99: wild ginseng

"Go to the bathroom?"

Chen Su looked around and said helplessly, "Young lady, you'll have to make do and handle it deep in the woods."

He pointed to the dense forest behind him.

Sensing Li Chuxia's hesitation, Chen Su said, "Don't worry, go ahead. We're in the middle of nowhere, so there are no outsiders. I'll keep watch for you."

"I guess that's the only way," Li Chuxia nodded helplessly.

"Do you have any tissues?"

"Yes."

Chen Su took a pack of tissues out of his bag.

Li Chuxia pulled out a few sheets with a rustle and then quickly ran into the dense forest behind them... The mountains were very quiet, with only the occasional sound of birds chirping from deep within the woods.

Chen Su could clearly hear the rustling of clothes being undone and the sound of a trickling stream from the forest behind him.

For a moment, his interest was piqued... "Ah! Chen Su, come here quickly!" Li Chuxia's voice suddenly rang out from deep in the forest.

Chen Su's heart tightened. It was midsummer, and there were many birds, beasts, insects, and snakes. Could Li Chuxia have encountered a snake?

He hurriedly got up and ran over.

When Chen Su arrived, Li Chuxia was squatting in front of several plants.

"Chen Su, look quickly! Is this the same as the one you sent me on your phone?" Li Chuxia said excitedly.

Chen Su took out his phone and compared them. "Holy crap, it really is exactly the same. This is it."

He took a small shovel out of his bag and began to dig gently.

After digging about fifteen centimeters, Chen Su saw a small golden root. He gently brushed away the soil around it.

As the dust fell away, several more fine roots were revealed.

"Ginseng! It really is ginseng!" Li Chuxia exclaimed.

She had eaten ginseng before, but she had never seen what it looked like in the ground.

Chen Su nodded and then began to dig even more carefully... The deeper he dug, the more cautious he became, fearing that too much force would break the ginseng's roots.

Thirty minutes later.

The complete appearance of the ginseng was revealed.

Using small scissors, Chen Su cleared away the surrounding soil bit by bit, carefully excavating the entire plant, including the leaves on top.

This ginseng looked to weigh about 120g and was of excellent quality, no less impressive than the top wild ginseng kings of the Northeast.

This was a century-old wild ginseng with an age of at least 130 years.

"How can ginseng grow in our southern mountains?" Li Chuxia asked, puzzled.

"Maybe the geographical location here is special, and it just happens to be suitable for the growth of wild ginseng."

Chen Su couldn't explain why wild ginseng grew here either.

"wild ginseng is incredibly expensive. I heard from my grandfather that at a previous auction, a 70g century-old wild ginseng sold for a staggering two million yuan. This one is much larger than that; you're going to make a fortune."

Seeing such a great harvest, Li Chuxia was very excited.

"It's we who are going to make a fortune," Chen Su corrected her.

If it weren't for Li Chuxia, he probably would have been searching out there until dark without finding a single scrap of ginseng.

The effects of wild ginseng are incomparable to the artificially cultivated red ginseng or American ginseng that we usually eat.

The rumors that century-old ginseng can bring the dead back to life and grow flesh on bones might be a bit exaggerated.

However, it should still have the effects of greatly replenishing vital energy and prolonging life... After digging out this wild ginseng, Chen Su carefully placed it in a bag he had prepared beforehand.

Then he started working on the other wild ginseng plants nearby.

With the experience of digging out the first one.

Chen Su's speed was noticeably faster.

Twenty minutes later.

Another wild ginseng was completely excavated.

This one wasn't as large as the previous one, appearing to be around 100g.

But one thing was certain: this was also a century-old wild ginseng... Time passed slowly.

An hour later.

Chen Su dug out three more wild ginseng plants.

One was 80g, one was 60g, and the smallest was only 30g.

After carefully wrapping the excavated wild ginseng, he and Li Chuxia scanned the surrounding area once more.

After confirming there were no more, the two finally decided to head home... It was already 2:30 PM. In the meantime, Chen Su and Li Chuxia hadn't eaten anything except for a few bites of bread and some water.

By now, both of them were starving... Meanwhile, at Zhang Hua's house in Xiulin Village.

Last night, they received the police's conclusion that Han Chunhua was a habitual marriage fraudster.

Early this morning, Zhang Hua's family drove to Pu City to demand an explanation.

Fearing that going as a single family would make them seem weak and outnumbered.

Zhang Hua's father, Zhang Jianning, brought along two of his brothers.

Originally, Zhang Jianning had also planned to ask the village chief, Bai Jian, to go with them.

But Bai Jian's house was tightly shut; he had probably gone into town.

So he went to ask the village secretary, Zhou Yang, to go instead.

The group, in two cars, set off grandly for Pu City... Xiulin Village was a full 150 kilometers from Pu City, and it took Zhang Hua's group two hours to drive there.

However, when they arrived at Han Chunhua's doorstep.

Her front door was tightly shut, weeds grew beneath the curb in front of the house, and the pond in front of the door was covered in spiderwebs... "Hello, may I ask where Han Chunhua's family went?" Zhang Hua walked over to a neighbor's house to inquire.

"That family? They moved away two months ago. They said their daughter married into a good family and they were moving there to enjoy a life of leisure with her," the neighbor auntie replied.

"Have they not returned once in these two months?"

"Return for what? This house isn't even theirs. They only moved here three months ago. This house belongs to Old Zhang from our village."

...It was currently the peak of the sweltering heat in July.

Standing under the scorching sun, Zhang Hua's family felt a chill in their hearts.

A scam! It was a complete and utter scam... What Zhang Hua's family knew even less.

Was that this was already the third time Han Chunhua's family had moved.

Initially, they knew that bride prices in Gan Province were expensive, so they lived there for a while. After scamming an honest man, they stayed with that family for less than a month before running away.

Later, they went to a place whose name they didn't know; anyway, the bride price there was also ridiculously expensive and non-refundable. They pulled another scam and ran away again.

Finally, their family came to Pu City.

As for why they were here, it was because the bride prices here were also quite high.

Zhang Hua's family thus became the third set of suckers.

However, Han Chunhua had stayed at their house the longest—a full two months... "Scammers, they're all scammers..." Zhang Jianning muttered to himself.

His mood plummeted to rock bottom.

Now, he could only hope that the police would solve the case soon.

The group returned in disappointment... After carefully packing the wild ginseng, Chen Su and Li Chuxia returned the way they came, passing the deserted graves.

Since they had already cleared away most of the messy branches and yellow bamboo grass on their way there.

And because it was downhill on the way back, their speed was much faster than when they came.

In just one hour, they walked back into the village.

After returning home, Chen Su followed the methods he found online.

He performed initial cleaning, washing, and air-drying on the wild ginseng.

Only after everything was processed did he go to the bathroom to shower... At 3:30, a mercedes-benz with Maple City plates slowly pulled up to the entrance of the Nanming Hotel.

Getting out of the car was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

It was none other than Gao Zilong of Tiansheng Group.