Reborn in 1985, starting from the mountains of Northwest China

The women quickly prepared the meal.

Lin Xiu brought the stewed chicken to the table, steaming hot.

"Eat your food, everyone. Don't stand up."

The whole family sat down around the kang (a heated brick bed), filling the room on the floor and on the floor.

Several children sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), happily eating peanuts and melon seeds from a plate.

Lin Qingfeng sat at the head of the table, holding a wine cup, looking at everyone in the room with a smile on his face.

"Let's have a drink today since we're all in a good mood."

Lin Dong poured wine for everyone, but when it came to Chen Feng, he paused, "Brother-in-law, can you drink?"

It's not Lin Dong's fault; it's just that Chen Feng, that scoundrel, didn't come here much before.

He was too lazy to go over and make a fool of himself.

However, my brother-in-law's behavior today was different from usual.

After listening, Chen Feng smiled and looked at Lin Dong: "Second Brother, can you drink a little?"

Lin Xi laughed from the side: "As long as they can drink, that's fine. Let's have a good drink together today, brothers."

After a few rounds of drinks, they started talking non-stop.

Lin Dong talked about planting crops in the spring, while Lin Xi talked about running in the mountains.

Chen Feng listened, occasionally interjecting with a few words.

Speaking of mountain running, Lin Xi's eyes lit up: "Second Brother, do you remember that nest of wild boars we encountered in the woods of Wufeng last year?"

Lin Dong nodded: "I remember, they almost chased us up a tree."

Lin Xi chuckled: "If I had a fast gun back then, I could have taken it down easily."

Lin Qingfeng chimed in from the side, "If you encounter a wild boar, just run away. If you really want to fight one, you'd better find someone knowledgeable to lead the way."

Chen Feng listened, and a thought struck him.

"Dad, are there many wild animals on the hill behind our house?"

Lin Qingfeng glanced at him: "Lots. Wild boars, roe deer, rabbits, you name it. And further in, there are bears."

As Lin Qingfeng spoke, he leaned closer to the group and whispered, "There are ginseng roots in this forest behind us!"

Chen Feng's eyes lit up: "Ginseng?"

After these words were spoken, the table fell silent for a moment.

Lin Qingfeng nodded, but didn't rush to continue. Instead, he picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and glanced out the window.

Chen Feng's heart skipped a beat, and he followed his gaze.

There was nothing outside.

Lin Xi, being impatient, couldn't help but ask, "Dad, why are you suddenly bringing this up?"

Lin Qingfeng put down his wine cup and lowered his voice even further: "Didn't Hu'er just say that he ran into a stranger in the back mountain?"

Lin Hu was eating when he heard this and looked up: "Dad, is there something wrong with that person?"

"It's hard to say whether there's a problem or not," Lin Qingfeng said slowly, lighting a pipe. "But think about it, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, in this freezing weather, why wouldn't they stay home and come all the way to our back mountain?"

Lin Dong frowned: "Father, you mean... that person came looking for ginseng?"

Lin Qingfeng didn't answer, he just took a puff of his cigarette.

Lin Xi scratched his head: "Really? It's the middle of winter, the ground is covered with snow, you can't even see the grass, how can we find ginseng? Besides, ginseng isn't dug up this season."

"Ginseng digging is something that happens around the time of the Autumn Equinox," Lin Qingfeng exhaled a puff of smoke. "But you've forgotten something."

Several people were looking at him.

Chen Feng's heart skipped a beat.

Lin Dong slapped his thigh: "Some people dig for ginseng, but when they see a small one, they don't dig it up. They leave a mark and come back when it grows up."

Lin Qingfeng nodded: "If that person came in the autumn, he's here now because he's after the mark."

Chen Feng listened intently, then couldn't help but ask, "Father, is there really ginseng in this back mountain?"

Lin Qingfeng glanced at him, but did not answer directly. Instead, he said, "Before liberation, in your grandfather's generation, there was a tree with six-grade leaves growing on this back mountain."

Six-petaled leaf!

Although Chen Feng didn't understand the jargon of ginseng, he knew that the more leaves a ginseng plant has, the longer it has been aged.

A ginseng with six leaves must be a ginseng that's over a hundred years old.

Lin Xi's eyes lit up: "Really? Why has our family never mentioned this before?"

Lin Qingfeng snorted, "Why bring that up? Back then it was chaotic with war; even if we dug it up, we wouldn't be able to keep it. Your grandfather and the others secretly dug it up and exchanged it for a few bags of grain, which is how our Lin family managed to keep some..."

Chen Feng gripped the chopsticks in his hand, his mind churning.

According to their memories from their previous life, Lin Xi and Lin Dong were originally just as poor as their family.

But a year and a half later, he suddenly had the ability to enter the city, which I guess is related to this matter!

You should know that wild ginseng is a rare commodity these days. Not to mention finding a hundred-year-old ginseng, even an ordinary ginseng can sell for more than thirty yuan a kilogram!

As Xiaoshan reached the grade level for school enrollment, he privately calculated that the tuition was twenty-five yuan and the textbook fee was ten yuan.

If we could find even a ginseng root or two, we could cover the child's tuition.

As for that outsider, he most likely came for this reason.

Lin Qingfeng seemed to sense what he was thinking and tapped his pipe: "Feng'er, I know you're itching to get to know it. But this can't be rushed."

Chen Feng nodded: "Father, I understand."

Chen Feng said he understood, but his mind was in turmoil.

The family's savings, which seem to be a little over a hundred, are not much after the old house needs repairs and other expenses are taken into account.

If Xiaoshan can't pay his tuition, he'll miss the rest of the semester.

He glanced at Xiaoshan sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), where the child was fighting with Lin Cai'er over peanuts, laughing carefree.

This child doesn't even know what worry is.

Lin Xiu placed some food on his plate and asked softly, "What are you thinking about?"

Chen Feng snapped out of his reverie and smiled, "I wasn't thinking about anything."

Lin Xiu looked at him with a hint of worry in her eyes, but didn't ask any more questions.

At the dinner table, Lin Dong and Lin Xi were still talking about mountain running.

Lin Qingfeng smoked a cigarette, occasionally chiming in with a few words.

Leng Shuang'er and Li Ju were clearing away the dishes, while Lu Dan was boiling water in the kitchen.

It was already completely dark outside.

After sitting for a while longer, Lin Dong got up to say goodbye: "Father, Mother, it's getting late, we should head back now."

Lin Xi also stood up.

The two families hurriedly got dressed, picked up their children, and made a ruckus for quite a while before finally leaving.

Lu Dan saw her off at the gate, and on her way back, she muttered, "I wonder when Shuang'er will show any signs of life..."

Lin Qingfeng waved his hand: "Why talk about this during the New Year?"

Lu Dan sighed and didn't say anything more.

After Lin Xiu helped clean up the dishes, she pulled Chen Feng back to her room.

Xiaoshan and Xiaoyue were already sleepy, so Lin Xiu took off their clothes and tucked them into bed.

The two children snuggled together and fell asleep in no time.

Lin Xiu sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and looked at Chen Feng.

"What's wrong with you today? You keep spacing out while eating."

Chen Feng was stunned; he hadn't expected her to see through it.

He didn't hide anything, lowering his voice to say, "I'm thinking about ginseng."

Lin Xiu frowned: "Didn't Dad say we should go in the spring? It's the dead of winter now, it's too dangerous to go into the mountains."

Chen Feng shook his head: "I don't want to go deep into the mountains right now. I just want to... take a stroll outside the mountains."

"Outside the mountains?"

"Um."

Chen Feng said, "Didn't they say we met that outsider in the back mountains? The place he was wandering around must not be far from the village. I just wanted to go and see if I could find anything."