Chapter 84 The First of the Nine Immortal Herbs

Lin Heng's current location was not far from the waterfall falling from the mountain stream, and the medicinal herb he saw was growing on the cliff at his feet, standing tall and graceful, as if it were a jade sculpture.

Because he was born short, he didn't notice it at first, until the badger ran away and he sat down sulking.

This is none other than the Dendrobium officinale, which is known as the first of the nine immortal herbs and grows on cliffs.

There are naturally some in Qinling Mountains, but they are hard to find. Lin Heng didn't expect to see them in this place.

This thing has a very big name. It is a famous Chinese medicine for nourishing yin. It has been listed as a holy product for nourishing yin since ancient times and is said to be more valuable than gold.

In later generations, due to the depletion of wild Dendrobium resources, the price of one kilogram has been hyped up to several thousand yuan, sometimes even tens of thousands.

However, due to the large-scale expansion of artificial breeding, it fell from the altar, and the picking of pure wild ones was not allowed, so the price returned to normal.

At this time, resources are still relatively abundant, and they are all wild. Artificial cultivation technology has not yet appeared. The purchase price is similar to that of red Ganoderma lucidum. The purchase price of dried Dendrobium fluctuates around 50 yuan.

One kilogram of Dendrobium is equivalent to two months' salary for others. Of course, picking it often involves risking one's life.

"It seems that I really have a connection with medicinal herbs? I might as well collect more medicinal herbs in the future."

Lin Heng shook his head. He was a little shocked that he had come across such a precious thing.

"Uncle, come here quickly!!"

Lin Heng turned around and ran, calling for help as he ran.

Dendrobium grows on steep cliffs, so of course you can't go down there alone, as that would be playing with your own life.

"What's the matter? You yelled so loudly that I ran away." Li Baiquan walked over and said helplessly.

"I didn't know where you were. I was just too excited. Guess what I found?"

Lin Heng said with a smile.

"What is that? Some kind of herb, maybe? Your prey can't roar so loudly." Li Baiquan looked at him and said.

"I first saw a wild hog badger in the valley at the foot of the mountain. I searched for the trail for a long time but couldn't find it. I watched it run away.

But I didn’t expect that after all the twists and turns, there was a new way out. When I was sulking, I saw Dendrobium officinale on the cliff. ”

Lin Heng said with a smile.

"What, Dendrobium officinale!!" Lin Heng's uncle's eyes suddenly widened.

"You're rich now, you're really lucky." He sighed, wondering why he didn't have such good luck.

"I don't know how many there are. Uncle, do you have a rope? If not, go cut some vines. You watch while I go down to pick them. We'll split it 70% and you 30%."

Lin Heng said with a smile that he now hoped there would be more Dendrobium there, at least one kilogram of dried ones.

"Everything you find is yours. Why bother to divide it when I'm just helping you? There's no need. You're being too polite." Li Baiquan shook his head.

"That won't do. We have to follow the rules. If we are told to score, we have to score." Lin Heng shook his head firmly.

"Then just give me 20%, just give me 20%." said my uncle again.

"Don't disagree. If you don't agree, then go by yourself. I won't go. I'll take 30% of your money if I help you pull the rope. Your aunt will beat me up when I get back."

Li Baiquan added another sentence.

"Okay then." Lin Heng could only agree.

"I only have 20 meters of rope. How many meters of rope do you have?" Li Baiquan asked again.

"There are also twenty meters, which is almost enough when put together." Lin Heng nodded. He carried all the ropes today.

The ropes they used were all hemp ropes, which were very strong, just to avoid the situation where they could not reach the herbs.

"Let's go." Li Baiquan said, and the two of them walked forward one after the other.

"Look, it's right below, am I mistaken?" Lin Heng said, pointing to the stone cliff below.

"Yes, it is really Dendrobium. You are so lucky, it is both Musk Deer and Dendrobium." Li Baiquan said with emotion.

"I don't know how many there are, let's go down and take a look first."

After Lin Heng finished speaking, he took out a rope and tied it to an acorn tree that was too big for one person to hold.

After connecting the two ropes, Lin Heng tied a safe climbing knot, put the rope loops around his limbs, and finally gathered them in front of his chest.

"I'm going down, uncle."

After checking, Lin Heng said.

"Don't worry, I'll watch the rope for you." Li Baiquan nodded and said.

You don't need anyone's help to go down. First, let down all the ropes and stretch them straight. Then pull the rope around your waist and step on the rock wall to go down little by little. As you go down a little, you let down the rope a little.

Lin Heng walked with some difficulty. Although he had played like this as a child, his weight was different now.

Moreover, there was moss on the stone, and even my Liberation shoes were a bit slippery on it.

Fortunately, I have been eating well and working regularly recently, so my physical strength has recovered well.

Almost no one is not afraid of heights, and Lin Heng is no exception, but he overcame this difficulty in his previous life.

I felt a little dizzy when I looked down at first, but it soon got better.

After descending fifteen meters, Lin Heng saw the Dendrobium that he had seen on the cliff.

"It's really fat, this one weighs half a pound." Lin Heng touched it gently, pulled it up by the roots, and put it in the snakeskin bag around his waist.

After looking around, he let go of the seedling on the left, walked to the right and picked another big one.

There were quite a few Dendrobiums on the stone wall. He saw more than a dozen of them at a glance. Dendrobiums grew in clusters, just like orchids, with each tree having many branches.

Lin Heng estimated that if he collected all of them, he would get about 7 or 8 kilograms of Dendrobium, but this place is quite humid, so it might take five or six kilograms to produce one kilogram of dried ones. He is not sure how much he can sell it for.

And this is just one stone wall, there are other stone walls nearby.

Dendrobium is a very magical plant. Its roots are almost exposed and it absorbs moisture from the air directly through the roots.

There are also fungi attached to its roots that can fix nitrogen directly from the air. The absorption of nutrients mainly depends on fungi, as well as nutrients produced by some mosses that decompose rocks.

Precisely because of this special feature, its growing environment is very demanding. It must be half shade and half sun, with a lot of fog. It cannot grow in places that are too sunny or too cold.

It is also very simple to distinguish whether the Dendrobium is mature. The mature Dendrobium has only branches but no leaves. There are also some rust spots on the Dendrobium officinale that are similar to rust.

Lin Heng was a relatively qualified herbalist. He let go of any Dendrobium that had only one or two separate plants and only picked the big ones.

It’s a pity that not everyone is as well-educated as him, otherwise wild resources would not be gradually depleted.

“This one is really beautiful.”

Lin Heng pulled up the Dendrobium by its roots, smelled it and put it into a snakeskin bag. This was the last one he collected in this area.

"There are indeed more here!" Lin Heng looked to the left side near the waterfall, and sure enough, there were many Dendrobiums, growing better than the ones here. He estimated that there were about thirty or forty of them.

"Anything else?" He heard his uncle's call from above.

"And more, quite a few!"

Just as he was feeling happy, his feet suddenly slipped and the rope in Lin Heng's hand loosened. He fell seven or eight meters in an instant, his head hit the stone wall, and his face was covered with dust.

"What's wrong?"

Li Baiquan’s shout came from above.

"Huh! It's okay, the rope slipped and my foot didn't step well." Lin Heng said, his heart still pounding.

It seemed like just a moment, but for him it was more than terrified. His body was stiff as he had a close brush with death.

Fortunately, the rope is strong enough.

"Are you okay? Do you need my help?" Li Baiquan asked again. He was also worried. If something happened to Lin Heng, he really wouldn't be able to explain when he returned.

Lin Heng wiped the dirt off his face, rubbed his forehead, and said, "No need, I can do it myself."

After hanging for a while, Lin Heng regrouped, stood on the rock wall holding the rope, and slowly climbed up.

Because the Dendrobiums are of different heights, it was impossible for him to fix the length of the rope. If his feet slipped and his hands lost their grip, the situation just now would occur.

"Life has to go on." Lin Heng shook his head and continued picking Dendrobium.

There is more moisture on this side of the cliff, and the stone wall is very slippery. No matter how careful I am, I will still slip from time to time. Fortunately, I learned from the previous lesson and held the rope tightly. It was just my knee that hit the stone wall. Apart from the pain, there was no big problem.

It took another half an hour for Lin Heng to pick all the Dendrobiums as big as the stone wall, and then he moved left and right to look at the other stone walls.

"Pull me up, uncle." After making sure that there was nothing left, Lin Heng shouted.

"Okay." Li Baiquan nodded, pulled up and climbed down, and soon reached the top of the cliff.

"Huh! I finally made it up. My hands don't feel like they belong to me anymore."

Lin Heng sat down on the ground. His clothes were already dirty and he looked more like a beggar.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Li Baiquan asked worriedly, looking at the scratch on Lin Heng's forehead.

"No."

Lin Heng shook his head, threw the dendrobium over again, and said with a smile: "Uncle, how many pounds do you think this is?"

Li Baiquan picked it up, weighed it, and estimated with a smile: "It's quite a lot, at least 19 or 20 kilograms. I estimate it can be two or three kilograms after drying."

Because the roots are collected, and the roots of Dendrobium have no medicinal value. After removing the roots, it may only weigh about 11 or 12 pounds, and after drying it will only weigh about 2 or 3 pounds.

"Then let's send it out." Lin Heng chuckled.

"I feel that the environment in this place is suitable. Maybe there are other places. Let's look for them." Li Baiquan said with a smile.

Lin Heng looked at the sky and estimated that it should be past ten o'clock.

He was a little hungry, but still bearable, so he nodded and said, "Let's go, I also think there is still hope."

The two separated and continued searching in the vicinity.

"The goat's milk apples are ripe." Lin Heng came to the stream above the waterfall and saw red goat's milk apples hanging on several small shrubs.

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The goat milk fruit is also called the crotch fruit. It is the size of a finger. Lin Heng walked over, picked it and started eating it. The fruit is slightly bitter when it is not ripe, but very sweet when it is ripe.

After eating two handfuls, Lin Heng felt a little full and turned back to continue looking for Dendrobium.

By this time the sun was already high and it was almost impossible to encounter prey, so he picked up two tricholomas and a handful of chanterelles in the woods and prepared to go back to cook.

On the way back, I found a few birch yellows and picked them up, but I didn't find any Ganoderma lucidum.

"Lin Heng, don't go, I found some more Dendrobium." At this time, the voice of my uncle came from a distance.

Lin Heng was shocked. He really found something. He said quickly, "I'll be right there."

"Where is he?" Lin Heng walked up to his uncle and asked.

"It's quite far, on the other side." Li Baiquan said, walking in front to lead the way.

The two men climbed over the beam and stopped more than a kilometer away from the mountain stream waterfall.

"Look, there are some on the stone wall below!" said my uncle, pointing to the cliff diagonally below. A few of them could be seen at this position.

"This place is more dangerous than the one I was just at." Lin Heng said, looking down. The cliff over there was only about two hundred meters high, but here it was about three or four hundred meters high.

Of course, no matter which side it is, the result will be the same if the rope breaks.

"It's okay, just watch over me and I'll go down to pick them." Li Baiquan said with a grin.

After checking the rope and tying it to a huge pine tree, Li Baiquan adjusted the noose and slowly descended.

Lin Heng was waiting anxiously up there. It was very necessary to leave someone up there in case something happened down there was someone there to pull you up.

If there is no one, the injured will just wait to die, so it is necessary to give up 20% to 30%.

When they were almost there, Lin Heng asked, "How's the situation?"

"Not very good. Not as many as yours, and they grow very sparsely." Li Baiquan's reply came from below.

"Be careful!" After this reminder, Lin Heng stopped talking. Too much talk would only distract people's attention.

Lin Heng sat under the tree and waited for an hour before he heard his uncle’s voice from below: “I’ve finished picking, help me pull some.”

"Okay."

Lin Heng nodded, grabbed the rope, and started pushing hard against the tree.

"Oh my, it's really fatal. The wind is too strong on the cliff and the dust is getting into my eyes."

After coming up, Li Baiquan sat down on the mountain and sighed.

"Uncle, how much did you get?" Lin Heng was curious about his harvest.

"Seven or eight kilograms is the maximum." Li Baiquan handed the bag to him, his face full of joy of harvest.

Lin Heng took it and took a look. The ones his uncle picked were drier than those he picked. They could probably weigh about one kilogram after drying. There was obviously less moisture on this side of the cliff.

"You are so beautiful, do some to reduce the weight." Lin Heng said with a smile.

"That's not as much as yours, but it's all thanks to you, otherwise I wouldn't have found so much. Let's not divide it, just help each other and we'll be even."

Li Baiquan said with a grin.

Lin Heng didn't act pretentiously: "That's fine, I'm the one taking advantage anyway."

"If you hadn't discovered that there were dendrobiums here, I wouldn't have been able to look for them specifically."

Li Baiquan smiled and said, "Let's go back to eat and see what they plan to do in the afternoon, whether they want to go to the foot of Taibai Mountain or continue exploring nearby."

"Let's go quickly, I'm starving." Lin Heng nodded. It was already twelve o'clock and he was so hungry that he could eat a tiger.

But I didn’t bring any food with me, it was left at the shelter.

Walking is relatively fast during the day, and if they were just hurrying, the two of them were back in half an hour.

On the way back, I also picked up a weasel. As soon as I got back to Baishitan, the smell of meat filled the air.

"Come quickly and eat beggar's chicken." Tian Baishun shouted from afar.

"Coming, coming." Lin Heng trotted over.

The roasted grouper on the stone slab had become a little cold, and Old Man Tian was eating a roasted squirrel in his hand.

Lin Heng didn't care about anything else. He picked up the stream grouper and put it into his mouth. He felt anxious when he was hungry. He couldn't think of anything else but eating.

"Oh my god, it smells so good." Lin Heng killed more than ten of them in a row before stopping.

"This beggar's chicken is waiting for you two to come back and eat it together. If you are hungry, there are also roasted taro." Tian Baishun said, pointing to the black taro lumps next to it.

After eating a little, Lin Heng was no longer so hungry, so he took a taro and slowly peeled it.

"Old Man Tian, ​​you didn't go out all morning today?" Li Baiquan asked while eating taro.

Old Man Tian nodded: "Yes, I have been resting here. I almost lost my life yesterday and wanted to take a rest."

After saying that, he glanced at the two snakeskin bags not far away and asked, "What about you? I saw that you put a lot of things in the snakeskin bags you took. Did you dig herbs?"

"Hehe, it's not an ordinary herb, it's Dendrobium officinale." Li Baiquan smiled.

Old Man Tian's eyes widened in shock. "Damn, you guys are really rich. You made tens or even hundreds of dollars in this morning. This is not the first time I've come to this place. I didn't even notice that there are dendrobiums here."

"Is it really Dendrobium? You are not kidding, right?" Lin Heng's uncle Lu Honghai didn't quite believe it and walked over to open the bag to check.

"Really? Who of you discovered it?" After taking a look at it, a hint of envy appeared on his face. This is really a good thing.

"Lin Heng, I picked some because I took advantage of him. If he didn't tell me, these would all be his." Li Baiquan said with a smile.

"I was saying that I found a lot of ginseng and astragalus today, and that making ten yuan was good enough, but compared to you guys, it's really infuriating."

Uncle Lin Heng looked at Shihu with eyes shining with envy.

He had decided to look around the area himself in the afternoon.

Lin Heng smashed the mud off the beggar's chicken, took out the chicken, tore off a drumstick, and asked while eating: "Are we going to continue exploring here in the afternoon, or are we going to go somewhere else?"

"Let's stay here. There are a lot of traces of prey around here. Let's search carefully in the next two days." Tian Baishun said.

"I think it's okay. We'll go back if we gain something and go somewhere farther next time." Lu Honghai also nodded.

"Then let's stay here." Lin Heng had no objection to this. It was all the same anyway. Sometimes running too far might not yield any results.

Just like fishing, luck plays a big part in this.

After eating some chicken and two taro, Lin Heng finally filled his stomach.

He went to look at the ginseng and astragalus that his uncle was drying on the ground, then turned around to deal with his own dendrobium.

You must pour it out and dry it in the sun, otherwise it will all rot when you get home.

He didn't have time to process it slowly, so he just spread it out on the ground to dry, and the leaves would fall off naturally when they were dry.

The medicinal part of Dendrobium officinale is the stem of the plant; the roots and leaves are useless.

Lin Heng looked at the Dendrobium on the ground and thought that maybe he could try to grow it artificially. Although he had not had much contact with it in his previous life, he could give it a try.

He certainly does not have the technology to carry out complete indoor greenhouse farming. This was developed by countless professionals after many experiments. Without specific cultivation data such as humidity and temperature, it is impossible to succeed.

However, he believes that there is still a great chance of success if he finds a suitable environment and transplants the Dendrobium officinale plants for wild and semi-wild cultivation.

However, there is no technology to cultivate Dendrobium at that time, so semi-wild ones like mine can be sold as wild ones.

Although it is a bit immoral, there is no morality in making money. Being able to ensure that this is still Dendrobium officinale is already a very high moral standard.

(End of this chapter)