Chapter 7: Wealth Moves The Heart
Mountain hunting is not picking weeds by the roadside; it always requires time and luck to have a better harvest.
After a place has been “hunted,” it might not produce new mountain goods again for months.
Therefore, it is necessary to change places and routes from time to time.
Every mountain hunter will note down a few spots, some are mushroom spots, some are lingzhi mushroom spots.
The so-called spots are naturally places where mountain goods are likely to grow periodically.
This is naturally also the biggest secret of mountain hunters.
Su Yan is just a newbie, and without a father or elder to personally lead him, he naturally has no such spots.
All harvests rely entirely on unexplored places by others, that is, adventure.
After the Yin Water Centipede entered the ranked growth stage, Su Yan naturally could go deeper into Yunling Mountain.
In just three to five days, he went into the mountains twice more with the Yin Water Centipede.
The harvest was not as good as the first time, but the Yin Water Centipede’s abilities had greatly increased, finding many poisonous creatures, viperberry fruit, black sleeper, blackwood zhi, and other poisonous medicinal herbs as the main items, plus blood essence, He Shou Wu and the like; the years were not bad, earning twenty to thirty silver taels.
In this way, news of his mountain hunting skills spread like wildfire, and the mountain villagers coming and going at this mountain market had more or less heard that a skilled mountain hunter had emerged from Yun Qian Village.
——
At the tea house in the mountain market, the old man brewing herbal tea and the help were busy inside and out, rags draped over their shoulders, one hand carrying a teapot, the other handing customers herbal tea at one wen for three bowls, weaving back and forth between seven or eight square tables.
Each square table had people sitting, some mountain villagers sharing tables, others three or five companions from the same village gathered together.
“Pah, that little bastard dared to fool me, saying it wasn’t something for one person, and Xie Yuzhu that fool didn’t prosper, turns out it was all fucking his.”
Wang San was mooching tea at the tea stall in the mountain market when he unexpectedly heard this news.
Over the past few days, he had inquired around many times, seeing no sign of any mountain hunters from Yun Qian Village prospering, and now he realized he had been fooled by Su Yan.
His yellow teeth ground with a crunching sound; being bluffed by Su Yan was harder to bear than getting beaten.
Both were orphans from the village; why had that kid prospered while he, Wang San, could not?
And he didn’t believe the kid had any real skills; if he did, his father wouldn’t have died.
Gulp gulp, he downed a mouthful of herbal tea, Wang San pondering in his heart: ‘Should I tip off Niu Han about that kid? I don’t believe Niu Han would let him off.’
The thought had just arisen when Wang San hesitated again, greed flickering in his eyes.
‘No, Niu Han and that bunch of bastards, relying on a bit of strength, won’t even give me a sip of the soup, can’t get any good stuff.’
Wang San wanted to take revenge on Su Yan on one hand, and seize his fortune on the other.
“What are you thinking about, Wang San the moocher?”
Lost in thought, a rough big hand landed on his shoulder, startling him into a shiver; the bowl in his hand clattered to the ground, shattering into several pieces.
Wang San looked up to see a big guy over six feet tall standing beside him, with a rough big face, grinning like a smiling tiger.
The man sat down casually, leaning an old hardwood bow to one side, picking up the tea to pour himself a bowl, and gulping it down.
“Li Hu, you bastard trying to scare me to death?”
Wang San relaxed upon seeing the man, cursing from his mouth.
“Heard your village has a lucky one?”
Li Hu didn’t pick up on it directly, staring straight at Wang San as if mentioning it casually.
But who was Wang San?
Did he not know Li Hu was a rotten gambler?
Though in the hunter trade, he wasted that physique, ruthless in his strikes; among mountain villagers he’s one, but in the mountains, it’s another story.
His eyes darted around, and suddenly he had some ideas in his mind.
“What’s up, you want to drag him into gambling a few hands too? He’s not like me.”
Wang San spoke of Su Yan’s matter on his lips, but Li Hu and he were birds of a feather; how could he not hear the off tone in Wang San’s voice?
He scrutinized Wang San carefully, eyes narrowing slightly, the smile on his face even brighter.
“Yo, seems you know him well; how about making an introduction so we can get acquainted?”
Wang San looked around and saw no one noticing them, giving a look.
Li Hu, having hung around with Wang San for years, immediately got it: ‘This Wang San is up to no good again.’
Picking up the hardwood bow beside him and standing, Wang San also rose, but as if they didn’t know each other.
The two left the tea house one after the other, exiting the mountain market, finding a secluded spot overgrown with weeds.
Li Hu grabbed Wang San: “Alright, what are you up to, finding such a remote place; don’t tell me you want to set up a trap with brother here to cheat Su Yan out of his silver?”
He had heard a young man made a big haul and had ideas; if the family was easy to bully, he might get a share too.
“No gambling.”
Wang San shook his head, Li Hu showing annoyance: “No gambling, then why call me? What’s the deal with Su Yan? In three to five days he got three or four decade-old medicinal herbs in a row; I reckon he earned twenty to thirty silver taels.”
Wang San showed a sneer: “You only know he got high-year medicinal herbs, but not that on the first day he got a treasure plant Yin Red Root; far more than twenty to thirty taels, I’d say at least this much.”
He waved his dry, pale, chicken-claw-like hand in front of Li Hu, the five fingers especially conspicuous.
Li Hu showed shock: “That much?! Damn, that’s enough heavenly wealth to enter the city.”
Jealousy seeped through his words; why, all scraping a living in the mountains, couldn’t he get such luck?
“Enter the city?”
Wang San sneered: “What would an orphan like him do in the city, a kid with no dad or mom.”
Li Hu’s eyes flickered like a wolf smelling blood: “No help at home? Then we find a method to team up with him for mountain hunting, lend a hand?”
“No.”
Wang San stopped beating around the bush, eyes gleaming with malice: “We follow him into the mountains; that kid’s so young, how could he have such mountain hunting skills? He must have accidentally found a treasure spot. Li Hu, you in or not?”
If there’s a spiritual energy gathering place in the mountains, it will continuously produce treasure plants or highly potent medicinal herbs over years or even decades.
Such a place is enough for a family to prosper.
It is also absolutely a secret a mountain hunter would take to the grave.
Now, Su Yan had prospered out of nowhere; Wang San was certain he had accidentally found a treasure spot.
“You serious about this?”
Li Hu’s eyes widened, never imagining such fortune.
“In or not?”
Wang San pressed aggressively; he couldn’t do this alone.
“In!”
Li Hu agreed immediately, thinking and saying: “Call Huang Tian, Zhao Fu and them too; just us isn’t safe.”
Wang San showed a pained expression, but thinking of Su Yan’s hand strength that day, he nodded: “Fine, but after, you help figure out a way to take his house; anyway, you’re not from Yun Qian Village.”
The house wasn’t expensive, but could at least sell for drinking money.
“Easy.”
Li Hu readily agreed, already pondering how to act in his mind.
The mountains are great; few people in the mountains, if a mountain hunter has an accident, isn’t that the most normal thing?
