sbdcsierra Chapter 1748 Zhao Jun's Medicine Capital Chapter 3 Dragon
Chapter 1748 Zhao Jun's Medicine Capital Chapter 3 Dragon
Chapter 1748 Zhao Jun's Talk of Three Dragons in the Medicine Capital
Yesterday, when Zhao Jun went to the city, he also bought clothes for his father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and brother-in-law's children.
After dinner, Zhao Jun, carrying a triangular bag of clothes, accompanied Ma Ling back to her parents' home.
As they approached the Ma family's house, Zhao Jun and Ma Ling noticed that the back of the person walking hurriedly ahead looked very familiar.
"Big Brother!" Ma Ling called out, and the man turned around. It was indeed Ma Sheng.
Ma Sheng stopped and waited for Zhao Jun and Ma Ling to come up. He asked directly, "You two have heard about it too?"
"Huh?" The young couple were both taken aback. Zhao Jun asked, "Brother, what did you hear?"
"Dr. Han was giving Old Mu acupuncture in the East Wing just now, and he said that Dad was beating Xiao Yang at home." Ma Sheng said as he walked, "He said he was beating Xiao Yang and he wasn't making any nice noises, so I thought I'd go and see."
"Why did you beat Xiao Yang up?" Ma Ling was very puzzled, while Zhao Jun was also thinking, "Could it be that he found out about giving his female classmate the diary? But that doesn't warrant beating her up like this."
As the three entered the Ma family compound, they heard Ma Yang's continuous wails coming from inside the house.
Ma Sheng and Ma Ling hurriedly walked towards the front of the house, while Zhao Jun noticed that there were heads on both the east and west walls of the courtyard under the cover of night.
This isn't a horror scene; it's just the neighbors peeking over the wall to listen to what's going on.
Zhao Jun couldn't say anything about this, so he could only quickly catch up with Ma Sheng and Ma Ling.
The three entered the house and saw Wang Cuihua, looking furious, pacing back and forth in the outer room with her hands on her hips.
"Oh!" Wang Cuihua was taken aback when she suddenly looked up and saw Zhao Jun and the others. She asked, "What brings you all here?"
"What are you doing, Mom?" Ma Sheng pointed to the closed door of the west room and asked Wang Cuihua, "Beating my little brother like this so late at night, won't the neighbors laugh at us?"
At that moment, Ma Ling had reached the door of the west room, pushed it open, and shouted, "Dad!"
As soon as Ma Ling rushed into the house, Ma Sheng and Wang Cuihua hurried over. Zhao Jun took the opportunity to peek into the house through the open door and saw that Ma Yang was shirtless with bloody rashes all over his back.
"Tsk! Tsk!" Zhao Jun smacked his lips twice and quietly walked towards the east room.
"Sister, brother..." Ma Yang's wailing came from the west room, followed by Ma Dafu's scolding: "Shut up! If you scream again, I'll beat you to death!"
These days, parents' words really carry weight. Ma Yang immediately shut up, sobbing.
Then, the voices of Ma Sheng and Ma Ling asking for the reason came from the west room.
Zhao Jun didn't investigate why Ma Yang was beaten; that wasn't something he, as a son-in-law, should concern himself with.
At that moment, Zhao Jun suddenly noticed the short-haired beauty's diary lying on the kang table.
Zhao Jun hurriedly threw the triangular bag onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and picked up the diary.
In Zhao Jun's previous life, Ma Yang's wife had a long argument with Ma Yang because of this notebook.
It is said that Ma Yang wrote a blessing for Hu Lina in that diary, but no matter how Zhao Jun tried to subtly probe him, even when he was drunk, Ma Yang never revealed a word about what he had written.
Driven by curiosity, Zhao Jun opened the diary and saw on the first page: "To Hu Lina, I wish you happiness every day."
"These words are really lame," Zhao Jun muttered, then put the diary back on the kang table.
……
After resolving the dispute with the father-in-law's family and distributing the gifts, the young couple went home to wash up and go to bed.
The next morning, they got up at 5:30, just like the previous few days. Then, Ma Ling and Liu Mei went to feed the dogs, while Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu went up the mountain to play cards.
They found three large badgers, and on the mountain, they gutted them and hung them as lanterns. They put the badger gallbladders in a small bag to take home, and used the rest of the entrails as bait in traps.
"Baoyu." Before descending the mountain, Zhao Jun instructed Li Baoyu, "This time we won't be taking this jeep. You two will drive over every morning, with my dad in tow, and you can practice your couplets together."
"It's all settled, brother, you can rest assured." Li Baoyu replied, then pledged his loyalty, "I'll keep feeling uneasy about not going to Hebei with you."
Just as the two brothers were chatting, a large insect crossed the Shuguang Forest Area and entered Yong'an territory.
When Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu arrived home, the tiger came to Old Ghost Head Ridge and occupied One-Ear's former lair.
Upon arriving, the tiger hunted down a large red deer weighing over 500 pounds. While it was eating the deer meat and drinking its blood, Zhao Jun was at home eating steamed buns and drinking tofu pudding.
Zhao Jun and Zhao Weipeng had planned to leave tomorrow. After breakfast, Zhao Jun led Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, Xie Chen, and Zhao Jinhui on a walk around the mountain.
They first went to the forest protection station, where Zhao Jun warmly received Song Fu'an, the captain of the forest protection team, inquired about the forest rangers' work arrangements in the spring, and then gave instructions on the safety of the forest rangers during their patrols.
After leaving the third work section, Zhao Jun led his men to the new loading yard. Upon arriving at the new loading yard, Zhao Jun inspected the work progress of the four groups of loading and unloading workers and inquired about the four small flowering corns he had caught from the mountains.
At noon, accompanied by Yu Quanjin, Huang Gui, Xie Zhong, Xu Fangman, Zhang Xinglong and others, Zhao Jun ate a meal of cabbage and vermicelli with cornmeal steamed cake in the cook's shack.
After lunch, Zhao Jun led his men to the forest farm, stopped by the security team, and had a conversation with the team leader, Liu Jinyong, before getting into a jeep and returning to Yong'an Village.
The following day, April 22, 1988, Zhao Jun, Xing San, Zhao Weipeng, Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, Xie Chen, and Zhao Jinhui, a group of seven, traveled in two cars to Yongxing Brigade.
Just as Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu had said, Zhao Weipeng's jeep wasn't in use this time. Zhao Weipeng's car was in front, and Jie Chen's Jiefang truck carrying leather was behind. Zhao Jun sat in the passenger seat of the Jiefang truck, while everyone else rode in the jeep.
At 11:30 a.m., two vehicles drove into Yongxing Brigade and drove all the way into Tao Dabao's yard.
Knowing that Zhao Jun and Zhao Weipeng were coming, Tao Dabao's wife Jiang Lan and Tao Xiaobao's wife Li Yunxiang prepared a sumptuous lunch.
After finishing their meal, Zhao Jun and his companions went to the brigade's warehouse to inventory the hides and weigh the bear bile. They worked until after 3:40 p.m. Zhao Jun paid the bill, politely declined Tao Dabao and Yu Xuewen's offer to stay for dinner, and then drove straight to Lingnan.
Zhao Weipeng met with his old comrade-in-arms and drank more than half a jin of liquor at noon. Xie Chen also drank two liang. At this time, they were sleeping in the car, and Zhao Jun and Zhao Jinhui took over driving.
The two vehicles passed through Lingnan and arrived at Xie Chen's hometown in Xiangyangtun at 11 p.m.
Since the Lunar New Year, no one had been home at the Xie family's house, and the house was covered in a thick layer of dust. The group divided the tasks: fetching water, starting a fire, and heating the kang (a heated brick bed). They also took out noodles, canned goods, ham sausages, braised beef, scallions, and soybean paste from the cart and ate a simple meal.
After eating and drinking their fill, the seven of them slept for four hours on the kang (heated brick beds) in the east and west rooms of the Xie family's house. Then, at 4:30 a.m. on the 23rd, they continued their journey. Along the way, Zhao Jun and the other three took turns, keeping the vehicle running even when they were resting, and arrived at Zhao Weipeng's house at 10 p.m. that night.
Like the Xie family, Zhao Weipeng's entire family had moved to Yong'an. However, Zhao Weipeng had called ahead, and the old man who tended the boiler heated the house early and cooked dinner for them.
They slept well that night, and the next day after breakfast, the group of seven people in two cars headed straight for Changshan.
In the afternoon, we arrived in Changshan, parked the car at Zhao Weipeng's company, and a group of us went out to eat a nice meal.
That night, they checked into the same guesthouse they had stayed at the previous two times. After breakfast on the 25th, Zhao Jun and his seven men split into two groups. Zhang Yuanmin, Xing San, and Xie Chen stayed behind to wait for Wen Hongchang to come and collect the hides, while Zhao Jun drove Wang Qiang and Zhao Jinhui to Anguo, the medicine capital, to sell bear bile.
They entered Anguo at 10:00 AM, and at 10:30 AM, the Jiefang truck stopped in front of Huichuntang. Zhao Jun, Wang Qiang, and Zhao Weipeng got out of the truck, with Wang Qiang carrying a cloth bag containing bear bile.
Before Zhao Jun arrived, he had called ahead. When they entered Huichuntang, Manager Huang was already waiting in the pharmacy.
After exchanging greetings, Manager Huang led Zhao Jun and his two companions to the back room and bought all the bear gallbladders that Zhao Jun had brought, at the agreed price.
After the money and goods were exchanged, Zhao Jun made preparations to leave.
After the first two transactions, Manager Huang said he would arrange a meal for Zhao Jun, but it was inconvenient to carry money after selling the bear bile, so Zhao Jun declined each time.
When Zhao Jun said he was leaving today, Manager Huang didn't offer him a meal. Instead, he instructed Huang Haizhen to pour out the cold tea and then pour hot tea for Zhao Jun and the other two.
Zhao Jun knew immediately that Manager Huang had something to say, and he could roughly guess what Manager Huang was going to say.
"Manager Huang, you want to ask me about the stone dragon and the wooden dragon, right?" As soon as Zhao Jun asked this, Manager Huang nodded and said, "Yes, they're quite anxious over there."
“This isn’t something to rush,” Zhao Jun laughed. “Today is April 25th, the tenth day of the third lunar month. The club hasn’t even sprouted yet, so there’s no use in being anxious.”
"Yes, yes, I know that too." Manager Huang smiled and said, "I've called my four old friends in the medicine capital these past few days, and none of them have this."
"Hehe..." Zhao Jun chuckled, holding the rim of his teacup. "Manager Huang, it's no use calling anyone. Wild ginseng is only found in Changbai Mountain. They say it's in the Lesser Khingan Mountains, but it's too rare there, almost impossible to find."
Stone dragons and wooden dragons are different from the others; they don't have dried goods, only water.
"Why is that?" Manager Huang still didn't understand, so he said to Zhao Jun, "I've never seen Shilong or Mulong, but we at Huichuntang also use wild ginseng in our medicine. Isn't this the same as wild ginseng?"
“It’s just wild ginseng,” Zhao Jun said. “It’s just that the growing conditions are different.”
After saying this, Zhao Jun took a sip of warm tea before continuing, "The older generation of wild ginseng farmers said that there are three dragons among ginseng: stone dragon, wood dragon, and little white dragon. These are all wild ginseng, but the three dragons of the same year are much more expensive than ordinary wild ginseng."
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Manager Huang asked, "Is it of good quality?"
It is said that the price of wild ginseng depends on its quality, and Manager Huang thought that the three dragons referred to the shape of a dragon.
“This one isn’t really like that,” Zhao Jun said. “The reason why wild ginseng can replenish qi is because it contains a kind of active substance.”
Zhao Jun had been in the wild ginseng business in his previous life, and he knew that the special active substance in wild ginseng was called saponin, but he didn't know if the term still existed these days, so he didn't dare to say it.
At this moment, Zhao Jun continued, "The active ingredients in the Three Dragons are much higher than those in ordinary clubs, which is good for people."
At this point, Zhao Jun pointed to the table and said, "Like your old customer, Manager Huang, he said he wanted stone dragons and wooden dragons, which are for the active substances inside, which, in a more mystical way, are called life-extending. In reality, they are just replenishing vital energy."
"Ah..." Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Manager Huang nodded slightly, while Huang Haizhen asked, "Then the stone dragon, is it inside a stone?"
“It’s not inside a rock,” Zhao Jun laughed. “It’s not Sun Wukong, so what’s it like? It’s two rocks pressed together, leaving a space in the middle. Like a hollow rock with soil in it, the ginseng seeds are blown by the wind, or maybe a small ginseng seed is carried over, and it falls in and sprouts.”
We've all seen wild ginseng roots; they're long and trailing, clinging to rocks. During their growth, they don't absorb groundwater; they rely on rainwater and dew.
“Rootless water,” Manager Huang chimed in. Zhao Jun nodded and said, “Why do we say it has no substance? Because when the ginseng was being carried out, it came out along with the stones.”
No matter how big the stone is, I'll bring it to you with the ginseng; this is called a stone dragon. Otherwise, if I just grabbed a random stick and said it was a stone dragon, who would recognize it?
After Zhao Jun finished speaking, Huang Haizhen asked again, "So the wooden dragon is something that grows on long pieces of wood?"
“That’s right!” Zhao Jun said, “They’re usually on fallen logs, but if you want them on long-lived trees, then they’re even more powerful.”
The "mingzi" that Zhao Jun mentioned was pine ...
Therefore, at that time, the wood dragon growing on the ginseng was also called the amber dragon. When it was sold, it was sold together with the ginseng.
After finishing his tea, Zhao Jun stood up and said to Manager Huang, "Then we'll be leaving. I'll go up the mountain at the end of May to check if the stone dragon and wooden dragon need to be moved. I'll contact you again then."
After saying that, Zhao Jun picked up the bag of money and led Wang Qiang and Zhao Jinhui out.
The shopkeeper and his son saw the three of them off onto the truck and watched it disappear at the street corner.
After leaving the medicinal herb market, Zhao Jun drove to the steamed bun shop where he had eaten steamed buns last time.
This trip didn't include golden bear gallbladders, so the copper and grass gallbladders only sold for a little over 50,000 yuan in total.
Zhao Jun got off the bus carrying a sack of money and went into a shop with Wang Qiang and Zhao Jinhui to eat steamed buns.
While the three were eating, Zhao Jinhui asked Zhao Jun, "Brother Jun, I just heard you guys talking about stone dragon, wooden dragon, and little white dragon. What is a little white dragon?"
Hearing Zhao Jinhui ask this question, Wang Qiang also leaned closer. He had been hunting in the mountains for many years, but he knew nothing about wild clubs.
"Little White Dragon..." Zhao Jun swallowed the bun in his mouth and explained to the two of them, "You know the Yalu River, right?"
Seeing the two nod, Zhao Jun continued, "The mountains on both sides of the river, one side is North Korea, and the other side is us. The wild ginseng that grows on these mountains is... that they call 'Qinggangse,' which is a grayish-white color."
And the special soil on our mountain produces mallets with white, shiny skin; both types of mallets are called "Little White Dragons."
After saying this, Zhao Jun, fearing the two wouldn't understand, added, "Aren't the skins of normal sticks usually yellow?"
As Zhao Jun explained, the three of them finished their steamed buns, paid for their food, got into their car, and headed back to Changshan along the same route.
When Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin left in the morning, they had made an appointment. After selling the hides, they were to wait for him at Zhao Weipeng's company.
Logically, they should have finished their work by now. But when Zhao Jun returned, he found that Wen Hongchang and his son Wen Ming hadn't left; the two of them were waiting for Zhao Jun at Zhao Weipeng's company with Zhang Yuanmin.
Seeing Zhao Jun return, Zhang Yuanmin hurriedly came out of the house and whispered to Zhao Jun, "Brother, Boss Wen didn't leave."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback when he heard this, and subconsciously looked through the window, only to see Wen Hongchang raising his hand to greet him.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Jun wondered if there was something wrong with the leather he had acquired, but then he heard Zhang Yuanmin say, "He said he wants to buy it from us to pass down through generations."
Zhao Jun: "What the hell?"
(End of this chapter)