In Northeast China, the older generation who dig ginseng have many rules to follow. For example, professional ginseng diggers must first offer sacrifices to the mountain god, and also take a red rope with a lot of money tied to it and tie one end to the Solo stick and the other end to the ginseng.
The Li family is not a professional ginseng digger, and they don't have the so-called Solo stick. The branches in their hands can be used as a substitute, but the red rope, big money and various ginseng digging tools are not complete. Old Mrs. Li used the branches to draw a square frame around the ginseng leaves, and found four sticks to insert into the four corners, and then stood there dumbfounded.
Zhenzhen looked at Old Lady Li's strange behavior in confusion. Wang Sufen was also a little confused: "Mom, what are you doing?"
Old Mrs. Li looked at the ginseng leaves with some worry: "When I was young, I followed your father-in-law to the mountains to pick ginseng. It was much more particular. I didn't follow the rules. We didn't worship the ginseng, nor did we tie a red string or anything. What if the ginseng runs away after I dig it?"
Wang Sufen had heard many legends about ginseng since she was a child. At least the story of ginseng turning into a doll wearing a red bellyband was something she had heard since she was a child. In the Northeast, it was common knowledge that ginseng must be tied with a red string when it is dug. She was flustered when she thought of this. She searched her pockets but couldn't find anything. She could only look at Old Lady Li helplessly: "How about I go home and get the red string?"
Zhenzhen stood by with a speechless face. She originally wanted to let Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen dig out the ginseng themselves, which could kill some time and increase their sense of accomplishment. She didn't expect them to make the ginseng so complicated. Zhenzhen looked at Old Lady Li's posture and seemed to be afraid to dig the ginseng like this. She could only use her consciousness to support the ginseng from below.
Wang Sufen was just worrying about the ginseng and didn't know what to do. Suddenly, she saw the ginseng leaves move, and the ginseng in the ground slowly emerged. She was immediately scared. Wang Sufen turned around and hugged Zhenzhen in her arms to protect her. She pointed at the ginseng leaves and her lips trembled with fear: "Mom, look, the ginseng is crawling out and trying to run away."
Old Lady Li was so angry at her daughter-in-law who made stupid mistakes from time to time that she quickly came over to cover Wang Sufen's mouth and twisted her waist. Only then did Wang Sufen come back to her senses. She looked around and closed her mouth and listened quietly. Seeing that no one came over, she wiped the sweat from her head guiltily. Old Lady Li had experienced a lot in her life and her mind worked quickly. With such a capable granddaughter, she didn't believe that this ginseng could escape under her nose.
Sure enough, as the ginseng emerged, most of the ginseng had already come out, and the roots were trying to move out. The roots are the most delicate part of the ginseng, and are particularly easy to break. Professional ginseng pickers use deer bone needles to peel off the soil bit by bit and carefully take them out. Old Lady Li didn't have these things on hand, which was why she didn't dare to dig ginseng.
But this was no big deal for Zhenzhen. It only took a minute or two for the ginseng to come out of the soil on its own, intact, even with all the hairs on its body intact.
"Oh my god!" Wang Sufen stared at the ginseng on the ground with her tongue tied in a knot: "Why does this ginseng look like a person to me? Could it be a spirit?"
"How can it be so easy to become a spirit?" Old Lady Li looked up and glanced at her, then carefully picked up the ginseng with her fingers and put it down, shaking it in her heart. A look of joy suddenly appeared on her face: "This ginseng is not light, even if it is less than a pound, it is not much different."
As the saying goes, "7 taels is a ginseng, 8 taels is a treasure." The ginseng that Zhenzhen made weighs less than one jin, which can be said to be a treasure. There are six main whiskers on it, and the longest one must be at least 50 centimeters long, which is really rare. It is a good thing, but how to take it home? Wang Sufen was a little worried: "The whiskers are so long and can't be bent. How can we take it back? What if the whiskers are broken?"
Old Lady Li had experience with this. She took out a shovel from the wicker basket she brought with her, found a sturdy birch tree nearby, and carefully peeled off a large piece of bark from it and spread it on the ground. She first spread a thick layer of moss and black soil next to the ginseng, then called Wang Sufen, and the two of them, one holding the head and the other holding the beard, carefully placed the ginseng on the bark, and found some long and tough grass to tie it up, wrapping the ginseng tightly without any exposure, and then put it in the wicker basket with confidence.
Zhenzhen saw that Old Lady Li had finished cleaning up, then she threw the last wild fruit in her hand into Li Mingzhong's mouth, then stood up and continued running forward.
Seeing this, Old Lady Li hurriedly followed. Seeing that Zhenzhen was leading them further and further away, she couldn't help but ask her, "Baby, where are we going now? It's good enough to have this ginseng, but don't dig any more. I don't know what to do with this one when I get back."
Zhenzhen tilted her head to look at Old Lady Li, revealing a few white teeth: "Make some wine for Dad."
"It's finally here." Wang Sufen couldn't help but yelled, "I'm telling you, my girl, this ginseng you found is a treasure. It must be at least a hundred years old, right? Mother!"
Old Lady Li nodded: "Four or five hundred years is no problem."
Wang Sufen slapped her thigh, her face full of pain: "This is our only treasure. We must keep it well when we take it home. If you give it to your father to soak in wine, it will be a waste. I'm afraid that just the little bit of ginseng whiskers will make his nose bleed."
"That's right." Old Lady Li nodded repeatedly: "When I get home, I will put it on the beam of our house and look at it three times a day. If burning incense is not popular now, I will definitely worship it."
Zhenzhen looked at Old Lady Li helplessly, but she was still young and couldn't say much to persuade her. She could only search around and found a ginseng that was forty or fifty years old. She hooked her finger at it, and the ginseng jumped out of the soil and fell directly into Zhenzhen's hand.
Zhenzhen handed the ginseng to Old Lady Li and said persistently, "Make some wine for Dad."
Old Mrs. Li looked at the ginseng in Zhenzhen's hand speechlessly, and could only cut another piece of bark to wrap it up: "Okay, okay, use this ginseng to make wine, and don't dig any more. We don't have that many beams in our house, and I have nowhere to hide it."
Zhenzhen remembered that her family didn't have a bicycle or a sewing machine, which were now popular items, so she quickly suggested, "Sell them and use the money to buy a bicycle and a sewing machine."
"Are you jealous of your grandmother Zhao's big bicycle?" Grandma Li and Wang Sufen smiled as they put a thick layer of moss and black soil into the bark. "We'll keep the big one and sell the small one. I'll go ask the supply and marketing cooperative if they'll take it. If I can sell it, I'll buy you a radio so you can listen to music during the day and avoid being bored."
Zhenzhen then grinned, and while the two were tying the ginseng, she walked to the birch tree that had two pieces of bark peeled off, and gently placed her small hand on the trunk. In a flash, the old tree grew new bark, and bits of green appeared on the branches that towered into the sky.
Li Mingzhong followed Zhenzhen and ran for several hours on the mountain road. Although he ate some wild fruits with Zhenzhen, he was only a few months old after all, and running such a long mountain road was already his limit. Li Mingzhong stuck out his tongue and panted a few times, barking a few times. Zhenzhen heard him say that he was tired, so she quickly stopped, squatted down and stroked his back with her little hands.
"Are you feeling better?" Zhenzhen tilted her head and looked at Li Mingzhong.
Li Mingzhong felt his back warm and his four legs regained some strength. Wang Sufen saw that Zhenzhen didn't move and thought she was tired. She hurried over and hugged the man and the dog in her arms: "Baby, we've been out for most of the day, why don't we go home early?"
Zhenzhen looked into the deep mountains, looking a little unsatisfied: "But I haven't had enough fun yet."
"I'll come again tomorrow." Wang Sufen said quickly, "I still have to pretend to turn the soil. I have to do it eight or ten times at least."
Zhenzhen then smiled: "Okay, come again tomorrow."
Wang Sufen adjusted the position of her arms and let Zhenzhen sit in her arms while hugging Li Mingzhong. Old Lady Li followed behind with a wicker basket on her back. After walking for about ten minutes, two pheasants suddenly flew out from nowhere, flapped their wings and fell into the wicker basket carried by Old Lady Li. Old Lady Li hurriedly took down the basket and grabbed the pheasants out: "My ancestors, we still have ginseng in the basket. What if it is damaged by pheasants?"
Zhen Zhen smiled at Old Lady Li and said, "Then just stew them all."
Old Lady Li picked up some wild vegetables from the side and held a bundle of pheasant legs in her hand. She did not forget to explain to Zhenzhen: "Although ginseng is a good thing, it is not something that can be eaten easily. The old ginseng we got today was a treasure used by wealthy families to survive in the past."
Wang Sufen looked at Old Lady Li holding a chicken in her hand and carrying ginseng in a basket on her back, and she felt happy: "Mom, do you think our Zhenzhen was a mountain god in her previous life? Otherwise, she would know where ginseng is on this mountain. She would also listen to her about pheasants and wild fruits."
Old Lady Li shook her head hesitantly: "The fish in the river also listen to Zhenzhen. How can the mountain god control the affairs in the water? I think Zhenzhen must have been more powerful than the mountain god in the past."
"Mom is right." Wang Sufen thought for a moment and said, "Is it the land god? The river is also on the land, and it is also under the jurisdiction of the land god."
Old Lady Li curled her lips in confusion: "But the land god is as important as the mountain god."
Zhenzhen buried her head in Li Mingzhong's body and listened to him happily: In her previous life, she was a student who grew up as a homebody. Her biggest dream was to open a flower shop, where she could drink coffee, watch TV series and gossip every day. Unfortunately, this dream was only one step away from being realized. But now it's not bad. Zhenzhen looked around at the towering trees around her: They are all mine!
As she went to the mountains to turn the soil every day, there were more and more good things in Old Lady Li's house. She hid a small one-pound ginseng on the beam of her house, a Ganoderma lucidum bigger than a washbasin was placed on the top of the kang, and there was half a cloth bag of small Ganoderma lucidum the size of a fist in the box. Zhenzhen told her to soak them in water and drink them to prolong her life.
Although Mrs. Li was heartbroken by her granddaughter's kindness, she had to boil water and soak the Ganoderma lucidum every morning under Zhenzhen's supervision. Fortunately, the stuff was hard, and a piece of Ganoderma lucidum the size of a fingernail could be soaked for at least a month. Mrs. Li estimated that this bag would be enough for her to drink until she was 100 years old, if she could live that long.
The granddaughter was becoming more and more capable. Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen kept telling her when no one was around. Fortunately, although Zhenzhen was young, she was very reliable in this regard and never showed any abnormality in front of others. Even though the Li family often had wild animals eating the crops and growing well, the neighbors thought it was her family's good fortune and no one would think it was a child.
In the blink of an eye, spring turned to winter. Guihua gave birth to a son when the first snow fell. The first child of the fourth generation was lovable no matter whether it was a boy or a girl. Old Mrs. Li happily wrapped the child in the quilt that Zhenzhen had used when she was a child. Seeing that Wang Sufen had helped Guihua clean up, she quickly put the great-grandson in Guihua's arms and asked her to feed him.
Zhenzhen, wearing a red corduroy jacket, curiously lay on the kang and looked at her nephew, who was almost two years younger than her. While touching his little hand, she asked Old Lady Li, "Grandma, what's your nephew's name? How about I give him one?"
Li Mingdong, who had asked for leave early, shuddered with fear. He subconsciously glanced at Li Mingzhong, who was lying at Zhenzhen's feet, and his cheek twitched: "Sister, your nephew's father is here, so you don't have to worry about it, okay?"
Zhen Zhen puffed up her chubby face and said, "You gave me a name, so why can't I give my nephew a name?"
"You still can't read, right?" Li Mingdong didn't dare to say anything harsh, for fear that he would make the little ancestor cry. Then his grandmother wouldn't care whether he had just become a father or not, she would pick up the broom on the kang and beat him up.
Seeing Zhenzhen's unsatisfied look, Li Mingdong gritted his teeth and prepared to sacrifice the name of his next child: "Why not wait until your sister-in-law gives birth, and then I'll let you name her."
Zhenzhen looked at Li Mingdong's aggrieved look and smiled: "I'll just give you a nickname, not a real one."
Li Mingdong was relieved. Nowadays, people like to give their children earthy names, as the saying goes, it is easier to raise them. Li Mingdong thought that it didn't matter if Zhenzhen was given an ugly name, it would only be for a few years, and when she grew up and went to school, no one would call her an earthy and ugly nickname, so he just had to give her a good name. He glanced at Zhenzhen, who was looking forward to it, and reached out to hold her on his lap: "Okay, tell me what name you want to give your nephew?"
Zhenzhen glanced at the baby in Guihua's arms. The baby's body was wrapped in the quilt, so nothing could be seen. However, the head that was exposed outside looked quite big. Zhenzhen glanced at her elder brother and asked him a little embarrassedly, "What if it doesn't sound good?"
"It's okay." Li Mingdong pinched Zhenzhen's chubby little hand: "You can call her by an unpleasant nickname, so it's easier to raise her."
"Then I feel relieved." Zhen Zhen breathed a sigh of relief: "Just call it Meat Bun."
"Meat buns?" Mingdong glanced at Zhenzhen and asked her hesitantly, "Are you hungry?"
"A little bit!" Zhenzhen rubbed her belly and looked at the little nephew in Guihua's arms with a serious face: "I just felt that my little nephew's face was white and fat just now, and he looked like a meat bun."
Li Mingdong couldn't help it and pinched Zhenzhen's face: "No one in our family has a face that looks more like a meat bun than yours!"
The author has something to say: I studied the speeches of the masters for a day, and then I was sleepy for a day, laughing and crying~~~~
I've been working and writing continuously recently, and I feel like my brain isn't working well enough. Today I feel like I'm stuck in writing, so I'll sort out my thoughts tomorrow.
By the way, the valuable part of Ganoderma is its spore powder, but wild spore powder is almost impossible to catch. There are a lot of Ganoderma on the mountain where my father-in-law lives. Every time he comes to my house, he will bring a plastic bag for my mother to soak in water, haha~~~
Goodnight everybody.