686 Pay Close Attention to Details
“You must be joking. It’s not as if this back mountain belongs to my family. Does it mean that if I say something is mine, then it’s mine?” Qiao Mei said with a smile.
There were many mountains near the village. Among them, there was a big mountain behind Qiao Mei’s house. Usually, the villagers would not walk around near her house. Although there was no rule about who owned the mountain, everyone had a tacit understanding.
With one’s home as the center point, the mountain area within the radius of one kilometer was considered one’s private territory. No one else would go near it when picking wild vegetables and mushrooms.
Otherwise, anyone could enter someone else’s house and even secretly hide on the mountain to peep at their private life. That would be breaking the law!
Outside that radius, it was considered a public area where everyone could enter and exit. When Qiao Mei was not around, Qiao Qiang had gone up the mountain to walk around and found many small ginseng seedlings that had just grown out. Even if he dug them out, they were not worth much.
These were actually scattered by Qiao Mei when she had nothing to do. She now had many high-quality ginseng seeds left behind by the 1,000-year-old ginseng king. The quality of those seeds was top-notch, but she also had many other seeds of varying quality. Qiao Mei found them to be useless, so she casually gave them some energy and scattered them all over the ground.
Even if someone discovered them, not everyone knew how to pick ginseng. There were less than three people in the entire village who were able to dig ginseng out in an intact state.
“You’re right. Then how do you know that there’s a 100-year-old ginseng in the back mountain?” He Ning asked curiously.
“It’s a guess. Maybe there is one?” Qiao Mei said.
He Ning gave Qiao Mei a thumbs up in admiration. He did not expect it to pan out this way. If they could find one, then he could be considered quite lucky.
“When are you going? Huo Gao and I can go with you,” He Ning said.
What He Ning wanted was Huo Gao to go with him. After all, he was a Chinese doctor. It was said that this mountain had good feng shui. If they could find other precious medicinal herbs, they would be able to make a profit during this trip. If they could find the 100-year-old ginseng themselves, they would be able to save a lot of money.
Huo Gao did not think so. He Ning definitely would not be able to endure walking on such a steep mountain path. He got tired so easily that he would be out of breath even when walking on flat ground. He would die faster if he climbed the mountain path!
“You guys can forget about it. You’ll just be a burden if you go. You should just wait at home. I’ll let you know if there’s any news,” Qiao Qiang said.
He Ning nodded in agreement with what Qiao Qiang said. After Qiao Mei cleared the crockery and cutlery off the table, she came back and took a look at Huo Gao before saying to He Ning, “Which one of you will be washing the dishes?”
He Ning pointed at Huo Gao silently. Huo Gao sighed resignedly and followed Qiao Mei out to tidy up the courtyard and wash the crockery and cutlery.
More money! I must get more money! I must make He Ning go bankrupt after this assignment!
Huo Gao angrily swept the courtyard with the broom, taking this opportunity to vent his anger.
He Ning continued talking to Qiao Qiang without caring if Qiao Qiang responded to him or not. Whether by accident or design, he told Qiao Qiang everything that had happened to the Liang family in recent years.
He spoke about the people involved in the Liang family’s promotion, named the people who did not support the Liang family behind their backs, named those who had always been determined to help the Liang family, and listed down the number of people in this generation of the Liang family who were officials or enlisted in the military. He told Qiao Qiang everything in detail.
Qiao Mei listened with relish from behind the door. He Ning’s success was not due to luck. Qiao Mei was impressed with his memory and observation skills. Even Xia Wen was probably not as meticulous as He Ning.
“You don’t have to tell me these things. I’m not a member of the Liang family and I have nothing to do with them. If you mention the Liang family again, don’t blame me for chasing you out without cherishing the relationship between your grandfather and I,” Qiao Qiang said with a dark expression.
“That’s not what I meant. I just want to tell you about the situation in the capital over the past few years,” He Ning said with a smile.
Qiao Qiang did not care about the situation in the capital at all. He had long been an outsider and there was no point in knowing so much about the capital. Now, he just wanted to live quietly in this village and be Qiao Mei’s grandfather. He wanted to live a few more years and watch his great-great-grandchildren grow up. That would be enough.
As for issues concerning the Liang family, the He family or the Xia family, he did not want to know at all and did not care to know. He only wanted Qiao Mei to be safe and sound and did not care about anything else.
