68: Chapter 68 Can there be ginseng in this place?

After Zhao Jian left with Zhang Tao, the atmosphere at the banquet became strange.

Most people spoke in very low voices.

They were afraid of causing trouble.

Meanwhile, Shangguan Mingyan seemed possessed, repeating over and over, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

His few friends braced themselves to offer comfort.

"Even though it's a small place, occasionally one or two nouveau riche might pop up. Brother Yan, you don't need to mind it."

"That's right, Young Master Yan. Although he earned a lot, I'm afraid it won't last, unlike you, who will always have money to make at Hanhai Group."

"I don't think so!"

The attention of the group was drawn.

The one who spoke was Shangguan Mingyan's die-hard follower, Li Xiaogao.

Unlike the others, most of these people had families that collaborated with Hanhai Group and relied on Hanhai Group to make money.

This person, however, was an employee of Hanhai Group.

Therefore, his loyalty to Shangguan Mingyan was heartfelt.

The feeling of having all eyes on him was wonderful.

He enjoyed it for a moment, and when Shangguan Mingyan showed an impatient expression, he spoke decisively:

"That money of his was borrowed! It's not income at all."

"We've been deceived by that kid!"

This statement was too absolute.

But Shangguan Mingyan loved hearing it.

A hint of joy appeared on his face, and he asked, "How so? Do you have proof?"

Li Xiaogao groaned inwardly.

Where would there be any proof? Wasn't this just something said on the fly to comfort someone?

Just as Li Xiaogao was racking his brain at the banquet to fabricate evidence, Zhao Jian had already emerged from Zhang Tao's house, feeling refreshed.

It wasn't that he was heartless after the act.

It was because Good Older Sister's parents called to say they were coming to visit.

With their family gathering, Zhao Jian, as an outsider, shouldn't participate.

He decisively slipped away before his prospective father-in-law and mother-in-law arrived.

Returning home, he felt quite tired.

He fell into a deep sleep without even watching his favorite dancing girls.

When he woke up again, it was already morning.

【Today's Intelligence (White): In the abandoned courtyard of villager Hu Shengnong at the Zhangzhuang ruins in the Xiong City Wetland Reserve, there is a twenty-one-year-old forest ginseng, valued at 30,000 yuan.】

Ginseng?

Xiong City is a plain; the tallest mountain is just the rockery in the park.

To think there could actually be ginseng!

There are many relocated villages near White Lake in the Chengnan District. Zhao Jian didn't know where Zhangzhuang was, but the navigation system did.

According to his guess, Hu Shengnong must have moved away a long time ago.

Only when the ginseng was first planted and not yet valuable could it have been abandoned.

Afterward, other villagers moved away one after another, until the entire village was abandoned.

It worked out in his favor.

He went out and hailed a taxi.

He didn't rush to Zhangzhuang; instead, he went to a hardware store to buy an entrenching tool and picked up a short piece of red string along the way.

When he was little, he heard his grandfather say that you couldn't dig up ginseng directly, or it would be startled and run away.

You had to tie it up with a red string first.

Now that he was grown, even though he knew it was all feudal superstition, the red string only cost a few cents, so it didn't hurt to be extravagant once.

With his tools ready, he set off.

The taxi driver was quite talkative, seeing his entrenching tool and canvas bag.

He smiled and asked, "Buddy, going to dig for wild vegetables? There aren't many wild vegetables in the fields now; the season has passed."

The weather was already quite cold, though not freezing yet. Most herbaceous plants were already on the verge of withering.

The harvest from a whole day of digging probably wouldn't be enough for one meal.

Zhao Jian shook his head.

"Going to dig for earthworms, to use for fishing."

Hearing that he was a fisherman, although the driver didn't understand why he didn't buy ready-made bait.

And insisted on going to dig for earthworms.

But the fishing circle had its own secrets; perhaps earthworms really did catch more fish.

So he didn't ask further.

Zhao Jian looked out the car window as buildings and trees receded rapidly.

It was just that the trees in early winter were starting to become bare.

Not very pretty.

So much so that the buildings didn't look as vibrant as they did in the summer.

He thought to himself, "It seems winter can make people depressed; I'll have to find Sister Tao tomorrow to be healed."

It wasn't far from Chengxi District, where he lived, to Zhangzhuang; it only took half an hour.

After getting out of the car, Zhao Jian felt quite helpless.

For some unknown reason, Zhangzhuang had been encircled by a canal.

The water was black and green, and he didn't know what it contained.

He couldn't tell how deep it was either.

He didn't have the courage to go into the water for a few tens of thousands of yuan.

He looked around but didn't see any bridge.

The entire Zhangzhuang had become an isolated island!

Fortunately, he wasn't without any gains; at a spot that should have originally been a road, he could see the bottom of the river.

It wasn't deep, at most half a meter.

The width was about three meters.

It would kill Zhao Jian to fill it with dirt to build a road, but driving in a few wooden stakes and laying a wooden board on top to serve as a temporary path wouldn't be hard.

The stakes were easy to handle.

There were many small trees nearby about two fingers thick, all products of poplar fluff flying around in the spring and taking root on the ground.

He could cut them freely.

His entrenching tool had a saw.

Trees that were too thick wouldn't be very effective, but these small trees were a piece of cake—

—my ass!

After sawing down three trees, his hands were rubbed raw!

Zhao Jian didn't want to go home and start all over again.

But the plan to build a bridge had obviously fallen through.

Without dozens of trees laid flat for support, it couldn't support his weight at all.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.

Looking at the small trees lying on the ground, which were a full six meters tall.

Three pieces of wood weren't enough to build a bridge.

But for pole vaulting, they were more than enough!

He used the red string to tie the three small trees together.

It didn't need to be very sturdy, as long as it didn't fall apart during the jump.

Soon, his pole was ready.

Whoo, takeoff!

Mimicking an athlete's posture, he ran and jumped.

Then, he paused for a second right above the canal.

This second broke Zhao Jian out in a cold sweat; he thought to himself, "It wouldn't be stuck, would it?"

That can't be!

Fortunately, after the pause, the wooden pole continued to tilt, carrying him until he finally landed on the opposite side.

A close call!

Taking deep breaths to calm his pounding heart, it wasn't until he felt a chill on his body that Zhao Jian took his entrenching tool and headed into the village.

According to the intelligence, the ginseng was in Hu Shengnong's courtyard.

He didn't know where this person lived, and there was no definitive information online.

But the fact that twenty-one-year-old ginseng hadn't been taken to be exchanged for money.

Was enough to show that his courtyard had been uninhabited for many years.

He just had to look for the most dilapidated place.

This village hadn't been completely deserted for long, at most half a year.

Because Zhao Jian saw a water bill reminder at the door of a bungalow.

The date on it was from half a year ago.

This made things very friendly for him.

Many houses were still relatively new and could be skipped directly.

He only needed to go into the particularly dilapidated places to search.

The village wasn't big, with only a little over a hundred households.

By the time it was just afternoon, he had already ruled out more than half.

There were less than thirty houses left.

He could see the end at a glance.

Zhao Jian breathed a sigh of relief while speeding up.

He had to get the ginseng before dusk to avoid repeating the same mistake as in Wu Village!

Although Su Wanyin would definitely drive over to pick him up with just one phone call.

But if he owed too many favors, it wouldn't be easy to charge her when she needed help in the future!

Wouldn't that be a huge loss!

In the blink of an eye, Zhao Jian walked up to a bungalow with blue tiles and green bricks.

Calling it a house, it had actually already collapsed.

Even most of the courtyard wall was gone.

The weeds inside were taller than he was.

By common logic, buried under so much grass, there shouldn't be any ginseng that could survive, right?