My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 18 Wounded and Blooming Red
Zhou Jingming spent the day wandering around Altan County, mainly to see if there were any people he knew or understood in his past life.

Although I haven't met them in this life, I knew some of their backgrounds from my past life. I roughly know the temperaments and personalities of these "acquaintances," who I can get along with, and who I should be wary of.

The more you understand, the more confident you will be in doing things.

Unfortunately, after wandering around for a while, he didn't see any familiar faces.

Perhaps because they arrived relatively early, Altan was still prone to heavy snowstorms at this time. The peak season for gold prospectors was around May. They hadn't arrived yet, or had gone to other parts of Altan. Some of them might not have even been involved in the gold panning business.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang returned to the Ayina Hotel and saw Peng Yuanchao squatting by the wall at the entrance of the hotel courtyard, smoking a cigarette.

Seeing the two return, he threw away his cigarette butt, stood up to greet them, and walked over somewhat hurriedly: "I guess you went to look for your next client, but didn't find one?"

It's not hard to guess; gold prospectors are never the type to stick to just one bad opportunity. They usually have multiple backup plans.

Teams choose their members, and members choose their teams; it's a two-way selection process.

Zhou Jingming said calmly, "We're here to find another job. We're just here to see if you've really decided to take us. If not, we'll find a better one."

Peng Yuanchao was probably taken aback by Zhou Jingming's direct answer. He chuckled dryly and said, "I'm a man of my word. If I said I wanted you, I definitely would. I will never go back on my word."

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "We are people of our word. Even if we find a few other people, we will prioritize you. After all, you were the first person we approached and the first to agree to let the two of us join the team... Have we found enough people?"

"We've found enough people; they're all waiting at the hotel. They're all eager to see what kind of people you are, daring to charge such a high price!"

Peng Yuanchao's words carried a hint of sarcasm.

Zhou Jingming didn't react much, and said calmly, "If I'm not mistaken, they only recruited newbies, right?"

Peng Yuanchao was taken aback again: "How did you know!"

"A gold-panning team of ten people has to collect fifteen grams of gold dust before they can divide it up once. You, me, and Wu Yang will get eight grams, while the other seven people will get seven grams. This kind of distribution is really a bit unfair."

Experienced gold prospectors will turn tail and run as soon as they hear about the methods for separating gold dust. Only clueless gold prospectors, afraid of not finding a team, would consider joining you!

Zhou Jingming's explanation made Peng Yuanchao roll his eyes repeatedly: "You thought of that a long time ago... You weren't deliberately trying to trick me, were you?"

"Trying to scam you?"

Zhou Jingming emphasized, "I'm here to make money, to make money through my own abilities. Scamming you won't do me any good! Of course, I also believe you wouldn't scam me..."

His second half of the sentence was quite meaningful.

Peng Yuanchao tried several different ways to test Zhou Jingming, but found him increasingly unpredictable: "You're too shrewd. You don't seem like someone from a geological team. You seem more like a seasoned veteran of the gold rush... I hope I made the right choice this time."

"Stop trying to probe my secrets, just focus on leading your gold-digging team."

Zhou Jingming said confidently, "Brother Peng, many gold prospectors say that coming to Altay to pan for gold is a gamble with one's life and luck, but I believe that anything is possible with human effort."

Once you get into the mountains, you'll realize how wise it was to choose me, and the same goes for everyone else you recruit later; they'll know how lucky they were to choose to join your team.

Even if it sounds like they're getting less now, they'll eventually find that they get just as much gold dust as if they joined another team.

Of course, if you really don't trust me, you can still find someone else.

"Just for that air of yours, that you could get any female dog pregnant if you caught her, I'll bet you!"

This time, Peng Yuanchao did not hesitate at all, and his words were quite vulgar.

"You're the one who sleeps with bitches, your whole family sleeps with bitches!"

Zhou Jingming raised an eyebrow: "You're asking for trouble!"

"欠日噘" means to be shameless or to deliberately invite trouble to be scolded.

Peng Yuanchao looked surprised: "Oh my, I didn't know you could understand our language!"

Zhou Jingming chuckled: "I'll still manage to hurt Dangdang, make flowers bloom, and make everything red!"

Peng Yuanchao grinned and said, "Not bad, not bad. If we have time, let's belt out a few songs together!"

Wu Yang, listening from the side, was completely confused: "Brother Zhou, what do you mean?"

"The red lilies bloom brightly... Haven't you heard of them?"

Wu Yang suddenly realized, and then couldn't help but laugh. He admired Zhou Jingming even more. What seemed like a random chat with Peng Yuanchao at the entrance of Ayina Hostel was actually Zhou Jingming having Peng Yuanchao firmly under his control.

Peng Yuanchao was not angry at all. On the contrary, he became much closer to Zhou Jingming, and they were like old friends who had known each other for many years. They could even joke with each other.

The three of them entered the hotel together and went to check on the two rooms that Peng Yuanchao had arranged for the people in the group. Zhou Jingming briefly asked about the situation of these people.

Besides Xu Youliang, who was the first to join the team, the six newcomers included two from Mashan County in Luoyue, three from Yuzhou, and one from Jincheng. They all said that they couldn't make a living by farming at home and didn't have enough money to get married. They heard that panning for gold could make them rich, so they came to northern Xinjiang.

In fact, whether they are gold mining novices or veterans, everyone has their own plans. It is unwise to decide whether to recruit them into the team based on a few questions, since they don't know each other.

Unless they come from the same place and know each other well.

Gold panning is a very tedious physical job. Most of the time, the most basic requirements for selecting people are simply that they are strong, willing to put in the effort, and obedient.

As for their character, we'll have to wait until we actually start panning for gold in the mountains. We'll see how they behave and get along with us. If someone seems unsuitable, we can just kick them out.

The men that Peng Yuanchao selected were all young and strong men in their twenties and thirties, the perfect age to contribute their labor.

Seeing that Zhou Jingming didn't say anything, Peng Yuanchao took out a piece of letter paper he had prepared beforehand from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Jingming: "Take a look at the agreement I wrote. Is there anything that needs to be changed or supplemented?"

Going into the mountains to pan for gold isn't something you can just talk about; there has to be a written agreement. Although Zhou Jingming doesn't think this agreement is very binding, it's still a basis and a set of rules.

He took the agreement and glanced at it. The crooked handwriting on it resembled that of a disheveled drunkard. He painstakingly scanned it and found that it was nothing more than an explanation of how the gold dust would be distributed, a requirement for unity, and how to handle betrayal, theft, and trouble-making. It was similar to the agreements of other gold mining teams.

"No problem!"

Zhou Jingming handed the agreement to the others: "Everyone, pass it around and take a look."

Among the young men who came to pan for gold, several were illiterate. In the end, the agreement returned to Peng Yuanchao, who read it aloud word by word, glancing at the group: "Did you all hear that clearly?"

The group nodded and said, "We heard you right!"

Peng Yuanchao took out a box of inkpads, pried open the lid, and said, "Just listen carefully. If you have any questions, speak up. If you have no questions, press your fingerprint on it. Pressing your fingerprint means that you agree to the rules set inside. If you break the rules, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Zhou Jingming was the first to press his handprint on it, followed by Wu Yang, and then several novices.

When it came to the gold-mining novice from Jincheng, he seemed a little hesitant: "The agreement says things like hoarding gold dust or stealing, and they'll break legs, chop off hands, and kick you out of the team at the drop of a hat. Isn't that a bit too harsh?"

"is it serious?"

Peng Yuanchao looked at him and chuckled: "When people go into the deep mountains and wilderness to pan for gold, they earn hard-earned money and may even risk their lives. They hoard gold dust and steal other people's gold dust. Can we tolerate that?"

They're all in it for the sake of making money in the mountains. There's a saying that goes: blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents. Hiding gold dust, stealing, and causing trouble are all ways to ruin someone's path to wealth. How can you expect to have an easy time?

"It wasn't life-threatening; they just broke legs, chopped off hands, and expelled from the group. That was already very merciful."

He paused for a moment, then looked at the man from Jincheng with a smile: "From what you're saying, you seem to have this idea?"

The man waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no..."

Peng Yuanchao's smile vanished instantly, his eyes fixed on him: "Nothing? If you had nothing to hide, would you think this punishment is too severe... Get out, my team doesn't want you!"

His sudden shout startled the man from Jincheng, who quickly explained, "I just felt scared when I heard it, and I just said it offhand. I really didn't mean it that way. Please don't kick me out!"

"roll!"

Peng Yuanchao let out another unquestionable shout.

The man looked at Peng Yuanchao, who was glaring angrily, and then at Zhou Jingming and the others who remained silent. He dared not say anything more, picked up his luggage, and hurriedly left the hotel room with a livid face.

Peng Yuanchao then looked at the remaining people: "There's a saying you should have heard: 'Unity brings mutual benefit, while conflict brings mutual destruction.' Once you're in the team, you're one entity. If you want to make money, you have to be united. We won't cause trouble, but we're not afraid of trouble either. Keep your little schemes to yourselves. If you're found to have something fishy going on, don't blame me for being impolite!"

The newcomers looked at each other and all expressed their willingness to stay.

Wu Yang interjected, "Now that we're one person short, do we have to recruit more?"

"So what if there are fewer people? There's no shortage of people here. If you weren't here today, you would have seen that I've turned down at least twenty or thirty people who wanted to join the team."

Peng Yuanchao was much gentler with Wu Yang: "I can easily go out and bring back a few."

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(End of this chapter)