Chapter 1740
Hurry up and start the hunt
Upon hearing this, Wang An immediately smacked Wang Li's head and said in an annoyed tone:
"All you ever think about is useless nonsense. Hurry up and go help your brother Mu with his guts. Look at you, you're such a bear. What are you trying to prove to me with all day?"
Wang Li tilted his head and continued with a grin:
"Of course I have to compete with you. I can't compete with my brother Mu's terrible shooting skills. As they say, 'Playing chess with a bad chess player will only make you worse!'"
Upon hearing this, Mu Xueli immediately became displeased, glaring at Wang Li with her large eyes and saying:
"Hey, if you want to compare marksmanship, then compare marksmanship. Why are you dragging me into this? So what if my marksmanship is bad? If you're so capable, then compare your knife skills with mine. I'll give you a one-handed handicap and you won't even stand a chance, believe it or not. Damn, you're nothing."
Wang Li rolled her eyes at Mu Xueli and said:
"Who wants to compete with you in swordsmanship? Let's compete in marksmanship. I'll even give you an eye advantage in marksmanship."
Mu Xueli immediately retorted:
"It's no fun with only one eye. If you're so capable, close both eyes. If you're still a better shot than me with your eyes closed, I'll call you 'brother' from now on. Do you dare to compete?"
If he closed his eyes, Wang Li naturally wouldn't dare to compete, so he mocked Mu Xueli:
"Giving you one eye isn't enough? Are you even a man?"
Mu Xueli immediately said:
"You're a man, so why don't you try your hand at swordsmanship with me?"
And so, these two idiots started their daily bickering again, one clamoring to compare marksmanship, the other clamoring to compare knife skills, neither willing to concede to the other.
And you know what? Without the anxiety and worry that the tiger brought, everyone's mood immediately changed. Even these two idiots started bickering with great enthusiasm.
Of course, Wang An and Huang Zhong listened with great interest, just like they were listening to a crosstalk performance.
After extracting the tiger's gall bladder, Wang An and his three companions cut down a small tree and laboriously carried the tiger's carcass, weighing 350-360 pounds, to their lodging.
Then the skinning, butchering, and bone-removing of the tiger began.
As for tiger meat, nobody eats it; it can only be used to feed Little White and Little Black.
There's no way to process the tiger meat that can't be eaten in these mountains, so we just bury it in the charcoal fire and let it sit for as long as it can. Little White and Little Black can eat it for as long as they want, which saves on food.
The tiger bones that were removed were also buried in the ash heap. Only in this way could the moisture on the tiger bones be absorbed as soon as possible, so that they would not spoil and become rancid.
As for tiger skin, just scrape off the grease, then apply wood ash and let it air dry. Once dry, roll it up and take it down the mountain.
This tiger is a tigress, and it doesn't have that very precious tiger penis.
Therefore, the most valuable things on its body are tiger bones, tiger skin, and tiger gall.
Of course, even if it's valuable, it's useless. The main reason is that everything about a Siberian tiger is something that can't be seen in the light of day and can't be known by any outsiders.
After dealing with the tiger, it was already 7 p.m. Wang An and the other three cooked a pot of noodles for dinner, mixed with chili sauce they had brought from home, and ate it quite deliciously.
The only downside was that these four people didn't get to eat fresh meat again.
The next day, after Wang An and his three companions finished practicing their martial arts and had breakfast, they began practicing their stick-walking on the hill.
The four of them waded through the entire old village in just one day.
The main issue is that although this old grove looks very old, it must have been trespassed by ginseng gangs decades ago. Because in this old grove, Wang An and his three companions only harvested 11 seedlings of the fourth grade, some *Gynostemma pentaphyllum*, and some *Gynostemma pentaphyllum*, without even finding a single seedling of the relatively precious fifth grade.
Based on the growth time of wild ginseng, only those over 80 years old can grow to the fifth grade of leaves, and those over 100 years old can grow to the sixth grade of leaves. So, according to this calculation, the large ginseng in this old grove must have been dug up by someone about 50 years ago, around 1930.
The day after wading through this old embankment, Wang An and his three companions did not move to another place to set up their tents. Instead, they rode their horses to the next old embankment where they would spread out their sticks. Since it was only three or four miles away, riding back and forth on horseback wouldn't take much time.
What's frustrating and disheartening is that not only is the next old villager in the same situation, but the remaining three old villages nearby are all producing roughly the same amount of goods.
In these five old groves, Wang An and his three companions only managed to harvest a total of 58 seedlings of fourth-grade leaves. There were also 4 seedlings of heteromorphic ginseng, which were considered a small quantity. They did not find a single seedling of fifth-grade leaves that were over 80 years old or sixth-grade leaves that were over 100 years old.
Fortunately, a single ginseng root with four leaves could fetch around 2,000 yuan at Li's Pharmacy. These 58 ginseng roots with four leaves, plus the four ginseng roots that had undergone a rebirth, could be sold for around 160,000 yuan. So Wang An and the other three were quite happy.
As for those lampstands and the two Jiazi (a type of ancient Chinese divination tool), if their roots hadn't been cut off, they would have been worth a total of thirty to forty thousand yuan, which was not a small amount in those days.
However, Wang An really didn't want to waste any more time in the mountains, so he still dug them all out with an iron shovel.
Anyway, these lampstands and 200-year-old coins are perfect for personal use or as gifts. They are also great for making medicinal wine with bones, deer penis, tiger penis, etc. Wang An didn't intend to sell them, so losing a few whiskers is no big deal.
There was no other way; shovels were just too fast at digging ginseng. Sometimes, seeing how slowly Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong dug up the fourth-grade leaves, the impatient Wang An even considered using a shovel to dig out those fourth-grade leaves as well.
However, every time Wang An made a move with his shovel, he was stopped by Mu Xueli and Wang Li. Otherwise, he probably would have lost a fourth-grade leaf of the Broken Beard.
As Wang An and his three companions packed up and headed towards the last five old villages, it had already unknowingly reached mid-September.
This time, the five consecutive days of digging for ginseng with sticks left Wang An and his three companions with no time to hunt and eat meat.
So after Wang An and his three companions finished setting up their tents near the ninth old embankment, Wang An said impatiently:
"I can't take it anymore. I can't go a day without meat. Let's put the club-lifting thing aside for now. I need to get some fresh meat before we talk about anything else."
After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li hurriedly added:
"Me too, me too, I can't take it anymore. Practicing martial arts and using sticks in the mountains every day, how can I not eat meat? My body can't take it. I think I've lost several pounds in the last few days."
Mu Xueli also chimed in:
"Yeah, I can't take it anymore. Look at my lips, they're so dry, they're just so dry from lack of moisture."
Huang Zhong remained silent, only smiling at Wang An and the other two, looking as if he were ready to receive orders at any time.
However, it must be said that Xiaobai and Xiaohei have been eating really well these days, and they've practically devoured the meat of an entire tiger.
The wolf and dog that were eating looked incredibly plump and healthy, with glossy, smooth fur that felt like touching silk.
After Mu Xueli finished speaking, Wang An grabbed his gun and said as he walked out of the tent:
"What are we waiting for? Let's go, let's hurry up and hunt. Damn it, we have to have meat by noon."
The four men, each carrying a gun on their back or in their arms, filed out of the tent and led Xiaobai and Xiaohei into the woods.
And you know what? Without tigers, there's plenty of prey in these deep mountains. In just a short while, both Blackie and Whitey started barking at the same time. (End of Chapter)