My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 206: The Stories of Getting Rich Are So Similar

Wu Yang was always meticulous in his work and did not rush to leave.

He waited in the woods for a while, watching as the two men, upon discovering Xu Youliang's strange behavior, abandoned him and ran back along the dirt road as if their lives depended on it. Their flashlights swept wildly around the woods, their expressions filled with terror.

It's not far from here to the Haxionggou River Valley, and to get to Tiemaike, there's still a long stretch of forest to traverse. Besides, if you're already dead, what's the point of going to Tiemaike?

They were terrified and only wanted to run to the nearest crowded place, hoping that it would at least make them feel a little safer.

Watching the two run away, Wu Yang slowly emerged from the woods, went to Xu Youliang's side, shone his flashlight on him, and saw that his eyes were wide open and his mouth was half-open, looking quite terrifying.

He reached out to check Xu Youliang's breath, then pressed on Xu Youliang's neck to check for artery. After confirming that he was no longer breathing, he began to search Xu Youliang's body.

After searching him thoroughly, they only found a little over a hundred yuan and a small bottle of penicillin containing some bran in Xu Youliang's pocket. They couldn't help but curse, "What a leader! What a poor wretch!"

There's a mountain ridge across the Haxionggou River, quite a distance away, and he certainly didn't want to be a long-distance porter.

He looked around and still felt that the woods below, away from the road, were more convenient.

There are many wild animals in the mountains and forests, and there are many cleaners. Before long, their remains will be gone.

Wu Yang hoisted Xu Youliang's body onto his shoulder and slid into the woods below.

They went down about a hundred meters, threw the body down, and turned to walk back.

As he followed the path back to the hillside, he suddenly heard rustling sounds coming from the woods, accompanied by sharp, urgent cries.

Last year, Wu Yang and Zhou Jingming returned from guerrilla warfare along the Haiertes River and were preparing to recruit people at the ferry crossing when they encountered two Russians. That's when they heard this kind of voice.

He shone his flashlight in the direction of the sound and saw several red figures moving in the depths of the woods. When he shone his flashlight over them, the sharp cries were mixed with some snoring, both excited and wary.

It's a red-haired wolf!

Wu Yang looked back at the place where the body had been dumped. He believed that after tonight, the body would probably only be bones and remains.

He felt reassured and headed back along the same route.

At the mining site in the pincer-shaped ravine, Zhou Jingming heard Jin Wang's voice again and hurriedly got up to check. He found that Old Liu was already outside smoking his pipe.

"They're the two who escorted Xu Youliang out before!"

Old Liu said something in a low voice.

Zhou Jingming looked upstream in the valley, sat down next to Old Liu, and lit a cigarette for himself: "Grandpa, I thought you would advise me to keep my hands clean."

Old Liu sighed: "From last year to now, in more than a year, I have seen too many things. It seems that this is how the gold rush is. If you don't get your hands dirty, you will just be put on the chopping block and divided up."

Just like in these mountains, there are bears, wolves, jackals, and all sorts of animals. Even an ant is thinking about taking a big bite when it encounters something. Given the chance, it will gnaw the marrow off its prey.

Humans are more cunning and ferocious than the wild animals in the mountains; they either eat each other or are eaten by others.

I've realized that my previous advice to you was completely unnecessary. Only someone like you can probably survive in this world.

Some things are infuriating even to myself. They don't bother anyone, yet trouble always seems to come knocking. What's the point of advising them? They're all just in a hurry to be reborn. It's a good thing that there are fewer troublemakers like them, otherwise, who knows how many people would be harmed by them.

I was no different. I spent my whole life hunting, and in the end, I ended up like this. I always wondered if it was because I had too much blood on my hands, and this was divine retribution. But then I realized I was overthinking it. This is reality. A perfectly good family can end up broken and destroyed.

Old Liu's change of mind surprised Zhou Jingming.

Seeing that the smoke in his pipe had gone out, Zhou Jingming handed him another one.

The two didn't say much, just sat quietly on the grass smoking.

After waiting for about half an hour, a figure emerged from the edge of the poplar grove.

Jinwang, who was lying next to Zhou Jingming, stood up and barked a few times before being stopped by Zhou.

A short while later, Wu Yang returned to the edge of the dugout: "It's done!"

Zhou Jingming didn't ask any more questions; he trusted Wu Yang's approach: "As long as it's resolved, that's fine."

Wu Yang then took out the hundred-odd yuan and the small penicillin bottle containing the bran and handed it to Zhou Jingming: "I didn't expect him to be so poor that we found so little."

“He went back to his hometown and spent all sorts of money. When he came to northern Xinjiang, he recruited people and prepared all kinds of supplies. Most of the gold he panned in two months was sent to me. He also had to bribe Liang Mazi. I guess he has spent almost all of what he saved up last year.”

Zhou Jingming wasn't surprised: "Take the things, consider it a reward for your hard work on this trip... Go and get some rest!"

He flicked the cigarette butt from his hand, turned around, and went back to his dugout.

The two men who had taken Xu Youliang out for treatment returned to their mining site and pounded on the door of their dugout, shouting, "Open the door! Open the door!"

It took a while before someone, who had been woken up, reluctantly opened the door: "Why are you back? Where's Xu Youliang?"

"died!"

"How could he be dead?"

"I don't know either, I kept encountering ghosts along the way..."

The two chatted back and forth about what had happened on the road. In their panic, they weren't sure whether the attacker was a person or something else, only saying that it was a dark shadow that moved very fast...

The group of people in the dugout were woken up by this incident, and no matter how they talked about it, they couldn't come up with a clear explanation.

However, some people quickly connected the incident of Zhou Jingming and others finding the mining site in the evening with the incident, and suspected that it was Zhou Jingming and his group who did it.

Of course, some people disagreed, saying that Zhou Jingming didn't need to go to such lengths to deal with Xu Youliang. Although most of them were novices, they had been in the Gold Rush Valley for more than two months. They knew a lot about gold panning and understood how serious Xu Youliang's collusion with Liang Mazi was for the gold panners in the valley. It was an act that had angered everyone.

Moreover, after understanding what happened, many people felt that Xu Youliang had indeed done something inhuman.

Xu Youliang is already dead, so there's no point in saying anything more.

What troubles them even more is what to do next.

Some felt that Haxionggou was too dangerous and were preparing to return to their hometown.

Some even suggested that everyone pool their money and continue operating at the mine site.

After much debate, most people felt that since they had traveled so far, going back home at this time meant that the farm work had already been done, and it was too late to go out to work. They figured it was better to stay at the mine and continue panning for gold. Even if they got a gram of gold, they could earn tens of yuan. It was better than going home dejectedly, so they decided to stay.

The next morning, after discussing the matter, the group assigned tasks and began panning for gold as usual.

However, not long after they started working, a group of people suddenly rushed out of the river bend, each carrying a shovel and a pickaxe, like a pack of wild beasts, shouting and yelling, their imposing manner terrifying.

They had only heard about such a spectacle from Xu Youliang; they had never actually seen one.

They knew these people were there to seize the mining sites, but without a leader, even if they managed to stay, they would be like a scattered flock of sheep, easily driven away and fleeing in all directions.

Especially after two of them were knocked over with shovels, and seeing the two hunting rifles those people were holding, no one dared to approach.

If Zhou Jingming were here, he would recognize that the leader was the boss in the jacket and jeans with sunglasses, the same boss he had followed in his past life.

Every gold prospector who came to the goldfields and made their fortune had a similar experience, which boiled down to nothing more than "plundering".

If we stay any longer, my life may be in danger.

The gold prospectors recruited in Tiemaike dispersed, leaving only the group of people Xu Youliang brought from Longnan.

The group looked helplessly at the mine site that had been occupied.

Someone asked, "What should we do? Should we stay or leave?"

No one speaks.

After a long while, someone finally came up with an idea: "Why don't we go find Brother Peng? We're from roughly the same place, so let's see if he can take us in."

"After what happened yesterday, they probably won't want us anymore!"

“They have a grudge against Xu Youliang, but they don’t have any grudge against us. The group of people they suppressed last time have all been taken away, so they will probably take away us as well.”

"How about... we give it a try?"

"Now it seems that Xu Youliang's death last night was very likely caused by these people. They came here early this morning, so they were prepared."

"Hmm...it should be."

After discussing it for a while, the group invited each other to go to the pincer-shaped mountain pass together.

Upon arriving at the mine site, the group elected one person to go find Peng Yuanchao.

At that time, Peng Yuanchao had not yet gotten up; he had gotten too drunk the night before.

When a stranger approaches, Jinwang rushes up and bites fiercely, scaring the person away.

Zhou Jingming saw the commotion near the chute and went to meet it: "What are you doing?"

"Zhou... Chief Zhou, we are the men who followed Xu Youliang before, we've come to find Brother Peng!"

"Brother Peng is still sleeping. Why would you need to talk to him? It's the same if you tell me."

"Xu Youliang died last night, and this morning our mine was occupied again. I think I'll come and follow Brother Peng."

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Zhou Jingming had long anticipated the fate of that mining site. Without a few capable people to lead it, such a good mining site simply could not be defended.

However, he still wanted to know who had taken over the mining site, so he would have some idea: "Who did it?"

"They're the same group that's only been here a few days and already robbed a mining site. The leader likes to wear sunglasses..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming immediately knew who had done it.

He nodded slightly: "The mining site is transferred to you. After the money is paid, it has nothing to do with me anymore. You can keep it if you want, I agree on behalf of Brother Peng, but don't expect us to help you take back the mining site or anything. You can't hold onto it on your own."

"I'm already very happy to be able to stay, and I won't think about anything else."

"There's one more thing to make clear: when you come to the mine, your wages will be the same as everyone else's. If you think it's too little, you can go wherever you want."

"It's not too little, it's not too little!"

They only wanted a place to stay, so they didn't think about anything else. The man nodded repeatedly.

"How many of you are there?"

There are thirteen people.

Zhou Jingming called Li Guohua over and led them to find Brother Li. It just so happened that Li Guozhu was working on a mining site upstream in the valley, but there were still a few people missing. It would be quite suitable for these people to join in.

(End of this chapter)