My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 209: If you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid that thieves will miss you
Haxionggou, early morning.

Zhou Jingming was startled awake by the shouts. He listened carefully and clearly heard the cry: "Fish, big fish, someone come quick and help..."

Soon, the noise from the riverbank grew louder and louder, as if they had made a truly remarkable discovery.

Curious, he busied himself lifting the covers, getting dressed, and getting out of bed. When he emerged from his dugout, he saw a group of people gathered on the riverbank.

As Zhou Jingming descended to the riverbank, he saw several people dragging the fish traps they had placed in the river back onto the bank.

Inside the fish trap was a large fish covered in black spots with red scales on its tail. It was estimated to be 70 or 80 centimeters long and weigh at least 30 or 40 kilograms.

Seeing that there were still some small fish in the trap, Zhou Jingming guessed that the big fish had probably tried to eat the small fish, which was why it crashed into the trap and got entangled.

Just by looking at the mess that the trap had been stirred up, you could tell how powerful it was. It was lucky that it was discovered in time.

Su Xiulan also liked to join in the fun. She abandoned her task of making breakfast and ran to the riverbank to watch. When she saw Zhou Jingming come down, she asked curiously, "What kind of fish is this? I've never seen such a big fish before?"

Gold prospectors like to call it the big red fish, but its scientific name is taimen.

Zhou Jingming was very familiar with this type of fish.

In their past lives, they were gold miners. Every year before winter, the clearing teams in various places would, as is customary, increase the intensity of their inspections in the mining areas.

Teams caught operating without permits will face arrest and fines for "illegal gold mining."

Normally, when the Qingshan team comes, almost all the gang leaders and gold dealers will voluntarily hand over some gold in order to get them to be lenient.

Besides offering gold as a bribe, some members of the clearing teams would also ask the gold foreman to catch a few "big red fish" as offerings.

This large fish with red scales on its tail is the most ferocious fish in the Ertis River. Because of its delicious and tender flesh, it was overfished after it became a popular food, and was almost extinct. It was later listed as a second-class protected animal.

By the early 1990s, it was not easy to get a taimen.

The market price was once so high that it was difficult to find even at a price of over a thousand yuan per kilogram.

Every now and then, someone is sentenced for illegally fishing for taimen.

But gold prospectors who stay in the mountains during the summer have the opportunity to catch this extremely rare fish.

Therefore, some members of the Qingshan team would always start targeting gold miners in early summer, telling them to fish for the gold.

They don't care about environmental protection or endangered species; they'll do anything to achieve their goals.

Of course, they usually don't use such precious items to satisfy their own appetites, but rather as a rare "gift" to give to the "superiors" who have been protecting them.

Without the protection of their superiors, how could these members of the Qingshan team dare to be so arrogant in the Gold Rush Valley?

Now, Zhou Jingming has no one to offer tribute to, and these ferocious fish that can still charge through rapids, if kept in a pen for a few days, will surely die in the long run.

Rather than doing that, it's better to just eat it directly.

Zhou Jingming immediately had the fish moved to the cooking tent. Since Su Xiulan was making breakfast, he simply took matters into his own hands, scaling and cleaning the fish, then cutting it into small pieces, frying it in oil until golden brown, and then adding soy sauce, scallions, ginger and other seasonings, along with water to simmer.

With so many people at the mine, it was difficult for each person to get even a small piece of food when it was time to eat. The large pot of fish soup was also completely drunk, but that didn't stop everyone from remembering the delicious taste of the big red fish. It was a wonderful start to the day's work.

As the weather grew hotter, Zhou Jingming began to plan his trip to the West Sea.

Wu Fusheng and that woman, who caused him to spend five years in a labor camp in his past life, have always been a source of anxiety for him.

Now that he knew their approximate location, Zhou Jingming kept thinking about them constantly.

As the weather warms up, the weather in Xihai has improved a lot. After all, the place we're going to is at a high altitude. If it's cold and we have to endure altitude sickness, it would be quite unbearable.

Now is the perfect time to go.

However, we need to make some preparations before going, and we should also make proper arrangements for things at the mining site.

Zhou Jingming is not worried about whether there is any embezzlement of gold at the mine. He knows roughly how much gold the mine produces each month over the past three months.

Moreover, he was at ease entrusting Bai Zhishun with the task of guarding the chute and collecting gold nuggets, and there were no major problems with leaving the rest of the work to Li Guozhu and Peng Yuanchao.

The main task was to prepare various supplies, which needed to be properly arranged. Starting the next day, Zhou Jingming asked Wu Yang to drive a tractor to Tiemaike, where they first purchased a large amount of felt and sent it back to the mine.

Disliking that relying on a single tractor to run back and forth was a waste of time, he went to Wang Youping and found three more tractors. He bought loads of rice, flour, cooking oil, tea bricks, vegetables, and other things in Tiemaike. He also went to Sun Huaian to ask for his help to get two barrels of diesel fuel. All these supplies were sent to Haxionggou and piled up in the tent.

Seeing that Zhou Jingming had brought back so many supplies in just two or three days, Peng Yuanchao was a little surprised: "Brother, why did you suddenly bring back so much stuff? Didn't you usually only buy things when they were almost gone? What are you planning to do with this?"

Zhou Jingming didn't hide anything from him: "I'm planning to go on a trip with Wu Yang, which will probably take at least half a month."

"So long?"

Peng Yuanchao asked with some curiosity, "What business are you going to take care of?"

"I'll take advantage of the good weather and visit other gold mining valleys. I need to prepare for next year's gold panning."

Zhou Jingming made up an excuse.

Only Wu Yang and Bai Zhishun knew about what happened with Wu Fusheng.

Hearing Zhou Jingming say this, Peng Yuanchao gave him a thumbs up: "You truly are a man capable of great things. You always think ahead of the curve. There are still a few months left in this gold rush season, and you're already thinking about next year. If you don't get rich, who will?"

Zhou Jing glanced at him knowingly and said, "Brother Peng, you're getting more and more of a chatterbox. You'd be better off thinking about whether you want to stick with me next year."

"Go with it, you have to go with it. I've been panning for gold for years and I've never had it this easy. I can just wander around the mine all day and get my share of the money and gold."

Zhou Jingming simply smiled and didn't argue with him further.

After dinner, Zhou Jingming called several leaders together and told them that he was going on a trip with Wu Yang, asking them to take good care of things at the mine site. Of course, he used the same excuse as always.

Li Guozhu and others had no objection to this.

However, when Zhou Jingming entrusted Su Xiulan to Old Man Liu, Old Man Liu seemed a little hesitant: "I think you should leave a few days later!"

Zhou Jingming asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"

Old Liu looked at the opposite mountain ridge: "These past two days, I've been wandering around the surrounding mountains with nothing to do, and I've seen three people in the woods both days. The first time I saw them, they were on the mountain opposite the mine, looking towards our mine, seemingly scouting the situation."

I saw them today, huddled together in a gully on the grassy hill behind the mine, eating dry rations. I have no idea what they were doing.

As soon as they saw me yesterday, they went into the woods. Today, I went over to ask them what was going on, and they said they were there to pan for gold along the river and look for mining sites.

They were indeed carrying gold bushels and bags, dressed like gold prospectors, but even if they were operating as guerrillas, they should have been moving along the river valley, not hiding and sneaking around in the mountains. It seemed more like they were surveying the surrounding terrain.

Peng Yuanchao said nonchalantly, "They're just three people. Do you think they can mess with our mine with hundreds of people? Go ahead and rest assured. We're not pushovers either. If they dare to mess with our mine, we'll make sure they come here alive but don't leave alive."

Li Guozhu, always composed, patted Peng Yuanchao on the shoulder and said, "Yuanchao, only you would dare to make such a guarantee. I wouldn't. Nobody can say for sure what's going on in the Gold Rush Valley. Many times, if they can't beat us openly, they'll resort to underhanded tactics and sneak up on us. That can be just as unbearable."

After listening to them talk for a while, Zhou Jingming kept thinking about who was most likely to target his mine.

After thinking it over, the most likely culprit is Chen Qinglin's group, after all, they were quite domineering in demanding supplies a few days ago.

But this kind of thing is reasonable and there is no bloodshed, so it can't be considered a big grudge. Moreover, Chen Qinglin is not so irrational as to come and fight me with just a dozen or so people.

Another likely candidate is Liang Mazi, given his previous threats.

But he was still a member of the Qingshan team, and he had just received fifteen kilograms of gold. If he wanted to do something, he could do so entirely by virtue of the Qingshan team's authority.

Then who could it be?
Is he someone who is dissatisfied after the transfer of the mining site?

Zhou Jingming was also at a loss for a moment.

However, given the possibility of a problem, it would be inappropriate to leave the mining site rashly; one should at least try to find out what the situation is.

He immediately made arrangements: "Wu Yang, let's not leave for now. Tomorrow you go with me to take a look around. If you run into those three people again, try to follow them and find out their background."

As the saying goes, it's not the thief you should fear, but the one who has his eye on you.

It's best to get to the bottom of things.

(End of this chapter)