Free Web NovelChapter 379: Chapter 149: Ginseng (2)
Hearing Zhao Jing’s words, Chen Wanqing didn’t praise his luck. Instead, a wave of fear washed over her.
This spot was in line with the great scholar tree. Just a few dozen meters south, and you were in the deep mountains. It was far too dangerous.
"What are you doing all the way out here? I thought you were just wandering around the foot of the mountain, but you came this deep inside. You’re just lucky you didn’t run into any wild boars, wolves, or black bears. What would you have done if you had?"
"It’s highly unlikely. There’s been plenty of rain lately, so the plants in the mountains are thriving. The beasts have no shortage of food, so they rarely venture this far out."
"But what if? What if one of them got lost while out for a stroll and wandered out here?"
Zhao Jing smiled. "You have a point, sister. I won’t do it again. I’ll be sure to think things through from now on. Please don’t be angry with me."
He was so adaptable. Chen Wanqing couldn’t help but shoot him an annoyed glance. It wasn’t as if she could keep harping on this forever.
Still, she was curious. Why had Jing come here for no apparent reason?
"You might not know, sister. This is where Shusheng had his accident."
Shusheng was a posthumous child, the apple of Mr. and Mrs. Qu’s eye.
While playing hide-and-seek on the mountain with a group of children his age, Shusheng had accidentally fallen into a trap dug by the old blind man.
If he hadn’t been found in time and rushed to the clinic in the county seat by Chen Song, Shusheng wouldn’t have made it.
Now, Shusheng was still alive. The ordeal had left his body quite frail, but he had survived a close brush with death. It was a miracle he’d kept his life at all. As for his health, he was still young. With proper care, he could be nursed back to strength.
Chen Wanqing followed Zhao Jing’s finger and looked to the side. Just a couple of steps away from her was a depression in the ground.
Perhaps because it was a low point, rainwater had collected there, forming a small puddle. The surrounding trees were tall and dense, blocking the sunlight. This allowed green moss to flourish beneath the water’s surface, giving it an ominous look.
Chen Wanqing looked away and asked Zhao Jing, "Why did you come all the way out here? There’s no one around. You must never come here again."
Zhao Jing nodded, promising once again not to take such risks.
But Zhao Jing had an explanation for why he’d suddenly come here. One night, he’d had a dream about this very spot, completely out of the blue.
He didn’t think much of it afterward. But later, as he was sitting at his desk reading, a thought suddenly struck him.
Hunters and villagers usually set their traps along game trails, near water sources, in areas rich with food, or at the mouths of caves and dens—places that naturally funnel animals, increasing the chances of success.
Hardly anyone would set a trap on flat, open ground with little undergrowth.
A trap in a place like this is easily exposed. The open space also reduces the chance of prey passing through, which means a lower chance of a successful catch.
’Would an experienced old hunter make such an obvious mistake?’
’Definitely not.’
’But he did it anyway. So, what was his purpose?’
The first thing Zhao Jing thought was that there must be something near the trap. The old blind man hadn’t set the trap to catch anything, but to protect whatever that something was.
Once he had that idea, he came up the mountain. After looking around, sure enough, he saw something familiar at the base of this old poplar tree.
Zhao Jing gently touched the small flower on the seedling. "Sister," he asked Chen Wanqing, "should we dig it up and take it home?"
This spot was very close to the deep mountains. For now, the people of the Zhao Village hadn’t cleared this much land, but who could guarantee that once the huangqi started turning a profit, they wouldn’t push further inland?
The county government’s decree was one thing, but the villagers’ profits were another. When there was money to be made, some people would always be willing to break the rules and keep clearing land.
That was why Zhao Jing had brought Chen Wanqing here. To dig it up or not—he would listen to his sister.
Chen Wanqing was still lost in Zhao Jing’s deductive reasoning, unable to snap out of it.
’Honestly, who looks at a place unsuitable for a trap and immediately concludes there must be something valuable nearby?’
’An ordinary person would never think of it. Even an extraordinary person would never think of it.’
’Only someone as clever and resourceful as Zhao Jing could have possibly thought of it.’
’Everyone has a brain, so why is his so effective?’
Then, in a flash, Chen Wanqing thought about how in less than half a month, the once lush, green jungle had been transformed into patches of yellowish-brown farmland.
She’d even heard several of the women saying on their way up the mountain that since the county government was allowing them to clear land, they would use planting huangqi as a pretext to clear a few more acres.
