Chapter 731: 731 picking ginseng
In the first half of the night it was Zeng Hongling, and the second half it was Su Yuanyuan. The sound of wolves howling at the foot of the mountain was even clearer now.
Su Yuanyuan thought to herself that after they came out, she should just follow behind them, and she also needed to give the gun to Zeng Hongling. This way, it would be much safer.
In fact, she had quite a few firearms and ammunition in her space, but it was inconvenient to take them out.
Maybe after going back, she should give one to Zeng Hongling as a form of comfort.
The next day, they all got up early. Since they didn’t need to search anymore, they decided that even if they returned to Lin Gensheng’s home late, they must do so by tonight.
Thus, they traveled much faster along the way. They skipped lunch and kept going until night, when they managed to hunt a wild mountain goat. They just carried it directly down.
When they arrived at Lin Gensheng’s home and the five of them returned, they quickly tidied up for them.
Looking at the wild mountain goat they brought back, they were quite envious.
Even though they were mountain people, they were also hunters and naturally envied others when they caught prey.
As for the ginseng matter, they didn’t bring it up.
Such items are luxuries here, and some people never manage to find one in their lifetime.
Su Yuanyuan and Zeng Hongling, the two girls, shared a room. "I’ll get you some water. Do you want to shower?"
"Thank you Yuanyuan, of course I want to shower. I’d love a hot bath."
The two girls busied themselves until after one o’clock, and only then did they clean up and go to bed.
The next day, all five of them got up late. They hadn’t dared to sleep deeply on the mountain, but here they felt secure and slept sweetly.
When they woke up, the family there had already started their meal.
It was the first time they saw the Lin family’s children—two young men about eighteen or nineteen years old, and that eight or nine-year-old girl they had seen last time.
The five sat down to eat as well. The two young men of Lin Gensheng’s family were quite shy when looking at the two girls, still blushing while quickly shoveling down their meal, having just descended the mountain the day before and not yet planning to go up again.
"Uncle Lin, have you heard anything about ginseng?"
"I’ve asked a few families. I’ll take you to see them later, mainly because people also want to hear the price you’re offering."
"Alright, I’ll go with Xiao Su to have a look in a bit."
After breakfast, "Hongling, could you stay home and knead dough? This time when you go up the mountain, bring steamed buns instead; the corn cakes are too hard."
"Sure, you go check on the ginseng. I’ll prepare things at home."
"I have brown sugar in my bag. If necessary, steam some sweet buns to take along."
Zeng Hongling just laughed, as she didn’t really mind eating corn cakes, and she also enjoyed eating braised and roasted meat.
But she knew Su Yuanyuan genuinely cared about them, so she didn’t argue.
Su Yuanyuan and Zhan Yunzhao followed behind Lin Gensheng.
"Uncle Lin, when the procurement station comes to buy ginseng, how much do they offer for a hundred-year-old one?"
"A hundred-year-old ginseng is quite rare these years. Even eighty-year-old ones fetch around six hundred and forty. But last year, no one managed to gather any over fifty years old. The fifty-year-old ones got three hundred and sixty last year."
"Do we have any ginseng that old here?"
"Old Zhao’s family has a hundred and twenty-year-old ginseng, harvested last year, prepared personally by Uncle Zhao. Its medicinal effect is excellent.
Due to this ginseng, Zhao Daqiang ended up losing a leg.
Now their family is short of money, so when I asked, they decided to sell it."
"Roughly how much would the hundred and twenty-year-old ginseng cost?"
"I’d estimate at least a thousand."
Su Yuanyuan nodded, understanding that this was likely the price the Zhao Family wanted.
Lin Gensheng led them to the Zhou Family. The family was very welcoming and even handed Su Yuanyuan an apple. Although it wasn’t quite ripe yet, it was red.
Even though she hadn’t had an apple in a long time, she didn’t eat it, as the three children at home were eyeing it eagerly.
Zhou Shengli’s wife took out a rectangular box and carefully handed it to her husband.
"Comrades, please take a look. This ginseng is eighty-five years old."
Su Yuanyuan didn’t really understand these things and just watched as Zhan Yunzhao cautiously opened the box and took out the ginseng, which was tightly wrapped in white cloth.
Once opened, it was indeed smaller than those they had harvested themselves. Although it had taken on a human shape, it still didn’t quite resemble one.
Zhan Yunzhao wasn’t very experienced with ginseng either, but before coming, he had learned how to identify and process it, which certainly made him much more knowledgeable than Su Yuanyuan.
Zhan Yunzhao inspected it closely, then sniffed the scent, carefully setting it down, mindful not to damage the root hairs.
"Fellow villager, how much were you thinking for this ginseng?"
"Comrade, I won’t beat around the bush. The procurement station offers six hundred forty for eighty-year-old ones.
Mine is eighty-five, so please, eight hundred fifty."
Before coming, Zhan Yunzhao had discussed ginseng prices with three traditional Chinese medicine specialists, and actually, asking eight hundred fifty for an eighty-something-year-old wasn’t excessive.
Zhan Yunzhao picked up the ginseng again to examine it, noting the root hairs were indeed particularly intact.
"Okay, we’ll give the villager eight hundred fifty. We’re waiting in the Capital for deliveries, but even there, this quality and age usually fetch this price anyway.
But since we came all this way, taking it back at this price works for us too."
The Zhou Family was quite pleased with this outcome. In fact, they would have sold it for eight hundred.
"Thank you, comrade, thank you."
Su Yuanyuan also understood the Zhou Family’s perspective, but spending an extra fifty bucks was alright; she had finally realized how hard the process had been after a few days on the mountain.
She dug out money from her satchel, counted it, and handed it to Zhou Shengli.
The three of them left the Zhou Family. Su Yuanyuan was holding the box in her arms. It was something they had made themselves and just gifted it to them.
"Uncle Lin, how old is the second family’s ginseng?"
"Theirs is about the same; the two families harvested them together."
At the Jin Family, they were even more straightforward, noticing the box in Su Yuanyuan’s arms immediately.
Theirs was of the same quality.
"Fellow villager, how much do you want for this ginseng?"
"Same as at Shengli’s house is fine." No need to haggle over prices.
Su Yuanyuan once again took out money and paid them.
They had now acquired two ginseng roots.
The third family had two eighty-year-olds, freshly harvested this year, with the procurement station yet to arrive, so they snagged a deal.
The final price for these two was seven hundred eighty, higher than the procurement station’s offer.
Su Yuanyuan felt a bit worried, concerned the procurement station might be dissatisfied.
The fourth family’s ginseng was sixty-three years old, sold at five hundred eighty. These prices were what the sellers proposed, and Zhan Yunzhao didn’t even haggle.
This gave Lin Gensheng confidence. Actually, their family also had two hundred-year-old ones for over three years now, carefully processed and preserved, making them truly fit to sell.