My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 28 Wolf Seed
As evening fell, Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao hurried back along the road, looking around and considering where to spend the night, when they heard a clattering sound behind them.

This news brought a smile to the faces of the two men, whose legs were aching from walking. They knew that the hand-operated tractor that had taken the gold mining team into the mountains was turning back. They thought that if they spent a little money, they could take the tractor back and should be able to reach Tiemaike by late that night.

As a result, when the tractor was still more than ten meters away from the two of them, before Peng Yuanchao could even ask a question, the Han Chinese youth driving the tractor asked loudly, "Do you want to take a ride? To Tiemaike?"

Peng Yuanchao was more than happy to oblige, nodding repeatedly: "Sit, sit, sit..."

When the tractor stopped beside him, he first threw his luggage onto the vehicle, then jumped on as well, before asking, "How much?"

"What money do you need? No money needed. It's getting dark, let's travel together and look out for each other!"

The young man was quite clear-headed: "Anyway, the two of you only weigh about 300 pounds each. I need to use gas to drive an empty truck anyway, so it won't make a difference if you two are a little bit better off. It's a win-win situation for everyone!"

"Thank you!"

Zhou Jingming thanked him and then got on the tractor.

He knew that the main reason was that the northern border region was considered unlucky, and the locals avoided traveling at night.

"Hey... don't be so polite, let's keep each other company!"

The young man shifted gears and started the tractor, churning along the gravel road in the Gobi Desert: "Are you here to pan for gold too?"

This is no secret; locals know quite a bit about these things. After all, many gold prospectors travel to and from northern Xinjiang every year, and many people from the border region have opened shops selling gold prospecting equipment and restaurants that are more suitable for people from the border region in northern Xinjiang.

Peng Yuanchao readily admitted, "I went to pan for gold!"

Have you found a good place yet?

"Found it!"

"If your team needs a tractor to go into the mountains, you can contact me!"

"That couldn't be better!"

"Panning for gold will bring you great wealth! You'll all be bosses, incredibly wealthy bosses, panning for tons of gold!"

"I'll lend you some good words!"

And so, the two sat in the back of the truck, chatting idly with the tractor driver named Wang Youping, and even settled on the matter of hauling supplies into the mountains the next afternoon.

The main reason for choosing to enter the mountains tomorrow afternoon is that Peng Yuanchao is worried that the rich mine he has selected will be occupied by someone else, and he wants to enter the mountains as soon as possible.

If we follow Zhou Jingming's idea, we could actually stay in Tiemaike for a few more days. Going into the mountains too early and the weather is too cold would be quite a hardship.

In addition, Wang Youping also had his own considerations. The goods were loaded into the car in the afternoon and headed into the mountains. The journey was not short, and most of the travel time would be at night. With more people in the car, they could take care of each other and it would be safer.

The tractor is slow, and by the time they reach the Gold Rush Valley, it should be dawn the next morning. By then, the young man can return during the day, avoiding the need for him to travel alone at night.

Gradually, it got dark.

On a night without stars or moon, as far as the eye could see, apart from the small patch illuminated by the dim headlights of the tractor, the rest of the place was pitch black, like a gaping maw of an abyss that could swallow everything.

Late at night, the tractor turned out from the mountain bend, and its headlights illuminated a rocky cliff by the riverbank. Zhou Jingming recognized the place; he had camped here on his first day in the mountains.

He took a flashlight out of his canvas bag and scanned his surroundings.

Peng Yuanchao guessed what Zhou Jingming was looking for: "Still thinking about those dogs?"

Zhou Jingming nodded and continued to look, but he did not see the few green eyes he had been hoping for in the darkness, nor did he hear any sound.

"What are you looking for?" Wang Youping asked loudly.

Peng Yuanchao interjected, "We were looking for the dogs. When we went into the mountains, we saw five dogs here!"

"Don't bother looking for them. I saw those dogs when I went into the mountains a couple of days ago. They were beaten by the forestry workers. They like to eat dog meat, and they threw the dog heads and hides on the roadside near the workers' dormitory. They're still there."

Wang Youping asked with a smile, "You guys like to eat dog meat too?"

"It's not about eating dog meat. It's just that my brother likes keeping dogs, and he's taken a liking to that big male dog!"

“It’s good not to eat dog meat! The Uyghurs here strictly prohibit eating pork. In addition, donkey meat, dog meat, and mule meat are also forbidden. Livestock and poultry slaughtered before the harvest season are also forbidden. When dealing with them, you have to be careful about these things…” Perhaps because the journey was boring, Wang Youping started talking about those dogs and went on and on.

Just two days ago, when he was sending people into the mountains, he happened to see seven or eight forestry workers going into the mountains to hunt dogs.

The dogs were wandering in the desolate wilderness when they suddenly spotted people in the distance. Overjoyed, they wagged their tails and rushed toward the group. As soon as they got close, several men who had been lying in ambush rushed out with sticks and beat the three puppies to death on the spot. The mother dog's leg was also broken and she was captured. Only the male dog escaped.

The male and female dogs are a pair.

They tied the female dog to the car and waited for her to come to them.

The male dog lingered around all day, gazing in this direction from afar, never leaving. At night, he would even sneak over and sleep with the female dog.

The forestry workers went into the mountains and fought for two days, but they couldn't take it down.

The male dog was very clever; it wouldn't come close and became even more ferocious, making it impossible to get near.

The forestry workers drove their car slowly, dragging the female dog along, with the male dog following at a distance, all the way to the staff dormitory of the Fourth Mine.

Even so, they still couldn't hit it.

Wang Youping said that when he returned, he saw the dark-furred female dog sleeping peacefully by the car, her head resting on her front paws.

The big male dog had gray fur and was really large. It was watching from a distance at the edge of the pine forest on the slope.

The next time I passed by, I saw the big dog's head and fur lying on the roadside. The people who had beaten the dog gathered firewood by the roadside and set up a big iron pot to cook the dog meat.

Wang Youping said he asked a few questions casually and heard that a little girl from the family of a worker at the Fourth Mine went to get steamed buns, broke them into pieces, and fed them to the mother dog, but the mother dog didn't get up and just lay there.

When the crumbs of bread were thrown over, it simply straightened its neck, tilted its head, and caught the crumbs precisely, swallowed them in one gulp, and then lazily tilted its head and lay back down.

Later, the little girl even fed the male dog with steamed buns. When the dog saw her approach, it immediately straightened up, slumped its shoulders, and barked heavily.

The little girl was also scared and dared not approach. She just threw the steamed bun in her hand away and ran away. When she looked back, she saw the big male dog walk to the steamed bun and lower its head to eat it.

Several employees who were beating the dog saw this and came up with a good idea. They took small pieces of steamed bun, stuffed them with hooks tied with thin ropes, and threw them to feed the male dog.

The big male dog swallowed the steamed bun in one gulp, along with the hook. It was hooked in the throat and couldn't escape, so it was beaten to death by several people with sticks.

Zhou Jingming sighed, feeling a pang of sadness for such a powerful dog.

After crossing the Fourth Mine Bridge and passing the staff dormitory area, Wang Youping specifically pointed out to Zhou Jingming the location where the dog skin and dog head had been thrown.

Zhou Jingming turned on his flashlight and saw a gray dog ​​skin and a staring dog head lying on the roadside.

Wang Youping then said, "If you want a good dog, go find Ali, he has good dogs!"

"Ali...who is Ali?"

His words piqued Zhou Jingming's interest.

Wang Youping found a new topic and spoke with great enthusiasm.

Ali is a Kazakh herdsman and his friend. Every year when Ali goes to the summer pasture, Ali helps him transport things by tractor.

Last year, Ali caught a male wolf that was stealing sheep at his summer ranch. He bred the wolf with his two female mastiffs, and in winter, the two female mastiffs gave birth to more than ten puppies, which were true Tian Shan mastiffs.

Using a male wolf to breed with a female mastiff is such a rare opportunity that Ali couldn't bear to let them freeze to death, so he brought them into the house early on, and most of them survived.

The dogs are now six months old, and they eat a lot. Ali's family can't possibly keep that many dogs.
Now, Ali has moved his flock to Tiemaike, planning to graze the sheep on the front mountain for a while before moving them to the summer pastures deep in the mountains.

Wang Youping said he had seen those half-grown dogs a few days ago, and they were all very beautiful.

Six months old... old enough to guard the house!
After weighing the options, Zhou Jingming realized that the offspring of a wolf and a female dog was extremely rare, and he made up his mind: "Could you please help me ask your friend for one? I'll pay you twenty yuan as a favor!"

Wang Youping readily agreed: "Sure, he can't keep it anyway, he'll just have to give it away!"

　Thank you to reader Hei A Niu for the generous donation!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)