27: Chapter Twenty-Seven: Some Rejoice, Some Sorrow

Unlike Zheng Jing, who had a bountiful harvest, the situation for Boss Zhao, Zhao the Second, and Guo Kui was looking quite grim.

They had all crawled out of bed before dawn to hit the road and spent the entire morning trudging under the scorching sun, but they simply didn't have Zheng Jing's luck!

They had dug one sandy, rocky pit after another, but all they pulled out were thin wires or scraps of iron. They hadn't even seen a decent piece of silver, let alone gold.

If one had to pick the best of the bunch, Zhao the Second was the luckiest among the three.

But he had only managed to find a tiny bit of silver scrap, worth twenty or thirty yuan at most—barely enough to cover today's meal expenses.

Boss Zhao had been huffing and puffing away for most of the day, only to dig up a pile of rusty nails that probably wouldn't even fetch two yuan.

"Damn it..."

The more Boss Zhao dug, the more annoyed he became; he even felt like the sun was deliberately working against him today.

Guo Kui was a total empty-handed prospector!

He didn't know if he had chosen the wrong direction that had already been picked over, or if his luck was just terrible, but for the entire morning, his metal detector hadn't made a single sound!

Fortunately, while they complained, their mental state remained relatively stable. After all, they were seasoned Gold Panning veterans; coming up empty-handed was something they were long accustomed to.

Still, it was hard not to feel a bit bitter. After all, they'd worked all morning without earning a single cent, and with the added burden of splitting travel costs and various miscellaneous expenses... the pressure was real, and it was hard not to feel restless.

That was why, although Gold Panning looked free, it wasn't necessarily as stable as having a regular job. At least with a job, you didn't end up empty-handed, and you didn't have to pay out-of-pocket costs.

People are like iron, and food is like steel; regardless of whether they made money, they still had to eat. They just didn't have the means, nor the heart, to eat anything fancy.

The Zhao Brothers each pulled out two dry, hard flatbreads and, washing them down with lukewarm water from their canteens, chewed away to finish their lunch.

Guo Kui, on the other hand, was different. He was single, had no family burdens, and his cousin wouldn't charge him for the vehicle's wear and tear, so relatively speaking, his pressure was much lighter than that of The Zhao Brothers.

That was why, among the three, he had the most peaceful mindset. If he could find something, that was naturally best; if he didn't, then so be it...

Besides, he had walked all morning and expended just as much energy; he couldn't treat himself poorly. Anyway, in his life philosophy, you could skip making money, but you couldn't mistreat your stomach.

So, even though he hadn't panned anything today, he still ate well, holding a self-heating rice meal with shredded pork in garlic sauce, eating with great relish.

If some had bad luck, others naturally had good luck. Take Guo Jianjun today, for example—his luck was through the roof!

The metal detector in his hand had beeped six times throughout the morning, and he had diligently dug six pits.

Aside from the piece of silver he'd found as a good start, he'd found a small silver nugget weighing five or six grams in the second pit. The third pit was even more impressive—it yielded gold directly!

Unfortunately, it was just a tiny, tiny gold particle, worth about a hundred yuan or so.

The fourth pit had neither gold nor silver, but it contained a piece of iron plate that might have been left behind from the previous mining area. It estimated to weigh about thirty pounds, which could be sold as scrap metal for some pocket money.

Only the last two pits were a waste of effort; he'd spent so much energy digging for ages, only to find a few pieces of scrap metal that weren't even worth weighing...

Guo Jianjun was satisfied nonetheless. Four out of six pits had goods; after doing the math, he had nearly four hundred yuan in his pocket for the morning!

Although it didn't compare to Guo Kui's luck last time, it was still a highlight of a morning for him! Four hundred yuan was several times more than his usual earnings for the same amount of time.

Guo Jianjun couldn't help but think: if he maintained this standard of harvest, 400 in the morning and 400 in the afternoon, wouldn't he earn 24,000 a month? Even after expenses, that was at least 20,000 in profit!

Wouldn't that mean he'd be rich soon? It seemed this Zheng Jing was really good luck for him!

"Hehehe... that waterbed the wife was talking about, maybe I can arrange that now?" Guo Jianjun couldn't help but giggle foolishly.

Thinking about how he could enjoy the waterbed while also being more relaxed, Guo Jianjun was in a great mood. He specifically ran back to the car to grab a can of luncheon meat to reward himself for his good luck today.

People are always so prone to fantasy; when there's meat to eat, they forget what it's like to be hungry. At this moment, Guo Jianjun had completely forgotten his dark history of coming up empty-handed half the time during his previous ten trips into the mountains...

On the other side, Zheng Jing had rested enough in the woods and regained his strength. "Time to get back to work!"

Brushing the dust off his body and packing his things, Zheng Jing picked up the metal detector and shouldered his hoe, continuing to search slowly through the mining area.

Whether it was luck or just the abundance of resources here, he hadn't walked more than a few steps when the metal detector in his hand suddenly emitted a rapid beeping alarm, and the System Radar in his mind simultaneously sent a signal.

Zheng Jing's heart leaped with joy. He set the metal detector aside and, following the precise location provided by the Radar System in his mind, bent down to start digging!

Perhaps because it was near a water source, the soil here was especially soft, and it took no effort at all to dig. Zheng Jing hadn't dug more than a few times before his small hoe hit something hard! "Found it!"