My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 205 Sending him on his way

No one stopped Peng Yuanchao.

His relationship with Xu Youliang is complicated, and even if he intervenes, he doesn't know how to handle it.

Peng Yuanchao then strolled leisurely downstream along the riverbank.

The moon had already risen, and in its cool light, one could barely make out the rough path worn out by gold prospectors.

When they returned to the pincer-shaped ravine mining site, Zhou Jingming and a large group of people were still sitting around the campfire in front of the tent, chatting idly.

He walked straight to the campfire, and when Zhou Jingming handed him a wooden stool, he plopped down on it, only to fall flat on his back.

Sun Chenggui quickly helped him up: "You smell strongly of alcohol, Brother Peng, you've had quite a bit to drink!"

Peng Yuanchao didn't answer him. Instead, he took out cigarettes from his pocket, distributed them to the group, and then, slurring his words, said to Zhou Jingming, "Brother, I promise I will never talk to anyone about anything at the mine again. This whole thing is my fault, because I trusted Xu Youliang too much. I don't want any of the gold and money I'm supposed to get this month."

Zhou Jingming took a burning piece of firewood from the campfire, lit a cigarette, and took a couple of puffs: "The money and gold you promised will not be shortchanged at all. I didn't mean to blame you. Now that things are resolved, that's all that matters."

Li Guozhu, standing nearby, asked, "Yuan Chao, how did you handle it?"

"I had a drink with him and we caught up. I hit him twice with a steel rod and broke one of his arms. I was going to break his leg too, but it seems I didn't break it. Someone stopped me."

Peng Yuanchao gave a bitter smile: "I never expected him to be such an ingrate. I've severed ties with him, and we have nothing to do with each other anymore."

Zhao Li looked at him with a strange expression: "Brother Peng, you hit someone on the head, and you just let him come back like that?"

"What else can I do? If he dares to lay a hand on me, he'll be worse than an animal. After all, I once saved his life."

Peng Yuanchao turned his head to look at Zhou Jingming: "Let him go this time. If he causes trouble again in the future, I'll kill him myself, not just you."

Zhou Jingming did not answer Peng Yuanchao, but just watched him sitting on the wooden stump, looking a little unsteady. He then instructed Bai Zhishun and Li Guohua, "Brother Peng is drunk. Help him into the dugout to rest."

The two men immediately got up, each supporting one of Peng Yuanchao's arms, and helped him up, carrying him into the dugout.

Wu Yang was not satisfied with Peng Yuanchao's actions: "That son of a bitch got off easy. If he ever falls into my hands again, I'll kill him. I hate traitors the most."

I gave him plenty of benefits last year, but he's still dissatisfied and keeps doing all sorts of bad things.

Li Guozhu's expression was somewhat grave: "Jingming, letting him go like this might not be a good idea. He only lost a hand; once it's set and healed, he'll be back to his old self..."

Zhou Jingming shook his head slightly at him.

Seeing this, Li Guozhu immediately realized that Zhou Jingming had other ideas and didn't want others to know, so he immediately shut up and stopped talking.

"It's getting late. We'll need you guys to lead the work first thing tomorrow morning. Go get some sleep!"

Zhou Jingming extinguished the embers one by one by sticking the firewood into the ashes.

The others also got up and returned to their respective dugouts.

After putting out the fire, Zhou Jingming returned to his dugout.

Su Xiulan was still under the oil lamp, keeping track of the work situation at the two mining sites.

Li Guozhu led the people working at the upstream mining site, and he recorded their daily work and sent it to them.

She originally wanted to go to the upstream mining site every day to personally count the data, but Zhou Jingming wouldn't allow it.

The two mining sites are about 20 minutes apart, and there are several other mining sites along this stretch of river.

She's a pretty girl traveling alone; if some guy gets malicious, she'll be at a huge loss.

She could only copy Li Guozhu's records into the table she drew after finishing dinner each day and cleaning up the pots and pans.

Having gotten to know her over this period of time, Zhou Jingming was basically certain that he would marry Su Xiulan.

This girl possesses the unique resilience of girls from Sichuan; she is hardworking, simple, yet gentle and considerate. She would be a great help in taking care of her parents.

The key is that she doesn't have any family members like father-in-law, mother-in-law, or brother-in-law, so she's unburdened and can avoid a lot of trouble. Giving her a home in a place like Huluzui should allow her to live a very stable life.

After all, it was something she had been hoping for.

These days, when it comes to getting married, people don't have many ulterior motives. If you like someone and think they're good, that's enough.

Unlike in previous years, when people would constantly ask if you had a house, a car, or savings, that was too meaningless.

Zhou Jingming leaned over to take a look and saw her filling out the form neatly, stroke by stroke. He poured some hot water from the thermos, washed his face, and then soaked his feet in the basin: "Xiulan, after this year's gold rush is over, come back to our hometown with me."

Su Xiulan was stunned for a moment, then looked up at Zhou Jingming. Even though the light in the dugout was dim, you could see that her face was a little red.

She remained silent, lost in thought.

Seeing this, Zhou Jingming retorted, "Fine, if you don't want to, then forget it!"

"willing……"

Su Xiulan lowered her head and said, "I didn't say I didn't want to!"

"Then it's settled!"

"it is good!"

That's all there is to it, no further complications.

Just then, Jinwang's barking came from outside the dugout.

Zhou Jingming raised an eyebrow, immediately pulled his feet out of the basin, and without bothering to dry them, put his yellow rubber shoes back on. He then carried five or six feet out of the dugout.

Four others went out before him: Old Liu, Wu Yang, Zhao Li, and Li Guozhu. Zhou Jingming glanced at Jin Wang and saw him barking upstream, so he guessed that it was probably Xu Youliang who had come out.

If your hand is broken, and you don't get treatment as soon as possible, it will be difficult to reattach it later, and it may even become useless.

Not long after, three people carrying flashlights passed by from the middle of the grassy hill behind.

The reason for taking the higher ground was to bypass the mining sites in the pincer-shaped ravine, and also to be wary of Jinwang.

Using their own flashlights, they could confirm that it was Xu Youliang and two other people.

Judging from the way he was holding his own hands and still walking with a limp, the injury to his leg from Peng Yuanchao's blow was probably minor.

"This bastard can still walk? Could it be that Brother Peng held back?"

Watching the group walk away, Wu Yang muttered something to himself.

Zhou Jingming sighed: "Let's not talk about this anymore. Brother Peng has already been in a difficult position today."

"Brother Zhou, are you really going to just let him go like this?"

Wu Yang asked in a low voice.

"We can't let this kind of person go. We didn't provoke him, but he still harbors such resentment and causes all sorts of trouble. If we wait until he recovers, he'll probably hold an even bigger grudge. Who knows what he'll do next?"

Li Guozhu said what he had been wanting to say earlier.

Zhou Jingming nodded and lowered his voice: "It needs to be dealt with, otherwise it will be a big problem... Wu Yang, could you please make a trip and see him off?"

The reason I did this was simply to let Brother Peng see his true colors. Some people's so-called friendship is just something they say casually and don't really care about. I don't owe him anything.

I value Brother Peng more.

He didn't say it earlier because he didn't want people to have any other thoughts about this, especially since there were still a few people warming themselves by the campfire.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Wu Yang carried five or six pieces and left.

Zhou Jingming didn't say much, only telling the others to go back to sleep.

He trusted Wu Yang completely, believing he would handle things perfectly.

Upon returning to the dugout, Su Xiulan had already made up the bed.

Zhou Jingming soaked his feet for a while longer, then poured out the water and went to bed.

Wu Yang didn't keep up very closely. He deliberately lagged behind by quite a distance, and only after crossing the mountain ridge diagonally opposite the mine did he quicken his pace to catch up.

The cool moonlight cast large dappled patterns on the woods, making them appear shadowy and indistinct.

He spent about twenty minutes catching up with the three men, then circled around from the side of the woods to the front, where he waited behind a large tree by the dense forest path, picking up a few stones and placing them beside him.

The most convenient road out of the mountains is the one that Zhou Jingming had built. All the gold prospectors in the valley who want to go to Tiemaike now take this only road.

Not long after, three people arrived with flashlights.

Wu Yang began throwing the stones down into the woods below.

The stones pierced through the branches and leaves of the trees, making a series of clattering sounds.

The two gold prospectors, who were hurrying forward with flashlights, would busy themselves scanning the area with their flashlights every time they heard a noise.

He suddenly became suspicious and paranoid.

The three of them quickened their pace considerably, becoming increasingly flustered.

As he got closer, he overheard the three men's discussion.

"This is fucking bizarre! Is it a person or a ghost?"

"Could it be a bear? I've heard there are bears around here that eat people."

"Bullshit, don't scare yourself. Even if you're a bunch of idiots, you have guns. If you dare to come out, we'll just shoot you."

"What if we can't kill him?"

"It's so dark here, it's going to be tough to fight!"

……

As Wu Yang listened to these discussions, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

As the three approached, he stopped throwing stones and instead held his breath and stood up quietly.

Just as the three of them passed by the big tree, he suddenly turned around and kicked the man behind him from the side, sending him stumbling and falling down into the woods below.

Xu Youliang instinctively looked towards the man, but before he could react, he felt a pair of large hands grab his head and twist it suddenly.

There was a cracking sound from his neck, and he collapsed to the ground, limp and lifeless.

Ignoring the person in front of him, Wu Yang turned around and ran into the woods above.

The person walking ahead turned on his flashlight and looked in the direction he went in, but could only see swaying branches and leaves, and vaguely make out a dark figure.

Looking at the ground again, Xu Youliang was already lying down, motionless.

(End of this chapter)