Chapter 733: 733 Harvest
This area is certainly seldom traversed; we found many wild fruits and pine mushrooms along the way.
Su Yuanyuan tasted them, found them sweet, and collected them—considering it a fruitful harvest.
As night approached, her Divine Sense finally detected them, putting her at ease.
The six of them were faster than the five; they had already reached the cave. It’s only natural, considering they had walked this route once before, and with two guides leading the way.
She herself was quite exhausted and entered the space, but her Divine Sense continued to watch over them.
In the space, she luxuriated in a hot shower and delectable food.
The night passed peacefully, and the next day she moved in synchrony with them, genuinely worried about their wellbeing.
She gathered the mountain ginseng found in the previous spot, mainly to prevent the villagers from harvesting them. These six plants had been growing for nearly thirty years.
Come nightfall, they again reached the cave ahead of the others; Su Yuanyuan also entered the space. Tomorrow they’ll ascend the second summit.
Despite the terrifying howls of wolves throughout the night, no wild beasts appeared near the cave.
Daybreak arrived, and they continued onward. Su Yuanyuan kept her Divine Sense fully active and discovered a spot not far from the path they were taking. There, she created some noise, drawing Wei Guangxiang over.
The group was thrilled. The two Lin Family Brothers were rather puzzled.
"We’ve often taken this path; how could we have missed the mountain ginseng by the roadside?"
Zeng Hongling was delighted. Finding mountain ginseng was reason enough for joy.
Su Yuanyuan collected a smaller-aged ginseng nearby, while leaving two even younger-aged ones untouched.
The ginseng transplanted into the space yesterday were all thriving, easing her concerns.
By the evening, there were no further discoveries, though everyone was still quite pleased.
That day, Su Yuanyuan also had a substantial haul, picking plenty of apples, sour pears, and persimmons—bountiful fruits indeed.
For the next three days, daytime yielded no harvests, and Su Yuanyuan found no mountain ginseng. Nights were quite safe as well, devoid of wild animal encounters.
By now, they had been out for five days, resting at a cave high on the third peak.
They were preparing to return. The journey in had taken five days; even a swift return would require four days. Their provisions were running low.
"Should we make another trip? Won’t it take the same number of days? How about we delve further inside?" Zeng Hongling felt the time spent on traveling wasn’t worth it.
"We brothers have no objections; we could certainly persist for ten more days."
"Sister, can you hold out?"
"Me? No problem at all, rest assured, we’ll continue deeper inside."
Having made the decision, the eldest of the Lin Family spoke up.
"Actually, we’ll only be staying on the mountain another ten days or so before the snow falls, forcing us to return."
Su Yuanyuan listened to their conversation, noting the wisdom in the words. Once it snows, they’d have to leave, as being trapped there would be perilous.
She planned to return one day earlier than them, which would make the situation easier to manage.
From then on, luck was not on their side; not only did they fail to find ginseng, but they also encountered wildlife multiple times.
Each encounter was a close call, and Su Yuanyuan watched over them until a week later when they started their return journey.
This time their focus shifted to hunting; with only one ginseng collected, the Lin Family Brothers resorted to hunting.
They couldn’t afford to stay on the mountain for half a month without any results.
Wei Guangxiang and his companions joined the hunt; while ginseng was scarce, hunting proved fruitful. On the third summit, they came across two solitary wolves.
Five strong men could handle two wolves without trouble. They skinned the wolves on the spot, leaving the meat behind, as carrying it would be too burdensome.
That evening, outside the cave, they roasted meat, while Zeng Hongling looked despondent. "I finally understand why Yuanyuan said that; truly, I’ve had enough of roasted meat."
In fact, the five men had already started eating less two days earlier, as Zeng Hongling couldn’t stomach any more roasted meat.
With just two days left before departure, Su Yuanyuan utilized the space to return ahead.
She unloaded twenty pounds of white flour, twenty pounds of cornmeal, ten pounds of noodles, and twenty pounds of fatback, before heading home to Lin Gensheng’s.
"Xiao Su, you’re back!"
"Uncle Lin, thank you for your concern, I’m okay."
"A young lady carrying so many things up the mountain must be exhausting, right?"
"Not too bad—I didn’t carry too much."
She returned a day early, took some time to recover, and waited for Zeng Hongling and the others.
"Uncle Lin, I presume they should be back any moment now?"
"They should be, since the snow is imminent, making the mountain dangerous."
"Xiao Su, the trading station was quite dissatisfied this time, having received only one ginseng over thirty years old."
Su Yuanyuan was at a loss for words; they hadn’t intended to undermine the trading station’s business but truly had a need for them.
"By the way, there are two other families with highly aged ginsengs—should you collect them now or wait for Old Zhan?"
"Uncle Lin, let’s wait; I’m not well-versed in ginseng."
Thus their harvest was respectable. The trip truly proved worthwhile.
That night, she laid on the warm bed, and had a deep sleep until dawn.
The next morning, the six of them returned.
Su Yuanyuan greeted the disheveled Zeng Hongling with a smile.
"Yuanyuan, I’m back! For the foreseeable future, I won’t crave roasted meat."
"I brought noodles, I’ll cook you hearty soup noodles."
Lin Gensheng’s wife prepared pancakes for them, while Su Yuanyuan boiled water—they all wanted to bathe.
After dinner, Zhan Yunzhao produced the ginseng.
"Old Lin, this was discovered collectively and is nearly a hundred years old; it is priced at seven hundred. We had six people; each would receive over a hundred. I’ll give each of the two young fellows one hundred twenty yuan."
Lin Gensheng hesitated, looking at his two sons.
The eldest quickly shook his head, "Dad, they discovered and dug it themselves; we didn’t contribute much."
"Old Zhan, we can’t accept this money."
"How can that be? Everyone was involved; let’s not refuse further."
"Old Zhan, don’t insist; though we lack literacy, we possess goodwill, and we absolutely won’t accept this money."
Su Yuanyuan took out two hundred forty yuan from her bag and laid it on the table, "Uncle Lin, actually this is customary; since everyone went together, regardless of who discovered it, everyone deserves a share."