Chapter 4 Sixty Years Old Ginseng
Finding herbs in the mountains is not an easy task.

Of course, finding herbs is time-consuming.

But digging herbs is even more time-consuming!

There are still quite a lot of herbs on the mountain. After all, there are not many people in the whole village who know about herbs.

It usually takes the two of them about twenty minutes to find a herb.

But digging herbs is a physical job. Depending on the type of herbs and the length of their rhizomes, it may take at least ten minutes or as long as one or two hours to ensure that the herbs are not damaged.

At noon, the two sat on a large rock in the shade of a tree and ate dry food and berries.

"I've gained a lot this time. I've earned almost two taels of silver in the morning. By the time I get home in the evening, I should be able to get around three taels." Qin He looked at the backpack with a smile on his face.

According to past experience, the two of them could earn about two taels of silver a day from collecting herbs. They were lucky today as they found a five-year-old Polygonum multiflorum of considerable size, so they had so many.

"We'll try to get another big one in the afternoon, one that's over fifty years old!" Qin Feng said with a hint of anticipation.

“You are really aiming too high!”

Qin He said with a hint of loneliness in his tone: "It's been more than ten years, and the oldest one I have dug up is only a twelve-year-old Polygonatum. You think it's a good idea!"

Qin Feng chuckled and didn't say much.

This mountain is full of unexplored areas. Not to mention medicinal herbs that are more than fifty years old, Qin Feng would not be surprised even if he found a century-old herb.

Just like that, after eating the dry food, the two continued to look for medicinal herbs.

"Wow, what a big piece of Poria cocos."

"Walk slowly, the road ahead is dangerous and full of grass, let me go first."

"Don't dig up this Polygonatum for now. It looks like it's only been there for less than a year. Fill it back with soil, make a mark, and take care of it. Come back in a few years."

It was around 3 p.m.

Both of them were exhausted and found a place to sit down and rest.

There was a hint of helplessness in Qin Feng's eyes.

After he had made some progress in his medical skills, he had a better understanding of drug identification and was thinking that he would make a big achievement today.

But in the whole afternoon, he didn't find any valuable herbs.

It seems that things like collecting herbs mainly depend on luck, and ability is secondary. As long as you can pass the test, it's fine.

While thinking about this, Qin Feng saw a hint of red under the leaves not far away.

He hurried over, lifted the leaves and saw that it was a ginseng!
After taking a look at the number of leaves, Qin Feng immediately shouted, "Master, come quickly, there's a big shipment!"

"What a mess!"

Hearing Qin Feng's excited shout, Qin He walked over with a hint of curiosity, showing his steadiness as a master as he walked.

"What kind of big stuff could it be? Holy shit! Five batches of leaves!"

However, when he saw the number of ginseng leaves, he immediately burst into swearing and lost control of his facial expression.

If it is specially cultivated ginseng, because the growing environment is safe, the number of leaves often represents the year.

Six batches of leaves mean six large leaves, which is also the maximum number of leaves that ginseng can grow. It means that the ginseng is more than six years old.

As for the older ones, we can only know the year by digging them out.

Wild ginseng is completely different because the wild environment is relatively harsh and there are many uncertain factors, so the number of leaves grows relatively slowly.

Generally speaking, it is normal to calculate the year by multiplying the number of leaves by five or six times, and it is even considered low.

Therefore, the age of this five-leaf ginseng is over thirty years old!

If you want to further confirm the age of the ginseng, you have to dig deeper.

"You can't dig randomly. Be careful. Move aside and don't step on the ginseng."

Suddenly encountering old ginseng of this age was like a fisherman suddenly catching a fish longer than a man. Qin He was so excited that he was a little incoherent.

After a while, he calmed down and spoke to Qin Feng.

"You dig it, I'll help you watch it." After all, this ginseng was discovered by Qin Feng, so naturally he wanted his apprentice to dig it.

And at the end of the day, Qin He suddenly discovered that Qin Feng's level of collecting herbs seemed to be a little higher than his, so it was obviously best for Qin Feng to dig them at this time.

Qin Feng didn't say much. He just picked up the small medicine hoe and slowly dug downwards along the rhizome.

"You need to be skillful when digging ginseng. Don't use too much force. Dig from the edge to the inside. This is the only way to ensure the integrity of the ginseng."

"For old ginseng like this, the price difference between intact and damaged ones is huge, so you have to be careful."

Qin He was explaining the key points of digging ginseng, and Qin Feng was also digging out the ginseng bit by bit.

"Fifty years! More than that, probably sixty years!"

Looking at the number of ginseng reeds, the annual rings on the main stem, and the number of ginseng beads formed by the falling off of the fibrous roots, Qin He gave a more accurate year.

Qin Feng thought it was about the same, being in his early sixties, which was enough to make him a veteran.

It looked quite big, with the main root a little thicker than a baby's arm, and there were a lot of roots, so Qin Feng dug it very carefully.

After digging for an hour and a half, Qin Feng finally dug it out completely.

"Come, let me take a look." Qin He said impatiently.

"Here." Qin Feng handed it over.

"Be careful!" Qin He took the ginseng carefully, as if he was holding his newborn baby.

"What a great ginseng! What a great ginseng!" Qin He looked excited.

Qin Feng had been digging for so long that he no longer felt excited.

He looked up at the sky and said, "Luckily we dug it out now. If it were any later, the sun would have set and we would have had to wait until tomorrow."

They didn't have any tools to make fire, so when it got dark, they could only bury the bones and dig them up tomorrow.

"Hurry up, go pull the leaves and wrap them up." Qin He said, pointing to the back.

Qin Feng went over as he was told, pulled out a large leaf, and wrapped the whole ginseng.

Afterwards, the two of them did not continue collecting herbs, but went down the mountain towards home.

With this old ginseng, their harvest from collecting herbs this time was far beyond their expectations!

"Why are you back so late today? The food is getting a little cold."

The master's wife was standing at the gate of the yard. When she saw Qin He and Qin Feng, she said unhappily.

"A big find! An old ginseng! Sixty years old!" Qin He couldn't wait to show off to his wife.

"Oh, add some fried mushrooms to it, and bring me the wine I put on the bedside table. I'm happy today, so I need to drink a little."

Just like that, the master's wife heated up the dish and added some fresh fried mushrooms. Qin Feng and Qin He ate and drank and talked a lot.

Qin He was very happy today, not only because of the old mountain ginseng, but more importantly, he discovered that Qin Feng's medical skills were already good enough to be a master.

In the past ten days or so, Qin Feng had come to him for medical advice, and he could feel that the other party was making rapid progress.

After going up the mountain today, he was already sure that Qin Feng had already completed his apprenticeship.

So today's meal can be considered as a graduation meal.

"With this old ginseng, your starting point is a little higher than your two senior brothers. I suggest that you can become a traveling doctor."

"After working as a traveling doctor for a few years and saving enough money, I can open a shop in the city."

"You are smart and clever, and you will definitely achieve more than me in the future."

"From now on, you are considered a master!"

Qin He talked a lot to Qin Feng and helped him plan his future, which was considered as fulfilling his responsibilities.

After the meal, Qin Feng was considered to have completed his apprenticeship.

(End of this chapter)