My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 197 A Cautious Approach

Zhou Jingming took the first day's harvest very seriously, spending almost the entire day wandering around the several sheet metal chutes that had been set up.

The clear river in Haxionggou began to turn murky.

After mining for so long, the ore was piled up along the river, accumulating into a considerable amount.

With only two chutes and so many people still digging, there wasn't enough time to wash them. Therefore, Zhou Jingming prepared four more sheet metal chutes in addition to the supplies he brought into the mountains this time.

There are no machines to pump water at the moment, so we can only wash the plants by carrying water while wearing waders.

It wasn't that he didn't want to use a diesel engine; the main reason was that diesel was difficult to purchase before, and the mine only had about forty people, so one water pump was barely enough. Moreover, the situation in the valley was unstable, and buying more water pumps would sometimes become a burden.

He didn't expect that Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu and Wang Dong would all come, and they all brought their own people, bringing the number of people at the mine to over a hundred at once.

That water pump was far from sufficient.

Since Sun Huai'an said he had a way to get diesel fuel, he started thinking about when to go to Timbuk or Altan and get another one.

Gold has started to be found. Zhou Jingming did not let Old Man Liu go hunting, but only let him and Wu Yang patrol the surrounding area and pay attention to the surrounding movements.

Peng Yuanchao, Li Guohua, and Bai Zhishun were responsible for leading people to mine minerals, which also included supervision to prevent petty theft.

Li Guozhu and Zhao Li were assigned by him to manage the people at the upstream mining site.

The meals for over a hundred people were beyond what Su Xiulan could easily manage on her own. Wang Dong was also assigned to cook, but his skills were far superior to Su Xiulan's. He was merely assigned to assist Su Xiulan after the work schedule was tallied.

The felt lining the sluice was removed and replaced with new felt after every ten or so cartloads of ore were washed.

Zhou Jingming did not arrange for anyone to clean it; instead, he sent it to the grassy slope to dry.

The previous procedure involved rinsing the gold particles in the felt in a basin to remove the fine sand, then using a gold scoop to further wash the fine sand in the river, and finally collecting the mixture of gold sand and heavy sand at the bottom of the scoop, and then picking out the gold particles at night.

But now, Zhou Jingming has no intention of doing that.

He exposed the felt, which contained gold nuggets and gold dust in its crevices, to the sun. Once the felt was dry, he put it in a basin, put it in a fire, and burned it.

Because some fine gold dust will always be lost during the washing of refined sand, now that there is mercury, he can collect the gold dust more thoroughly.

Moreover, things are different now. Last year, Peng Yuanchao was short of funds, and Zhou Jingming himself didn't have much money either. He couldn't bear to waste something like felt. Now that he has money, he can use cheap felt as a disposable item.

He only collected the visible gold particles and gold nuggets in cans while drying the felt, and as for the larger nuggets, he had already collected them when he saw them on the chute.

Today he truly experienced what it means to be busy picking up gold. The more he picked, the happier he became. By the afternoon, he found that the can he was carrying had become quite heavy. This harvest was extraordinary.

The most rigorous method is to directly burn felt to extract gold dust.

Instead of distributing gold directly, Zhou Jingming started paying wages. He packed up the felt and took it away, personally drying and burning it. This way, he could prevent his subordinates from hoarding gold and also hide his actual gains to avoid arousing jealousy.

The sound of a tractor could be heard on the mountain road leading to Haxionggou. Amid Jinwang's barking, Wuyang went to check the bridge. When he returned, he was followed by Sun Chenggui and more than ten other people.

From a distance, seeing Zhou Jingming loitering by a few chutes on the riverbank, he called out, "Brother Zhou, I'm here..."

Zhou Jingming greeted him with a smile: "You've come too?"

Sun Chenggui said with a grin, "I'm here, but I still feel most comfortable working with you. Didn't you say last year that you'd help me find people? I brought thirteen of them with me..."

Zhou Jingming understood what he meant. He had promised last year that those who brought people would be paid 800 yuan a month, plus an extra 20 grams of gold each month. Sun Chenggui was naturally there for this reason.

He smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will never go back on my word. Just because you brought your men to me shows your trust, you will get a share of the spoils."

Sun Chenggui laughed even more heartily: "There are already so many people at the mine. Judging from your appearance, you've been working for quite some time. Am I too late?"

"It's not too late, it's just right. Today is also our first day of washing."

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment and said, "However, we already have enough manpower at this mine. I can only arrange for you to go to another mine upstream. Li Guozhu will be leading the work there. Of course, we'll eat together."

"There's another mining site?"

Sun Chenggui's face lit up with delight: "No matter where I'm assigned, I'll just follow you!"

Zhou Jingming called Sun Chenggui aside: "That line up there is a bit special..."

He told Sun Chenggui about Zhang Debao's attempt to seize the mining site, and then said, "Take your men up there. There's something else I need to tell you: help supervise them. After all, they're not people we hired ourselves, so it's different. You don't need to do any work; just follow Brother Li and lead those people well."

“No problem!” Sun Chenggui nodded in agreement.

Just then, the sound of a tractor started again.

Zhou Jingming couldn't help but look towards the mountains and forests diagonally opposite the mining site.

"It's Xu Youliang's gang. He gathered more than twenty people and came to the Gold Rush Valley as well."

After a slight hesitation, Sun Chenggui said to Zhou Jingming, "Brother Zhou, there's something I'm not sure if I should say."

“We’re brothers, what can’t we talk about?”

"Here's the thing, when I came here, I met Xu Youliang in Tiemaike. He was planning to go solo and tried to win me over, wanting me to join him, but I didn't agree... These people, they used to call me 'Brother Zhou' all the time, but now when they call you, they just say 'You're surnamed Zhou' in a very unfriendly tone. People change when they have money."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming frowned slightly. He knew that Sun Chenggui was reminding him to be wary of Xu Youliang.

He nodded slightly: "Whether he wants to work with me or not depends on his own wishes. If he wants to go it alone, I can't stop him. I've always said that people should strive for better things. If he's not satisfied with what I have here, then let him go. When Brother Peng was still in his hometown, he also went to talk to Brother Peng, but Brother Peng didn't agree... Don't worry, I understand."

I was originally thinking that if Xu Youliang came to Haxionggou and wanted to go it alone, I could transfer one of the mines to him if he needed one. Considering our friendship from last year, I could give him a little face.

Now it seems there's no need to be polite with him anymore; we should just do what needs to be done.

Anyway, I've said it before: if they don't follow me, then we have absolutely no connection anymore.

Zhou Jingming had Bai Zhishun call someone over, who then led Sun Chenggui and a dozen others to the upstream mining site to find Li Guozhu and his group.

Not long after they left, Wu Yang led Xu Youliang and his group over.

Along the way, Xu Youliang watched so many people working at the mine and wondered to himself: Why is the pay so low, and why are so many people still following Zhou Jingming?

Upon seeing Zhou Jingming, he greeted him with a smile: "Brother Zhou, you guys are pretty quick."

"We have to hurry!"

Zhou Jingming sized up the people he had brought: "Not bad, you're quite capable to be able to gather so many people. I heard from Brother Peng that you're planning to go solo... I don't mean anything by it, but actually I'm quite supportive."

For a moment, Xu Youliang seemed a little embarrassed, and chuckled awkwardly, "Brother Zhou, please don't make fun of me."

"Let's not call you Brother Zhou anymore, just call me 'Zhou the one with the surname Zhou', I'll feel more comfortable that way."

Zhou Jingming couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark to him: "Isn't that right, Chief Xu!"

Xu Youliang's smile became even more unnatural. How could he not know that Peng Yuanchao and Sun Chenggui had already told Zhou Jingming about him?

He couldn't stand it any longer: "Excuse me!"

"You can pass, but there's one thing I need to remind you. I've marked out some mining sites in the valley, and there are wooden signs on them. Don't touch those signs. Also, we're two different teams and have nothing to do with each other anymore. Don't bring trouble to me, and don't even think about causing me any trouble. When that happens, there won't be any mercy. Get out of here."

After Zhou Jingming finished speaking, he turned around and went back to the riverbank, ignoring Xu Youliang.

Xu Youliang was momentarily stunned, but he made up his mind and led the group through the pincer-shaped mountain pass to continue upstream. When he saw Peng Yuanchao in the distance, he greeted him again, but Peng Yuanchao only glanced at him and ignored him.

That day, he went quite far upstream and visited several mining sites. Every mining site he deemed promising based on his experience gained over the past two years had a wooden sign. His brow furrowed deeper and deeper, but he dared not touch those signs. Zhou Jingming had already warned him that if he did touch them, Zhou Jingming would come looking for him at any moment.

As evening approached, he still hadn't found a place to stay, so he randomly chose a patch of grass and settled down temporarily, waiting to figure out a solution the next day.

At this time, the workers from Zhou Jingming's two mining sites gathered together, waiting for dinner to be cooked.

Those felt blankets won't dry easily at the current temperature; they'll probably need to be dried for another day. Zhou Jingming simply packed them up and moved them back to his dugout.

The next morning, after the sun came out, he once again asked Peng Yuanchao and others to help him move the bundles of felt to the grass on the hillside to dry. Xu Youliang came looking for him again.

"Brother Zhou..."

This time, he spoke more respectfully: "Your team has quite a few people at those mining sites, but you can't mine that many. Could you spare one for me?"

When Li Guozhu came over for breakfast this morning, he had already told Zhou Jingming that Xu Youliang had come to see him last night, and out of consideration for their relationship, he had told him the specific details of the designated mining sites.

Zhou Jingming glanced at him: "Give you one? You make it sound so easy. I put in so much effort, if I just gave it away so easily, would I be asking for trouble?"

(End of this chapter)