Chapter 172: Small in stature, but courageous

Su Qiao went up Dongshan Mountain with ease.

The herbs in the place they visited yesterday had basically been picked yesterday, so she went straight deeper into the mountain today.

Her main purpose today was not to collect herbs, but to find out if there was a suitable place to store those cultural relics.

However, the cave has not been found yet.

Su Qiao discovered that the deeper one went into the mountains, the more treasures there were.

She had not walked far before she saw a wild persimmon tree.

The persimmons on the tree are ripe. They are hanging on the branches, red like little lanterns, and they are so delicious to look at.

Su Qiao rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs and climbed up the tree.

If she hesitated for even a minute while eating such delicious persimmons, it would be disrespectful to the food.

A tree may carry at least a hundred kilograms of persimmons. Even if you remove the ones that cannot be picked from the high branches, there are still dozens of kilograms left.

The small backpack can't hold it all.

Su Qiao threw them all into the space.

After picking persimmons, Su Qiao continued walking into the mountains.

She specifically looked for places with steeper mountains because they were more likely to have caves.

Soon, she saw a cave hidden among the vines halfway up the mountain.

“Found it!”

Su Qiao was happily about to climb up the cave.

Suddenly, a red shadow flashed before my eyes.

Su Qiao quickly turned back and took a closer look.

Suddenly he smiled so hard that his eyes curved.

She originally thought that she was blessed by the god of luck as she had dug up so many Gastrodia elata in the mountains yesterday.

I didn't expect to come across wild ginseng today.

And there are more than one, there are five of them scattered in this area.

They have already produced bright red seeds, which are pleasing to the eye.

She was just thinking that there was nothing to plant in the small area next to the spiritual spring in the space, so wouldn’t it be appropriate to plant these wild ginseng there?

Su Qiao quickly used a sickle to cut a few wooden sticks, and carefully lifted out the five wild ginsengs one by one.

Wild ginseng is something that requires integrity. If even one of the roots is broken, the quality will drop drastically.

After Su Qiao dug out all five wild ginsengs, he estimated that the smallest one weighed seven taels, and the largest one weighed at least one jin.

As the saying goes, seven ounces is worth ginseng, and eight ounces is worth treasure.

These wild ginsengs have been growing for at least several decades, and the largest one is probably over a hundred years old.

She really struck gold today.

After she planted all five wild ginsengs next to the space spiritual spring, she came out and continued to climb towards the cave halfway up the mountain.

When she got closer, her eyes lit up again.

The vine covering the cave entrance that she had just seen at the foot of the mountain turned out to be a wild kiwi fruit.

It is also densely covered with fruits, some are soft, some are not yet soft, but all are ripe for picking.

Su Qiao didn't rush to pick kiwis, but took out the flashlight he had prepared and entered the cave.

The cave is quite deep.

The road after entering the cave suddenly becomes narrow.

She couldn't get in with the backpack on her back, so she had to leave the basket outside and crawl in.

After crawling one or two meters, you can stand up.

After walking a few more steps inside, the entire cave suddenly became spacious.

There was a sound of water dripping from inside.

Su Qiao shone a flashlight and saw water dripping from the stalactites on the top of the cave wall.

Besides, there are signs of life here.

There were several enamel bowls that had been beaten to pieces and were scattered all over the cave, and some were just thrown everywhere.

Su Qiao couldn't tell who had lived here, but it didn't matter.

The important thing is that this is a good place to store those artifacts.

She quickly moved all the cultural relics that had been moved out of the Su family and piled them in a corner of the cave.

She also did some concealment to make sure that others could not tell that these things were newly put in, and then she left the cave.

When she got outside the cave, she picked the kiwis, threw most of them into the space, and put a small part into a backpack that filled half of the backpack.

He then transferred some persimmons out of the space, put them in a backpack, and then went down the mountain.

As soon as she reached the foot of the mountain, she saw Qin Zhengrong's tall figure walking towards her from a distance.

She put down the backpack and waved to Qin Zhengrong, "Brother Zhengrong, this way!"

When Qin Zhengrong heard her voice, he immediately changed from walking with his head held high to running.

When he got close to her, Qin Zhengrong looked at her with deep eyes, full of helplessness, "Qiao Qiao, why did you come to the mountains alone again?

Didn’t we agree that I would go into the mountains with you to collect herbs every weekend?”

Su Qiao playfully stuck out her tongue at Qin Zhengrong and said, "Brother Zhengrong, since I was eight years old, grandpa has let me go to the mountains to collect herbs without any worries.

I'm already 20 years old, what are you worried about?"

"Let me tell you, I made a big discovery in the mountains today." With an exaggerated expression, she described how she found a cave while picking kiwis, and also discovered signs of human life in the cave.

I also told Qin Zhengrong about finding a bunch of porcelain, jade and other cultural relics in the corner.

Qin Zhengrong's expression immediately became serious.

As he put on the backpack, he said, "Qiao Qiao, this is a big deal.

Let's go back quickly and report to the leader."

Su Qiao found that Qin Zhengrong didn't seem surprised that there were signs of human life in the cave.

I couldn't help but ask, "Brother Zhengrong, someone once lived in a cave like that. Don't you think it's strange?"

Qin Zhengrong said: "It's not surprising.

Our military region is surrounded by mountains on three sides, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. Moreover, we can attack when we advance or retreat into the mountains to conduct guerrilla warfare.

Therefore, before the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was successively used as a base by warlords and bandits.

The cave you found was once hidden by a warlord or bandit, so there are traces of life and property left behind."

“However, when our troops were stationed here, they conducted a thorough search of the surrounding mountains.

I didn’t expect there would be some fish that slipped through the net.”

Su Qiao and Qin Zhengrong did not return to the compound, but went directly to the army.

Su Qiao and Qin Zhengrong reported the matter to Commander Han.

After thinking for a moment, Commander Han said, "Zhengrong, since it was your wife who discovered the cave, you should lead the troops and follow your wife to have a look.

If those cultural relics can be moved, just move them back.

If it can’t be moved easily, we’ll find an expert to handle it.”

"Yes, Master!"

After receiving the order, Qin Zhengrong went to count the troops.

Commander Han asked Su Qiao to stay in the office and wait for Qin Zhengrong to be ready.

Su Qiao just took out the persimmons and kiwis she had just picked and invited the leaders and soldiers to eat.

"Captain Han, Political Commissar, I just picked these on the mountain. Please try them. They are so sweet!"

Commander Han didn't hesitate and just picked up a persimmon and started peeling and eating it.

"Yeah, it's really sweet!"

Commander Han also took one and threw it to Political Commissar Ji, "Old Ji, you try it too!

This is the taste of the wild persimmons we found when we were fighting guerrilla warfare in the mountains!"

As Commander Han spoke, he called together all the soldiers who were serving in the office and on duty outside the office.

"Come and taste the fruits that Captain Qin's sister-in-law picked in the mountains."

These days, it’s good enough to have enough food to eat.

There is no concept of eating fruit here.

The soldiers ate the sweet persimmons and kiwis and were very satisfied.

Commander Han said, "You are the one who eats the fruit of Comrade Xiao Su. You should be more careful when you need to do any work in Comrade Xiao Su's family in the future!"

"Yes, Commander!" The soldiers responded immediately in a loud voice.

Su Qiao felt a little embarrassed.

Commander Han is trying to help her gain popularity!

She quickly said, "Captain, please stop joking with the soldiers.

These fruits are from the mountains, they are not mine.

Let the soldiers eat as much as they want, without restraint."

Master Han said with a smile: "These fruits are from the mountains, but you must have put a lot of effort in picking them from the mountains, right?"

"We soldiers know this mountain better than you do.

Any wild fruits that grow a little further out are picked up by the locals before they are ripe.”

"You are a small girl, but you are very brave. Have you gone into the mountains today?"