Chapter 730: 730 gather herbs
Yuanyuan sat by the fire, feeling extremely bored. She didn’t dare to take out a book to read, and hadn’t brought one anyway. She could only sit there dazing, her Divine Sense focusing on the outside.
It was not until after five o’clock that Zhan Yunzhao woke up.
"Why didn’t you wake me?" He sat down next to Yuanyuan.
"You all should rest. Hongling and I can handle it. Sleeping less at night isn’t a problem for us."
The five people were now a small group. Since the three men did all the heavy work, the two women did whatever they could manage.
"You go rest, I’m awake now."
Yuanyuan nodded and went over to sleep, leaning against the wall beside Zeng Hongling.
In fact, she couldn’t fall asleep anymore, and sitting against the stone wall was truly uncomfortable.
Wei Guangxiang and Zeng Yixin also woke up. They didn’t speak, moving quietly to avoid disturbing the two who were still sleeping.
At seven, Yuanyuan opened her eyes and went outside for a quick wash. The three of them had already prepared the meal.
They sliced the roasted lamb and boiled it with water, adding the noodles after the women woke up.
After eating their fill, they cleaned the cave thoroughly, leaving nothing behind, and the five of them set out again.
Since they found ginseng yesterday, today there wasn’t the same sense of frustration as the day before.
Yuanyuan still had her Divine Sense open and discovered two spots, but they looked too young, so bringing them back would be wasteful, and she didn’t tell them.
On the way down the mountain, they didn’t take the small path; instead, they made their own way, hoping to find more.
Walking at the back, Zhan Yunzhao suddenly said, "We can reach the foot today, and I’ll start processing this ginseng."
Actually, if villagers found ginseng, they should head back immediately.
"Daoist Zhan, when are we heading back?" Zeng Hongling asked.
"I have no objections, let’s discuss it together. I can handle the ginseng, so I’m not worried about losing its medicinal effectiveness."
"Let’s stay a few more days; otherwise, coming and going is too much trouble."
Indeed, climbing the mountain was exhausting and required high concentration.
Yuanyuan found another spot with ginseng, but it was too dangerous, growing on a five or six-meter-high cliff.
It seemed to be of considerable age, but how could they discover it? They were about to pass the cliff by, and it would be missed.
She finally decided to speak out. So, she moved her steps slightly towards the cliff.
As she walked that way, the other four naturally followed.
"Hey, what is that?" Yuanyuan pointed to the cliff above and asked.
All four raised their heads. Zhan Yunzhao became excited, "Xiao Su, you’re really lucky. That’s still ginseng. Just looking at the leaves from below, you can tell it’s older than the previous three."
The five quickly reached the bottom of the cliff. It was really high.
"Yixin and I will go up. I’ll repel down with a rope to collect it."
The five of them once again climbed up from one side.
They brought ropes, so Wei Guangxiang quickly descended.
"Are you three okay up there? If not, I’ll come down too."
"We’re fine, but be careful. Tie another rope to yourself."
Since it was a cliff, although only over ten meters high, any sudden collapse would be extremely dangerous.
The three waited above. After about an hour and a half, Wei Guangxiang’s voice came from below, and the two young men climbed back up with the rope.
"Daoist Zhan, take a look. Isn’t this ginseng of rather old age?" Wei Guangxiang said, taking the carefully wrapped ginseng out from his chest and handing it to Zhan Yunzhao.
It was a ginseng resembling a human figure.
Zhan Yunzhao’s eyes lit up with a smile.
"This ginseng is at least two hundred years old. Its value far exceeds the previous three."
All five gathered around to look at the ginseng, "Let’s head down. Lin Gen Sheng said there’s another cave at the foot. Let’s go there to rest, and I’ll sort out these four ginsengs."
The other four naturally agreed. They were all excited indeed.
Before dark, they reached the cave, giving them time to gather firewood and clean up.
Wei Guangxiang and Zeng Yixin went hunting, while the two girls were responsible for collecting firewood and boiling water.
Zhan Yunzhao took out tools at the cave’s entrance to process the four ginsengs.
It wasn’t until it was completely dark that the venison and rabbit were stewed and roasted. Zhan Yunzhao finally finished his task.
Yuanyuan found it quite interesting to see the ginseng wrapped in cotton cloth.
In the evening, she still didn’t eat the roasted meat, only drank water.
Seeing her like this, the other four exchanged helpless looks.
"Yuanyuan, I’ll make you some porridge," Zeng Hongling said with concern.
"No need. I’ll have porridge in the morning. Not eating at night is fine for me."
"How about roasting a bun over the fire?"
"I’m really not eating. You don’t need to worry about me."
"Let’s head back tomorrow, Xiao Su can stay here, and the four of us will continue up the mountain."
Yuanyuan thought for a moment but still shook her head, "I can’t feel at ease if I leave you all. Let’s stick to this."
"Yuanyuan, carrying the ginseng with us isn’t safe, leaving it at someone’s place is even less so. Besides, the four of us can all fend for ourselves," Zeng Hongling comforted Yuanyuan.
"I’m afraid something might happen to you."
"What could happen? At worst, we meet some wild animals, but the four of us aren’t afraid. Go back. You can’t do this. You stay home watching the ginseng, they’re nowhere near as good as the ones we found. Taking them out will just make people envious."
Wei Guangxiang chimed in, "Yuanyuan, you really don’t have to worry about us. Before we met you, weren’t we still going for tomb raiding? It’s no safer than here."
Zeng Yixin added, "Yeah, even if we face danger, what’s it got to do with you? We wanted to pick ginseng ourselves, so don’t overthink it. We’ll return tomorrow, and you stay home."
Looking at the expressions of the four, Yuanyuan suddenly understood that they were all adults who, perhaps, hadn’t experienced less than she did. She truly wasn’t accustomed to this kind of life.
If it came to it, she could secretly follow behind them, just not willing to endure hardship.
People are like that; it’s easy to go from simple to luxurious, but hard to go from luxurious to simple.
She had a space and was used to a free life. Living like a normal person now was really difficult for her.
After cleaning everything up, "I’ll take the night watch tonight, you all sleep."
"Yuanyuan, there’s no need for this. We’ll rest for a day at home. Relax, the two of us will keep watch."
The three men didn’t say anything. They didn’t volunteer for the night watch. It wasn’t tiring, but mentally draining. So, let Yuanyuan be. Otherwise, she wouldn’t feel at ease. They knew well what kind of person she was.