Hermit in the Mountains

In a small courtyard by the stream, an elderly man with white hair was resting on a bamboo recliner, when he heard the roar of an engine coming from outside the courtyard.

The old man woke up, looked up and saw that his granddaughter had arrived. He got up, walked to the wooden table next to him, sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Grandpa." The woman, carrying a gift box, greeted the old man on the recliner as soon as she entered the room.

The old man waited until his granddaughter sat down on the wooden chair opposite him before he asked with a smile, "An'an, did Old Man Zhang make things difficult for you?"

The woman responded with a smile, "No, Grandpa Zhang was just complaining that his newly acquired family heirloom was gone."

She took out a sandalwood box from the gift box and placed it on the wooden table. She then opened the box with her slender, jade-like hand, revealing a wild ginseng plant that was as perfect as a work of art.

The woman turned the wooden box around and gently pushed it in front of the old man. "Grandpa, this is the 'wild ginseng' that Grandpa Zhang just collected. It's sixty years old and has excellent medicinal properties."

"Grandpa Zhang said that this wild ginseng can replenish the damage to your body after surgery and restore your original bodily functions to the greatest extent possible."

"Grandpa Zhang also told his granddaughter that she should not take too much ginseng to nourish her body in the early stages, as her body is too weak to handle tonics."

The old man's eyes lit up as he gently stroked the ginseng inside the wooden box. "This quality is truly exceptional!"

"The pictures are clearer and more perfect than the ones Old Zhang showed off in the group."

The old man suddenly laughed, "Hahaha, granddaughter, you don't know, these past few days old man Zhang has been calling me every day like a complaining woman, scolding me."

Let him brag; let him brag until he gets his hands on it.

The woman muttered, "If it weren't for your surgery, Grandpa, how could Grandpa Zhang have given it to you?"

"Uh—" The old man choked on his words, his smile freezing on his face. "This is called fate, don't you understand? Girl."

"If I hadn't been in surgery, if someone hadn't dug it up, if I hadn't known Old Zhang, and if Old Zhang hadn't boasted about it, this ginseng wouldn't belong to me."

"It's in such good condition, what a waste to use it up."

The old man did have ginseng in his collection, but unfortunately, its medicinal effects were not very good. This was because the vitality contained in the ginseng had dissipated a lot during long-term storage, and it did not have the same vitality and medicinal effects as the ginseng in front of him, which had been dug up less than a month ago.

The woman's phoenix eyes suddenly lit up, and she asked, "Grandpa, guess who sold this ginseng to Grandpa Zhang?"

Upon hearing his granddaughter's words, the old man casually asked, "Could it be someone I know?"

The woman spoke in riddles, "No, but Grandpa, you should have heard of the ginseng seller."

"Grandpa can't guess, so just reveal the answer." The old man didn't want to rack his brains.

"Grandpa's being cheeky, how boring." The woman pouted, her gaze drifting towards the mountains. "I found out the person selling this ginseng is our neighbor, but this neighbor lives quite far away from us."

The old man reacted quickly. He turned his head and followed his granddaughter's gaze, a name automatically popping into his mind. He blurted out, "Gu Changsheng?"

The woman looked away. "Yes, that's the neighbor who came three months earlier than us and stayed in the mountains to recuperate."

"On the way into the village just now, I also saw a truck loaded with saplings heading towards the valley."

Both of them knew that a few days ago Gu Changsheng had contracted a hill in the village, and the villagers said he was going to plant Chinese medicinal herbs and cultivate potted plants for sale.

The old man had only heard of Gu Changsheng, but had never met him in person.

The woman had looked up Gu Changsheng's information and must have seen his photo. She mentioned Gu Changsheng because his information had piqued her curiosity.

When the woman received Gu Changsheng's information, she found that Gu Changsheng's appearance in the photo had changed drastically. In less than four months, he had grown waist-length hair, become physically strong, and behaved strangely. He was bald, thin, and a typical 996 worker.

That is, the woman saw Gu Changsheng's photos at the same time for the first time, both when he was discharged from the hospital and four months later; otherwise, she wouldn't have noticed the changes in Gu Changsheng.

Yang Dashan and the villagers of Xiaohe Village occasionally saw Gu Changsheng, but they did not notice much change in him, mainly because they did not pay much attention to the changes in Gu Changsheng.

But the woman was different. She became the president of the family group at a young age and developed a sharp eye. Besides, she had professionally compared Gu Changsheng's photos before and after.

The conclusion drawn was that the changes in body shape were normal, but the fact that Gu Changsheng's hair was real, not a wig, aroused her curiosity.

Given the rate at which human hair grows, it's impossible for it to grow to the length of Gu Changsheng's hair in four months.

The only thing she could think of was that Gu Changsheng possessed a secret formula for rapid hair regrowth.

The family business is in biopharmaceuticals and also develops hair growth products.

The domestic market size for hair growth products is approximately 30 billion yuan, while the global market size exceeds 100 billion yuan.

If Gu Changsheng truly possesses the secret formula for reversing hair growth, the group could create another subsidiary with a business value of 50 billion.

The woman already had the idea of ​​going to see Gu Changsheng.

The old man opposite was unaware of his granddaughter's thoughts. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have stopped her, since the family business also needed to grow and make money.

Gu Changsheng on the mountain was busy directing the villagers to dig a pit. He had no idea that he was being targeted by someone just because he went to the city to sell a ginseng root.

If he saw the ginseng in the yard, he would realize that it was the same ginseng he had sold to Fushoutang.

The person who has his eye on him is no ordinary person; he is the president of a multi-billion dollar biopharmaceutical group called "Qin Yao".

When Qiao's mom opened the door to throw out the trash, she bumped into Qiao coming home. It was just a coincidence that she arrived home.

The founder of this multi-billion dollar group, the old man in the courtyard, is a friend of Zhang Yuanfu of Fushoutang.

Gu Changsheng happened to be selling ginseng at Fushoutang, the old man happened to have just finished major surgery and needed ginseng to nourish his body, and Zhang Fushou happened to be taking photos to show off his collection in his friends' group.

Through a series of coincidences, Gu Changsheng came into the sights of those with ulterior motives.

Gu Changsheng was completely unaware of this, as he was busy instructing everyone on the requirements for the planting locations of the saplings.

"When you're digging the holes, use a twig to measure the distance to make sure the saplings are two meters apart."

He pointed to the plum blossoms he had planted a few days ago, "Look at this row of plum trees, it's a hundred meters long, with one plum tree planted every ten meters."

"Now you need to plant four plum blossom saplings in the empty space in the middle, so that this 100-meter stretch is filled with 50 plum blossom saplings."

"Each plum blossom sapling should be planted on the same horizontal line. You can use the ten plum blossom saplings I planted as a reference."

"The second row of plants is also two meters away from the first row, but they should be planted separately from the first row."

As Gu Changsheng spoke, he picked up a two-meter-long wooden stick from the ground and walked to the first plum tree to demonstrate for himself.

One end of the wooden root was pressed against the trunk of the plum tree, and Gu Changsheng stood at the other end of the wooden root. He stomped his foot and said, "The place where I'm standing is where the second sapling will be planted. The row will be measured backwards like this."

He held the wooden stick and moved it 180 degrees clockwise, until he was two meters away from the plum blossom. He then stomped his foot, saying, "This position is a reference point."

He retrieved the wooden stakes, placed them parallel to the first plum tree, walked to the middle of the stakes, and stepped on the ground. "This is the starting point for planting the second row of saplings."

"Brother Yang, you should plant the saplings here first."

At this moment, a villager in the crowd voiced his opinion, "Boss Gu, you're planning to plant a plum tree every two meters, with a total row length of one hundred meters, and the plum trees should be planted in a straight line, right?"

"right-"

"The second row is planted two meters away from the center of the first row's empty space, with each row of saplings planted alternately, right?"

"right-"

"Boss Gu, we all understand. You want to grow plum blossoms that are square and neat, so they look good."

The villagers also understood the result that Gu Changsheng wanted.

"Now that you all understand, let's begin." Gu Changsheng's gaze swept over everyone, and seeing that they nodded, he waved his hand, signaling everyone to get started.