My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 81 Staying is like an enemy, but the more you walk, the more familiar you become.

Wu Yang ran excitedly down to the dugout, and not long after, he returned carrying a cloth bag. He was particularly interested in changing his diet.

Zhou Jingming led him out of the forest, over the mountain pass, and walked for about four or five miles until they reached the barren slope behind them.

That barren slope had almost no trees in sight. Although grass sprouts were emerging at this time of year, they appeared as small patches of light green, scattered across the gravelly slope.

"Look carefully around here, especially where asafoetida grows. The mushroom I'm leading you to is asafoetida mushroom, which is a good thing that the locals call 'Tianshan Divine Mushroom' and 'Western Heaven White Lingzhi'."

Unlike the mushrooms in our area, where mushrooms only grow when there is plenty of rain and the temperature is high, the asafoetida mushroom sprouts from the gravel before the snow crust has completely melted. It is white and fleshy, and tastes especially delicious. It is a very precious mushroom!

It is called Ferula mushroom because it likes to parasitize the rhizomes of Ferula.

Asafoetida is a medicinal plant with yellow flowers.

Besides, it also grows under eryngium and lagerstroemia; these are all large, umbrella-shaped plants.

As Zhou Jingming introduced the asafoetida mushroom, he pointed to the clusters of plants on the ground that had just sprouted a few leaves and were still lying in small clumps on the gravel ground, and told Wu Yang what asafoetida, erysipelas, and lasseri were.

These plants are rarely seen, whether in Sichuan or western Hunan.

Compared to the shiitake mushroom, asafoetida mushroom is Zhou Jingming's true love; he really enjoys eating it.

In recent years, asafoetida mushrooms have been cultivated artificially and given the name "white lingzhi mushroom," and sold in major cities. However, they can no longer taste the original flavor of wild asafoetida mushrooms.

After gaining a basic understanding of Wuyang, the two immediately separated and searched the barren slope with their heads down.

Not long after, Wu Yang brought over a white, fist-sized mushroom with thick flesh and cracked surface: "Brother Zhou, is this the one?"

When Zhou Jingming saw the mushroom, he was also pleasantly surprised: "Yes, yes, that's it!"

The two continued their search, but after more than two hours of searching in the wilderness, they only found sixteen or seventeen asafoetida mushrooms of various sizes.

With lunchtime fast approaching, Zhou Jingming could only shake his head and sigh, "Let's stop looking and go back!"

Wu Yang was somewhat disappointed: "After all that, we only found this much. Such a large group of people isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap."

"This stuff is only available in early spring, specifically from late April to late May. Once the temperature rises, it stops appearing. We must have come a bit too early. If we come back in another ten days or so, we should be able to enjoy it properly for a few meals."

Zhou Jingming smiled and comforted him, "We can still make some soup when we get back, so drink plenty!"

The two lit a cigarette and walked back while smoking.

Upon reaching the yellow grass slope above the fir forest behind the small peninsula, they saw Peng Yuanchao leading four people standing by a sandpit on the peninsula, talking about something. Meanwhile, smoke was rising from the dugout, and everyone was busy cooking over two campfires.

Not knowing the specifics of the situation, the two exchanged a glance and quickly walked downstairs.

When they arrived at the dugout and saw Xu Youliang and the others, Zhou Jingming's first question was, "What are they doing?"

“They are the leaders of several gold panning teams along this section of the river. They came to visit the camp, saying they wanted to get to know each other. Some brought wild game, some brought wine and meat, and some even went out of their way to buy sheep from the herders and brought them over!”

Xu Youliang smiled broadly: "We didn't see any contact before, but now everyone is being very polite."

Needless to say, Zhou Jingming knew it was because of the two battles he fought with the bearded man and Old Tang's gang.

It happened close to evening. So many gunshots rang out, and there were shouts and cries of killing. The commotion was so great that the gold panning teams upstream could see what was happening.

They chased after Old Tang and his group downstream, passing through the territories of several gold-mining teams, which was known to those downstream.

Putting everything else aside, the bodies floating downstream would inevitably be seen by the gold prospectors, who would then be able to guess what had happened upstream.

At that time, Zhou Jingming fought ruthlessly with Lao Tang with the intention of establishing his authority and making those nobodies wary.

The arrival of these people is enough to show that it was very effective.

With such a fierce gold-mining team around, it naturally deterred gold miners both upstream and downstream.

Those who intend to provoke others should weigh their options carefully and quickly suppress their restless thoughts.

They didn't mean to provoke them, but they were worried that Zhou Jingming and his gang might find the mining site one day, so they had to be on guard.

So, no matter what, it's never a bad thing to try to please or flatter someone.

Moreover, seeing so many of them arriving on the same morning with their own gifts, they must have discussed it amongst themselves beforehand.
Zhou Jingming smiled, turned his head and said to Wu Yang, "Let's go, let's go take a look!"

Wu Yang handed the asafoetida mushrooms he had picked to Xu Youliang: "Make soup, make soup... add plenty of water!"

Seeing Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang return, Peng Yuanchao greeted them happily: "You're back! Did you see Mushroom?"

"I found more than ten flowers, but not many have appeared yet, so we have to wait a while longer."

Zhou Jingming replied simply, then looked at the four people: "I saw a few more people suddenly appear at the mining site on the hillside behind. I thought someone was trying to take over the mining site again, which startled me, so I ran back quickly! When I heard Youliang say that they were just visiting."

"Gentlemen, what brings you here today?"

"Speaking of which, we're all panning for gold in this valley. To put it bluntly, we see each other all the time, so we should get to know each other. People are usually like enemies if they don't get along, but they become more familiar the more they interact. We really should visit each other more often..."

You must be the technician Zhou that Chief Peng mentioned...

One of the middle-aged men asked with a broad smile. He was wearing a faded blue Zhongshan suit jacket and black trousers with thick patches on the knees and buttocks, making him look very plain.

"I'm!"

Zhou Jingming took out a Da Zhong Jiu cigarette, preparing to offer cigarettes to the group.

Seeing this, several gang leaders reached into their pockets and pulled out cigarettes, crowding over: "Try one of mine...try one of mine..."

"Guests are welcome, don't be so polite. This cigarette of mine came from that guy surnamed Tang down there. It's good cigarette, hard to find in the mountains. Please have mine!"

Zhou Jingming handed out a cigarette to everyone present.

"You can tell at a glance that someone is cultured; their demeanor is different! We self-taught people just can't compare to professionals."

In the past two years, this small peninsula has been bustling with people. Many have examined the sand there, including myself. I've been in this valley for the past two years, and every time I come to this peninsula, I feel there's gold in the sand according to the feng shui. I've even examined it twice, but I still haven't found any gold. Brother Zhou is truly amazing!

The middle-aged man gave Zhou Jingming a thumbs up: "When we first saw you two scouting this place, a bunch of us laughed at you, saying that you two were just taking a chance and that you had a hard time making a living by panning for gold."

Thinking about it now, my face still burns with embarrassment; I have to admit, I'm impressed!

He subtly flattered Zhou Jingming.

Zhou Jingming had heard similar things many times in his previous life, and he used to feel flattered by them, but now he was immune to them.

But we still have to say a few polite words.

He smiled at the middle-aged man: "Brother, you flatter me. Actually, most of the techniques we geologists used to find gold came from the common people. They are no different from the methods people use to find gold... I think that finding gold sometimes depends on luck and fate."

This little peninsula, perhaps, is destined for me.

"That makes sense. Everyone's luck is different. It's like everyone comes here to pan for gold. Some people spend years in the valley and are still penniless, while others find a big gold nugget as soon as they arrive and become rich overnight!"

The middle-aged man, following Zhou Jingming's words, said with deep emotion: "I knew someone last year who came to pan for gold for the first time. He had only been there for less than half a month when he encountered rain and couldn't work. During a break in the rain, he ran to an abandoned old mine site, searched around, and saw a piece of stone covered in mud with a bit of gold showing. He took it and rinsed it in water, and lo and behold, it was a big nugget of gold, weighing at least two pounds. He ran away that very day."

They were so busy searching for him that they spent two days looking for him, thinking he had run far away and been snatched by jackals.

Later, a gold collector came into the mountains and specifically sought out their group, assuming they had a lot of gold. That's when they revealed that the large gold nugget was sold to this gold collector.

Suddenly having thirty or forty thousand yuan in hand meant I no longer had to worry about making ends meet.

"Who says it isn't?"

Zhou Jingming had heard similar stories of sudden wealth a few times. He couldn't help but think that his luck was really not that good. He was destined to be a hard worker. In his previous life, he had spent many years panning for gold, and the largest gold nugget he had ever seen was only about half a pound.

But then I thought, maybe all the luck just came together at once, which led to this rebirth.

He smiled and asked the middle-aged man, "What is your surname, sir?"

“My surname is Zhang. I come from Qin. I’m from that gold-mining team above you.”

The middle-aged man seemed to remember something and then said, "I forgot something. This morning, my good-for-nothing son went into the woods to pick mushrooms and accidentally wandered behind your dugout. He broke a taboo, so I have to apologize to you."

I've told him countless times not to run around. He's too young, and his personality is always a bit impulsive. Yesterday, I went into the mountains with some men to hunt roe deer, and we didn't come back last night, so he started running around!"

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "I can tell whether it's good or bad. Brother Zhang is overthinking it."

He knew that the child Zhang the foreman was referring to was the boy he had met that morning, and he also roughly understood that the team on the small peninsula above had not started mining because the foreman had led the men out hunting, while the rest were assigned to guard the mining site.

Upon hearing this, Zhang, the foreman, looked much more relaxed.

"Roe deer?"

Wu Yang recognized the familiar words and interjected, "Brother Zhou, are there roe deer in Altay?"

Zhou Jingming nodded: "Roe deer are not only found in Northeast China, but also in Inner Mongolia, Altay, and neighboring Kazakhstan."

Peng Yuanchao gestured towards the dugout with his chin: "The meat cooking in the pot is roe deer meat, sent by Brother Zhang!"

Zhou Jingming could tell that Zhang, the foreman, was trying his best to be humble, and even stopped work to hunt roe deer, which showed his dedication.

He smiled at Zhang, the foreman, and said, "Thank you for your trouble, brother!"

Peng Yuanchao then pointed to the other three and introduced them one by one: "This is Li, the foreman from Ganzhou; Wu, the foreman from Jingzhou; and Zhao, the foreman from Jiujiang!"

Zhou Jingming nodded slightly to them as a greeting.

But then Li, the leader, said, “No one in our team is good at hunting, so we sent three people out to buy sheep. It was lucky that they met a herdsman yesterday afternoon after going out for more than 20 miles. They specially picked out two fat and strong sheep and brought them back. We’re giving one to you as a gift.”

Wu, the team leader, added, "We're rather poor, but there are quite a few people in the team who like to drink. We brought a lot of alcohol with us when we went into the mountains. I just wanted to save trouble, so I brought a few pounds with me."

Zhao, the foreman, chimed in, "We don't have much. Before heading into the mountains after arriving in Altay, we bought some smoked horse sausage. It's not much, Brother Zhou, please don't mind. We can make friends."

Zhou Jingming laughed heartily: "As the old saying goes, friends are friends when they have wine and meat. You've gone to such great lengths, bringing meat and wine. What else would we call each other if not friends?"

Upon hearing this, the others all laughed.

(End of this chapter)