Chapter 13 – Disappointment

When they reached the miners, Shen Yu saw that some of them were pouring the silt into the sluice while others used metal rakes to roughly separate the larger chunks of gravel from the smaller. Further along, other miners scooped the separated dirt into what looked like wicker baskets similar to what many farmers used to carry crops. However, the ones that they were using were a lot larger than the ones that she was familiar with. She later learned that these were gold pans used in gold panning. Shen Yu watched as the workers filled the pans with water and shook them. The agitation caused the water to flow out, carrying bits of dirt and silt away from the pan. In the end, what was leftover were bits of gold dust and other heavier minerals. Shen Yu felt excitement rise when she saw the little bits of gold glimmering in the sunlight. This was the first time that she got to see raw gold dust being mined.

The people back in her village had previously talked about gold panning. They said that it was very simple process and didn’t require complicated tools. All it required was strength, a source of water, and patience. Panning was very similar to rinsing rice. The dirt needed to be mixed with water and agitated, leaving behind scrapings of gold in the end.

Based on that, she assumed that panning for gold was as easy as picking up dead fish from a dried up lake. Shen Yu had thought that it would be easy to get rich on just one night’s work. After seeing the process in person, she realized that the gold yield from panning was very low. A miner may go through bucket loads of dirt to just get the smallest amount of gold.

At this point, their guide called out to the person that they were looking for, telling him that some old friends were over.

An old man came out from a distant tent. He had messy white hair and a beard like a goat’s. He was neatly dressed in a gray buttoned up jacket, gray trousers, and had on some cloth shoes. Behind the old man followed a younger fellow with a tall and broad physique. He was dressed casually in a blue t-shirt and shorts which he paired with some tennis shoes. His dark eyes were lively and not a detail was missed by them. Even Shen Yu could tell at a glance that this man’s background was not simple, he had to be someone who was well versed in martial arts. She wondered idly if this man was the old man’s bodyguard.

The old man smiled when he saw the group waiting for him, clearly recognizing Tang Can. He greeted Tang Can as his brother in the national language and had a strong Shandong accent[1]. Shen Yu raised an eyebrow. Tang Can was young enough to be this man’s grandson and he was calling him his brother? Just from this one conversation, Shen Yu could tell that this old man was a wily old fox.

“It’s good to see you again, old man,” greeted Tang Can, his signature smile on his face.

The two men hugged each other as if they were old friends but Shen Yu quickly noticed it was just for show. During the maneuver, she could see that the old man took the opportunity to whisper something into Tang Can’s ear. Unfortunately, she was too far away to tell what was said.

After slapping each other on the back and making some other small talk, they finally separated. The old man pointed his hand first at Shen Yu and then at Zhang Fei. “Which girl were you referring to?”

Tang Can glanced at Shen Yu and the old man immediately started grinning at her. He inspected her from head to toe. Shen Yu felt uncomfortable under his gaze. For some reason, she felt like she was about to be sold to the highest bidder and she couldn’t shake that awkward feeling.

The old man finally noticed the silver bracelet on her wrist and stared at it silently. After a while, he turned to her and asked, “Girl! Can this old geezer take a look at your bracelet?”

Shen Yu smiled. Without hesitation she took the bracelet off of her wrist and handed it over. “Here you go!”

After receiving the bracelet, the old man’s expression changed, as if he was inspecting something very important. His eyes became huge and it was difficult to see what he was thinking. Shen Yu noticed the corner of his mouth started trembling and started to feel perplexed.. She really wanted to give him a piece of her mind. Just what was going on behind that fake smile of his? Whatever it was, it wasn’t good news for her!