms" and "three flowers."
Chen Lan suppressed her pounding heart and hid her excitement. Just as she was about to call out to the people walking ahead, she heard Ming Wei excitedly shout, "Sister-in-law, Zhao Xiaoyue, Yuzhen sister, hurry over and take a look, there are several prickly ash trees here!" Upon hearing Ming Wei's shout, they all ran over excitedly. After all, they had already been up the mountain several times and searched through forests looking for these prickly ash trees. They also called for Chen Lan to hurry over and dig up the prickly ash trees so they could plant them when they got home.
Chen Lan had no choice but to quickly mark the spot and note the location, planning to return later to dig up two for her mother-in-law and mother to supplement their health.
The group very efficiently dug up the several prickly ash trees that Ming Wei had found. They quickly went down the mountain to the backyards of their respective houses, found a place, dug pits, planted them, and watered them. This task was then completed.
That evening, after dinner, Chen Lan told her mother-in-law and mother about discovering the wild ginseng. Her mother-in-law and mother couldn't believe it. Her mother-in-law said, "That thing is a rare sight, and to encounter even one is good luck! Xiao Lan, you are truly blessed to have stumbled upon several!"
Her mother-in-law thought for a moment and then said, "No, you haven't dug wild ginseng before. I'll go with you tomorrow to dig it up. Digging wild ginseng is not an easy task. You must be meticulous and careful not to break the ginseng's skin. Once the skin is broken, the vital energy will escape, and its medicinal properties will be lost, making it worthless."
The next day, after Chen Lan and her mother-in-law bid farewell to Wenrou's mother, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law set off for the mountain they had visited yesterday. They found the red pine forest, and Chen Lan immediately saw the mark she had left yesterday. She led her mother-in-law to the first "six pi ye" ginseng she had discovered and stopped, pointing to the ginseng to show her mother-in-law. "Mother-in-law, look, this is the first ginseng I discovered."
Upon seeing it, her mother-in-law let out a gasp, "My goodness! This ginseng is not small!"
After speaking, her mother-in-law immediately knelt down and began to work. She took out her rosewood hairpin and very carefully, bit by bit, scraped away the soil layer by layer around the ginseng. After digging for about an hour, she saw the ginseng's shoulders emerge. The shoulders of this ginseng were almost as thick as Jia Hui's small arm, suggesting this ginseng would be substantial.
Her mother-in-law paused to rest and said, "I estimate this ginseng weighs at least seven or eight liang; it's a treasure."
Chen Lan saw that her mother-in-law was quite tired and said, "Mother-in-law, how about I do it?"
Her mother-in-law quickly shook her head and said, "I'm not tired, I just need a break!"
Then, she continued to scrape away the soil bit by bit. It took another approximately two hours to finally dig out this ginseng completely intact.
Her mother-in-law and Chen Lan looked at this ginseng and couldn't help but exclaim, "This ginseng is not only large but also has an excellent appearance!"
It fully possesses the characteristics of Changbai Mountain wild ginseng: "five forms, six bodies." The five forms refer to "root, neck, skin, texture, body."
Root refers to "long, tough root, sparse and long, adorned with millet-sized small lumps called (pearl points)."
Neck refers to "the length of the neck, with two-section necks, three-section necks, thread necks, and goose-neck types."
Skin refers to "old skin, yellowish-brown, dense and glossy."
Texture refers to "fine and deep spiral horizontal lines at the upper end of the root hairs on the shoulders."
Body refers to "the root hairs of the ginseng."
The six bodies refer to "spirit, clunky, old, tender, horizontal, straight."
Spirit refers to "the ginseng having a beautiful appearance, with a delicate form, categorized by shape into 'rhombus body' and 'lump body.'"
Clunky refers to "the ginseng root being straight, with a clumsy and ungraceful form."
Old refers to "the ginseng skin being old, yellowish-brown in color, with fine and dense horizontal lines, and being firm."
Tender refers to "the skin being tender and white, with rough and shallow horizontal lines, and the root hairs being tender, brittle, white, and easily broken, indicating it is not pure wild ginseng."
Horizontal refers to "the ginseng root being thick and short, with two legs extending sideways, which is true wild ginseng."
Straight refers to "the ginseng root hairs being orderly and straight."
After the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had admired it sufficiently and the mother-in-law had rested, Chen Lan asked, "Mother-in-law, it's getting late, shouldn't we go back? Or should we dig up another one?"
Her mother-in-law said domineeringly, "Dig! Why not? We've finally found such good things, of course, we should dig up a few more to keep at home, in case of urgent need in the future. The elders say these things can move. If you don't dig them this time, it will be very difficult to find them again next time."
So, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law found another "six pi ye" and began to dig. This time, Chen Lan assisted her mother-in-law, breaking off a dry branch from the side and imitating her mother-in-law's movements to scrape away the soil bit by bit. Working together, they were fast. Soon, they saw the ginseng emerging. This ginseng looked a bit different from the previous one. Chen Lan didn't understand and couldn't articulate it, so she continued to dig out the soil.
Soon, the entire ginseng was gently lifted out by her mother-in-law. It was a whole size larger than the one dug up earlier, and the overall appearance of the ginseng was exceptionally beautiful. At this point, her mother-in-law looked at it and said, "This one is very likely the legendary 'turnaround ginseng.' If my guess is correct, this ginseng can truly be called a treasure!"
Thus, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, filled with enthusiasm, worked tirelessly together and dug up another "six pi ye" and a "five pi ye" for daily use. The two wild ginsengs were prepared and saved for future emergencies.
After digging several ginsengs, it was getting late. It was already past 3:30 PM. They had spent almost the entire day, and both the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were quite exhausted and hungry. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law quickly packed up, filled in the holes where the ginseng had been dug, and her mother-in-law asked Chen Lan to put the ginseng away for her father-in-law. After Chen Lan had placed all the ginseng into the system, she purchased two bottles of yogurt and two loaves of bread from the system. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law ate as they walked, heading down the mountain.
Su Dan Novel Network