My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 248 Unusual
Zhou Jingming and Sun Huai'an had interacted several times and were considered acquaintances.

He led Sun Huai'an to sit down in the tent and asked Su Xiulan and the others to brew tea. While resting, he also took the opportunity to inquire about some inside information about the gold panning sites in Altan from Sun Huai'an.

Seeing Su Xiulan, Zhang Xueqin, and Nara, Sun Huai'an looked at Zhou Jingming with a knowing look that all men understand, gave him a thumbs up, and lowered his voice: "Brother, you're something else! I knew it! Life in the deep mountains is so lonely and hard, and I've never seen you come to my place to find a woman to relax with. I've already spoken to the people down there. As long as you come, you can choose whichever woman you like, and I won't charge you."

I never expected that such a few beautiful women would be hiding in your mine.

"Oh... there's a Kazakh woman too, you've got some nerve."

"Brother Sun, let me remind you, there are some things you can't say carelessly, and don't look around like that. They are respectable women, the men are all at the mine site."

Zhou Jingming chuckled lightly: "I can't help you if you end up getting beaten to a pulp."

Sun Huai'an was taken aback for a moment, then quickly laughed it off and apologized, "Ah... haha, I misspoke!"

"Alright, I won't hold you any longer. Let's hurry up and collect your gold. What's the price now?"

"There is more gold being produced now, so the price is slightly cheaper, but as long as the purity is good, it can still sell for forty-one yuan per gram."

Zhou Jingming weighed the options and felt that the price was reasonable.

He crawled out of the tent and shouted towards the mining site: "Boss Sun is here to buy gold. Forty-one yuan per gram. At the current market price, this price is not bad. Anyone who wants to exchange their gold for cash, hurry up and get your gold."

Many of you are here to pan for gold for the first time this year, and there are many things you don't know yet. Let me remind you that it's almost September now, and in just over a month, when October comes, the weather will get colder and you won't be able to pan for gold anymore. The clearing teams will be going into the mountains more frequently, and checkpoints will be set up at various intersections.

Bringing money out of the mountains is fine; you can use many excuses to get away with it, and the checkpoints and clearing teams won't dare to do anything to you. But if you bring gold, not only will the gold be confiscated, but you'll also be fined, and you might even get arrested—it's not worth it.

I know many of you are thinking of keeping some gold to make gold bracelets, gold rings, and the like, but I suggest you don't have that idea. It will be confiscated and you will be searched. It won't be easy to take it out.

Therefore, it's more practical to exchange gold for cash, and to take some time to deposit the money in a bank or send it home; that's safer and more reliable.

The crowd gathered together, and a flurry of discussion ensued.

Peng Yuanchao, Bai Zhishun, Wu Yang, Wang Dong and others also said a few words to the people they brought with them, further proving that Zhou Jingming's words were true. Only then did everyone go back to their dugouts to retrieve their gold.

At Zhou Jingming's mine, there were people patrolling every day, and the management was quite strict. Moreover, most of the people who came together lived in the same dugout. Unlike Zhou Jingming and his group last year, they did not hide their gold in their own places, but instead kept it in the dugout.

So far, I haven't heard of anyone losing gold.

Zhou Jingming called Peng Yuanchao over: "Brother Peng, could you please go and tell Brother Li to ask if anyone at the mines up there wants to sell gold? Tell them to bring the gold down. Also, please repeat what I just said to them."

"it is good!"

Peng Yuanchao responded and quickly headed towards the upstream mining site.

Sun Huai'an also set up a balance scale on the table, while the thin young man who came with him carried the sack of money that was tied to the motorcycle into the tent.

Sun Huai'an was in charge of checking the quality and weighing the gold, while the thin young man helped count and distribute the money.

After nearly two hours of work, we finally finished collecting it.

Although the people selling gold from Zhou Jingming's mine only sold fifty or sixty grams at a time, the gold accumulated from over a hundred people still allowed Sun Huai'an to collect more than ten kilograms of gold, leaving him with almost no money in his sack.

"I knew it! Coming here was the right choice... Aren't you going to help me out?"

Sun Huai'an carefully put the gold, which had been packed into oil paper bags, into his bag and asked Zhou Jingming with a smile.

Zhou Jingming looked at the sacks he had brought: "I'm really not in a hurry to sell them. Besides, the money you brought is all gone."

"I can come again in a couple of days!"

"If you still want to buy more, prepare the money and come back on the 1st. That's when the mine distributes wages and gold. You should be able to buy a few more kilograms. As for what I have, don't even think about it. If I want to sell, I'll definitely let you know in advance."

"You've amassed quite a bit of gold, haven't you?"

"You've crossed the line!"

"Yes, yes, yes... I won't ask anymore, I'm leaving now, I'll come back on the 1st!"

Sun Huai'an called the young man over, and together with the gold and the little money left, they rode away on their motorcycle.

The people at the mine returned the money they had earned from selling gold to their dugouts and continued working.

September 1st arrived in the blink of an eye. In the morning, not long after Zhou Jingming distributed the wages and gold, Sun Huai'an came again and took away the gold that everyone had received.

Perhaps because it was close to the bottom of the old riverbed, the ore contained more gold. The gold panned at the two mining sites in August, along with the gold nuggets and small gold pieces that Jingming collected last week, exceeded 20 kilograms for the first time, totaling more than 26 kilograms. After the gold was distributed, he still had about 21 kilograms left.

That evening at dinner, Zhou Jingming explained the situation at the mine to Wu Yang, Li Guozhu, Peng Yuanchao, and others. The next morning, he carried Wu Liuban on his back, but after thinking about it, he realized that his trip was not only to hide gold, but also to Altan to find an opportunity to deal with Liang Mazi.

That was, after all, a county town. Firearms like the Type 56 and Type 65 are different from hunting rifles. It's inconvenient to carry them to crowded places, and you could easily run into trouble if you're not careful.

He eventually put down the Type 56 and switched to the Eagle Rabbit brand double-barreled hunting rifle.

Then, he rode his motorcycle, took the gold, and headed to Death Valley to hide it.

Now, Zhou Jingming has 105 kilograms of gold in his hands.

He didn't linger too long in Death Valley. As soon as he had hidden the gold, he immediately returned to Tiemaike, went to a restaurant, and ordered two side dishes.

While waiting for his food to be served, he heard the sound of cars coming from the street. He turned his head and looked outside, and saw two Jiefang brand trucks, one carrying people and the other carrying supplies. The trucks did not stop in the town, but instead headed towards the Fourth Mine Bridge.

Zhou Jingming frowned slightly. He could tell from their uniforms that these people were from the checkpoint. He couldn't help but think to himself: The people from the checkpoint entered the mountains much earlier this year than last year... We'll have to be very careful when we come and go from here.

When the checkpoint staff arrive, the mountain clearing team will often follow them into the mountains.

They often operate like this: one group chases them away while another intercepts them. To a large extent, they are birds of a feather, because it's harvest time again and everyone is thinking of making a quick buck.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhou Jingming didn't linger. He went out, got on his motorcycle, filled it up at the supply and marketing cooperative, and rode towards Altan.

Unexpectedly, not far from Tiemaike, they saw twenty or thirty people riding horses galloping towards them on the highway; it was the Qingshan team.

Seeing this, Zhou Jingming knew he couldn't avoid it. Turning around and leaving would only make him look suspicious. After thinking for a moment, he slowed down his motorcycle and moved to the side of the road to clear the way for the main road.

The distance between the two sides closed rapidly. When they were less than seven or eight meters apart, Zhou Jingming stopped his motorcycle, and the Qingshan team members also reined in their horses to slow them down.

As the captain of the Qingshan team, Liang Mazi was naturally the leader.

Zhou Jingming got off the motorcycle and greeted him with a smile, "Brother Liang, going into the mountains on business?"

He noticed a centipede-like wound on Liang Mazi's left cheek, which, though stitched up, hadn't fully healed, making Liang Mazi's face look somewhat ferocious.

Liang Mazi was also sizing up Zhou Jingming: "The mission assigned by the higher-ups... Where are you going?"

Zhou Jingming made up an excuse: "I'm going to Altan to buy some things!"

To everyone's surprise, Liang Mazi started to take it seriously: "Buy things? I think you should go sell things!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming frowned slightly. Of course, he knew what Liang Mazi was talking about.

But with so many people from the Qingshan team in front of him, he couldn't say much, and could only laugh awkwardly: "I really went to buy things."

"Routine procedure... Search!"

Liang Mazi waved his hand, and two men immediately dismounted and walked towards Zhou Jingming.

At this moment, Zhou Jingming felt somewhat fortunate that he hadn't brought the Type 56 pistol with him, but instead brought a hunting rifle. Otherwise, that Type 56 pistol alone would have given Liang Mazi enough reason to make things difficult for him.

The "face" he had bought with fifteen kilograms of gold had been completely forgotten by Liang Mazi.

Zhou Jingming couldn't help but curse under his breath: "Damn it..."

What he was more worried about was the Ma brand pistol he was carrying at his waist.

At times like this, it's clear that doing anything is futile.

Zhou Jingming cooperated by raising his hands and adopting a nonchalant expression, allowing the two men to search him.

A man searched him thoroughly, turning over all his pockets, and finally took the Mauser pistol, the Engisa knife, and the two hundred-odd dollars in his pocket.

The other person was circling the motorcycle, not even sparing the wheels.

Zhou Jingming knew the reason for checking the wheels. Every year when the gold prospectors finished their work and left the mountains, they tried every possible way to hide the gold. Besides hiding it in the cotton wadding of their cotton-padded clothes or in dried rabbit meat, some people even put the gold in the wheels of their carts...

Whether they're from the checkpoints or the clearing teams, after years of experience, they become quite adept and know many of the tricks gold prospectors use to hide their gold.

They suspect that Zhou Jingming hid gold in the motorcycle wheels.

The man brought the motorcycle over, spun the tires, and put his ear close to the wheel to listen to the sounds inside.

However, Zhou Jingming had already hidden the gold today, and he really didn't have any on him.

After inspecting the contents, he opened the burlap sack containing the double-barreled shotgun, which was strapped to the motorcycle, and took it out.

The two returned to Liang Mazi's side and shook their heads slightly at him.

The man who took the shotgun muttered, "It's not a Type 56..."

Liang Mazi looked at the things the two had found, then looked up at Zhou Jingming: "I won't say much about the hunting rifle, but what's with this pistol? This isn't something you should have."

"Captain Liang, if I said I found it, would you believe me?"

"You can find this thing?"

"Why not? I found it on the riverbank of the Haiertes River last year."

"This item is confiscated!"

Liang Mazi smiled at Zhou Jingming and ordered the two men searching him, "Give the rest of your things back to him... Let's go."

The two men exchanged a glance, then returned the shotgun and knife to Zhou Jingming. As for the money, the man who had been searched simply stuffed it into his pocket.

Zhou Jingming was somewhat annoyed, but he didn't show it. He just watched the two men ride away on horseback, following Liang Mazi.

He frowned slightly, feeling that this time the mountain clearing team's entry into the mountains was somewhat unusual.

(End of this chapter)