"This is a gold coin, the era and specifications are unknown to us, but gold is always good in any dynasty. The fat man looked at the gold coin and said: "Can it be exchanged for an ox?"

  Yuan Xiaobai is indeed from a wealthy family, we common folks only know that gold is valuable, but who knows how much its worth? She weighed it in her hand and said: "About 50 grams, more valuable than that old tiger, three heads of cattle are no problem."

  "Good, good, Third Master." Fatso immediately gave Cha Wenbin a thumbs up and said: "Master Cha, if you intervene in this matter, it will definitely be settled."

  Pangzis confidence is not unreasonable. In that era, the country was in turmoil and international relations were complex. Our country lacked foreign exchange and precious metals. As a hard currency, gold was very popular in the market at that time. The significance of one gold coin may not be great, but the significance behind this gold coin is difficult to say. Who dares to guarantee that there are no more gold coins under other ponds?

  That night, Cha Wenbin and Pangzi went to the branch secretarys home. In less than ten minutes, the village branch secretary followed them back, with a smile all over his face, holding a big net bag full of canned goods and fruit.

  "Hey, you kids have been in our village for half a year now. When you first arrived, I thought you were cultured people with high ideological awareness and actively responded to the call of leaders to come here to learn. You always take the lead in production and construction, truly good kids! Later, I will definitely report back to the organization and strive for a model title for you." After that, he threw the bag on the table, lit a cigarette, and even asked us if we wanted one.

  Fatso rudely took a cigarette and lit it, taking a big drag on the thing Branch Secretary had brought. I saw his Adams apple move as he swallowed, but his face still looked calm as he said: "Old Branch Secretary, you really dont know, do you? Were in trouble. The production team leader says were not fishing for the commune, and our work points will be deducted these past few days. What do you think about this?"

  The team leader pressed the cigarette butt on the table and said viciously: "That Liu Damao is confused, you are all irrigating the canal every day, how can he be blind? Day and night, hes been doing that, how can we treat our comrades like this? Ill go educate him later, dont worry, work points will definitely not be deducted."

  "Shall we still have a smoke tonight?" said Fatso with his eyes narrowed.

  The team leader waved his hand and said, "You work overtime to contribute to the great harvest of socialist grain, so you should be rewarded with more work points. Lets do it this way: each person will get an extra full work point every day."

  Fatso continued to lay out his plan at a moderate pace: "And what about Little White? Her health hasnt been great for half a year now, and the team can only give her three or four work points per day. You know that we young people are still growing, and those few work points arent enough to exchange for food. If we dont eat well, its hard to do our jobs."

  "Its all settled, isnt it? After Comrade Yuan Xiaobai came to our village, her performance is well-known to everyone. She hurt herself for the sake of the communes production, what is this? This is a great and noble selfless dedication spirit! Dont mention it, I know, tomorrow Ill sign off on Xiaobais work points, all made up! That branch secretary looked at Fatty with a still stern face, gritted his teeth and said: "Recently youve all been working hard, the village has decided to give you four and a half months of big vacation, work points will still be calculated!"

  At this moment, the fatty had already finished smoking and looked at the old branch book with his lips trembling. He was ready to start his final big move. He stretched out five fingers towards the old branch book and said: "Take half of what you have in hand!"

  Lao Zhi was also not a thrifty lamp, and with a wave of his hand: "This, Im not in charge, this is a collective thing. If you take it, thats digging up socialist gold."

  To say that Fatty is a born rogue, he is absolutely a natural-born rogue, even more so than the average rogue. At this moment, his rascal nature was exposed without any cover-up. Fatty took the gold coin from Zhang Wenbins hand and put it in his mouth to bite it, saying: "Thats okay, this is easy to handle. Tomorrow, Ill take a loudspeaker to the village and broadcast it around, saying that theres gold in the pond. I guarantee that all the gold will be for the great socialist collective, you wont even see a single cent, all of it will be handed over to the country!"

  That old branch secretary stood up immediately and shouted sternly: "What are you kids doing? This is a national thing, none of us can move it!"

  The fatty walked up to Secretary Zhangs side and put his arm around his shoulder, which also confused me. I saw the fatty reach into Secretary Zhangs pocket and pull out a cigarette, saying: "If you didnt have any ulterior motives, would you be so late bringing this stuff? Why didnt you rush to the commune committee? Such a big thing shouldnt just send a telegram to the higher-ups? With your character of being stingy even with toilet paper, how could you be so kind as to let us eat canned food? Dont try to deceive me..." After that, the fatty stuffed the gold coin into Secretary Zhangs pocket and patted it twice, saying: "When doing revolutionary work, one must have clean sleeves, but cant get married or build a house? A whole family has to survive, right? I think your two sons are not young anymore, its time for them to take care of things. Chairman Maos book royalties still pay well, Secretary Zhang, this matter is known to heaven and earth, you know and I know, this is the deposit, the rest will be settled later."

  "This......" The old branch secretarys attitude obviously changed, and the righteous momentum just now suddenly disappeared. He only asked in a low voice: "This is probably not good, there are many eyes in the village."

  The fatty continued to give him medicine and said, "This is easy to handle. If someone really sees it at that time, well divide it into three parts. You get one part, we get one part, and the rest will be confiscated. You got a good name and also got benefits. Where can you find such a good thing in the world?"

  That old branch secretary is indeed a fox, fattys words have reached this point and he can be considered to have understood. He took out a match, lit it, and handed it to fatty to light his cigarette. Patting him on the shoulder, he said: "What did you just say? I didnt hear anything. Ah, Wenbin, your comrade has been doing quite well recently, the organization can consider letting you join the party!"

  Cha Wenbin saw his expression and felt full of disdain, retorting: "You also accept the Black Five Categories?"

  "Alright, alright! Stop following me around and pretending. Go do what you need to do. And get the diesel ready for me!"

  We saw off the old branch secretary, and we impatiently opened a can of food. In those years, it was impossible for ordinary people to eat such things even during the New Year. Those canned fruits were not something that ordinary people in the city could afford, let alone us country bumpkins?

  After a big meal, everyone lay on the bed burping contentedly and rubbing their bellies in satisfaction. Such good days arent always available, even the usually refined Yuan Xiaobai was eating very recklessly, laughing "heh heh heh" and making a ruckus with us. I truly admire Fatty, this guys heart is ruthless, his hands are dark, and his brain is clever.

  I held up the bowl of canned sugar water and said to Fatty, "General Shi, this meal tonight is on you, come on, lets have a drink!"

  Unexpectedly, the fat man waved his hand repeatedly and said: "This thing really wasnt my idea, it was Cha Ye, we all benefited from him, we should respect him with a bowl of wine."

  Cha Wenbin also ate a lot today and burped contentedly: "I didnt let you share with him like that."

  Fatso lost a peanut and chewed it in his mouth: "How are we going to divide it?"

  "Those who see it have a share; we four plus him make five shares, one for each person. He can get at most 20%!"

  Fat boy gave a thumbs up to Cha Wenbin and praised: "Youre really dark!"

  That night, we had our first get-rich dream. Although Zhang Wenbin was a minor Taoist who had read the "Tao Te Ching" and had paid homage to the Three Pure Ones, he was only in his teens. In such an environment and reality, we couldnt help but think more about it, because no one planned to stay here for a lifetime.

  The plan for water diversion continued as scheduled, and we added a few more pumps to the pond next door, which were borrowed from another commune after Old Branch Secretary sent someone on a two-day journey over the mountains. The official explanation was that it was for agricultural production, but in reality, the fields were already flooded. Miao Lan and Xiao Bai took charge of cooking for us, and the three of us spent our days stuck by the pond.

  The old branch secretary made an excuse that the western wilderness needed to be opened up to grow corn, and most of the villages labor force was transferred away. This left only a few of us remaining at the scene. The powerful water pump finished draining this relatively small pond in five days, with the same depth as before, the same shape, and the same black stone wall that was so smooth that even a gecko couldnt climb it.

  To cover peoples ears and eyes, we decided to go down at night. Anyway, it was still dark below, so after preparing the equipment, three young gold prospectors climbed down along the soft ladder...