An Shuyi took it and said, "We can just eat pine nuts. We can eat the rest next time. In the fall, we'll let the people of our tribe rest for a couple of days and come up the mountain to find some mountain produce. When we came here, I found that there are quite a lot of things on this mountain."
"There are walnut trees, chestnut trees, and pine nut trees. It would be such a waste not to pick them. Although you can find them in the mall, these are even tastier since they don't cost any money. I also saw a few jujube trees. I'll pick them all then."
After listening to her, Xia Hua laughed and said, "Chestnuts and pine nuts are fine, they're just small, but they're still edible. But aren't you worried about the walnuts here being too hard? You know, there's even a type of walnut called 'mountain walnut'."
"The walnut kernels inside are not edible at all; they're just for playing with. As for the red dates you mentioned, you can pick them when they ripen. But it's already June, so why isn't it raining yet? You can also pick mushrooms and such then. I don't sell these in the mall."
She quite liked eating wild mushrooms. In modern times, they had eaten them at a guesthouse several times and never forgot them. Later, they even went to the mountains to pick some, but neither of them knew how to cook them, so they had to ask the guesthouse owner to cook them, and they couldn't bring them home.
If they were to travel back to ancient times, they could find mushrooms and bring them back for their people to cook. However, it's uncertain whether they would actually know how to cook them, since mushrooms are poisonous and their people probably had never eaten them before.
An Shuyi nodded, "Mushrooms will definitely grow in the mountains as long as it rains. It's just that we don't know how to cook them. If we bring them back to the village, they might throw them away before we can even eat them. But we can come and pick them when it rains."
We'll bring them back to the village and let the sisters-in-law who cook try them. Mushrooms are also very easy to cook; just stir-fry them and add seasonings.
Xia Hua agreed, and the two talked until they fell asleep without realizing it. When they woke up again, it was already bright daylight, the sun was high in the sky, and the birds were chirping. They put the small blanket covering them into the storeroom, then climbed down the tree and stretched.
"The air in this ancient place is so fresh. It feels so good to wake up naturally in such an environment every day," An Shuyi said with a smile, looking around.
Xia Hua smiled and ignored her. She took out the washbasin to wash up. After washing, she took out a table, put milk and bread on it, and then two small stools.
After breakfast, the two began their busy day searching for precious flowers and plants. They didn't go too far, staying around the river. Along the way, they saw many animals coming to drink, but they were all wild boars, as well as black bears, tigers, and leopards. The two chose to avoid them and did not hunt.
It's breeding season for animals, and besides the male deer, there are also foxes. The two didn't want to hunt any other animals.
Xia Hua was digging up a sapling when she heard An Shuyi's happy shout. She dug the sapling out and went over to her. When she got closer, she found that Shuyi was tying a ginseng to a red thread with two copper coins on it.
Judging from her expression, it was clear that she had been prepared for this.
"Huahua, aren't I lucky? I actually found two ginseng roots, and there's another one over there. Hurry up and go dig it up. I've already tied a red thread around it. This is a big ginseng root, at least three hundred years old." Now we have ginseng to nourish our bodies.
It's only the second day now, and they'll be staying on the mountain for more than ten days. She believes they'll definitely find other ginseng, as well as Ganoderma lucidum, Gastrodia elata, and other medicinal herbs. Nature is truly amazing! No, it should be said that ancient nature was truly amazing.
This ginseng is a life-saving substance. Although it can be bought, it is hundreds of years old and extremely rare. Some people can't even buy it even if they spend a lot of money.
After hearing what she said, Xia Hua hurriedly moved to the side, looking at the ginseng not far away. "You're quite lucky, finding two in one go. But by the time you dig them up, another day will have passed." But it was worth it.
They woke up around nine o'clock in the morning, washed up and ate, and then looked for flowers and plants for a while. It was then that Shushu found ginseng. Digging ginseng was too slow, and luckily they only found two. Otherwise, if there were more, they wouldn't have been able to dig them all up today.
Since they didn't have any tools for digging ginseng, the two of them pulled up a vine and started digging. They couldn't use a hoe; they could only dig little by little with the vine. Ginseng was particularly difficult to dig out, and they had to be careful not to damage the roots, otherwise it would ruin the appearance of the ginseng.
It wasn't until dark that the two of them dug out the ginseng.
“I thought it was only three hundred years, but it’s at least five hundred years old. It looks really big… By the way, what are we going to use to store it?” An Shuyi turned her head and asked.
Xia Hua threw the ginseng directly into the warehouse. "No need to pack it. We'll just use it to make wine later. Neither of us knows how to process it, so it's better to just soak it in wine directly. Besides, just leaving it in the warehouse is better than using any kind of container. Have you forgotten the purpose of the warehouse?"
An Shuyi rubbed her forehead. "I was so excited that I forgot the warehouse could keep things from spoiling. When I was digging, I even broke a root. What a pity."
"Don't regret it, let's go back to where we rested last night." There's still some light, and we can see.
When the two arrived at their resting place, they took out the portable gas stove and the leftover venison soup from the previous night, and put it on the stove to heat it up. Xia Hua then took out a table to cut meat, mainly venison and tiger meat.
An Shuyi was in charge of washing the vegetables, cabbage, and potatoes. After washing them, she would chop them up a couple of times and throw them into the soup pot. The two of them ate a hot pot without any seasoning. Fortunately, the venison soup was particularly fresh. They just put the meat in, cooked it briefly, and ate it. The meal was quite good.
After they finished eating, Xia Hua bought two glass jars for soaking in alcohol from the mall. She washed them, dried them, and set them aside. The two of them then began to wash the ginseng, which needed to be cleaned of the mud. They could only use a toothbrush to scrub it little by little.
After washing and drying the ginseng thoroughly, make sure there is no moisture left. Then, put a little high-proof liquor into the glass jar, evenly coating the inside with the liquor before adding the ginseng. The glass jar is quite large, about 60 centimeters in size, which is the largest in the market. I was worried that the ginseng would be too big to fit in the jar.
Dozens of bottles of wine were poured in directly. Luckily, these are all available for purchase at the Xia Hua Shopping Mall; you can buy as many as you want. Otherwise, it really wouldn't be enough after so long.
After filling it to almost the required capacity, the ginseng was added. Seeing that the glass jar was only a little over half full, more wine was added until it was nine-tenths full. Then Xia Hua put it into her warehouse.
“For the next few years, these two jars of ginseng wine will be more than enough for us. If we find more ginseng, we can save it so we won’t have to buy more next time we need it,” An Shuyi said, squatting on a small stool.
Xia Hua put the glass jar in and nodded upon hearing this. "Okay, but you're already very lucky to have found these two ginseng plants. To find more would take an incredible amount of luck."
An Shuyi raised her head arrogantly, "You don't understand. I'm the little daughter of the Heavenly Dao. What kind of good things can't I find? It's just ginseng. I can find more tomorrow."
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