Lao Li Tou opened the red cloth bag, and inside was a piece of bark kidneys used to wrap ginseng, and then opened the bark kidneys, and inside was a fresh mountain ginseng.

Looking at the reed head beard, the ginseng is only two and a half years at most, but for some reason, the ginseng color is yellow and a little light gray, and you can't see it if you don't look carefully.

Huang Cripple picked up the ginseng and sniffed it under his nose, and sighed: "This little mallet is not clean, Lao Li, Lao Li, you are really dizzy, if you don't collect the mountain, you will take your life sooner or later!" ”

Lao Li was shocked: "Huh? No, I've been walking for most of my life, how can I ...... How could it be ......"

The yellow cripple asked again, "Where did you dig this mallet from?" ”

Lao Li Tou hurriedly replied: "That's it, just over the rope sleeve, you know, my legs and feet are not good, don't go deeper." ”

After listening to this, Huang Cripple said: "You find a cover for our grandfather, and I won't go back tonight, you take me up the mountain at dawn, and there are still things in the ginseng pit that you haven't dug clean, so I found your house." ”

Lao Li nodded again and again, and hurriedly went to find the futon and vacated the vacant side room for the two of us to live in.

When I went back to the house to rest, I couldn't fall asleep while lying on the kang and tossing and turning, so I asked Huang Cripple, "Uncle, what is that little black thing that came out of the mouth of the Li family's aunt?" ”

"That's an old guest in the mountains." Huang Cripple said casually: "Every year, when it comes to going to the mountains to pick ginseng, there will always be such an idea, I'm afraid that something bad will happen in the mountains, and those things will come down the mountain with resentment." ”

I was confused when I heard Huang Cripple's words, but when I asked more, Huang Cripple was already snoring, and I could only sleep.

After all, it was too late, we slept until dawn, and we didn't bother to eat breakfast after getting up, so the cripple asked Lao Li Tou to take us up the mountain, and wanted to borrow Lao Li Tou's set of guys who went to the mountains to dig ginseng.

Native ginseng diggers at the foot of Changbai Mountain, they will have their own set of exclusive things, a total of 12 things, namely stick hook scissors, knives, axes and saws, rope shovels, waist stalks, used to dig ginseng, find the way, resist wild beasts, and even save life when necessary. This set of guys generally comes from the teacher or family heirloom, and it is as valuable as life in the hearts of the people who dig ginseng, so the rule in the digging ginseng line is not to borrow from outside, and borrowing things is equivalent to borrowing life.

But now when Huang Cripple borrowed from Lao Li Tou, Lao Li Tou didn't say a word, and showed all his outfits, which is the trust of life and death between the old guys in the team.

After departure, Lao Li Tou took us into the mountain from the north slope, saying that Lao Li Tou led the way, but the road up the mountain is obviously more familiar to the yellow lame, and even knows every dark pit and every cliff along the way.

Later, before noon, we entered the old dragon forest, which is the 'rope sleeve' in the mouth of Lao Li Tou.

The old dragon forest surrounds the north slope, which is the only way to dig ginseng through the north slope, and it is also the place where many ginseng diggers in the north slope make money.

Because there will always be some short ginseng in the old dragon forest, such as the three-flowered horseshoe lampstand, although it is rare to see the precious four or five leaves, but it is enough to dig ginseng to support people's families, so it is often called 'loading point' by some ginseng diggers who are not skilled.

As for the name of 'rope sleeve', it comes from a long-ago legend of the Qing Dynasty.

Legend has it that a hundred years ago, the Qing Dynasty promulgated a ban on retreat, closed the Shanhaiguan, and did not allow the Han people in the customs to leave the customs and step into the territory of Changbai Mountain, which is known as the "Land of Longxing", so as not to destroy the legendary dragon vein that carries the national fortune of the Qing Dynasty, and the ginseng that spreads all over the mountains is the root of aura.

However, there are still countless poor people in order to make a living, risking the risk of killing their heads, but also to sneak out of the pass, into the mountains to steal mountain staff for personal gain, of course the imperial court will not care, so it will send eight banners of heavy troops stationed in the mountains to patrol, and anyone who encounters mountain thieves will be killed.

Among them, there is a general of the Eight Banners stationed on the northern slope named 'Su Hetai', who is quite notorious in the area of Changbai Mountain.

At that time, it was the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the foundation of the Qing Dynasty was shaky and unstable, and many people in the customs took the opportunity to pour into the outside of the customs like a tide, which was known as 'breaking through the east of the Guan'. Among these people, the vast majority of them came to Changbai Mountain ginseng, so many of them fell into the hands of Su Hetai when they later broke into the northern slope.

Su Hetai is vicious, all the captured ginseng diggers, regardless of men, women and children, are hanged in the old dragon forest, the corpses are hung on the trees, in order to warn others, over time, the old dragon forest is hung everywhere corpses, listen to the old man said, at that time, not to mention the tiger wolf in the mountain forest, even the eyes of the mountain roe deer and the wild deer are red and red, because the dead eat too much flesh.

After the corpse was eaten by wild beasts, only the rope sleeves that hung down from the branches of the trees scattered all over the mountains and fields were still fluttering in the wind to this day, hence the name.

This is the first time I went up the mountain, as soon as I entered the old dragon forest, I only felt a chill down my spine, like countless pairs of eyes, I don't know where I was quietly staring at myself, but obviously Huang Cripple and Lao Li Tou had already adapted, and there was no discomfort in the expression, and then Lao Li Tou took us around in the forest for more than two hours, and then took us to the place where he dug ginseng.

It was a clearing in the forest near the northwest edge of the old dragon forest, and you could see a wooden stick stuck in the ginseng pit dug on the ground, with a red cloth tied to the stick, and two copper coins falling. This is the old rule of digging ginseng, in the hearts of the older generation, ginseng is a living thing, ginseng is a human body, a ginseng is a life, so after digging ginseng to leave two copper coins, this is called 'money for life'.

Huang Cripple squatted in front of the ginseng pit, first shoveled the soil in the spade pit with Lao Litou's quick shovel, pinched it in his hand and rubbed and smelled, looked carefully, the soil was still mixed with a small ginseng beard, but it was not normal yellow, and it was slightly red.

Huang Cripple glanced at Lao Li Tou beside him and sighed: "You are an old fool!" You dare to dig in this soil with blood? What did I teach you back then? ”

These words frightened Lao Li Tou, and he hesitated and said: "It was dark at the time, I was indeed a little dazzled, and now there are more people walking the mountain than ginseng, and I finally found one, I can't help it......"

"Sooner or later, you will die on greedy words!"

As he spoke, the yellow cripple took out the fast stick and copper scissors from his back, and after shouting 'mallet' clearly, he began to carefully cooperate with the shovel and continue to dig down the ginseng pit.

After digging down two feet, the ginseng whiskers mixed in the soil gradually became denser and redder, and another foot and a half, and the soil gradually showed a touch of burnt yellow.

Huang Cripple hurriedly stopped, and carefully flicked it with a fast stick, revealing the corner of a broken straw mat under the soil, and cut the mat with scissors, revealing a young woman's snow-white face......