Chapter 68: Guarding the Ginseng Snake
Wu Yongbing was leading a group of members working hard in the cornfield.
As the leading cadre of the production team, he not only had to devote himself wholeheartedly, but also had to supervise the other members of the entire production team to see if any of them were cheating or slacking off.
If you catch one of them, you have to scold him directly without showing any mercy, otherwise others will follow suit and slack off.
"Hurry up and harvest. Once this batch of corn is harvested, we can go to the commune with the approval slip and apply. We will strive to get the first qualification of the Red Flag Commune to show movies this year!"
Wu Yongbing was responsible for playing the bad guy, while the old branch secretary played the good guy next to him. He also used the movie screening to encourage and entice everyone, in order to stimulate the members' enthusiasm for work.
I have to say that what the old secretary said about showing movies did work.
Because every year after the harvest, the commune would invite projectionists from the county to reward each production team by showing movies.
However, one must have paid the public rations and obtained the approval slip before being eligible to apply. The production brigade that completed the submission task first would have priority in watching the movie.
In this era of material scarcity, spiritual scarcity is even more extreme.
The villagers' daily entertainment activities are just gossiping, talking about the gossips of the locals and the nearby families. They chat about these things over and over again after meals. Basically, everyone in the village knows the gossips of every family, and none of them are new to them.
Only when the projectionist comes down to show open-air movies, it is truly more exciting than the Chinese New Year. Almost everyone in the village is looking forward to it, wanting to know what new movies will be released this year.
Usually, after the projectionist comes down, he will only stay in each production team for one night, show two films at most, and then leave.
But the villagers have been looking forward to it for a whole year, and it is definitely not satisfying to watch a movie for just a few hours.
Fortunately, whenever the projectionist went to the countryside, he would definitely stay in the Red Flag Commune for a week or so, showing movies in turn in various production brigades.
So, the energetic young people or children in each village would follow the projectionist to the production brigade to show movies during the week, and would not stop until the projectionist returned to the county.
In fact, the projectionist showed the same movies to each production team, but these people would not get bored even if they watched the same movie many times, and would even excitedly discuss the plot with people around them whose names they could not even remember.
By the time the movie was over, it was already eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening. Everyone went back to their villages in groups of three or five, laughing and joking. They didn't feel tired even though they had to walk more than ten or twenty miles in the middle of the night.
Therefore, no matter how loudly or harshly Wu Yongbing cursed, the villagers worked numbly. But when the old secretary mentioned this spiritual food, which came only once a year, the villagers immediately became excited.
While working hard, everyone would recall the plots of the two movies from last year with the people next to them. In short, everyone was extremely excited.
However, just as everyone was working hard in the fields, they heard a loud noise not far away. At first, everyone thought it was a military truck from the neighboring farm transporting food, so they didn't pay much attention to it. But gradually, some people noticed that something was wrong.
"That doesn't look like a truck from the farm next door!"
"It looks like a heavy truck transporter, at least 20 or 30 of them. Look at this shai, it must be a military vehicle!"
"Nonsense, if it's not from the army, then it must be from your family?"
"The question is, why are there so many trucks coming to our corner? Is the farm next door doing something big?"
"Oh my god, something's wrong, it seems these cars are heading towards our village!"
"Oh, really, they drove into our village! Captain, old party secretary, come and see what's going on!"
A group of commune members who were going to work stretched their necks and watched with their own eyes as dozens of heavy trucks rushed into Kaoshan Village in an orderly manner.
Wu Yongbing, who was originally angry about the members being lazy again, no longer cared about cursing. After exchanging a glance with the old branch secretary, they could not wait to get ashore and rushed back to the village in a hurry.
When the other members saw this, they no longer cared about harvesting corn and immediately rushed back to the village from the fields to see the excitement!
The other production team officers were shouting in anger, but how could they control it? In the blink of an eye, the huge cornfield was empty, and there was no sign of anyone working.
Ye Qing was giving acupuncture to Song Hongying. Just after he finished inserting the needles, he heard a loud roar, as if the earth was shaking, which scared everyone in the room.
"What's that sound? Could it be an earthquake?"
Gu Weinan, who had just watched Ye Qing perform acupuncture and was demonstrating with a silver needle beside him, was so frightened when he heard the sound that his hand trembled and the silver needle in his hand almost fell to the ground.
When Ye Qing heard Gu Weinan mention the word "earthquake", his body froze unconsciously and his breathing became rapid.
Having experienced the end of the world after a natural disaster, Ye Qing was terrified of earthquakes from the bottom of her heart. Almost subconsciously, she wanted to evacuate everyone in the house urgently.
As a result, just as he opened the door of the main house, he saw a group of military green armored vehicles driving out of the yard. The first one stopped suddenly after rushing to the door of Gu's house.
Ye Qing then breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that it was just a false alarm.
"It's not an earthquake, it looks like a heavy military train is coming. Go back to the house, there's nothing for us to do."
After calling a few people back into the room, Ye Qing began to carefully perform the flying needle detoxification treatment on Song Hongying.
Unexpectedly, she was only halfway through when she heard Gu Weibei's voice from outside:
"Sister, Ye Zhiqing, come out quickly!"
Ye Qing was stunned for a moment, and after exchanging a glance with Gu Weinan, he could only comfort Song Hongying:
"Just lie down and don't move. I'll go out and take a look before I come back."
When they got out of the house, a group of spirited soldiers had already jumped off the military vehicle outside and were waiting in neat rows. In front of these PLA soldiers stood several leaders wearing four-pocket uniforms, one of whom was an old acquaintance of Ye Qing.
"Political Commissar Hao, long time no see."
As soon as he saw Hao Shaofeng appear, Ye Qing guessed why this group of PLA soldiers had made such a big fuss.
It must have been the phone call that Gu Weidong made in the morning that made the army attach great importance to this matter, so they immediately sent a group of armored soldiers to deal with the matter.
I didn't expect it to come so quickly.
Hao Shaofeng had just asked Gu Weibei about the situation, but the guy knew nothing about it and obviously had no idea that the Kwantung Army fortress had been discovered in the mountains.
"Comrade Ye Qing, I heard that you were there when a serious incident was discovered last night?"
When they were going down the mountain, Ye Qing and Gu Weidong discussed the matter of the Kwantung Army Fortress, so she knew how Gu Weidong reported it to the higher-ups. Even when Hao Shaofeng asked her about it, she remained calm and nodded, calming herself down.
"You are here for the matter of the Kwantung Army Fortress, right? I did go into the mountains with Gu Weidong last night, but I did not go into the fortress. Only Gu Weidong knows the specific situation. He is now in a cabin on the mountain. If you need to find someone, Gu Weibei can go into the mountain to lead the way for you."
Hao Shaofeng looked at the little girl in front of him with interest:
"No need. Since you were here yesterday, you should lead the way for us. On the way, tell me how you two found the Kwantung Army fortress last night."
Hao Shaofeng is now very interested in Ye Qing, a female educated youth.
Last time he sent this girl to the countryside, he was only thinking about how to help Gu Weidong save his marriage, so he didn't pay much attention to this female educated youth who was hitchhiking.
Later, Gu Weidong insisted on being discharged from the hospital early and returning to his hometown. After sending Gu Weidong back to Kaoshantun, Hao Shaofeng witnessed with his own eyes the brutal scene of the little girl slaughtering a pig on the Yazi River Beach, and immediately looked at this female educated youth with new eyes.
As a result, not long after, Gu Weidong reported his work to the group again and mentioned again that he had received help from a mysterious person when he was carrying out a mission in Shencheng. The mysterious person who provided him with assistance turned out to be Ms. Ye Qing.
Then came the opium poppy powder incident and the discovery of the Kwantung Army fortress. In just less than half a month, so many major events happened one after another in Kaoshantun. And this female educated youth was involved in each of them, and she even played a crucial role in them.
Therefore, Hao Shaofeng's curiosity about Ye Qing suddenly reached its highest point. He especially wanted to get in close contact with this little girl. If this child had good character and qualities in all aspects, he also wanted to learn from Captain Xu to recruit Ye Qing into their special forces corps as he did with Gu Weidong.
Ye Qing had never expected that Hao Shaofeng would actually ask her to come directly. Seeing that the political commissar's expression did not seem to be joking, she suddenly felt helpless and had to say:
"Then you have to wait a moment. There is a patient in my room who is receiving acupuncture treatment. I have to give her the acupuncture and prescribe medicine before I can go with you."
Hao Shaofeng didn't mind delaying for a while, he just urged Ye Qing to hurry up.
What could Ye Qing do? He could only seize the time and make a quick decision. He wrote down the prescription first, and when the time came, he would remove the silver needle from Song Hongying's body and send her away in a hurry.
Xu Xianzhen was also a person who loved to join in the fun. When she saw such a big commotion outside, she knew something was going on, so she immediately wanted to find Ye Qing to inquire.
She was just about to speak when Wu Yongbing and the old branch secretary rushed back to the village in a hurry. When they saw Political Commissar Hao, they were both confused and asked in unison:
"Political Commissar Hao, what happened?"
Political Commissar Hao said solemnly, "Gu Weidong discovered a Kwantung Army base in the back mountains and called us to come to support them as soon as possible. Captain Wu, you are here just in time. Please come with us into the mountains."
These words stunned both Wu Yongbing and the old branch secretary.
There are fortifications built by the Japanese devils hidden in Changbai Mountain? When did this happen? How come they don't know about it?
The two production team officers looked at each other in shock.
Not to mention these two, even the villagers who came over to join in the fun were all stunned.
The Japanese did break into the village at that time, but the people in the nearby villages hid in the air-raid shelters. Then the young people in each village spontaneously formed a militia company, and engaged in tunnel warfare and guerrilla warfare to deal with the Japanese. They fought back and forth for many years and gave the Japanese a lot of trouble.
But they never imagined that while the Japanese were entangled with them, they were also secretly building a base in the mountains. Moreover, so many of them had been chopping wood and hunting in the mountains over the years, but no one had discovered this secret!
The villagers were surprised and angry, excited and panicked, and they all wanted to go up the mountain to see what was going on.
But now that the matter has been taken over by the military, no outsiders are allowed to enter the mountains or enter the forest without permission before the situation at the base is fully investigated.
Therefore, under the intensive deployment of a group of soldiers, a cordon was soon set up at the entrance to the mountain on the Kaoshantun side. The idle people who came to watch the excitement were sent to the outside and were not allowed to approach unless necessary.
Afterwards, Hao Shaofeng and several military district cadres began to blow the whistle urgently to assemble, and led a whole company of soldiers ready to go, and headed towards the mountain under the leadership of Ye Qing.
Along the way, Hao Shaofeng had to find Ye Qing to inquire about her situation, and asked her openly and secretly whether she had any plans to join the army. It didn't take Ye Qing long to understand what Political Commissar Hao wanted to do.
The truth is that she has been offered too many olive branches recently. All these uncles who came to poach her have this weird uncle look, and their expressions are all the same, trying to seduce her.
Ye Qing was not really a 16-year-old girl who didn't know any better. There was no need for her to beat around the bush with Hao Shaofeng. She directly accepted Hao Shaofeng's attempt and rejected it bluntly:
"Commissar Hao, I'm sorry I have no interest in joining the army, and I have no plans to become a military doctor in the future. I have a clear plan for my career, and I don't intend to change my mind and original intention."
Hao Shaofeng was stunned.
Ye Qing didn't care about Hao Shaofeng's reaction.
She could explain her ideals and ambitions in rural medicine to Dean Gu and Zhao Jinliang, but there was no need to go into such detail with Hao Shaofeng.
After all, she and Hao Shaofeng were just casual acquaintances, and he was a military leader, so they would not have had much in common, and their relationship was not yet at the level of being close friends.
Hao Shaofeng was really surprised, mainly because Ye Qing's reaction was too calm. With such a steady and cold personality, her attitude of rejecting him was extremely straightforward and straightforward, without any hesitation. This style of behavior was totally unlike that of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, but rather similar to the temperament of that boy Gu Weidong.
At this moment, Hao Shaofeng finally understood. No wonder that kid Gu Weidong got involved with such an underage girl after returning to the village. It turned out that they had similar tastes and tempers!
Thinking of this, even though he was rejected so ruthlessly by a young girl, Hao Shaofeng no longer cared about the embarrassment and anger. Instead, he became more interested in Ye Qing and even wanted to find out the details of how Ye Qing rescued Wei Dong in Sheshan.
After all, back in the Shencheng Hospital, Gu Weidong repeatedly emphasized that he was not the one who captured the two enemy spies, and he mentioned several times that he met a little village girl picking wild fruits in the mountains that night. But at that time, Hao Shaofeng just thought that Gu Weidong was seriously injured and had hallucinations due to excessive blood loss, and he didn't believe him at all.
Unexpectedly, after Ye Qing saved Gu Weidong's life in Shencheng, he was assigned to join the team in that boy's hometown. This fate is really amazing.
Hao Shaofeng asked about the details of rescuing people and capturing enemy spies in Sheshan from time to time, while he stroked his chin and looked at the skinny little girl who was climbing the mountain seriously.
Inexplicably, a string suddenly connected in his mind.
Gu Weidong just broke off the engagement with the Wu family. Judging from his condition, after this setback in his marriage, he probably has no intention of discussing personal issues in the short term.
Moreover, the boy has also applied to his superiors to attend advanced training courses. It is estimated that he will concentrate on academic improvement in the next two years and will definitely not be interested in other things for the time being.
The little girl in front of me is not very old yet, but in two years she will be an 18-year-old lady, and it will be the right time to talk about a partner!
These two people have such a deep connection and a life-long friendship. They also have similar temperaments and their own opinions. Where can you find such a perfect match with such a high degree of compatibility?
Thinking of this, Hao Shaofeng's matchmaker radar immediately came online. The more he thought about it, the more satisfied he became with this marriage, and the smile on his face became extremely meaningful.
Seeing that expression made Ye Qing feel uneasy. She didn't know what the political commissar was up to. She was also worried that what she had just said would make the political commissar see through her. She could only speed up and lead the people to the cabin.
She will hand the person over to Gu Weidong later, and then she will be able to complete her mission. Then she will hurry down the mountain and leave, trying to stay away from this strange political commissar to avoid being targeted by this old fox.
After walking in the mountains for about two hours, it was almost dark when Ye Qing finally led people out of the cabin.
After Gu Weidong returned to the mountain, he was bored in the afternoon. After Ye Qing undisguisedly injected a lot of healing abilities into him, Mancang's injuries had almost recovered. So he did not stay in the wooden house any longer. He took Mancang directly into the mountain and picked a lot of wild berries in the nearby area. He also dug up many common and uncommon Chinese herbal medicines, all of which were the herbs that Ye Qing taught him to recognize last time.
As a result, he had just carried the herbs and berries back to the cabin when he saw hundreds of people coming down the mountain.
Upon hearing the noise, Mancang was the first to become alert. He stood up straight with his fur standing on end, ready to raise his neck and howl at any time to call for his group of coyotes to come for support.
With such a large number of people entering the mountain, Gu Weidong understood what was going on almost instantly, and hurriedly patted Mancang on the back to comfort him:
"Don't be nervous, these people are all my friends. They came into the mountains to find me!"
The comforted coyote Mancang howled a few times and sniffed the air again and again. After confirming that it smelled the scent of the two-legged beast that saved its life, its tense body finally relaxed.
Then, before Gu Weidong could say anything, the coyote couldn't wait to rush out, wagging its tail.
In a short while, it rushed straight through the forest and arrived in front of Ye Qing and his group.
"Ah, it's a wolf! There's a coyote!"
"Coyotes are on the scene, everyone be alert!"
Before Mancang could get close to Ye Qing, the group of green-uniformed warriors were the first to discover its presence, and they immediately raised the wooden warehouses in their hands vigilantly.
Ye Qing was startled and shouted quickly:
"Don't open the barn, don't open the barn! I know this coyote, it's here to find me!"
Hao Shaofeng was stunned and quickly waved his hand to signal his soldiers not to act rashly.
Then, under everyone's strange gaze, the coyote jumped to Ye Qing's feet like an enthusiastic lackey.
Then, this sturdy wolf with a big tail actually stretched its neck and placed its head on Ye Qing's palm while shaking its tail. It didn't mind Ye Qing stroking its neck at all, but rubbed it affectionately and acted coquettishly.
That look shocked everyone and almost made them doubt their own judgment.
"Is this really a wolf, not a wolfhound?"
"The coyote actually has such a flattering side, are you sure this isn't a dream?"
"What kind of evil has befallen this coyote? It has no moral integrity. Is it still a wolf?"
The look in the eyes of the group of people looking at Mancang was indescribable, mainly because the picture of this man and the wolf was too harmonious, which was really beyond everyone's inherent cognition.
Ye Qing did not explain this, but just reached out and touched Mancang's abdomen. He felt relieved after confirming that the wound on this guy's body had almost healed and there was no festering or inflammation on the wound under the skin.
Going further ahead, you will see a small wooden cabin. Gu Weidong has been waiting outside the cabin for a long time. Seeing people approaching, he quickly stood up and saluted the leaders. Then he gave them a more detailed report and took out a piece of paper, which gave a detailed summary of the structure of the underground warehouse under the fortress and the various strategic materials hidden inside.
The more Hao Shaofeng and the other leaders listened to Gu Weidong's report, the more serious their expressions became. Obviously, the scale of this underground fortification was larger than they had imagined before they came, and there might be a lot of flammable and explosive dangerous weapons hidden inside.
How to deploy personnel and how to arrange the transfer of these strategic materials are all problems.
Ye Qing, however, didn't need to get involved in these matters. She was responsible for bringing the people here, and the mission was perfectly completed. So she didn't stay in the cabin anymore and prepared to turn around and go back to the village.
"Ye Qing, wait a minute!"
Although Gu Weidong had been seriously discussing the matter of entering the fortress with several leaders and superiors, he did not forget to pay attention to Ye Qing's movements.
Seeing Ye Qing was about to go down the mountain, he hurriedly called her, and then handed her his flashlight and the large basket of berries and medicinal herbs he had stored in the wooden house.
"I just replaced the battery in the flashlight today. It should last for two to three hours."
"The wild fruits were just picked this afternoon, they are fresh. I picked the ripe and sweet fruits. Didn't you say last time that you wanted to make candied haws and wild fruit vinegar? These should work."
The flashlight has little effect on Ye Qing. Her five senses are sharper than those of ordinary people. Although she can't see very clearly at night, she can definitely get by quickly.
But it was the basket of wild fruits that suddenly made Ye Qing's eyes light up.
Although Changbai Mountain is rich in species, she, as an outsider, is definitely not as familiar with these wild mountain fruits as Gu Weidong, a local. Unless she has tried each one herself, she really doesn't know which one is delicious and which one is not.
Now Gu Weidong has helped her pick out the wild fruits, which of course saves her a lot of trouble.
And after this time, she had experience. Next time when she went into the mountains to pick wild fruits, she would just pick the fruits that Gu Weidong had picked for her.
Ye Qing couldn't help but give Gu Wei Dongshu a thumbs up and took the basket and flashlight.
Then, when no one was paying attention, she secretly slipped a bag of maltose from her pocket to Gu Weidong.
Last time, in order to lure the black bear cub away, Ye Qing requisitioned all the maltose that Gu Weidong brought into the mountain, so after she came down the mountain, she boiled syrup again and made a pot of maltose as compensation to Gu Weidong.
Seeing Gu Weidong looking at her in confusion, Ye Qing quickly lowered her voice and said:
"If I don't have time to eat, I'll eat one of these. It can replenish my body's energy in time. I mixed something in it, and it tastes better than the last batch I made."
Gu Weidong understood instantly, a smile flashed in his eyes, and he quickly put the bag of candy into his arms.
Seeing this, Ye Qing decided not to stay any longer. He put on his basket, said goodbye to Hao Shaofeng, and prepared to go down the mountain directly.
When Hao Shaofeng heard that Ye Qing was going back to the village, he suddenly became worried. After all, it was already dark, and it was not safe for a little girl like her to go back on the mountain road.
He was just about to arrange two soldiers to escort Ye Qing down the mountain, but the next second, he saw the girl pull out a whistle hanging from her neck, and then started blowing it loudly.
Just when he was wondering what this little girl was doing, a short while later, a large group of gray coyotes jumped out from the woods, and appeared in front of Ye Qing majestically, with their necks tilted back and their tails wagging. Their posture was exactly the same as that of the flattering coyote before.
The non-commissioned officers were immediately confused and almost forgot what a wolf was.
"The one in front is the leader of the coyote tribe. Ye Zhiqing saved its life a while ago, so the members of the coyote tribe collectively recognize it as their leader. Now the entire coyote pack obeys Ye Qing's orders. If she says go east, these coyotes will never dare to go west."
A group of coyotes waiting to give orders, isn't that awesome?
Everyone present's eyes instantly widened as they watched Ye Qing interacting with a group of coyotes, their eyes looking at him as if they were looking at a peep show.
Hao Shaofeng was so nervous.
He said that it was no wonder that Gu Weidong was willing to let the little girl go down the mountain alone. It turned out that the little girl had recruited a large group of coyotes as her personal bodyguards. No wonder she was so skilled and brave, and was not afraid to roam around in the woods at night.
Under the curious gaze of the crowd, Ye Qing led a group of coyotes straight down the mountain. In a short while, he left the group of non-commissioned officers behind.
She was thinking about going back down the mountain to make ginseng and ganoderma lucidum pills for her master, so she kept walking and hurried back to Kaoshantun.
As a result, they were only halfway there when the coyotes seemed to have sensed something unusual. After a strange howl, Mancang's wife jumped into the woods not far away. Not long after, she came back and bit Ye Qing's pants and pulled her into the woods, obviously asking her to go over and take a look.
Ye Qing was stunned for a moment, but still followed the instructions of his wife Mancang and walked into the bushes.
As a result, when he got closer, Ye Qing's face suddenly changed.
She saw a yellow-haired fox lying unconscious in the messy bushes. Its eyes were like willow leaves and its pattern was familiar. Who else could it be but the little thief who had stolen her salmon and then came down the mountain to ask her for sweet potatoes?
Seeing that the fox was breathing out more than breathing in, Ye Qing didn't care to delay. He quickly put down the backpack, squatted down and went to check on the fox.
Upon seeing this, her face immediately darkened.
There were two dark blue gaps on the fox's neck. Judging from the distance and smoothness of the wounds, Ye Qing concluded almost instantly that the fox was bitten by a poisonous snake!
Moreover, the venom of this snake is very strong. The fox has been deeply poisoned and the poison has already penetrated into its lungs. It is estimated that it will die soon.
"It's my good fortune that you met me. Otherwise, with the degree of poisoning you had, you would not be able to save your life today!"
Ye Qing couldn't help but mutter something, and helplessly took out a silver needle and a knife from the bag at his side, and directly stabbed the fox with several needles, and then used the knife to quickly cut a hole on the guy's claws.
As soon as the silver needle was inserted, it instantly changed from silver-white to dark black, and drops of black blood quickly flowed out from the wound on the fox's claw.
Pressing his hand on the fox's neck, Ye Qing began to sort out the creature's meridians, using his supernatural powers to force as much of the toxin out of its blood vessels as possible.
The healing effect of the third-level supernatural power was obvious. The snake venom was continuously released. In just a few minutes, the black blood turned into red blood, and the black color on the silver needle gradually faded, until the black color completely disappeared.
Ye Qing then withdrew his hand, pulled out the silver needle, and waited for the fox to wake up.
Soon, the yellow fox opened its eyes, and after seeing Ye Qing and the group of coyotes surrounding it, it trembled and immediately turned over and stood up from the ground.
"You can stand up now, and you look pretty good. That's enough. You should be fine now. Go home and find your mother. I'm leaving now."
Seeing that the fox's eyes were rolling around and its limbs were quite flexible, looking no different from usual, Ye Qing felt relieved immediately. He stood up, threw the fox on the basket beside him and was about to leave.
The fox was a little confused when it just woke up, but it soon realized that it must have been rescued by Ye Qing. Seeing Ye Qing packing up to leave, it suddenly became anxious, rushed forward, bit Ye Qing's trouser leg, and dragged him into the mountains.
Ye Qing, who was in a hurry to go home, was helpless.
Why do all the hairy guys in the mountains like to use this trick?
But seeing the fox's anxious look, Ye Qing had no choice but to follow the fox to see what was going on.
After many twists and turns, the man, the fox and a group of coyotes arrived at a cliff. The fox was the first to go in.
Only then did Ye Qing notice that there was a natural sunken cave hidden in the mountain wall. The moonlight could not penetrate into the cave, so it looked pitch black. It was unclear how deep it was, where it led to, or who it was.
Ye Qing hurriedly took the flashlight that Gu Weidong gave her, turned it on, and shone it into the cave.
Unexpectedly, when seeing this photo, Ye Qing instantly took a breath of cold air.
There was a yellow-haired fox lying in the cave. It was obvious that the fox had been poisoned, with its four limbs paralyzed and unable to move. Wrapped around the fox was a large snake with light brown stripes. The snake was even tightening its body in an attempt to strangle the fox to death.
As soon as the fox that Ye Qing had just rescued entered the cave, it couldn't wait to save its companion. But no matter how it bit, the big snake recognized it as its enemy and was unwilling to let go no matter what, still holding the fox tightly under its body.
Even though Ye Qing was not too afraid of snakes, his body froze when he saw this scene. The visual impact of this scene was so great that it made his scalp tingle unconsciously.
Perhaps realizing that it was totally powerless, the yellow-haired fox immediately returned to the outside of the cave, and kept howling at Ye Qing's feet, begging Ye Qing to save its companion.
Ye Qing was originally unwilling to interfere with this phenomenon of the jungle in nature, but what she didn't expect was that after the fox found her hesitation, it actually went straight into the cave, jumped onto a sloping wall in the cave in a few seconds, and led Ye Qing to look at the top of the wall.
Ye Qing shone the flashlight in that direction, and she was stunned by what she saw.
I saw a circular gap on the top of the mountain wall, which was connected to the outside. Moonlight shone faintly from the hole, shining on a protruding stone on the mountain wall.
In the crack of the stone, there was a lush herb growing. The plant had long-stalked palm-shaped compound leaves that were as thick as a wrist, and under the leaves were several clusters of full red berries.
The size and shape of the berry looked very familiar. Ye Qing recognized it almost at first sight. It was exactly the same as the handful of ginseng seeds that the fox had given her when it came down the mountain!
So what was growing in that crevice in the stone was actually the old ginseng that Ye Qing had coveted before, which was at least a hundred years old!
Ye Qing suddenly realized something and quickly lowered his head to look at the spotted brown snake entangled with the fox on the ground.
Could this thing be the legendary ginseng-guarding snake, the white-browed pit viper?
Needless to say, the more Ye Qing looked at it, the more he felt it resembled it. The white-browed pit viper is mainly distributed in the Changbai Mountains and Lesser Khingan Range. This thing is extremely poisonous and likes to hide in secluded and humid environments.
The most important thing is that this type of snake is also a representative of ginseng-guarding snakes, and they make good use of ginseng fruits as a means of luring prey.
Ginseng fruit blooms in three years and bears fruit in six years. The fruit is flat, round and bright red, which easily attracts small animals to eat.
Moreover, the older the ginseng is, the bigger, redder and more attractive the fruits will be, and the more animals will come to pick them.
Therefore, the white-browed pit viper often lurks near these old ginsengs after the ginseng fruits are ripe, waiting for prey to fall into its trap.
Maybe the yellow-haired fox had exchanged ginseng seeds for two sweet potatoes from Ye Qing last time, and had tasted the sweetness of this incident, so this time the two foxes came to the cave again to pick fruits.
But this time they were unlucky and encountered a white-browed pit viper guarding in the dark, and were bitten by this venomous snake.
Realizing that this incident might have been caused by her, Ye Qing couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Although she didn't do it on purpose, if the fox really died because of picking ginseng seeds, she might have indirectly killed the murderer.
Thinking of this, Ye Qing could no longer stand idly by.
Pulling out a silver needle, she stabbed it directly into the vital point of the white-browed viper.
She threw the needle skillfully this time. It did not penetrate into the heart of the scorpion snake, but stopped just outside the heart. At the same time, her special power penetrated directly through the flying needle and paralyzed the snake's nerves.
The stimulated white-browed pit viper immediately let go of the fox that was entangled under its body.
Ye Qing immediately pulled out the silver needle and dragged the fox out.
The white-browed viper was pricked by the silver needle and was paralyzed for several seconds before it came to its senses.
By the time it reacted, the prey it had been harassing for most of the day had already slipped out of its control.
The snake suddenly spit out its tongue in anger and attempted to counterattack, but just as it was about to rush forward, several coyotes rushed in from outside the cave.
This white-browed pit viper was quite flexible. After realizing that it was difficult to deal with the group of coyotes and the two-legged beast in front of it, it did not want to fight anymore. It immediately turned around and quickly jumped into the cave, found a crack in the rock to drill into, and escaped in a few seconds.
Ye Qing: ...
Originally, Ye Qing was planning to give this white-browed viper some supernatural powers as compensation for stealing someone else's prey. However, she didn't expect that this guy just ran away before she could give it to him.
This result made Ye Qing laugh and cry.
After helping the other fox to remove the snake venom, Ye Qing's attention finally turned to the ginseng.
Using the vines to lift himself up to the crevice in the rock, Ye Qing began to carefully examine the old ginseng that was hidden so secludedly in front of him.
This old ginseng must be at least two or three meters high from the ground. In addition, the location is hidden, so it is usually difficult to be noticed. That is why it has been growing there for so many years without being noticed.
This ginseng is growing very strong, with reed heads growing all over the bottom of the rhizome, and the three-section reed head feature is very obvious.
The so-called three-node aloe is a rhizome with bamboo-node aloe, flower-pile aloe and horse-tooth aloe at the same time. This is the primary characteristic for judging the age of a wild ginseng.
The plant in front of Ye Qing has curved, stacked and tangled roots at the rhizome connection, and the rhizome is tightly packed. Preliminary judgment shows that it is at least three hundred years old. It is definitely at the level of the Black Mountain Old Demon, and it is just short of becoming a spirit.
When Ye Qing entered the medical school, he heard from teachers that it was basically impossible to buy wild ginseng that was over a hundred years old on the market. Ginseng that was thirty or fifty years old was a rare commodity, not to mention ginseng that was over three hundred years old. It was impossible for that kind of thing to be circulated in the market. Even the old professors who had been in the profession for many years had never seen it.
Ye Qing was really surprised and delighted. She never expected that this thing that once only existed in legends among her teachers would actually be encountered by her in Changbai Mountain!
However, it is very difficult to dig out such a large old ginseng even if it grows normally in the soil on the hillside, not to mention that the one in front of us grows directly in the crevice of the rock.
Ye Qing estimated that the roots of this old ginseng had spread at least one meter into the cracks in the rocks. With such a deep and complex root system, it would be several times more difficult to dig them all out.
Because she didn't have the right tools at hand, Ye Qing didn't plan to start rashly. Anyway, the ginseng was hidden so secretly that there was no need to worry about it being dug up by others. If someone could steal it even if it was hidden here, it only meant that she had no destiny with this old mountain ginseng.
After carefully noting down the location where the old ginseng was hiding, Ye Qing did not stay in the cave any longer and went down the mountain directly with the basket on his back.
As a result, just as she had gone down the mountain, Gu Weidong and Hao Shaofeng came back. Their eyes were red and their faces were filled with intense humiliation and anger. As soon as they got down the mountain, they drove to the commune impatiently.
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