Spring Thunder Chapter 0213 Ginsenoside
"Come on, you are from the capital, you must have eaten a lot of good food, but you have definitely never tasted the wild vegetables in our Changbai Mountain."
Pu Dashan first let Nan Yi and others drink some welcoming wine, and then he prepared food for them.
"Look, this is called pig mouth grind, does it look like a pig mouth? You can't eat too much of this, or your lips will swell." Pu Dashan showed a dish that looked like black fungus, and pointed to another bowl of fish and said, "This is rainbow trout, from Tianchi Lake, a cold-water fish, so fresh."
"Are there wild fish in Tianchi?" Nan Yi asked in surprise.
"They are not wild. They are fry from North Korea. They take several years to grow to a few pounds. They won't grow any bigger. You guys eat them first. There is also roe deer meat in the pot."
"It's okay, boss. We'll wait for you."
Nan Yi sat on the kang, looking at the stove not far away that was emitting white smoke. Pu Dashan was stirring in the pot from time to time with a spoon, and when it was almost cooked, he scooped up the meat from the pot.
"I haven't prepared anything, so let's just make do with what we have." Pu Dashan put the roe deer meat on the low table and sat cross-legged on the kang. He reached over and took out two bottles of New Huaide wine. "The food is not good, but there's plenty of wine. Drink as much as you want."
"Boss, why do you have so much wine at home?"
"I usually like to drink a little. Last time, when Mensan came, he bought me a bottle of this wine, Sledge. I've been drinking it for half a year and I'm used to it. Now I can't drink any other wine."
"I'm not saying anything, you're already this old, drink if you want, you don't need the money."
"No, no, we can't waste all the money. We have to leave some for my granddaughter." Pu Dashan picked up the bowl, took a sip of wine, wiped his mouth and said.
"hehe."
Nan Yi smiled and said nothing. The last time Men San'er came, he bought several ginsengs from Pu Dashan. The lowest price was over one thousand, and the highest price ranged from three to five or seven thousand. He was also made an appraiser, and the daily salary was not low. Pu Dashan had at least 40,000 yuan in his hand, so he was really not poor.
"Are you here to collect ginseng this time?"
"I heard that you guys are now allowed to grow ginseng, so I came to take a look. If there is any wild ginseng, I'd like to pick up a few."
"This year, we don't have much stock. Last year, we didn't get many ginseng plants, and we lost two people. We have to dig every year, and the mountain god is angry and protects the ginseng babies." Pu Dashan said, and took another sip of wine. "In the future, the life of ginseng pickers will become more and more difficult."
"Old boss, although Changbai Mountain is huge, the number of old mountain ginseng is limited. After you have gathered the light from the outer areas, you have to go deeper. The deeper you go into the mountain, the more dangerous the road will be.
In my opinion, ginseng collectors should make a rule not to collect too much each year, so that the mountains can recover and regain their vitality. "
"It's not like everyone has thought of this, but people's hearts are not so united. If you don't pick the ginseng, others will continue to do so, and in the end you will only suffer. It's different from the past, when everyone valued trust and rules. If you tie a red string on the ginseng doll, it means it has an owner, and others will not steal it if they see it."
"That's right. People nowadays are not as particular as they used to be." Nan Yi agreed and changed the subject, "Old boss, I've also looked at the old mountain ginseng that Men Saner brought back last time. They're all ginseng, and I didn't see a single precious one. I wonder if everyone doesn't have any precious ones, or if they're unwilling to sell them?"
"Mensan paid a fair price. If there is a treasure, why wouldn't he sell it? I really don't have any. I have been collecting ginseng all my life, but I have never collected a treasure. The best one was six taels and eight cents, and that was more than 20 years ago.
Last year, a piece weighing 5 taels and 7 qian was dug out in the neighboring town. It wasn't heavy, but it was 79.5 centimeters long. I have never seen one so long.
As soon as the news got out, it was taken away by the higher-ups, who said it would be sent to some place in the capital to be used as a treasure."
After listening to Park Dashan's description of this ginseng, Nan Yi thought that it must be very old.
There is a saying among the people that seven liang of old mountain ginseng is worth eight liang of treasure. Although the liang here refers to the old Sima jin system, it takes at least a hundred years for an old mountain ginseng to grow to this weight, usually more than one hundred to two hundred years.
This is assuming that the old ginseng has not been trampled by wild beasts. If the stems and leaves of the old mountain ginseng are trampled by wild beasts, the old mountain ginseng will automatically enter a dormant period, consume previous nutrients, enter negative growth, and become lighter and lighter.
This is why some old ginsengs are very old but weigh less than one or two ounces.
The plant that Pu Dashan mentioned is light in weight, but judging by its length, it must be quite old. I really don't know how much weight it would have had in the year it entered dormancy.
"Old boss , have you seen that old mountain ginseng?"
"Yes, I think it's at least five hundred years old, maybe even a thousand years old."
"What a pity! We won't get to meet each other."
Except for the school beauty, the other three were drinking and chatting. Of course, it was mainly Nan Yi and Park Dashan who were chatting.
Having talked enough about old mountain ginseng, Nan Yi turned the topic to the ginseng garden.
"Old boss, picking ginseng is so hard, have you ever thought about contracting a ginseng garden to grow it yourself?"
“Is the grown ginseng still old mountain ginseng?”
Pu Dashan grabbed the pipe beside him, pinched a pinch of tobacco from the pipe hanging on the pipe stem and stuffed it into the pipe bowl. He then took out a lighter from his body, removed the cap and blew a breath, and sparks came out of the lighter.
He placed the lighter on the pipe and the tobacco was lit. Pu Dashan took a deep puff and exhaled thick smoke.
"You plant, I plant too. If the harvest is good, he will also plant. If more people plant, the ginseng will become worthless. This year, the ginseng can be sold for 30 to 41 kilograms, which is equivalent to half a month's salary for a worker.
This kind of ginseng can be harvested once every six years. If we plant it this year, we don’t know what the market price will be like in six years.
It is said that things are valuable because they are rare. Why is old mountain ginseng expensive? It is because it is rare. If too many ginsengs are planted, someday they may not be sold at the price of carrots. "
"Old boss, you've figured it out. The more of this stuff there is, the cheaper it will be."
The main purpose of Nan Yi's trip to Shusong this time was actually to see if there was any possibility of getting involved in the ginseng garden.
But as he watched along, he felt that there was no hope. The scale of cultivation was so large at the beginning. Once these ginseng farmers made money and became millionaires, more people would be jealous and participate in the cultivation, and the ginseng output would sooner or later exceed the demand.
By then, the price of this kind of ginseng will plummet, and it will only be a matter of time before it falls to the price of radish.
Moreover, the shipping channels for ginseng are too single. Except for a small amount purchased by domestic pharmaceutical companies, most of the ginseng is exported to South Korea and processed into ginseng candy, ginseng coffee, ginseng noodles and other finished products for sale.
When the day comes when the production volume is too large, as long as South Korean companies play dirty tricks and refuse to purchase, the price will plummet. Even if they don't play dirty tricks, the price will be low because the volume is large, and the Koreans are not suckers, so why should they purchase at a high price?
"Ginsenoside..."
These four words circled in Nan Yi’s mind.
