My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 82 Remembering Food and Beating
Cooking roe deer meat is not difficult. When Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang returned, the meat had already been prepared and cooked for quite some time. After chatting for a while on the small peninsula, Xu Youliang came to call them for dinner.

Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao called to the four of them, and together they returned to the entrance of the dugout.

With the tent set up, the roe deer meat and several other dishes in the antimony pot were all taken to the long wooden table, simply nailed together from Old Tang's place, inside the tent.

The table was big enough that it wasn't crowded at all, even with only thirteen people sitting around it.

Peng Yuanchao brought over a wine pot, poured some wine for everyone, and invited them to eat together.

The meal was lavish and very oily, and with the added bonus of being able to drink freely, everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

The conversation at the table revolved around the fight between the two groups, including the bearded man and Old Tang.

Upon hearing Wu Yang say that Old Tang had Zhang the Dwarf inspect several camps, the expressions of Zhang the Head and the others changed.

Peng Yuanchao recounted in detail how Lao Tang used the pretext of buying beaver meat to investigate the team's background, and how he set up a trap by asking Zhou Jingming to help find Jin Miao. He also explained how they escaped, how they plotted again after their mine was flooded, how they used one enemy to devour another, and how they reaped the benefits. He also described how, after everyone was injured, they came with guns to rob the mine and even tried to kidnap Zhou Jingming.

The gang leaders listened and cursed Old Tang for being a treacherous villain, while also praising Zhou Jingming and the others for their prowess, saying that if it were them, they would probably have no choice but to accept their fate.

Zhou Jingming didn't care whether their words were true or false. The most important thing was that the whole story had been explained. In the future, when the news spread in the Gold Rush Valley, everyone would know that he was repeatedly threatened and schemed against, and was forced to fight desperately when the robbery was carried out. That was enough.

It's understandable that someone else came knocking on our door.

Zhou Jingming took the opportunity to clarify his principles of conduct: "We just want to mine gold in peace. We always treat others the way they treat us. We don't cause trouble, but we're not afraid of trouble either."

Several foremen all said that it was only right and proper.

They also said they would visit each other more often, keep in touch, and look out for each other if anything happened.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill and finished talking, they all planned to go back to continue panning for gold. They exchanged a few polite words with Zhou Jingming and the others, inviting them to visit their neighbors, and then left.

Watching them walk away, Peng Yuanchao grinned and said, "The roe deer that Zhang brought is quite big. After this meal, there will still be more than half left. The sheep is also quite large. There are about ten catties of wine and about ten catties of smoked horse sausage. These things are enough for us to have a good meal for several days."

"After all this time panning for gold, this is the first time I've ever been this rich. This is something I never even dared to dream of before."

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "Brother Peng, don't be too happy yet."

Peng Yuanchao was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

Zhou Jingming sighed: "Friends are those who share wine and meat, but how many are there when you're in trouble? In this valley, true friendship can't be built over a meal. You can't be too careful."

If a more powerful group comes to this valley and approaches them, we'll be finished if they sell to us. They might even be plotting against us themselves, just like how we were so eager to get our hands on that time-saving, labor-saving water pump. Now that we've bought all this stuff, do you think they won't be envious? These foremen are all seasoned gold prospectors, very shrewd."

Peng Yuanchao suddenly felt a headache coming on: "Then what should we do?"

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment: "Didn't we say we should visit each other more often? ... It's only right to reciprocate. They sent us so many things, we can't just leave empty-handed. We should pick up a few cans of Merlin and canned fish in tomato sauce another day, and visit their camps to find out what's going on. It's only right to do that."

Of course, we don't need to worry too much now. No matter what, we have five guns. Although we're outnumbered, ordinary teams wouldn't dare to do anything to us.

Peng Yuanchao patted his chest and said, "What you said really chilled me to the bone!"

Zhou Jingming teased him, "With so many grown men keeping you company day and night, how can you still feel so insecure? Have you not been taking good care of them?"

Peng Yuanchao glared at him: "Where's my arsenic?"

These words made Zhou Jingming laugh: "You didn't read those comic books for nothing, you've really learned the essence of Jinlian!"

Peng Yuanchao gritted his teeth: "Where's my arsenic?"

Wu Yang was holding a large bowl, blowing on it and slurping the soup made from asafoetida mushrooms. Hearing the two talking, he almost burst out laughing.

The meal featured a good amount of meat, and everyone tried to eat as much meat as possible, while also drinking meat broth.

After Xu Youliang washed the collected asafoetida mushrooms, he made extra soup as Wu Yang had suggested, leaving quite a bit left over.

After tasting it, Wu Yang felt that the flavor was lacking, so he put it back in the pot, added some salt, cumin powder and chili powder, and simmered it for a while longer. At this point, it was piping hot.

Seeing that he was enjoying his drink, Zhou Jingming leaned over and asked, "How does it taste?"

Wu Yang handed over the large bowl directly: "Try it!"

Zhou Jingming didn't stand on ceremony and took a couple of sips: "Mmm... so fresh and spicy, so satisfying. And this cumin really enhances the flavor of the soup. It's no wonder that asafoetida mushrooms are unique to the Northwest; they're a perfect match."

One of them is from Sichuan, and the other is from western Hunan, both places known for their love of spicy food. Their tastes are similar, so they can be considered "birds of a feather flock together".

Zhou Jingming returned the bowl of soup to Wu Yang, then went to get his own bowl and chopsticks, scooped out a large bowl, and squatted down in front of the tent with Wu Yang to slurp it up. This attracted Peng Yuanchao to come to the pot as well, pick up a spatula, and scoop out some soup to taste.

Then, another person squatted down next to Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang.

The sheep that were delivered are still tied to the birch tree nearby; there's no time to tend to them.

In the afternoon, Peng Yuanchao personally slaughtered the sheep. Finding it troublesome to boil water to scald the wool, he simply set it on the firewood pile to burn.

While burning, they used a stick to scrape away the charred wool until all the wool was burned away and the sheep's skin was charred black.

A group of people worked together, scraping and rinsing the sheep, and after cleaning it, the whole sheep turned golden yellow.

When they were disemboweling him, Zhou Jingming specifically asked for the internal organs.

Peng Yuanchao was still a little reluctant: "Lamb offal is also a good thing!"

Zhou Jingming asked him, "What, Jin Wang's contribution isn't even worth this little bit of offal?" Peng Yuanchao paused for a moment, then smiled and took the offal, saying, "I was thinking that squeezing out the filth inside would make it taste better... I'll do it!"

"That's pretty much it!"

Zhou Jingming waited on the side for Peng Yuanchao and the others to quickly clean up the wastewater and then carry it over to hang on a high tree branch.

He fed Jinwang a lot of bones left over from the roe deer meat they ate for lunch. The offal doesn't need to be fed now; he plans to give it extra food tonight and tomorrow.

Over the past month, Jinwang has been well cared for by Zhou Jingming. His previously thin body has become much stronger and he has grown taller. Most noticeably, his yellow fur has become increasingly glossy and looks much more pleasing to the eye.

As the weather gets warmer, fresh meat is not easy to preserve, so it can only be simply marinated and then smoked.

In the afternoon, Peng Yuanchao arranged for a few able-bodied men to cut some branches and leaves from the climbing pine trees and put them on the fire to smoke the prepared cured meat. The whole camp was filled with smoke and fire.

Now, no one in the camp has the idea of ​​ordering Zhou Jingming around anymore.

With nothing else to do, he took the swimmers and called Jin Wang to the edge of the woods to try training him.

In the Great Northern Wilderness, he heard hunters talk about some methods of training hunting dogs. In addition, he also saw a booklet about dog training that was not very comprehensive in the company's maintenance dormitory.

The booklet states that the best time to train a dog is between three and six months old, and that dozens of commands should be learned gradually from basic to advanced levels.

Calculating the time, it seems that Jin Wang has already spent six months. He doesn't know if those methods are suitable for the Tianshan Mastiff, who is not very bright, but he still wants to give it a try.

He took a sheep intestine, cut it into small sections, and began to challenge Jin Wang.

Upon seeing the food, Jinwang eagerly approached Zhou Jingming, wagging its tail frantically and staring intently at the sheep intestines in his hand.

"Jinwang, sit down, sit down..."

He first pressed down on Jin Wang's lower body, applying pressure until Jin Wang sat down, and then rewarded him with a small section of sheep intestine.

This was repeated nearly twenty times. To Zhou Jingming's surprise, as soon as he gave the order, it would immediately sit down and wait three seconds. If it couldn't eat the sheep intestines, it would immediately stand up.

Moreover, once you put the sheep intestines in your mouth, you immediately stand up instead of standing still.

But in any case, it has still achieved some results.

Wu Yang took a nap, which lasted for about an hour. When he woke up, he saw Zhou Jingming still fidgeting, so he came over to him.

"You've come at the right time...help me feed the dogs!"

"Didn't you always refuse to let anyone feed the dog? You always fed it yourself!"

"I've been thinking about it, and this dog is most easily lured by food, so I think it's very necessary to teach it not to eat food that other people feed it!"

Zhou Jingming recalled the large dog he encountered while scouting the mountains, which was later beaten to death by the forestry workers.

Wu Yang asked curiously, "So how do you train?"

"Just cut the intestines into small pieces and feed them to it directly!"

Wu Yang immediately used Zhou Jingming's knife to cut off a section of sheep intestine, followed it with his finger, and sent it to Jin Wang.

As soon as Jinwang saw the sheep intestines, he immediately went over and tried to grab them with his mouth.

At that moment, Zhou Jingming swung his arm and slapped it across the face, making it yelp and run away.

Having followed him for so long, Jin Wang had never enjoyed such treatment before, and stood there dumbfounded.

He waved to it again: "Come here, Jinwang, come here!"

Jin Wang, looking rather foolish, came over again.

Zhou Jingming gestured, and Wu Yang handed over the meat again. Seeing that Jin Wang was about to open his mouth again, Zhou Jingming slapped him across the face again. Jin Wang was stunned and didn't know what to do.

Zhou Jingming then spoke: "Do you think you can just eat whatever someone else feeds you? From now on, you can only eat what I feed you."

As he spoke, he cut off a piece of sheep intestine and fed it to Jin Wang. When Jin Wang saw Zhou Jingming reach out, he thought he was going to be hit, so he quickly took two steps back.

After a short while, seeing that Zhou Jingming did not pull his hand away and kept twirling the sheep intestine in his hand, it had become familiar with this action of asking him to eat. It carefully approached again, picked up the sheep intestine, and swallowed it.

Zhou Jingming scratched its neck twice, then gestured for Wu Yang to continue.

This was repeated more than ten times. Jin Wang was almost too afraid to get close to the side, but he couldn't bear to part with the meat in Zhou Jingming's hands, so he kept coming closer.

Gradually, when Wu Yang offered it sheep intestines, it dared not come near the side.

Wu Yang lost his patience: "Brother Zhou, I'm afraid this kind of training won't work!"

"Dogs don't understand human speech, but I believe they can discern my emotions and attitudes, and they will know why they are being hit."

Zhou Jingming firmly believed that Jin Wang would definitely remember the punishment.

The training continued, and finally, when Wu Yang offered it sheep intestines again, it turned its head to look at Zhou Jingming, suddenly bared its teeth at Wu Yang and pounced on him, startling Wu Yang so much that he quickly withdrew his hand and rolled to the side to avoid it.

At that moment, Zhou Jingming smiled.

　There will be two more chapters tomorrow at noon!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)