My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 30 Jin Wang
Despite how fiercely Peng Yuanchao yelled at Xu Youliang, he was quite ruthless when it came to eating dog meat. Before long, a pile of bones had accumulated on the ground in front of him.

In his words, since it's all cooked, what else can we do but eat it? If there's any real trouble, he'll definitely help us out.

Back when Peng Yuanchao saw the pack of wild dogs in the mountains and asked Zhou Jingming if he wanted to eat dog meat, Zhou Jingming knew that he actually liked to eat dog meat too.

It is estimated that Peng Yuanchao and Xu Youliang also ate a lot of dogs while panning for gold in the Western Sea.

The reason he reprimanded Xu Youliang was more to set an example for the other members.

After all, at this point, only Zhou Jingming knew that Xu Youliang's newbie status was fake.

More accurately, Xu Youliang was a trusted confidant of Peng Yuanchao.

Peng Yuanchao was merely using this opportunity to give the other members a warning and to gain some goodwill in return.

That's fine too, because if these things cause trouble, it will be really troublesome.

You really don't eat dog meat?

Peng Yuanchao sucked on his fingers, which were covered in soup, and asked Zhou Jingming, who was sitting by the fire smoking a cigarette and waiting for the food to cook, "A sip of baijiu and a piece of dog meat, that's satisfying."

He then casually remarked to the Yue man who was preparing dog meat, "Not bad!"

The Luo Yue man seemed pleased to be praised: "My hometown is poor, and we can't eat meat more than a few times a year. I've often thought about killing dogs to satisfy my cravings. I've done it a few times. There are many restaurants that sell dog meat in our town!"

Zhou Jingming simply shook his head slightly, ignoring the pot of dog meat.

It wasn't that he was being fussy; it was mainly because the tractor driver might bring a puppy tomorrow, and he didn't want to smell dog meat on himself and make the puppy repulsed.

Dogs are very perceptive animals.

Just like dogs will be afraid of people who frequently kill dogs.

Although he saw that many dog ​​owners also ate dog meat and it didn't seem to have much of an impact, he still decided to do it.

Seeing that Zhou Jingming insisted, Peng Yuanchao didn't say anything more and continued eating by himself.

Zhou Jingming chatted casually with Wu Yang and asked him what had happened after they left.

Wu Yang said that he had been guarding the site and hadn't gone anywhere. The others had also been quite obedient and hadn't been wandering around too often. However, a few people had come to ask if the gold-mining team needed more people, but he refused them all, saying that he already had enough manpower.

The others were more interested in Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao's scouting trip into the mountains and asked them questions.

Peng Yuanchao shut him down with a single sentence: "What's the point of asking? You'll find out once you get into the mountains!"

The details of scouting locations cannot be revealed casually. If the news leaks out and the selected gold mines end up in someone else's possession, that would be a huge loss.

Who knows what kind of people are hiding in the group, or what their thoughts are?

After the rice was cooked, Zhou Jingming had some vegetables washed, seasoned them himself, and cooked a clear broth hot pot. He ate and drank to his heart's content, and by the time they were full, it was already very late at night.

The journey was quite long, and they had been wandering around in the mountains for days. Both Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao were exhausted, unlike Xu Youliang and the others, who waited in the stable, eating and sleeping all day without being able to sleep. The two of them warmed themselves by the fire, wrapped themselves in blankets, and sank into the dry grass, quickly falling asleep.

They had been instructed in advance, and no one disturbed them the next morning. They slept until after 10 o'clock before waking up one after another.

They were going into the mountains that afternoon, so Peng Yuanchao asked Xu Youliang to go to town and buy three chickens and some mutton to cook a good meal.

While the other members were busy cooking, Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao re-invented the supplies and tools they had purchased a few days earlier to see if there was anything else they needed to buy.

Seeing that there were no problems, they each leaned back on the dry grass by the fire to rest.

By the time we finished eating, it was already afternoon.

The group waited for quite some time, looking left and right but not seeing Wang Youping arrive. Peng Yuanchao couldn't help but get anxious: "Is he coming or not? It's already past the agreed time and there's still no sign of him?"

"Could something have delayed them? Let's wait another hour or so. If they still haven't arrived, we'll go find someone else. We're traveling at night anyway."

Zhou Jingming was also thinking about it, and what he was even more looking forward to was what kind of dog Wang Youping would bring him. About half an hour later, they finally heard the chugging sound of a tractor. The group of people got up one after another. When the tractor got closer, Peng Yuanchao recognized the driver and told Xu Youliang and the others to pack their bedding and luggage to prepare to load it onto the truck.

Before the car even stopped, Zhou Jingming went up to him and said, "If you hadn't come soon, we were going to have to find someone else."

"Don't blame me, I was trying to get the dog for you and that's why I was delayed. Ali lost a few sheep last night, and he went to look for them. I didn't see him, so I just kept waiting until he came back."

Wang Youping turned off the tractor: "Don't worry, I'll definitely get you to the valley before dawn."

Zhou Jingming nodded, his gaze falling on the half-grown puppy with a short rope tied around its neck in the carriage, feeling quite surprised.

The young man stepped forward, untied the rope from the tractor railing, and pulled the half-grown puppy down: "So, are you satisfied with this dog?"

"satisfy!"

Zhou Jingming demonstrated this by taking out two ten-yuan bills from his pocket and handing them to the young man, then taking the leash from which the dog was tied.

Upon seeing the dog, everyone dropped what they were doing and gathered around.

Surrounded by so many people, the half-grown puppy seemed a little timid, whimpering and retreating warily, trying to turn around and run away, but Zhou Jingming was holding onto the leash and it couldn't escape.

When the young man handed the rope to Zhou Jingming, it seemed to know that it had a new owner, so it simply hid behind Zhou Jingming and tied the rope to Zhou Jingming's legs instead.

"Why is it such a dog?"

Peng Yuanchao shook his head: "This is too ugly!"

Indeed, although this dog is a dog, it looks like a sheep, with curly fur all over its body and very thin. The worst part is that it has slanted eyebrows and eyes, making it unappealing no matter how you look at it.

Zhou Jingming disagreed, saying that the dog was thin probably because Ali's family kept many dogs, and these dogs didn't have much food to eat.

Don't be fooled by the hundreds of sheep that herders raise. Every year, many of them are lost due to wild animals, cold weather, and food shortages. They have to rely on trading sheep for all their necessities. These days, sheep are cheap and have a long growth cycle, so they don't really earn much money and are still in poverty.

According to the young man driving the tractor, Ali's family has more than ten dogs, both puppies and adult dogs.

Keeping so many dogs is something most families can't afford.

So he just smiled and said, "It'll be fine once it grows up and gets fed properly... Don't you think its fur is beautiful?"

Yes, Zhou Jingming didn't hesitate to take out his money because the dog's fur was entirely golden.

"Its fur is golden, so golden, like a big piece of gold...it's a good omen!"

Peng Yuanchao also realized what was happening and became delighted.

Zhou Jingming continued, "Most of the Tianshan Mastiffs have four eyes, and their fur colors are very varied. Pure white or pure black dogs are extremely rare, and yellow ones are as rare as gold."

When the dogs grow up, the white ones resemble great polar bears, while the four-eyed and golden ones look like Tibetan mastiffs. Kazakh herders call this breed 'Tubet.' Adults can reach 70 centimeters in height and weigh 130-140 kilograms. If raised well, they can be among the finest dogs.

As Zhou Jingming spoke, he squatted down, hugged the puppy to his face, rubbed its head, and scratched its neck: "Everyone thinks you're a big piece of gold, and you bark all the time, so from now on we'll call you Jinwang (Golden Prosperity)."

Wu Yang watched from the side and said with a smile, "Jinwang, that's a good name!"

Zhou Jingming remembered that there were a lot of chicken bones left over from eating chicken today. He immediately led the puppy to the stable and tied it up. Then he picked up the chicken bones and brought them to the puppy.

The puppy looked up, tilted its head to look at Zhou Jingming, wagged its tail high in the air, then lowered its head to look at the pile of tempting chicken bones, sniffed them, and didn't rush to take a bite.

Seeing that it still seemed a little timid, Zhou Jingming picked out a piece of bone and brought it to its mouth. It took a small step back, but couldn't resist the temptation of the bone. It stretched its neck to sniff the bone, then opened its mouth and gently bit the other end of the bone. When Zhou Jingming let go, it tilted its head and swallowed the bone into its mouth, making a crunching sound as it bit the bone. Its tail also started wagging happily.

It seemed a bit timid, which was Zhou Jingming's only complaint about it.

But he felt that it might be because of the new environment and new owner, and he would have to wait until it got used to it to know for sure.

Seeing Jinwang lying in front of the pile of bones, tilting his head and chewing and swallowing the bones, he reached out and rubbed the dog's head again before turning around to help move things and load them onto the truck.

　Thank you to the three readers, Black A Niu, Yuehen, and Half Push Half Reluctant Half Reserved, for their generous donations!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)