My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 47 The First Division of Gold

Zhou Jingming didn't want to argue with Cao Qidong too much. The group of newcomers were all young and hot-blooded, so it was normal for them to have tempers.

However, someone like Cao Qidong, who is becoming increasingly unrestrained and has no sense of propriety, is most likely to disrupt people's morale. If he is not properly disciplined, he will not know how to behave. If this continues, who knows what kind of mess he will make of the team in the future.

Judging from his posture just now, he seemed to be provoking Zhou Jingming. He's only been in the mountains for a few days. If he had any sense and knew his place, he wouldn't have said those things.

If it weren't for the fact that it was only the first day of gold mining, and Zhou Jingming was worried that kicking him out would lead to him spreading rumors and prematurely exposing the gold's potential, which would be a greater loss than gain, Zhou Jingming would absolutely not have let him stay here today.

Zhou Jingming even suspected that Cao Qidong had done these things on purpose, which increased his wariness of him even further.

"Just because I found this gold mine, just because I left this group, I can easily outperform you in this Gold Rush Valley..."

These words were spoken to Cao Qidong, but also to everyone else, including Peng Yuanchao.

Peng Yuanchao clearly understood what he meant, which is why he reprimanded Cao Qidong and solidified Zhou Jingming's authority within the team.

Wu Yang, radiating heat, crawled in from outside just as breakfast was being prepared.

Peng Yuanchao urged everyone to eat. After they finished eating, he took the tools and headed towards the small peninsula, and the rest of the group followed.

Yesterday, we were collecting sand. We spent a lot of time removing part of the surface layer of sand before we started digging for the gold-bearing layer. While widening the sand pit, we also cleaned up the useless surface sand. In one day, we cleared out an area of ​​about five or six square meters.

Peng Yuanchao stood at the edge of the sandpit and asked Zhou Jingming, "Brother, should we continue to widen the sandpit, or dig it deeper?"

Zhou Jingming looked at the sandpit: "Yesterday the space was limited, but today the space is wider, making it easier to operate."

How about this, we split the manpower into two teams, one team continues to remove the surface mud and sand, and the other team digs for the gold-bearing layer.

We need to both remove the surface mud and sand and pan for gold. We need to do both at the same time, without delaying anything. We need to find gold every day to keep us motivated.

Moreover, this method has an advantage: the deep mud and sand are damp but frozen, so by uncovering them in the sunshine to thaw the ice, digging will be much easier!

Peng Yuanchao nodded: "That makes sense!"

"If it weren't for the fact that this place is formed by silt and sand, with a loose structure that makes it too easy to collapse, I would have preferred to skip the trouble of uncovering the surface silt and sand and just drill in to dig for the gold-bearing layer..."

Moving that layer of silt, over a meter or two thick, would take a lot of effort; otherwise, the amount of gold we unearth every day could easily double!

That's how it is in the Gold Rush Valley. There aren't many better methods; you can only rely on brute force. Because the gold deposits on the surface have very little gold content, they're not worth panning for. You usually have to peel off the surface mud and sand, which is time-consuming and laborious.

Zhou Jingming somewhat missed the days of mechanical operation a few years later, when a few strokes of the paddle could replace a whole day's work done by a group of people...

I need to work hard to save money. Only by saving enough money can I have these things!
Following Zhou Jingming's instructions, Peng Yuanchao assigned manpower to continue filling the upstream with useless silt, while transporting the gold-bearing silt to the side of the sluice.

Today, just like yesterday, we used only one sluice, with Wu Yang and Xu Youliang in charge. However, the mud and sand we dug out contained some ice fragments, which needed to be dried and thawed. Otherwise, the gold that was frozen and stuck to the mud and sand would not be easy to pan out.

So the two of them also came to help dig the sand, and waited for the sun to come out and it to warm up before washing it.

Almost everyone was focused on digging and transporting sand. Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao went down into the sand pit and started digging, just like everyone else. Naturally, no one wasted any more time. They would work for an hour or two, then sit down to rest for a while and smoke a couple of cigarettes to refresh themselves.

In other words, Zhou Jingming would occasionally use a gold bucket to fill with mud and sand and wash it in the river to control the depth of the gold-bearing layer.

It wasn't until after 10 o'clock that Wu Yang and Xu Youliang began to fetch water from the sluice to flush away the sand.

They work like machines all day long, except for lunch and a rest of more than an hour. They are busy almost all the time.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Jingming noticed that Wu Yang and Xu Youliang were a bit overwhelmed, so he put on his waders, grabbed a gold bucket, and went to the sluice to help wash the fine sand.

By evening, the three of them handed over the refined sand they had extracted to Peng Yuanchao.

He sat down on the wooden stump that had been placed outside his dugout the day before and hadn't been moved, and began to sort through the gold.

Aside from assigning two people to cook, the rest of the group sat nearby smoking and resting, occasionally glancing at Peng Yuanchao, hoping for today's harvest. Selecting gold today took much longer than yesterday; the food was ready, but they weren't even finished yet.

At times like this, no one thinks about eating; everyone waits silently until Peng Yuanchao puts the gold, which has been placed in earthen bowls, on the fire pipe of the earthen stove to dry it, uses a magnet to remove impurities, and weighs it on a scale. When they hear Peng Yuanchao announce the result of "a little over thirteen grams," they all grin.

Peng Yuanchao was also very happy: "If there were a little more, it would be twice as much as yesterday!"

Zhou Jingming nodded: "We haven't reached the bottom yet. Once we reach the bottom, we can get a share of the gold every day we work... Let's eat, and then we'll divide the gold!"

Peng Yuanchao scanned the crowd: "The things have all been laid out. I think they won't enjoy their meals until they get their hands on the gold. They can eat after they've divided it up."

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "That works too!"

Peng Yuanchao put all the gold from the past two days into the glass bottle that had been hung on the beam the day before. Then he placed a one-gram weight on the left tray of the small balance, held the glass bottle, and carefully shook it, adding gold grains to the right tray little by little, until the pointer pointed to the very center.

He took turns distributing the gold to each person, one gram at a time. He first distributed the gold to the three people from Yuzhou, the two people from Luoyue, and the seven people including Sun Chenggui and Xu Youliang, and each person had a small glass bottle containing penicillin.

Then, he replaced the weight with two grams, separated Wu Yang's portion, added three grams of weight, gave it to Zhou Jingming and himself, weighed three grams for each of them, and collected them in glass bottles.

"There are about six grams left. I'll hang it on the beam. Everyone, mind your own business. If you don't want your legs broken and to be thrown out, don't touch it. Hide your share of the gold."

Peng Yuanchao looked at the newbies with a smile: "You'd better keep your little schemes to yourselves and don't think about taking advantage of others. If you really can't resist the urge, then go ahead, but if you get caught... Hmph, you all know the consequences. Nobody wants their things to be stolen!"

Also, we're not responsible if you lose your gold. From now on, we'll split it once we've collected fifteen grams!
"Hey Cao, I'm talking to you. You've been eyeing my gold, have you got your eye on it?"

Of the gold distributed, Zhou Jingming and Peng Yuanchao received the most. From the moment the gold was weighed, Cao Qidong stared intently at it, even after the gold had been placed in glass bottles and was being handled by the two men.

Startled by Peng Yuanchao's sudden loud shout, Cao Qidong trembled. Realizing what he had said, he quickly shook his head and said, "Boss, I didn't mean anything by it. Seeing so much gold, it would be a lie to say I wasn't tempted. It's only human nature, right? I really didn't mean anything by it."

Peng Yuanchao chuckled: "It would be best if there wasn't one... You're not wrong, everyone would be envious, that's quite honest."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Do you feel that you were given too little?"
To tell you the truth, it's quite a lot.

The weather doesn't matter. As long as you can dig and pan every day, and as long as you're willing to put in the effort, given the current gold output, you might be able to get a share every day.

This is all thanks to Brother Zhou. Without him, we wouldn't have come to this precious place. So, there's no need to envy or be jealous. He only gets three grams each time, which is what he deserves. He didn't ask for more; he's already taking care of you.

One gram of gold a day, that's sixteen yuan a day.

Since you've come here to pan for gold, you must have heard some things about it. If you knew the income, you'd understand that for other gold-panning teams, getting one gram every two days would be considered very good.

Comrades, if you want to make money, then work harder!
Work hard for half a year, and when you go back, you'll have the money to build a house, get married, and have children. You'll be able to live a very comfortable life.

Now that you've seen the gold, stop trying to pull any tricks on me and just focus on your work.

It must be said that Peng Yuanchao is quite eloquent.

His words not only flattered Zhou Jingming but also reassured the group of newbies, making them sound incredibly excited, as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

How can you not be excited when you can do in one day what others do in a month?

During the meal, Peng Yuanchao even brought out the wine he had brought into the mountains, which he was reluctant to drink. He poured two ounces for each person, and when they were in high spirits, someone blushed and declared, "We have to protect this precious land. If anyone dares to covet this place, I'll risk everything to fight them."

The others followed suit.

Finally, this ragtag team started to show some fighting spirit.

Zhou Jingming listened to those grand pronouncements with a slight smile. Whether they were true or false, only time would tell.

I just hope this gold rush goes smoothly and doesn't encounter too many mishaps...

(End of this chapter)