The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1861 This is no ordinary forest grass; it is called Snake Transformation Dragon.

Chapter 1861 This is no ordinary forest grass; it is called Snake Transformation Dragon.

More than forty minutes later, Zhao Jun carried the lampstand out completely intact.

This lampstand is quite ordinary, with no flaws but also nothing particularly special.

If you were to sell ginseng like this, it would only fetch a hundred or two hundred yuan. Zhao Jun sold a few seedlings in Shulan last year, but he doesn't plan to sell any of these this year.

Zhao Jun planned to take it home, dry it, and then save it for his wife to nourish her body during her postpartum period.

Xing San, who had been wandering around for half a day, had already prepared the moss. After the old man took the lampstand and placed it on the moss, he said to Zhao Jun, "Boy, go south from here, cross the ridge and follow the small side path down. It's not far to the riverbank."

Xing San was reporting the location of the water source to Zhao Jun, since they had been living in the mountains for the past few days and the Zhao family couldn't do without water.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun glanced in the direction Xing San had described and then said, "Alright, Third Uncle, when Bao Yu and the others return, have them carry water."

"Brother." At this moment, Li Ruhai helped Zhao Jun, who was kneeling on the ground after carrying the ginseng, up and said, "You've worked hard. Let's find a place to get a stool and then get some food."

As Li Ruhai spoke, Ma Yang leaned over to watch Xing San wrap ginseng in moss. Hearing the strange words coming out of Li Ruhai's mouth, Ma Yang was about to complain when he heard Xing San say, "Young Ma, what Li Ruhai says is all industry jargon. You should learn from him. When we come to graze in the mountains, we must not break the rules with our words."

A person's name, the shadow of a tree.

Although Xing San's reputation in Yong'an was not as bad as it was in Shulan, and he could not be said to have stopped children from crying at night, he was still a household name.

So when facing Xing San, Ma Yang was very obedient, nodding repeatedly and replying, "Yes, Uncle Xing, I'll listen to you."

Xing San didn't intend to teach Ma Yang anything; it was just that Lao Shan Gouzi was superstitious and was afraid that the boy would talk nonsense and scare away the fairy boy.

Seeing that Ma Yang agreed, Xing San stopped talking, wrapped the moss and ginseng with the pine bark he had prepared in advance, and finally tied it with hemp rope, and a ginseng bun was made.

I don't know whether to say that the Zhao family gang is unconventional or that they are unorthodox. These guys don't even carry a basket when they go hiking in the mountains. They just stick the ginseng buns out of their shoulder pockets.

During their lunch break, the group found a place to sit down. Wang Qiang opened his military water bottle and handed it to Xing San first.

Xing San waved his hand, indicating that he had just drunk some. Seeing this, Wang Qiang took two sips himself.

It's not warm in the mountains at this time of year. When I left home, the water in my kettle was still scalding hot, but now it's refreshingly cool to drink.

The kettle was eventually passed to Zhao Jun, who had already opened both boxes of luncheon meat.

Pour chunks of luncheon meat onto parchment paper, slice it into pieces with a knife, and serve with bald biscuits for a unique flavor.

This stuff tastes completely different when eaten outside and at home. Zhao Jun and his six friends ate it with great relish, finishing off five jin of bald-head pancakes. Zhao Jinhui ate the most, followed by Ma Yang.

After eating and drinking their fill, the six men divided their tasks and went their separate ways. Zhao Jun led Li Ruhai to continue carrying ginseng, while Wang Qiang and Zhao Jinhui learned from them. Xing San patrolled the vicinity, and Ma Yang searched for ginseng in the surrounding area.

What Zhao Jun was carrying at this moment was the snake-shaped ginseng that Zhang Yuanmin had previously allocated.

This ginseng seedling has a long, thin head that coils like a snake, with its serrated edges and flower-like patterns resembling raised snake scales.

Most surprisingly, there are two small stalks near the round reed, which look like snakes growing two legs.

"Brother." Seeing Zhao Jun pause in his work, Li Ruhai dared to speak up, saying, "This reed head looks really strange."

"Ruhai." Zhao Jun called out to Li Ruhai, then looked up at Wang Qiang and Zhao Jinhui, and said, "Uncle, Jinhui, this kind of stick is called 'Snake Transforming into Dragon,' let's go get it!"

"Ah..." Li Ruhai, being cultured after all, looked at the shape of the reed head and analyzed, "This reed head looks like a snake, and those two stems are the snake growing legs, transforming into a dragon?"

"That's right!" Zhao Jun smiled, recited four lines of the incantation, and said: "Two stalks stand on the snake-shaped reed, concealing a wondrous spiritual aura. This is no ordinary forest grass, it is called Snake Transformation into Dragon!"

When Zhao Jun uttered those few words of rhyme, it truly astonished Li Ruhai and the others. They never imagined that Zhao Jun, whose education level was even lower than Ma Yang's, could actually come up with such a set of techniques when catching ginseng.

Seeing the surprised expressions on Li Ruhai's and the others' faces, Zhao Jun couldn't help but feel a little proud. The ginseng cultivation formula is different from the ginseng gang's secret formula. The ginseng cultivation formula is equivalent to the doggerel in ginseng cultivation. You just need to accumulate and memorize it.

Zhao Jun managed to live a respectable life in his previous life, which shows he was quite clever. He may have lacked formal education, but he was quick-witted and had sharp minds.

When Zhao Jun returned to China to do business, he memorized almost all the ginseng cultivation formulas and information on large and rare goods unearthed from various places in Changbai Mountain since the Qing Dynasty in order to present himself well.

This often led to unexpected gains when he negotiated business deals with others.

After demonstrating his skills, Zhao Jun used a deer antler spoon to count the reed bowls on the reed head, and then had Wang Qiang and the other two check the reed bowls.

Judging the age of wild ginseng by using a reed bowl is a skill that every member of the ginseng gang must master. Since Wang Qiang and his group are new to this profession, Zhao Jun has to put in extra effort to teach them.

After the three of them had thoroughly examined the reed bowl, Zhao Jun said, "We've determined that it's at least eighty years old. Once we bring it out, we'll see that as long as it has all five elements, this ginseng won't be cheap."

"My dear nephew," Wang Qiang asked, "can you sell one of the three dragons?"

The price Wang Qiang mentioned was the normal price, not the price offered by Manager Huang, a long-time customer.

“It depends on luck,” Zhao Jun said. “If you find a good owner, it could fetch around ten thousand. But even if you sell it normally, a snake-dragon of this year would cost at least six thousand.”

Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Wang Qiang and the other two showed joy on their faces.

Six thousand yuan is a lot of money. Even if Zhao Jun, as the leader, takes more, they will still get five or six hundred yuan each.

Five or six hundred yuan is roughly half a year's salary for Zhao Youcai. In Mangliu Village, that would be enough to get him a wife.

Zhao Jun continued carrying the ginseng. The ginseng he unearthed had fine, brocade-like skin with a golden-yellow color, indicating it was of very good quality.

If you dig further down with the deer antler spoon, you'll reach the difficult part. Because below that are the ginseng roots, which are thin and sometimes restricted by the soil; one wrong move and you can break them.

This snake-dragon transformation is different from the previous lampstand. The previous lampstand was for personal use, and even if it was broken, it wouldn't affect its nourishing effects. Zhao Jun's insistence on completeness was just a case of him being a bit obsessive-compulsive.

But the snake transforming into a dragon is meant to be sold for money; if a section of its whiskers is cut off, the value of six thousand will drop to four thousand.

Zhao Jun carefully lifted the sea cucumber, while Li Ruhai beside him carefully used a deer antler spoon to help Zhao Jun control the exposed ginseng roots, preventing them from drooping and affecting Zhao Jun's work.

At this moment, the Jiefang truck, which had been speeding for nearly three hours, entered Yong'an Village.

After entering the village, Jie Chen drove towards the Zhao family compound. It was almost two o'clock, and he had to hurry up and load up the mountain with his things, otherwise he wouldn't be able to set up a shelter after dark.

But the truck hadn't gone far when Zhao Youcai, who was in the passenger seat, shouted to stop.

While Xie Chen was still in a daze, he heard Zhang Yuanmin, who was squeezed into the passenger seat with Zhao Youcai, say, "Xiao Chen, stop quickly!"

Xie Chen quickly stepped on the brakes and stopped the car outside a fenced yard.

Having lived in the village for so long, Jie Chen knew that the man's surname was Qi, and his wife was known as Aunt Qi, who was related to Li Ruhai.

As soon as the Jiefang truck stopped, Jie Chen knew why Zhao Youcai and Zhang Yuanmin had made him stop.

Wang Cuihua emerged from Lao Qi's house looking distraught and staggering, followed by Wu Dongxia, who was seeing the guests off.

Seeing Zhao Youcai get out of the passenger seat, Wang Cuihua hurriedly called out, "In-law, did you see him...?"

Halfway through her sentence, Wang Cuihua shook her head and said, "You just got back, you can't see this."

"I saw it, mother-in-law." Upon hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Wang Cuihua was taken aback. She thought to herself, "What did I say that you saw it?"

"Mother-in-law," Zhao Youcai asked, "Are you looking for your second son?"

"Ah!" Upon hearing this, Wang Cuihua's eyes lit up instantly. She took two quick steps towards Zhao Youcai and said, "Father-in-law, have you seen him?"

Being a mother is not easy, but having a disobedient child is even more difficult.

Wang Cuihua prepared lunch and waited at home for Ma Yang to come home for dinner. Normally, Ma Yang would get out of school at 11:30 am and be home by 11:50 am. However, the child played on the way home but was also hungry, so he eventually came home around noon.

But today, Ma Yang still hadn't arrived home by one o'clock. Wang Cuihua couldn't sit still any longer. She went to her eldest son's house first, and then to the Zhao family compound, but couldn't find Ma Yang.

Besides these two families, who else in the entire forest area can afford to have a meal in Ma Yang?

In her haste, Wang Cuihua headed to school, only to run into Hu Lina and Liu Nannan, who were also on their way.

Wang Cuihua knew Liu Nannan and her parents, and knew that Liu Nannan was her son's classmate, so she asked Liu Nannan about Ma Yang.

Hu Lina, who was standing nearby, recognized the voice as Ma Yang's mother and her eyes lit up.

At this moment, Wang Cuihua heard Liu Nannan say that Ma Yang had not shown up at school all morning, and she was immediately struck dumb.

Immediately afterwards, Hu Lina stepped forward and said to Wang Cuihua, "Auntie, your son Ma Yang never does his homework." Wang Cuihua ignored her and turned to run back.

Back in the village, Wang Cuihua went door to door asking around. When she asked the Qi family, Wu Dongxia, after hearing the situation, immediately suggested that Wang Cuihua go to Dongdagou to look for them.

Upon hearing this, Wang Cuihua nearly collapsed on the ground outside the Qi family's house.

Although Wu Dongxia had a sharp tongue, she was very kind-hearted. She let Wang Cuihua go ahead first, and then she went to mobilize the villagers to help Wang Cuihua find Ma Yang.

Wang Cuihua was overjoyed to receive news about Ma Yang from her in-laws after just leaving the Qi family's house.

“My dear in-laws,” Zhao Youcai said to Wang Cuihua, “your son Xiaoyang has gone up the mountain with my husband Zhao Jun.”

"You went up the mountain with Zhao Jun?" Hearing this, Wang Cuihua felt a huge weight lifted from her heart, but she also complained, "Why didn't you tell me you were going up the mountain? I was so worried!"

Seeing Wang Cuihua's distraught state just now, Zhao Youcai knew that his mother-in-law was extremely worried.

This is only natural, and Zhao Youcai understands perfectly. But his son shouldn't take the blame.

Just as Zhao Youcai was about to explain to Wang Cuihua, a voice called "Ma Niang" came from the back of the truck, startling Wang Cuihua.

"Oh my god!" Wang Cuihua looked at the back of the truck with a pale face, and saw Li Baoyu pop his head out from the back of the truck, saying, "Auntie Ma, none of us are going to take your Xiao Yang, he went with us by himself!"

After saying this, Li Baoyu felt he hadn't explained clearly, so he added, "Before our cart left the village, he secretly got into the back. There was no one in the back at the time, just three dogs. He sat with the three dogs, how were we supposed to know?"

Hearing Li Baoyu's words, Wang Cuihua's anger flared up instantly, and she roared, "That wicked child! You wait until he comes back!"

No sooner had Wang Cuihua finished speaking than Li Baoyu said in a muffled voice, "Auntie, he's not coming back."

"Huh?" Wang Cuihua and Wu Dongxia were startled by Li Baoyu's words.

"What are you saying, Baoyu!" Zhao Youcai scolded Li Baoyu, then said to Wang Cuihua, "Mother-in-law, don't worry, that child is with his brother-in-law."

"Then why doesn't he come back?" Wang Cuihua asked again. Li Baoyu chimed in, "We told him to come back, but he wouldn't. He cried and made a scene. My brother told him to come back with the carriage, but he refused. He even said something like... If we force him, he'll jump off the carriage halfway through!"

"That good-for-nothing brat!" Wang Cuihua gritted her teeth and said, "When he comes back tonight, I'll make sure his dad skins him alive."

After Wang Cuihua finished speaking, Li Baoyu said, "He said he's not afraid."

"What?" Wang Cuihua was taken aback. Li Baoyu continued, "He said he doesn't believe his dad could beat him to death!"

Hearing Li Baoyu's words, Wang Cuihua's face turned ashen, and her teeth chattered.

“And Ma Niang,” Li Baoyu added, “she won’t be coming back today either…”

Before Li Baoyu could finish speaking, Zhao Youcai pushed him aside.

“Mother-in-law, don’t be angry,” Zhao Youcai said. “His brother-in-law has a job and has to stay at the work site for two days. Xiao Yang is with his brother-in-law and doesn’t have to worry about anything.”

Zhao Youcai kept his intentions hidden; in front of Wu Dongxia, he didn't mention that Zhao Jun had gone to graze in the mountains.

"Oh dear!" Wang Cuihua sighed heavily, then said to Zhao Youcai, "My dear in-law, I'm not angry anymore. He's hanging out with his brother-in-law, so what do I have to worry about? Hehe..."

In the end, Wang Cuihua even laughed.

There was no other way; people have to save face when they're out in public. In front of Wu Dongxia, Wang Cuihua had to smooth things over.

Just as Li Baoyu was about to say something, Zhao Youcai glared at him fiercely with his small eyes.

"Mother-in-law, it's alright, I'll head back now." Zhao Youcai said, giving Li Baoyu a push, and the two of them got into the back of the car together amidst Wang Cuihua's polite words.

After Zhao Youcai and Li Baoyu got into the car, Xie Chen honked the horn and then drove towards the Zhao family compound.

After leaving the Qi family's fenced courtyard, Zhao Youcai scolded Li Baoyu in the back of the car, saying, "You child, how can you be so good at gossiping about others?"

“So what, sir?” Li Baoyu retorted. “Don’t I have to pick it out for my brother? Otherwise, his father-in-law and mother-in-law will complain about him again.”

Upon hearing Li Baoyu's words, Zhao Youcai immediately gave him a thumbs up. He was truly grateful to Li Baoyu; otherwise, as an elder, he would have been embarrassed to say certain things.

Li Baoyu grinned at Zhao Youcai's silent praise and said, "Grandpa, we're all not home this time, so the family is all in your hands now."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Youcai's face instantly darkened. This kid was really asking for trouble!

Li Baoyu wasn't very good at reading the room. He sat in the back of the car and muttered to himself, "I'll take two more dogs home, and if we run into anything, we'll have another fight."

At this point, Li Baoyu smiled and continued, "No matter what day it is, taking a dog for a stroll in the mountains, that feeling is really good. Isn't it, sir..."

Li Baoyu, who wanted Zhao Youcai's approval, turned his head and saw Zhao Youcai's gloomy old face that looked like it was about to drip water.

Li Baoyu: "..."