My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 140 Give him an advantage
Zhou Jingming hadn't gone far when he heard gunshots.

Not knowing the specifics of the situation, he quickened his pace and, panting, climbed up the hillside into the woods. When he found Wu Yang, he saw him leisurely smoking a cigarette, and immediately felt relieved.

Then look at Jinwang, barking wildly around the burly man, occasionally sticking out his mouth to scoop up a bite, forcing the man to cower among the branches of a clump of bushes and scream like a ghost.

He hid in the bushes to avoid danger, but once inside, it felt like he was locked in a cage, restricted in every way, making it harder to escape. His legs, arms, and buttocks were constantly being scooped up by Jin Wang, leaving them covered in blood. With Wu Yang around, he didn't dare to fight back.

His most serious injury was on his right arm, caused by a gunshot wound inflicted by Wu Yang.

Seeing Zhou Jingming come up, Wu Yang asked, "Brother Zhou, how is Nara?"

"I woke her up by pinching her philtrum... She went to the mine to find us, who knew she would run into this guy. I've already told her to go back and treat her wounds herself."

Zhou Jingming didn't stop Jin Wang. He lit a cigarette and ignored the man's words about begging for mercy with the gold he had.

He didn't stop Jin Wang until he finished his cigarette, and asked the man, "If you don't want to suffer any longer, you'd better answer my questions honestly... Are you alone?"

They must have come to the mountains to pan for gold.

But if someone is here to pan for gold, even if it's just to scout out a spot, they should at least have some basic tools, but this person didn't bring anything with them.

"Just...just me!"

The burly man's face was filled with panic: "Our team has already gone back. On the way, we encountered a surprise inspection by the checkpoint. In order to protect the gold we had, we decided to split up and run away... I, I came here by accident..."

"You think you can just become a lustful glutton once you get here?"

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "I know why the herders hate gold mining more and more. It's not just because the grasslands are being destroyed, but also largely because of you bastards, you're so damn inhuman... Get out here..."

The burly man was already deflated. Hearing Zhou Jingming's shout, he trembled involuntarily. He didn't know what the two men in front of him wanted to do, but the current situation clearly left him no choice.

The ruthlessness emanating from Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang chilled him to the bone, as did that dog…

He emerged from the foliage, only to be shoved from behind by Wu Yang, causing him to stumble.

Zhou Jingming gave Wu Yang a wink, and Wu Yang immediately pulled him back, rummaged through his clothes, and pulled out a small oil paper bag containing a small packet of bran.

He was already very experienced in searching things, and continued to carefully examine the man's clothes. Sure enough, he found a few small, hard lumps on the corner of the cotton-padded coat.

He reached out his hand to Zhou Jingming.

Zhou Jingming tacitly took out the Yingjisha knife hidden at his waist and handed it to him.

After taking it, Wu Yang tore open the man's cotton-padded coat and picked out a few small gold beans from the cotton.

After another careful search, he found something in the collar area.

Wu Yang cut open his collar with a knife and took out two thin pieces of gold coin shaped like small dog heads.

Upon further investigation, nothing was found except for a few dozen yuan.

He stood up, returned the knife to Zhou Jingming, and casually put the items into his pocket: "This guy really embezzled quite a bit when he was panning for gold... What should we do?"

"Send it to Batu!"

Zhou Jingming kicked the man in the butt, sending him staggering down the hillside for several steps before he could barely regain his balance. He was then escorted by the two men, limping down the hillside and back to the riverbank.

Then, after walking downstream along the riverbank for about three or four miles, they encountered a man carrying a hunting rifle, riding up on horseback.

Upon seeing the three people, the man nimbly jumped off his horse.

"Batu...it's him!"

Now that Nara has returned, Batu should already know what happened.

Batu angrily approached the man, gripping his hunting rifle with both hands, and slammed the butt of the rifle down hard.

The man swayed a few times, then lay flat on the riverbank and remained motionless.

Zhou Jingming could see clearly that the gun butt had struck his temple, a vital spot. A heavy blow delivered in anger would certainly be fatal.

He crouched down, reached out and checked the man's breath, only to find that he was no longer breathing.

He looked up at Batu: "Dead!"

Batu was also stunned for a moment, and finally spat at the man: "He got off easy."

He looked around, went into the woods nearby, pulled out the knife he was carrying, and started digging in the dirt.

Zhou Jingming couldn't help but ask, "Batu, what are you doing?"

Batu's hands didn't stop moving: "Dig a hole and bury him!"

"Gold prospectors usually threw them into the river!"

"That would dirty the water..."

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang exchanged a glance and followed to help.

After half an hour of struggling, the three of them finally dug a large pit. Batu dragged the body into the pit and buried it.

There was no way to build a grave mound for this, and Zhou Jingming knew that Batu was more interested in covering it up.

After burying the body, Batu gathered some dry leaves to cover it.

"I'm sorry, Batu, if it weren't for my need to buy sheep, Nara wouldn't have been in danger!"

"It's none of your business. This man had wicked intentions. Even if he hadn't sent Nora to you, he would have found an opportunity. Luckily you were there, otherwise Nora would have been ruined today. I'm so grateful to you... Come on, let's go pick some sheep."

Oh, and when you get to the tent, don't tell my family. Just say you beat him up and kicked him out, otherwise it'll scare them.

"it is good!"

Afterwards, Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang followed Batu, who was leading a horse, and continued downstream for about two more miles until they reached a mountain meadow.

The sheep were scattered around, grazing on the grass, and two elderly people on horseback were watching over them; they looked like Batu's parents.

As soon as a stranger approached, Batu's two sheepdogs barked and rushed down.

Jinwang wasn't intimidated. He charged at the black and white sheepdog, barking wildly. Just as they were about to bite, Zhou Jingming quickly stopped Jinwang, and Batu chased his male dog away. As for the female dog, she was the type that never bullied the male dog.

"Come sit in the tent, I'll definitely have a good drink at my house today."

Batu beckoned the two of them to walk toward the tent.

However, Zhou Jingming didn't want to linger here any longer: "They're all still working, so we won't go... We'll leave once we've chosen the sheep. You should be moving to a new pasture soon, the temperature here is getting lower and lower."

"I plan to leave tomorrow; I won't be back here until next summer."

“Then we’ll have a chance to meet again. We’ll still be in that mountain valley next year.”

Batu nodded: "That's good."

His parents rode up on horseback, and after Batu introduced them, they got to know each other and warmly invited Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang to their home, but Zhou Jingming politely declined.

Nora, however, never reappeared.

Batu was also not a good talker, probably because he had been in the mountains for a long time. He spoke very little and was very straightforward. He led the two of them to pick sheep.

At times like these, one would naturally choose the fattest, castrated sheep; the uncastrated ones have too strong a gamey smell and don't taste good.

Batu didn't use a rope to tether them. He knew his sheep very well, and after pointing them out one by one, he could remember them all.

Having to spend the long, cold winter in their dugouts, they couldn't survive without stocking up on meat. After a while, Zhou Jingming said, "That's enough, just these eight sheep!"

Batu nodded: "It's not easy to catch them now. I'll catch a sheep and bring it to you later."

Zhou Jingming reached into his pocket and took out the money.

Seeing this, Batu shook his head repeatedly: "Adasi, no need for money, I'll give it to you!"

"That won't do. You work so hard herding sheep, these sheep didn't grow this big in just a day or two. I estimate each sheep weighs around 100 pounds, so I'll give you the market price..."

"The one thing I have plenty of here is sheep..."

“Brother, although I’ve never raised sheep before, I’ve been here for quite a while now. It’s going to be tough, especially in winter. You’ll need money for everything. Don’t be shy about asking me for this.”

Zhou Jingming still counted out thirty large bills and forced them into Batu's hand.

Without waiting for him to say anything more, she called Wu Yang over and turned to leave.

Batu stared blankly at the two men, then looked at the money in his hand. He quickly counted it and shouted at them, "You've overpaid even by market price!"

Zhou Jingming waved his hand without turning his head and kept walking.

Unbeknownst to them, the curtain of the white tent had been lifted, and Nora was peeking out, staring longingly at them.

Batu noticed this, looked at Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang, then at Nara, and turned to the tent: "Little sister, have you taken a liking to them? Which one is it? Tell your brother."

Nora blushed and lowered the tent flap.

Batu, however, was not about to give up: "If you really like him, marrying a Han Chinese isn't out of the question."

Inside the tent, Nora sat back on the bed, head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang quickly returned to the riverbank and headed upstream back.

Wu Yang put all the gold nuggets, gold beans, and the two small pieces of gold together and weighed them in his hand: "At least two hundred grams!"

Zhou Jingming nodded slightly: "After we get back, let's split it up according to the rules we agreed on before!"

"Ok!"

Wu Yang responded, then added, "Brother Zhou, the hats worn by the Kazakh women are quite unique. Why do they have a tuft of feathers at the back?"

Zhou Jingming looked at him with a smile: "Tell me honestly, are you interested in Nora?"

"Nothing..."

Wu Yang vehemently denied it: "I was just a little curious."

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment: "The hats of Kazakh women are quite particular. Unmarried girls wear a pretty triangular or square headscarf in the summer, and when it gets cold, they wear the kind of hard-shelled, domed hat you saw today made of velvet, decorated with owl feathers."

When she was a bride, she wore a pointed hat embroidered with flowers and decorated with gold and silver jewelry, with a beaded curtain hanging in front of her face. A year later, she changed to wearing a floral headscarf, and after having children, she began to wear a shawl.

Nora is still a young girl, you have a chance!

Wu Yang grinned: "Brother Zhou, can you stop harping on this?"

Zhou Jingming's smile only grew brighter.

The two returned to their dugout together, put away their hunting rifles, and then went to the riverbank to shake the golden bucket. Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu, and others naturally asked them a series of questions.

Zhou Jingming could only briefly recount the events, emphasizing once again that everyone should keep their crotches in check.

As evening approached, the group gathered around the earthen stove, smoking and chatting, waiting for the meal to be cooked and for Peng Yuanchao and Li Guozhu to sort out the gold. Just then, Jinwang suddenly got up and barked towards the poplar grove.

Zhou Jingming was on guard out of habit. After a short while, he saw Batu and his father bringing over the eight sheep. Each sheep had a rope tied to its head. Since it was difficult to manage so many sheep, they were all tied up by the poplar grove on the riverbank.

After a brief greeting, Batu and his father went back.

That one night, everyone suffered terribly.

Perhaps because they were separated from the herd, these sheep kept bleating incessantly in the middle of the night, disturbing everyone's peace.

The next morning, Peng Yuanchao started complaining: "Hurry up and kill these sheep. If they keep bleating like this, they won't survive."

Zhou Jingming originally intended to keep these sheep until it snowed, so that they could be preserved by the ice and snow and at least have some fresh food.

But then I thought, burying all that flesh and blood in the snow could attract wild animals from the mountains, which would be even more dangerous. It would be better to prepare it all, smoke it, and preserve it, since many wild animals don't like the smell of smoke anyway.

He immediately shouted, "Those who want meat today, help slaughter the sheep; those who don't, continue panning for gold..."

Upon hearing this, several gold prospectors who had found their own tools and were preparing to dig for gold threw down their tools and gathered around.

(End of this chapter)