Could it be that he went to Black Wind Mountain to hunt?
Zhang San and Wang Wu had both been hunters in Qingshan Village for many years, and they were especially unconvinced.
Qingshan Village lived off the mountain, so naturally, there were many hunters in the village.
At its peak, there were over a dozen of them.
But when too many people hunted, the prey on Xiaoyue Mountain was never enough to share. Many people would go ten or even fifteen days without catching anything.
Gradually, the number of hunters decreased.
Right now, Xiaoyue Mountain could barely support three to four hunters, and even that wasn’t stable.
If one wanted a big harvest, they had to go to Black Wind Mountain. But that place was extremely dangerous, and normal hunters didn’t dare to step foot there.
Seeing Xu Changnian gaining results every day and eating meat every meal had stirred many people’s thoughts.
They wanted to risk it and go up the mountain to fight for a chance!
…
“Being a hunter isn’t easy at all. I’m really just relying on the advantage of the system…”
Deep within Xiaoyue Mountain, Xu Changnian sat on the ground, panting heavily, rubbing his hands together nonstop.
Climbing the mountain consumed a huge amount of physical strength, and the higher he climbed, the lower the temperature grew.
The cold wind whistled relentlessly.
After resting for a while, Xu Changnian pushed himself forward again, continuing toward the mountainside.
According to the intel provided by the system, Qingshan Village was about 2 kilometers away from the Wild Ginseng’s location. But this was the mountain—there was no flat straight path to walk on.
Whenever he encountered steep slopes or giant rocks, all he could do was take detours again and again. What seemed like about 2 kilometers, in reality, would probably double once actually traveled.
By the time he finally found the Wild Ginseng, nearly an hour and a half had passed. Fortunately, everything was worth it.
“The age should be less than two years, just matured… better harvest it first.”
Standing before the Wild Ginseng, Xu Changnian carefully observed it and tried to judge its age. The simplest way to judge was to check the stem scars. Each year formed one ring, but during the first two years, the scars were unclear and very hard to see—just like the one in front of him now.
The older the Wild Ginseng, the higher its value. Something less than two years old was extremely tender and could probably be sold for around 1 tael of silver. If it could grow for another two years, the price would double. But Xu Changnian couldn’t wait. The family still needed grain to survive.
Harvesting Wild Ginseng also required technique. Before leaving, Xu Tielin had specially instructed him carefully.
Harvesting ginseng was called “releasing the mountain.”
During the process, there were various taboos like not speaking and tying a red string to the stem to prevent it from “escaping.”
After harvesting, moss and tree bark had to be used to wrap it into a “ginseng bun” to preserve freshness. The more intact its appearance, the higher the selling price.
Xu Changnian could only feel helpless. Use a deer bone digging tool? Sorry, he didn’t have one! So he directly used his hunting knife to dig it out from the roots!
Tie a red string to stop it from running?
Even more unnecessary—he had never believed in such superstitions. As for wrapping it with moss and tree bark, that could work, but where would he find fresh bark on Xiaoyue Mountain in the middle of winter?
Everything in sight was dry and yellow.
He stuffed it into his chest immediately, deciding to take it home first instead of fussing around in the freezing cold. The wind was icy.
Clang—clang—clang—
When the hunting knife stabbed into the soil, it felt like scraping rock. The ground was frozen hard like stone.
After using tremendous effort, he finally dug out the Wild Ginseng completely, and without caring whether it was dirty or not, he immediately tucked it into his chest.
This was worth about 1 tael of silver, equivalent to dozens of kilograms of millet—enough for the Xu family to eat for a month.
He couldn’t afford to be careless.
Feeling satisfied, he packed up his belongings and was just about to head down when he suddenly heard footsteps nearby. Xu Changnian immediately drew his hunting knife, pulled his bow, and aimed, staying fully alert. He even took the time to cover the ginseng pit with rotten leaves so no one would notice what he had dug.
“That kid from the Xu family, right?”
“How’s your old man’s leg? Put down your bow. Look at you, acting so serious!”
A rough voice came from ahead. It was an old man with a white beard, carrying a large bow on his back. Truly worthy of being called an old hunter—his eyes were incredibly sharp. Even from afar, he recognized Xu Changnian and greeted him.
But Xu Changnian still didn’t relax and quickly tried to recall who this man was. From his tone, he seemed familiar with his father… one thing was certain—this wasn’t a hunter from Qingshan Village.
“You don’t even recognize me anymore, you little brat? Didn’t you pee on me plenty of times when you were a kid?”
Seeing Xu Changnian still so cautious, Niu Ben spoke irritably.
“Uncle Niu?”
“Don’t take offense. I’ve just been too nervous lately, I’ve made too many enemies. I’ve been busy the whole morning and gained nothing… I’m really anxious.”
After recognizing who it was, Xu Changnian finally relaxed, though he didn’t mention the ginseng at all. Niu Ben was from Niujia Village in the west and truly was an old acquaintance of Xu Tielin. Both were veteran hunters, and naturally, they had interacted often. Their relationship wasn’t exceptionally deep, but there were no grudges either.
Word was that Niu Ben’s son had achieved something and became a minor official elsewhere. Ever since then, Niu Ben rarely hunted anymore, so contact between them gradually decreased. Occasionally when he went hunting, it was mostly because he missed the experience and treated it as leisure.
“Hmm… well, it seems you’ve finally woken up. It’s just a pity about Xu Changqing.”
Niu Ben sighed with some sadness, but seeing that Xu Changnian had finally become motivated still made him feel a little comforted.
It was much better than being a rascal. As for him being covered in mud and still having no harvest after a whole morning—wasn’t that completely normal?
“I saw traces of wild boars in the mountains. If his leg was better, the two of us old guys might still be able to hunt one and enjoy a feast at the end of the year.”
Niu Ben took out a wild rabbit weighing over 1 kilogram from the basket behind him and tossed it to Xu Changnian.
Xu Changnian raised an eyebrow. This old man was quite generous. A rabbit over 1 kilogram, and he was just giving it away for free?
“Uncle Niu, I really appreciate it, but you should keep it for yourself.”
He still needed to act politely. Eating someone else’s meat wasn’t something to take lightly. But Niu Ben waved his hand carelessly.
“My body’s still fine, I don’t lack this bit of meat. Take it home and eat it.”
“It’s just a pity about your old man’s leg. He can’t climb the mountain anymore, otherwise someone could accompany me to hunt wild boars.”
After speaking, the old man didn’t linger and left on his own.
Looking at the rabbit in his hand, Xu Changnian hesitated for a moment, then stuffed it into his clothes. Refusing free things was just foolish!
Wait a minute… wasn’t the system’s other intel mentioning an old hunter on the mountain? Could it have meant Niu Ben? Very likely!
Even though he didn’t choose that piece of intel, he still encountered him. He could only say his luck was good—misfortune turning into fortune.
As for what Niu Ben said, it also confirmed the system intel regarding the wild boars. Unfortunately, he couldn’t attack.
Even someone like Niu Ben, who had hunted for decades, needed someone to partner with to hunt wild boars. So how could Xu Changnian dare to think about it?
But Niu Ben was still inferior to the system.
He could find traces of wild boars, but he didn’t know about the battle between the wolves and the boar herd. Perhaps that could become an opportunity. If he could seize it while they were fighting, maybe he could gain something huge.
A single wild boar weighed at least dozens of kilograms.
Hunting one would truly make them wealthy. Of course, for now, all of this only existed in his imagination.
Fortunately, with the Wild Ginseng secured and even a free rabbit gained, the Xu family’s food crisis was temporarily eased. He could finally breathe a little easier.
On his way back, Xu Changnian opened the system to check his experience.
[Ding, Wild Ginseng successfully harvested, experience +10 points.]
[Current System Experience: 35/100.]
He already had one-third.
After completing a few more missions, the system should level up soon.