My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 255 A Good Arrival and a Good Return
Zhou Jingming stayed in Tiemaike for five days, staying in a hotel the whole time.

Most of the people in the team were led by Wu Yang, Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu, Wang Dong and others.

A good start should be followed by a good finish.

We need to help them find a car and arrange for someone quick-witted to lead them back, lest they break free and cause trouble, which would only add to the problems when Wu Yang and the others return to their hometown.

Of course, all we could do was find a car to take them to Altan; the rest of the journey back would be up to them.

These past few days, Zhou Jingming has continued to take care of everything, from eating and drinking to relieving himself and sleeping.

He no longer cares about this small amount of money.

After paying wages and covering daily expenses, the hundreds of thousands of yuan received from Wu Fusheng left more than 40,000 yuan.

Only after the last group of people left did Zhou Jingming go to see Sun Huai'an again.

This time, the only purpose was to obtain some explosives. In the old mine, if you only rely on manual digging, you can't get much gold in a day. If you want to get more gold, you have to rely on explosives.

With Gao Jianjun, a blasting expert, around this year, these kinds of jobs will go much more smoothly.

Unfortunately, he searched all over town in his spare time but couldn't find a ore crusher. He figured he would have to rely on manual ore crushing this year.

Fortunately, there are still some usable iron tools in the old mine; all you need to prepare are a few sledgehammers.

In addition, he was still thinking about the gold left by Liang Mazi. However, not long after the incident of Liang Mazi being shot, many people probably knew that Liang Mazi had hidden gold and were trying to find it.

The main problem is that Zhou Jingming doesn't know how much gold Liang Mazi has hidden, or whether it's hidden in a place he knew about in his previous life.

There were too many uncertainties, and Zhou Jingming didn't want to get involved in this mess. If he were targeted, it would be a huge problem.

He thought he should wait until he returned from washing the cave and was on his way home before stopping to visit Altan, since it would be convenient anyway.

Deep down, Zhou Jingming felt it was a pity that Liang Mazi was killed so quickly.

If he hadn't been targeting Zhou Jingming so relentlessly, Zhou Jingming wouldn't have wanted to act so quickly. If he had kept him around for two more years, he would have accumulated more gold.

Sun Huai'an acted quickly, and the next day he had two boxes of explosives that Zhou Jingming needed delivered.

Over the next two days, he sent everyone to the fur trading shop to buy fur coats for warmth. Since everyone had money, they also bought some furs and prepared some food, smoked meat, vegetables, and other items to take with them.

Zhou Jingming drove his tractor over and let Li Guozhu drive it, while he rode his motorcycle with Su Xiulan on the back, heading towards Kuter Township.

Now that we know there's a road through Death Valley from the old mine to Kuter Township, there's no need to go through those deep forests and mountains like we did the first time.

With tractors around, transporting supplies will be much easier.

That evening, the group arrived in Kuter Township and stayed there temporarily. Wu Yang led Nara and Batu to their new house in the settlement.

Fearing that someone might see them and object to their marriage, and also worried about being criticized for burying an unknown woman in the clan's cemetery, the three of them went there after dark and returned to the inn late at night.

They set off early the next morning, and by the time the villagers were starting to get active, the group had already entered the Death Valley area.

The temperature dropped, and without the scorching sun, the faint smell of sulfur in Death Valley faded considerably, and some herders were even grazing their livestock along the river.

Batu tried hard to figure out the way to the old mine.

This road is very old, and many parts are unrecognizable. You can only climb to a high place to look around and judge the location of the road from the general traces.

And so, it took a whole day to traverse this desolate land of dozens of kilometers where all you could see were Gobi Desert and rocky mountains. Gradually, you could see patches of fir, birch and poplar trees, and more colors appeared.

Water is scarce in the Gobi Desert, and there are few places where roads have been damaged by rainwater; in fact, these areas are often unobstructed.

But as the terrain rises, driving a tractor becomes increasingly difficult.

Some roads are now overgrown with trees, and in many places, they have been eroded into gullies by the mountains and rivers.

Smaller ditches can be filled with paving stones, and with everyone working together, the tractor can get across. But if you encounter a large ditch, it takes a lot of time to fill it in.

To avoid trouble, Zhou Jingming simply abandoned the tractor in the mountains.

Anyway, the supplies we brought were only enough to support a dozen or so people staying in the mountains for a month or two. It wasn't much, and if we divided it among the group, each person could carry about 60 or 70 kilograms, which wasn't a big problem.

The group divided their belongings and carried them on their backs, along with the tractor crank handle and belt, as they trekked into the mountains.

The only thing that could be taken with them was Zhou Jingming's motorcycle; if they couldn't go anywhere else, they could carry it over.

The deeper they went into the mountains, the denser the forest became. After spending two more nights in the mountains, the group finally arrived at the now withered and yellow grassland. In the distance, they could see startled roe deer running across the grassland, and even a half-grown bear wandering around the small lake. Noticing Zhou Jingming and his group's movements, it immediately hid in the mountains.

In addition, on a steep hillside with many rocks and few trees, a large group of animals with thick horns were seen. Two animals were on a stilt, and the sound of their horns colliding could be heard from a distance.

When Su Xiulan was in Haxionggou, she had only seen some small animals that Old Liu had brought back. She had never seen such a group of wild animals, each weighing more than 100 pounds. She asked Zhou Jingming curiously, "What are those things?"

"The argali sheep, also known as the bighorn sheep, is a rather tragic animal."

Zhou Jingming gave a simple explanation.

"sorrow?"

"These argali sheep all have thick horns on their heads. The horns grow curved and bigger and bigger. Some argali sheep's horns grow so long that they stick to their faces and then pierce their bones and pierce their own heads. Or they wait until they get old and are so burdened by these big horns that they can't stand up and starve to death."

"Really? There are horns that can grow so long that you can't lift them up?"

Not only did Su Xiulan not believe it, but even Peng Yuanchao and others who heard this questioned it with suspicion.

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "If you don't believe me, ask Batu and see if what I said is true."

The usually lively Gao Jianjun asked, "Batu, is what Brother Zhou said true?"

Batu, who was leading the way, glanced back at the group and nodded: "It's true. I've seen the skulls of rams with their horns stuck in their heads in the mountains. The horns really did pierce through their heads. I've also seen rams that can't lift their heads to walk. Of course, these are all male rams. Female rams are much smaller and have smaller horns."

Gao Jianjun was speechless: "Holy crap... there really are such bizarre things."

Zhou Jingming chuckled: "It's good to have these things, brothers. Once we settle down at the old mine, we can go hunting for a day. These big guys, some of them weigh up to 300 pounds, can easily catch a couple and that will be enough to feed us for a long time."

Hunting has always been a tempting activity for men, and everyone was excited when they heard that they were going out hunting.

"By the way, a word of caution: be very careful when entering this grassland, especially in the areas with small lakes; do not approach them lightly."

Hidden within this alpine meadow are numerous man-eating swamps; if you accidentally fall in, you won't be able to climb out.

Zhou Jingming took the opportunity to give a word of advice.

Peng Yuanchao surveyed the grassland and the surrounding vast mountains, and asked Zhang Xueqin in a low voice, "Did you really stay here alone for more than three months?"

Zhang Xueqin didn't answer him, but instead reached out and pinched his waist hard, venting the frustration that had been stirred up in her heart.

Following the edge of the grassland, there are paths that cars used to drive on. Once you reach the grassland, this section of the road is relatively easy to walk.

Zhou Jingming rode his motorcycle, transported some heavy items, and headed to the old mine. After placing the items in the tin shed, he turned back.

With much of their burden lifted, the group walked faster. By the afternoon, they had all arrived at the old mine.

Zhou Jingming, Batu, and Zhang Xueqin were familiar with the place and didn't think much of it.

Peng Yuanchao and his group became very curious when they saw the iron lumps hidden in the weeds.

After putting down his things, he disregarded his fatigue and wandered around the mine, trying to guess who had mined there.

Zhou Jingming sat down by the tin shed, smoked a cigarette, and after a while, gathered everyone together and arranged for Peng Yuanchao, Wang Dong, and three others to go and get some firewood for later use.

He then led the remaining people to begin setting up tents.

The only thing still standing in the entire mine is that tin-roofed house; the rest of the wooden houses have long since collapsed and are unusable.

This time, including three women, there were fourteen people in total. The tin shack couldn't accommodate so many people, so Zhou Jingming arranged for the three women to stay there, and the remaining eleven men had to stay in tents.

Tents offer no protection from the cold at night, and without a constant supply of firewood, even with a leather canopy, it's still uncomfortable.

Zhang Xueqin had lived in a tin-roofed house. After a simple cleaning, the three women carried their bedding and luggage inside and started a fire in the iron stove. First, they boiled some salt tea for everyone to drink, and then they washed the smoked meat they had brought with hot water and started stewing it early in the morning.

Zhou Jingming and his group cut down some wooden poles, dug holes in the grass, planted the poles, laid out the tent, and secured it with ropes and stakes.

By the time all these things were settled, it was already late.

Peng Yuanchao also led his men to cut down a lot of firewood, which was piled up haphazardly next to the tin shack, enough to last for several days.

The food was quickly brought to the tent by the three women.

That night, the group ate and drank to their hearts' content, went to bed early, and were still thinking about hunting lamb the next day before going to sleep.

(End of this chapter)