We didn't say anything all night, and early the next morning, we got up early, got some breakfast and ate casually, packed up and set off. Fulongling is far away from here, and it is estimated that it will be three days away, so we have brought enough food and water to support it for two more days. According to the old tradition, the knife is carried with millet, as well as dried meat. This kind of thing is not afraid of the tide and is full. We brought a lot of chocolates and compressed biscuits.

Liu turned his head out of the house and took out the tools he had used to put the mountain in his youth, which was nothing more than a carrying basket and a treasure stick. The Suo Bao stick was five feet two inches long, and two copper coins were tied to its head. The bark is also attached to the stick, which plays a non-slip role. In addition, there are several three-foot-long red thread ropes, on which copper coins are also tied. At this time, the lock ginseng is used. As long as you find ginseng, you must first tie this red rope to the ginseng to prevent it from "running away".

When everything was ready, we set off. Seven of us, plus Liu's head and grandson's knife, are exactly nine people, singular!

Walking on the road in the countryside, it also attracted many onlookers for a while. Many acquaintances couldn't help but ask, "Lao Liu, what are you doing here?" ”

Lao Liu raised the Suo Bao stick and pointed in the direction of the mountain, and said, "Go and release the mountain!" ”

"Yo! It's been how many years no one has released the mountain, why do you want to go to the mountain again? ”

Liu didn't say anything, just laughed and continued to move forward.

Out of the village, there is a mountain road, and the road is becoming more and more difficult. Unexpectedly, although Liu Jiangtou was old, he did not fall behind at all, and walked fast. However, there are some young people who don't climb mountains often, but some can't keep up. Only the north fell to the division, and when he entered the forest, it was like putting a circle, and he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Beiluo Shimen is a rare spirit beast in the world, but I'm not afraid that something will happen to it, let it go.

According to Liu Jiangtou's instructions, we lined up in horizontal rows, with a distance of about three meters between each person, and each person folded a branch in his hand as a treasure stick. If you have trekking poles, replace them with them. Then move forward, which is called "pressing the mountain". When pressing the mountain, you can't talk nonsense, unless you find someone ginseng, you can shout.

When pressing the mountain, the head stick and the side stick "beat the crutches" while walking. The so-called crutch is to break the branches of the trees in the place where you have walked and make a mark, so as not to prevent repeated searches for the same area, and also to prevent getting lost.

Because the distance between people is relatively large, when encountering a deep forest, you can't see people at all, and because you can't shout indiscriminately, in order to connect, you use a treasure stick to knock on the tree to deliver the message. It's called "Sticks"! Knock your head on the trunk of the tree, and each person knocks back in turn, indicating both his position and the continuation of the mountain. Knocking the head twice on the trunk of the tree is to ask for the head to come closer and rest; Knock your head on the trunk three times, you want to go down the mountain and return to the kang together.

It is absolutely forbidden to sit on the tree stump when resting, and legend has it that the tree stump is the seat of the mountain god; If the cigarette pocket is out of smoke, you can't say "no", for fear of bad luck, pat the cigarette pocket, and others will give you cigarettes; It is not allowed to doze off, and it is easy to doze off Ma Dashan (that is, the meaning of getting lost, going around in circles in one place). It is not allowed to and pee when pressing the mountain, for fear of colliding with the mountain god.

According to Liu's instructions, we learned from each other, and we quickly mastered it. I pressed all the way through the mountain, and by noon, I had already crossed two small hills. Liu tapped his head twice on the trunk, and we listened and moved closer to him. Liu pointed his head to the front and said to us: "I remember that there is a kang in front of me, I don't know if it's still there, let's go, go over there to get food!" ”

When we arrived at the place where Liu Jiangtou was pointing, we found that the place was in ruins. The so-called Diqiangzi is actually a shack built with branches and bark for the rest of the mountain people. Under normal circumstances, after the ginseng diggers are gone, they will leave some rice noodles and the like in the dikang for later mountain releasers. If everyone works together to maintain such a place, it will not be ruined.

It's just that no one has put the mountain for a long time now, so this place has fallen into disrepair and has long been dilapidated. After all of us arrived, we divided up the work and cut down some branches to rebuild the ground. Then make a fire and cook the rice, and after eating, prepare to move on.

After a morning of putting the mountain, everyone has a certain understanding of the mountain, and the matter is chatting about it, but it is also quite fun. Situ took advantage of the rest and took out a small notebook to write and draw.

After lunch, everyone rested for a while, Liu finished smoking a bag of cigarettes and said to us: "Let's go, continue to press the mountain!" So they put out the embers and went on their way. In the evening, they arrived at an abandoned ground stove and repaired it as usual, burying the pot to make rice.

At the end of the day, we found nothing, let alone ginseng, and we didn't even see the root ginseng hair, which was quite frustrating. Liu turned his head and said: "The mallets in this place are basically lifted, and if there is, it will not be too big." If you want to find a good one, you have to go forward for two more days. ”

It's just that at the end of the day, once the novelty has passed, everyone becomes tired. Situ said that he has been used to climbing mountains since he was a child. Wang Qiusheng is a native of the city, and he has never walked so many mountain roads, and all the way down, blisters have broken out on his feet. picked it up, and boiled some hot water to burn his feet, so that it was more comfortable.

The rest of us are all cultivated, and a day's journey is nothing to us. And I found that since I took the corpse ginseng king, the meridians of the whole body are connected, and the Donkey Kong Buddha power directly penetrates the soles of the feet. Now I know why Master always walks the world with two feet, it turns out that Donkey Kong's divine power has such power. It wasn't until now that Donkey Kong's divine power has begun to grow and I have truly realized it.

We were cooking, and Beiluo Shimen, who had not seen us for a day, came back, still holding a big snake more than two meters long in its mouth. Liu saw his head and said happily: "Money skewers!" Seeing money strings is a sign of good signs! ”

The mountain bearer calls it a money string, which indicates that the eyes are about to be opened, which is a good sign. If you encounter a tiger, it is also auspicious, and the mountain people call the tiger the mountain god. Only when you come across dried antlers, dried roe deer horns, etc., are unlucky, indicating that you are busy with work.

Seeing such a large string of money, Roy's and I immediately drooled, remembering the last time Swallow cooked for us, it seemed that there was still an aftertaste lingering on the tip of our nose. So without saying a word, they were peeled and cleaned, stewed in a pot, and ate together. Beiluo Shimen didn't know what to eat in the forest, his stomach was round, and he ran to sleep.

The snake meat was delicious, and we ate it beautifully, arranged the vigil, and went to rest in our sleeping bags. In my sleep, I seem to have heard the sound of wings fanning overhead—