30: Chapter 30 The Abstract Zhao Lao Er

When Zheng Jing said this, the scene suddenly went quiet.

The two Zhao brothers and Guo Jianjun looked embarrassed, exchanged glances, and after a while, scratched their heads and smiled bitterly.

Boss Zhao sighed and said honestly, "Don't laugh at us, but the last time our group went into the mountains, except for Kuizi who had a huge haul, the rest of us basically came back empty-handed, only picking up a few scattered pieces of silver."

"The amount was too small, and it would be embarrassing to make a trip to Old Yang's place, so we just saved it up, waiting until we have more to cash it all in at once."

Zheng Jing was stunned: "What? You, Zhao the Second, and Brother Jun all came back empty-handed?"

Boss Zhao covered his face and smiled bitterly: "Although we weren't completely empty-handed, it was pretty much the same. We worked for nearly half a month, and each of us got less than a thousand yuan, which wasn't even enough to cover food and travel expenses."

Zheng Jing was speechless for a moment.

Guo Kui waved his hand: "Hey, Boss Zhao, don't just talk about this one time; that was purely bad luck."

He licked his lips and said seriously, "If you calculate the annual average, after deducting expenses for food, travel, and tools in the mountains, we can steadily make seventy or eighty thousand a year. It's really much better than working in a factory."

"Working in a factory, you're exhausted all year for only forty or fifty thousand, and you still have to look at the boss's face and swallow your pride. Although it's hard work in the mountains, at least we are free and easy, and we earn more."

Guo Jianjun also nodded in agreement: "If there's no better job, what Kuizi says is true. Our trade depends on heaven; sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Maybe when luck is bad, you work for half a month for nothing and end up drinking the northwest wind;"

"But if you're lucky enough to hit a small rich vein, it's equivalent to what a normal person earns in over half a year. It's a case of 'not opening for half a year, but living off one opening for three years.'"

Boss Zhao shook his head from the side: "Living off one opening for three years is definitely an exaggeration, but if you find something good, living off it for half a year is no problem."

"Hahaha..."

Everyone shared a knowing smile.

Listening to this, Zheng Jing finally had a real understanding of the situation.

His luck had been explosive today, with gold particles, silver pieces, and tungsten steel drill bits falling into his hands one after another, purely because he had the system as a cheat!

If it were purely based on luck and skill, his earnings would probably be less than everyone else's.

Zheng Jing smacked his lips and asked curiously: "Since this trade is so hard, why did you all dive into it in the first place?"

Hearing Zheng Jing ask this, Guo Jianjun took a sip of the baijiu in his lunchbox, savored the taste, and sighed helplessly: "Didn't I say it already? If there were even a slightly better way out, who would want to run into these deep mountains and suffer like this?"

"Since getting married and starting a family, I have a wife and children to support. There are expenses for food, fuel, rice, oil, and salt everywhere. I have no education and no skills; if I really went to work in a factory, it might not be enough to support my family."

"Although Gold Panning is a bit tiring, as Kuizi said, it's already much better than anything else I can do."

"I also owe it to my father-in-law's guidance for getting into the Gold Panning trade; otherwise, I wouldn't even have a way to do this kind of manual labor."

Boss Zhao nodded upon hearing this and took the opportunity to continue. Zheng Jing finally understood that Guo Jianjun's father-in-law and the father of Boss Zhao and Zhao the Second were colleagues at the same gold mine back in the day.

The two families had always gotten along well.

"Our two brothers can be considered to have inherited our father's profession. My dad was originally a miner at our Northern Fujian gold mine, working in the gold mine his whole life. After he retired, he wasn't willing to sit idle, so he figured out the ins and outs of various abandoned mine sites in the mountains and brought me along to slowly do this."

Zheng Jing held his aluminum lunchbox, clinked it with Boss Zhao's, and signaled for him to continue.

Seeing that Zheng Jing really wanted to hear the story, Boss Zhao opened up:

"Later, after my dad passed away, I had no other trade, so I just kept working in this business to make a living."

"But Zhao the Second resisted this trade from the bottom of his heart at first and refused to do it no matter what."

Boss Zhao's gaze fell on the silent Zhao the Second sitting to the side, and he shook his head helplessly:

"He has always been ambitious since he was a child. He felt that what we pan for is just waste slag discarded by others, which is worlds apart from regular gold mining. It pays little, is embarrassing, and has no future. He refused to touch it at all costs, determined to go out and make a name for himself, looking for a decent job, and ended up being some kind of wedding host for several years."

After hearing this, Zheng Jing subconsciously looked at Zhao the Second, his eyes full of surprise.

He really couldn't connect the man in front of him, who was taciturn and meticulous, with the slick and smooth profession of a wedding emcee.

You have to know, an emcee relies on being glib and articulate, which is like heaven and earth compared to Zhao the Second's current personality; the contrast is ridiculously huge.

He vaguely guessed that there must be a story behind why Zhao the Second had become the way he was now.

Guo Kui and Guo Jianjun also looked at Zhao the Second. They had known each other for many years, yet they had never heard of this past.

Sensing everyone's gaze on him, Zhao the Second lowered his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the lunchbox.

After a long silence, he slowly opened his mouth, his voice flat and calm, carrying a sense of speechlessness.

"I was indeed working as a wedding host when I was outside. To speak from the heart, I really liked that job."

"Watching couples get married in a lively atmosphere and being able to host their big life event gave me a sense of accomplishment."

"Also, the income was quite stable, and I wasn't exposed to the wind and rain. It was much better than my dad and my brother digging in the mountains!"

"At that time, I never would have imagined that one day I would also go into the mountains for Gold Panning."

Zhao the Second paused, lowered his head, and took a sip of Erguotou. As the liquor went down his throat, it was full of bitterness.

"But slowly, the market got worse year by year, because young people today are under so much pressure."

"With mortgages and car loans weighing them down, the cost of getting married is rising. There are fewer and fewer people who can afford the bride price and the wedding."

"Even if they grit their teeth and get married, everything is simplified. They cut whatever they can from the wedding and save wherever they can."

"Previously, the peak season orders were fully booked, and I had work every day. Later, I couldn't get a single order for ten or fifteen days. Peers were also desperately cutting prices and competing viciously. Business became extremely difficult. I accepted all this; after all, the overall environment was bad, and nothing is easy to do. I thought if I just endured it, I could get through it."

Everyone listened and nodded silently, knowing in their hearts that it's hard to do anything these days.

But no one expected that the final straw that broke Zhao the Second wasn't the poor market, but that one extremely bizarre encounter.

And it was exactly that incident that completely changed the trajectory of his life.