My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 24 Your behavior is hard to believe!

For the next three days, Peng Yuanchao followed Zhou Jingming upstream along the Haiertes River.

The further you go, the higher the surrounding mountains become.

Peng Yuanchao wasn't idle either; he took a map he bought from a stationery store and marked it along the way.

The journey of over a hundred kilometers, measured step by step on foot, seemed distant and long.

During this period, the weather was overcast for two days. First, there was a light rain, and then it snowed lightly for two consecutive nights. Covering the cotton-padded clothes with plastic sheeting didn't have much of an impact.

After a few gusts of wind, the weather cleared up, and the snow covering the mountains could be felt melting much faster.

Over the years, gold prospectors have frequented the Haiertes River Valley. The roads along the mountainside are not particularly wide, but they are not a problem for vehicles, making travel relatively convenient.

Gold mines are divided into two types: lode gold and placer gold.

Lode gold is hidden deep within the rocks of mountains, making exploration and mining extremely difficult; that's the job of large state-owned mines.

This main road leads to the large mine. The area around the large mine is a no-go zone for gold prospectors; anyone who enters will be expelled.

Placer gold is actually formed when rock gold is weathered and eroded, then transported by water and concentrated on riverbeds, making it easy to mine.

Gold prospectors are looking for placer gold.

The mining site is located in the river valley downstream of the ore source.

Because the road was relatively easy to travel, the two of them were able to move at a fairly fast pace.

Walking sixty or seventy miles each day, the two arrived at the gold-panning valley at noon on the fourth day after leaving Tiemaike.

Perhaps it was because the weather improved and the snow melted faster that the water in the river increased significantly and began to become turbid.

The two ventured deeper into the Gold Rush Valley, deviating from the main road. Along the way, they saw that some people had already entered the valley before them.

For the next ten miles or so, we saw six teams that had already chosen their locations and were busy building dugouts for their overnight stay in the mountains. Some of them had already finished building and were starting to use pickaxes to dig up frozen river sand on the riverbank to accumulate it in advance.

At a bend in the river, there were four or five people, all disheveled with long hair and beards, wrapped in dark cotton clothes. They weren't working; they just came out to look around when they heard the noise, carrying guns.

Judging from their wary demeanor, it was obvious that a rich mineral deposit had been discovered in the sand accumulated at the bend in the river, and these people were there to guard the place during the winter.

Zhou Jingming intentionally sized up those people, but after looking around, he still didn't see anyone he recognized.

As Peng Yuanchao walked, every so often he would use the golden bucket that Zhou Jingming had brought to lift up the large pebbles on the riverbank, each one as big as a head, scoop out some mud and sand, put it in the golden bucket, shake it in the water, and then get up to catch up with Zhou Jingming.

Clearly, he did not get the result he wanted.

In contrast, Zhou Jingming seemed unaffected, looking around and strolling about, mostly looking at the surrounding mountains and valleys, seemingly not even glancing down at the riverbed beneath his feet.

This made Peng Yuanchao wonder if Zhou Jingming was really as good at finding Jin Miao as he claimed.

So, after several unsuccessful searches, when he caught up with Zhou Jingming ahead of him, he asked, "Are you really going to find Jin Miao?"

Zhou Jingming nodded affirmatively: "You really know how!"

Peng Yuanchao frowned: "Don't try to fool me. I've panned for gold for two years, after all. I wouldn't say I'm a pro at finding gold, but I can at least do it, otherwise I wouldn't dare to lead the team. I've never seen anyone pan for gold like you. I've met people from geological exploration teams, and they've never seen anyone like you who can find gold in the gold-panning valley without even bending over or touching the sand. Aren't you being a bit too arrogant?"

"I have my own methods!"

Zhou Jingming stopped and turned to look at Peng Yuanchao behind him: "It seems you don't believe me..."

Peng Yuanchao stared intently at Zhou Jingming: "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that your behavior makes it hard for me to believe you!"

"With water on your back and back, three mountains and four hidden, green ox, iron horse, poisonous sand, small ditch mouth, big ditch with legs, not too big and not too small in the belly... You can recite these sets of rhymes, and so can I!"

Zhou Jingming looked at Peng Yuanchao with a smile: "But just knowing the mnemonic, do you understand it? Is it useful? You've come all this way, you've searched so far, have you found it yet?"

When Zhou Jingming asked him this, Peng Yuanchao felt a little embarrassed. He had gone through so much trouble before, but he hadn't even seen Jinmiao, let alone Jinmao: "If you're so capable, why don't you go find her?"

Zhou Jingming shook his head, sensing that Peng Yuanchao was starting to get a little angry: "Brother Peng, don't be fooled by my leisurely stroll. I'm also observing the terrain, river rocks, and vegetation. Some things I can see at a glance."

"From my experience traveling here, I actually know of a few places with golden seedlings, but I figured they were a bit too low-class and not worth the trouble. I want to find a better place."

Peng Yuanchao remained silent, simply turning his head to the side, his expression conveying only two words: disbelief!
Zhou Jingming laughed: "Still don't believe me..."

He looked around, took the gold bucket from Peng Yuanchao, and turned to walk away.

About thirty meters away, there were many sizable pebbles crowded on the riverbed. He looked around, chose a spot in the middle, picked up a few pebbles, and threw them into the river, clearing out an area about the size of a winnowing basket. Then he took out the short-handled pickaxe that he had tied to his bedding and carried on his back, and started digging into the river sand.

Seeing that Zhou Jingming was making a move, Peng Yuanchao immediately went over and sat on a pebble to watch.

He had just passed through this area, and based on his knowledge and experience in finding gold seedlings, there were no bends or obstructions, and the river was straight with a rapid current, so there were no gold seedlings there. Therefore, he did not stop.

But Zhou Jingming was digging in this very spot, and he increasingly felt that Zhou Jingming was just putting on an act, so he waited and watched from the sidelines.

Zhou Jingming, however, slowly dug for a while, digging down two feet deep. He threw all the pebbles of various sizes into the riverbed, and only picked out the fine sand to put into the gold bucket: "There is gold here. Watch carefully, gold will definitely come out within three buckets!"

After saying that, he walked to the riverbank and gently shook the golden goblet in the shallow water.

Zhou Jingming was skilled. With his gentle shaking, the mud and loose soil drifted away with the water. He shoveled away the large pieces of gravel, and finally, only a small clump of black sand remained at the bottom of the golden bucket.

As he slowly sifted the black sand out of the gold bucket, he took a closer look and then laughed, "The other two buckets don't need rinsing..."

He pulled a magnifying glass from his pocket and handed it to Peng Yuanchao: "Look for yourself!"

Peng Yuanchao took the magnifying glass with a disbelieving look, and upon closer inspection, he indeed saw some tiny golden froths at the bottom of the golden bowl. Although they were minuscule, they were real.

He was a seasoned gold panner and knew for a moment that this was real gold dust. He grinned and said, "Now I believe you!"

Zhou Jingming sat down on a pebble next to him and glanced at him: "Who was it that told me before that if you doubt someone, don't use them, and if you use someone, don't doubt them?"

Peng Yuanchao never expected Zhou Jingming to use his past words against him. He chuckled awkwardly, took out a Red Snow Lotus from his pocket, handed it to Zhou Jingming, and lit it for him himself with a lighter: "Sorry, I was just in a hurry, wasn't I? I also wanted everyone to get rich as soon as possible!"

Zhou Jingming just smiled and didn't say anything more.

　Thank you to readers Hei A Niu Ge and Chang Chang Ji Xing for the generous donations!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)