The old lady Jiang said, "Seven taels is ginseng, eight taels is treasure." The seven taels and eight taels here are not the modern units of weight.
In the past, one jin was sixteen liang, hence the saying "half a jin is eight liang". Therefore, the phrase "eight liang is a treasure" means that half a jin of wild ginseng is considered a treasure of the world.
Today's largest wild ginseng weighs more than half of 500g, a full six ounces!
Doctor Gu squinted and examined the leaf marks on the top of the wild ginseng root more closely. After a long while, he said, "This ginseng is probably a hundred or eighty years old. From a distance, its long tendrils actually have a human-like shape!"
Weigh the remaining four wild ginseng roots. The two larger ones weigh 4.5 taels and 4 taels respectively, while the other two smaller ones weigh 3 taels each.
Dr. Gu was utterly baffled.
It's not impossible that Li Xiangdong managed to get a wild ginseng, but he managed to get five at once!
Five!
Dr. Gu felt that Li Xiangdong's luck was probably extraordinary.
Or perhaps Li Xiangdong is the mountain god's own son, and his father simply throws a bunch of treasures in front of him, letting him take them away in one bundle.
Otherwise, he truly wouldn't understand this matter.
When he was young, a wild ginseng weighing 7.95 taels (calculated as 16 taels per catty) once sold for as much as 2,500 silver dollars!
What did 2,500 silver dollars mean back then?
To put it simply, in 1912, how much would a courtyard house with 28 rooms and an area of about 600 square meters, located within the second ring road of Beijing, sell for?
Selling for 3000 yuan!
One old ginseng root can be exchanged for a proper mansion located at the foot of the imperial wall!
And yet, the buyer still felt like they got a great deal!
That ginseng weighing seven ounces and nine and a half thousand was only about the same weight as the second heaviest wild ginseng in Li Xiangdong's pile.
Dr. Gu couldn't help but ask, "Even seasoned veterans who frequently work in the mountains might not be able to lift this many large trucks at once. How did you find them?"
Li Xiangdong blinked. "They're growing right by the roadside. I saw something eat the red ginseng fruit, and out of curiosity, I went over to take a look. I never expected these old ginseng roots to be growing there in such a cluster!"
"There were several very small ones, but I thought they were too small, so I didn't dig them up. Let them grow a little longer!"
Doctor Gu gasped, finding it unbelievable. "You mean it's right by the mountain road?"
"Yeah, it's the path that people usually take to go up and down the mountain."
Doctor Gu glanced at Old Mrs. Jiang and sighed, "The blessed don't have to work so hard, while the unlucky run themselves ragged!"
"Hey, old man, you can't say that. If I hadn't been so sharp-eyed, I wouldn't have seen the red berries that flashed by in the wild ginseng. And if I hadn't been so curious, I wouldn't have gone over to check!"
At this point, Li Xiangdong voiced his question: "I think the reason these wild ginsengs haven't been dug up is related to their leaves."
"oh?"
"Its leaves don't look like ordinary ginseng leaves; they look more like wild celery leaves!"
Ginseng leaves
Wild celery leaves
The largest ginseng root still had leaves on it, and just as Li Xiangdong had said, the edges of the leaves were serrated.
Even with his vast knowledge and experience, the ancient physician couldn't figure out why.
After a while, he said, "A hundred-year-old ginseng is spiritually powerful. Perhaps it changed the shape of its leaves to protect itself."
Li Xiangdong thought about it and realized that if the wild ginseng had actually grown leaves that met the standards for ginseng, it wouldn't have been his turn; the whole grove of wild ginseng would have been wiped out long ago.
When the topic of spiritual communication came up, Li Xiangdong immediately recounted the story of the weasel worshipping the ginseng king in the middle of the night.
"The locals thought the weasel was worshipping me, and they secretly called me a deity, saying I was the reincarnation of Master Huang. Hahahaha~"
Li Xiangdong was overjoyed.
Grandma Jiang laughed, "Weasels and foxes have a keen sense of smell, and they are very sensitive to things like century-old ginseng that have spiritual energy."
“My mother said that when my maternal grandfather was in charge of the family, we also acquired a ginseng root that was even bigger than this one. We put it in the attic in the backyard, and all the doors were locked tightly with brass locks. But unexpectedly, for three or four days in a row, the attic doors were wide open. My maternal grandfather was so frightened that he thought a thief had broken in.”
"Was that a thief who broke in?"
"Listen to me! The old master and his servants searched the entire attic, checking the contents of each box one by one, only to find that they were all sealed tightly and had never been opened. Only the wooden box containing the ginseng was wide open."
"My grandfather felt a chill in his heart at that moment, thinking, 'Oh no, this ginseng was found for the old prince of Dongcheng. If it gets stolen, we'll be in big trouble!'"
Dr. Gu and Li Xiangdong listened with great interest. Li Xiangdong felt that his master had a real talent for storytelling.
Then Grandma Jiang continued, "My grandfather looked into the box, and guess what?"
"What's wrong?"
"Tell me quickly!"
Grandma Jiang was very satisfied with their performance and, without keeping them in suspense any longer, said directly, "That ginseng was perfectly intact in the box, not a single ginseng root was missing!"
"Wait, something's not right!"
"Yeah, that thief is so stupid! He opened the box and didn't even steal the ginseng?"
Li Xiangdong asked a question, then urged Grandma Jiang to continue, "Is there anything else? Who is the thief? Why didn't they take the ginseng?"
Grandma Jiang took a sip of tea, cleared her throat, and continued, "My grandfather was overjoyed, as if he had survived a disaster, but then he felt a little apprehensive, so he quickly moved the ginseng to an even more secluded place to hide it."
"But no one expected that the next day, the place where the ginseng was kept was wide open again, but the ginseng still wasn't stolen!"
Li Xiangdong slapped his thigh, his face full of exaggerated shock. "This is truly bizarre!"
"Later, my grandfather had more than twenty servants keep a close eye on the ginseng. As a result, at midnight, a large, fiery red fox swaggered over like a human."
"Wow! Foxes can walk like humans!"
"Yeah! Don't interrupt me!"
As she spoke, Grandma Jiang glared at him, and Li Xiangdong quickly covered his mouth, indicating that she should continue.
"With a flick of its little paw, the lock on the ginseng storeroom door fell to the ground with a 'clatter,' the door opened automatically, and the ginseng boxes opened as well. The fire fox then breathed on the ginseng and began to meditate cross-legged."
After telling the story, Grandma Jiang said, "So, this must be a case of a weasel worshipping ginseng! It's good for their cultivation!"
Doctor Gu coughed once, "Ahem, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it's not allowed for beings to become spirits, so watch your words."
Grandma Jiang ignored him and took a sip of water. Goodness, he talked more tonight than he usually does in several days!
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