Chapter 29

In the Northeast, the older generation has many customs when digging ginseng. For example, professional ginseng diggers first make offerings to the mountain gods, and they must tie a red string, made from a large sum of money, to one end of the string on a “Suo Luo Stick¹” and the other end to the ginseng.

The Li family is not specialized in ginseng digging, and they don’t have a “Suo Luo Stick.” The tree branch in their hands can substitute, but they lack the red string, money, and various necessary ginseng digging tools. Grandma Li drew a square frame around the ginseng leaves using the tree branch, then found four sticks and placed them in each corner. Afterward, she stood there, somewhat at a loss.

Zhen Zhen, puzzled, watched Grandma Li’s strange actions, and Wang Sufen was also confused: “Mother, what are you doing?”

Grandma Li looked at the ginseng leaves, somewhat worried: “When I was young, I used to go up the mountains to dig ginseng with your grandfather. There were so many rules. But here, we didn’t offer money to the ginseng or tie the red string. What if the ginseng runs away once we dig it up?”

Wang Sufen had heard many legends about ginseng since she was young, especially the one where ginseng turns into a baby wearing a red bellyband. In the Northeast, it is widely known that you must tie a red string when digging ginseng. She suddenly became flustered, checked her pockets, and couldn’t find anything. She could only look at Grandma Li helplessly: “Should I go home and get the red string?”

Zhen Zhen stood nearby, speechless. She initially wanted Grandma Li and Wang Sufen to dig up the ginseng themselves to pass the time and give them a sense of accomplishment. She didn’t expect them to make it so complicated. Watching Grandma Li’s actions, it seemed like she still didn’t dare to dig the ginseng directly. Zhen Zhen decided to use her consciousness to lift the ginseng from the ground instead.

Just as Wang Sufen was troubled about how to deal with the ginseng, she suddenly saw the ginseng leaves moving, and the ginseng slowly started emerging from the soil. She was so startled that she began to panic. Wang Sufen turned around and hugged Zhen Zhen protectively while pointing at the ginseng leaves, her lips trembling in fear: “Mother, look, the ginseng is climbing out and trying to run away.”

Grandma Li was infuriated by her occasionally foolish daughter-in-law. She quickly covered Wang Sufen’s mouth and pinched her waist. Wang Sufen regained her senses. She looked around, then quietly listened and, seeing no one approaching, wiped the sweat from her forehead. Grandma Li, having experienced many things, was quick-witted. With her granddaughter’s abilities, she didn’t believe that the ginseng would escape right under their noses.

Sure enough, as the ginseng emerged, most of the ginseng had already come out of the ground, with the roots trying hard to shift. The ginseng roots were the most delicate part of the plant, and they were easily broken. Professional ginseng diggers use deer bone needles to carefully loosen the soil and extract them. Grandma Li didn’t have such tools, which was why she didn’t dare to dig the ginseng herself.

But this kind of thing was no problem for Zhen Zhen. In just a minute or two, the ginseng had already come out of the soil on its own, roots and all, without a single hair missing.

“Mother!” Wang Sufen stared at the ginseng on the ground, her tongue tied: “Why does this ginseng look like a person? Could it have become a spirit?”

“It’s not that easy to become a spirit.” Grandma Li raised her head and glanced at her, carefully picked up the ginseng and weighed it in her palm. A joyful look appeared on her face: “This ginseng is not light. Even if it’s not a pound, it’s close.”

As the saying goes, “Seven taels for ginseng, eight taels for treasure.” The ginseng Zhen Zhen found was just under a pound, making it a treasure by any standard. Looking at the six main roots, the longest one was at least 50 centimeters, truly rare. The ginseng was a good find, but Wang Sufen was worried about how to take it home: “The roots are so long. We can’t break them. How are we going to carry it? What if we accidentally break the roots?”

Grandma Li, having experience, found a spade from the willow basket she brought. She then found a sturdy birch tree and carefully peeled off a large piece of bark. She spread a thick layer of moss and black soil around the ginseng, then called Wang Sufen over. The two of them carefully placed the ginseng on the bark, one holding the head, the other the roots. They wrapped it tightly with long, tough grass and put it in the willow basket.

Zhen Zhen watched as Grandma Li finished packing the ginseng. She threw the last wild fruit into Li Mingzhong’s mouth and stood up to continue running ahead.

Grandma Li, seeing this, quickly followed. Seeing Zhen Zhen walking further away, she couldn’t help but ask: “Precious, where are we going now? This ginseng is already a good find, no need to dig any more. I don’t even know what to do with this one when we go back.”

Zhen Zhen tilted her head and looked at Grandma Li, revealing a few small, white teeth: “To make wine for Father.”

“That’s enough.” Wang Sufen couldn’t help but shout: “I’m telling you, this ginseng you found is a treasure. It must be over a hundred years old, right? Isn’t that right, Mother?”

Grandma Li nodded: “Four or five hundred years, no problem.”

Wang Sufen slapped her thigh, her face full of regret: “Such a treasure, we have to take good care of it when we get home. If you give it to your father to make wine, it’ll be a waste. I’m even afraid he’ll break his nose from the ginseng roots.”

“Exactly.” Grandma Li nodded repeatedly: “When we get home, I’ll put it on the house beam and check on it three times a day. If it weren’t for the fact that burning incense isn’t in fashion now, I would definitely offer it some.”

Zhen Zhen helplessly looked at Grandma Li. Being young, she couldn’t say much to persuade her. She searched around again and found another ginseng that was about forty to fifty years old. With a flick of her hand, the ginseng jumped out of the soil and landed directly in her palm.

Zhen Zhen handed the ginseng to Grandma Li, insistently saying: “Make wine for Father.”

Grandma Li, speechless, looked at the ginseng in Zhen Zhen’s hand. She could only wrap it up in some more bark: “Alright, alright, we’ll use this ginseng to make wine. But no more digging, okay? We don’t have enough room at home to hide all this.”

Zhen Zhen thought about how her family didn’t have a bicycle or a sewing machine, which were popular items nowadays, and quickly suggested: “Sell it to buy a bicycle and a sewing machine.”

“Are you envious of Zhao Grandma’s big bicycle?” Grandma Li and Wang Sufen laughed as they placed a thick layer of moss and black soil in the bark: “We’ll keep the big one, and sell this small one. I’ll check if the supply and marketing cooperative will buy it. If they do, we’ll get a radio first. At least you can listen to something during the day and not be bored.”

Zhen Zhen smiled widely. While the two of them were tying up the ginseng, she walked to the birch tree, which had two pieces of bark removed. She lightly placed her small hand on the tree trunk, and in an instant, the old tree sprouted new bark. The towering branches began to show tiny green shoots.

Li Mingzhong had been following for a few hours along the mountain path. Although he had eaten some wild fruits with Zhen Zhen, he was still only a few months old, and running such a long distance was already his limit. Li Mingzhong stuck out his tongue and panted, barking a few times. Zhen Zhen, hearing him say he was tired, immediately stopped, squatted down, and patted his back with her small hand.

“Feeling better?” Zhen Zhen tilted her head, looking at Li Mingzhong.

Li Mingzhong felt a warmth on his back, and his four legs started to regain some strength. Wang Sufen saw that Zhenzhen wasn’t leaving, thinking she was just tired, so she hurried over and hugged both Zhenzhen and the dog in her arms. “Darling, we’ve been out for most of the day. How about we go home early?”

Zhenzhen glanced into the deep mountains, looking somewhat reluctant. “But I haven’t had enough fun yet.”

“We’ll come back tomorrow.” Wang Sufen quickly said. “We still have to come back and pretend to plow the fields. We’ll need to do it at least ten or eight more times.”

Only then did Zhenzhen smile. “Okay, we’ll come back tomorrow.”

Wang Sufen adjusted her hold on Zhenzhen, sitting her on one arm while embracing Li Mingzhong. Grandma Li followed behind with a willow basket on her back. After walking for about ten minutes, suddenly two wild chickens flew out from somewhere, flapping their wings and falling into the basket on Grandma Li’s back. Grandma Li hurriedly took off the basket and grabbed the wild chickens. “Oh my goodness, there’s ginseng in the basket! What would we do if the wild chickens broke it?”

Zhenzhen grinned at Grandma Li. “Then let’s stew them.”

Grandma Li picked some wild herbs from the side, tied the wild chicken legs together, and carried them in her hand. She didn’t forget to explain to Zhenzhen, “Don’t think ginseng is just a good thing. It’s something you can’t eat easily. This old ginseng we’ve got today was a treasure used by rich families in the past to prolong life.”

Wang Sufen looked at Grandma Li carrying the chicken in one hand and ginseng in the other, feeling a sense of satisfaction. “Mom, do you think Zhenzhen was a mountain god in her previous life? Otherwise, how does she know where to find ginseng in the mountains? And she always knows about wild chickens and fruits.”

Grandma Li hesitated and shook her head. “But the fish in the river also listen to Zhenzhen. Can a mountain god control things in the water? I think Zhenzhen must have been someone more powerful than a mountain god in her past life.”

“You’re right, Mom.” Wang Sufen thought for a moment and added, “Could she have been the Earth God? The river is on the land, so it’s within the Earth God’s domain.”

Grandma Li pursed her lips, confused. “But the Earth God and the Mountain God are the same rank.”

Zhenzhen buried her head in Li Mingzhong’s arms, listening with a smile. In her previous life, she was just a student who stayed indoors most of the time. Her biggest dream was to open a flower shop, where she could sit all day drinking coffee, watching dramas, and gossiping. Unfortunately, that dream was just one step away from being realized. But now, things weren’t so bad. Zhenzhen looked around at the towering trees around her. “They are all mine!”

As they continued going up the mountain every day to plow the fields, Grandma Li’s house was filling with more and more valuable items. There was a ginseng weighing almost a pound hidden in the beam of the house, a ganoderma² the size of a wash basin on top of the stove, and half a bag of small ganoderma the size of a fist in a box. Zhenzhen told her to drink it every day for longevity.

Despite the pain in her liver from the thought of it, Grandma Li, under Zhenzhen’s supervision, had no choice but to start boiling water for the ganoderma every morning. Fortunately, the ganoderma was tough, and even a small piece could last for a month. Grandma Li estimated that this bag would last her until she was a hundred, if she lived that long.

Zhenzhen was becoming more and more capable. When Grandma Li and Wang Sufen were alone, they would relentlessly remind her. Luckily, even though Zhenzhen was young, she was reliable in this area. She never revealed anything unusual in front of others. Even though the Li family often ate wild animals and had bountiful crops, neighbors just thought the family had good luck, and no one suspected a thing about the child.

Time passed, and as spring turned to winter, Wu Guihua gave birth to a son during the first snow, the first child of the fourth generation. Whether a boy or girl, everyone was happy. Grandma Li, overjoyed, wrapped the baby in the swaddle³ Zhenzhen used as a child and, seeing that Wang Sufen had already cleaned up, hurriedly placed the great-grandson in Wu Guihua’ arms for her to nurse.

Zhenzhen, dressed in a red corduroy cotton jacket, curiously leaned over the bed to observe her younger nephew. While touching his small hand, she asked Grandma Li, “Grandma, what’s my little nephew’s name? How about I name him?”

Li Mingdong, who had returned early from work, jumped in shock. He subconsciously glanced at Li Mingzhong lying at Zhenzhen’s feet, his cheek twitching. “Sis, his dad’s here, so you don’t need to worry about the name, okay?”

Zhenzhen puffed out her little face. “But you already named me, so why can’t I name my big nephew?”

“Because you can’t even read yet.” Li Mingdong didn’t dare speak too harshly, afraid that Zhenzhen, a little tyrant, might cry, and then the grandmother wouldn’t care whether he was a new father and would beat him with the broom.

Seeing Zhenzhen’s dissatisfied look, Li Mingdong gritted his teeth and prepared to sacrifice the name of his next child. “How about we wait until your sister-in-law has another one? You can name that one.”

Zhenzhen looked at Li Mingdong’s aggrieved expression, her little lips curling into a smile. “I’ll just give him a nickname, not a full name.”

Li Mingdong breathed a sigh of relief. Nowadays, people preferred names that sounded earthy for their children, believing it would make them easy to raise. He figured it didn’t matter how unappealing the nickname sounded; after all, it would only last a few years, and once the child went to school, no one would call him by a difficult, rustic nickname. As long as the real name was good, that was fine. He looked at Zhenzhen’s expectant face and picked her up onto his lap. “Alright then, tell me what you want to name your big nephew.”

Zhenzhen glanced at the swaddle in Wu Guihua’ arms, where the baby was completely wrapped, and though she could see his head, she couldn’t make out much else. She looked at her older brother and, feeling a little embarrassed, asked, “What if the name sounds bad?”

“No worries.” Li Mingdong pinched her chubby little hand. “Nicknames can be as ugly as they want;

“Then I’m relieved.” Zhenzhen let out a breath. “Let’s call him Meat Bun.”

“Meat Bun?” Li Mingdong looked at Zhenzhen, hesitant. “Are you hungry?”

“A little!” Zhenzhen rubbed her belly, still seriously looking at her little nephew in Wu Guihua’ arms. “I just think his face looks white and chubby, like a meat bun.”

Li Mingdong couldn’t help but pinch her cheek. “No one looks more like a meat bun than you!”

———

Author’s Note:

By the way, the valuable part of ganoderma is the spore powder, but wild spore powder is very hard to collect. There are many ganoderma mushrooms on my father-in-law’s mountain. Every time he visits our house, he brings a plastic bag full for my mom to brew in water. Haha~~~

———

—The Suo Luo Stick is a 5-foot wooden tool used by ginseng gatherers in Northeast China. Tied with red string and bronze coins for luck and protection, it clears grass, serves as a walking stick, and wards off danger. It’s highly valued and believed to hold spiritual energy after successful ginseng finds.

—Ganoderma is a medicinal mushroom, known as reishi or lingzhi, valued for boosting immunity, reducing inflammation, and promoting wellness. It’s rich in antioxidants and widely used in traditional medicine.

—A swaddle is a blanket or cloth used to wrap a baby snugly, keeping their arms and legs secure. Swaddling mimics the feeling of being in the womb, providing warmth, comfort, and a sense of security, often helping newborns sleep better.