My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 35 Why didn’t you tell me earlier?

While Zhou Jingming was talking to Peng Yuanchao about gold mica, the others were listening nearby. Seeing that mica had nothing to do with gold, they were all somewhat disappointed.

Especially for beginners, if it's their first time panning for gold, most of them probably don't even know what gold looks like; they're just thinking about shiny, golden things.

Without thinking, if you could just see so much gold and pick up such a big piece so easily, then gold probably wouldn't be worth anything.

Zhou Jingming had been observing them intentionally. After observing them for the past few days and considering their current reactions, he was basically certain that these newbies in the team were genuine novices. They had at least never panned for gold in Altay, otherwise they wouldn't be so unfamiliar with mica.

The curiosity, ignorance, and desire for gold hidden in their eyes cannot be faked.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that they have similar ideas to Peng Yuanchao.

After all, Zhou Jingming was an exploration technician. In the mountains, it was hard to find someone like him who could be considered an expert and authority. Everyone wanted to get some answers to their questions from him.

The initial excitement was replaced by disappointment, and everyone sat back down by the fire to warm themselves and bake naan.

As the snow melts, the mountain streams carry a lot of mud and debris down from the mountains, making the rivers murky and turbulent.

The man Peng Yuanchao had assigned to fetch water returned with a bucket. Upon seeing the murky water, some people immediately became unhappy, especially Cao Qidong, who shouted, "Is this any kind of drinkable water?"

Peng Yuanchao kept using the vulgar phrase "f*** it," and no one dared to say anything. After all, he was the one who funded the operation and was the leader of the team. Even if they couldn't stand it, they had to put up with it.

But when a fellow novice, who was also dividing the same amount of gold, blurted out those three words, the water-fetcher got angry: "Then what the hell do you want to drink?"

Seeing that the man fetching water was getting angry, Cao Qidong wasn't intimidated at all. He stood up abruptly, pointed at the bucket of murky water, and started yelling even louder: "Are you blind? Can't you see that it's full of horse and sheep dung floating in here? Can't you clean it up a bit?"

The man fetching water was also annoyed: "You're so good at thinking things through, why don't you go and get some... Are you blind? Is there any clean water in this river?"

The mountains are where the Kazakhs graze their summer pastures, and where there are rivers, they naturally become places for livestock to drink.

Herdsmen often raise hundreds of livestock. When they stay in one place for a period of time, they always leave a lot of livestock manure on the riverbank and the surrounding mountains. Sand and gravel can be carried into the river by the snowmelt, not to mention the livestock manure.

This is quite normal in the Gold Rush Valley.

The two men choked on a bucket of water, and then others stood up to join in, adding fuel to the fire, making it seem like they were about to fight. Zhou Jingming, however, remained calm and collected, watching with interest.

A group of people temporarily came together, and they came from different places. A few days ago, Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao went into the mountains to scout the area, leaving them in the stable for a simple adjustment period. As a result, the three from Yuzhou formed a group, the two from Luoyue formed a group, the one from Jincheng was kicked out, and the last one to come in, a man from Ruanxiang, preferred to talk to Wuyang from Xiangxi.

Zhou Jingming had asked Wu Yang about these details.

He had told Wu Yang to remember to hide himself and not to tell everyone everything. So, Wu Yang did not reveal his secrets, only occasionally mentioning them.

They're all young and full of energy; if they don't like something, they're easily angered. But they don't understand anything, so things can easily get chaotic.

Such a team is best described as a "makeshift crew" or a "rabble," lacking formality, stability, and professionalism, making it virtually impossible for them to accomplish anything significant.

This is one of the reasons why Zhou Jingming, after returning home, had enough money to start a team, and left the money at home instead of rushing to form one himself.

Besides making some money, he also wanted to use the next six months to find some reliable people to join his gold-panning team next year.

Right now, he just wants to see how Peng Yuanchao will handle this.

Seeing that they were starting to push and shove, Peng Yuanchao finally couldn't stand it anymore: "You sons of bitches, you were the ones who wanted to leave last night, and you're the ones causing trouble today over this trivial matter. If you can do it, then do it; if you can't, then get the hell out of here. I can't afford to support young masters and playboys like you in this team."

"Why can't this water drink? There are just a few sheep droppings floating in it, what's the big deal?"

As he spoke, he squatted down by the bucket, not caring whether the water was dirty or cold, and buried his head in the bucket, gulping down several large mouthfuls, even spitting out a sheep dropping from his mouth.

Then, he stood up and yelled at the group, "Will I die from drinking this water? Am I dead? I've never seen such a delicate person before."

Seeing this, Wu Yang's eyes shone with admiration, and he muttered to Zhou Jingming, "It reminds me of the days when we were training, crawling and rolling around in the mud."

Zhou Jingming nodded: "It's really good that you can set an example."

As the leader, what could be more convincing than him demonstrating it himself?

Seeing Peng Yuanchao's unruly nature, the others were immediately stunned, each letting go and retreating to the side, keeping their heads down and not saying a word. Seeing this, Zhou Jingming also spoke up for them: "Gentlemen, this is a pastoral area. These mountains are grazing grounds with many cattle, sheep, and camels. It's normal to have cattle and sheep dung in the river."

As the saying goes, sheep eat all kinds of grass and are not afraid of disease. What's there to be afraid of if there are a few sheep droppings?

Even if the water is crystal clear, it doesn't mean it's clean just because you can't see it. You saw it last night too; there were corpses floating in the river, and people defecating and urinating in it. So you won't drink it.

"Hurry up and bake some naan. You all seem to have plenty of energy. Eat and drink your fill, then we'll be on our way."

Wu Yang stood up, glanced at the bucket, and realized that he himself couldn't stand it anymore, so he poured out the water, carried the bucket to the river, found a cleaner spot, and filled another bucket to bring back.

However, this water is stronger than the water from the ground, except that it was poured onto the mat.

He put the water aside: "Let it settle for a while, and the water will become clearer!"

Xu Youliang distributed the naan to everyone to bake, and took four for himself. He then scooped out some of the remaining charcoal and ashes from the firewood pile and placed them on top to bake.

Zhou Jingming was too lazy to roll a cigarette, so he took out his Red Lotus cigarettes from Peng Yuanchao's pocket and gave one to each of Peng Yuanchao, Xu Youliang, and Wu Yang. After lighting one for himself, he saw that there were no cigarettes left in the packaging and threw the cardboard box into the fire.

He took a couple of puffs of his cigarette and looked at the newbies: "You all know that Brother Peng is from Longzhong, which is on the Loess Plateau. There are many places with severe water shortages. People live in cave dwellings, and the water for people and livestock is collected from rainwater in the water cellars built in the yard."

Conditions are tough. No matter how much you clean, cow and sheep dung will still get into the water cellar, and you can often see sheep droppings in the drinking water. Yet, so many people still live there just fine.

You people... you all come from the countryside, don't be so pretentious, try to overcome it, and stop forming cliques and getting angry at the drop of a hat. We still need to unite. When we were building the team, Brother Peng said that cooperation benefits both sides, while fighting results in mutual destruction. I think you should all remember that.

The fact that you're still here means you all want to make money. Making money is better than anything else.

"Tomorrow, we'll arrive at the location, and we can start panning for gold very soon. I have good news for you: the spot we scouted has a rich mine."

Upon hearing the words "rich mine," the group seemed to be injected with adrenaline. No matter how ignorant they were, after these past few days, they roughly knew what "rich mine" meant. They all looked at Zhou Jingming, and then cast probing glances at Peng Yuanchao.

Peng Yuanchao took a deep breath and further affirmed, "It's a rich mine!"

Everyone immediately grinned.

The three men from Yuzhou were the first to say that they would definitely obey orders and would never act recklessly, but Peng Yuanchao retorted with a single sentence: "You three are the ones who can cause trouble... Anyone can talk big, I want to see what you do."

I'll say it again: if you dare to cause trouble like that again, don't blame me for not keeping you here.

At that moment, Zhou Jingming whispered to Peng Yuanchao, "Brother Peng, is the river water good to drink?"

Peng Yuanchao glared at Zhou Jingming: "You know perfectly well why I'm asking this."

Zhou Jingming blinked: "If it doesn't taste good, why not melt snow for water?"

Peng Yuanchao was stunned for a moment, his face turning resentful: "Why didn't you say so sooner!"

Zhou Jingming grinned: "I just remembered."

Unexpectedly, Peng Yuanchao suddenly reached out and lightly patted Zhou Jingming's shoulder in a sissy voice, saying in a coquettish tone, "You naughty devil!"

This caught Zhou Jingming off guard for a moment: "Brother Peng, I didn't realize you were so talented..."

Then, he looked at the others and said, "If you ever have any of those needs in the future, just ask Brother Peng. He'll definitely be able to satisfy you!"

Peng Yuanchao's face immediately fell: "Get out!"

Their words made everyone burst into laughter.

After laughing, Wu Yang got up and poured out the bucket of muddy water again. Then he took another bucket and climbed up the hillside to fill it with snow, but was stopped by the three Yuzhou men and had to take over.

The group of people looked somewhat presentable.

(End of this chapter)