sinovels Chapter 1949 Shen Qiushan: I want to take my darling to the Ginseng King Conference!
Chapter 1949 Shen Qiushan: I want to take my darling to the Ginseng King Conference!
Chapter 1949 Shen Qiushan: I want to take my darling to the Ginseng King Conference!
Although Shen Qiushan was also from the forest area, he knew all two hundred-plus staff members at the Lushuihe Forest Farm. Borrowing a semi-automatic tree from the farm was easy for him, but borrowing more was not an option.
On this trip back, Shen Qiushan begged and pleaded with everyone he knew, using every connection he had, before he finally managed to borrow three semi-automatic rifles from the forest farm and get fifty rounds of ammunition.
Feeling that these bullets were not enough, Shen Qiushan went back to his hometown to buy bullets and gunpowder from the villagers who were hunting.
After reassembling Shen Wanglin and the others, they crossed Langcaogou and came to this mountain again.
As soon as he got up the mountain, Shen Qiushan craned his neck to look at his big treasure.
Thanks to Zhao Jun's design, the jujube seedlings didn't wilt at all; they swayed in the wind as they were planted at the entrance of the tree hole.
Seeing that the jujube seedlings were intact, Shen Qiushan was very happy and immediately led his men forward to use chainsaws to cut the trees.
"Qiushan, where should we put it?" Song Daikui asked, holding a chainsaw. Shen Qiushan pointed down to the oak root and said, "Saw it from the solid part."
"What's that for?" someone nearby questioned, saying, "A solid one would be too heavy. If one end is light and the other is heavy, it'll be hard to lift!"
"What do you know?" Shen Qiushan impatiently waved his hand and said, "If the bottom is solid, the club inside won't dry. If both ends are hollow, with a gust of wind, won't the club inside dry out?"
"Then why don't dried ginseng be sold?" The person who asked this question was also an outsider. Hearing him say this, Shen Qiushan said, "That's not the same! I was thinking of taking these ginseng to the Ginseng King Conference in October."
At this point, Shen Qiushan looked longingly at the three-leaf swaying in the wind, already imagining the scene of this three-leaf sapling shocking all the ginseng gangs and wealthy tycoons.
As he pondered this, a bright smile appeared on Shen Qiushan's face, leaving Shen Wanglin, Song Daikui, and the others looking at each other in bewilderment.
However, no one questioned Shen Qiushan's request after that. Song Daikui followed Shen Qiushan's instructions and sawed at the solid part of the oak root.
Shen Qiushan's arrangement is fine. If this ginseng is truly naturally grown, then as long as the tree trunk it is attached to doesn't dry out, it won't dry out.
Leaving a solid section like this allows for better moisturizing. If this "treasure" is truly genuine, Shen Qiushan could indeed keep it until October.
But the problem is, this ginseng is fake!
If Shen Qiushan had cut it open from the hollow part closest to the root node and looked inside through the hollow tube, he would have immediately realized he had been tricked.
But if he cuts from the solid part, he won't be able to expose the deception in a short time.
"Woo-woo...woo-woo...hiss-crack...woof woof woof..." As soon as the chainsaw sounded, the hunting dogs tied to the surrounding trees started barking.
But this time, they weren't roaring towards the woods on either side, but towards the hillside.
Seeing this, Shen Qiushan immediately waved his hand and said, "Sixth Uncle, cheers!"
Shen Wanglin didn't say anything, nor did he rush out as Shen Qiushan had instructed. Instead, he stood in place with his gun in both hands, ready to defend himself.
On their trip home, they managed to acquire over 220 bullets through a combination of buying and begging.
Most of the bullets here are slugs loaded with gunpowder, with only a small portion being 7.62mm semi-automatic bullets.
With the ammunition already in hand, the Shen family gang still had a sufficient supply. However, Shen Wanglin was holding a semi-automatic gun at this moment, and he was reluctant to waste semi-automatic bullets, so he ordered the gunners with the No. 16 and No. 32 hunting rifles to fire.
"Bang bang bang..." A series of gunshots rang out in the woods, but at this moment Shen Wanglin raised an eyebrow, opened his eyes wide, and shouted loudly, "Stop shooting!"
The gunners who had just finished loading their bullets stopped firing.
"Sixth Uncle!" Shen Qiushan was about to ask Shen Wanglin why he was doing this, but Shen Wanglin suddenly raised his hand, stopping Shen Qiushan from saying what he was about to say.
As Shen Qiushan shut up, the gunshots ceased. At this point, apart from the barking of dogs around them, only the strange "whoosh whoosh howl" sounds from the woods above remained.
The sound was sharp and whistling; it was clearly not the howl of a wolf.
"Oh no!" At this moment, all the experienced mountain runners secretly thought to themselves that something was wrong.
"That's a damn red-haired dog!" Shen Wanglin cursed, turning to Shen Qiushan beside him.
"This is terrible!" Shen Qiushan's expression darkened upon hearing Shen Wanglin's words.
The red-haired dog that Shen Wanglin mentioned is a jackal.
Wolves have three major enemies: tigers, jackals, and lynxes. These three wild beasts all live in the mountains, so there are almost no wolves in the forests of Lingnan, Lingxi, and Lingdong.
There is a special wolfgrass gully here in Lushuihe, otherwise wolves would usually live near the meadow.
The unique environment of Lushuihe Langcaogou has allowed this wolf pack to take root there since the Qing Dynasty.
Logically, every year the wolf pack would drive out the old wolves or the young, strong wolves that had just come of age.
The absence of other wolf packs nearby is precisely due to the presence of these jackals.
Moreover, the jackal packs on the mountain clashed countless times with the wolf packs in Langcaogou every year, which, to some extent, inhibited the growth of the wolf packs.
The mountain where Shen Qiushan and his group were staying was the territory of the jackals.
Previously, a pack of wolves had come up the mountain and invaded the jackals' territory. The jackals, who were patrolling the territory and smelling the wolves' scent, gathered their companions to settle scores with the wolves.
Unexpectedly, they ran right into Shen Qiushan and his group, who were eager to retrieve the treasure.
What was even more unexpected was that these people mistook them for wolves and attacked them.
The jackals let out mournful cries, thankfully drowned out by the barking of dogs, otherwise it would have been terrifying in this old forest.
Eight jackals were scattered in that forest. Of the eight jackals, seven were alive and one was dead; the dead one had been blindfolded by a bullet.
Or perhaps this jackal was just incredibly unlucky; neither the 16-gauge nor the 32-gauge pistol had much effective range. But the jackal rammed its chest into the large lead bullet propelled by the gunpowder.
This is what's called a slug; it's called a large lead bullet, but it's actually a pincer. However, after being propelled by gunpowder, a force compresses it into a lead disc.
This attack killed the strongest male jackal in the pack.
The hierarchy among jackals is not as strict or brutal as that of wolves, but jackals are a matriarchal society. The jackal king is the most outstanding female jackal, and the most powerful male jackal is naturally the mate of the leader.
With his mate dead, how could the jackal king let it go? Although he was afraid of bullets and dared not go forward, the jackal pack still gathered in the forest and did not disperse.
"Da Kui!" At this critical moment, Shen Qiushan shouted loudly to Song Da Kui, "Release the tree!"
The distant howls of jackals triggered a physiological response in Song Daikui. His scalp tingled, his face paled, and his eyes were filled with fear as he looked at Shen Qiushan.
Seeing that Song Daikui was no longer of any use, Shen Qiushan snatched the chainsaw from Song Daikui's hand. After starting the chainsaw, Shen Qiushan, filled with an insatiable desire for money, personally set down the tree.
Jackals are small and won't fight to the death with humans, so after howling for a while, the jackals left in an organized manner.
With the jackal gone, the dogs stopped barking, and Shen Wanglin and the others breathed a sigh of relief, while Shen Qiushan put the tree down with peace of mind.
The oak tree, about the thickness of a pine, was easy to fell with a chainsaw. Just as the tree was about to be felled, Shen Qiushan stopped the chainsaw and had Song Daikui and the others tie ropes to the middle of the hollow trunk of the tree.
Four ropes were tied together, and four people pulled on them from four directions to prevent the tree trunk from falling and damaging the three leaves.
But just then, the barking started again. This time, all eight dogs barked in opposite directions, and Shen Qiushan knew at a glance that wolves were coming!
Because they were holding the tree with ropes, two of the four members of the Shen family were on the outer perimeter.
Fearing that wolves might suddenly jump out and attack them, the four men dropped their ropes and moved closer to the gunners.
At this point, Shen Qiushan used the chainsaw to poke around a couple more times, and the tree trunk fell over. But since no one was there to pull the tree down, Shen Qiushan couldn't continue sawing.
Just as "Big Baby" was about to go home, the wolf pack caused trouble. Shen Qiushan was furious and shouted at Shen Wanglin, "Sixth Uncle, hit them all! Hit them!"
Shen Wanglin knew that today's mission was almost complete, so he immediately stopped hesitating and raised his guns to fire into the woods on both sides.
They had eleven guns in total, and the sound of gunfire was continuous and incessant.
The Shen family gang fired more than fifty bullets in one go before the wolf pack retreated.
While the wolves were retreating, Shen Qiushan called for people to pull the rope and yank the tree, while he started the chainsaw again and successfully sawed off a two-meter-and-four-centimeter-long section of the tree trunk that was hollow at the top and blocked at the bottom.
After the task was completed, Shen Qiushan had a rope tied to the middle of the tree trunk, and then four people carried it back with sticks.
During this time, Shen Qiushan stayed close to protect the three leaves on the tree.
As he descended the mountain and entered Langcaogou, Shen Qiushan glanced back at Dongshan and thought to himself, "With this treasure, I'll leave my dad that club, and once he gets his hands on it, I'll sell these two at the Ginseng King Conference in October and I'll be rich!"
It was only a little past five o'clock, and it wasn't dark yet, so Shen Qiushan was just daydreaming.
Meanwhile, in the Zhao family's makeshift shack, stones were cleared out and piled up against the east wall.
The sand used to plaster the kang (a heated brick bed) was gathered together by Zhao Jun and his colleagues with shovels. They then used small earthenware pots to fetch water from the river and mixed the sand with the water.
Zhang Yuanmin personally built the kang (heated brick bed) over there. Building a kang in Northeast China requires skill. If it's not built properly, the firewood in the stove won't ignite, it won't get hot at all, and some might even backfire.
But this was no problem for Zhang Yuanmin at all. People handed him stones, and he laid them one by one, and after about forty minutes, the kang (heated brick bed) was basically completed.
Next, Zhang Yuanmin began to smooth the surface of the kang (a heated brick bed). If the surface wasn't smoothed out, it would be uneven and too hot to sleep on.
When the Zhao family left home, they brought all sorts of tools, but not a trowel. However, this didn't stop Zhang Yuanmin. He used a knife to carve a scraper from wood and successfully smoothed the surface of the kang (a heated brick bed) with sand.
The kang (heated brick bed) was just cleaned and normally needs to be heated for several days to dry, but the Zhao family obviously didn't have that kind of time.
They stuffed firewood into the stove, lit it to warm the kang (a heated brick bed), and then the Zhao family went outside to eat.
While they were repairing the kang (a heated brick bed), Xing San built a simple stove outside with stones and cooked noodles in a water-filled jar.
Whether in the mountains or at home, eating cold food and eating hot food are two completely different experiences.
In this season, it's not cold in the mountains until the sun sets. The Zhao family sat in a circle around the stew pot; they hadn't brought any bowls, just four lunchboxes.
The lunchbox lid also counts as a container. Zhao Jun picked up a strand of noodles from the stew pot, slurped a mouthful using the lunchbox lid, and then handed the lunchbox lid to Li Baoyu next to him. Li Baoyu picked up a salted goose egg, scooped out a piece of yolk, and put it in his mouth.
……
"Eating this salted chicken, it's not salty at all." In the family compound of Lushuihe Forest Farm, Shen Qiushan invited all the members of the Shen family to his home to celebrate.
His wife hadn't prepared anything in advance, but since Shen Qiushan had brought people home, they had to entertain them.
At this time of year, chickens produce eggs, and if we can't finish all the eggs at home, we can make salted eggs. After boiling them, we can cut them in half and arrange them on a plate, fry some peanuts, and buy a couple of canned goods to make four dishes.
But Shen Qiushan insisted that his wife kill the chicken, which was at the perfect time for it to lay eggs. They had been raising it since last year, and killing it now would mean feeding it all winter for nothing.
When Shen Qiushan's wife, Wang Guixia, was killing the chicken, tears were welling up in her eyes.
Song Daikui's family and Shen Qiushan's family are neighbors. Song Daikui came over with his wife and children to help.
There's chicken stewing in the pot right now; it'll be stewing for a while.
The men could wait while drinking, but the two children couldn't, so Wang Guixia gave them a few slices of luncheon meat and two canned fish, and told them to eat in the west room.
These days, when guests come to the house, no children sit at the table.
Shen Qiushan and his group were in the east room, while the two children were in the west room.
At this moment, besides the two children, the only other thing on the kang (heated brick bed) in the west room was the tree trunk that Shen Qiushan and the others had carried back from the mountains.
The tree trunk lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), with a red cloth covering the hollow of the tree, concealing the three-leafed sapling.
"What is this thing?" Shen Qiushan's son, Shen Zhigang, is only eight years old this year, and he is at the age where he is very young.
"That must be the spirit of the old immortal." Song Daikui's family has a daughter, who is six years old this year. The little girl has seen the guardian spirit covered with red cloth before, and thought that this was the same one.
"Let me see!" Shen Zhigang put down his chopsticks, rolled over and crawled over, and lifted the red cloth to see the club that had grown out of the tree hole.
"Isn't this a club? How come it's growing on a tree?" Shen Zhigang had been a herdsman for generations, and he had seen this before. But he was very surprised that this club was growing on a tree.
Driven by intense curiosity, Shen Zhigang reached out his small hand, grabbed and pulled, and easily took the club-shaped seedling in his hand.
Poor Shen Qiushan, he had been carefully protecting the three-petal leaf the whole way. Even a gust of wind required him to turn sideways to shield it, but unexpectedly, his son managed to pull it down like that.
After plucking a sapling, Shen Zhigang bent over and peered into the tree hole.
The other end of the tree hole was blocked off, and inside there was only a military water bottle, which was also dark in color, and the mouth of the bottle was covered with mud, so Shen Zhigang couldn't see anything.
Children's curiosity comes quickly and goes quickly.
Shen Zhigang tossed the rice seedlings aside, then shifted his position to the kang table, picked up his chopsticks, and continued eating.
Just then, Wang Guixia came in carrying a small bowl containing chicken liver and egg drop soup.
The so-called "egg flower" refers to the undeveloped egg sac inside the belly of a laying hen.
This stuff is similar to an egg yolk; it cooks quickly when stewed with chicken liver in a pot. Normally, this is added last when stewing chicken.
But knowing she had two children, Wang Guixia stewed the food first and then brought it over for the two children to share.
As soon as the small bowl was placed on the table, the two children dipped their chopsticks into it.
But the two children had played together since they were little and had a good relationship. Shen Zhigang picked up the biggest egg drop and put it in Song Xiaohui's bowl, saying, "Hui'er, this big one is for you."
Wang Guixia smiled when she saw this, but the smile vanished instantly when she turned her head.
Wang Guixia hurried a few steps, bent down to pick up the fallen saplings, and stood up to ask the two children, "Who pulled these down?"
"I pulled it off." Shen Zhigang ate some egg drop soup and asked indistinctly, "What happened, Mom?"
At this moment, Wang Guixia's head was buzzing. Although she didn't know the true value of these three-grade leaves, Shen Qiushan had whispered to her after they got home that these three-grade leaves could be exchanged for ten immortal children.
Wang Guixia knew the value of the Great Immortal Child.
At this moment, Wang Guixia walked shakily to the door of the east room, where Shen Qiushan was drinking with someone.
When Shen Qiushan inadvertently saw his wife standing at the door, his eyes instantly turned red.
"Did you pull this seedling down?" Shen Qiushan questioned loudly. Wang Guixia was startled and blurted out, "I didn't pull it down, my son did."
"Fuck you!" Shen Qiushan jumped up, pushed Song Da Kui who was sitting in front of him aside, and rushed out!
"I'm so stupid!" Shen Qiushan was speaking without restraint at this moment, uttering all sorts of swear words.
"What are you doing?" Wang Guixia tried to stop him, but Shen Qiushan pushed her away.
Shen Qiushan rushed into the west room. Shen Zhigang, who was chewing chicken liver, turned around and Shen Qiushan slapped him hard across the face.
The slap sent Shen Zhigang's head swung violently to the right, and no one heard a crisp "crack" sound, but at that moment, Shen Zhigang's head and neck were immobilized.
A scream rang out from the west room of the Shen family, carrying far and wide!