Every year after the rain in the valley and before the white dew, the people living near the forest area will gather in groups to go into the mountains to dig rare wild ginseng. Some full-time ginseng pickers rely on annual ginseng collection to maintain their family's livelihood.

It's just that going into the mountains to collect ginseng is a hard and dangerous thing, so most of the ginseng pickers are a few people or a dozen people into the mountains in groups, and this form of ginseng picking is called a gang. However, there are also those who go into the mountains alone to collect ginseng, which is called a single stick.

If there is a profit for the gang, due to the large number of people, the final profit will not be too large, but the safety is more secure after entering the mountain. If there is a harvest in the single stick, the harvest will definitely be more, but the probability of danger is also extremely high.

In the Changbai Mountain area, it is not uncommon to see examples of people who end up missing or paying for their lives every year due to ginseng picking or hunting!

Liu Shanhe, who grew up in the forest area, has just finished junior high school, and in the eyes of many villagers in Tunli, he is still a minor and half of his son. There is such a risky thing as going into the mountains to collect ginseng, and I definitely don't want to take him with me.

Looking at the group of ginseng pickers who disappeared at the head of the village, Liu Shanhe also understood the villagers' practice of not taking him. But he knows one thing better, and that is that from now on, he must be able to learn to support himself.

Although his grandfather Mu Xingye passed away, he had left him as much as 5,000 'inheritance'. But Liu Shanhe didn't want to spend this money, and he knew that if he sat and ate nothing, the consequences would be very serious. Learning to support oneself is urgent.

Don't look at Liu Shanhe is only fifteen years old, but because of his background, he is different from other peers in the village. He has already felt the warmth and coldness of the world, and his mind is more mature than his body. I know that from now on, he will have nothing to rely on!

Since he couldn't become a member of the 'gang', Liu Shanhe decided to be a one-man stick. Compared with farming, he has been going into the mountains with his senior 'veteran' grandfather all the year round, and he feels that it is easier to make money by picking ginseng than farming.

When making a decision, Liu Shanhe also said helplessly: "Although the old man has always hoped that I can be admitted to secondary school or high school. But I failed the exam this time, and I'm afraid I won't have the opportunity to continue studying in the future. Also, I don't like to read books.

Besides, the old man also said before he passed away that from now on I will learn to take care of myself and find a way to make money to support myself. He left me a lot of money, but I really don't want to use it now! ”

Taking advantage of the fact that the other villagers in Tunli were not paying attention, with ginseng picking tools and semi-automatic rifles used by his grandfather before his death, Mu Shanhe still had the courage to enter the mountain. Carrying a gun is more courageous, although he can shoot, but his marksmanship is not accurate.

What Liu Shanhe didn't expect was that when he went into the mountains with his grandfather in the past, he could always see his grandfather digging wild ginseng. Even if the year is different, but at least there is a harvest. On the other hand, he went into the mountains and found nothing for a few days.

"Alas, do you want to be like your grandfather, do you want to worship the mountain god first? Forget it, then I'll go to the Mountain God Cave tonight for the night, and then go to the nearby mountains tomorrow. If you haven't found out yet, you can only go back to Tunli first. ”

For Liu Shanhe, who has just walked out of school and is only fifteen years old, he actually doesn't understand why his grandfather has to go to the mountain god cave to worship the so-called mountain god every time he enters the mountain. This kind of behavior seems somewhat superstitious to him.

But Liu Shanhe also knows that many ginseng pickers, herb pickers or hunters who run the mountains all year round will follow the rules passed down from ancient times. That is to revere the mountains and worship the mountain gods for protection and to give them something to gain.

Arriving at the Tiger Rock that the people in the village said, Liu Shanhe and his grandfather said that the 'Mountain God Cave' was somewhat touching, and he didn't feel anything afraid. In his early years, he and his grandfather would stay in this cave several times a year.

After entering the cave, in accordance with his grandfather's tireless advice every year, Liu Shanhe used incense and candles to worship the so-called mountain god in the cave as usual. Even though he couldn't see the idol in the cave, he still snorted respectfully at the raised cliff like his grandfather.

After finishing the day, he went outside the cave to collect dry firewood and light a bonfire, clenched the semi-automatic rifle he brought, and covered it with the bearskin bedding that his grandfather had sewn for him before his death.

But what was unexpected was that Mu Shanhe, who woke up in the haze, looked at the top of the tent without a trace, and his eyes instantly became confused and sharp. The whole person reflexively rolled directly to the burnout bonfire.

When he saw what he was holding tightly in his hand, Mu Shanhe said a little confused: "Hold a grass!" This is a gun, not a stick. Wait, what's going on with this gun? What about Lao Tzu's double-decker tent and sleeping bag? ”

Feeling that the situation was a little weird, Mu Shanhe forcibly ordered himself to calm down. When his mind calmed down and carefully checked the environment around him, he muttered again: "This is Tiger Rock, it should be right!" But how do these things look so familiar? ”

Gone are the custom-made tents that had been set up before bedtime last night, replaced by bearskin bedding spread on the floor. The custom-made mountain knife that he had kept at hand last night was gone, replaced by a Type 5 or 6 semi-automatic rifle that he was equally familiar with.

Mu Shanhe, who gradually calmed down, patted his cheek hard, and even tugged: "It hurts, it shouldn't be a dream." This gun is not a burning stick, it is a real rifle. Wait, this gun? This futon? ”

When he saw the butt of the gun, there were knife marks and five-pointed stars, as well as the equally familiar bearskin bedding and improvised backpack. Combined with the scene of the past when he fell asleep last night, the two scenes quickly merged.

If you fall asleep last night and the memory scene appears in your mind, the real scene is real in front of you at this moment. After a long groan, his voice trembled: "Lao Tzu won't be reborn, right?" This will happen to me? ”

The notches on the gun were specially drawn by the old man, and there were fifteen in total, indicating that he killed fifteen bears. And the five-pointed star was specially engraved on this rifle when Liu Shanhe was bored in the mountains when he was a child.

Carrying a slightly cold rifle and pointing the muzzle downward, Mu Shanhe came to the outside of the cave to look at the surrounding environment. Although the environment seemed as primitive and silent as it seemed yesterday, he quickly noticed the difference.

Tiger Rock, where he spent the night last night, was covered with vines. Now, on the rock wall above the cave, there is no vine in sight. And the passage into Tiger Rock, which was full of weeds and shrubs yesterday, is exceptionally clean at the moment.

"Just a sleep, you change time and space, what the hell is going on?"

habitually touched his pocket, ready to take out the cigarette he occasionally smoked in the mountain, but found that the clothes he was wearing were not the high-end jackets he was familiar with at all. A wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, but there was a faint excitement in his heart.

Although he didn't understand what caused him to be reborn from the afterlife back to when he was fifteen years old, he was still happy at this time, with the surname Liu at this time. In the dark, he felt that his rebirth was directly related to the imaginary mountain god in the cave.

Thinking of this, Mu Shanhe returned to the cave, put the rifle in front of the improvised backpack, and skillfully took out the incense candle from the bag, and re-lit it to sacrifice again. Just as he knelt down and shook his head respectfully, a strange scene happened again.

The body maintained a posture of kneeling and bowing, as if it had instantly become a vegetative person, and he couldn't raise his head or get up for a long time. If there are people around him at this moment, he may also feel that Mushanhe at this moment, the posture looks very weird.

It wasn't until ten minutes later that everything returned to normal, looking at the cliff that didn't seem to have changed much, but said respectfully and in awe: "Please rest assured that the mountain god will live up to the opportunity you gave in this life!" ”

Mu Shanhe, who solemnly promised, finally understood at this moment why he would be reborn from the afterlife back to the present. But no matter what, he knows one thing in his heart, that is, in this life, he will inevitably take a life path that he has not walked in his previous life.

In addition, he is afraid that in this life, he will have an inextricable causal relationship with all things in this landscape, jungle, and everything!