My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 239 Women
The sea is rarely seen in the western region, so lakes are often called "haizi" (海子).

Those small lakes connected by streams, the smaller ones, Zhou Jingming prefers to call them by the Northeastern term: "water ponds".

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang rode alongside Batu at breakneck speed, with Jinwang galloping wildly alongside until it stretched out its tongue, at which point Batu slowed down.

What appeared before the three of them was a lake of considerable size, nestled between two high mountains, at least two or three hundred meters wide.

Now, Zhou Jingming has come to understand Batu's concept of time and distance firsthand.

We were told it wasn't far, and that it was probably only a few kilometers away. But it took us almost half an hour to get to the lake. Judging by the size of the lake, it would probably take quite a while to walk further in along the edge.

Having already arrived at this point, Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang could only patiently continue walking. They didn't know how long they had walked, but the three of them had long since left the high mountain pasture and entered an inconspicuous little ravine.

The cliffs on both sides are steep, and the bottom of the ravine is full of weathered rocks and overgrown weeds.

A clear stream flows gurgling down from the depths of the mountain valley, occasionally forming a quiet stretch in a gentler area, reflecting the pure blue sky, leisurely white clouds, and the setting sun among the mountain peaks.

Once here, Zhou Jingming was no longer in a hurry to go deeper.

He dismounted, first taking out a compass from his backpack to check the direction, then breaking off a small twig and throwing it into the river. He then looked at his watch and measured the current.

Then, he took out a large bowl with its glaze worn off and walked upstream along the stream. Every so often, he would stop and have Wu Yang, who walked with a limp, help him dig a hole, shovel some soil, and wash the bowl in the river.

Every now and then, they would scoop a few stones out of the water and crack them open with a hammer and a magnifying glass to examine them.

He studied the sand in the bowl while scribbling in his notebook.

Wu Yang didn't understand any of this, nor did he ask many questions. He would only lend a hand when needed, and otherwise keep an eye on his surroundings with his gun.

There was no need to rush. Batu was in charge of looking after the three horses, letting them graze on some wild grass on the riverbank.

In the evening, Zhou Jingming stopped at a narrow section of the river. In the rushing water, he saw a simple sluice made of birch bark, similar to the birch bark sluice he and Wu Yang had made last year when they were fighting as guerrillas along the Haiertes River.

When Wu Yang saw the chute, he was slightly taken aback: "Someone got here first!"

This is also what Zhou Jingming wanted to say.

Batu also came to take a look: "No one has ever been here before. And as you all saw on the way here, no one has ever grazed their livestock here. The only people who can come to this deep mountain are herders!"

Zhou Jingming nodded slightly: "It's true that it hasn't been grazed by anyone, but you yourself said before that you came here to look for sheep several years ago. So many years have passed, it's hard to say."

Batu offered a guess: "Could it be that hunters came here by chance to hunt and discovered this place? Herdsmen sometimes pan for gold and exchange it for daily necessities such as bullets and batteries outside the mountains."

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "Look at this riverbank, there are still footprints, they look quite fresh."

Batu looked in the direction Zhou Jingming pointed, squatted down, and measured with his fingers: "There is indeed someone there, but the footprints seem a bit small and narrow, more like a woman's footprints."

"It's possible that other teams have already arrived in this valley. This setup might be for gold panning teams to make some extra money in the river, but most herders don't rely on this for a living. It's like killing two birds with one stone. They don't care how much gold they find. Once they find gold, they set up a homemade sluice and only come to check on it once every ten days or so."

Before you came to Haxionggou, I had set up several positions in the river. After heavy rains and floods, I would also go to the riverbank to look for gold.

Zhou Jingming sighed softly: "If we keep going in, we should be able to see it soon."

Wu Yang laughed: "This is the first time I've seen gold panning so convenient."

This birch bark chute was installed directly in this narrow river channel, with the sides blocked by earth and stones, allowing the river water to flow through it. A lot of layers of gravel had already been deposited on it. At the top, you could see some small golden particles, then heavy sand, and then larger river sand and debris.

"Let's go, let's keep going!"

Zhou Jingming led the way upstream along the riverbank. After walking about a hundred meters, they saw another chute made of birch bark.

He stopped examining the sand and now wanted to see what kind of people were in the valley.

As they walked, Jinwang suddenly barked into the valley.

The three of them stopped abruptly, looking towards the upper reaches of the valley.

At first glance, nothing was apparent. But after a while, a dark figure suddenly emerged from behind a rock on the edge of the valley and darted into the depths of the valley.

From a distance, it was impossible to tell who it was; they just seemed short.

"Should we go after them?" Wu Yang asked in a low voice.

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "Don't chase. If there's a gold mining team inside, chasing them could easily cause misunderstandings. This place is too remote. The gold miners who discovered this mine certainly don't want anyone to know about this place. In order to monopolize this place, they might take drastic measures if they discover outsiders. Let's slowly move in and be careful from here on out."

He took the gun off his back, released the safety, and continued walking into the valley.

After walking for about fifteen more minutes, the terrain in the valley became wider.

In the distance, amidst the wild grass, the three spotted some towering iron frames and recognized them as structures used for laying power lines.

Over time, the iron frame became severely rusted and tilted, like a frail old man, with broken cables dangling from its tips. There were also several tin shacks and log cabin-like structures.

The tin shacks were still standing, but some of the wooden houses had collapsed. Those that hadn't fallen were covered in vines and overgrown with weeds, looking like abandoned tombs.

There were also some lumps of iron, hidden by weeds.

Inside a tin-roofed house, smoke was still billowing from the chimney on the roof.

Strangely, they did not see any gold prospectors on the river.

It seemed as if it had suddenly hidden itself away.

There are few trees on both sides of the river, mostly bare rocks, and you can see quite far ahead at a glance, so it's not a place where you can hide.

When the three approached, they found that there were no chutes in the valley, nor any excavated sand pits or carts used for transporting ore.

There is very little evidence of gold prospector activity.

"anyone there?"

Zhou Jingming called out loudly, "If anyone's here, please speak up. We mean no harm..."

He called out several times, but there was no response.

"I'll go over and take a look!"

Wu Yang, carrying his gun, approached the tin house with smoke rising from its roof. After carefully examining the surroundings and confirming that there were no problems, he crept towards the door and quickly slipped inside.

A short while later, Wu Yang came out again and waved to Zhou Jingming and Batu.

The two of them quickly approached.

"There's no one inside, and judging from the marks, it seems like only one person lives there."

Zhou Jingming crawled into the tin shack and saw that the firewood in the rusty iron stove was almost out. On top of it was a heavily rusted iron pot, with water boiling inside, cooking some wild vegetable porridge.

Right next to the iron stove, at the base of the wall, sat a steel helmet filled with pine needles, containing about twenty bird eggs, and half a sack of cornmeal, which was hung up. On a stone slab, there were some oil, salt, and other similar items.

On the other side of the house was a large pile of pine needles, on which lay an old quilt and a sheepskin rug, indicating that it was indeed a single person living there.

Zhou Jingming's gaze lingered on the woman's baggy trousers, clothes, and a pair of worn-out yellow rubber shoes that were placed next to the mattress; she probably hadn't had time to pick them up.

"It's a woman... What kind of woman would dare to pan for gold in such a deserted place? That's really something!"

Zhou Jingming turned and left the house: "Let's take another look around."

The three of them went out to investigate and found no trace of other gold mining teams operating in the area.

"Let's pretend to leave. It's almost dark. I don't believe a woman would dare to venture into the mountains at night. She's probably still nearby. She'll probably only come out after we leave. We should get to know her better then."

Zhou Jingming was very interested in this woman.

This is the first time I've seen such an interesting person. Just the courage to go to such a place alone to pan for gold is remarkable; he's no less than any man.

The three of them did not linger, mounted their horses, and trotted away downstream along the river.

After running three or four miles back to the lake, Zhou Jingming told Batu to tend the horses, while he and Wu Yang, carrying their guns, headed back, preparing to launch a surprise attack. They told Batu to wait an hour or so; if they didn't return, they would go back into the valley.

By this time, it had already gotten dark.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang did not continue along the river valley, but instead ventured deeper into the valley along the trees above.

The two returned to the woods above the mine; it was already dark.

Jin Wang, who was leading the way, remained silent, and there was nothing unusual about the tin shack.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, a light flickered in the depths of the valley, and someone came out with a flashlight.

Just as Jin Wang made a whimpering sound, Zhou Jingming pinched his mouth shut.

The light wasn't on all the time; it just flickered occasionally. I guess the path was difficult to walk on, so I had to take a look.

After flashing past, they would always wait a while before reappearing, showing great caution.

Only after returning to the tin shack and seeing the firelight inside did Wu Yang quietly slip away.

(End of this chapter)