My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 149 They were all fooled

Downstream in the valley, after the blasting, once the dust settled, several gold prospectors immediately crawled into the mine and cleared a narrow passage using shovels or their bare hands.

Each blast sends a lot of rocks flying down into the mine, and even clearing a small passage takes a long time to open up the entrance.

As darkness fell, one of the gold prospectors who had been clearing rocks from the cave emerged.

Before he could even speak, the sinister-looking man who was guarding the cave entrance with Gao Jianjun impatiently turned on his flashlight and crawled into the cave.

Gao Jianjun also quickly got up, turned on his flashlight, and followed him inside.

The mine they were in was very deep, winding its way inside the mountain, at least a hundred meters deep.

They reached the end of the mine and crawled through the narrow passage that had been cleared, carefully examining the newly blasted mine walls to see if any gold-bearing rocks were exposed.

However, after scanning the mine wall with several flashlights back and forth several times, the sinister man did not see any golden color on the mine wall, and his expression became very ugly.

He asked another young man wearing glasses sitting on a nearby rock, "Geologist, didn't you say that blasting this mine would have a high chance of finding gold? Where's the gold? I can't see anything. Weren't you quite the expert before?"

Hearing these sarcastic words, the bespectacled man's face turned somewhat ugly: "I said there was a high probability, but I didn't say that gold would definitely be found. Things in the mine aren't so easy to conclude."

These were just abandoned mines and tailings dug by older generations. If there were still gold, why would they give up so easily? What we're doing is picking the meat off bones that others have already gnawed on.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Gao Jianjun withdrew the flashlight beam he had been using to scan the cave walls and focused it on the bespectacled man: "Zhang Haifei, out of our group, you're the only one who understands geology, don't try to fool me..."

The bespectacled man was simultaneously shone with several flashlights and subjected to a barrage of questions and suspicions, which annoyed him: "Shining, shining, shining... are you shining your fathers' lights on?"

"How dare you talk like that? Huh...who are you pretending to be, your father?"

Upon hearing this, the other person immediately lost his temper, grabbed the bespectacled man by the collar, and lifted him up.

Seeing that a fight was about to break out in the mine, the sinister man roared, "All of you, shut the hell up..."

But his shout had little effect.

After days of fruitless efforts, his prestige as the person in charge was steadily waning, especially when everyone was in a bad mood.

As if they hadn't heard him, the group prepared to attack. After one of them slapped the bespectacled man, his anger finally exploded, and he immediately lunged at the man who had hit him, and they began to wrestle and fight.

However, the bespectacled man was relatively weak and was quickly knocked to the ground, then slapped twice across the face.

He struggled a few times but couldn't break free, so he reached out and touched a stone next to him.

Just as he picked up a stone, preparing to smash it against the head of the man holding him down, a small rock suddenly fell from the top of the mine and hit the ground.

This small incident startled everyone, and they all shone their flashlights at the top of the mine shaft where the rock had fallen.

At that moment, the mine was so quiet that only breathing could be heard.

Everyone was afraid that the mine would suddenly collapse.

After waiting for a while and seeing nothing amiss, the sinister-looking man stepped forward and separated the two wrestling figures: "I know you're all in a bad mood, but whatever it is, let's talk about it outside the cave. If you don't want to be buried in there..."

After he finished speaking, he turned on his flashlight and walked out of the cave.

The others followed suit.

Once outside the cave, the bespectacled man said directly, "Since you don't trust me, there's no point in me staying here. I'm going back tomorrow. If you're so capable, go find it yourselves!"

Judging from what just happened, he knew very well that he was being targeted. If he came out to clean the cave, he might not be buried in the mine, but rather beaten to death by these people.

“Zhang Haifei, if you leave, how are we supposed to get this done? This is something we all invested in together. The main reason is that you know how to inspect mines and understand the vein patterns and gold extraction rules... Otherwise, the few of us wouldn’t have dared to come here to mine ore.”

The sinister-looking man frowned: "You can't leave!"

As soon as he finished speaking, another person said, "I'm also planning to leave. It's been so many days, and I've cleaned more than ten mines. I've put in a lot of effort, but where's the gold? I haven't seen a single gold nugget. Rather than suffering in the mountains in this freezing weather, I'd rather go back and hug my wife."

Then two more people also expressed their desire to go home.

"Gentlemen, I know you've come all to clean the cave in this freezing weather, taking such a big risk, and haven't found any gold these past few days. I understand that you're all in a bad mood, and I'm not happy about it myself either."

But that's how it is with cleaning caves; either you don't find gold, or you do, and you become rich overnight.

It's not easy for us to get together like this, so let's all talk things out and not hold grudges. We've all come together this year to pan for gold, and I'm in charge. We've done pretty well this year, mostly thanks to Brother Zhang. You all know his abilities; he can spot gold veins on the riverbank with ease. But if we don't find a good mine, we can't blame him entirely.

Cleaning a hole is inherently a matter of luck.

Seeing that the group was about to break up, the sinister man, as the leader, was the most unwilling to accept it. But at this time, he could not just give up. He could only try to comfort him in a kind voice: "How about this, while we still have the wine, meat and food we brought into the mountains, let's persevere and open three more mines. If none of those three mines produce gold, then we will retreat."

To avoid going back empty-handed, I led a few people to pan for gold along the river. Whatever we found, we'd share. You all trust my ability to pan for gold along the river, right?

The others' expressions softened slightly, and they didn't say anything more. "Shen Wei, you guys do it, I'm not doing it anymore. I'll leave by myself tomorrow."

Zhang Haifei shook his head: "That's how people are. When you have skills and abilities, everyone will fawn over you as long as you can use them. But if things don't go your way, you're considered a sinner. I've seen through things."

Don't try to persuade me. As for the future, we probably won't be getting together again.

He was angry that he had been beaten, and also angry that Shen Fei, as the leader, hadn't helped to restrain or persuade him.

What I'm saying now is just meaningless hindsight.

After he finished speaking, he ignored the others and simply moved his luggage over, took out two steamed buns and some dried meat in an oil paper bag from his bag, and ate them by himself.

After filling his stomach, he fiercely picked up his axe, went to chop some firewood, built a fire by the edge of the mine, spread out a fur coat to cover himself, covered himself with his coat, and went to sleep.

Shen Wei and the others lit a fire and cooked a hot meal. They came to call him, but he ignored them.

Looking at the group of people in front of him, whose hearts were already falling apart, Gao Jianjun also had the idea of ​​leaving.

But they also hoped that the three mines that were opened later might yield some profits.

For a moment, he hesitated.

As he slept wrapped in a quilt by the fire that night, he thought of Zhou Jingming, whom he had seen during the day.

At this time, wandering around the restricted area, it's definitely not for sightseeing; it's probably for cleaning the cave.

I wonder if the three of them will have any good results.

Later, after much thought, he decided to keep his hopes on the last three mines and see if he could find any gold. If he still couldn't find any, he would leave immediately.

The next morning, despite Shen Wei's advice, Zhang Haifei insisted on packing his luggage and leaving alone.

Shen Wei followed him out, saying he was going to see him off.

The two walked out of the valley one after the other, with Shen Wei constantly trying to persuade them.

Gradually, Zhang Haifei suddenly realized that Shen Wei, who had been following him for quite some time, hadn't spoken for a while.

A strange feeling suddenly rose in his heart, and he couldn't help but reach out and touch the lump of gold wrapped in an oil paper bag in his pocket. It was the gold he had been allocated during the last two months of panning in the Gold Rush Valley.

In the Gold Rush Valley, where there are many people and eyes, he doesn't like to hide his gold; he prefers to carry it with him, as that makes him feel more secure.

He suddenly stopped and turned around to look at Shen Wei behind him with a wary expression.

Seeing that Shen Wei was not acting strangely, he breathed a slight sigh of relief: "All good things must come to an end. Don't see me off any further. You still need to clean the cave. I can find my way back."

Shen Wei lowered his head and thought for a while, then looked up at Zhang Haifei: "You really won't work for me next year?"

Zhang Haifei gave a wry smile: "It's hard to say..."

"Since it's hard to say..."

When Shen Wei's brows furrowed, a fierce glint appeared in his eyes. He suddenly pulled out a dagger hidden at his waist and lunged at Zhang Haifei, grabbing Zhang Haifei's hair and stabbing him four or five times with the knife.

Zhang Haifei never expected Shen Wei to suddenly attack. He looked down in horror at his bleeding abdomen, frantically trying to cover it with his hands, but to no avail. The fear of death surged, and his breathing became rapid: "You...you're so ruthless!"

“Since you’re already planning not to follow me, what use are you to me? You might as well hand over the gold you have. I know you like to carry gold with you. Two months’ worth of gold still amounts to a few ounces, which is a considerable sum. Since the mines aren’t producing any gold, I can only try to find a way to get it from you.”

Shen Wei did it as if it were a very ordinary thing. He walked to the side, put the knife into the cold river water to wash it clean, and put it back into the scabbard at his waist.

When he turned around, he saw Zhang Haifei lying on the ground, his eyes wide open, still staring at him intently.

He chuckled, walked over to Zhang Haifei, and began searching him. Soon, he found the small wad of gold in Zhang's pocket.

At this time, Zhang Haifei was still alive.

Shen Wei was not about to give up. He searched the man thoroughly, then removed his bag and rummaged through it for a while before finding a piece of quartz ore with several small gold nuggets inside.

Even if he didn't understand gold mines, when he saw this piece of ore, he knew that a stone with such a high gold content was definitely a rich mine.

He froze for a moment, as if he had thought of something. He turned Zhang Haifei, who was curled up to the side, over and grabbed his collar excitedly: "Did those mines that were blown up before produce rich ore? Are you planning to take this ore and sell it to other gold bosses to make a fortune for yourself?"
I knew it! How could I be so unlucky? I opened so many mines and couldn't find any gold at all. It's unbelievable.

You schemed against me, you fooled me completely. Yesterday's fight was also intentional, wasn't it?

"Which mine is it? Tell me right now, hurry up and tell me!"

Zhang Haifei twitched a few times, looked at the furious Shen Wei, and knew he was doomed. He forced a smile, and before closing his eyes, he left behind the words: "Go eat shit!"

(End of this chapter)