My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 119 Private possession
Zhou Jingming realized that Li Guozhu's mine had been taken over, and he hadn't chosen to leave this side gully or look for good gold deposits; he was actually waiting for Zhou Jingming to come to him.

Although he was full of schemes in his mind, he acted very frankly, as if he was considering Zhou Jingming and the others in every way.

He deliberately revealed his plans in a frank manner, which made Zhou Jingming feel that he had encountered a docile yet cunning fox.

But upon closer reflection, Zhou Jingming didn't find it strange.

If a gold prospector who had been a drifter for many years and had spent three years in the Gold Rush Valley were truly a blank slate, he would have been torn up and used to wipe his own ass long ago.

If he can express his intentions, then it's acceptable.

Even in a gold rush team, you need people with brains.

Of course, Zhou Jingming hoped that his docility was directed at himself, while his cunning was directed at others.

Li Guozhu and his group didn't have much stuff, and they quickly packed it all into the cart. What couldn't fit in the cart was carried on their backs or shoulders.

A group of people followed Zhou Jingming along the riverbank toward the mine.

When Peng Yuanchao saw Zhou Jingming leading people and bringing things from afar, he knew that things had gone well, and he hurriedly instructed everyone to prepare more food.

This day, of course, was a day of rest, allowing everyone to get a basic understanding.

Seeing that Li Guozhu and his group had merged into the mining site, several veteran gold prospectors in the team naturally had their doubts. They didn't want the work to continue for the next six months to end prematurely, and then they would all go their separate ways.

Peng Yuanchao simply recounted what the three of them had discussed the previous night. When they were told that Zhou Jingming knew of even better mining sites where they could pan for more gold every day, they were all speechless.

Incidentally, he also explained the newly agreed-upon method for distributing the gold. After everyone considered it, they felt that it would have a slight impact on the amount of gold they received each day, but the impact was not significant, so they didn't bother to complain.

Because they knew very well that there weren't many teams like Peng Yuanchao's in the Gold Rush Valley.

In addition, as usual, Peng Yuanchao took out the signed agreement, read out the terms and conditions, and had Li Guozhu and others put their fingerprints on it.

With the arrival of Li Guozhu and his group, the abandoned dugout, which had only been used to store some tools and miscellaneous items, was cleaned up and the group moved in.

Starting the next day, the gold panning operation on the small peninsula resumed after Peng Yuanchao made arrangements for manpower.

On the riverbank, the diesel engine chugs and pumps, increasing its horsepower. Two chutes are set up along the riverbank, and water pipes are used to flush the river. The material transport trucks speed along.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang were responsible for shaking the gold dipper. Occasionally, when there was a lot of refined sand accumulated, Peng Yuanchao would come to help. The rest of the time, Peng Yuanchao and Li Guozhu would lead the others to dig and transport the materials.

Compared to Li Guozhu, with whom he had only known for a short time, Zhou Jingming trusted Wu Yang and Peng Yuanchao more.

It's always better to keep gold in your own hands.

Even at the sluice gate, a location where gold could be directly exposed, Xu Youliang, Sun Chenggui, and Bai Zhishun, three reliable individuals, were assigned to the task. Two were responsible for loading the materials, and one was responsible for cleaning up the waste and dumping it into the river.

This is actually a very demanding job, and there's almost no free time throughout the day.

The first day went smoothly without any problems. The 123 grams of gold that were mined were all given to Zhou Jingming as compensation and a reward for his efforts in protecting the mine.

The second day went smoothly as well, and everyone received even more gold than before they merged with the team.

But things went wrong on the third day.

Around noon, a commotion arose from the sandpit.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang put down the golden bucket and gathered with the others at the edge of the sandpit.

In the sandpit, Li Guozhu's nephew, whose face was distorted from being slapped, was surrounded by a group of people shouting, "He's hiding gold! Hand over the gold..."

After listening briefly, the matter was quickly understood.

While they were digging for materials, someone saw Li Guozhu's nephew bend down, rummaging through the mud and sand, and suddenly pick up something and stuff it into his mouth.

In this kind of muddy pit, what else could be worth hiding in your mouth besides gold?
Upon hearing this, Peng Yuanchao immediately tried to jump into the sandpit, but Zhou Jingming grabbed him and gave him a wink.

Peng Yuanchao glanced at Li Guozhu and immediately understood what Zhou Jingming meant.

Li Guozhu's face was very unpleasant. He didn't look at Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao, but went down into the sand pit along the mud and sand embankment on the pit wall. He walked to his nephew's side and said coldly, "Either swallow it and I'll dig it out of your stomach, or spit it out now!"

Upon hearing this, his nephew fell silent, no longer daring to hesitate. He reached for his mouth, scooped something up, and spat it into his palm.

It was a piece of gold larger than a thumb, which could be considered a nugget of gold.

Li Guozhu snatched the gold away: "It's only been three days and you've already done something like this. You've really embarrassed me."

After saying this, he looked around, took a few steps over, picked up a steel rod, and smashed it hard down on his nephew's left leg.

"what……"

His nephew screamed and fell to the ground with a thud, clutching his left leg with both hands, his whole body trembling uncontrollably from the pain.

Li Guozhu showed no sign of stopping, swinging the steel chisel and smashing it several more times.

Seeing that things had almost reached their limit, Zhou Jingming spoke up at the right moment: "Brother Li, stop!"

Li Guozhu brought the steel chisel down again, this time hitting his nephew's left arm.

His nephew immediately let out another scream. That was a truly ruthless attack.

After finishing this action, he turned to look at Zhou Jingming: "Brother, I'm sorry to have made you laugh. It's only been three days since I arrived, and the person I brought has already committed theft. The worst part is that this person is my nephew."

According to the agreement, their arms and legs were to be broken and they were to be driven out.

Rules are rules; they cannot be broken. Once broken, everyone will think about hoarding things, and how can you lead the team then?

Zhou Jingming was well aware of this.

But what he valued was Li Guozhu, not the people he brought with him.

Things need to end in a proper way to win people's hearts; things shouldn't get too tense.

Zhou Jingming sighed: "Brother Li, we've gotten the gold back and beaten the man. Just let him go. His face was already ruined; if we break his arms and legs, he'll be completely useless."

"He's your nephew after all. If you cripple him, you won't be able to explain it to your sister. I don't want to put you in a difficult position. I was hoping you'd work well for me, so teaching him a lesson is enough."

He paused for a moment, then glanced at the others: "You've all seen that. If anyone hides gold again, don't blame us for handling it according to the rules. Got it?"

No one said anything more; they simply picked up their tools and went about their tasks.

Li Guozhu looked at his nephew, who was slumped in the sandpit, groaning in agony, and then at Zhou Jingming: "Brother, I need to ask you for leave and send him away!"

Zhou Jingming nodded: "Have someone come with you!"

Li Guozhu tossed the gold towards Zhou Jingming, who caught it. Zhou then pulled his nephew up, bent down, and carried him on his back, carefully leading him out of the sandpit.

He called out to Wang Dong, who then brought over a cart. He put the man on the cart, then went back to his dugout to gather his nephew's belongings, which he also put on the cart. The two of them pulled the cart along the riverbank and drove away.

Zhou Jingming watched them walk away, then returned to the chute and started shaking the golden bucket.

Wu Yang muttered under his breath, "Li Guozhu really went all out!"

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "If it were someone else, they would have been even more ruthless. It was the wisest thing for him to take action himself. At least he could save his life. If it were someone else, it would be hard to say whether he would survive."

Wu Yang then asked, "Brother Zhou, what do you think will happen if he swallows that piece of gold?"

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment: "Maybe it won't be a big deal. It will come out after a while. It's possible that it's poisoned, but it's just a small piece of gold. It shouldn't be fatal."

"Poisoned?"

Wu Yang was somewhat surprised: "Is gold poisonous?"

"Gold that has been refined multiple times is naturally non-toxic, but the gold we are currently mining is not pure and can only be considered raw gold."

The reason why raw gold is poisonous is not because gold itself is poisonous, but because natural gold contains toxic metals such as lead and mercury. When these toxic substances reach a certain dosage, they can be fatal.

That small nugget of gold shouldn't have that much toxic metal attached to it. Of course, swallowing it doesn't guarantee it will come out smoothly.

Because gold is heavy, it may sink down and compress the intestines, eventually causing the digestive tract to rupture, resulting in bleeding or other complications, and ultimately leading to unbearable pain and death.

There are ancient examples of people dying from swallowing gold.

Even today, in the Gold Rush Valley, some people choose to swallow gold in an attempt to steal it or evade inspection, ultimately losing their lives in the process.

Wu Yang glanced back at the edge of the sandpit but didn't see Peng Yuanchao. He knew Peng was leading people in the work, but that didn't stop him from asking curiously, "Brother Zhou, do you think Brother Peng, who picks out gold every day and often dips his fingers in saliva to stick it to the gold, might get poisoned...?"

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "He didn't swallow his saliva, it's fine!"

Li Guozhu and Wang Dong returned on the afternoon of the third day, pulling a cart loaded with some wine and meat.

Back at the mine, the two men simply greeted the miners but did not participate in any work. Instead, they lit a fire by the tent to prepare dinner.

When Zhou Jingming arrived, he learned that Li Guozhu had taken his nephew to the highway, flagged down a car, and taken him to the hospital in Tiemaike for treatment.

After confirming that he was alright, he gave him the receipts for his savings over the past two years and told him to take a bus back to his hometown on his own.

That was a considerable sum of money, more than ten thousand yuan.

Zhou Jingming asked him, "You gave him all your possessions, isn't that a loss?"

Li Guozhu just smiled and said, "I was the one who brought him out here. Now that he's in this state, I should give my sister an explanation. Giving him that money is a kind of compensation."

As for whether I'll make a profit or not, I haven't really thought about it.

On the other hand, following you, I believe it won't be long before I've earned it all back. Anyway, I'm all alone, so I have nothing to worry about.

Zhou Jingming smiled and nodded: "Brother Li, I hope this matter won't create any rift between us."

"I'm not some unreasonable, complaining woman. He brought it on himself. What does it have to do with you!"

Li Guozhu laughed and retorted, "Am I such an unreasonable person?"

Zhou Jingming laughed too: "Of course you're not!"

(End of this chapter)