Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 272: Digging Up Something Good

After Xu Yi finished drying the mangoes, he continued to make the saddle.

Once the saddle was made, the rest was to wrap the horse in this wooden saddle.

Xu Yi’s craftsmanship was quite good, especially now with the added skills in Wood Art and Bamboo Art.

However, they were still short on leather. Two pieces of antelope leather were meant for making boots, so they couldn’t be used for the saddle.

One leopard skin wasn’t enough for making a saddle either.

So, Xu Yi glanced at the Giant Wolf.

If it were killed, there’d be no problem making two saddles from it.

The Giant Wolf saw Xu Yi’s gaze and shivered slightly, feeling a murderous intent.

"Xu Yi, are you planning to kill the Giant Wolf?" Lu Ke asked, noticing Xu Yi suddenly staring at the wolf, because she sensed some inexplicable tension.

"Forget it, let’s let it live for a while longer." Xu Yi said, withdrawing his gaze, since Lu Ke needed more practical experience.

The Giant Wolf was still a suitable target.

"I’ll take a look around nearby and see if there are any animals." Xu Yi said, shouldered his Hunting Bow, and went out.

It was just after one o’clock in the afternoon, still quite early. Besides, Xu Yi had no other tasks at hand. Lu Ke could handle the paper-making by herself.

"Okay, stay safe." Lu Ke reminded him, feeling uneasy without tagging along no matter how skilled Xu Yi was.

"Hmm, you too, shout if there’s anything, I should be able to hear." Xu Yi replied, as he didn’t plan on going far, just scouting nearby.

This way, he could also check if there were any beasts lurking near their camp. If there were, he could deal with them early and minimize risks.

Lu Ke nodded, watching Xu Yi enter the forest.

"Is this ginseng?" Xu Yi’s eyes lit up upon seeing several plants.

Xu Yi hadn’t expected to find ginseng here.

Perhaps there’d be ginseng too?

If he dug it up, it’d probably be worth a lot, wouldn’t it?

Without hesitation, Xu Yi took out his machete.

Because he hadn’t brought the Engineer Shovel, he only had the machete.

"Anyone know ginseng, is the one Xu Yi dug really ginseng?"

"Yes, it indeed is ginseng. But this way of digging seems too rough, no?"

"What’s the big deal? Xu Yi’s digging it up to eat, why fuss about it? I’m curious if this ginseng is over twenty years old."

"What about a hundred-year-old one, would eating it make one immortal?"

"Ginseng isn’t that magical; it’s not much different from a carrot."

Quickly, Xu Yi dug out a piece of ginseng.

"It’s quite big." Xu Yi glanced at the ginseng in his hand, finding it larger than expected, akin to a small carrot.

He felt, this ginseng must have quite some years on it.

Then Xu Yi dug out all the remaining ginseng, totaling six, not a bad haul.

He placed them in his satchel and continued searching.

Since there was ginseng, maybe he’d find other medicinal herbs.

He thought it would be nice to prepare herbal dishes.

The local herbs had aged well, so they should be potent.

But Xu Yi didn’t find other herbs, instead finding animal droppings and some animal bones.

It wasn’t done by any large beasts, the skeletons weren’t big.

For now, Xu Yi’s camp seemed fairly safe, with no large beasts nearby.

However, Xu Yi did discover a half-eaten crocodile with some meat already rotting.

This crocodile appeared to be the one from that heavy rain.

It was uncertain what animal had attacked it, making it quite the mystery.

After a loop around the camp’s vicinity, Xu Yi returned, as it was nearing five o’clock.

"You’re back, didn’t encounter any beasts?" Lu Ke saw Xu Yi return empty-handed and asked.

"Hmm, our camp region is relatively safe, with no large beasts. There are some small ones, but I didn’t run into them." Xu Yi said, taking out the ginseng he dug to clean it, planning to dry it on the rooftop tomorrow.

Since there were six, they couldn’t be consumed all at once.

"What’s this?" Lu Ke saw Xu Yi take out the ginseng and instantly asked, as it didn’t resemble a carrot.

"Ginseng, also known as red ginseng." Xu Yi explained.

"So there’s ginseng digging here, such big ones?" Lu Ke, who often brewed tea with ginseng slices, was seeing freshly dug ginseng for the first time.

"Yes, it’s quite aged. If sold, it might fetch thousands." Xu Yi joked.

"These few could be worth several thousand, that expensive?" Lu Ke replied in surprise, as the ginseng she bought earlier only cost a few hundred yuan.

"Of course, with someone knowledgeable, might be worth even more. But we can’t take them back, so let’s keep them to eat. I’ll slice half a root to stew with leopard meat, should be quite nutritious." Xu Yi said, taking the ginseng to clean in the stream, while retrieving the leopard meat stored in the water to stew.

After some time, Xu Yi cleaned the ginseng and retrieved the leopard meat.

Adding half a ginseng root, Xu Yi stewed the leopard meat.

Throughout the day, Lu Ke had produced quite a bit of paper, and there wasn’t much pulp left in the clay vats.

The sun was nearly setting, so Lu Ke had to wrap up the day’s work.

The remaining pulp could be dealt with tomorrow.

After all, air-dried paper was better than kiln-dried, which was stiffer.

After a while, the pot started to boil.

A rich ginseng aroma spread out, enticing the Giant Wolf to dig at the ground, clearly wanting to eat.

In the end, Xu Yi gave it a beating, and it quietly slumped in the corner.

"Xu Yi, this ginseng scent is so strong, isn’t it too invigorating?" Lu Ke, familiar with ginseng tea, was taken aback by the potency.

"Probably not, just a little bit. Besides, ginseng is warm-natured, it revives energy, so it should be fine." Xu Yi, too, felt the scent was a bit exaggerated throughout the camp.

If it boosted male vitality, Xu Yi definitely wouldn’t eat it.

Xu Yi felt his vitality was already abundant.

Further enhancing it might cause issues.

That’s why, upon seeing the deer, Xu Yi had no desire to act.

He feared overeating venison might be too much for him.