My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 15 Balloon Shooting Stall
In spring and autumn, it usually gets light around 6 a.m. and dark around 9 p.m. in northern Xinjiang.

In summer, it gets light at 5:30 in the morning and doesn't get dark until 11 p.m., so the daytime lasts for 18 hours.

In winter, it gets light around nine in the morning and gets dark around six or seven in the evening.

This is actually related to the concept of latitude as discussed in geography books.

Many people believe that only longitude can cause time differences, but that's not the case.

In the Northern Hemisphere summer, latitude is an important factor affecting sunrise and sunset times. The closer to the Arctic Circle, the longer the daylight hours, meaning it gets dark later and dawn earlier.

Therefore, the daily routines of the locals in northern Xinjiang are different from those in other places.

Yesterday, after dark, I made a trip to the northwest. By the time Zhou Jingming went to sleep, it was already around one o'clock in the morning.

Although he woke up early the next morning, he didn't rush to get up and leave.

I didn't get up until around eight o'clock, packed my bags, and went to meet up with Wuyang on the streets of the county town.

When he arrived, he saw Wu Yang sitting on a footstool by the wall on the side of the street, his eyes scanning back and forth on the street. He stood up when he saw Zhou Jingming: "Why are you only arriving now?"

His words carried a hint of reproach.

"Why are you here so early?"

Zhou Jingming pointed to the street: "It's early, there aren't many people on the street, the restaurants aren't open yet, and the balloon shooting stalls aren't set up. This is in northern Xinjiang, the daylight hours are different from where we are, and the daily routines are different too. You've been waiting for quite a while, haven't you?"

"We'll be waiting here as soon as it's light!"

Wu Yang scratched his head: "I knew it! The three people staying at the hotel were completely still, fast asleep."

Zhou Jingming asked with a smile, "You've been in Northern Xinjiang for a few days now, haven't you noticed these changes?"

Wu Yang shook his head: "I'm either on the road or on my way, and I'm in a daze all day long, so I haven't really paid attention to these things... What do you want to eat for breakfast?"

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment and said, "It's just breakfast, so anything will do. Let's have some lung noodles, rice sausage, and hand-pulled noodles!"

Noodles with lung and rice sausage is a traditional local snack in northern Xinjiang, consisting of two parts: noodles with lung and rice sausage.

Specifically, "mianfeizi" is made by stuffing cleaned sheep lungs with a mixture of flour and water containing vegetable oil and salt, then cooking them before eating.

Rice sausage is made by mixing chopped sheep liver, sheep heart, sheep intestine fat and rice, adding pepper powder, cumin powder and salt, stuffing it into sheep intestines, cooking it and then cutting it into sections to eat.

These two ingredients are usually eaten together, creating a unique flavor. It is one of Zhou Jingming's favorite dishes from northern Xinjiang.

As for "la tiao zi", it looks like mixed noodles, but it is actually stir-fried noodles. The side dishes cover almost all the vegetables that can be found in the market, and it is stir-fried with a few slices of beef and mutton, which is also a delicious dish.

I ate a lot of mutton last night, so I should eat some noodles today; that would be better.

Since Wu Yang was new to the northern frontier and unfamiliar with these things, Zhou Jingming naturally took charge.

So, although it was said that Wu Yang was hosting the dinner, it was actually Zhou Jingming who was in charge.

The two chose a restaurant that had just opened, and seeing these two snacks on the signboard, they went inside.

After Zhou Jingming negotiated with the shopkeeper in his local dialect, he chose a table by the window and sat down. After waiting for more than ten minutes, the food he ordered was served, and the two of them started eating.

It has the soft and tender texture of lung noodles, the glutinous and fresh texture of rice sausage, and the bright golden-red color, clear and thick sauce, without being oily or disintegrating, with a smooth texture and rich aroma of hand-pulled noodles. All of them are delicious.

Despite the cold morning, the two of them were sweating profusely as they ate.

When Wu Yang paid, he was surprised to find that it was only five yuan and thirty cents: "Are you trying to save me money?"

Thinking back to last night, he felt a little embarrassed that he had spent more than forty yuan of Zhou Jingming's money in one meal.

Zhou Jingming smiled and asked, "Have you had your fill of food yet?"

Wu Yang nodded: "I've had my fill!"

"That's it!"

"I'll treat you from now on!"

"From what you're saying, you feel like you owe me something if you don't eat your fill of that forty yuan." "I do feel like I made you spend too much yesterday... Besides, I can tell now, following you is definitely the right choice!"

Wu Yang leaned closer and lowered his voice: "I just saw someone pay more than three yuan for just a bowl of noodles, while the two of us not only ate noodles, but also noodles..."

"Fresh lung and rice sausage..."

"Yes, I ate lung noodles, rice sausage, and hand-pulled noodles, and it only cost five yuan and thirty cents. It must be because you spoke in the local dialect earlier. That dialect was so authentic. If you hadn't told me you were from Sichuan, I would have thought you were a local. The restaurant is clearly ripping off inland tourists..."

"That's why you have to be careful what you say and how you smoke. If they know you're a newcomer from the mainland and not experienced enough, they'll treat you differently and take advantage of you without hesitation. Once you've been in northern Xinjiang for a while, you'll realize that there's something even worse coming up."

As Zhou Jingming said this, he thought to himself: Those years working in the northern border region were not wasted.

This is also an advantage that allows him to come to northern Xinjiang; at least communication is easier, and he won't be easily ripped off by the locals.

In fact, this kind of "bullying newcomers" is very common in various places, especially in hotels and restaurants around train stations, where traps are everywhere.

Zhou Jingming has traveled all over the country and is already immune to this kind of situation.

Afterwards, the two left the restaurant, with Zhou Jingming leading the way, and headed towards the center of the county town along the street.

The county town wasn't big, and after walking for a short while, Wu Yang saw a balloon shooting stall propped up on the side of the street.

It's not a holiday, and not many people have spare money to play this game, so naturally there's no one at the stall; it's more like a decoration.

At the balloon shooting stall, there was only a tarpaulin with rows of colorful, dusty balloons hanging on it. Three meters away, there were two old desks that looked like they had been moved from some school, with two air guns on them.

Right next to the stall, in an unassuming mud-brick house, a richly patterned and brightly colored carpet was laid out. A middle-aged man dressed in Uyghur clothing was sitting on a shiny leather European-style sofa, eating baked buns and drinking mutton offal soup.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang walked to the stall, but the middle-aged man didn't even look up at them.

Zhou Jingming wasn't surprised. He simply took out a ten-yuan note from his pocket and placed it in a painted earthenware jar next to the balloon shooting stall: "Adasi, we need to go into the mountains and find a team!"

Ostensibly a balloon stall, it was actually a meeting point for gold prospectors. Shooting balloons with air guns was never the stall's main source of revenue.

People who want to form a gold mining team will leave their manpower information and where they want to stay here. People who want to find a gold mining team will also come here to inquire about the team's location. Both parties have to pay money here for this kind of information exchange.

This is only part of the income from this business.

The reason it's described as "partial income" is because the stall owner also handles the resale of the gold, acting as an intermediary and thus earning a larger share of the profits.

Of course, people who can do this kind of thing are definitely not simple.

Tens of thousands of gold prospectors travel to and from northern Xinjiang every year, and this small stall generates a very substantial income.

Only after Zhou Jingming paid did the middle-aged man, who had been slurping his mutton soup loudly, look up and sized up the two of them: "From the mouth?"

"It comes from the mouth!"

Zhou Jingming knew that the owner of the balloon shooting stall wasn't a true local either. He had been around here for quite some time and had developed a keen eye for detail. He couldn't be fooled by a few words of dialect, so he chose to speak frankly.

Locals refer to the mainland as "kouli".

The middle-aged man then asked, "Do we participate in the initial investment? Is it calculated as wages, or a share of the gold?"

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "I won't participate in the initial investment; I'll just contribute my labor and get a share of the profits."

The middle-aged man stood up, took out a notebook from a drawer in a nearby cabinet, and looked at it: "Both Ayina Hostel and Selim Hostel have teams that need people! Go ask them yourselves, and if it's not suitable, come back to me."

After he finished speaking, he went back to sit down and continued eating and drinking.

Zhou Jingming didn't linger any longer, slung his bag over his shoulder, and turned to leave.

Wu Yang followed, somewhat bewildered, and pulled out a packet of Red Snow Lotus from his pocket, handing one to Zhou Jingming: "You earned ten yuan just from a few words? You don't even know where those two inns are!"

Zhou Jingming lit a cigarette: "What, you still want someone to lead you there? The path is under your feet and also on your lips. By the way, don't mention that you used to be an armed policeman, it'll easily arouse suspicion. Don't reveal that you're good at fighting either, it will be a very good trump card."

Wu Yang nodded: "Okay!"

　Thank you to the three readers, Black Aniu, Little Mute's Spring, and Long Memory, for your generous donations!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)