69: Chapter Sixty-Nine: A Big Shot Arrives from the Pit; Guo and Zhao Set Up a Secret Scheme

No toilet paper!

Zheng Jing froze on the spot, but for him, this wasn't really a problem.

No toilet paper?

Impossible, absolutely impossible; aren't there leaves everywhere?

Zheng Jing, like a rabbit emerging from its burrow, stretched his neck and looked around, but unfortunately, the surrounding bushes were all small leaves.

Plus, since he had diarrhea, twigs probably wouldn't do...

Suddenly, Zheng Jing's eyes lit up; about three meters behind him, there was a leaf of a suitable size.

Just as he was about to go and pick it, Zheng Jing suddenly realized it was a stinging nettle leaf!

"Damn..."

Thinking of the terrifying power of a stinging nettle leaf, Zheng Jing couldn't help but shiver.

Anyone who dared to use that to wipe their ass was a peerless warrior!

A ridiculous thought instantly appeared in Zheng Jing's mind: was natural air-drying really so unacceptable?

Fortunately, heaven never blocks all paths, and this area was full of mountain forests.

Although there were no suitable leaves right around his squatting spot, there was a patch of broad-leaf grass about a dozen meters away.

Like a drowning man seeing a life-saving straw, Zheng Jing hurriedly held up his half-pulled-down pants with both hands, hunched over, and waddled over in a horse stance.

Just as Zheng Jing reached out to pull those broad-leaf grasses, a sudden change occurred!

The radar interface in his mind, which had been almost silent all morning, suddenly lit up with a thick, white ball of light!

A clear prompt slammed straight into his mind: there was ownerless metal nearby, right 92 centimeters under his right foot!

Zheng Jing's heart leaped, and after analyzing the whiteness and brightness of the light ball, he dared to bet that there was a 99.99% chance it was gold underneath!

"Hahaha, I knew I couldn't possibly come up empty-handed!"

With a loud laugh, the frustration that had been weighing on his heart instantly dissipated.

But happy as he was, he still had to clean up his rear.

After picking a sufficient amount of broad-leaf grass and getting things sorted, Zheng Jing used his small entrenching tool to shovel some dirt and cover up the natural fertilizer he had just produced.

He would still be working in this area later, and if the mountain breeze blew and brought over an unpleasant odor, he would be the one suffering.

After everything was handled properly, Zheng Jing returned to the spot where the gold was hidden and prepared to start digging.

But trouble followed immediately...

Unlike ordinary mineral-bearing spots, this bushy plot of land had its surface densely entwined with thorny vines and branches; without clearing it first, he couldn't even stand or start digging.

Fortunately, the edge of the entrenching tool in Zheng Jing's hand was sharp enough to serve as a makeshift machete, which was perfectly adequate.

"Keep it up, you have to put in effort to dig for treasure!"

Giving himself a pep talk, Zheng Jing bent over and swung the shovel blade back and forth.

After clearing it several times, he finally managed to cut the bushes within a certain range of the surface down to the roots, clearing a flat open space.

After taking a couple of sips of tea, Zheng Jing took a deep breath to suppress the restlessness of wanting to see the gold, calmed his mind, and continued to dig.

The old tree roots underground were tangled and knotted, weaving into a dense root net that firmly locked the entire soil layer.

Thick roots blocked the way and fine fibers entangled the soil, making it impossible to dig forcefully.

Zheng Jing had to slow down his pace, using the sharp edge of the entrenching tool to hack and cut the thick old roots bit by bit; and after all the larger tree roots were cut, he used the tip of the shovel to loosen the soil inch by inch along the cracks in the soil layer.

The workload of just clearing the roots and digging the soil consumed more mental and physical energy than swinging a sledgehammer at a construction site.

The noon sun hung high, and the temperature reached its peak for the day.

The mountain breeze was stifled by the heat, refusing to move at all.

Before long, Zheng Jing's forehead was covered in sweat, which kept sliding down his jaw, and the clothes on his back were soaked with sweat, sticking firmly to his skin.

His arms repeatedly lifted the shovel, hacked at roots, and dug soil; his muscles gradually became sore and stiff, and every time he lifted his hand to strike with the shovel, it was laden with heavy exhaustion.

Even though his whole body was sore and weak, the thought of the gold hidden underground kept Zheng Jing full of energy.

He patiently cleared the tree roots and dug away the soil layer by layer, digging from the blazing noon until the evening glow covered the entire sky.

The scorching heat in the mountain forest slowly faded, and the cool evening breeze blew through the branches and leaves.

After spending several full hours, the pit under his feet kept deepening, and Zheng Jing's small shovel finally reached the burial depth marked by the radar.

The soil at the bottom of the pit became increasingly moist and fine, with no more gravel or thick tree roots to hinder the digging.

Zheng Jing held his breath, making his movements extremely gentle, using only the tip of the shovel to carefully scrape away the soft mud on the surface.

As the last layer of wet mud was gently pushed aside, a touch of warm, heavy, dark gold slowly revealed itself from deep within the soil layer.

The gold nugget had neat edges and a heavy, pure texture; it had no impurities at all and was a naturally formed piece of raw gold!

A spark of brilliance instantly burst into Zheng Jing's eyes, and all the exhaustion, boredom, and the lingering soreness in his wrists were completely swept away the moment he saw the gold!

Zheng Jing bent down into the pit, reached out his right hand to firmly grasp it, and took out the raw gold nugget intact.

The gold nugget was covered in moist soil from underground, feeling heavy and substantial in his palm.

He casually wiped off the surface mud and rinsed it with the remaining tea, and that pure, bright gold was completely revealed!

Zheng Jing lifted his hand to weigh it, roughly estimating the gross weight to be at least eighteen or nineteen grams.

Even if he had to refine it to remove impurities, losing about a third, he would still end up with at least 12 grams of pure gold.

Based on today's gold price of 1,070 yuan per gram, it would convert to about 13,000 yuan.

Very gratifying!

Although he had spent the whole day struggling and only dug up this one piece of gold from beginning to end, this single harvest alone broke his record for the highest daily income since he started Gold Panning in the mountains.

The huge harvest diluted the sweltering heat and fatigue of the whole day, and Zheng Jing couldn't help but smile happily.

"Awesome!"

Per the usual routine, he carefully tucked the gold nugget into a small iron box in the lining of his clothes, checked the sky, shouldered his tools, and hurried back to the camp...

Zheng Jing's harvest today could be considered top-notch, and on the mountain ridge bordering the two teams of Gold Panning prospectors, Guo Jianjun and Boss Zhao also had a bountiful harvest.

Along the centerline agreed upon with Boss Zhou and his group, the two of them went east and west, each digging up several small pieces of raw silver of decent quality.

After the two of them properly stored the silver pieces, they didn't forget the important purpose of this trip!

Into every pit where they dug up silver, they threw in a few strong magnetic plates.

Then they swung their small hoes to backfill and tamp down the soil, and used their feet to flatten the ground, smoothing out all traces of disturbance as much as possible, making the ground look indistinguishable from its original state.

When they were ready to return to camp, the two looked at each other and smiled.

It was as if they could already see Boss Zhou and his group wasting their efforts and getting frustrated over this in the future.

What the two didn't know was that later, Boss Zhou and his group would argue and fight over this so much that they would almost tear each other's heads off, and the team would disband on the spot because of it!