Solving Middle Age Crisis by Intelligence System-Chapter 257 - 191: A Century-Old Ginseng (Three-in-One)

Qi Yun quickly smiled and said, "No, no, I’m fully aware of your skills, I’m just worried about the cold mountain weather, we might not handle it well."

Old Zhao heard this and finally agreed, grumbling, "It takes three days to get through from here, but along our route there are wooden cabins, as long as you don’t encounter a snowstorm, you don’t need to worry too much."

Qi Yun nodded and asked the most crucial question, "If we go over there, does that count as smuggling? We won’t get caught by those people on the east side, right?"

"What’s this smuggling thing? Here, this mountain always belongs to us." Old Zhao scoffed, tapped his tobacco pipe on the ground, and continued, "Just avoid our side’s checkpoints and don’t make it difficult for them."

"Although I haven’t been to that side in years, I’ve heard from the late Old Zhang that, while it’s under the east side, that area is very remote, and there’s no clear border line or special guards."

"In the past, whenever anyone wanted to gather herbs or something over there, they just went, as long as they didn’t provoke people from the east, generally no one would mind."

Hearing this, Qi Yun felt a little relieved and curiously asked, "How many years has that Old Zhang been dead?"

Old Zhao counted on his fingers, earnestly replied, "About thirty years."

Qi Yun’s recently eased mind tightened again, thinking to himself, could the situation thirty years ago reasonably be the same as now?

Old Zhao noticed his worry and waved his hand nonchalantly, "Actually, even if you meet people from that side, it’s not a big deal. We’re just gathering herbs, not doing anything bad."

"I see you guys brought some Chinese cigarettes, that stuff is really prized by them over there. When the time comes, give them a couple packs, and they’ll likely pretend they didn’t see anything."

Qi Yun was a bit stunned hearing this, can it really be done that way? Like they’re on a construction site, solving everything with a couple packs of cigarettes.

But when they set off later, he specifically asked Chen Wei to carry extra cigarettes just in case...

...

The next day, before even sunrise, they set out, escorting the man with the military cap.

By noon, they finally reached the small wooden cabin where Qi Yun stayed earlier.

Once there, Da Zhuzi quickly took out his phone to contact Captain Fu, whom he knew, and informed him about catching three poachers.

Upon hearing that the poachers were from the east, the other party immediately agreed to come over.

Meanwhile, Qi Yun clarified Old Zhao’s grandson’s account and transferred the money for the two ginseng plants, adding an extra hundred thousand.

Old Zhao received a call from his grandson and looked at Qi Yun in surprise, asking, "Didn’t we agree on 420,000? Why did you send 520,000?"

Qi Yun smiled at him, "The extra hundred thousand is an escort fee for you, can’t let you run around with us for free."

Old Zhao heard this, was silent for a moment, then gave him a thumbs up and said, "You’re really something!"

About an hour later, a police car stopped behind their vehicle, and two middle-aged men in police uniforms stepped out.

The leader was Captain Fu, whom Da Zhuzi had mentioned, he trotted up to the group, scrutinized the man with the military cap and others, then asked Da Zhuzi, "Is it these three?"

Da Zhuzi nodded and then detailed the incident to him.

Captain Fu then looked at Qi Yun’s group and sincerely expressed his gratitude, "You must come to Bailong Village when you’re leaving, I’ll treat you to a meal."

Qi Yun smiled, "Captain Fu, you’re too kind, we just did what needed to be done. This mountain forest belongs to all of us, we have a responsibility to protect it."

Captain Fu nodded, saying, "Exactly, protecting the forest requires everyone’s effort, but if you encounter similar situations in the future, contact us promptly, try not to take risks on your own."

"Certainly, we will next time," Qi Yun said with laughter.

"..."

Once things were settled, Captain Fu escorted the man with the military cap away, and Da Zhuzi went to the police station to assist with the record. Qi Yun and his group, taking advantage of the early time, hurried back.

By nightfall, the dusty group returned to Da Zhuzi’s wooden cabin.

Having traveled for a day, everyone’s stomach was already grumbling, but now with Da Zhuzi absent, they had to cook for themselves.

Qi Yun rolled up his sleeves and went to the nearby kitchen. When he saw half of an animal carcass in the cabinet, he finally knew what kind of meat they’d been eating these past few days.

After about half an hour of toil, a pot of aromatic meat was placed on the stove.

Qi Yun, while waiting for the stew to boil, took out a cigarette and handed one to Old Zhao, "Do you always eat this meat in the mountain?"

Old Zhao took the cigarette, smirked, "Mountain folks aren’t so picky, whatever God provides, we eat."

"Don’t worry, this isn’t hunted with guns. We Medicine Gatherers don’t do such things. Only those that freeze to death or are chased and killed by predators, we’ll take if we come across them."

Qi Yun nodded understandingly.

Old Zhao lit up the cigarette, took a couple of drags, and continued bragging, "I remember one year, Old Zhang and I went to gather herbs, and a huge snow fell, couldn’t see anything."

"We were trapped in a cabin for days, eaten all our rations, thought we’d die in that forest back then."

"Then in a daze, heard a ’bang’ sound, something hit the door, opened it, turns out it was a wild rabbit, hahaha..."

...

The next day, Qi Yun and Chen Wei, each carrying a large backpack, followed behind Old Zhao, ready to head into the mountains.