With Pinxixi in hand, I have a supermarket in the Changzheng!

Dong Sheng pointed at the wild ginseng seedling and explained patiently.

"Look, there are four branches on this seedling, which is called four leaves! It takes a year for wild ginseng to grow one leaf. It will take at least four to five years for a four-leaf ginseng like this one to grow! The longer it ages, the better its medicinal effect will be."

Zhou Yue nodded continuously as she listened.

So that's how it is. The year of the ginseng seedling can be determined based on the number of branches it grows. It's quite magical.

Four leaves like this are of very good quality.

Five-leaf ginseng is even rarer, and takes more than ten years to grow.

As for the six-leaf one, it is extremely rare and very expensive, not something that ordinary people can afford.

Dong Sheng carried a bamboo basket on his back, which contained hemp ropes for tying wood and some miscellaneous items.

At this time, he slowly took the backpack off his shoulders and placed it on the ground.

Then he rummaged around inside for a while and took out a small and exquisite hoe.

The handle of this hoe is not long, and the blade of the hoe has been carefully polished, so it feels very small in the hand.

Zhou Yue watched from the side and couldn't help but ask.

"Brother Sheng, why do you bring this little hoe with you up the mountain?"

Dong Sheng looked at the small hoe in his hand, smiled and said.

"My mother is in poor health and has to take medicine all year round. Wild ginseng is an indispensable ingredient in the medicine, so every time I go up the mountain, I bring a small hoe with me. As long as I see wild ginseng, I will use the hoe to dig it up and bring it home."

Dong Sheng was indeed a filial son. His mother was ill for many years, but he never complained.

Every time I go up the mountain, whether hunting or doing anything else, I always bring a small hoe with me. As long as I see ginseng, I will carefully dig it up and bring it home.

Before digging ginseng, Dong Sheng took out a red rope from his trouser pocket and tied it to the seedling.

Zhou Yue looked at the operation and asked curiously.

"Brother Sheng, why are you tying red ropes on the ginseng seedlings?"

Dong Sheng was stumped by this sudden question. He scratched his head and smiled foolishly.

"The villagers all dig ginseng this way. I learned it from others. I really don't know why it's done this way."

Zhou Yue saw that Dong Sheng didn't seem to know why, so she didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she quietly asked the system in her heart.

[Tongzi, do you know why? ]

The system was like a know-it-all and replied in Zhou Yue's mind after a short while.

[This is a tradition of digging ginseng. There are many theories as to why this is done! Some say it is to prevent the ginseng from growing legs and running away, others say the ginseng dug this way will be bigger, and still others think it is to separate it from the weeds next to it.]

Dong Sheng tied the red rope, picked up the hoe, and started digging ginseng.

He eased the hoe into the soil, very slowly and gently.

Because there are many whiskers next to the main root of ginseng, these whiskers also have medicinal effects, it would be a pity if they were dug off.

After loosening the soil with a hoe, Dong Sheng put the hoe aside and started digging the soil with his hands.

His fingers shuttled back and forth in the soil, gradually removing the soil around the ginseng, and the tiny roots gradually appeared.

Finally, the wild ginseng lay intact in the palm of his hand, with a thick taproot, dense whiskers and every root intact.

Qiangzi came over at once, his eyes shining.

"Wow! This ginseng is really big! If it were sold in a pharmacy, it would probably be enough to buy a bag of food!"

The older and bigger the ginseng is, the more valuable it is. Small one-year-old ginseng is cheaper in pharmacies.

And those that are bigger like this can be exchanged for a lot of money at the pharmacy.

So even though their village is not near the sea, they can still make a living by living off the mountains.

However, there are not many ginseng on this mountain, so you need to rely on luck to find them.

Dong Sheng's mother needs to take medicine every day, so she can only buy it at the pharmacy.

Our family’s finances were tight, so we could only buy the smallest kind of ginseng that grows annually.

On the way back down the mountain, Zhou Yue opened the system mall.

In the search box of the mall, I entered three words, "wild ginseng".

Zhou Yue recalled the worry in Dong Sheng's eyes when he talked about his mother's illness. She was naturally willing to help such a filial man.

However, when Zhou Yue saw the price of wild ginseng in the mall, his eyes widened instantly and his mouth opened uncontrollably.

[Ah! What? Is this wild ginseng so expensive? ]