The story is about the mysterious ginseng pickers in Changbai Mountain and the ghost ginseng they encountered.
This story comes from the legend of a fish, originating from Mr. Bai.
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is the day after tomorrow, I have to do a big event. Mr. Bai came here specially to give me a gift: a 30-year-old wild ginseng.
Although he has always been generous, this gift is also very expensive.
Maybe you don’t know the value of Laoshan ginseng.
Ginseng is generally divided into several grades: old mountain ginseng, forest ginseng, moved mountain ginseng, and garden ginseng.
Laoshan ginseng is a wild ginseng that grows naturally deep in the mountains. It is a legendary goblin, a spiritual creature born and raised in the earth.
For forest ginseng, people scatter ginseng seeds in the mountains, allowing the ginseng to grow in the natural environment. It is half a wild ginseng.
Yishan ginseng seeds are sown in the original forest, and after the ginseng is unearthed, they are transferred to their own vegetable gardens to grow.
Garden ginseng is the worst. It is grown entirely from the vegetable garden and is almost the same as a radish.
Wild ginseng is a life-threatening product, and every wealthy family will keep a few of it.
Some old people look like they are dying, so they quickly cut a piece of ginseng and put it in their mouth, which can save their lives. Especially those with bad hearts, whose electrocardiogram is often flat. "Stay for half a day.
In the past half day, I rushed to the hospital and saved my life.
Some people say that if wild ginseng is so effective, it should be as expensive as gold.
No, it is much more expensive than gold, especially old wild ginseng that is more than thirty years old.
Because there are no ginsengs that are more than 30 years old, ginsengs that are more than 30 years old are definitely old wild ginseng from deep mountains and old forests.
The ginseng that Mr. Bai sent is a fresh ginseng. Judging from the reeds, veins, body, skin, and whiskers, the market price is almost 200,000 yuan.
Ginseng is a good thing. It is a tonic in autumn and winter. Take one gram a day and a month in winter. It will keep you warm all over, feel good and you will not catch a cold for a year.
But to be honest, unless you are a high-ranking official and do not regard money as money, there is really no need to eat wild ginseng. Forest ginseng is very good. The main reason is that it is cheap. You can eat one plant of forest ginseng. A week is only a few hundred dollars.
If you want to talk about the efficacy, it must be wild ginseng, but that thing cannot be eaten as a vegetable. If you just eat one plant, it will definitely not be as effective as eating dozens of forest ginseng.
Moreover, the older the ginseng is, the lighter the taste. In fact, the taste is not as good as the younger ones.
As warm as I am, what I will entertain Mr. Bai tonight is stewed chicken with forest ginseng and half a basket of hazelnut mushrooms. We can eat it open. We are not short of money.
Mr. Bai brought a man here, called Lao Fu, who was in charge of their family's business in the Northeast. He had just harvested this wild ginseng.
The fresher the wild ginseng is, the better the effect is, just like deer antlers, but these things are collected and no one is willing to use them on the spot, so the medicine is dried and stored in the shade.
Mr. Bai brought him here because he was afraid that I didn’t know how to dry ginseng in the shade, so he specially asked him to do it himself.
The old rich man was also a Manchu, a member of the Fucha clan. After the Republic of China, hard-core crops were no longer available, so he simply returned to his hometown and became a ginseng merchant at the foot of Changbai Mountain. Occasionally, he followed the ginseng leader into the mountains.
At that time, the Northeast was still very wild, with caves, cracks in the ground, and barren tombs. The more sinister the place, the more old ginseng there were, so we saw a lot of strange things.
While drinking, he told us a story about picking ginseng, which was very magical.
The old rich man first told us some rules for picking ginseng.
Wild ginseng grows deep in virgin forests, in coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests at an altitude of 600 meters to 1,000 meters. It is often found under humus soil on the eastern and southern slopes of Shandong.
When you go into the mountains to collect ginseng, you need someone to take you with you. The leader is called the ginseng leader. You must obey him in everything, and ginseng merchants are no exception.
The ginseng head will analyze the terrain and mountain topography. There is also a saying about the mountain where ginseng is produced, which is called "there is purple air above and ginseng below." This means that the place where ginseng is produced generally has good Feng Shui. Only in places with sufficient spiritual energy can great ginseng be produced.
It also depends on whether there is a ginseng bird on the mountain. This ginseng bird is a small bird with a gray body, red beak and red eyes. Its call is quite strange, and the sound is very similar to "Brother Wang Gan, Li Wu" ", legend has it that this bird eats ginseng seeds, and wherever it is, there is usually ginseng.
Finally, we have to check whether there is a big snake on the mountain. If a big snake skin is found, the probability of a big ginseng appearing on the mountain is high. Ginseng pickers say, "big ginseng must be protected by a big snake." The old snake is usually guarded next to the big ginseng. The old snake will practice beside the old ginseng, relying on the ginseng energy to strengthen his body, and will not leave easily.
When setting foot in the mountains, each person is equipped with a walking stick, called a suolong stick. This stick is mainly used to push aside thatch, look for ginseng in the thatch, and is also used for self-defense.
In the ginseng harvesting industry, there is also a unique set of cuts. For example, ginseng is not called ginseng but "bangchui", and the size of ginseng also has its own special name. When you encounter a snake, don't call it a snake, call it Qian Chuan Zi. When you encounter a string of money, you must "please" take it away without harming it.
In addition, everyone must also wear a set of mallet locks, which are a red thread with a copper coin tied at each end. This mallet lock is used to lock ginseng. After discovering the ginseng, you must "lock" it with the mallet lock as soon as possible, otherwise it will escape and run away.
After locking the mallet, you have to let go of your throat and shout, "Bangchui! Bangchui!"
The leader asked: "What kind of goods?"
This is the quality of ginseng you are asking about. Only after confirming this can you dig ginseng.
After confirming the ginseng, it is time to start digging for ginseng.
To dig ginseng, no iron tools are allowed. Deer bones or antlers must be used. Even the roots as thick as human hair cannot be dug out. It often takes several days to dig out an old ginseng tree.
The ginseng seedling has only one small leaf in the first year, which is called "three flowers". In the second year, the five leaflets grow fully and a complete compound leaf appears, commonly known as "slap leaf". Three-year-old ginseng will have two compound leaves, called "Erjia".
Ginseng that is less than three years old cannot be harvested. It will be marked so that it can continue to grow.
If "Erjia" grows for a few more years, it will produce a third compound leaf called a "lampstand", which is good.
The "lampstand" goes up and grows for more than ten years before it grows the fourth compound leaf, which is called the "four-grade leaf". The one Mr. Bai gave me is the fourth-grade leaf.
After the "fourth grade leaf", it will take hundreds of years to grow the fifth compound leaf, which is called the "fifth grade leaf". This is a veritable treasure.
Above the sixth-grade leaves, the compound leaves will not increase, but will only increase the number of ginseng heads. One hundred years, one more ginseng head, that is the legendary thousand-year-old ginseng, which can transform into human form. Ginseng doll.
By the way, artificially grown ginseng can grow a compound leaf in one year. The legendary "six-grade leaf" of the best ginseng king only takes six years, so it is not valuable.
Let’s talk about the rich ancestor, that time he thought he had met the thousand-year-old ginseng king who had transformed into a human form, and he almost lost his life.
After all, the old rich man was a ginseng merchant and had a good status. He went to the mountain mainly to play with him. He boiled a pot of water on the bonfire, added a few tea bricks to it, drank for a while, and pulled his head with the ginseng. After chatting for a while, sleepiness gradually came over.
In a daze, he heard someone running towards him with bare feet, and the heavy and rapid breathing of a child. The sound was right next to his ears.
Then, as if he was playing a prank, the child suddenly shouted loudly into his ear, making him jump up in fright.
He quickly woke up the others. They were worried that they had bumped into the mountain gods and wild ghosts, so they quickly worshiped and moved to another place.
Unexpectedly, the next night watchmen also encountered strange things. Several people cursed and swore, saying that they saw a child running around them with a red bellyband and bare feet.
The chief ginseng’s surname was Feng. He had some plant ashes burnt and piled in various places in the shack, and then everyone went back to the shack to sleep.
Everyone could clearly see a little baby jumping around on the ashes of the vegetation and running around in the cracks in the shack.
When I woke up the next morning, the hairs all over my body stood up. Except for the ash that had been blown away a little by the wind, it was still as flat as before, without any footprints on it.
But Feng Bangtou laughed loudly and said that it was good fortune, good fortune! As luck would have it, we actually met a ginseng doll!
The old rich man is still not sure, I don’t know why it can’t leave any footprints.
Na Feng immediately said that when the ginseng grows to a certain extent, it will confuse people and make them look like a child. In fact, it is not. It is all an illusion, so it cannot leave any footprints. There must be an old ginseng tree around us.
But everyone searched and searched, almost half of the hill was turned over, but no old ginseng was found.
Just when everyone was about to be discouraged, the little doll appeared again.
This time, he first looked at everyone curiously, then ran a few steps outside, stopped again, looked at them, and then ran forward and disappeared.
Everyone couldn’t figure out what this meant. Later, Feng figured it out: This old ginseng wants us to follow it! ”
Everyone suddenly realized that the ginseng doll came out again and again, seeming to lead them in the same direction, but everyone was obsessed at the time, always thinking about how to catch it, and did not go in that direction. Think about it that way.
Everyone was also a little worried. This ginseng doll seemed to be quite evil. He actually directed them where to go. Was this because he wanted to harm them?
Later, it was Feng? He raised his head and said: "It's okay! I have been living in the mountains for so many years, but I have never heard of ginseng goblins harming people! Let's go over and take a look, maybe there's a fortune waiting for us! ”
As soon as it dawned, everyone followed the direction pointed by the ginseng doll. However, everyone was obsessed at the time and kept thinking about how to catch it, and did not think about it in that direction.
Everyone was also a little worried. This ginseng doll looked evil enough. He actually directed them where to go. Was he trying to harm them?
Later, Feng said: "It's okay! I have been living in the mountains for so many years, but I have never heard of ginseng goblins harming people! Let's go over and take a look, maybe there's a fortune waiting for us! "
As soon as it dawned, everyone walked in the direction pointed by the ginseng doll.
Sure enough, not long after walking, the ginseng doll appeared again, heading forward They jumped up and down, clearly leading them forward.
We walked on the mountain road for two whole days, and the ginseng doll finally swooped and hid in the grass and was no longer visible.
Everyone was so tired that they sat down on the ground. Only one person looked curiously at the grass where the ginseng doll disappeared. His eyes lit up and he shouted: "Head! Head! Yes...it's a stick! "
Feng stood up suddenly with his head raised and asked, "Don't panic! Quickly lock it with a mallet! It’s a few leaves! "
The man quickly knelt on the ground and hurriedly tied the ginseng with a red rope. After counting carefully for a long time, he said: "The fifth grade, it is the fifth grade leaf! "
Na Feng wiped the sweat from his head, walked over and took a look, and said, "It's so merciful that we finally found a big ginseng tree. It's worth running so far!" ”
He first bowed in the direction where the ginseng doll disappeared, then took out the drill he had ground with deer bones overnight, and dug along the ginseng roots for more than half an hour. Finally, I dug out a large ginseng, wrapped it in a thick layer of moss, wrapped it tightly with red pine bark, and finally tied it tightly with a red thread.
After digging this old ginseng tree, I was so tired that my whole body was covered with sweat. I sat on the ground and smoked a pack of cigarettes before I regained my energy and asked everyone to look around carefully. These wild ginsengs all appeared in pairs around here. Maybe there is also a large ginseng plant.
Everyone agreed and started searching carefully with their walking sticks. Not long after, there was a sound of "stick". It turned out that in this small area, there were more than a dozen Erjia, Menorah.
Feng’s head and eyes brightened, and he knew that the old wild ginseng tree had brought them here. He quickly told them that they were not allowed to pick anything below the lampstand. They had to stay here and let them slowly grow. grow.
Even so, everyone still picked a lot of large ginseng in half a day. When it got dark, everyone found that in just half a day, they had picked a fifth-grade ginseng. Leaves, three four-grade leaves, seven lampstands.
Everyone was beaming with joy, thinking that they would finally get rich. Not to mention other things, just take the five-grade leaf and sell it at the foot of the mountain, and everyone would have enough money to marry a wife!