"I didn't expect this kid to actually be able to find good stuff; he's got a knack for it."
Of course, he was envious, but no matter how envious he was, he couldn't go out to pan for gold; he still had his shop to look after.
However, it was a good thing for Chen Feng to find something, since he found gold using the equipment sold by whom?
It's myself!
Now I don't have to make things up every day; real examples are all around me.
With Chen Feng's success, Lao Han figured he'd be able to sell a few more of his goods, and he was quite pleased with himself.
The news that Chen Feng had found the goods spread throughout the village at an extremely fast pace, and the story became increasingly exaggerated.
"Hey, did you hear? Chen Feng went out to pan for gold today and made 1,700 yuan. That piece of gold was huge, it must have weighed more than three grams!"
"Holy crap, is this for real? It's that big?"
"Hey, did you know that Chen Feng made over two thousand today? He dug up such a huge piece of gold with just one shovel, it must be as big as a finger joint!"
"Holy crap, did you hear? Chen Feng made over 17,000 yuan a day panning for gold! My god, he found several pieces of gold, that's awesome!"
"You don't believe me? Go ask at the convenience store. Huang Fei said it himself. He was there, how could he not know?"
The next day, Chen Feng stood at the door, looking at the drizzling rain outside the window with a gloomy expression.
Damn it, the weather forecast said it would be sunny yesterday, how come it's raining today?
I was hoping to try again and recoup the cost of the machine, but it seems that plan has fallen through now.
I can only stay home all day.
After all, gold panning requires good weather; you can't pan for gold when it's windy or rainy, and all you'll get is mud.
Moreover, wading through mud to find goods not only severely impacts efficiency, but it's also not worth the risk of the machine being submerged in water and rendered unusable.
Just as Chen Feng was feeling down at the door, a young man ran over. He looked to be only about twenty years old, with dark skin and a buzz cut.
Upon seeing Chen Feng at the door, his face lit up with joy, and he quickened his pace to run up to him and say something.
"Bro, I heard you made hundreds of thousands yesterday? And you dug up a piece of gold the size of a fist?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Feng fell silent for a moment before finally asking, "Which father told you that?"
"I don't know either. That's what everyone says. I just came to ask you and try to get some firsthand information," the young man chuckled.
The young man's name was Lin Nian, and he was Chen Feng's good friend. The two always hung out together and were considered best friends.
He stopped studying after graduating from high school and started helping his family with chores.
"Not that much. If I had earned hundreds of thousands, I wouldn't be this calm. I would have gone out and had a good time long ago. It's a little over 1,700 in total," Chen Feng said.
"Wow, that's a lot! Others don't even earn as much in a day as they do in a month." Lin Nian's eyes lit up when he heard this.
"It's alright, gold panning isn't very stable. I was planning to go out panning again today, but I didn't expect this awful weather," Chen Feng said, looking at the gloomy sky.
“It’s okay, bro. We can go again tomorrow. My dad said the weather forecast is completely inaccurate. They just fill it in randomly to fool people.”
Lin Nian took out a crumpled box of Double Happiness cigarettes from his pocket, took out the only two inside, and handed one to Chen Feng.
A box of Double Happiness cigarettes costs four yuan. Lin Nian has always smoked this. He doesn't have much of a source of income; he relies entirely on his family for money, or sometimes he earns some extra cash to make a little pocket money.
"Out of cigarettes?" Chen Feng took the cigarettes and looked at his cigarette pack.
"That's all, hehe." Lin Nian took out a lighter and lit it for Chen Feng.
"Come inside, it's chilly outside," Chen Feng said, inviting him inside.
"No, my shoes are all muddy, they'll get dirty again," Lin Nian said, shaking his head.
"It's okay, I have to go out in a bit too, so I'll still get dirty." Chen Feng pulled him into the house.
Then I threw the half-full box of Baitashan cigarettes on the table at him.
"Take it and smoke it."
Chen Feng didn't have a whole box left, otherwise I would have just given him a whole box.
Lin Nian has always been very kind to Chen Feng. Sometimes when his family orders food, and Chen Feng's family hasn't brought any out yet, Lin Nian will always think of bringing it to Chen Feng, and he always manages to bring something strange and unusual.
Sometimes when Chen Feng was out of money, Lin Nian would take his few dollars and buy a pack of cigarettes for the two of them to smoke. Lin Nian wouldn't stop until he had spent all the money in his pocket.
"Hehe, thanks, bro." Lin Nian took the cigarette, a happy smile spreading across his face.
For him, the white-boxed Hongtashan cigarettes were a good cigarette; he couldn't usually afford such expensive ones.
"Little New Year is here! Come and have a bag of milk." Liu Ping came out and saw Lin Nian, and warmly handed him a bag of milk.
"Thank you, Auntie, but I don't want any." Lin Nian shook her head, feeling embarrassed to accept the drink.
"Take it if you can, and drink it," Chen Feng said upon seeing this.
"Thank you, Auntie, thank you, brother." Seeing that both of them were so encouraging, Lin Nian finally accepted the bag of milk, holding it in his hand and saying somewhat embarrassedly.
To be honest, Lin Nian was a little reserved when Liu Ping was there. It wasn't until Liu Ping went inside that Lin Nian quietly spoke to Chen Feng.
"Brother, when I arrived, I heard Old Wang's wife cursing and talking to her husband about coming to ask you for money."
Old Wang's house was the same house where Chen Feng's original self stole chickens. Chen Feng frowned upon hearing this.
"You want money from me? What money do you want? Have you no shame?" Chen Feng sneered.
After his rebirth, Chen Feng was thinking about whether or not to return the chicken money to Old Wang's family, since stealing chickens was wrong no matter what.
But after learning what Old Wang's wife had done, Chen Feng was so angry that he wouldn't even be satisfied if he bled all of Old Wang's chickens, let alone return the money.
No wonder Chen Feng, though a scoundrel, never did anything petty like stealing chickens or dogs. How could he suddenly steal a chicken from Old Wang's house to stew?
There are reasons for all of this.
Old Wang's wife is the typical rural woman who loves to gossip behind people's backs and spread rumors for no reason.
At first, people criticized Chen Feng behind his back, saying that he was nothing more than a college student and a shut-in.
Later, it got to the point that Chen Feng's father had been gone for so many years because he discovered that Liu Ping was having an affair and ran away from home in a fit of anger.
They even spread rumors that Chen Feng is doing nothing now because he discovered he wasn't his biological son and was an illegitimate child, which is why he's retaliating against his mother like this.
Although Chen Feng didn't know why his father suddenly disappeared when he was six or seven years old, he knew it certainly wasn't as Old Wang's wife had said.
When I was a child, I asked my mother why my father never came back.
Liu Ping just sighed, shook her head, and said, "Your dad can't do anything about it either."
When Chen Feng heard what Old Wang's wife said, he was furious. But these kinds of things always get worse the more you try to explain them, and he couldn't confront Old Wang's wife about it.
He could only steal one of his chickens to vent his anger. At first, Chen Feng wanted to set fire to his woodpile in the middle of the night, but he didn't dare to do it, afraid of making things worse.
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