My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 168 You were cheated
The bus station inn has a similar feel to the old-fashioned roadside inns in Northeast China.

In the Northeast, inns typically consisted of two rows of large communal sleeping quarters. Travelers, regardless of gender, would share these rooms, with the only difference being a curtain separating the men and women.

The only difference is that the hostels at the bus station use iron beds, just like you get a seat when you buy a ticket. Staying at these hostels means you buy a ticket and get a specific bed.

After all, it's a bus station with a lot of people coming and going, especially during peak hours when gold prospectors flock in. It's often overcrowded, unlike those privately run inns where you can ask the owner for a private room. There aren't so many rules here.

Therefore, Zhou Jingming was not particularly surprised to see Su Xiulan sitting on the empty bed.

"Girl, don't be too nervous, I'm also from Sichuan."

Zhou Jingming switched to a Sichuan accent and smiled slightly at her: "I heard you say on the train that you were going to the May 1st Farm, so why did you end up in Altan?"

Perhaps because she heard a familiar accent, Su Xiulan's tense expression eased slightly: "They said they haven't arrived yet, the journey is still long."

Zhou Jingming frowned slightly: "As far as I know, the May 1st Farm is less than 30 kilometers away from Wucheng, but you are hundreds of kilometers away from Wucheng... Who are they to you?"

“One is a distant cousin, and the other is said to be her man. I met him a few times when we were young and we got along quite well, but we haven’t seen each other much in the last few years.”

"It's been years since we last met... Did they tell you where to go next?"

"They said we had to go to a place called Timak first, and someone we had arranged would come to pick us up."

“Tymak…we’re going to Tymak too, but as far as I know, this is a place where gold prospectors gather, not a place for a young lady like you.”

Unlike after 1990, everyone now wants to go out and make money, wants to get rich and change their lives. Many places have signed labor export agreements with sparsely populated areas, so more people are flocking to the region. Some go to farms or other places, while many others flock to gold panning sites to work in mines.

Back then, I often heard people say a local saying: "We're going to the Altai Mountains to dig for Altai."

In the local dialect of Altai, "gold" means gold, which is equivalent to digging for gold in a gold mine.

By then, more couples were going out to pan for gold together. Women became a common sight in the gold rush valleys, mostly working in the mines of licensed gold mine owners, doing the same work as the men, though of course, they would be paid much less.

But now is the most chaotic time for private gold mining. Apart from some wealthy gold miners and bosses who bring their mistresses to the gold mining valley for enjoyment,

To appease the gold miners working under their command, they would also bring one or two women who engaged in prostitution along with the group to solve their physical needs.

She was led this way, and the couple didn't seem to be gold prospectors, so they were very likely human traffickers replenishing supplies for some gangs that ran a sex trade on the outskirts of town.

Su Xiulan was unfamiliar with the situation here, but Zhou Jingming was. It wasn't hard to tell from her words that she had been deceived.

Upon hearing this, Su Xiulan's expression immediately became flustered. She must have realized the seriousness of the problem: "I knew it was going astray... something just felt off..."

As she said this, she fumbled around in her bag, pulled out a switchblade, and put it in her pocket.

It seemed that the switchblade brought her great comfort, and her expression calmed down considerably.

Seeing this small gesture, Zhou Jingming couldn't help but look at her with new respect. He had previously thought she was gentle and weak, but now he seemed to be able to glimpse some fierceness hidden in her heart.

On the other hand, the fact that she decided to leave Sichuan to make a living elsewhere is enough to show that she had some courage.

Just then, footsteps were heard outside, and soon the couple appeared at the door.

Upon seeing Zhou Jingming and his two companions, the two paused slightly, then the man laughed, "What a coincidence!"

Zhou Jingming smiled at him and said, "It's really fate. I thought we were just traveling together for a while on the train, but I didn't expect to run into each other here."

"Judging from your appearance, you three are here to pan for gold, right? Isn't it a bit too early to come at this time?"

"You know about gold panning too?"

“I’ve heard a little bit!”

"We've only heard about it... We're not here to pan for gold, we're here to work. On the bus, you mentioned you were going to May Day Farm, and we were wondering if you could show us the way. We've been here a few times, but we've never heard of a place like May Day Farm."

Upon hearing this, the couple were slightly taken aback, feeling as if a thorn had been stuck in their throats. They couldn't say what they wanted to say, and their gazes shifted back and forth between Zhou Jingming, the other two, and Su Xiulan.

Finally, he could only laugh awkwardly: "You're joking. You three are clearly not ordinary people. How could you not find your way?"

Zhou Jingming's smile faded: "I really can't find it!"

The man glanced at Zhou Jingming, then at Su Xiulan. Seeing Su Xiulan hiding behind Zhou Jingming, his eyes narrowed. "Brother, let's talk in private."

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment and said, "Okay!"

Seeing the man walk outside, Zhou Jingming followed him out.

The two stood in a corner of the room. The man chuckled and said, "Judging from what you just said, you want to interfere in my affairs?"

Zhou Jingming said calmly, "Interfering in your affairs... what do you mean by that?"

The man frowned: "Don't play dumb with me. Let's be frank. I'm telling you straight, the people behind me are people you can't afford to mess with."

Zhou Jingming stopped pretending: "You have someone backing you? Are you talking about those prostitutes outside Altan County or the group on the outskirts of Tiemaike Town?"

Like in Tiemaike, outside Altan County, in the area bordering the suburbs, some people have set up a place where women are engaged in prostitution. Some hotels and guesthouses in the county town also have such establishments.

There are many places around Altan where gold is found, with Donggou and Xigou branching off here. This area has always been a gathering place for gold prospectors. Besides the foremen who bring people from their hometowns to pan for gold together, there are also many foremen who can afford to invest upfront. They find a hotel in Altan County to stay in, recruit enough people, and then go into the mountains to pan for gold. Just like Peng Yuanchao recruiting people at the Ayina Hotel last year.

With a large number of gold prospectors gathering, naturally some people would want to do business with them. Prostitution is undoubtedly the fastest way to make money, and such dens are the most lucrative.

Of course, only powerful people can maintain order in such places.

“You don’t need to know who’s behind me. You should know that I can make sure you never leave Altan.”

"Scared me?"

Zhou Jingming scoffed, "Whether I can leave Altan or not is not up to you. To tell you the truth, I've taken a liking to this girl. She knows she's been deceived by you... Are you really relatives? Well, relatives are easier to fool, especially a girl with no one to rely on."

"So ungrateful...we'll see."

Upon hearing this, the man's face turned grim, and he finally shouted at the woman still standing at the door, "Let's go!"

The woman hesitated, looking at the two of them, before finally turning to Su Xiulan in the room: "Cousin, are you coming with us?"

"Not with!"

From inside the room came Su Xiulan's cold voice: "I call you cousin, and you lied to me... No wonder you were being so secretive all the way here. I had a feeling something was off between you two."

"You... let me tell you, if you don't come with us now and something happens, don't blame your cousin."

The woman snorted coldly, turned around and followed the man back to the room, picked up her luggage, and hurriedly left the bus station inn.

Zhou Jingming also returned to his room. Watching the two leave, he smiled at Su Xiulan and said, "These are two kidnappers."

He paused for a moment, then turned to Zhao Li and Li Guohua and instructed, "Protect her well, I'm going out for a bit!"

Zhou Jingming subconsciously told him that it was best not to get involved in such matters, but when he saw Su Xiulan, he inexplicably felt a desire to protect her.

Why not be young again and be wild? Since you're tempted, there's no reason to hold back when you have such a great opportunity.

The man said he had someone backing him up, and Zhou Jingming had no doubt about the truth of his words.

Since they're involved in human trafficking, bringing people all the way to this place means there must be someone to meet them for the transaction. There's a whole set of business relationships involved in this kind of thing.

When the man made those threats, Zhou Jingming really wanted to take action. The reason he restrained himself was because this was a bus station inn, not some desolate wilderness. If he really started a fight, it would be too easy to get himself into trouble.

Now that the two have left, it means trouble may already be on its way.

In that case, it is necessary to deal with the people who might cause trouble.

He followed them out of the inn and saw the couple standing under the city gate in the distance, talking about something.

Seeing the two turn around and look in the direction of the inn, Zhou Jingming quickly hid in the corner. After waiting a few seconds, he peeked at the two again and saw that they were not heading into the county town, but instead heading out of the county town. He was overjoyed.

If we go to the county town, things will get quite complicated.

But things would be easier if we went outside, especially now that it's already dark.

Of course, their departure must have had a purpose.

The direction they were heading was towards the hideouts in the urban-rural fringe area.

Zhou Jingming knew the place. He took advantage of the darkness to catch up and then waited under the dark shade of a poplar tree by the roadside.

Not long after, the couple came along, waving flashlights and cursing all the way.

"Damn it, I wonder where Brother Ma went. If he had been here when we came here last time, we would have already got the money, and no one would have interfered with us."

"Do you think Brother Ma will help us if we go to him now?"

"Definitely. You know that girls who are innocent and beautiful are the most valuable. There are many wealthy businessmen or bosses who are willing to spend a fortune to break a girl's virginity and seek excitement. That's a big business."

Your cousin has a great figure and looks, and she can make him a lot of money in the future. If you just talk to him, he'll definitely help us. Besides, we've gone through all that trouble; even if we don't make a fortune, we should at least get some compensation, otherwise we'll lose everything."

"So, how are you going to explain this to Timac? You promised to help them restock."

"What else can we do? Once this is over, we'll go back and find someone else..."

Before the man could finish speaking, he suddenly heard a sound behind him. He instinctively stopped and turned around to see a person emerging from behind a poplar tree by the roadside and lunging at him.

He was terrified. Before he could even see who it was, he was kicked in the groin. He jumped up and down, but the suffocating pain made him unable to scream. He fell to the ground hunched over, and then felt something sharp slicing across his neck.

The woman saw clearly that it was Zhou Jingming who had pounced on her. Seeing how fiercely he attacked, taking the man down in a single move, she screamed in fright and turned to run away.

But Zhou Jingming wasn't about to let her go. He rushed forward a few steps, grabbed the woman's hair, and yanked her back sharply.

He pulled the woman backward and threw her heavily to the ground, then slashed the Ingisa knife in his hand towards her neck.

(End of this chapter)