My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 112 Can't you be a little gentler?
The young man listened to the words of the young man with the mole, and he immediately understood that the man was simply being unreasonable and looking for a scapegoat.

He stepped aside, looked at the young man with the mole, and said, "I quit!"

After saying that, he went to the side and helped the young man who was still lying on the muddy ground and couldn't get up to his feet: "I'm not working with him anymore, are you leaving or not!"

The young man nodded.

He knew he couldn't stay in this team any longer; if he did, he'd only be subject to humiliation.

The young man with the mole wasn't going to let them off so easily: "You think you can just leave because you're quitting? You think you can just come and go as you please in my team?"

The young man turned to look at him: "So what do you want?"

"What do I want?"

The young man with the mole sneered, "When you came to me for help, I took you in and gave you a meal. If you want to leave, that's fine too. It's simple: spit out what you've been given."

The young man frowned immediately: "Hey Ma, we work just as hard as anyone else at your mine, and we even pay you to give us our food. Now you want us to give it back... Are you deliberately trying to bully us?"

"So what if I bully you? What, you two Wu-Yue people think you can challenge me?"

The burly man with the mole snorted coldly: "I've realized that ever since you two came, I haven't had a single good day. First, the mine ran out of gold, then I tried to steal another mine, only to get wiped out, then I tried to steal another one, only to have it washed away by the water, and now you've made me get shot. You're like two plagues... Shoot them, kill them and throw them into the river to feed the fish!"

Three people immediately surrounded them.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the young man didn't care about the other young man anymore and turned to run away.

As a result, he hadn't run more than a few steps when his foot slipped, and he fell backward uncontrollably to the ground, crashing hard. The muddy ground was too slippery.

Before he could get up, the three men were already in front of him, and without saying a word, they unleashed a storm of kicks on his head, waist, stomach, and thighs.

Driven to this point, the young man didn't know whether he would be crippled or killed if things continued this way. A fierce determination that had been building up inside him surfaced, and he gritted his teeth and endured it without uttering a sound. While curling up to protect his head, he reached for his waist with his right hand, pulled out a dagger, and slashed wildly at the three men who were beating him.

Caught off guard, two of the three were immediately slashed on the legs by the knife and jumped aside in fright. The third person was lucky enough to be a little further away and was not injured. He hurriedly retreated.

At that moment, he stood up, grabbed his knife, and lunged at the group of people who were watching from the side.

Seeing this, the onlookers quickly retreated, afraid of getting hurt.

The young man with the mole did not dodge, but instead snatched a stick from the hand of someone next to him and swept it horizontally, forcing the young man back.

Just then, a gunshot rang out from the upper part of the woods. A cloud of blood mist exploded from the chest of the muscular man with the mole, and something flew by with a whoosh.

The young man was so startled that he froze for a moment.

He glanced around the woods but couldn't see who had fired the shot.

The others were also stunned. In their fear, they scanned the woods, but saw nothing.

But the more this is the case, the more frightening it becomes, as if an invisible knife is pressed against one's neck, ready to slice across at any moment.

A chill ran down everyone's spine, shooting straight to the top of their heads, as if countless sharp needles were stabbing into their skulls.

Then they saw the foreman lying motionless on the ground, and they all panicked.

Some people took off running, and then more people started running in a panic. Even the few carrying guns didn't dare to hesitate for a moment, thinking that Zhou Jingming and his gang had sneaked over.

A large group of people ran faster than the next, quickly disappearing into the distance. In that woodland, only a corpse and two Wu-Yue people who could no longer run remained.

Zhou Jingming couldn't catch up with Wu Yang. When this guy ran, he was as agile as a leopard. He didn't seem to be running very fast, but he was just too fast to keep up with. The distance between them kept widening, and there wasn't much of a commotion.

By the time Zhou Jingming followed the sound of gunfire and saw him crouching behind a thick clump of climbing pines, those people had already vanished.

He grabbed Jinwang by the fur around its neck to slow it down, then reached Wuyang's side and said reproachfully, "I already called you, but you didn't wait for me!"

"I can handle this little thing by myself."

"At least the two of them can look out for each other."

"It's okay!"

"Don't be so confident, what if?"

Wu Yang was silent for a while before saying, "I'll wait for you next time... Do you want to go down and take a look?"

Zhou Jingming slowly stood up and looked at the situation diagonally below: "Let's go take a look and ask about the situation. In case of any other unexpected changes, we can prepare in advance!"

He released Jin Wang, and slowly walked down the road while holding the gun. Wu Yang also got up and followed.

Only then did the two Wu Yue people realize that they were Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang.

They were deeply impressed by Zhou Jingming's marksmanship and felt that it was very likely that Zhou Jingming had fired the shot.

Seeing the two men come down with guns, the two Wu-Yue men were somewhat flustered. After all, when they were with Lao Tang, they had provoked Zhou Jingming and his gang and witnessed their ferocity.

When Zhou Jingming got closer, he first looked at the corpse on the ground, then at the two Wu-Yue men with bruised faces and covered in mud: "How did they get into this state!" "When I arrived, they were being beaten up, and they were even being stabbed!"

Wu Yang didn't know the specifics either: "We'll have to ask them what happened."

The young man glanced at the corpse beside him: "He was shot at your mine and was furious, so he took it out on the two of us on the way."

"Deserve it!"

Wu Yang sneered: "If I heard correctly, you guys deserve a lot of credit for this group coming to seize our mining site. What, you didn't get killed when you came to seize our mining site with Old Tang, but now you're thinking of coming back to die?"

"us……"

The young man was speechless for a moment. He stammered for a while: "After our team broke up, some people went back, and some people felt that it was not easy to come all this way and wanted to continue panning for gold. But no one knew how to look for gold, so they could only choose to go to other mining sites. We only told them when they questioned us about our situation when we entered their mining sites."

"Alright, I'm too lazy to argue with you about this. Now I only have two questions for you!"

Zhou Jingming didn't want to waste time; being soaked in the rain was uncomfortable. "First thing, do you know anything about him?"

The young man thought for a moment and said, "This man's surname is Ma, and his name is Ma Jihua. I don't know the specifics, but once when they were drunk, I overheard a few of them talking about how powerful they were back then. I heard that a couple of years ago, they robbed cars and stole things on the highway. Apparently, they stole something valuable and even killed someone. Later, they were chased and ran into the mountains to hide!"

"A fugitive..."

Given this background, Zhou Jingming felt there was nothing to worry about. People like this are best avoided when they're out in the world.

He then asked, "What about Old Tang, who you all followed at the beginning? What did he do?"

"Old Tang did indeed open a joint venture factory, but he didn't manage it properly. Instead, he was more involved in reselling gold, silver, foreign currency, jewelry, cultural relics, and precious medicinal herbs. He also used the reputation of the factories that cooperated with his joint venture factory to swindle and cheat people, engage in black market activities, and make huge profits..."

Later, he was discovered and classified as a speculator. Knowing in advance that he was going to be arrested, he absconded with the money.

He probably met some gold prospectors while trading gold and silver. He heard that gold prospecting here could make a lot of money, and that the area was vast, making it difficult to get caught and with little oversight. So he came here and met the dwarf who had been prospecting for gold for a year.

We're all from his hometown. Word got around, and everyone knows he's a speculator. The short guy is also from our hometown; he's the one who sent the short guy back to bring him here.

Everyone wants to make money, but they don't have any other options. When they hear that they can strike it rich, they gather a bunch of people and come over. Only when they arrive do they realize that he's the one who puts up the initial investment... We've been scammed too!
Since we were already here, we had no choice but to bite the bullet and do it. Who knew that there wouldn't be a single peaceful day in the Gold Rush Valley...

The young man said with a dejected look.

Zhou Jingming chuckled lightly: "None of them were good people; they deserved to die..."

Wu Yang, who was standing to the side, had already squatted down next to Ma Jihua and started searching him. First, he took off a gold chain from his neck and then forcibly pulled off a gold ring from his finger.

Both the gold chain and the gold ring were very crudely made, though they were quite heavy.

I didn't find anything else.

Wu Yang said with some regret, "He was a captain after all, and he must have hidden a lot of gold... I shouldn't have shot him dead!"

Zhou Jingming grinned: "If you don't kill him, he'll lead a bunch of people to mess with you. Don't forget, they have six guns."

He even began to suspect that Wu Yang was addicted to kidnapping people.

But then the young man chimed in, "He's out of gold!"

Wu Yang raised an eyebrow: "How did you know?"

The young man grimaced and rubbed his back: "Originally, Ma Jihua's mine had two terraced mines on the slope, which produced a decent amount of gold. But after we went to their mine, the gold vein broke off after a short time. We dug for several days in a row, but we didn't find any gold."

He then led us to seize another mine, but who knew that the foreman of that mine didn't have many people with him; it was originally a mine owned by a boss named Jin who had the foreman occupy it.

After the mine was robbed, Boss Jin arrived with a large group of men and cornered him inside. Knowing he couldn't win, he backed down.

He was beaten up, returned the mine, and the gold he had panned for a few days ago was stolen by the gold boss, who also told him he never wanted to see him again.

He dared not stay in the main river channel any longer, so he led us to another side ditch and seized another small mining site with only a dozen or so people. As a result, after only a few days of removing the surface mud and sand, before we could start mining, a heavy rainstorm came and the site was washed away overnight.

These past few days, I've been scouting locations everywhere, but after a few days of searching, I've either found the mineral deposits unsuitable due to their grade or they're too small...

Later, he thought of your place and specifically asked the two of us about it. After having someone scout the location, he decided to seize your mining site because your small peninsula is the best in this ravine.

When he asked us questions, the most questions were about Technician Zhou.

I only realized how rare it was in the valley when I got here—people who knew how to find gold nuggets, especially skilled gold prospectors. Ma Jihua was quite ambitious; after being beaten up by that gold boss, he'd been dreaming of becoming an even bigger gold boss himself… He even specifically told me to show you to him before I came, and to be careful not to hurt you.”

He kept looking at Zhou Jingming as he said this.

Wu Yang also turned his head to look at Zhou Jingming: "Brother Zhou, you're a hot commodity!"

Zhou Jingming felt quite helpless at this moment. His identity as a geological exploration technician was a useful shield for him, but at the same time, it was also a burden, as he was the target of too many people's attention.

He was cursing inwardly: "Fine, if you're going to covet something, at least be a normal person! If you want to help find Jin Miao, just give her a little something. I'm not some pretty young lady who wants everyone. Why do you have to force me? Can't you be a little gentler? I'm actually quite easy to talk to."

(End of this chapter)