Chapter 1698
Who Set the Rules?
According to the rules of ginseng hunting, after ginseng is found, one must shout to the mountain and receive the ginseng, during which time one cannot say anything unnecessary.
While Wang An could disregard the tedious rules of the Ginseng Gang, he didn't want to question anything. As the saying goes, "existence is its own justification," and Wang An had no intention of breaking the rules.
It must be said, however, that people who have not received formal training in the Canbang (a local religious organization) are quite unaccustomed to suddenly following the Canbang's rituals of shouting and welcoming the mountain.
Furthermore, when Wang An and his two companions were digging that old embankment last time, they didn't shout at the mountain at all.
As for Wang Anming, he only found one ginseng, but said "the whole mountain is full of them," which is not exactly a random exaggeration.
Since ginseng is already hard to find, finding even one is a great thing, so how can there be such a thing as the whole mountain being full of it?
Therefore, this reflects the ginseng digger's strong desire for ginseng, and can be considered a positive statement.
After the ceremony, Mu Xueli couldn't wait to ask Wang An:
"Brother-in-law, where's the pestle? Where's the club?"
While asking the questions, Mu Xueli also looked around, and Wang Li and Huang Zhong did almost the same thing.
Because of Wang An's use of the word "idiot," it seems that everyone subconsciously forgot about the existence of the corpse.
It must be admitted that the old mountain herder's saying, "Ginseng has a spirit, and only the blessed can find it," is quite true.
Because the ginseng was not far from the group, only about three or four meters away, Wang An had been looking at it for a long time, but Mu Xueli, Wang Li, and Huang Zhong, following Wang An's gaze, still did not see it.
This is really strange!
Of course, it can't be said that Mu Xueli and Wang Li are unlucky people; it's just that they can't see this happening right in front of them, which is really frustrating.
Wang An didn't say anything, but took a few steps forward, squatted down, and cleared away the weeds around the ginseng. A ginseng plant with a red flower on top and four branches pointing in four directions appeared before everyone's eyes.
Only then did Wang An say with a happy expression:
"Look, isn't this it? Hehehehe."
As he spoke, Wang An planted the rope stick next to the ginseng, handed the dog leash to Huang Zhong, and then took out a red cloth strip from his pocket and tied the ginseng vine to the rope stick.
After doing all this, Wang An stood up and was about to speak when Mu Xueli said excitedly:
"Brother-in-law, we haven't paid our respects to the mountain god or the old man yet, how about..."
Before Mu Xueli could finish speaking, Wang An glared at her fiercely, then punched her in the shoulder, saying angrily:
"Why are you talking so much? Didn't I tell you that Lao Wu didn't say anything about you the other day? Stop babbling all the time, didn't you hear me? Huh?"
"What are you yelling about? Come on, tell me, what the hell are you yelling about? Trying to show off your loud voice? You want to die?"
When he finished speaking, Wang An nudged Mu Xueli's shoulder again, causing her to take two or three steps back.
In fact, Wang An was already quite unhappy when Mu Xueli unintentionally joined in the chanting of "mountain after mountain."
Why are you shouting so loudly? What's there to shout? Are you afraid people won't hear you and discover the ginseng here?
But since it had already happened, Wang An only gave Mu Xueli two meaningful glances and didn't say anything.
Unfortunately, Mu Xueli sometimes really acts like an idiot, and her thinking about problems is often extremely simplistic.
Wang An didn't know the specific reason why the corpse was hanging there, but his guess was the same as Mu Xueli's previous guess.
It's nothing more than internal strife within the ginseng gangs that produced a traitor, or an irreconcilable conflict between two ginseng gangs, or perhaps one gang lured someone who knew the location of Lao'anzi up the mountain and then interrogated them about it, and so on. In short, in these mountains, the only people who could torture someone in this way and cause them to die in agony are members of the ginseng gangs.
It's very common for people to die in these mountains, and there are countless ways to die. But only the ginseng gang would choose to strip a person naked and hang them up on a tree that has been cut down to starve them to death. Before they starve to death, they would also make them suffer from mosquito bites all over their bodies.
The purpose was to make other groups of ginseng practitioners wary and not linger in this old village.
Of course, it's also possible that other members of the pilgrimage group are active near this old hamlet. They might be waiting to wade through other old hamlets before returning to this one to wander around a few more times.
Therefore, Wang An only wanted to dig up the ginseng quietly, without disturbing either the "people in the mountains" or the "gods in the mountains".
As for worshipping the mountain god, Old Master, Wang An had no interest in it at all.
There's a saying, "If you believe in the gods, they will be there; if you don't, they won't blame you." Wang An respected Sun Liang very much, but he felt it was better to let go of the rituals; they were too fake.
Besides, worshipping the mountain god would be noisy and disruptive. What if it attracted bad guys who might launch a sneak attack on us?
But Mu Xueli is something else entirely. Not only did he yell and scream, but he also wanted to hold a ceremony to worship the mountain god! He's really got a big heart!
Mu Xueli was stunned by those two punches, mainly stunned by Wang An's insults.
Because everything he did was based on what the old ginseng hunters in the village had told him, and these were all standard practices within the ginseng gang.
But Mu Xueli never expected that her brother-in-law would be so disgusted by these things.
Mu Xueli said sullenly:
"Brother-in-law, I... I heard all this from Foreman Liu. He said... he said these are the rules before grazing on the mountain."
Before Mu Xueli could finish speaking, Wang An said irritably:
"Who made the rules? Who is he anyway? Does he think he can just say whatever he wants? Am I supposed to listen to his nonsense just because I'm carrying a stick? Damn it!"
After a pause, Wang An pointed at Mu Xueli's nose and cursed:
"From now on, if you ever find another idiot, you shut your damn mouth. If you don't want to listen to me, then get the hell out of here, damn it!"
After saying that, Wang An ignored Mu Xueli, and of course, Wang Li and Huang Zhong. He turned around, took out his ginseng-digging tools, squatted down, and began to dig at the soil under the ginseng vines.
After a while, Mu Xueli came up to her in a clingy manner and said in a flattering tone:
"Brother-in-law, how about I carry it?"
Wang An stopped what he was doing, turned his head and glanced at Mu Xueli, only to see Mu Xueli grinning at him with her big teeth showing. Wang An sighed, stood up, and said:
"Alright, then you can carry it."
As he spoke, Wang An handed the deer bone skewers in his hand to Mu Xueli.
Mu Xueli chuckled but didn't take it. Instead, he took out his own ginseng-digging tools and said:
"I still think my deer bone skewer works best, hehehehe." (End of Chapter)