Ivan and Li Fan

ARRIVAL
Once upon a time there lived a soldier, and a Chinese lived nearby in a fanza.
The soldier's name was Ivan, and the Chinese was Li Fan.
The soldier was a stranger on this earth, and the fanza of the Chinese stood near the seashore for only half a year. The soldier sailed to this region on a large ship, and the Chinese brought his simple belongings on a horse.
The land was alien, but nature was like its own. Birches and fir trees reminded the soldier of the village where he was from.
The soldier, along with his friends and commander, arrived in this wild land to rule the east, and the Chinese dreamed of catching a huge trepang in the sea.
The soldier was afraid of everything, there was taiga around. But how not to be afraid, if only the day before yesterday a soldier who was on duty at night was taken and eaten by a tiger.
Ivan was sad, it was a pity for a comrade, but grief will not help the cause.
NO FRESH WATER
A month has passed. In a month they got used to it, cut down a small church, cleared a piece of land for a vegetable garden. Yes, the trouble is, there was nothing to water. Fresh water in this region was worth its weight in gold.
The Chinese were called, only Li Fang came. The rest of the Chinese did not come, they were afraid of the soldiers.
The commander ordered Li Fang to bring water and promised to pay well.
Li Fan agreed, but asked for help, the waterskins were heavy, and the Chinese horse was sick. Soldier Ivan went with the Chinese.
And so it happened, as soon as the water ran out, the commander sent Ivan to Li Fang for water.
Li Fan and Ivan became friends. Time passed, the first houses appeared on a piece of land cleared of trees, and then a storehouse, a small shop where you could buy food.
Li Fan was an elderly man who had a large family. The family was large, but the trouble is that only daughters were born.
Li Fan's horse was sick, sick, but fell. It’s good that Li Fan had four assistants, they lived in the ground, in the garden. These were four magical roots that Li Fan brought secretly from the taiga and planted in his garden. Roots were valued in this wild land more than gold, and therefore Li Fang was afraid that someone would see these roots in his garden. He hid, and covered the roots with weeds, so that the roots would grow in warmth and shade, but they would not be shown to anyone! Sometimes at night these roots turned into little people. But these little men were still small, and they did not always obey Li Fang.
Ivan did what he could to help his newfound comrade.
CONFIDENCE
Seeing such a thing, Li Fang decided to show Ivan a secret river from where fresh water could be brought.
Li Fang was afraid that Ivan would betray him, and Li Fang would lose his modest earnings, but Ivan did not tell the commander about the secret river.
Meanwhile, trouble came to Li Fan's house.
At night, someone's thin voices woke Ivan up. These brown men decided to ask Ivan for help. Little men made their way into Ivan's room, since the door was open. Having heard the request, Ivan gathered himself and went to Li Fang. Ivan came and was taken aback. Li Fan lay beaten.
GREED SMITH
The blacksmith's assistant Danila secretly came at night and demanded that Li Fang give him half of the money that the commander paid Li Fang for water. The blacksmith's assistant was drunk and angry. When Li Fan refused, Danila beat Li Fan.
Ivan reassured Li Fan's family as best he could, and then went to Danila. It is not known what Ivan said to Danila, but he left Danil Li Fan alone. Only much later did Li Fan find out that Ivan had agreed to give Danila a quarter of his simple soldier's salary for Li Fan.
TROUBLE
A year has passed, and then one day trouble came to this taiga region.
Honghuzi, red-bearded Chinese bandits decided to attack the Russian settlement.
Li Fan and other Chinese who lived nearby knew about the impending attack, but were afraid to tell the Russians. The Honghuzi were fierce and cruelly took revenge on everyone who denounced them. The red-bearded bandits didn’t care who they rob and kill, whether it’s a Chinese or a Russian - everything was the same for them. The Khunhuz were only interested in profit.
Li Fang would like to help, but he knew that the punishment of the Honghuzi would be cruel.
However, Li Fan felt sorry for Ivan, and he felt sorry for other Russian people. Li Fang whispered to his wife and decided to secretly warn his friend in the morning about the Honghuzi attack. With that, they went to sleep.
Li Fan fell asleep, but someone, on the contrary, woke up. Four little men again went to help. But the trouble is, the vengeful blacksmith Danila made a bolt on the door out of iron, and now the little men could not get into the barracks where Ivan was on duty. Then the little men decided to prevent trouble themselves.
HUNHUZI
And as time went on, the Honghuzi were supposed to attack by dawn.
The Honghuz camp was just near the secret river from where Li Fan brought water. Three times the Honghuzi tried to get to the Russian settlement and all three times they could not.
Little people asked for help from nature!

At first, the wind blew to shreds the temporary yurts of the Honghuzi and scattered their property, but only the Honghuzi became angrier and began to gather for a bad deed.
The tiger pulled up the horses of the Honghuzi, but this did not stop the red-bearded bandits, only the Honghuzi became angrier and began to gather for a bad deed.
Then the river overflowed, near which the Honghuzi camped. Only after that the bandits went home.
And the little men sent againwent to Li Fan's garden and buried themselves in the ground and calmly fell asleep.
The danger has passed. Li Fang found out about this on the way to Ivan's house. Li Fan breathed a sigh of relief and returned home.
And so it happened, as soon as a big trouble came, the Russians and the Chinese stood up together against the trouble. And what did they have to share? Why not live together? Listen to Ivan and Li Fang - even the names sound similar!
HAISHENWEY OR VLADIVOSTOK
And when the time passed, and the eldest of Li Fan's daughters grew up, Ivan married her and became for the elderly Chinese the son that Li Fan had always dreamed of.
And another dream of Li Fan came true, he caught a big trepang in the sea. And Ivan helped him in this. Neighbors came and admired the giant trepang. Since then, the place where the trepang was caught began to be called in Chinese - Haishenwei, and then the Chinese began to call the whole city that way.
Blessed was the land on which the Russian fleet once landed, dreams came true here. Russian sailors and soldiers dreamed of owning the East, and this dream came true. In less than ten years, a large and beautiful city appeared on the site of the taiga. And they called this city Vladivostok.
MYSTERY TOGETHER CONCLUSIONS
Now guess the riddle. What kind of outlandish roots did Li Fan bring from the taiga? Why was Li Fang afraid that someone would see these roots in his hands? Why were roots similar to little men valued higher than gold?