44: Chapter Forty-Four: Successive Large Shipments

As the digging depth increased, the small hoe suddenly struck a hard object, its texture distinctly different from ordinary gravel or soil.

Cross-referencing the prompt from his System Radar, the orb of light was positioned exactly beneath the hoe.

Zheng Jing immediately slowed his movements, tossed the small hoe aside, and switched to using his hands to carefully scrape away the surrounding dirt, cautiously extracting the object from the ground intact.

Wiping away the mud and sand clinging to its surface, a silver nugget the size of an extra-large blueberry was revealed. Its luster was warm and translucent, and it felt heavy and substantial in his hand.

Zheng Jing roughly weighed the silver nugget; it was about eighteen or nineteen grams, and its quality was excellent, requiring almost no refining.

A find like this was already a pretty good haul in this abandoned mining area!

Zheng Jing placed the silver nugget into the iron can at his waist with satisfaction, and a muffled, crisp clinking sound immediately echoed from within.

"That sounds so good..."

After a brief rest, Zheng Jing stood up and continued his slow search through the abandoned mining area.

Because the mountain paths were rugged and overgrown with tangled weeds and shrubs, branches and leaves would occasionally snag on his clothes.

Zheng Jing casually brushed aside the branches and grass blocking his path, all while keeping an eye on the System Radar image in his mind.

A breeze swept through the mountain forest, carrying the unique, fresh scent of vegetation; the air quality was impeccable.

He hadn't gone far when the System Radar in Zheng Jing's mind lit up again. This time, the orb of light was rich and dazzling, far brighter than any of the silver he had dug up before!

"A big find!"

Zheng Jing stopped in his tracks instantly and began digging at the precise location provided by the system.

The brightness of the orb was certainly sufficient, but Zheng Jing couldn't accurately determine whether it was gold or silver until he dug it out.

He figured that once he encountered and dug up more of these, he would be able to discern the pattern.

"I hope it's gold," Zheng Jing secretly hoped.

It was true that he liked silver, but if he had a choice, he naturally preferred gold. After all, gold was far more valuable than silver!

For a piece of the same size, not only was the unit price of gold dozens of times that of silver, but it was also heavier! If he could dig up a piece of gold as large as that silver nugget, that would be a real, major surprise!

Zheng Jing dug for over half an hour before finally clearing away all the covering dirt and gravel. The object underneath was fully revealed—it was a silver nugget even larger than the previous one!

Although he was slightly disappointed that it wasn't gold, this silver nugget was massive! Without a scale, it was hard to estimate the exact weight, but it was definitely at least thirty grams!

Only a cheater like Zheng Jing would be so nonchalant; if this were for Guo Kui or any of the others, this would definitely be a major haul!

Zheng Jing held the grape-sized silver nugget and couldn't help but wonder to himself. With such a large piece of material sitting here, how had the miners back then failed to discover it, leaving it behind for nothing?

On second thought, he quickly figured out the reason. It was likely that mining in the early days relied entirely on manual labor, with no such precise detection equipment as existed today.

When the workers mined, they mostly focused on the prominent, clustered main ore veins. Naturally, they wouldn't waste the effort to search for scattered silver deposits like this one, which were embedded in soil layers or stone crevices.

Plus, after years of erosion from wind and rain, along with collapsing rocks and rolling boulders, thick layers of soil had covered it, burying the silver nugget tightly.

Moreover, while gold and silver might look substantial, their actual volume is small. Human power has its limits, so it was only reasonable that some would be overlooked.

Regardless of whether his guess was correct, Zheng Jing was in a very good mood after consecutively harvesting three pieces of silver.

He continued his search, and before he knew it, it was already past twelve noon.

Because his mind was entirely focused on treasure hunting, Zheng Jing didn't even seem to feel hungry, nor did he feel any fatigue.

Aside from drinking tea a few times, he didn't take any other breaks, continuing to slowly search along the path of the abandoned ore vein.

After walking a few more steps, the System Radar in his mind lit up with a faint light spot once again.

Zheng Jing immediately began digging at the precise location provided by the system, easily unearthing a small silver granule weighing about four grams.

Zheng Jing tallied up his morning's haul: first, the five or six grams of small silver granules he'd practically found for free, then the eighteen or nineteen-gram silver nugget, the roughly thirty-gram large silver block, and finally this four-gram silver granule. It added up to a total of about fifty-seven grams. At the current price of eighteen yuan per gram, he had earned one thousand and twenty-six yuan in just one morning!

Although he hadn't struck gold, earning over a thousand yuan without much effort was an incredibly smooth and satisfying start.

Before he knew it, the sun had climbed to its zenith; it was lunchtime.

Having been busy all morning, Zheng Jing finally stopped what he was doing and decided to eat and rest on the spot.

He found a large tree and sat in its dense shade, which was sheltered from the wind and cool, completely shielded from the sun.

A cool mountain breeze blew over, sweeping away most of the heat and fatigue from his body.

He took out the self-heating rice with braised pork and mushrooms he had brought with him. This kind was quite expensive, costing over thirty yuan a portion. Only someone like Zheng Jing would be willing to spend that much!

He opened the package and set it up; in a moment, steam carrying a rich aroma instantly dispersed into the air.

Zheng Jing ate with great relish. The chunks of meat, a mix of fat and lean, were stewed until tender yet chewy, and the thick mushrooms had soaked up the rich gravy, making them glossy and tempting. He shoveled in a mouthful of soft, sticky rice, then picked up a piece of braised meat to eat—the flavor was rich and lingering, the mushrooms were savory, and the sauce coating the rice grains made it taste better with every chew.

The fatigue from running around all morning was soothed away by the delicious meal.

Just as Zheng Jing finished his lunch and was cleaning up the trash, the System in his mind suddenly manifested an orb of light!