sinovels Chapter 1704 Rare and Precious Treasures Associated with Gold Mines
Chapter 1704 Rare and Precious Treasures Associated with Gold Mines
Chapter 1704 Rare and Precious Treasures Associated with Gold Mines
The so-called "China's No. 1 Gold Mine" is the Jiapigou Gold Mine located in Lingnan. This gold mine was mined during the Qing Dynasty and became state-owned after liberation.
Zhao Jun knew that gold veins were widely distributed in Huadian, Lingnan. Besides the Jiapigou gold mine, there were more than ten other gold mines of varying sizes.
Zhao Jun only knew the most famous Jiapigou Gold Mine, but he didn't know the names of the other gold mines.
Looking at the Xiaobaishan gold mine marked on the map, Zhao Jun suddenly thought of something and immediately turned to Wang Meilan and asked, "Mom, how come you've seen this map before?"
“My great-grandmother showed it to me when I was little,” Wang Meilan said, her brows furrowed. “But what she showed me… was a drawing on paper.”
“My great-grandmother…” Zhao Jun heard Wang Meilan’s words and subconsciously looked at Zhao Youcai again.
If you were to ask who in this world knows the most about Wang Dabazhang, it wouldn't be Wang Meilan, nor Wang Qiang, but Zhao Youcai.
With mother and son of one mind, Wang Meilan also looked at Zhao Youcai, her eyes wide, as if she wanted an explanation from him.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Zhao Youcai said angrily, "I've never seen this before..."
Suddenly, Zhao Youcai stopped talking. He opened his small eyes wide and stared at the dark map.
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Youcai snatched the map from Zhao Jun's hand and then quickly rolled it up with both hands.
Zhao Jun, Ma Ling, and Wang Meilan all stared at Zhao Youcai. Although they didn't know what Zhao Youcai was doing, none of them stopped him.
After rolling the map back into a tube, Zhao Youcai nodded to Zhao Jun with his chin and said, "Set up the kang table."
Zhao Jun was completely confused, but the gold mine was the most important thing at the moment, so he quickly picked up the kang table and placed it on the kang.
The kang (heated brick bed) in Zhao Jun's room can easily sleep five or six people; the young couple usually sleeps on the head side of the kang.
"Lan." At this moment, Zhao Youcai handed the map roll in his hand to Wang Meilan and said, "Put this on the kang table."
Wang Meilan was equally baffled, but she did as Zhao Youcai instructed.
“Charge at me sideways.” As Wang Meilan put down the map roll, Zhao Youcai even corrected the position.
After Wang Meilan finished adjusting, Zhao Youcai said, "Alright, get out of the way."
Wang Meilan stepped aside, and Zhao Youcai squinted at the map scroll on the kang table. Then, Zhao Youcai bowed slightly, and when he looked up again, an image suddenly flashed through his mind.
That was almost thirty years ago, before he married Wang Meilan. One day, Zhao Youcai went to Zhang Yuanmin's house to ask Zhang Yuanmin's father to help him make a hook for an old foreign cannon.
When he arrived at Zhang Yuanmin's small, dilapidated house, he found Wang Dabazhang, a wealthy merchant from Yong'an, sitting cross-legged on Zhang Yuanmin's kang (a heated brick bed).
Zhang Yuanmin's father, the extraordinary Zhang Dawang of Yong'an, stood aside like a servant.
Before the Lunar New Year, when Zhao Jun and his team found a box of gold dust in the Wang family's treasure trove, Zhao Youcai recalled this scene.
But today, Zhao Youcai recalled some details. Back then, he saw Wang Daba sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the Zhang family's house, and on the kang table next to him, there were three such things.
Zhao Youcai didn't get his hands on it back then, but he just opened it and looked at it; it was a map drawn on the skin of some kind of animal.
When he recalled hearing his father-in-law utter the words "gold dust" when he first entered the house, Zhao Youcai's small eyes widened instantly.
"Lan'er," Zhao Youcai said, his voice trembling, as he called to Wang Meilan, "Our family is rich!"
"Hmm!" Upon hearing this, Wang Meilan and Ma Ling's eyes lit up instantly.
Legend has it that the Wang family has an innate penchant for money.
"Dad, Dad!" Zhao Jun sensed something was wrong and quickly stopped Zhao Youcai, saying, "What are you talking about? That thing should belong to the country!"
Zhao Youcai was taken aback, and just then, two voices came from the side, asking in unison, "Why?"
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were surprisingly in sync, both staring wide-eyed at Zhao Jun.
"No reason," Zhao Jun laughed. "The mines belong to the state."
"What if the country doesn't know?" Ma Ling asked this question with great courage. Wang Meilan didn't speak, but she looked at Zhao Jun with expectant eyes.
“That won’t do.” Zhao Jun said with a wry smile, “If we’re caught, we won’t even be able to squat on the fence. They’ll just drag us all to Dongjing Mountain.”
As you walk from Yong'an Village towards the county town outside the mountains, there is a small hill when you are almost out of the mountains.
That small hill is called Dongjing Mountain, and there is a large flat area on the mountain.
From the time the campaign against bandits began after liberation, all the bad guys in the area were taken there and executed. Therefore, the locals called that place Dongjing Dead Man's Platform.
Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Ma Ling shrank back in fright, while Wang Meilan fell silent.
Looking at the map on the table, Zhao Jun couldn't help but think that this might be the reason why his grandfather hadn't passed the map on to Zhao Youcai.
With Wang the wealthy man's knowledge, he naturally knew that no matter how big the gold mine was, it was not something he could get his hands on.
However, Zhao Jun thought of something else and said to Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan, "Dad, Mom, where did the dog find this map?"
When the map is rolled up, you can still see dog bite marks on the outermost layer.
Wang Meilan was taken aback, and then Zhao Jun continued, "Where was the dog found? In the front warehouse?"
Zhao Jun wanted to know if there were any things left by his maternal grandfather in the house. The old man hid treasures everywhere; anything he lost was a loss for the family.
"No, no!" Upon hearing Zhao Jun's question, Wang Meilan shook her head repeatedly, and then said to Zhao Jun with certainty, "When our family moved, Mom looked at everything. She collected everything that was in those old boxes and cabinets."
"Then how did we get out of here?" Zhao Jun asked Wang Meilan, pointing at the map. Wang Meilan blinked and then looked at Zhao Youcai.
"No? Why are you all staring at me like that?" Zhao Youcai said, looking displeased. "I've never seen him before..."
Zhao Youcai's voice trailed off as he spoke his last sentence. Even Ma Ling noticed something was wrong.
Seeing this, Wang Meilan smirked and asked Zhao Youcai, "Where were you watching?"
“At Yuanmin’s house.” Zhao Youcai’s answer surprised the three of them. Then Zhao Youcai said to Wang Meilan, “Didn’t I tell you that time? Before we started dating, I went to Yuanmin’s house to see where our dad was.”
"Ah, ah." Wang Meilan remembered it when Zhao Youcai said that.
At this point, Zhao Youcai added, "That time, I saw three of these things on his kang table at his house."
"Oh dear..." Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and said to Wang Meilan, "Mom, if that's the case, then my Uncle Zhang and my great-grandmother are really a perfect match, aren't they?"
"Hmm." Wang Meilan nodded slightly and said, "Well, that's not always the case."
Wang Meilan also pondered this. Back then, dozens of bandit gangs on Shibadaogang were all connected to her father, let alone a mere Zhang Datou.
"My goodness!" Zhao Jun picked up the map roll and asked Wang Meilan the same question again, "Where did this come from?"
"I don't know." Wang Meilan looked bewildered. Zhao Youcai, afraid that the mother and daughter would doubt him again, quickly spoke up for Wang Meilan, "If you don't know, how could it be in our yard?"
“This…” Wang Meilan said helplessly, “I really don’t know, I’ve never seen this thing before.”
"If you don't know, then forget it." Zhao Jun smiled, picked up the map scroll, and handed it to Wang Meilan, saying, "Mom, you should keep this safe. It's something my great-grandmother left behind; it's our family heirloom."
"Mm." Wang Meilan responded. Seeing Zhao Jun's tired face, Wang Meilan quickly said, "Son, you haven't slept all night. You should get some sleep."
"Hmm." Zhao Jun was indeed exhausted, and then he said to Wang Meilan, "Mom, let's eat later tonight. Why don't you take a nap? You didn't sleep all night either."
"Mom didn't..." Wang Meilan was about to speak when Zhao Youcai interrupted Zhao Jun, saying, "Oh, we were just worried about you! How are we supposed to sleep if you don't come back?"
Hearing Zhao Youcai say this, Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Then Dad, you should get some sleep too."
……
After seeing Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan off, Zhao Jun went to bed and cuddled Ma Ling.
Zhao Jun slept until eight o'clock, while Ma Ling got up at six-thirty.
Wang Meilan hadn't slept at all; she was making breakfast in the outer room. Zhao Jun and the others weren't eating, but Xing San, who had come to freeload, still had to.
Besides Xing San, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na also need to eat before they can go to school.
Being young is great; you have plenty of energy and vitality.
Zhao Jun, who had only slept for two hours, got up and ate as usual.
While he was eating, several families who were not at work or school came over.
The group gathered together and discussed what had happened the previous night.
After finishing his meal, Zhao Jun felt sleepy and sat there listening to these people talk, almost falling asleep.
After everyone had finished discussing, they dispersed and went about their business in groups.
Wang Meilan led the women in packing up the furs, while the old lady and Li Tongyun were embroidering. Li Ruhai was pleading with Li Tongyun to let him see the first volume of "The Book and the Sword".
Zhao Youcai and Xing San were smoking and drinking tea in the east hut, while Zhao Jun, along with his brothers, were discussing matters with Wang Qiang in the west hut.
The topic of their discussion was the map scroll they had found that morning.
When Wang Meilan brought the map scroll over, Zhang Yuanmin was taken aback. He stared at the map scroll for a long time before saying, "Isn't this the map of my musk deer skin?"
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin's words, Zhao Jun asked in return, "Brother, how come your child is in this yard?"
Zhao Jun's words weren't a question; he was genuinely puzzled.
"I don't know," Zhang Yuanmin said, taking the map scroll. "I haven't seen this thing in years."
As he spoke, Zhang Yuanmin opened the map scroll. But after looking it over, he looked up at Zhao Jun and said, "Brother, this isn't the one from my family."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback, but he sensed something from Zhang Yuanmin's words, so he asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, how many of these papers do you have at home?"
“There’s only one,” Zhang Yuanmin said, pointing to the words on the map. “My map doesn’t have any words; it’s all drawings.”
"Brother, what's this?" Li Baoyu leaned over for a look, then asked, "That Little White Mountain... what's this gold thing?"
Li Baoyu reads a lot of books, but he doesn't know traditional Chinese characters.
"A gold mine." Zhao Jun's words surprised the group. Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, Xie Chen, and Zhao Jinhui rushed over to look at the map, but after a long time, they still couldn't figure it out.
"Nephew, where is this gold mine?" Wang Qiang asked. Zhao Jun replied, "In Baitiaozi Mountain in Lingnan."
Wang Meilan whispered this news in Zhao Jun's ear when he got up to wash his face.
According to Wang Meilan, her father, Wang Changfu, brought home a stack of maps and made her look at each one, memorizing the prominent features of each. Then, he would tell her which place each map corresponded to.
Just like this map, Wang Meilan wrote down the five characters "Xiaobaishan Gold Mine" back then, and then heard Wang Changfu say that this map corresponds to Lingnan Baitiaozi Mountain.
“Nephew, I heard that gold mines aren’t for us to exploit,” Wang Qiang said. Zhang Yuanmin chimed in, “Yeah, they won’t let anyone do it.”
“We won’t do it,” Zhao Jun said. “I’ll try to find out if the government knows about this Xiaobaishan gold mine. If they don’t, I’ll hand it over to them.”
"Oh dear, what a waste!" Li Baoyu said upon hearing this. "If we had dug this up, wouldn't we have made a fortune?"
"Hehe..." Zhao Jun chuckled upon hearing this, and said, "Brother, this isn't our money. Besides, if we give it to the country, won't we also enjoy the benefits when the country prospers?"
“That’s true.” Li Baoyu agreed with Zhao Jun.
"Look at my nephew's awareness," Wang Qiang praised, and then Zhao Jinhui said, "Brother Jun, if you hand this over to the country, the country will reward you."
“I don’t plan to accept the reward,” Zhao Jun said. “Let me see when I can contact Uncle Song from Qiaotou Village. Isn’t his uncle at the Armed Forces Department? I’ll pass it on through him and see if he can discuss with us whether we can get some things from the mine.”
“Brother Jun, that won’t do.” Zhao Jinhui said immediately upon hearing this, “The ore and stuff can’t go into anyone’s hands.”
"I don't want a mine," Zhao Jun said, then asked the others with a mysterious look, "Do you know what a 'stone taisui' is?"
While the group was still bewildered, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Zhao Youcai entered the room, holding the little lynx by the scruff of its neck.
Zhao Youcai tossed the baby lynx into Zhao Jun's arms. Zhao Jun hugged the baby lynx and asked Zhao Youcai with a smile, "Did it fight Xiao Hei and Xiao Hei Pang again?"
In front of people, the little lynx appears harmless and incredibly cute. But in private, it often bullies the little black bear and the little fat black bear, especially the little black bear, who is still frequently bullied by the little lynx even after it grows up.
Zhao Youcai didn't answer Zhao Jun's question, but instead said, "The Tai Sui in the gold mine is a good thing."
As soon as Zhao Youcai said this, everyone looked at him, and then they heard Zhao Youcai say, "There's no earthy smell. Our local stone oysters are even sweeter when soaked in water than those from the Qinling Mountains."
Hearing Zhao Youcai's words, everyone stared at him intently. Zhao Jun's lips twitched, thinking to himself, "You know everything now."
"Grandpa," Li Baoyu asked Zhao Youcai, "you just soak it in water and drink the water?"
"Yeah," Zhao Youcai said. "They say that stuff can cure diseases by soaking it in water, and it can even grow on its own when it's in water."
"My goodness!" Li Baoyu exclaimed in surprise upon hearing this, "My precious child!"
"I've never heard of it before," Zhao Jinhui shook his head, indicating that he didn't know such a magical thing existed.
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Jun laughed and said, "That's right, you haven't heard of it. Let's bring it all back before anyone knows how good it is!"
(End of this chapter)