The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1901 Wang Meilan's Obsession with Killing the Donkey
As the display board was finished, Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin carefully opened the ginseng-filled bun.

The appearance of the ginseng king instantly stunned Zhao Youcai, Wang Meilan, and Ma Ling.

As Zhao Jun's family, they had seen wild ginseng and other rare and valuable items. When they moved after the New Year, Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan even saw the ginseng king that Xing San had given to Zhao Jun.

But what was presented to them was a rare and precious ginseng king, with three ginseng roots wrapped together, exuding a wild and untamed aura at first glance.

"Come on, brother." Zhao Jun held the ginseng with both hands and called to Zhang Yuanmin, "Take a couple of pictures of it like this first."

Zhang Yuanmin took the camera that had been prepared beforehand and cooperated with Zhao Jun to take pictures of the ginseng king.

After taking a few photos, Zhang Yuanmin began to work on getting the ginseng king onto the board.

He and Zhao Jun first placed the ginseng king on the display board. This ginseng king has three rhizomes, two of which are attached to the display board and the other is facing forward.

The same applies to the ginseng body, while the tendrils should be placed as close to the board as possible. Even if the tendrils cannot stick to the board, the tendrils should still be attached to it.

The roots below are treated in the same way as the ginseng roots. This ginseng king has been growing for a long time, and the longest roots are more than 1.3 meters long.

If this tendril were fully extended, the board that Zhang Yuanmin prepared wouldn't be able to hold it.

However, the tendrils can be bent on the board, as long as they do not overlap with other tendrils.

After arranging the ginseng kings, Zhang Yuanmin took a pencil and began dotting from both sides of the rhizome. One on the left, one on the right, symmetrically moving downwards.

Zhang Yuanmin spent more than forty minutes just doing the dotting task.

After finishing their work, Zhao Jun and Xing San removed the ginseng and placed it temporarily on the open baozi (steamed buns), making room for Zhang Yuanmin to see it.

The pine planks were very thin, and they could easily split if not handled properly. But Zhang Yuanmin was skilled; he took out a traditional woodworking drill and slowly drilled one hole at a time.

While Zhang Yuanmin was busy, several families arrived one after another.

Wang Qiang, Zhao Weipeng, Xie Chen, Zhao Jinhui, Li Ruhai and the others gathered around to watch Zhang Yuanmin work. After admiring the ginseng king, the women went with Wang Meilan to tidy up the garden.

The tomato vines have grown taller these past few days. After they produce their first cluster of flowers, we need to prune them to encourage growth.

The seedlings can grow taller than a person, but they can't stand on their own, so you have to insert a support stick next to the seedlings and then tie the persimmon seedlings to the support stick.

If a single support bar isn't enough to stand, tie four bars together in a group, within arm's reach, and use a rope to bind them together.

This is the job that Wang Meilan and the others are doing today.

The trellis was prepared in early spring; the branches were all cut from the mountain, each branch being two or three meters long.

At this moment, there was a wooden stump in front of the house. Wang Meilan came over with a machete, raised her hand and swung the knife, the tip of the knife went into the wood, and the machete was stuck upside down in the wooden stump with a "clang".

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh..." The little donkey in the donkey shed cried out in terror when it saw this scene. It thought Wang Meilan was going to do it again.

"What are you yelling about? Shut up!" Wang Meilan shouted, and the little donkey's eyes filled with tears, and its body trembled slightly.

"Sister-in-law!" At this moment, Jin Xiaomei came over carrying a large bundle of about forty scaffolding beams. When she reached Wang Meilan's side, Jin Xiaomei bent down and let go, and the beams scattered on the ground.

The same was true for Liang Xuemei and the others who followed behind. The Zhao family's courtyard was large, and so was their vegetable garden. Including Li Baoyu's garden next door, they had a total of more than four hundred tomato seedlings.

With this scale, by harvest time, Wang Meilan and the others will be able to go to the market to sell vegetables.

There are many people who can eat at the Zhao family's house, and these days, children in Northeast China eat this as fruit and snacks in the summer. It's already good enough that Wang Meilan and her family can grow enough to eat.

Wang Meilan picked up a blade, pressed the thicker end against the blade, and then pulled hard. The sharp blade sliced ​​off a piece at an angle, turning the bottom of the blade into a pointed one.

This way, it can easily get into the soil when it's being planted.

Four hundred rice seedlings require four hundred trellises; Wang Meilan and her team have a lot of work to do today.

Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei took turns sharpening the steel rods.

The trimmed scaffolding strips were left aside, and once they had gathered ten or eight strips, Liang Xuemei and Yang Yufeng would take them into the yard.

Both Xie Sunshi and Li Tongyun were strong enough to be assigned the task of planting trellises in the field.

Ma Ling, Zhao Ling, and Xu Chunyan were carrying racking strips out of the warehouses on both sides of the gate. When Xu Chunyan came over, Wang Meilan asked her, "Yan'er, did you discuss it with Shunzi when you went home yesterday?"

"We've discussed it, Second Aunt," Xu Chunyan said. "Shunzi has agreed to transfer to work with Xiaojun."

“That’s right.” Wang Meilan smiled upon hearing this and said, “Even after we’re transferred, we’ll still have a secure job, just not as team leader anymore, but we’ll earn more here, much more than before.”

Hearing Wang Meilan's words, Xu Chunyan nodded repeatedly. Everyone knew how much money Zhao Jun had made with Zhang Yuanmin and Xie Chen over the past year.

It wasn't that Xu Chunyan looked down on Zhang Yuanmin; in the past, Zhang Yuanmin's family was one of the poorest in the village. To put it bluntly, some hooligans were better off than him.

But now, Zhang Yuanmin's wealth ranks among the top three in the entire Yushu Township. The other two are naturally Zhao Jun and Xie Chen.

Lin Xiangshun remembered a sentence that Li Baoyu had once said.

Li Baoyu said his biggest regret was starting this job. Since then, he has been separated from Zhao Jun. And because of that separation, he lost over 100,000 yuan.

A secure job is good, but there's a limit. People say a job with a stable income is worse than ten thousand yuan, but what about a hundred thousand yuan?

Furthermore, putting money aside, let's talk about Lin Xiangshun's relationship with the Zhao family. Before he got married, he lived and ate at the Zhao family's house for three years, and slept on the same kang (heated brick bed) with Zhao Jun for those three years. The two were not blood brothers, but their relationship was closer than that of blood brothers.

Now that Zhao Jun needs help, Lin Xiangshun feels it is his duty to help.

Wang Meilan was very happy to hear that Lin Xiangshun had agreed. Her son was making money, but it was also quite dangerous.

Hunting goes without saying, but just the other day, Pang Gaoming and his gang raided the shack at night, that was terrifying.

With each new member joining, the Zhao family gang grows stronger.

Many hands make light work, and with a large group, nothing can be done halfway.

"My dear girl." Now that Lin Xiangshun had agreed to join, Wang Meilan thought of Ma Sheng again and asked Ma Ling, "Has Shengzi not given us any word yet?"

“It’s alright if you don’t send any news, Mom.” Ma Ling smiled. “My older brother agreed; he’s always happy to go up the mountain.”

"Huh?" Wang Meilan seemed to remember something, tossed the whittled rack aside, and then lowered her voice to say to Ma Ling, "Have Zhao Jun go back to my mother-in-law's place with you later, and have my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, and Shengzi's family of three come over for dinner tonight."

"Mom, this is terrible." Ma Ling instinctively declined, but Wang Meilan said, "Didn't Mom say that we're carrying the ginseng king? We're all happy, let's celebrate tonight. Isn't Xiao Yang one of Zhao Jun's group? We're all celebrating here, how can we leave him out?"

If he's coming, then let my mother-in-law come too, and we can all have a good time together.

“This…” Ma Ling hesitated after hearing what Wang Meilan said.

Wang Meilan knew her daughter-in-law wasn't someone who could make decisions, so she immediately turned around and shouted into the house, "Son!"

"Hey, Mom!" Zhao Jun answered from inside the house, and then he heard Wang Meilan say, "Son, come out here, Mom has something to tell you."

After Zhao Jun came out of the house and listened to Wang Meilan's story, he said to Ma Ling, "Wife, after we finish lunch, I'll go back with you and ask Mom and Dad, my brother and sister-in-law to come over tonight."

"Okay, sure." Ma Ling nodded after hearing Zhao Jun say so.

As soon as Ma Ling agreed, Wang Meilan clapped her hands and frowned as she said to Zhao Jun, "Son, think about it and decide what dishes to order."

"Mom, there's no need to go to so much trouble." Ma Ling quickly replied, "We're all family, just eat whatever's available."

"Will that work?" Wang Meilan disagreed with Ma Ling's words, saying, "My in-laws are coming, so we must have good wine and good food."

After saying this, Wang Meilan turned around and complained to Zhao Jun, "I told you to kill the donkey this morning, but you wouldn't let me. Is it too late to kill it now?"

In the donkey shed not far away, the little donkey's tears were about to fall again.

"Mom, why are you always thinking about killing the donkey?" Zhao Jun said with a wry smile, "After lunch, I'll go out and buy a sheep. Can't we just kill one? We can stir-fry it and stew it, won't that be enough?"

Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Wang Meilan fell silent. She bent down, picked up a strip of wood, and continued to attach it to the machete.

Wang Meilan had a strong attachment to killing donkeys. In her earliest memories, there was a time when the family donkey got frightened for some reason and started braying loudly.

The donkey's braying startled Wang Meilan, who was only three years old at the time.

Seeing Wang Meilan crying from fright at the donkey, the wealthy landlord Wang gave an order, and several farmhands slaughtered the donkey.

Then... Wang Meilan ate donkey ribs, donkey intestines, and steamed dumplings filled with donkey meat, her mouth dripping with oil.

From then on, Wang Meilan would arrange to slaughter the donkey every few days.

Wang the wealthy man truly doted on his daughter and was also genuinely rich. When Wang Meilan suggested slaughtering a donkey, he did just that, causing the price of donkeys in Shibadaogang to skyrocket.

When Wang Meilan was five years old, people from Daohua County actually walked over a hundred miles to sell their donkeys here, simply because they had heard that donkeys were expensive here.

This is actually quite unreasonable. How can the market in a remote mountain village be better than that in the city?

This shows just how much Wang Dabazhang spoils his daughter.

Later, the Wang family fell into decline, and Wang Meilan experienced a significant drop in fortune.

But there was no other way; Wang Changfu's health had deteriorated by then. Zhao Jun's grandmother wasn't capable of handling things, and there was also a younger brother in the family, so Wang Meilan took over as the head of the household.

Years have passed in the blink of an eye. Wang Meilan's life has finally turned from hardship to happiness, and her family has once again become the richest in the surrounding villages.

But Wang Meilan felt that her family's current status as the richest family was somewhat lacking compared to her father's status as the richest man back then.

Wang Meilan pondered for a long time, but what was missing was a certain feeling, that feeling of being both rustic and extravagant.

The less she felt that way, the more Wang Meilan wanted to find it. Actually, Wang Meilan doesn't eat much these days, nor does she particularly enjoy food.

If Zhao Jun and the others hadn't stopped her, and Wang Meilan had slaughtered the donkey, her initial enthusiasm would have worn off, and she wouldn't have bothered to organize the slaughtering of donkeys again.

But Zhao Jun and the others stopped her, and Wang Meilan couldn't recapture the feeling from back then. Over time, it became an obsession.

Seeing that Wang Meilan remained silent, Zhao Jun quickly said, "Mom, why don't we call my sister and brother-in-law to come when we slaughter the sheep?"

“Then let’s call them,” Wang Meilan said. “In a little while, call the logistics department and have your brother-in-law and your Uncle Zhou take the shuttle bus over after get off work tonight. Then, in the afternoon, drive over to pick up your sister and your nephew.”

“Okay, Mom,” Zhao Jun said with a smile, “I’ll go inside and make the call now.”

After saying this, Zhao Jun paused for a moment, then added, "I'll have my Uncle Zhou come over and talk to him about adding two more people for me."

With that, Zhao Jun turned and walked into the house. Once inside, he went straight to the east hut to make a phone call.

But as soon as he entered the room, the phone rang.

"Hello," Zhao Jun answered the phone, "This is Xishan Village, Yushu Township."

"Zhao Jun!" came Manager Huang's voice from the other end of the phone. "It's me, Huang Chongshan."

"Manager Huang," Zhao Jun said upon hearing this, "Is there something you need on the phone?"

The two families had no other dealings; it was all business, and there was no possibility of them calling each other to chat.

Seeing Zhao Jun's directness, Manager Huang also cut to the chase: "Zhao Jun, did your mother tell you? Several of my regular customers want wild ginseng."

"Is it in such a hurry?" Zhao Jun laughed. "How about a couple of days?"

"That's fine," Manager Huang said. "I'm not calling today to urge you to buy the ginseng. I just want to discuss with you how to inspect the goods and how to conduct the transaction."

"Were you someone who came from this side? Or did you bring the ginseng over?"

When he asked this question, Manager Huang already had the answer in his mind. He then said to Zhao Jun, "I think it would be best if you brought the ginseng over. Several of our regular customers want to buy ginseng, and if we send people over, it will take several groups of them."

"Ah, it's alright, Manager Huang." Zhao Jun understood what Manager Huang meant and immediately smiled and said, "Wait for me for a few days. Next month, when my uncle returns to Hebei, I'll have him come to your pharmacy and send you some photos."

"Photos?" Manager Huang was taken aback, then heard Zhao Jun explain, "I took photos of the ginseng I put out. Take the photos over and show them to the buyers. If they like it and are close to making a decision, then we can discuss the transaction details. Is that alright?"

Zhao Jun has been quite busy lately, how could he have time to go to Hebei?

“Your idea works.” Hearing Zhao Jun’s words, Manager Huang readily agreed and said, “Then when your uncle comes over, give me a call in advance so I can wait for him at the pharmacy.”

After the two sides reached an agreement, Zhao Jun hung up the phone. When he came out of the small house in the east, he heard Li Ruhai say with a smile, "Brother, how about we go for a stroll in Hebei?"

"What are you wandering around for?" Zhao Jun said, "Let's rest for a day today, we still have to go up the mountain tomorrow."

"What are you going to do next?" Zhao Youcai asked. Zhao Jun replied, "We still need ginseng in this place. It's hard to say about the large quantities, but we definitely need some fourth-grade leaves and ginseng root. We'll go again tomorrow."

"Hey, soldiers, aren't you going to take a break?" Zhao Weipeng said, "Why don't you rest at home for a few days?"

“No, Uncle,” Zhao Jun said. “Several groups of people know about this place now. If they find out we’re not up there, they’ll have to go!”