My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 240 Unheard of
Wu Yang moved silently down the hillside like a raccoon dog, seemingly unaffected by the darkness.

Zhou Jingming watched quietly, mostly paying attention to the surrounding movements.

A few minutes later, he heard a woman's scream coming from the tin shack below: "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! Go away! Go away!"

It seems that Wu Yang has cornered her in the tin shack.

Wu Yang shone his flashlight a few times toward where Zhou Jingming was. Seeing that there was still no movement around him, Zhou Jingming was sure that there was no one else nearby, so he also turned on his flashlight and went down the barren slope full of gravel and weeds.

When he reached the door of the tin shack, he saw the woman inside, holding a folding knife in both hands, pointing it at Wu Yang, and blocking the doorway with a look of panic on her face.

He sized up the woman, estimating her to be in her thirties. She looked disheveled, covered up tightly, and dark-skinned.

Zhou Jingming patted Wu Yang on the shoulder, gesturing for him to step back, before speaking gently, "Big sister, don't be so nervous, we mean no harm. We came here to look for mineral veins, thinking this place would be deserted, but we didn't expect to find you here."

The woman did not lower her guard because of Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang's retreat, and she was especially afraid of Jin Wang, who was making fierce growls next to Zhou Jingming.

Seeing that she kept glancing at Jin Wang, Zhou Jingming guessed she was afraid, bent down and slapped Jin Wang twice: "Don't yell..."

Jinwang let out two strange cries, ran a little further away, looked back at Zhou Jingming, stopped barking fiercely, and instead lay down, scratching his neck with his claws.

Zhou Jingming then looked at the woman again: "Sister, judging from your accent, you're from the Longzhong area, right? Why are you here alone? Where are you from?"

The woman still didn't answer, but just stared intently at the two of them.

Seeing her like this, Zhou Jingming was actually quite speechless. He thought for a moment, then took off the Type 56 pistol he was carrying: "Sister, aren't you tired of carrying a knife like that? If we really wanted to do something to you, it would only take one shot. What use is that knife to you? Put it down!"

The woman remained unmoved, only cautiously retreating slightly into the house, hiding half of her body behind the sheet metal by the door frame.

Zhou Jingming shook his head and winked at Wu Yang.

Wu Yang immediately prepared to take the knife from the woman's hand.

As Wu Yang approached, the woman's reaction became increasingly intense. She screamed, "Don't come any closer!" while holding the knife directly to her own neck.

Now, even Wu Yang was at a loss and could only look back at Zhou Jingming.

Zhou Jingming sighed, "Forget about her, let's go gather some firewood!"

Wu Yang retreated again, and Wu Yang shone a flashlight around to look at the surroundings. Without entering the woods, they pulled out some rotten wood from the collapsed wooden houses, gathered some dry grass, and lit a fire not far from the tin house.

Not long after, lights flickered downstream, indicating that Batu had arrived. Wu Yang went to greet him and helped Batu lead his horse to the tin house. He then took out some steamed buns from the bag tied to the horse's back and roasted them by the fire.

Batu saw the woman, asked Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang a few questions to understand the general situation, and then went to the tin shed to try to persuade the woman, but naturally he returned empty-handed.

Zhou Jingming and the others stopped paying attention to her. They ate some steamed buns, drank some wine, fed Jin Wang and the three horses, and then lay down on the blankets spread out by the fire.

"The gold from this area is indeed quite good. I plan to stay here for a couple more days."

Zhou Jingming asked Batu, "Adasi, if you stay a couple more days, there shouldn't be any major problems at home, right? You said you'd go back in four days."

Batu thought for a moment: "Now is the best time for pasture, so we don't have to go too far to graze the sheep. It's just that things like milking the sheep will be more tiring, but it's only a couple more days, so it's not a big problem. But you guys are the leaders of the mine. If you stay out for too long, won't there be problems at the mine? The Gold Rush Valley has always been very chaotic."

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "Our mine has the most people in Haxionggou. Now no one dares to mess with us. Last time, Wu Yang and I went out and came back after more than half a month without any problems. Let alone just five or six days."

Don't worry, there are several capable assistants at the mine. With them leading the way, there won't be any major problems.

"Go to sleep early. I feel even more tired today than yesterday... Wuyang, I'm going to sleep now. You keep watch for the night, and call me to relieve you in the latter half of the night."

Unlike the valleys where hundreds or thousands of gold prospectors often venture, this place is noisy, so only some jackals sneak in at night to scavenge for droppings and scraps. No big wild animals dare to approach. But you have to be careful in this secluded place. If wolves, bears, or jackals come near, and you are outnumbered, you can easily become a target for wild animals. One wrong move and something bad can happen.

Besides, there are women in the iron house whose backgrounds are unclear.

We must be on guard.

But Batu said, "I'll keep watch. You two look exhausted."

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment and said, "That works too!"

He glanced back at the woman in the tin shack; she was still squatting by the door, the folding knife still clutched in her hand.

Zhou Jingming shook his head slightly, lay down on the blanket, pulled the sheepskin rug over himself, and soon began to snore.

When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. He looked at his watch and saw that it was a little after ten in the morning.

Wu Yang had already woken up and was adding firewood to the fire, while steamed buns were baking nearby. Batu was still fast asleep. Zhou Jingming sat up and immediately turned to look at the tin shed. He saw the woman curled up by the stove in the tin shed, dozing off. When he saw her head nod, he immediately woke up, grabbed his folding knife, and looked towards the three people outside.

Upon closer inspection, Zhou Jingming suddenly realized that the woman was quite good-looking, with delicate features. She probably had been exposed to the elements for a long time, as her skin was dark and rough, but she was still a charming and attractive woman.

Wu Yang smiled and said, "I stayed there all night, my guard was unusually high."

"It's not surprising. She's the only woman here, and she's from the mainland. If she didn't have this much vigilance when she saw a strange man, she would probably have been eaten by someone long ago. I wonder how long she's been here all alone, and how she's managed to stay here."

Zhou Jingming was genuinely impressed and also found it quite remarkable.

Gold Rush Valley has always been a man's domain, and he had never heard of a woman panning for gold alone in such a desolate place.

Wu Yang asked in a low voice, "Brother Zhou, do you think he might be crazy?"

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "Judging from yesterday's actions, it can't be a madman... I guess it might be a woman who led the head into the mountains and escaped, or got lost because of some things."

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I took a look around this mining site this morning. There are generators, winches, power towers, mine carts... so much machinery, quite a setup. It must be a big mine; there's definitely gold in it. If we don't deal with this woman, what if the news leaks out...?"

"Let me figure out the situation at this old mine and find out more about this woman before I do anything else. Things can't be done haphazardly, and there's more than one way to go than to kill her... I'll bake a few more steamed buns and get some of the meat that Batu brought. I'll share some with her and see if I can gradually dispel her doubts."

"it is good!"

While Wu Yang was preparing breakfast, Zhou Jingming, carrying a hunting rifle, looked around the old mine.

He also saw the generator that Wu Yang had mentioned was placed in another tin shed, and saw winches and other equipment.

However, due to its age, even the winch and other parts had long since rusted and broken, and the machine could no longer be repaired, becoming a completely useless lump of iron.

In addition, he noticed some rotten plaques labeled in Russian, and found several steel helmets in the mine that were so rusted they would crumble at the slightest step. The helmets had the emblem of the Republic of China on them, which gave him a clue.

This mine may have been a gold mine jointly mined with the Russians during the Republic of China era, or it may have been owned by some warlords who occupied the territory at that time.

Back then, probably only they had the capability to bring so many machines to this place. Moreover, judging from the compass readings, this place was very close to the border. They estimated that after crossing one or two more hills, it would be someone else's territory.

This happened at least fifty or sixty years ago.

It's unclear whether the gold mine here was exhausted or for some other reason that this place was abandoned.

Regardless, such an old mine is definitely worth exploring thoroughly. If a gold vein is found, it could be a huge fortune.

He had previously planned that with ample funds at hand, he could use his connections to obtain a mining license next year, ideally by affiliating it with a state-owned mine, and officially enter the gold mining industry. Now that there was such a secluded place, it seemed he could hide there and make a good profit.

Just as he was examining the slag buried under weeds, Wu Yang called for dinner by the fire. He turned around and saw that Batu had woken up, so he immediately turned and went over to him.

The three of them ate some baked buns and some of the keke and mutton that Batu had brought.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Zhou Jingming looked at the woman who was now standing guard by the tin shed door and personally brought her two steamed buns, half a pound of mutton, and a bowl of rice tea.

The woman remained vigilant, but she no longer carried a folding knife like she had the night before.

Zhou Jingming placed the things at the door, stepped back a little, and smiled slightly at the woman: "Big sister, don't worry about eating. If we really wanted to do something to you, we would have plenty of opportunities to do it. We wouldn't have let you stay here so peacefully until now."

You keep putting a knife to your throat all the time. If you actually die, frankly, it won't affect us much.

I think you haven't found a chance to run away yet, there must be something on your mind... Have you encountered some difficulties?

We're from the same area, so why don't you tell us? We're really not bad people.

Batu chimed in at this point, saying, "I'm a herdsman from here, and what Adasi said is true; they really aren't bad people."

We herders are quite annoyed by the gold prospectors from the mountains. They come and dig everywhere, destroying the grasslands and disrupting our lives. But I'm still willing to lead them to this place to look for gold because they're trustworthy, unlike other gold prospectors.

The woman hesitated for a long while before saying, "I secretly followed my man here, but I lost him. I've been looking for him..."

They finally relented.

Zhou Jingming was secretly pleased: "Eat your food first, and we can talk slowly after you're full."

(End of this chapter)