Chapter 13: All Yours

“A top-grade ginseng root, about four hundred years old,” Xiang Wentian accurately judged.

“You know this?” Leng You had expected Xiang Wentian to mistake it for a thousand-year-old ginseng.

Because ginseng has a strong vitality and a long lifespan, there are claims of thousand-year-old and even ten-thousand-year-old ginseng.

But such exaggerated descriptions only exist in wuxia novels and some erroneous legends and stories. In reality, the longest lifespan for wild ginseng is about four hundred years, and that’s only for a very small minority.

A few more can live to one or two hundred years, but most only live for a few decades.

Beyond that age, they rot in the soil.

“Historical records state that ginseng lives for about four hundred years, but in harvesting, ginseng roots that reach two hundred years old are already rare; those that grow for about a hundred years are also uncommon,” Xiang Wentian calmly retrieved this information from his vast knowledge.

Seeing Xiang Wentian turn back to peeling bark after speaking, Leng You snapped out of her astonishment and quickly crouched down to pull weeds.

Guided by that mystical force, the two worked together very efficiently. By nearly dinner time, they had dug up seven ginseng roots of varying sizes.

Among these, one was about four hundred years old, two were about three hundred years old, two were one or two hundred years old, and two were less than a hundred years old.

“It’s getting dark, let’s dig these for today! We’ll come back tomorrow to dig the rest,” Xiang Wentian looked at the sky after wrapping the last ginseng root they had dug up, and carefully began putting the bundled ginseng roots into a bag.

“Okay, let’s come early tomorrow,” Leng You looked at the remaining nine ginseng roots and agreed.

Wen Jiuyue was waiting for them to eat; they couldn’t keep the old woman waiting too long.

“Wait for me.” Seeing Leng You nod, Xiang Wentian immediately turned and walked towards the edge of the forest. When he returned, he was carrying a full shovel of mud.

Walking to the tree, he applied the mud to the area where the bark had been peeled, patching the tree with a false layer of bark.

Leng You’s eyes flashed.

The young Xiang Wentian continuously refreshed her previous life’s understanding of “Third Master Xiang.” In this life, she wondered if he would still retain this gentleness and warmth in twenty years.

Probably, yes! Because at the last moment of her past life, she seemed to have caught a trace of this in the man’s eyes.

“This way, it won’t affect the tree’s normal life and growth.” Leng You had the same thought, but she didn’t expect Xiang Wentian’s ideas to be so aligned with hers.

“Did you read that from a book? You know a lot of characters?” Xiang Wentian was also repeatedly amazed by Leng You, an eight-year-old child from a remote mountain village, and each time was deeply shocking.

“Most rural children know about patching tree bark with mud.

Grandfather Xiang taught me to read, from the age of five until now.”

Leng You’s eyes were clear and pure, calming the heart.

“Study hard.” Xiang Wentian gently stroked Leng You’s head.

On their way back, Xiang Wentian caught two rabbits. Not out of greed, but because these silly things ran directly into their path.

“I’ll carry these rabbits!” Leaning on Xiang Wentian’s back, Leng You poked his shoulder.

“Okay!” Already aware of Leng You’s strength, Xiang Wentian didn’t refuse.

Thus, Xiang Wentian carried Leng You and the ginseng, and Leng You carried the two rabbits, climbing the valley in this “extraordinary” way.

“Aren’t we going back to Grandpa Xiang’s?” Noticing that Xiang Wentian was heading towards Wen Jiuyue’s house, Leng You questioned.

“This ginseng is all yours.” Xiang Wentian’s unexpected words left Leng You momentarily stunned, then a warmth flowed through her heart.

“You did most of the work, so most of it should belong to you.” Reborn Leng You, although aware that her primary task was to make money, wouldn’t become greedy or lose her principles.

“Listen to me.” Xiang Wentian didn’t give Leng You a chance to object.

Carrying Leng You and a bag of ginseng, with Leng You carrying two rabbits, he quickly moved through the blizzard. He had to reach Wen Jiuyue’s house as quickly as possible, otherwise the ginseng might freeze.

“Goodness! You… you went to the valley!” Seeing two “stacked” “snowmen” push open the door and appear silhouetted against the light, Wen Jiuyue finally reacted.

“Grandma Wen, quickly take the rabbits.” Leng You held the two rabbits up to Wen Jiuyue. A bigger surprise was coming, she needed to lay some groundwork.

“Ah! No… did you two go to the valley together yesterday?” Wen Jiuyue finally understood completely.

She quickly took a broom to brush the snow off them.

“You two children, how could you be so reckless! That place, you know what it’s like. In this heavy snow, you dared to go there.

And that deep valley, what if you went down and couldn’t climb back up? If something really happened…”

“Grandma Wen, lock the door and come inside.” Leng You was unwrapped by Xiang Wentian and put on the ground, following Xiang Wentian who quickly carried the bag inside.

“What’s wrong?” Wen Jiuyue sensed something was unusual and quickly locked the door and followed them inside.

“This is what we dug up today.” Leng You unwrapped one of the ginseng roots.

These were the people who loved her most sincerely in both her past and present lives, so Leng You didn’t intend to hide it from Wen Jiuyue, and she couldn’t have hidden it anyway; she had to process the ginseng.

Fresh ginseng is easily infested with insects and cannot be stored for a long time, so it must be processed quickly for storage.

Leng You had considered waiting until autumn to harvest, but it was only a fleeting thought.

In her past life, Xiang Wentian only stayed in Daheishan Village for a month, and Xiang Huaixin would return to Pingdu half a year later.

These were two people who had shown her great kindness, and since she had discovered such treasures, she naturally wanted to share them with them.

Besides, the grape blossom on her wrist had led her to the ginseng, perhaps it was meant for her to dig them up now.

“This is… ginseng?” Wen Jiuyue’s husband had been a barefoot doctor, so she had some knowledge of medicine.

“Yes.” Leng You nodded.

“This… so many? This… all… all ginseng?” Seeing Xiang Wentian take out all the things wrapped in tree bark and lay them on the kang, Wen Jiuyue felt her head buzzing, and her tongue tied.

“We haven’t finished digging yet.” Leng You added.

“Still… still… Heavens!” Wen Jiuyue supported herself against the wall.