Chapter 54: Ginseng Baby

"Ah, I haven't had enough fun yet. Why do I have to go back?" Cheng Yaojin muttered. Exactly three minutes had passed from the moment Cheng Yaojin possessed Liu Jun's body until the mysterious force began to fade. Was this the legendary three-minute true man?

After regaining control of his body, Liu Jun squatted down and gently poked the monster with his finger. To his surprise, the monster was trembling in fear. It seemed to have been thoroughly traumatized by Cheng Yaojin's beating.

"Can you understand what I'm saying? Off you go, I won't beat you anymore. Next time you see a creature like the one before, you better stay far away, or he might just beat the living daylight out of you again."

The strange creature raised its head and looked cautiously. There were actually tears welling up in its scarlet eyes. The monster looked as if it had been beaten to tears—truly miserable. Seeing that Liu Jun showed no further reaction and had no intention of hitting it, the monster scrambled to its feet, using both hands and feet, and scurried away in a flash.

Liu Jun first went over to check on Big Brother Lin and helped him up. Just as he was about to help Fatty, the guy wobbled and stood up on his own. With such a thick layer of fat, he was certainly durable. Although Fatty had been thrown even further than Big Brother Lin by the monster, he somehow looked less injured.

Just as they were preparing to pack their things and leave, that monster came rumbling back. Just as the three of them looked at the monster in terror, thinking it had returned for revenge, the beast hoisted the dead wild boar onto its shoulders and sprinted back the way it had come, without even looking back. That monster buddy had a passion for food that could rival Fatty's.

Instructing Fatty to carry Big Brother Lin on his back, Liu Jun held the little fox and gathered their belongings. The trip here had taken a little over an hour, but the journey back took more than three hours. Although Big Brother Lin hadn't suffered any severe trauma, he had multiple bruises and swelling that would take days to heal.

Back at the wooden cabin, Liu Jun lit a fire, clumsily prepared some soup, and the group sat around the hearth in silence.

"What exactly are you looking for? I have a feeling what you're after is no ordinary thing," Big Brother Lin asked after a long silence.

"A wild ginseng, a ginseng that has gained sentience and transformed," Liu Jun no longer concealed the truth. Having been through life and death together a few times, he knew Big Brother Lin was a trustworthy man.

"A wild ginseng? What does a sentient wild ginseng look like?" Big Brother Lin asked.

"An infant, a child, an old man... mostly in the form of a child," Liu Jun recalled from the ancient texts he had read.

"A child? I've seen one. A very strange child, and he was very close to your Second Grandpa," Big Brother Lin said after a moment of hesitation.

"Can you tell me about it? It has to do with my Second Grandpa's death, and it's very important," Liu Jun said, his face lighting up with a trace of joy. He hadn't expected that after searching for so long, the vital clue would be found right here.

Your Second Grandpa didn't have many hobbies; he just liked to drink a little wine. During the day, he would wander around the forest, picking wild mushrooms and wood ear fungus, digging up wild vegetables, and catching fish. Sometimes, when luck was good, he'd even scavenge a frozen roe deer, rabbit, or pheasant.

At night, he would return to this forest ranger cabin, have me stew a pot of meat soup, toss in the wild game and vegetables he had foraged during the day, bring out some wine, and enjoy a wonderful meal.

A short while after I came to live here, your Second Grandpa and I encountered something strange. Often, as we were falling asleep at night, we would faintly hear the laughter of a little child. It sounded very clear and very close by.

Yet when your Second Grandpa and I went out to look, there was nothing there. Both of us found it bizarre—there wasn't a single soul for dozens of miles around; where could a child's laughter come from in the middle of the night? But it was impossible that both of us had misheard.

When we went out for our morning forest patrol, we discovered many small footprints in the snow all around the cabin. They looked somewhat like a child's, but upon closer inspection, they didn't quite match—the soles were very short, yet clearly not belonging to any large wild beast.

At first, your Second Grandpa and I were a bit scared since this obviously didn't look human. We suspected it might be a mountain spirit, or a sentient yellow weasel or giant snake living nearby, and we lived in fear and anxiety for several days.

However, as time went on, we realized that this child had no intention of harming us whatsoever and never came to disturb us. So we just lived alongside each other in peace. Gradually, your Second Grandpa and I set our minds at ease and stopped worrying about it.

Then, one night in the middle of the night, as we were boiling a pot of mushroom soup with plenty of wild vegetables and enjoying it immensely, there was a sudden knock on the door. We opened it to find a child of six or seven years old, wearing a red bellyband, exquisitely carved like jade, with two little sheep-horn braids and a small red flower on his head. His smiling face was rosy and round, looking utterly adorable.

At the time, your Second Grandpa curiously asked him whose child he was and why he was outside all by himself so late. The little boy replied that he was our neighbor, and today he smelled something delicious coming from our house, so he wanted to know if he could taste a little. As he spoke, he even made a swallowing motion.

Both your Second Grandpa and I felt a chill run down our spines, trembling all over. Because around our place, there were simply no other residents. This was undoubtedly that unknown spiritual entity, yet it looked so well-behaved, not at all like something that would bring harm.

Fortunately, your Second Grandpa and I had consumed some alcohol, and as the saying goes, wine gives courage to cowards. We weren't too terrified, and after calming down slightly, we regained our composure.

So we invited the child into the house to sit down and set an extra pair of chopsticks. Your Second Grandpa poured another cup of wine and asked the child if he drank. The child nodded and said, "I'll have just a little today; it's been a very long time since I last had any."

Hearing this, we became even more certain that this child was no ordinary human. Just looking at his red bellyband and little linen shorts, we knew no normal child would dress like that in such freezing weather.

Even so, we weren't afraid anymore and started drinking with the child. We even cut up a plate of rabbit meat, though the child seemed to eat only vegetarian food and refused to touch any meat.

We ate and chatted aimlessly for hours, talking about everything under the sun. When the child heard your Second Grandpa talk about his youth as a soldier, fighting in wars, and visiting places like North Korea, Beijing, and Shanghai, the child looked very envious and remarked, "You humans are truly fortunate to be able to travel everywhere. I've never left this mountain and have no idea what the outside world looks like."

At the time, we even told the child that we could take him outside to see the world. But the child shook his head and told us he wasn't allowed to leave. Later, we all got drunk and fell fast asleep. When we woke up the next morning, we thought yesterday had just been a dream, but upon getting up and looking at the table, there really was an extra set of tableware.

That was when we became convinced it wasn't a dream, but we felt no fear in our hearts because we knew that entity was truly harmless. Having it keep us company and help pass the time wasn't a bad thing at all.

For the next several days, the child didn't appear. Then, early one morning when your Second Grandpa stepped outside, he saw some wild walnuts, wild fruits, and mushrooms placed by the doorway, wrapped in a few green leaves and neatly arranged.

Realizing this was a return gift from the child, we grew even fonder of him. A few days later, late at night, the child knocked on the door again. Your Second Grandpa thanked him for the things he sent last time, saying they were delicious.

The child blushed and told us we couldn't eat our things for free, calling it a small token of appreciation and hoping we liked it. Your Second Grandpa also asked me to buy some wild bamboo shoots and southern fruits from the outside world for the child whenever I went out. The child seemed to have never eaten the things I brought back, but expressed that he loved them, especially appearing to adore bananas and oranges.

And so it went. Your Second Grandpa and I would forage for mushrooms and wild vegetables during our daytime patrols, and at night we would return, cook something delicious, and wait for the little child to come over and eat with us. The child would also frequently bring us many treasures from the mountain.

After growing familiar with each other, the child started calling your Second Grandpa "Grandpa Liu" and called me "Uncle Lin."

The things the child brought us were far superior to anything humans could forage in the forest. Often, when we couldn't finish them all, we would take them out to sell, and use the money to buy wine and fruit to bring back to the mountains to share with the child.

On one occasion, the child brought a root-like object and gave one piece to your Second Grandpa and one to me, telling us to eat them. After consuming them, our bodies felt warm and grew healthier by the day. That was when we realized the gift the child had given us was an extraordinary treasure. Later, your Second Grandpa drank too much and accidentally let slip about this matter, though he didn't think much of it at the time.

Life continued to be quite pleasant, peaceful, and comfortable. Perhaps news of the root spread, for a group of people eventually came to the forest. They tracked us down and asked if there was an aged ginseng here, telling us to hand it over to them in exchange for two million yuan for your Second Grandpa and me.

Your Second Grandpa and I strongly suspected that the ginseng they were looking for was the child who frequently visited us, but neither of us uttered a word. Regardless of whether the child was a ginseng spirit or not, we couldn't let them take him away. After spending this period of time together, we had developed genuine affection for him.