My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 173 Fire a shot and then move on

After the matter was settled, the middle-aged man surnamed Sun left, saying he was going to collect the money.

Not long after, he came back with some money in a bag.

He did it himself, so there was no need for a middleman.

There were only him and Zhou Jingming in the room.

While weighing the gold nugget he brought with a balance, Zhou Jingming was still thinking about how to further purify it.

To be honest, getting this gold from the caves upstream of the Haiertes River was quite a struggle, mainly in grinding the ore. We had to use hammers to smash the ore into fine powder for panning, which was time-consuming, laborious, and very rough. The waste residue that was thrown away after panning still contained a lot of gold, which was quite a waste.

Furthermore, the gold in question is of poor quality. If it were further refined to a purity of over 90%, it could be sold for the current price of 48 yuan per gram.

Now that it's 30% off, it's 33.6 yuan per gram, which has significantly reduced the price of this gold.

However, there are currently no specialized testing instruments to determine purity, so pricing can only be based on the color or appearance of the product.

There are two theories about the purity of gold: one is that it is seven parts green, eight parts yellow, and nine parts red; the other is that it is seven parts green, eight parts yellow, nine parts purple, and ten parts red, with four or six parts not being considered gold. The latter statement is more in line with reality.

"Seven green" refers to the yellowish-green color of gold containing 70% gold, while "eight yellow" refers to the yellow color of gold containing more than 80% gold.

Similarly, gold with a gold content of 90% is purplish-yellow; the purest gold is reddish-yellow and is also called red gold.

Gold with a purity of less than 60% will no longer have the color of gold. Gold with a purity of less than 60% is slightly yellowish-white, while gold with a purity of less than 40% is completely white.

Of these two accounts, the former is more prevalent among gold prospectors in the Gold Rush Valley.

The latter is a method commonly used by gold dealers to distinguish between genuine and fake gold.

To put it bluntly, one side is trying to sell the gold they've mined for the best possible price, naturally exaggerating the gold's value and ignoring the "Nine Purples" theory.

The other was to try to lower the price of the gold as much as possible, to distinguish it more carefully, and to emphasize the "Nine Purples" theory.

Of course, it is also true that the gold panned in the valley is of much higher purity than lode gold, and the purity of gold panned in different sections of the river also varies.

When buying and selling, you really have to be careful to distinguish between different options.

If you want to further purify gold but can't get those chemical reagents for the time being, mercury is the most convenient option.

Others might need to buy it, but Zhou Jingming can easily find the materials locally.

He thought that once the Haxionggou project was officially operational, he would need to find some mercury mines, refine some mercury, and store it.

The fine sand, still containing gold dust, that was left over after the gold was selected last year is still in bags, lying in a corner of the dugout. It's time to get rid of it.

The remaining 942 grams of gold were placed on the table, along with 31,650 yuan. The 1.2 yuan was not bothered with.

Zhou Jingming and the middle-aged man surnamed Sun each got what they wanted.

He took the money and was about to leave when the middle-aged man surnamed Sun stopped him: "My surname is Sun, and my name is Sun Huai'an. Brother, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Now that we've reached an agreement, this is my territory. If you don't come over for a drink, it would be a disrespect on my part. Of course, if you're interested in any of the women here, you can pick whichever you like, including the brother who came with you."

Zhou Jingming turned to look at him: "The things you're carrying are a huge sum of money. It's definitely not appropriate for you to stay here any longer. As for drinking, forget it. And as for women, I don't even want them..."

After he finished speaking, he continued walking towards the gate.

"We can talk about other things, like supplies. Brother, to tell you the truth, most of the supplies that are transported to the mountains to be sold to gold miners are also handled by my men in the ravines around Tiemaike. If you need anything, I can help you."

I heard that last year, many of your people went out to carry diesel fuel, which was quite a lot of work... If you need anything, you can contact me. I can also help you get any other supplies you need, and I can even help you transport them into the mountains.

Of course, the price won't be much higher than the market price, but it will definitely be much lower than what I sell to others, just to make a little money from my hard work.

Hearing him say that, Zhou Jingming actually had some thoughts.

Since getting the water pump from Lao Tang, the sluice box washing of ore has been much faster, but buying diesel has always been a troublesome matter. We have to find someone to buy fuel coupons, and we can't buy them in large quantities at once, so we have to make a trip to Tiemaike every month or so, which takes four or five days each time.

Since Sun Huai'an can easily obtain it, it can indeed provide a lot of convenience.

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment: "Why are you helping me so much?"

Sun Huai'an smiled and said, "That's a good question. We're partners now. I'm helping you so you can find more gold. The more gold you find, the more gold I can get from you and earn. It's a win-win situation."

Zhou Jingming nodded slightly: "I've bought almost everything now. I'll contact you again when I need it... I'm leaving!"

He carried the more than 58,000 yuan he had earned from selling gold, opened the door and went out, calling Wu Yang, who was guarding outside, and quickly left.

The money in the bag weighed more than ten kilograms, and it was quite heavy to carry.

Sun Huai'an carried the gold out of the house, watching Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang's figures disappear around the corner.

The subordinate who had stormed into the trading room with him leaned over and said, "Brother Sun, should I go and check it out?"

Sun Huai'an glanced at him: "What are you going to see? What's so interesting about it? Just look at how cowardly you were before. You opened the door and saw someone holding a gun, and you were too scared to move."

Look at how other people interact with others.
We didn't show ourselves in front of him; we came in through the back door. But he could tell someone had broken in and there might be a problem, so he immediately went to the back door and could break in at any time.

And you, they're already at the door, did you even notice? You didn't feel a thing.

Your marksmanship is good, but compared to that person, you're far inferior. If you want to go and see for yourself, don't go and embarrass yourself.

I've seen all sorts of people here. Judging from his movements, he's most likely a former soldier.

And this guy surnamed Zhou, I specifically inquired about him, and he really is a technician who came from the geological team. People like him who leave the geological team to work independently are definitely very capable. Don't mess with them; on the contrary, give them as much help as possible. I'm counting on making money with him. Next time you see him, be polite, you hear me?

The man nodded repeatedly: "Brother Sun, I understand."

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang quickly left the hideout, only slowing down when Wu Yang said no one was following them.

Zhou Jingming asked, somewhat puzzled, "Wu Yang, how did you know that the man surnamed Sun had entered the trading room?"

“I saw a woman looking back at the back of the house... We’ve been here a few times and we know there’s nothing behind this house. Since she was looking inside, she couldn’t be looking at empty air. I figured there was probably someone there who was worried about us, so I went around to the back to take a look. I saw that the back door was closed, and I thought there must be something wrong. If the door had opened any slower, I would have just broken it open.”

"So that's it."

What were you saying in there?

“The man surnamed Sun is probably the person in charge of this den. He also wants to get involved in the gold business. He said he has made a connection in Hong Kong and wants to cooperate with me in the long term.”

"You agreed?"

“I agreed. I’m planning to sell all the gold I have while the price is still pretty good. As you know, the expenses of running a mine are considerable each month. If we have more people, maybe a hundred or so, we’ll need at least 60,000 to 70,000 a month to keep it afloat.”

"If you need more, just let me know. I have all that gold lying around anyway."

"Don't worry, if it really stops working, I'll definitely come to you!"

Wu Yang's words touched Zhou Jingming.

It's rare for someone to be willing to take out their gold to help others.

"He doesn't have that much money on hand right now, so we agreed to meet again in half a month. I'll set the time and place for the transaction. I can tell he's still somewhat sincere. He'll come with me then."

As for long-term cooperation, it's limited to while I'm still panning for gold in Xigou.

In the future, they will accumulate more and more gold, which will be beyond the reach of ordinary buyers.

Zhou Jingming also needs a larger buyer.

Especially for buyers who can provide more convenience.

The mining sites that Zhou Jingming compiled in his notebook were not all located in Xigou. After the mining in Haxionggou was completed, he would have to move to other places next year. The next mining site he wanted to go to was quite far away from here.

At that time, I probably won't have any further contact with Sun Huai'an.

It's good to have sex once and then move on to another place. Zhou Jingming felt that severing ties when the time was right wouldn't do him any harm.

Whether it was gold mining or the "business" Sun Huai'an was doing, it was all illegal. He didn't want Sun Huai'an's hideout to be raided one day, and him to become the prime suspect who was implicated.

If you need to distance yourself, then you should; it's best to forget each other.

The two returned to the inn, invited a group of people to a restaurant for a meal, and then went to find Wang Youping, asking him to call another tractor to help transport people, supplies, and tools the next day.

It's just that Zhou Jingming only has one tractor, so he has to make several trips back and forth, which is too troublesome.

The next day, Wang Youping led the tractor driver who had helped Zhou Jingming transport goods twice to the scene early in the morning. A large group of people loaded the purchased goods into three tractors. After everyone was on the trucks, Jin Wang was handed over to Wu Yang for safekeeping, and they headed towards Haxionggou.

The last time Wang Youping took Zhou Jingming to Haxionggou, he went to the Haiertes River to pick him up and then turned back, spending the night in the mountains before returning the next morning.

This time, the journey wasn't that long; by noon, they had reached a point where the tractor could go no further.

After unloading the goods and paying the freight, the two tractor drivers immediately headed home.

Zhou Jingming, Wu Yang, and Bai Zhishun then directed the group to load the goods into the carts, and some were carried on people's backs, as they headed into the mountains.

Looking at the tractor abandoned in the field, with only the crank and belt removed and covered with some branches, Wu Yang asked, "What should we do with this tractor?"

"Easy to handle!"

Zhou Jingming had already planned: "Once these things are transported to Haxionggou, the dugouts are dug out, and everyone is settled in, I will have them come out to check the route, cut down any trees that are in the way, pad the areas that need padding, and dig the areas that need digging."

Tractors don't have high requirements for the road surface; it doesn't need to be repaired very well. It only takes three to five days to build the road into Haxionggou.

"Don't think it's troublesome. Now that the road is repaired, what used to take two days one way can be done in one day. With more people, we'll need a lot of supplies, and we'll be using the tractor more often, so it's really necessary. At least it will save a lot of time. It's not good to always go to Wang Youping and the others. The freight fees we pay them are enough to buy a lot of potatoes and cabbages."

The group had to carry a lot of supplies and the journey was difficult, so they had to spend the night in the mountains before arriving at Haxionggou the next afternoon.

At the mining site, a group of people were still digging the deep pit needed to build their dugouts. Old Liu stood guard by the pit, watching over them. Of all the people present, he was the only one who had worked in the Gold Rush Valley and knew what to do.

These past few days, he has been the sole organizer and supervisor.

Seeing Zhou Jingming arrive with a large group of exhausted men, he asked a few of them to come out and help move the supplies to the side of the dugout.

When he met Zhou Jingming, he casually slipped a bag into Zhou Jingming's pocket.

Zhou Jingming reached out and touched them, pinching them between his fingers. He knew they were gold beans and gold nuggets dug out of deep pits in the ground, estimating they weighed about a hundred grams.

Zhou Jingming smiled at him and said, "Thank you, sir."

Old Liu just smiled and gestured towards Su Xiulan, who was helping to load the excavated mud and sand onto a cart by the edge of the dugout: "This girl is quite good. Don't let her petite appearance fool you, she works very efficiently, just as well as any grown man."

Zhou Jingming nodded: "This is a girl who can go down into the coal mine and carry coal; she's not delicate at all."

(End of this chapter)