29: Chapter Twenty-Nine: Campfire Talk - Why Don't You Go Sell Them?

Zhao the Second looked puzzled: "Brother, what's wrong with it? Isn't this just a piece of broken iron?"

"Broken iron, my foot! You don't know jack." Boss Zhao's voice suddenly rose, pointing at the drill bit for everyone to see, "Look closely at this texture and these patterns. Isn't it exactly the same as the tungsten steel drill bit Kuizi found last time?!"

The group was instantly shocked and swarmed forward, bowing their heads to examine it closely.

Guo Kui reached out to touch the material and weighed it in his hand, unable to stop himself from swearing on the spot: "Holy crap, it really is a tungsten steel drill bit! And it's bigger and in better condition than the one I dug up last time!"

Zheng Jing was humble with his words, but the upward curve of his lips couldn't even be suppressed by an AK: "Luck, just luck..."

"You kid, that's not just good luck; you've struck it rich!"

The group completely exploded, shouting around Zheng Jing, their eyes filled with envy.

Boss Zhao laughed and egged him on: "You have to treat us! You have to treat us!"

"It's your first time as a novice and you've earned so much, it wouldn't be right if you didn't treat us!" Guo Jianjun also chimed in.

Zheng Jing laughed readily and spread his hands: "No problem, but we're out in the middle of nowhere right now, so I don't have the means to treat you. I'll mark this down. Once we're back in the county town, I'll treat everyone to hotpot—big bowls of alcohol and big chunks of meat, all you can eat!"

"That works!"

"Boss Zheng is generous."

Hearing this, the group beamed with joy and cheered repeatedly.

After settling things with the group, Zheng Jing took a towel and a basin to a nearby small ditch to wipe himself down.

He had been tossing and turning all day, and his whole body was covered in dust and sweat; feeling sticky was truly uncomfortable, so he had to wash up.

Although the creek water was a bit cold, it was acceptable.

After wiping his body, Zheng Jing felt incredibly refreshed and comfortable all over.

When he returned to the camp, the group had already started a campfire and had even used stones found on the spot to build a simple stone stove.

Zheng Jing looked at the stone stove in front of him, his face full of confusion.

Seeing this, Guo Kui smiled and explained first: "This is my fault; I forgot to tell you earlier. After running around for so long, we've summed up some experience. In the past, everyone was afraid that calculating expenses together would be troublesome, so we all ate our own meals.

Usually, we just chewed on dry rations or ate self-heating rice; it was expensive and not very nutritious. Later, everyone felt that while we could make do during the day, it was better to eat together at night.

For one, it's livelier, and for another, we get something hot, and the nutrition keeps up."

Boss Zhao asked: "Jingzi, are you up for it?"

Zheng Jing nodded immediately: "No problem, eating together is great. It's just that I left in a hurry and didn't prepare any cooking gear, not even an aluminum lunchbox, so I'm afraid I can't join you."

As soon as Zheng Jing finished speaking, Zhao the Second immediately pulled a brand-new aluminum lunchbox from his car and handed it over: "Here, take this, it's brand new. I was afraid someone's might leak, so I specifically prepared an extra one."

Zheng Jing quickly took it and said: "That's great, Brother Zhao, how much? I'll transfer it to you."

Zhao the Second waved his hand: "Don't worry about the money. When we have that hotpot, I'll just eat two extra plates of meat!"

"Hahaha, as long as you can eat it, I'll treat you no matter how much it is."

In Zheng Jing's mind, he couldn't help but recall an advertisement he had seen in the county town that day.

59 a head, 59 a head, authentic Sichuan self-service hotpot, the Hezheng branch is opening soon!

Zhao the Second smiled and nodded: "That's what you said, don't complain that I eat too much when the time comes!"

"No way," Zheng Jing shook his head vigorously: "Absolutely not!"

Guo Jianjun smiled and added from the side: "Alright, now that you have a lunchbox, there's no problem. We have rice and flour stocked up. It's just that conditions in the wild are limited, and we can't really stir-fry dishes. We usually just make do with pickled vegetables and salted duck eggs; I hope you don't mind."

Zheng Jing waved his hands quickly: "Brother Jun, what are you saying? How could I mind? I can't just take advantage of everyone for free. How about this, I'll take out two cans of luncheon meat, and we'll share the meal."

Naturally, everyone was very happy to hear this.

So they divided the work and got busy, steaming fragrant rice in the aluminum lunchboxes and boiling a pot of hot water, throwing in a handful of seaweed and some dried shrimp to simply boil a pot of "seafood soup".

With the salted duck eggs and pickled vegetables Boss Zhao brought, and the luncheon meat Zheng Jing took out, everyone ate with great satisfaction.

After all, in these deep mountains, this was already a rare delicacy!

After everyone finished dinner in high spirits, Guo Jianjun boiled a pot of hot water, took out the aged white tea he had dried himself, and brewed it for everyone.

Naturally, no one was modest; after all, this was the thing people from Fujian Province were most accustomed to—you can skip a meal, but you must drink tea.

Campfire, tea, chatting.

The deep mountains were quiet, and the atmosphere was exceptionally harmonious.

Guo Jianjun looked at the lively group, his mood becoming increasingly cheerful, and he immediately spoke up: "Except for Kuizi, our overall harvest today wasn't bad. And Boss Zheng, this big spender, has even promised to treat us to a big meal when we return to the county town.

So, I won't hold out either. I specifically brought two bottles of Niulanshan Erguotou when I left. I originally thought I'd wait until we had a big harvest one day to drink them, but today seems to count as that day.

How about we just open one bottle? It'll serve as both a celebration and a welcome for Jingzi joining us, let's satisfy our cravings together!"

"Good! Let's do it!" The group was instantly interested and chimed in unison.

A 500ml bottle of Niulanshan Erguotou, divided equally among five grown men.

Each person got about 100ml, all poured into their own washed aluminum lunchboxes.

Everyone sat around the campfire, holding their lunchboxes and clinking them together, sipping the strong liquor, and chatting about everything under the sun, cozy and heartwarming.

Zheng Jing suddenly remembered something and looked at the group, asking: "By the way, I only saw Guo Kui go to sell the gold and silver he dug up that day. Why don't you guys go sell the things you've dug up?"