Chapter 89: Wild Ginseng Sign-In Spot
After carefully thinking it over, Ning Xiyue pulled out a map, opening it mysteriously and showing it to Ning Qingyuan.
“Second Brother, look what I found. I picked this up at the junk station — must’ve been left behind by some old hunter. Let’s follow the route on here and give it a try. If we find something, great. If not, we lose nothing.”
Then she raised her hands dramatically, full of passion. “Today we must bring back a good haul. We’ll send some back home, so the family will know how well we’re living out here in the countryside.”
“It looks pretty detailed. Alright, I’ll follow your lead. Today, we’ll go by this map. We’re not going home until our baskets are full.”
Ning Qingyuan was instantly fired up, especially by that last sentence. Out here, he was the only older brother around, and this was his one chance to go exploring with his little sister. Whatever they gathered from the mountains today, he planned to send some to their eldest brother — and write him a good long letter too.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. Pointing to a marked spot on the map labeled as a ginseng patch, he said:
“Let’s go straight for the most valuable spot first. Start with the good stuff.”
With high spirits, the siblings marched toward their destination — and bounding joyfully through the forest alongside them was Little Gray.
The place where ginseng was said to grow was quite hidden. Although they had a map, no one knew how old it was, and the mountain landscape had subtly changed over time.
They circled the area indicated but found nothing.
Ning Qingyuan frowned slightly, starting to doubt the map, but he didn’t want to discourage his sister. “Sis, let’s go. Maybe someone else already found the ginseng and dug it up.”
“Wait, let’s keep searching a bit longer.”
Ning Xiyue was unwilling to give up. The sign-in locations from her system had never disappointed her. She recalled what the herbal compendium said about the growing conditions of ginseng.
“I remember the book said ginseng likes shade and moisture, prefers indirect light, and doesn’t like strong sunlight. It also grows best in rich, humus-filled soil. Brother, let’s look in places with those characteristics.”
“Alright, let’s search again.”
Repeating those features under his breath, Ning Qingyuan carefully inspected places that matched the description.
What followed was a thorough, carpet-style search.
“Ah! Found it! Sis, come here — I found it! Over here — and there’s a lot of it!” Ning Qingyuan’s voice broke with excitement as he called out.
Ning Xiyue immediately looked up from where she was searching. “Where? Let me see. Huh? Where are you?”
“Over here!” Ning Qingyuan poked his head out of a low thicket, grinning ear to ear and waving at her. “Come quick!”
Ning Xiyue hurried over, unable to hide the joy on her face. Her brother was amazing.
“Careful — the ginseng chose its spot well. It’s growing in the middle of this thicket, completely hidden by thorns and low shrubs. No wonder we couldn’t find it earlier. Honestly, it’s thanks to Little Gray for crawling in here that I spotted it.”
Protecting his sister’s head from branches, Ning Qingyuan gently guided her into the thicket.
“Look, Sis, there’s a whole bunch here. These stems with little red berries — and these few without berries — they look just like the ones in the field manual.”
Ning Xiyue gasped at the sight of the small ginseng patch. “Oh my god, Brother, they’re all ginseng! This small patch alone is worth a fortune. We’re rich!”
Ding! [Sign-in location detected: Wild Ginseng Cluster. To sign in here, the host must take a group photo with Ning Qingyuan, Little Gray, and the ginseng field. Proceed with sign-in?]
She hadn’t expected to find a sign-in spot in the mountains — and one with special conditions too. Ning Xiyue was already looking forward to the reward. Based on past experience, it was bound to be something good.
She scooped up Little Gray, who was sniffing curiously at the ginseng berries, then looked at her second brother, who was so excited he didn’t know what to do with himself.
“Brother, shift a bit this way — let’s make some space for the light so we can dig carefully. We don’t want to damage something this precious.”
“Ah, right, right. If we damage it, I’ll cry. We can’t afford to lose even a single root hair — intact ones are the most valuable.”
Ning Qingyuan shuffled to her left. She tugged at his sleeve, moving him slightly to the right. The two crouched side by side around the ginseng patch.
“System, sign in.”
“Sign-in successful. Reward: Complete Ginseng Cultivation Courseware. To unlock the class, the host must collect 100 ginseng seeds.”
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. This reward was exactly what Ning Xiyue wanted. If she mastered this, she’d never have to worry about money again.
And as for the seeds? That was no problem.
Looking at the six ginseng plants in front of her, each covered with flat, round red berries, she did the math. One berry contained two seeds. Each plant had at least twenty berries. Six plants meant around 240 seeds — more than enough.
She’d only need to take seeds from four plants to reach the requirement.
Without hesitation, Ning Xiyue took out a small cloth bag and began picking berries from the three most fruitful plants.
“Sis, what are you doing?” Ning Qingyuan asked curiously.
“Brother, I want to take some seeds back and try planting them. If they grow, our family will be set for life.”
“I’ll help you.”
Though Ning Qingyuan doubted the seeds would grow, he was a good brother. As long as it wasn’t something bad, he’d support whatever she wanted to do. Success or failure could be dealt with later.
“Brother,” Ning Xiyue reminded him, “leave two plants untouched. This place is perfect for ginseng. We can come back next year.”
“Got it.”
Ning Qingyuan carefully picked only the largest berries.
Once the berries were collected, he stared at the ginseng patch in confusion. “Sis, how should we dig them up? I’ve never harvested ginseng before. Grandpa said people usually tie a red string to them, but we don’t have any.”
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t. It’s not like they’ll grow legs and run away,” Ning Xiyue said, unconvinced by the superstition. “Here’s the plan: we’ll use a sickle to gently pry the soil, and when we see the roots, we’ll use sticks to carefully dig them out bit by bit.”
“Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
With her confident words, Ning Qingyuan felt reassured. The two of them — and one wolf — lay on the ground and carefully began digging into the soil.
Inexperienced as he was, Ning Qingyuan was both thrilled and nervous. “I see one! Little Gray, stop digging — let me do it. Wow, look how long this root is! It must be really old!”
Ning Xiyue glanced at the ginseng root Little Gray had uncovered. “Whoa — look at all those rings on the rhizome. It’s definitely an old one.”
“At least eighty or ninety years old,” she estimated. “Judging by how old our map is, this place must’ve been untouched for decades. Brother, let’s dig harder. There’s probably more than one ancient root here.”
Ning Qingyuan’s eyes lit up with anticipation. “That’s fantastic! Old ginseng is worth a fortune. After today, we’ll be the wealthiest people in the family!”
Ning Xiyue just smiled. She wasn’t about to tell her second brother that she was already the wealthiest person in the family.
