My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 208 Borrowing a Knife
When they changed course at the intersection of the Fourth Mine Bridge to head towards the Haiertes River, one of the members of the Qingshan team following Liang Mazi couldn't help but ask, "Captain, what are we doing here?"

"I still have some things to take care of!"

Liang Mazi, riding on horseback, swayed with the horse's movements: "This Zhou guy, the foreman, will be a problem in the future. We've been into the mountains so many times, and all the foremen and bosses in the Gold Rush Valley, big and small, have treated us with utmost respect, if not obsequiousness. Only he dares to threaten me."

"That's how it is now. But what will happen when he becomes even more powerful? It'll turn the world upside down!"

Another person chimed in, "We really need to give them a good talking-to, otherwise we'll have an increasingly harder time getting by in the future."

“A little warning… probably isn’t enough. We took fifteen kilograms of gold from him in one go, and adding that to the three kilograms from last time, that makes eighteen kilograms. That’s a huge amount…”

Liang Mazi sneered: "The more readily he gives, the bigger his scheme is, and the more careful we should be. Last year he was just a gold prospector leading a dozen or so people, but this year he's transformed into a leader of over a hundred. Someone who can rise so quickly can't be simple."

Someone who dares to threaten us won't be so easily obeyed.

"Captain, you mean..."

A teammate next to him made a throat-slitting gesture.

Liang Mazi nodded slightly: "It's best to keep people like that out of the gold panning area. Otherwise, we won't be able to control them, and we might even end up being controlled by them... Anyway, we've already got the gold."

Another person asked, "So... what are you going to do?"

Liang Mazi chuckled: "Wearing this uniform, of course we can't do this kind of thing... We need to go to the Haiertes River Gold Rush Valley to borrow a knife. You all know the person I'm going to find..."

The two men thought for a moment and then laughed: "The three of them are indeed quite suitable for this task."

"We need to hurry, we need to spend the night in the valley!"

Liang Mazi gave an instruction, flicked the reins, and shouted a few times. The horses began to gallop along the road.

The other two also spurred their horses and followed.

As evening approached, the three of them followed the dirt path worn down by people over the years and ventured deeper into the valley.

Upon seeing the Qingshan team enter, the gold prospectors at the various mining sites along the coast appeared somewhat panicked, with many abandoning their tools and running into the wilderness.

But they soon discovered that it was just three members of the Qingshan team. Moreover, these three people did not stop along the way, nor did they chase away any other teams. They returned to the mining site and wondered what the three people were doing in the Gold Rush Valley.

Liang Mazi and his two companions eventually turned into a side ditch and stopped their horses at a mining site with only about twenty people.

The people at the mine were not alarmed when they saw the three; they simply continued with what they were doing.

As the three of them tied up their horses and headed towards the dugouts near the mine, a burly man wearing only a leather vest came out to greet them.

At first glance, this man appeared strong and no different from others, but several twisted, centipede-like knife marks on his exposed chest and arms gave him a menacing aura that was completely different from his amiable face, making him awe-inspiring.

"Oh, Captain Liang, what a rare guest! You've come to Qingshan again?"

The man came up to them and busied himself offering cigarettes to the three of them, lighting them for them with a lighter in a fawning manner.

Liang Mazi took a couple of puffs of his cigarette: "We can't clear the mountains every day. It's such a big area, it's exhausting to run around. We should take a break... Hou Xiangdong, tonight, the three of us will spend the night in your dugout."

Upon hearing this, the burly man called Hou Xiangdong immediately laughed: "Captain Liang, you've come at just the right time. Just yesterday, we caught a big red fish and raised it in a pond by the river, waiting for you to arrive."

Then, he called out to the people who were still busy on the riverbank: "Stop working, everyone. Didn't you see Captain Liang is here? Captain Liang is staying here tonight... Hurry up and get the good wine and meat ready."

The group stopped what they were doing, packed up their tools, returned to their dugout, started a fire to boil water, and took out the wild game stored in the dugout to wash it.

Liang Mazi was quite satisfied with everyone's busy preparations: "Take me to see the big red fish first."

Hou Xiangdong immediately led the three of them toward the riverbank.

Right on the riverbank, a pool of pebbles, about four or five meters in diameter, was formed. In the still murky water, filtered by silt, a large fish, about a meter long with red scales on its tail, was wriggling in the pool.

Upon seeing the large fish, Liang Mazi was overjoyed: "This is a good thing, I'll take it with me tomorrow."

"Then today's meal will probably be a bit simple, Captain Liang, please don't mind!"

Hou Xiangdong smiled apologetically: "As you know, the conditions in the Gold Rush Valley are really terrible."

"It doesn't matter!"

Liang Mazi waved his hand and said to Hou Xiangdong, "I'm here today because I need your help with something."

"It's my honor to run errands for Captain Liang."

Hou Xiangdong patted his chest and said, "Just tell me what to do. As long as I can do it, I will do it perfectly."

Liang Mazi laughed: "You'd do the killing even if I asked you to?"

"Go! Why wouldn't I go? Let alone killing someone, I'd brave any danger, even mountains of knives and seas of fire..."

Hou Xiangdong responded with a smile, but then he noticed that Liang Mazi's smile had faded and he had become serious. Hou Xiangdong hesitated as well: "You're not really going to make me kill someone, are you?" Liang Mazi nodded slightly.

Hou Xiangdong fell silent.

Seeing this, Liang Mazi patted him on the shoulder: "The matter is a bit tricky, but don't forget, the three of you who led the gang kidnapped people back home and are already wanted for murder. As long as you help me with this, the Qingshan team won't cause you any trouble in the Gold Rush Valley. If anyone offends you, I can help you get revenge... I can also help you get a clean identity in Altan. You've been hiding in the Gold Rush Valley for years, don't you want to go out and walk around openly?"

Upon hearing the words "innocent identity," Hou Xiangdong's eyes visibly lit up.

He pondered for a moment, then frowned: "Captain Liang, can you really help me?"

Liang Mazi smiled and said, "It might be difficult for you, but for me, it's just a matter of a word. Don't worry, as long as you help me get this done, we'll be on the same side. I can not only help you with your identity, but also make sure you thrive in this Gold Rush Valley."

"Damn it, carrying one life is carrying one life, carrying two lives is carrying two lives, and carrying more lives doesn't matter."

Hou Xiangdong gritted his teeth: "Who is Captain Liang planning to deal with?"

"Over there in Haxionggou, there's a foreman surnamed Zhou at the biggest mining site... Damn it, he actually dared to threaten me."

"So blind?"

"No."

“Isn’t it easy for Captain Liang to deal with someone like that? As long as the Qingshan team visits a few more times, he’ll have to beg for mercy on his knees.”

"It's not that simple. He has over a hundred men under his command now. He told me that if pushed too far, he's capable of anything. He's trying to take me on head-on... The main thing is, I don't want to make things too big."

"I understand!"

"If you manage to get this done, I'll let you mine their mine. It's a rich deposit that's never been mined before; it's the best mine in the entire Haxiong Gully. Give me a straight answer on whether you can do it or not. If you don't dare, I'll find someone else. Of course, your future prospects are uncertain..."

Although he came to ask someone for a favor, Liang Mazi's words were full of both temptation and threat.

Hou Xiangdong could easily understand: "Give me some time to prepare. Once the matter is settled, I will have someone deliver a message to Captain Liang."

Upon seeing Hou Xiangdong agree, Liang Mazi immediately smiled.

That evening, Hou Xiangdong's mine prepared a very lavish dinner, including stewed mutton and he even sent someone to other mines to find some wild game.

With Liang Mazi around, other mines rarely had such an opportunity to build relationships. After hearing the news, several foremen came looking for him with good wine and meat.

During the meal, everyone was in high spirits, and the gang leaders, being sensible, secretly slipped their "gifts" into Liang Mazi's pocket.

There were even more resourceful people who searched around and found several women who had been brought into the mountains, and delivered them to Liang Mazi and the two members of the mountain clearing team.

After a hearty meal, Liang Mazi looked at the women brought to the dugout and decided to have his eye on them. He picked out two of the prettiest ones.

Seeing this, Hou Xiangdong and the others quickly left their dugouts and sat on the riverbank, smoking and listening to the strange cries coming from the women inside.

"These bastards are just wearing that mask; otherwise, they're as black as anyone else at heart!"

One of Hou Xiangdong's men looked at the dugout for a while and muttered a curse under his breath.

Hou Xiangdong didn't reply, just silently smoked his cigarette. After a while, he whispered to the man who had just spoken, "That guy surnamed Liang told me to kill someone, saying he wouldn't bother us anymore, and that he'd get us three clean records, and even after the mine goes bankrupt, we can still mine there..."

The man paused for a moment: "So many benefits... just for that clean record, it's worth it. Anyway, people die every day in Gold Rush Valley."

Hou Xiangdong shook his head: "Things aren't that simple. It's a large mining site with over a hundred people. Things won't be easy to handle."

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

With his tricks, he might fool others, but he's too green to fool me.

Haven't we been through enough things these past few years, hiding and running away? Don't try to play these kinds of tricks on me.

Hidden in this valley, we've been manipulated by this bastard for years. This time, he's using us as a tool to kill us; I'm afraid after this incident, he's planning to discard us after we've served our purpose. We have criminal records; he can easily have the Qingshan team shoot us dead, report it to their superiors, and it'll be considered a merit."

Hou Xiangdong's other companion frowned upon hearing this: "So, are we still going to do it this time?"

"I'm definitely going to do it. If he's really as he says, then nothing will happen. But if he really pulls this stunt on me, then I'll take him down too."

Do you really think I'm afraid of him?

Others may be wary of his status as the leader of the Qingshan team, but I don't care... Liang Mazi has amassed quite a bit of gold over the years. When the time comes, we can get it out, resell it, and then we won't need to stay in this godforsaken place. We can find a proper place and start over.

If you have money, getting a legal identity is easy, isn't it?
If all else fails, I'll just smuggle myself in.

As Hou Xiangdong said this, the seriousness on his face gradually eased.

(End of this chapter)