My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 126 He's qualified to be a leader

The issue of whether the gold prospectors would stay or leave the mines had been handed over to Peng Yuanchao and Li Guozhu, so Zhou Jingming didn't inquire about it. However, he believed that many would still choose to stay.

The next morning, before everyone else had gotten up, he got up early, took his hunting rifle, and led Jin Wang, with flashlights in hand, into the woods behind the camp.

Since we're changing mining sites, we should naturally take out the hidden gold and bring it with us.

All the things hidden in the branches of climbing pine trees, buried in the soil at the base of trees, and on the rocky cliffs in the gullies behind the mountains must be taken out.

He deliberately slung his canvas backpack over his shoulder and walked very quickly.

It took nearly an hour to remove all the bran, which was either in cans or in oil paper bags.

The reason for hiding them separately is that if the gold in one place is gone, the gold in the other place will still be there, so that after working hard for half a year, there won't be nothing left.

In the Gold Rush Valley, the people are a mixed bag, and no one knows what anyone is up to. There are also people who often wander around the area. Zhou Jingming can't guarantee that the gold he has hidden won't be coveted or accidentally discovered.

Fortunately, the gold he hid was still there.

The gold, gathered together, was quite heavy.

By the time Zhou Jingming had dealt with the five robbers, he already had 2,038 grams of gold.

That time, forty or fifty people came to seize the small peninsula. The leader was dealt with, and he received fourteen grams of the gold chain and gold ring.

When the Qingshan team came, he gave Liang Tongshu and Liang Mazi about fifty grams of gold, but after the small peninsula started operating normally, all the gold they panned throughout the day was given to him as compensation, amounting to one hundred and twenty-three grams.

The group that seized Li Guozhu's mine came to his door and compensated him with a lot of gold; he received 235 grams.

He was panning for gold a while ago, and found gold on a small peninsula. He accumulated a total of 948 grams.

In the last ten days, Zhou Jingming received another 123 grams.

The money he brought with him to Altay had already been spent on buying daily necessities and production materials. In addition, he had sold eighteen grams of gold when the gold dealers came into the mountains.

Now, Zhou Jingming has 3,413 grams of gold left.

That's quite a lot.

Of course, if one simply stayed at the mine and received only a few grams of gold each day, it would be impossible to accumulate so much gold. We should thank those people for their contributions.

After a quick calculation, Zhou Jingming felt quite at ease.

If this gold is taken to a gold purchasing station, it will fetch 16 yuan per gram, which would be more than 54,000 yuan. If it is sold to a gold dealer, at the current lowest price, it could fetch more than 100,000 yuan.

If gold prices rise next year...

In February 1985, the purchase price rose from the current 16 yuan per gram to 22.4 yuan per gram, and the market price also rose from the current 30 yuan to 45 yuan.

If there were direct channels to transport these to Hong Kong, Macau, and other places, the price would be even higher.

He felt at ease because he estimated that this amount of money was even more than some small-time gold mine owners, and he felt that he was qualified to be the foreman and could more than support the expenses of the new mining site.

He was confident that he could expand the business further and, based on that, make more money and find more gold.

Along the way, he was also thinking about whether to find a channel to export gold. After all, the gold dealers were making a profit from the price difference, which was a huge loss to a large extent.

Zhou Jingming had spent most of his life dealing with gold mining, so he knew a lot about such channels and was confident that he had the ability to open them up.

But now is not the time.

The most important thing is to seize this great opportunity, work hard to mine for gold, and accumulate gold.

After all, the unity that can be bought with gold now will still be worth ten yuan in a few years, but the purchasing power of ten yuan now is incomparable to that in a few years.

Gold is still a good store of value.

Years later, when you can exchange this gold for money, that will be truly rewarding.

When Zhou Jingming returned to the camp, it was just dawn. Everyone was already busy preparing.

Wu Yang, carrying a hunting rifle, sat by the campfire in front of the tent, smoking.

The pot on the fire was bubbling and steaming.

He would stir it with his chopsticks from time to time.

Zhou Jingming also sat down by the campfire: "Brother, have you taken all your things?"

Wu Yang handed Zhou Jingming a cigarette: "Here you go... I went with Shunzai, and he's already got his gold and is packing his things."

Zhou Jingming glanced at the pot, which was filled with simple noodle soup. Several baked buns were roasting in the ashes of the campfire. "After we've eaten our fill and fed Jinwang, we'll set off."

Wu Yang nodded: "Okay!" Just then, seeing that Zhou Jingming had returned, Peng Yuanchao, who was packing his luggage in the tent, reached out and patted Li Guozhu on the shoulder. The two looked at each other and walked out together.

They sat down by the fire, and Li Guozhu spoke first: "Including the few of us, only sixteen people decided to go to the new mining site together. Some of them heard what you said and decided to go home. Others said they wanted to stay in this valley and find a place to work for a while longer. They said that if they went to the new mining site, they would have to dig dugouts again, set up water pumps and chutes, and with all the back and forth, half a month would be gone in no time. They didn't want to waste their time."

Zhou Jingming shook his head indifferently: "Let them do what they want... Anyway, I said that if they don't want to go, it's none of our business."

Peng Yuanchao cursed, "Those damned guys have no conscience. They've worked with us for so long and made a lot of gold, and they don't even show us any mercy. They're so damn heartless."

Zhou Jingming laughed: "You can't say that. They worked hard for us, so they deserve to get their share of the gold... It has nothing to do with conscience or personal feelings."

You've been a regular customer for two years now, surely you know?

In the Gold Rush Valley, are things like conscience and personal relationships truly worthless?

Peng Yuanchao glanced back at the tent: "They all think I can't see through them. They just want to wait until we're all ready so that we can have food and lodging as soon as we arrive, and get gold on the first day of work. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of such a bargain?"

They've already benefited this year.

"Let me make this clear first, I've remembered all these people. If they come back next year and try to come to our new mining site, I don't want them."

Li Guozhu jokingly said, "Brother, why do I feel like you're talking about me?"

Peng Yuanchao was taken aback for a moment, then quickly explained, "The rest of you are going to the new mining site, but you are not included."

“Your temper… When they came, we did have dugouts, tents, and water pumps all set up, but have you ever thought about how many people would have tried to take advantage of us if they hadn’t joined us and increased our strength?”
"If they hadn't joined us, with just ten of us, the water pumps would probably have had to stop for days before starting again, and we wouldn't have gotten all that gold. They all contributed."

Zhou Jingming picked up a piece of firewood, poked at the flatbread in the ashes, and flipped it over to bake it: "Brother Peng, we're reasonable people. You're such a generous person, when did you start to become so petty? What other people want to do and how they want to do it is their business. Why think so much about it?"

Peng Yuanchao shook his head and sighed: "Anyway, I just feel uncomfortable and like he's not loyal."

Li Guozhu glanced at the tents where people were coming and going: "I guess the few of them who don't want to leave want to stay at this mine site... I saw them gathered together the other day, and they even took a walk around the small peninsula. Now they've moved their luggage into the dugouts."

"The sand pits on the small peninsula are still yielding gold, so it's understandable that they want to stay here. I'm just afraid that things will change..."

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "Don't worry about them, they know they could collapse at any time."

He paused for a moment, then asked, "With only sixteen people, can we move all this stuff out of our camp?"

Li Guozhu thought for a moment and said, "We have three carts now, and we don't have much grain left. Five people can take charge of one cart, and moving the goods out won't be a problem."

"That's good. Anyway, once we get there, just wait. At the latest, Wu Yang and I will find a car and come back by tomorrow afternoon. We're carrying gold, so you'd better hold on tight to your guns."

Zhou Jingming added, "The meeting place is by the river where Brother Peng drinks sheep dung. Brother Peng knows that."

Upon hearing this, Peng Yuanchao raised an eyebrow and glared at Zhou Jingming: "I was drinking water, not sheep dung pellets."

Zhou Jingming laughed: "Don't deny it, I saw you spit out two sheep dung pellets with my own eyes. Wu Yang, did you see that?"

Wu Yang grinned broadly, "I saw it too, and I was really impressed at the time. Hmm... I still admire it now!"

Peng Yuanchao's eyes swept back and forth between the two of them, and finally he only said one sentence: "You two are always together, conspiring against each other!"

Zhou Jingming seized the opportunity to joke, "Oh... you've even learned to use this word? I didn't know that, Brother Peng!"

Peng Yuanchao rolled his eyes: "Get lost!"

Despite their playful banter, the two didn't forget their business. After finishing their cigarettes, they went back into the tent to continue packing.

Seeing that the noodles in the antimony pot were floating up and cooked, Zhou Jingming went to the tent, fetched some cornmeal, and used another antimony pot to cook corn porridge to feed the dogs.

Taking advantage of this moment, Wu Yang called over Bai Zhishun and brought him a large bowl and chopsticks. The three of them sat around the fire and filled their stomachs to their hearts' content.

After quickly cooling the cooked cornmeal porridge in cold water and feeding Jinwang, the three of them each packed three or four baked buns, picked up their hunting rifles, and led Jinwang out of the valley along the riverbank.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang each carried only a bag; their other belongings, clothes, and bedding were packed up and left at the camp. When Peng Yuanchao and the others came out, they could simply bring them out in a cart, making it a light trip.

Bai Zhishun brought more things, including clothes and bedding. However, he was strong, so the less than twenty items were no problem for him.

The three of them walked quite quickly along the way.

When we first went into the mountains, we carried a lot of supplies and it took us a day and a half to reach the small peninsula. Now, with the three of us walking, it only took us half a day to get to the roadside.

However, the three of them were unlucky and did not encounter any vehicles coming or going, so they had to continue measuring on foot.

It wasn't until near dusk that a tractor came out. It was probably a local transporting supplies into the mountains, and it was likely that they chose to leave the mountains at night to avoid inspection at the checkpoint.

This guy wasn't as good at handling things as Wang Youping. The three of them stopped the car, and he demanded an exorbitant five yuan from each of them.

However, the three of them were not people who were reluctant to spend money, so they readily paid and got on the bus, arriving in Timak at midnight.

(End of this chapter)