Hu Hongde shook his head and said: "Ye Tian, it's not about money. These ginseng are made from the essence of heaven and earth. It would be a pity to damage them."
Although he owed a huge favor to Ye Tian, as an old ginseng customer, Hu Hongde still insisted on digging his own ginseng.
You know, in the winter in the Northeast, even the ground can freeze. Digging ginseng is a hundred times more difficult than in summer. If you go wrong, the ginseng whiskers will be injured.
Ye Tian glanced at Hu Hongde with dissatisfaction and said, "Old Hu, do you look down on me? Let me tell you, I have a lot of energy in my sect, so what does digging a ginseng tree mean?"
"Really? Can you see ginseng by looking at the qi?" Hu Hongde was stunned when Ye Tian said it. It seems that this qi is used in Feng Shui. Can it also be used to find ginseng?
Hu Hongde didn't know whether what Ye Tian said was true or not, but seeing Ye Tian's insistence, he finally shook his head and said: "Okay, be careful, ginseng doesn't grow straight up and down, it lies underground.
, you have to dig from all sides first, be sure not to hurt the ginseng whiskers!"
Unlike ordinary plants with their rhizomes pointing downward, ginseng's rhizomes grow upside down, with all the thin ginseng tendrils pointing toward the ground. Therefore, when digging up the ginseng, you must dig it bit by bit from far to near, from bottom to top.
"I understand, Lao Hu, just look at it."
Ye Tian put his backpack aside, reached out and pulled out a short engineering shovel, and said shamelessly: "Old Hu, if I came to Changbai Mountain to dig ginseng, you would have nothing to eat!"
After listening to Ye Tian's words and looking at his actions, Hu Hongde almost didn't cry. He grabbed the shovel and said begging for mercy: "I said, let me dig it. Where can I use iron tools to dig ginseng?"
"What's the matter? Why dig without a shovel?"
Ye Tian stopped when he heard the words, glanced at Hu Hongde's hand and said: "Old Hu, you practice Eagle Claw Kung Fu, but there are so many ginseng pickers in Changbai Mountain, so they may not have this skill? Do they also use it?
Digging by hand?”
In addition to accompanying Yu Qingya and others to play in the mountains these days, Ye Tian also competed with Hu Hongde several times. Ye Tian also highly praised the extremely powerful Changbai Mountain Eagle Claw Skill.
Especially when he has reached the level of Hu Hongde, the ten fingers of his hands are like ten sharp daggers. He can break a tree trunk as thick as a bowl with just one grab. If he grabs it on a human body, there will be five bloody holes.
That's why Ye Tian doubted whether Hu Hongde held it directly in his hand when digging ginseng. After all, the shovel was not as flexible as his fingers.
"Who said they dug it by hand?"
Hu Hongde really regretted taking Ye Tian into the mountains. He shook his head and took out a small knife made of wood from his backpack and said, "Use this wooden knife to dig, otherwise there will be antlers. You can't use iron tools anyway!"
Fresh ginseng, whether it is ginseng fibers or rhizomes, is very fragile. As long as it touches an iron tool, it will definitely cause damage. Therefore, this wooden knife and antlers are essential tools for ginseng pickers.
Hu Hongde also used these two tools in his early years, but later he practiced Kung Fu more and more deeply. As Ye Tian said, he used both hands to dig ginseng.
The reason why he brought a wooden knife and antlers into the mountains this time was to let Ye Tian have a good time and find him a wild ginseng that is more than ten years old. However, Hu Hongde did not expect that Ye Tian would need fifty years of old ginseng to practice.
Ordinary luxury.
"There are so many things to pay attention to. Okay, let's just use this wooden knife."
Ye Tian threw away the shovel and took the toy-like wooden knife. He couldn't help shaking his head. The ground was frozen hard this winter. If he were an ordinary ginseng picker, how long would he be able to dig with the wooden knife?
?
But to Ye Tian, it really doesn't matter what he uses. This wooden knife is filled with true energy and is probably a bit sharper than the shovel.
Although Ye Tian acted indifferently before, he became calm after taking action. After sensing the location of the wild ginseng tree, he started digging more than thirty centimeters away from the ginseng beard.
Seeing Ye Tian being so cautious, Hu Hongde felt a little more confident in him. Although he didn't understand that attitude determines success or failure, he did need to concentrate when digging for ginseng.
"This thing grows in the soil, but it can absorb the essence of heaven and earth, refine and condense it. It is truly a legendary treasure of heaven and earth, but it grows too slowly!"
Ginseng is the most precious medicinal material that Ye Tian has used since his cultivation, and it has indeed not disgraced the name of the King of Herbs. Its medicinal properties also played a great role in the advancement of Ye Tian's skills.
Therefore, even though he knew that he would not hurt the ginseng, Ye Tian's movements were extremely careful. He seemed to be quick but was actually very gentle in cleaning up the frozen soil around the wild ginseng.
"Be careful, you're about to dig up the mallet, go up slowly and clean it up!"
The frozen soil was only the surface layer. After digging, the soil inside became softer. Ye Tian's movements became faster and faster, and Hu Hongde watched with fear.
Ye Tian also relaxed now, turned around and said with a smile: "Lao Hu, just watch it!"
Ye Tian's control over his body made him the most suitable for such detailed work. After clearing away the frozen soil, he simply threw away the wooden knife and used his two hands to peel away the soil under the ginseng one by one.
After digging out the entire ginseng tree, Ye Tian peeled off the soil between the ginseng roots with his fingers like flying. Hu Hongde was stunned when he saw it, and he was stunned for a moment.
You should know that in the soil where ginseng grows, there are still many grass roots, tree roots, stubborn rocks, and gravels, some of which are even wrapped in ginseng whiskers.
But Ye Tian's ten fingers were like embroidery needles, removing all the debris with extraordinary dexterity. Although the movements were extremely fast, they did not cause any damage to the roots.
Just over ten minutes later, an old wild ginseng with complete ginseng whiskers, a main root bark that was yellowish brown, and the upper shoulder of the hair root covered with fine and deep screw-like horizontal stripes appeared in Ye Tian's hands.
This wild ginseng has dozens of ginseng tendrils, some as thick as toothpicks, and some as thin as hair. What is commendable is that among so many ginseng tendrils, not one of them is broken.
Even Hu Hongde himself could not dig up this old ginseng into such a complete appearance. After ten years of harvesting ginseng, Hu Hongde dared to say that the wild ginseng in Ye Tian's hand was not the oldest, but it was definitely the best in appearance.
root.
"Except for the color, this thing is really the same as a carrot, isn't it?"
Ye Tian carefully held the wild ginseng in his palm and looked at it carefully. It was also the first time for him to see fresh ginseng. It was very different from the dried ginseng he had bought before.
Ye Tian could feel that the sap in this ginseng contained extremely abundant essence, and its effectiveness was far from comparable to that of dried old ginseng.
Smelling the faint fragrance, Ye Tian even had the urge to throw it into his mouth and chew it.
For others, it may be too much, but for Ye Tian's body, there is absolutely no such thing as a weak body that cannot be replenished. Ye Tian is given old ginseng with six-grade leaves as food, and those essences of heaven and earth are eaten by Ye Tian.
It will also be transformed into the essence in his body.
"Ye Tian, take it, be careful not to break the roots."
Hu Hongde also came to his senses at this time. He didn't bother to ask for the wild ginseng to check, but turned back and ran towards the birch forest more than 20 meters away.
"Lao Hu, what are you doing?"
Ye Tian turned his head in surprise. Just as he shouted, he saw Hu Hongde's right hand turned into a claw and grabbed the tall birch tree.
With a "chila" sound, a large piece of birch bark was torn off by Hu Hongde. He squatted down and scraped away the snow on the ground. Hu Hongde ran back after a while.
"Ye Tian, give me this mallet."
Before Ye Tian could ask, Hu Hongde passed the wild ginseng and wrapped it with bark. Ye Tian discovered that there was still some moss and rotten soil in the bark.
Hu Hongde took out another wooden box from his backpack and carefully put the old ginseng wrapped in bark into it. After doing this, he breathed a long sigh of relief.
Seeing Ye Tian's puzzled eyes, Hu Hongde smiled and said: "This mallet will soon become dry if it leaves the soil. I will hug it with bark and moss to ensure that its essence will not leak out!"
"It's really a lot of things to pay attention to. If you ask me, why don't you just eat it to replenish your energy?"
Ye Tian licked his lips. He had stewed a lot of dried ginseng, but Ye Tian had never eaten this kind of fresh wild ginseng. The huge essence in that wild ginseng made Ye Tian feel itchy.
Seeing Ye Tian's eyes, Hu Hongde couldn't help but take a step back, held the wooden box in his arms, and said, "Don't waste it. Fourth-grade leaves that are fifty years old are rare. You can keep them."
Used for hanging."
The so-called suicide is when a person has only one breath left, cut a century-old ginseng into slices and give it to the patient. The essence in the ginseng can make the person live a little longer and use it to express his last words.
In ancient times, many wealthy families liked to keep old ginseng in their homes. It was for this reason. However, century-old wild ginseng has become a rare item in modern times. The fifty-year-old ginseng can still be used with reluctance.
"I just want to taste it."
Seeing Hu Hongde looking at him as if he was guarding against thieves, Ye Tian said angrily: "Old Hu, there are a lot of ginseng around here, but they are not as big as this one. Should we dig them all out?"
Through Qi induction, Ye Tian could detect that more than ten meters around this fourth-grade leaf, there were some objects containing essence, which must be the descendants of this ginseng.
"I'm talking about ancestors, why don't you leave some wild ginseng seeds for Changbai Mountain? This mountain forest has to feed a lot of people!" After hearing Ye Tian's words, Hu Hongde suddenly laughed bitterly.
Ginseng pickers have the same rules as ginseng pickers. Unless they encounter fifth-grade leaves, they will dig out the surrounding fourth-grade leaves and third-grade leaves. For other wild ginseng that is more than ten years old, ginseng pickers will never touch it.