Jiang Jianguo arrived in town early. He wandered around casually until he reached the herbal medicine purchasing station of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Seeing that the staff was still there, he walked up and asked, “Comrade, may I ask you something?” As he spoke, he took out a small oil-paper package of white sugar and handed it to the staff member.
The staff member saw that the bag contained about two liang (approx. 100g) of sugar, but she didn’t accept it immediately, asking cautiously, “Tell me what it is you want first.”
Jiang Jianguo then opened up: “I wanted to ask, do you sell wild mountain ginseng here?”
The staff member said, “We only buy here, we don’t sell. You can go now, take your things with you.”
Seeing this, Jiang Jianguo continued: “Comrade—no, let me call you ‘Big Sister.’ Big Sister, I’m just asking. Please, do keep the gift, even if I can’t buy it here. What are your buying rates? How much does it go for?”
The “Big Sister” was indeed reluctant to give back the white sugar, so she answered: “It depends on the age and the quality. A century-old one of good quality goes for about 400 yuan.”
Jiang Jianguo noted the information. It seemed that buying through official channels would cost less than what Old Man Qi had offered.
He decided not to ask any more, so he said to her: “Thank you, Big Sister. I won’t bother you any longer; I’ll be going.”
The woman felt a bit embarrassed for having accepted the gift without being of much help, so she pulled Jiang Jianguo aside and whispered, “If you really want one, you can go check the black market. You might be able to buy one there, though the price is quite high.”
“How much?” Jiang Jianguo asked.
“Probably five or six times what we pay at our purchasing station,” the woman replied, “You’d have to go and inquire yourself; it might even be more expensive.”
Jiang Jianguo quickly said: “Thank you, Big Sister, but never mind. That’s too expensive; I really can’t afford it. My mother is in poor health and recently fell seriously ill. We brothers wanted to scrape together some money to buy ginseng to see if it could save her. I didn’t expect that the station only buys and doesn’t sell, and the black market is so pricey. Sigh…”
Jiang Jianguo feigned a helpless sigh. The woman expressed her understanding: “You brothers are certainly filial. But truly, this is not something ordinary people can afford. Just buy the old lady something else to nourish her.”
Jiang Jianguo nodded repeatedly and took his leave. Any more talk and he would have slipped up; Grandma Jiang’s health was perfectly fine—she could curse him for three days and three nights without a problem. Even if she were sick, none of the brothers would actually spend money on ginseng to save her.
As for himself, it wasn’t as if he had always been “lazy.” Since he was a child, he knew he was the one not valued or favored. In his youth, eggs and such never went to him; they were always saved for his younger brother (Jiang Jianhua).
Later, when the eldest brother had a son, the eggs went to him (Jiang Yaozu). Even the eldest brother’s daughter (Jiang Laidi) was treated better by their mother than his own daughter, Tangtang; at the very least, her vegetable porridge was thicker.
As for the second brother’s family, they were like old oxen—eating the least and doing the most. The couple was too honest and was bullied daily by Grandma Jiang and the eldest sister-in-law. Although the three daughters-in-law were supposed to take turns cooking and washing, the eldest sister-in-law always found ways to get out of it, and since Lin Wanting was not someone who would let herself be taken advantage of, the second sister-in-law ended up doing the eldest’s share of the work.
Consequently, their two daughters (Jiang Zhaodi and Jiang Pandi) ended up doing all the chores, receiving all the scolding, and eating the least amount of food. Even though they eventually had a son (Jiang Dabao), the old lady never liked the second brother because he wasn’t articulate, and with the addition of Jiang Yaozu, the grandson, Jiang Dabao was also unloved. He was sallow and thin, always being bullied by Jiang Yaozu, yet the second brother and his wife were too timid to say anything.
In fact, Jiang Jianguo had qualified for high school back in the day, but his parents wouldn’t allow it, telling him that since his eldest and second brothers didn’t go, he shouldn’t either. The eldest didn’t go because he didn’t pass the exam. The second brother actually passed, but he was honest and didn’t really want to keep studying. Jiang Jianguo, however, did well in school and wanted to continue, but his parents forbade it, believing that having him back in the fields would earn enough work points to support their precious eldest grandson and their baby youngest son.
So, although Jiang Jianguo went to work in the fields, he was unenthusiastic and did less than even the older women. He earned at most five work points a day; during peak harvest, when everyone else got 10 or 12, he could at most pull off eight.
Later, after marrying Lin Wanting, they clicked immediately and both decided to be “slackers.”
In truth, while they earned fewer work points, their family was also smaller, so they didn’t actually take advantage of the eldest and second branches—they just stopped the eldest brother and the youngest brother from taking advantage of them.
The youngest brother was in high school in town; he was the only one in the family permitted to do so. Jiang Jianguo had even overheard that his mother planned to wait until the youngest graduated to buy him a job in town, so he could become a “city person,” eat state-supplied grain, and perhaps one day marry a city girl and elevate the family’s status.
Knowing that his mother’s heart would never lean toward him, how could Jiang Jianguo be hardworking or filial? He wasn’t the second brother, after all.
Jiang Jianguo strolled through the Supply and Marketing Cooperative once more, thinking to himself that after they finally separated from the family, he would definitely bring Tangtang and Wanting here to shop.
It was getting dark and there was nothing left to browse on the streets. Jiang Jianguo headed toward the east end of town, found a secluded spot in the woods where he had sold the rabbits last time, and hunkered down to wait for the black market activity to begin.
At 3:00 AM, people began to arrive one after another. After observing for a while, Jiang Jianguo decided to find the man who had bought the rabbits previously to ask him.
He walked over to the man and whispered, “I have some mountain goods.” The man signaled for him to take them out and show him.
Carefully, Jiang Jianguo took out the wild ginseng, which was wrapped in moss and bark. He gently opened it and said, “A century-old wild ginseng! Do you buy this?”
The man’s expression turned serious immediately; such items were rare and highly precious. The moonlight wasn’t enough for him to see the quality clearly, so he pulled out a flashlight, clicked it on, and shone the beam on the ginseng in Jiang Jianguo’s hand, examining it closely.
The ginseng was in excellent condition, and Jiang Jianguo had been very careful while digging it up, not damaging a single root. After inspecting it, the man told Jiang Jianguo, “Wait here for a moment. I’ll go get our boss. This item is too valuable for me to make the call.” With that, he walked toward a deserted brick kiln at the edge of the woods.
Soon, the man returned with a younger man. The first man introduced him: “This is our boss. We all call him ‘Brother Seven,’ so you can call him that too.”
Jiang Jianguo nodded and said, “Hello, Brother Seven.” Brother Seven nodded in acknowledgment and said, “I heard you got your hands on a high-quality wild ginseng?” Jiang Jianguo quickly opened the moss wrapping again to let Brother Seven take a good look.
After a brief inspection, Brother Seven said, “I’ll take it. You probably already know the black market prices. We usually pay four to five times what the supply and marketing cooperatives or purchasing stations offer. They’d only give you about 400 yuan for this. I’ll offer you 2,100 yuan, just to make a friend. If you come across any other rare items in the future, just come find me.”
For some reason, Brother Seven had a hunch that Jiang Jianguo would have more good things in the future, so he wanted to build a good relationship.
Jiang Jianguo was stunned. It was such a massive amount of money; naturally, he had no objections. Brother Seven handed over two stacks of “Big Unity” (10-yuan notes), plus ten individual notes, and gestured for him to “count it.”
Jiang Jianguo’s hands were trembling as he carefully counted the bills one by one. Once he confirmed the amount was correct, he tucked the money into his clothes, nodded at Brother Seven, and quickly ran out of the woods.
His heart was pounding in his chest—he had never seen so much money in his entire life. He looked around to make sure no one was near, then took a detour and started running back toward Jiang Family Hollow.