My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 72 Quite good at finding loopholes

The two walked and talked until they returned to the riverbank. They saw a group of gold panning workers guarding three tents on the riverbank. Peng Yuanchao squatted next to the diesel-powered water pump, touching and tugging at it as if he loved it.

Seeing Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang return, he quickly went to greet them and asked in a low voice, "Did you catch up?"

Zhou Jingming patted the canvas bag he was carrying, showed off the Eagle Rabbit brand double-barreled shotgun in his hand, and winked at him: "Old Tang couldn't think straight and jumped into the river. He's a good swimmer, and once he went in, he didn't come up again. He'll probably stay in there for the rest of his life. We just retrieved the things he left behind."

Peng Yuanchao grinned at Zhou Jingming's words, knowing full well what they meant.

No one wants to utter the word "murder".

He gave Zhou Jingming a thumbs up: "You two are really amazing! I was so worried about you today. I thought we couldn't hold on!"

"In this valley, let's see who's more ruthless!"

Zhou Jingming glanced around: "Where are the rest of them?"

"They were chased away. A few people came to the riverbank to look, probably wanting to take something, but they didn't dare to get close and eventually left!"

As Peng Yuanchao spoke, he leaned close to Zhou Jingming's ear and said, "The three you shot, I had Xu Youliang lead a group of men to throw them into the river to feed the fish. As for the other wounded, I didn't care about them and told them to get lost."

Zhou Jingming nodded, indicating that he understood.

Peng Yuanchao continued, "The Tangs have quite a few good things in their camp. Besides several hundred kilograms of rice and flour, there are six boxes each of Merlin canned food and tomato fish canned food, more than ten sets of water jackets and trousers, and some trousers that don't look like canvas... The most exciting thing is that diesel-powered water pump. With this thing, flushing the chute will be easy."

This time we have five guns and plenty of bullets. I want to see who will dare to mess with us in this valley in the future.

"You have three more packs of your favorite Da Chong Jiu tea, and a few packets of Longjing tea. They look like good stuff."

Zhou Jingming was also quite surprised. He didn't expect that Old Tang would be so extravagant in the Gold Rush Valley. No team that came to pan for gold was so particular.

In any case, these things are undoubtedly a great thing for the gold mining teams.

"Don't get so close, people who don't know better will think you're trying to kiss me!"

Zhou Jingming said something to Peng Yuanchao with a stern face, which stunned Peng Yuanchao and made Wu Yang laugh.

He then reached out and nudged Peng Yuanchao's shoulder: "With so many good things, why don't you hurry up and have someone move them back? Are you waiting for me to move them? It's almost dark, and we haven't even eaten a few bites yet. Aren't you hungry?"

Peng Yuanchao grinned and excitedly called on everyone to get to work: "Move everything back. You guys, take down the tents. You guys, bring the carts over and load them with grain... Hey... Where's Cao Qidong? Have you seen him?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming glanced at the crowd. The three people from Yuzhou—Xu Youliang, Sun Chenggui, and Luo Yueren—were all there, but Cao Qidong was nowhere to be seen. He frowned.

Peng Yuanchao then asked, "Has anyone seen him?"

"I didn't see it!"

"When I came over, I glanced at him and he was at the very back. But then I was so busy chasing people that I didn't notice him anymore and I don't know where he went."

Everyone said they didn't see it.

Peng Yuanchao thought for a moment: "That bastard is the most cunning and treacherous. Brother, while you were hiding, he said a lot of bad things about you. Could it be that he was afraid of being punished when he got back, so he ran away?"

Wu Yang added, "If it weren't for Tang and his gang, I would have punched him right then and there. He didn't even consider the situation. At that moment, he said you saw things were going wrong and were preparing to run away. He said you were hiding in the back and not firing, that you were deliberately watching everyone go to their deaths. He even said he didn't know what you were planning."

Listening to everyone's discussion, I was swayed by what he said, even Brother Peng was no exception... Fortunately, Brother Peng ultimately chose to believe you instead of him, otherwise, chaos would have ensued on the spot." Cao Qidong's words were not loud, and Zhou Jingming, who was twenty or thirty meters away, did not hear them. His attention was more focused on the direction of Lao Tang's camp, and he only noticed that everyone did indeed become flustered for a moment.

"Brother Wuyang, don't talk nonsense. I've always trusted Brother Zhou."

Peng Yuanchao, fearing that Zhou Jingming might misunderstand, quickly tried to explain.

Zhou Jingming smiled dismissively: "Brother Peng, you're the boss after all. It's never a bad thing to think things through. I don't mean to blame you... As for Cao Qidong, he's very likely to have really slipped away. I warned him last time that this was his last chance."

Everyone else has come over, except him... "The gold that was just confiscated..."

Upon being reminded, Peng Yuanchao's expression immediately changed: "Damn it!"

He turned and ran towards the dugout.

Zhou Jingming shouted at the others, "Don't worry about these things for now. No one dares to touch them right now. Hurry up and go back to check!"

Everyone immediately realized what was happening and hurriedly rushed back to their dugouts.

When the group returned to the dugout, they found it had indeed been ransacked. The bedding and clothes on the earthen bed were in disarray, and much of the grain and pickled vegetables stored inside had been spilled or dumped out.

And that dinner, which we hadn't even finished eating, was kicked and spilled all over the floor.

The gold they had collected from the bearded man and his gang had also disappeared. Peng Yuanchao was furious: "Damn it, if I catch him, I'll kill him!"

Wu Yang was also gritting his teeth, because he discovered that the bedding he had just bought in Tiemaike was also gone.

Seeing that the dugout had been ransacked, everyone worried that their hiding places for gold had been discovered, so they all scurried into the woods to check if their gold had been disturbed.

It was alright when Cao Qidong was still with the troops, since he was right under their noses and they couldn't do anything. But now that he's run away and has such cunning, who knows if the place where the gold is hidden will be targeted?

Zhou Jingming didn't move; they were very confident in where they had hidden the gold.

As a seasoned gold prospector, Zhou Jingming was well aware of the precautions to take when hiding gold.

During meals and casual conversations, I had already told everyone that the gold could be stored in small penicillin bottles and carried with them. We should only hide it once we had accumulated a certain amount, instead of hiding it every time we distributed the gold.

Moreover, the location where the gold is hidden must never be fixed in one place.

Otherwise, if someone frequently travels to the same place, even the most careful and meticulous person will unknowingly leave easily detectable traces. Even if they don't go there often, they can still determine a small area, making the search relatively easy.

The rat hole where Zhou Jingming hid the gold was no longer in use. A few days ago, when he had about two taels of gold, he moved it to a place that no one would expect—a well dug out on the riverbank. Behind a stone on the well wall, more than a foot below the water, he hid it at night when he went to fetch water to wash his feet.

As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest.

Being under people's noses every day actually means you won't attract too much attention.

He didn't care how the others hid their things; he had already given them the necessary warnings, and if they still managed to hide them, he could only blame himself.

Seeing everyone rushing to check their gold, they must all be feeling uneasy.

　Thank you to readers Hei A Niu Ge and Jing Xun (jingxun) for their generous donations!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)