As they hurried home, Chen Feng's uncle arrived at Liu Ping's house.

"Xiaoming, what brings you here all of a sudden?" Liu Ping was tending the fire when she saw Liu Ming and said with some surprise.

"What are you doing, sis? I just came to take a look." Liu Ming is 1.67 meters tall, with a buzz cut and mud on his shoes, so he must have been doing farm work in the afternoon.

Chen Feng's uncle was not from the same village as them, but from two villages in between.

"Sit down. Have you eaten? There's some food in the pot, would you like a bite?" Liu Ping asked.

"I'm not eating anymore. Where's Xiaofeng?" Liu Ming looked around but didn't see Chen Feng.

"He went out to work and hasn't come back yet, but he should be back soon," Liu Ping said, glancing at the time.

"Work? What kind of work?" Liu Ming asked, looking quite surprised.

This kid is lucky he doesn't go out and cause trouble, yet he can actually do work?

"Oh dear, he said yesterday that he saw people panning for gold and thought it looked good, so he wanted to go too. He discussed it with me for a long time."

"I figured doing something was better than staying still, so I agreed. Let's do whatever we want," Liu Ping said with a smile.

"Gold panning?" Liu Ming frowned immediately upon hearing this.

"Then he has to buy equipment, right? And you're the one who gave him the money?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ping turned her head and said, "Yes, they asked me for three thousand yuan to buy things. They left with Zheng Ping and the others early this morning."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ming rolled his eyes at her, utterly speechless.

"I'm not trying to criticize your older sister, but why do you just let him do whatever he wants? Didn't you even try to stop him? And you just give him money whenever he asks?"

"Isn't gold panning a complete joke? They've been panning for gold for so long, and I've never heard of anyone getting rich."

"When you calculate it one by one, some of them don't even make 500 yuan a month, and they still have to get up early and work late."

"It would be better to go work as a security guard for Xiaoyang. He's guaranteed a monthly income of 800 yuan, and with Xiaoyang around, he can at least take care of him."

Xiao Yang is Liu Ming's son, Liu Chaoyang.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ping made an excuse and said, "Oh dear, what can we do if the child doesn't want to go? It's all the same. If he wants to go, let him give it a try."

Liu Ming was speechless upon hearing this, and laughed irritably, "You really are easygoing. That's Sister Qian. That piece of junk sells for three thousand yuan, but you're selling it for scrap metal. Who would want it?"

"We didn't make a single penny; we'll lose three thousand in the end."

"Don't you know how hard it is for you to save up three thousand yuan? You spoil him too much."

"I'm not trying to be mean, but just you wait and see. If he doesn't find anything in three days, he won't even take it with him on the fourth day. He'll just throw the machine away."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ping quickly said, "No, Xiaofeng is serious this time, it doesn't seem like a three-minute fad."

"You're the only one who trusts your precious son. He's been drinking heavily at home for a year, and when you ask him to do two days of farm work, he throws down his hoe and goes home in less than half an hour."

"I heard that panning for gold is more tiring than working in the fields. In the summer, the sun is so hot that you're practically oozing oil. He can't even work in the fields, so how can you expect him to pan for gold? Really."

Liu Ming was speechless at this point, utterly exasperated with his own sister.

He originally came to ask about Chen Feng becoming a security guard, but he didn't expect Chen Feng to suddenly go gold mining.

There's no way to force Chen Feng to become a security guard now, since the machines have already been bought. We can only wait and see in a few days, and then decide what to do after Chen Feng stops mining for gold.

"How are your chickens? Are you raising enough? I can bring you a few more chicks," Liu Ming asked, changing the subject.

"Thirty or so chickens are enough for now. The main problem is that corn is a bit expensive lately, so I go to the fields every day to cut wild vegetables to feed the chickens. That way I can save some money."

"Thirty or so is enough. If there are any more, I won't be able to gather that many wild vegetables."

“If Xiaofeng were home, I could ask him to help me cut some wood, but now he’s not home during the day, so I’m all by myself,” Liu Ping said as she added a few pieces of wood to the stove.

"That works too. If you need more, just let me know and I'll bring some back for you when I buy chicks."

After Liu Ming finished speaking, he remembered what his older sister had said earlier and couldn't help but snort.

"Tch, you actually expect Xiaofeng to mow the lawn for you? You're really hopeless. Don't say you don't have time now. He used to mow the lawn for you several times a day when he was home, but you still had to do it yourself."

Liu Ping didn't say anything upon hearing this, pursed her lips, and looked down at the stove.

There's really not much to say. Chen Feng used to never do these kinds of chores. He only went with him to cut grass once, and he went for less than twenty minutes before complaining of being tired and going home.

Around eight o'clock, Chen Feng and his group returned to the village, and Huang Fei parked the car in his own yard.

If someone lived at the village entrance, Huang Fei would stop the car and let them get out. If someone lived in the middle of the village, they would go with Huang Fei to their house, and then they would get out of the car together and go home.

Instead of going home first, Chen Feng went to Lu Dahai's house with his things. He thought that he had worked hard to earn money and wanted to buy something for his mother.

Otherwise, if you expect Liu Ping to voluntarily go to the convenience store to buy some food to satisfy her cravings, dream on. Even if she really wants to eat, she won't go to buy it.

As soon as I entered, I saw Lu Dahai sitting at the bar smoking. The shop was much livelier than in the afternoon, with nearly ten people chatting. Three of them were playing cards at the table.

This is the village. After dinner, everyone has nothing much to do. They either wander over to someone else's house or go to the small shop. They don't buy anything, just chat for a while.

As soon as everyone saw Chen Feng enter the store with the detector, someone couldn't help but greet him.

"Fengzi, when did you get back?"

"Just got back, came out of Huang Fei's yard," Chen Feng replied, placing the detector on the counter and thinking about what to buy to take home.

"How's your first day of gold panning?" Lu Dahai asked with a smile as he stood up.

Upon hearing this, the chatter inside the room quieted down for a moment.

They were also curious about what Chen Feng and his friends had found today.

"Not bad, a successful first battle," Chen Feng replied with a smile.

Seeing his ambiguous answer, Lu Dahai couldn't help but chuckle.

"There are more reports of success, but have you actually opened a business?" Lu Dahai pressed.

"Bullshit! What did you go out to do? You wouldn't dare come home without panning for some gold, would you?"

Chen Feng spoke as if he were boasting, and everyone in the room laughed upon hearing this.

"Damn, what a load of bull! You should have a smoke, you never tell the truth." Lu Dahai handed him a cigarette and laughed.

Chen Feng lit the lighter on the counter himself, then pointed to the shelf behind him and said, "Give me two cans of real food, and then give me a case of pure milk."

Upon hearing this, Lu Dahai raised an eyebrow, handed him two cans of food, then walked to the side of the counter and looked up to ask Chen Feng.

"We have milk in 25ml bottles, and also 30ml and 32ml bottles. Which one do you want?"