Just then, a dark-skinned man finished selling his goods at the counter, and the sound of his mobile phone transferring money was clearly audible inside the room.
"Received, 42,000 yuan."
Many people turned to look when they heard the voice. The man turned and walked towards the door. He seemed to be a regular here, as many people seemed to know him.
"Brother Hei, you did well this time, you really made a killing." Someone sitting in a chair said to him with a smile.
"It's alright, isn't it? This was done at Old Li's mine, over three months ago, and it's been drying out for me." The man stopped and smiled as he heard this.
"You're lucky. Last time I went to his mine, I only made five or six thousand yuan a month. It made me so angry," the man said with a laugh after taking a sip of his drink.
Chen Feng sat in his seat, observing everyone's reactions. If this were a gold shop in his hometown, more than 40,000 yuan would be enough to shock the whole room.
But here, it seems that the harvest was just good, and it didn't reach the level of shocking the whole room, which surprised Chen Feng.
"A big mine is a big mine, it's definitely different," Chen Feng muttered to himself.
He sat there for more than ten minutes, and two or three people came to sell their goods one after another. There were always acquaintances in the room, and they could chat with each other for a long time.
They almost never sell out and leave; they always seem to stop at some table to chat for a while.
Chen Feng heard it clearly; he couldn't hear exactly how long one of them had spent selling for over 20,000 yuan.
The other one was the most, selling for over 60,000. He said he had been searching for more than three months, but he was very lucky and found a large quantity, which was worth nearly 30,000.
It seems that no one is trying to hide their income; perhaps because everyone is in this line of work, there's no need to be wary of anyone.
After all, it makes sense. We live in a society governed by the rule of law, and most of our money is in WeChat or bank accounts.
Even if you wanted to rob it, it would be difficult. If you did, the police could easily find you. Nobody is stupid enough to do something like that.
Seeing this, Chen Feng's vigilance lessened considerably, and all his previous unnecessary thoughts vanished.
In his imagination, these big gold prospectors would come in groups of several people, one selling the goods while the others watched.
The atmosphere inside the store was incredibly tense, as if a fight was about to break out at any moment.
Outside the shop, many young men with ill intentions were smoking, seemingly looking for targets.
It can only be said that this is a side effect of watching too many police and gangster films.
Chen Feng looked around, wanting to find an old gold prospector to get some inside information about gold mining.
After watching for a while, I realized that many people were just standing around in twos and threes and couldn't really join in.
Chen Feng looked around again and finally spotted a lone gold prospector.
He was an old man, thin, with a kind and benevolent face. He was drinking wine not from a glass, but from a small bottle.
There were no side dishes in front of them, so they just sat there drinking.
Chen Feng blinked, went to the counter and ordered another plate of edamame, then carried the plate to the old man.
"Grandpa, may I sit here?" Chen Feng asked with a smile.
"Of course, child, please sit down."
The old man was somewhat surprised to hear this, then smiled and quickly pulled his wine bottle back to make room for Chen Feng.
Chen Feng placed the plate on the table, then sat down and placed the edamame in the middle of the table.
"Have something to eat with us. I see you don't have any snacks to go with your drinks, just drinking straight away," Chen Feng said with a smile.
Chen Feng had a firm grasp on interpersonal relationships and social interactions.
Only then did Chen Feng see clearly the liquor in the old man's hand; it was the cheapest bulk liquor, as if he had brought it himself.
"I'm used to it," the old man said with a smile, taking a sip of his drink.
"Haha, just like my grandpa. He likes to drink straight without any snacks. Come on, have some edamame. It's good for your stomach."
Chen Feng politely stepped aside for the old man, pushing the edamame towards him.
In fact, Chen Feng had never met his grandfather. It seems that his grandfather passed away when he was a few years old. It is said that he had drunk some wine and then went to dance with his dance partner.
Then he ran into another old man, and the two of them fought over a woman's right to dance.
The result was one death and one injury.
The old man was badly beaten by Chen Feng's grandfather, and before the old man could fight back, Chen Feng's grandfather suffered a stroke and started drooling.
He died before he could be taken to the hospital.
His grandfather never had a proper job in his life; he was either drinking heavily and spending a lot of money or going out to have fun.
Chen Feng didn't care whether he was dead or alive, since he'd hardly ever seen him.
I heard that the next day, that woman found a new dance partner and continued to torment the old man as if nothing had happened.
All I can say is that this middle-aged woman is truly powerful; of the two old men, one is dead and the other is injured.
Seeing Chen Feng's sincere offer, the old man nodded politely, then picked up a edamame, peeled it, and savored the salty taste of the edamame skin.
"I've never seen you before. Are you a new gold prospector?" the old man said.
"Pretty much. I've been looking for deals elsewhere before, this is my first time in Qiuling City," Chen Feng said with a smile as he ate edamame.
"Yes, this place is good. The goods are decent. It's a central area with several large mines nearby, which is why there are so many people here," the old man explained enthusiastically.
"Oh, I see. No wonder there are so many people here," Chen Feng said, feigning sudden realization.
"Those mines still charge money. I've heard my colleagues mention it, but I didn't ask in detail at the time. I've always been scavenging in these abandoned mines," Chen Feng said casually.
"Yes, you probably haven't been to this kind of mine before."
"These mines are all privately owned. They are abandoned mines that have been contracted out by individuals and then rented out, or they were originally their mines."
“After they’ve used machinery to pan for the goods, there’s no more value in mining them, but there’s still a lot of stuff inside, so they’ll rent it out.”
"Because this type of mine was only mined extensively by machinery once, it was then monopolized by them, so the amount of leftover material is much greater than in abandoned mines like those in Qiuling City where everyone is panning for scrap."
"There are two types of these mines. One is a profit-sharing system, where the mine owner provides the land and you provide the manpower. You don't have to pay for panning for gold, but you have to split the gold you pan for with the mine owner."
"The other option is to require an entrance fee, which may or may not take any particular form or cost; it depends on how the mine owner decides."
"But they are basically charged by time, either a certain amount per day or a weekly or monthly package."
"Some earn tens of yuan a day, while others earn one or two hundred, two or three hundred, or even five hundred or a thousand."
"In this kind of mine, it has nothing to do with the mine owner how much you find; you can just take it away."
"But this industry is all about luck. Sometimes you can make money, and sometimes you can lose all your ticket sales. It's a matter of opinion."
After the old man finished speaking, he took a sip of wine, smiled, and picked up a edamame.
"Is that so? I've never been there before. I'll have to check it out next time," Chen Feng said, taking a sip of his drink and nodding.
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