The old man pushed open the door, just glanced at Bai Gu's room, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

By the time Bai Gu got up and walked out, the old man was almost finished eating.

Seeing Bai Gu come out, the old man didn't look up, still holding his head down and picking up the porridge. He just pointed to the bowl and chopsticks opposite with his chopsticks, "Hurry up and eat, and after eating, hurry up and find ginseng." ”

Bai Gu didn't speak, nor did he refuse, he sat down and scooped a bowl of porridge for himself, and ate it with a sneer.

Just after eating, Bai Gu rushed to wash the dishes, saying that he would not let the old man into the kitchen.

The old man had no choice but to let go, anyway, he could have a leisure.

Bai Gu's movements were fast, and it didn't take long for them to go out.

"Master Xu, where do we start? You've been in the mountains for a long time, so you should know better where ginseng grows. ”

"Didn't Doctor Wu tell you?" The old man carried a long wooden stick in one hand as a walking stick, and a cigarette stick in the other hand and smoked a cigarette.

What an old smoker.

Bai Gu glanced at the cigarette stick in the old man's hand, and looked away, "What did Elder Wu tell me about under a big tree, under a big stone or in a shady place in a cave, and there will be purple flowers growing nearby, and there will be snakes, that's all." ”

"That's it?"

"Aang."

"Didn't I say anything more to you? For example, what is the danger, or what needs to be paid attention to. ”

"Nope."

The old man was speechless, so he gave such a hint, and it would be hellish if he could find it. The old man took a puff of his cigarette and slowly exhaled a smoke ring, "I think this Doctor Wu deliberately doesn't want you to find ginseng." ”

"Why do you say that? Wu Lao is a good person. Bai Gu looked puzzled.

"Therefore, you don't know how big the snow peak is, like the kind of shady place you said, find a lot of it. If you want to look for them one by one, you may have to look for a long time, and I am afraid that you will not be able to finish it in a year and a half. I'm looking for ginseng, I think he's making fun of you. The old man knocked on the ashes of his cigarette and continued to smoke.

Bai Gu was silent for a moment, "What about the purple flowers?" And snakes, these things together, there shouldn't be a lot of places, right? ”

"Snakes generally prefer to be in the shade, so it's not a good point to refer to. As for the purple flowers, there are relatively few of them, and there are only a few places. But they are very unevenly distributed, and they are still far apart in different areas. It's hard to find. ”

"Then speed up, can you walk these places in two days?"

"Old man, I'm old, I don't walk very fast, it's basically impossible."

"Then I'll carry you on my back, is that okay?"

"It's a lot faster, but it's hard to carry me all the time even if it's time to go to bed."

Bai Gu thought for a while, and then said, "Then don't sleep, keep looking." ”

This sentence almost didn't send the old man away, and a puff of smoke choked directly, causing a cough.

Bai Gu hurriedly went up to help pat his back, and explained while patting: "Master Xu, you misunderstood what I meant." I mean, I don't sleep. At night, you sleep on my back, you show me the way in advance, I follow the guidance to find it, you can sleep on my back with peace of mind. ”

"That's right." The old man took two puffs of his cigarette and thought about it very seriously, "That's barely enough, but it's enough to choke, after all, it's some distance." And if you don't sleep, your spirit will be very bad, and if something happens, it's very troublesome. ”

"It's okay, it's only two days, I can hold on." Bai Gu grinned.

The old man glanced at Bai Gu meaningfully, and smiled, "It's only two days?" Young people should take care of their bodies, don't wait until they are old, their bodies are not good, they can only be like me, sighing silently here, it's good to be young. ”

Bai Gu scratched his head, embarrassed by the old man's eyes and words, and didn't know how to reply, so he had to laugh a few times.

"Then let's go to the first place first, it's not far from here, let's go."

"Okay."

Bai Gu squatted down, carried the old man on his back, and followed the old man's guidance to move towards the southeast.

After walking for about two quarters of an hour, Bai Gu and the two came to a cave.

The cave wasn't very big, just big enough for a skinny person to pass through, and it had to be bent on the waist. There are many low trees in front of the cave, and this one blocks the view of part of the cave, so if you don't look closely, you will miss the cave.

What made Bai Gu a little excited was that this cave actually had that kind of purple flowers.

Purple flowers spread out from the cave, like a purple torrent rushing out and spilling all over the ground. The purple flowers look even more delicate against the snow.

I guess I didn't really have such good luck, so I found the first place.

Bai Gu was overjoyed, so he walked straight to the cave, but was stopped by the old man on his back.

"You want to die! Don't you see any crawling on the ground? That's what the snake left behind. Wake up the hibernating snake, the snake will be angry. Therefore, most of the snakes on Xuefeng Mountain are poisonous, and if they are bitten, they are afraid that their lives will not be guaranteed. I won't stop you if you want to go in, but I'm still on your back, don't drag me into the water!" ”

The old man angrily took the cigarette stick and knocked it on his white head, as if venting his dissatisfaction.

The old man didn't use much force, so it didn't hurt much.

However, Bai Gu was also knocked awake.

Yes, if you rush in, it would be a trivial matter if you couldn't find the ginseng. If you wake up a hibernating snake, it's still a poisonous snake, so you can't eat it and walk around.

I'm afraid that my life will have to be explained here.

This is the result that Bai Gu doesn't want and fears the most.

There are two younger sisters at home, one is waiting for dinner, the other is waiting for help, and they can't say anything here.

Even if you can't find a ginseng.

After all, Ah Yue can hold out for a few more months. If you can't find it, then wait for the snow season to pass, and it should be easier to find the ground without snow, and you don't have to worry about heavy snow closing the mountain.

It's just that Ah Yue's condition may be more serious at that time, even if it is Wu Lao, Bai Gu doesn't know if he can cure Ah Yue's illness.

Therefore, Bai Gu still wants to gamble, and strive to find the purple ginseng in this snow season, before the heavy snow closes the mountain, and let Wu Lao take action to cure Ah Yue.

This made Bai Gu propose to go without sleep for two days and travel overnight.

"So what now?"

When I went in, I was afraid to wake up the snake that was hibernating in the cave. If you don't go in, you don't know if there are any ginseng inside.

Bai Gu was a little embarrassed.

"Silly. You take off your shoes, make a light movement, don't lean in completely, and leave yourself a place to exit. If you find something wrong, you can quickly evacuate. Take a photo of the fire fold, just look at it, don't take it for too long. After too long, the temperature inside the cave will rise, and the snake will end its hibernation early. Be careful. ”

"Okay."

Bai Gu put the old man down, and then took off the straw sandals. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he was stimulated to jump.

It's just that he still remembered that there was a snake in the cave, so he covered his mouth for the first time, otherwise he would have to shout.

"What's the matter?" The old man was happy.

"This place, squeaky cool." Bai Gu's voice trembled a little.

When the old man heard this, he couldn't help laughing. He shook his head a little helplessly, and said with a smile: "Then hurry up, don't freeze." ”

Bai Gu went out of the burden he had packed in the morning and walked towards the cave.

Just halfway through, Bai Gu turned back.

The old man was a little puzzled, "What's wrong again?" ”

Bai Gu raised the fire fold, "What is this thing for?" ”

The old man was completely speechless.

He had no choice but to take the fire fold and demonstrate it to Bai Gu, "Like this, lift this lid, and then blow it on this fire mouth, and there will be fire." When you don't need it, cover the lid and the fire will go out automatically. Got it? ”

"Understood." Bai Gu nodded.

"Is there anything else you haven't prepared yet, or haven't picked up yet?" The old man was really speechless to Bai Gu.

"It's gone, it's really gone." Bai Gu smiled awkwardly, and hurriedly walked towards the cave and fled the scene.

The closer Bai Gu got to the cave, the more he could feel a gust of yin wind blowing out of the cave, blowing his heart in a daze.

He quickly shook his head, quickly put aside those useless thoughts that would only make him more and more afraid, mustered up his courage, bent his waist, and headed towards the cave.

It's just that the old man outside, looking at Bai Gu who was slowly moving towards the hole, was about to pout his ass to the sky because of his posture.

From the old man's point of view, Bai Gu's ass was facing the old man, and he was pouting so high, which was really a little indecent.

The old man had no choice but to slowly move out of his position and silently walked to the side, not looking at Bai Gu's "bewitching" posture.

He kept silently saying something in his mouth, "Don't look at indecency, don't look at indecency......"

Bai Gu moved towards the cave step by step. Take a step and he'll stop and look around, in case a snake is hibernating, and accidentally wakes it up.

It wasn't until the sun outside couldn't shine that Bai Gu took out a fire fold and illuminated the cave.

Bai Gu looked around, and found nothing abnormal, so he extinguished the fire and continued to move a few steps deeper.

Then he took out the fire fold and lit up the cave again.

This time, Bai Gu was so frightened that he almost didn't hold the fire fold.

Not far from him, there was a nest of about seven or eight snakes, coiled, motionless, as if they were hibernating. The patterns on the body are all colorful and green, with sporadic black spots.

Viper!

Bai Gu remembered the appearance of several common poisonous snakes that the old beggar had told him, and the nest of hibernating snakes in front of him all met the characteristics of one of them.

And, one of them is very robust. The other snakes were not much thicker than the poles of a tree, and one of them was as thick as four or five other snakes.

It is also exceptionally long. The other snakes coiled four or five times, and it coiled a dozen times.

If it wakes up, I'm afraid it won't be able to swallow Bai Gu in one bite.

Bai Gu's hands and feet are a little soft now. I couldn't hold it steadily, and I wanted to withdraw quickly, but I found that my legs and feet couldn't be strengthened. Bai Gu smiled helplessly, so he had to quickly extinguish the fire, so as not to raise the temperature in the cave, so that the hibernating snake could end its hibernation early, wake up, and then swallow Bai Gu as lunch.

Brother Bai slowly approached the wall, holding on to the wall before he could barely stand. His eyes were fixed on the front of him, even if there was no light, it was only pitch black in front of him, but there was indeed a nest of hibernating snakes entrenched there.

What he did now was to keep an eye on the movements of the nest of snakes, and then quickly recover his strength and withdraw from the cave as soon as possible, so as not to be really bitten.

He was really afraid of death.

But how many people in the world are really not afraid of death?

Bai Gu didn't dare to pant now, and even breathed as quietly as possible, for fear of waking up the snakes in front of him.

After a long while, Bai Gu felt some strength in his hands and feet, and began to try to slowly withdraw from the cave.

One-step......

Two-step ......

Three-step ......

Bai Gu's movements were very light and slow, and he didn't dare to make the slightest sound.

It wasn't until he felt that his body had come out of the cave that Bai Gu retreated violently, and the whole person came out of the cave.

His whole body fell into the snow in front of the cave.

He hurriedly got up and ran towards the old man, without stopping for a second.

It wasn't until he ran to the old man's side that he sat down on the ground, gasping for air, no different from a frightened old dog.

There was already a cold sweat on his body, even if it was a snowy day.

The old man could guess what was going on inside the cave after a glance. But he didn't speak, waiting for Bai Gu to slowly recover his mood.

It took a while for Bai Gu to regain his strength, and he told the old man about the situation in the cave with palpitations, "Master Xu, you don't know, there are really snakes in there!" It's still the poisonous kind! A litter! Seven or eight! There's another one in it that's so big, it's so spicy! If it wakes up, I probably won't be able to run. It's horrible! ”

The more Bai Gu spoke, the more excited he became, and he began to gesture with his teeth and claws, trying to deduce the scene for the old man at that time.

"You don't know how scared I was! I'm so scared that my legs go limp, and I can't do it! But I'm still very wise, and I listened to you, and I quickly extinguished the fire, lest the snake wake up......"

The old man couldn't help but laugh when he listened to Bai Gu's fierce narration and watched his exaggerated movements.

Although it seems that Bai Gu's behavior is a bit naïve, there is also a feeling of asking for praise and praise. But in the final analysis, Bai Gu is just a teenager, he has not yet departed from his childhood, he has not seen many ups and downs, and he is not so mature.

He just looks like an adult on the surface.

Where can he compare to a man like himself? There are also ages, and there are many people and things that have been experienced and seen. Not to mention a few snakes, even if the landslide is in front of it, the old man will not blink his eyes more.

It's not that I'm not afraid, but the old man has experienced more dangerous things than this, so he feels nothing.

But listening to Bai Gu tell it so vividly, I think it's quite interesting.

The old man was smoking a cigarette while listening quietly and looking at Bai Gu. He didn't speak, he just kept smiling.

When he was a teenager, he seemed to be like this, right?

It's been too long to remember.

It's nice to be young.

It wasn't until Bai Gu finished speaking, was tired of talking, and stopped, that the old man said slowly: "There shouldn't be any snakes under the mountain, right?" Look how scared you are. ”

"How...... How so? Bai Gu suddenly stiffened his mouth, and said with a stalk around his neck: "There are still snakes under the mountain!" It's a lot in the spring and summer, and I ...... I was just careless! ”

"Oh, really? What was the situation just now? The old man looked at him, full of teasing.

Bai Gu's face turned red, but he couldn't hold back half a word. Immediately, like a deflated balloon, he muttered in his mouth: "So many snakes get together, who is not afraid, I am ...... Normal reaction! ”

The old man knocked on the cigarette ash and said with a smile: "Okay, I won't tease you." In addition to snakes, is there any purple ginseng you are looking for? ”

"No, I looked very carefully." Bai Gu shook his head.

Although he was flustered at the time, Bai Gu still took a closer look at the environment inside the cave.

The place where the nest of snakes was located was at the end of the cave, about five or six meters from the mountain wall. And Bai Gu is not far from the nest of snakes, so the light of the fire fold can shine to the end, so that Bai Gu can take a closer look.

There, there was nothing but the nest of snakes, not even the mountain walls and the ground were clean, not even a single weed.

Bai Gu reluctantly flattened his mouth.

When the old man saw this, he smiled and said, "What's the matter, do you still want to be in the first place?" Young man, you're a little greedy. ”

"For the sake of the people you care about, to do something meaningful, to be anxious, a little fantasy, not greedy."

"Well said!" The old man took a deep breath of his cigarette, looked up at the sky, and spit out a big smoke ring towards the sky, "It's just that if you think about it, reality is reality, and it won't make you so happy." ”

Bai Gu lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking. It's just that soon, he raised his head again and said, "Master Xu, where is the next place?" ”

"Northeast, keep going ......"

Bai Gu took the old man on his back and set off again.

……

The moon was already hanging high in the sky, and Bai Gu was already walking on the mountain road with the old man on his back.

He moved very lightly, for fear of waking up the old man who was already asleep on his back.

The old man had already told him where the two places were before going to bed, and he just had to follow them.

Bai Gu thought in his heart as he walked: he would walk five places in the whole day, and at this rate, plus two tonight, it would be seven places a day. Tomorrow at the same speed, there will be fourteen places in total.

Fourteen places...... It's still a little hard.

Like the previous five places, there is nothing but snakes. One of them didn't even have a snake, and Bai Gu was dumbfounded.

After walking for a long time, Bai Gu arrived at the first place tonight, in front of a big cave.

The cave was very large, thirty or forty meters high, and at night it looked like a giant beast opening its mouth. There was an open space in front of the cave, with flowers and trees, just like the courtyard of the cave.

Bai Gu glanced around the surroundings, and after making sure that there was no problem, he put the old man under a tree and let him sleep against the trunk.

Bai Gu settled the old man, took out some things from his baggage, and began to enter the cave.

Because it was night, there was no light. Outside the cave was fine, there was a little moonlight to barely see things, and inside the cave it was pitch black.

So as soon as Bai Gu entered the cave, he lit the fire fold.

The cave was pitch black, and the devil knew what was inside. If there is no snake, if you accidentally step on it, or trip over a raised stone on the road and pounce on a snake, then you will suffer.

It's like putting yourself in the snake's mouth!

Just thinking about it, Bai Gu shuddered.

There is nothing unusual about the entrance part of the cave, except that there are some small flowers and grass growing on the mountain wall, and then it is gone.

So Bai Gu passed smoothly and quickly.

It's just that the further he goes inside, the more Bai Gu realizes that something is wrong.

The ground is starting to show some messy marks, and there are some corroded gaps in the mountain wall.

Could it be ......

In this cave, there are snakes, poisonous ones, and there are quite a few?

Bai Gu suddenly became nervous, and his pace of progress stopped.

Bai Gu took a deep breath.

Looking further ahead?

But there are so many traces of this snake, so obvious, I don't believe that there is no snake and Bai Gu is killed.

Otherwise, it's still ...... Never mind?

But such a big cave is cool enough to be shady, even to the point of gloomy. It can be said that it is very consistent with the growth environment of purple ginseng that Wu Lao said.

If he withdrew and gave up like this, Bai Gu was a little unwilling.

Bai Gu was very entangled.

Bai Gu patted his face and rubbed it again. No matter, try it, it's a big deal and run!

Anyway, I've been running fast since I was a child, and no one has been able to catch up with me until now!

Bai Gu tightened the torch in his hand, and his steps became lighter. At the same time, the body was slightly backwards, for fear that he would encounter a snake next, so he could run out immediately.

I walked cautiously for a long time, and I didn't know where I was in the cave, but I knew that it was very deep.

At the same time, snakes crawled on the ground and mountain walls, and there were more and more traces of venom corrosion, and the white bones of animals that had been dead for a long time were increasing.

The more Bai Gu walked, the more frightened he became, and he didn't dare to relax his vigilance at all, and his heart was about to rise to his throat.

I didn't even notice that my back was covered with cold sweat.

After turning an unremarkable corner, Bai Gu thought that it was the same as just now, there was nothing abnormal, so he lowered his head and sorted out his somewhat uncomfortable underwear.

It's just that when he raised his head and saw clearly in front of him, a chill instantly rushed from the soles of his feet to the Tianling Gai!