Chapter 1753
was purely a coincidence.
After everyone had seen what the seedling of the seven-leaf ginseng looked like, Wang An chuckled and urged them on:
"Alright, alright, just look at what it looks like and that's enough. Keep lining up the sticks and looking for clubs. These clubs are waiting for us to carry them out. Aren't you in a hurry?"
Turning his head, Wang An instructed Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong:
"Xue Li, Xiao Zhong, you two stop arranging the sticks and hurry up and carry this bamboo shoot out."
As soon as Wang An spoke, everyone, especially Yang Shuwen and his group, immediately realized the reality. Yang Fuqiang, in particular, whose face was originally extremely excited, froze on the spot, and he was stunned for a moment.
You can imagine how much of a disappointment you would feel if you finally found a rare seven-leaf variety that is not yours to live in, or more accurately, has absolutely nothing to do with you.
Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong walked forward with smiles. Mu Xueli patted Yang Fuqiang on the shoulder and then gave him a thumbs up, saying:
"Brother, you really have sharp eyes! You even managed to find the seventh-grade leaf club. Impressive, absolutely amazing."
As she spoke, Mu Xueli gently pushed Yang Fuqiang aside, then inserted her rope stick about 20 centimeters away from the ginseng seedlings, took out a red rope, and squatted down.
After squatting down, Mu Xueli first tied the red rope to the ginseng seedlings, then tied the rest to the digging stick, and then took out her tools to begin the digging work.
When digging up ginseng that has been growing for a long time, in order to prevent the ginseng vines from shaking and damaging the roots during digging, it is usually necessary to fix the ginseng vines to a rope stick, or to stick several sticks inserted into the ground and fixed them to the sticks.
Seeing that Mu Xueli was ready, Huang Zhong immediately took out his ginseng-digging tools and squatted down.
Yang Fuqiang stood to the side without saying a word, just staring blankly at Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong as they busied themselves, his mind seemingly preoccupied with something.
Of course, no one cared what he was thinking; everyone was busy making sticks and searching for ginseng, so who had time to care about him?
After an unknown amount of time, Yang Fuqiang finally picked up his rope stick and turned around to continue arranging the sticks.
Judging from his dejected expression, it was easy to tell that he was still thinking about that ginseng with seven leaves that didn't belong to him.
Soon, the shouts of the crowd rang out again, but Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong remained undisturbed, focusing intently on digging up the ginseng seedling.
It wasn't until the sun was almost setting that Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong finally managed to dig out the seven-leaf seedling perfectly.
This time, there was no thunder or lightning, and no rain, which means that the thunder and rain when that seedling with seven leaves sprouted last time was just a coincidence.
However, the moment this seven-leafed sapling was dug up, the two men covered it with bark and moss, giving no one a chance to appreciate it.
Unfortunately, it's best not to let too many people see the true appearance of such a rare and large item, to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.
Of course, Yang Shuwen and his colleagues were very sensible and didn't come over to see what was going on. Instead, they all turned their backs and pretended not to see anything, continuing with what they were doing.
It's obvious that Yang Shuwen and his group know the rules, because it's very taboo to get involved in this kind of thing.
However, judging from the flushed faces of Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong, and the trembling hands they had while wrapping the ginseng, it was clear that the quality and weight of this seventh-grade ginseng seedling were absolutely satisfactory.
After wrapping the ginseng seedling with seven leaves, Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong forced themselves to return to normal expressions before carrying the ginseng buns and walking towards where Wang An was.
Seeing Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong approach, Wang An asked with a smile:
"All done? How was it? Any broken hairs?"
Mu Xueli chuckled and said:
"Who do you look down on? Certainly not." Hearing this, Wang An was very pleased, forcibly suppressing his curiosity to find out more, and said:
"Okay, I'll check it when I get back."
After speaking, Wang An glanced at his watch and realized it was already past six in the evening. He then loudly called out to everyone:
"That's it for the day, that's it for the day, everyone's going home now, it'll be dark soon and we won't be able to leave."
This old village is quite a distance from our accommodation. By the time we walk back, the sun will probably have already set.
In these deep mountains and forests, the safety level during the day is completely different from that at night, so when everyone heard Wang An's call, they got up and moved over without hesitation.
Over the course of that afternoon, the number of people they discovered was quite substantial.
Excluding the Lantern Tower and the Second Jiazi, there are more than 30 seedlings with four-grade leaves, 11 seedlings with five-grade leaves, and 2 very precious seedlings with six-grade leaves.
It should be noted that the group had only waded through less than a quarter of the area of this old village.
Although the remaining three-quarters of the area may not have such a large volume of shipments, it should be not too different.
It was foreseeable that this old embankment would be the one with the most people among all the old embankments that Wang An and his group of four and Yang Shuwen and his group of seven had waded through.
However, after these ginsengs were discovered, they were simply secured with club locks and marked, and have not yet been dug out.
After everyone gathered around, Yang Shuwen didn't mention the ginseng seedling with seven leaves. Instead, he chuckled and chatted with Wang An and the others:
"The day went by so fast. I feel like I haven't done much work and it's already dark."
Wang An nodded in response:
"Yeah, a whole day has flown by. How was it? You've shipped out quite a few goods this afternoon, haven't you?"
Yang Shuwen said with a smile:
"It's all thanks to you guys, brothers. Otherwise, where would we find so many bastards?"
Wang An laughed heartily and said:
"Hey, it's all about helping each other out. It's not like I'm taking advantage of you. We've met you, so I can't just watch you come down the mountain empty-handed, hahahahaha!"
Before Yang Shuwen could speak, Wang An continued:
"Alright, let's head back then, so we don't run into anything in the dark. We can practice our sticks and clubs together again tomorrow."
Yang Shuwen nodded and said:
"Alright, let's go."
And so, the two groups walked back, chatting and laughing, before parting ways halfway back to their own lodgings.
Throughout the entire process, neither group mentioned living together or sharing meals.
There's no way around it; once you enter these mountains, everyone becomes very wary, fearing that the other side might poison their food or carry out a double-cross in the dead of night.
Back at his lodgings, Wang An took the ginseng bun containing the seven-leaf ginseng into his tent, hung a flashlight on the tent roof, and eagerly opened the ginseng bun. (End of Chapter)