My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 34 Jinhe?

When the sun peeked over the eastern hills, all the supplies on the tractor were unloaded.

Peng Yuanchao had already paid Wang Youping for the freight when they set off.

Wang Youping didn't want to walk at night, so he hurried back, added fuel to the tractor, turned it around, and told Peng Yuanchao that if he needed the tractor again next time he went to Tiemaike, he should remember to look for him. Then he drove off in the tractor.

The road into the valley was impassable for tractors, so supplies had to be carried into the mountains by manpower.

After a night of jostling, everyone felt terrible, their bodies felt like they were about to fall apart, especially the group of beginners who groaned and collapsed to the ground, some even lying down.

Zhou Jingming pulled Jin Wang, who looked somewhat listless after being jostled around all night, and sat down on the wasteland.

Jin Wang stretched dramatically, leaned forward, raised his head, and stretched his back and legs straight. After yawning, he walked to Zhou Jingming's side, sniffed at him, licked the back of his hand twice with his tongue, and then lay down next to him.

Zhou Jingming reached out and scratched its chin. It lazily stretched out one of its front paws and placed it on Zhou Jingming's wrist, squinting its eyes as if enjoying itself.

Wu Yang also walked over to Zhou Jingming's side, but instead of sitting down, he first interlaced his fingers and twisted them like waves, making his knuckles crack.

Normally, an average person cracks their ten fingers twenty times. But Wu Yang is different; he also cracks the top joints of each finger by gently shaking them, making three cracks for each finger.

Then, he shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, twisted his waist, arched his back, and expanded his chest. Zhou Jingming heard a popping sound from his joints.

I don't know how he did it.

After finishing all that, Wu Yang stretched and sat down next to Zhou Jingming. He took out a pack of cigarettes, gave Zhou Jingming some cigarette paper and tobacco, and rolled one up.

Over the past few days, he has become quite skilled at rolling cigarettes.

After resting for less than three minutes, Peng Yuanchao instructed Xu Youliang: "Find out the bag of naan, let everyone eat some, and then we'll leave. We're still a long way from our scouting site, so we need to hurry."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming turned to Peng Yuanchao and said, "Brother Peng, don't be in such a hurry. We've been tossed around all night, been cold all night, and stayed up all night. Let everyone take a break."

"We're carrying so much stuff, we definitely won't make it today. We'll have to spend the night in the mountains. Let's build a fire, bake some naan bread, and hopefully boil some hot water to drink; that will make us feel better. Everyone else is exhausted before we even get there!"

When I was scouting the area, I spent a few days wandering around the valley. Although I didn't walk continuously, I still covered at least forty kilometers. If I had traveled empty-handed and sped up my journey, I could have made it there.

But now, with so much stuff, even with handcarts specially equipped with rubber wheels, and each person still carrying dozens of kilograms of weight, it's unlikely they can make the journey.

A cart can only carry about 300 kilograms of goods. That's all the grain we brought into the mountains. Everything else had to be carried by manpower.

The Gold Rush Valley is flanked by steep mountains and dense forests. You can't go far up the mountainside before it's covered in snow. Taking shortcuts over mountains and valleys is even more difficult and doesn't get you much closer.

To reach the chosen peninsula, one must follow the floodplains deeper into the valley.

Since it can't be done in one day, but must take two days, then it doesn't matter if it's fast or slow.

Peng Yuanchao's good temper was only shown to Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang. He thought for a moment, then grinned at Zhou Jingming and said, "Whatever you say!"

After letting everyone rest for a while, he sent a few novices to gather firewood from the pine forest on the grassy slope to bake naan bread and boil water.

The few newbies who complained last night about not wanting to go gold panning are no longer mentioning leaving.

Having already reached the Gold Rush Valley and being on the verge of striking gold, leaving at this point would only feel like a waste of time.

It must be said that last night's "ideological education" had a significant effect.

Poverty is the most serious disease.

Before long, a few novices dragged some dry firewood down from the pine forest and quickly built a fire. Everyone gathered around the fire to warm themselves.

"Look, isn't that gold!"

One of them, assigned by Peng Yuanchao to fetch water, had just reached the riverbank with his bucket when he suddenly pointed at the river and shouted. Upon hearing the word "gold," not only the novices but even Zhou Jingming was aroused by these two sensitive words and looked in the direction the man was pointing.

Under the morning sun, the river beside the mountain path shimmered with brilliant golden light in several places, which was very dazzling.

"Damn, even if the Altai Mountains have the saying that 'there are seventy-two valleys, and every valley is full of gold,' there can't be this much gold!"

Another person shouted and ran towards the riverbank.

The other novices also ran down.

Peng Yuanchao and Xu Youliang were no exception.

But Zhou Jingming only glanced at it before turning his gaze back to the burning fire.

Wu Yang saw it too, and jumped up, but seeing Zhou Jingming's unmoved expression, he sat down again: "Brother Zhou, isn't that gold?"

Zhou Jingming smiled slightly: "No!"

Wu Yang pressed further, "What is that?"

Zhou Jingming picked out a stick from the pile of firewood and poked at the fire to make it burn brighter: "It's phlogopite. The melting snow from the mountain washed away the mica flakes that had weathered off the rock and brought them into the river."

When we came here, we passed the Fourth Mine Bridge. The workers living there mine mica, an industrial material that looks golden, but it has nothing to do with gold!

Wu Yang said "Oh," and then asked, "Is this mica sheet valuable?"

“There are many mica mines in the mountains of Altay. Anything becomes worthless when there is too much of it. The mining quotas in the mines have been decreasing year by year because less is needed.”

Just then, Peng Yuanchao excitedly approached Zhou Jingming with a palm-sized piece of phlogopite: "Brother, take a look at this thing, is it gold?"

Zhou Jingming rolled his eyes: "Have you ever seen gold float on water?"

Upon hearing this, Peng Yuanchao paused for a moment, then clicked his tongue and exclaimed, "Oh dear... my brain has gone mad!"

Seeing his expression, Zhou Jingming couldn't help but laugh: "You've never seen mica before?"

Peng Yuanchao shook his head: "I've never seen this thing in the West Sea."

He paused for a moment, then asked hopefully, "Look at this thing, it's so golden. Is it a gold-bearing mineral, or is it possible that it contains a small amount of gold?"

How could Zhou Jingming not guess what he was thinking? "Brother Peng, if you had thought about it more, you wouldn't have asked this question. You want to find rock gold by using mica or extract gold from mica, right?"
Every year, a lot of mica is washed away in the river. If you could find gold or extract gold from it, you wouldn't even see this stuff in the Gold Rush Valley, let alone have a chance to find it.

Peng Yuanchao paused for a moment, then said, "Yes, I was overthinking it!"

Zhou Jingming then explained: "Mica is formed at high temperatures, and its melting point is three to four thousand degrees, but gold can be melted at just over a thousand degrees."

Therefore, mica and gold are enemies; where there is mica, there is no gold, and where there is gold, there is no mica.

Peng Yuanchao finally understood and gave up: "As expected of the geological team's exploration technician, he really knows a lot!"

Zhou Jingming chuckled: "Brother Peng, I feel like you're teasing me... This is a very common thing in the mountains and streams around Altay, okay!"

Peng Yuanchao quickly shook his head: "I didn't mean that, I genuinely admire you... I didn't see you when we came last time?"

"Back then, there was still snow on the riverbank, covering everything, so of course you didn't notice. Now that the snow has melted, it's been exposed. What's so strange about that? You can easily find some by just searching through the weeds along the river!"

Zhou Jingming took the mica from Peng Yuanchao, peeled off a thin layer from the surface, looked at it in the sunlight, and then threw it into the river.

　Thank you to Brother Hei A Niu, Book Friend 160617143327204, and Three Watches and Book 10096 for their generous donations!

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(End of this chapter)