Chapter 23: Desire Temperature (Part 1)

  A sleepless night.

  Long Wan has been pondering, what ulterior motives do Ye Ziheng, Mo Guishan, and He Yongji have in entrusting others to express their hope that the group can repurchase the four companies of Liheng Garment, Liheng Shoe Industry, Liheng Chemical Industry, and Liheng Trade that they had taken away? Thinking back to how they used all sorts of tactics to take these enterprises away, why are they now so friendly and willing to return them to the group? What reason do they have to belittle themselves and flatter his management abilities as far surpassing their own? What reason is there to believe that through equity exchange, allowing the group to obtain part of the shares of these enterprises will bring them greater benefits and more development for these enterprises?

  Ye Ziheng, the eldest son-in-law of Qian Lao, once resorted to underhanded tactics against his competitors, his own brother-in-law, and Qian Lao's eldest son, Qian Tonghua, in order to gain control of the group. After being stripped of his inheritance rights by Qian Lao, he colluded with Mo Guishan and others to take advantage of the group's difficulties and divide its assets. Later, he attempted to form an alliance with Qian Lao's family members and old employees to force him to relinquish control of the business, but after his plot was foiled, he became enraged and ordered his wife, Qian Suxue, to leave the group. He also instigated Qian Suxue and Qian Lao's two daughters-in-law to quarrel with Qian Yu Hui. This person is essentially a character similar to Liao Ye, except that Liao Ye was just an ordinary citizen without power or influence, while he is a so-called member of the upper class with his own business network and social connections.

  Mo Guishan and He Yongji, these two high-society individuals who had once supported and helped Qian Lao, believed that they had a sincere relationship with him in the past. However, due to differences in management methods and conflicts over profit distribution, cracks inevitably appeared. When they learned that the group was facing a formidable external threat, not only did they fail to lend a helping hand, but they also took advantage of the situation to plunder. Later, when they were attacked by Jiao Rongsen, they shamelessly sought help from Qian Lao, who put aside past grievances and helped them in order to achieve his goal of neutralizing Jiao Rongsen. However, when Qian Lao himself faced temporary difficulties with the group, they did not offer any kind words or helpful actions. Now that the group is thriving again, they are flattering themselves!

  These people are all respectable, high-ranking and wealthy individuals in the eyes of ordinary people. However, in their own eyes, there is only profit and nothing else. All their words and actions can only be hypocritical, absolutely not sincere. It's ridiculous that they still want to tell others that when they left the group, they were following Mr. Qian's instructions to disperse and protect themselves. Now that it's time to return those enterprises to the group, they must know that they have a desire to recover what they lost, which is a necessary weakness in their development plan for the group. They are grasping this point to improve their negotiating conditions in the future! It's really despicable!

  These people seem smart but are actually foolish. Is it necessary for a company to be so stingy with its employees? They hold all the power in their hands, afraid that employees will betray them. They have a narrow vision for the development of the company, only caring about profits and not about doing good for others. They don't understand that the essence of managing a company is managing people. If they could choose the right talent like themselves, build a suitable organizational structure, and then delegate power fully, using the constraints between people to achieve a balance of control, why worry that the company won't develop? Why bother playing these unscrupulous tricks on themselves?

  Wait, they may also be afraid of their own aggression, so they took the initiative to show goodwill. It seems that they already know that they will eventually have to launch a takeover plan against them. Who leaked this news again? I only mentioned it lightly in the board of directors and those four vice presidents. Maybe it was one of them who leaked the secret. Never mind, let it leak.

  The leopard cat ran over with a hum, this wild dog has been crazy all day since it lifted its own action ban, and its popularity in the group is no less than its own. Looking at its desperate scratching of its neck, I know it must have fleas on its body. It needs to be given insecticide another day, otherwise it will make itself laughable if it also gets fleas on its body.

  After getting to know so many high-ranking officials, business tycoons and upper-class individuals, the only impression left on me is that their words, actions, thoughts are basically all fragmented, without any necessary causal connection. What's truly in their hearts is deeply hidden, and the thoughts in their minds are complex and multifaceted. Their words and actions are all centered around their goals, and these goals are rooted in interests - both long-term and short-term, with countless types of benefits. The hypocrisy of their words and deeds really makes me tired. But there's no way out, for the sake of the group I have to keep pretending. However, it never occurred to me that I could actually navigate among them with ease, I suppose I must be the same kind of person as them, otherwise how could I possibly get along with them so harmoniously? They are also analyzing me in our interactions and socializing, concluding that I am one of their own kind, which is why they show me friendly affection on the surface.

  Yes, it must be that way. Just like them, I think, act and speak in a detached manner, wearing a mask of respect on my face, with a hypocritical smile, saying words that are easy to misinterpret as sincere and joyful. Unfortunately, if someone believes me or is moved by me, then that person is definitely a fool who will only earn my contempt.

  Profit decides everything, and all social interactions are just a means for profit to occur. Every person standing there, walking there, active there is just an embodiment of the representative of interest. You come and go, whispering in private conversations, exchanging heads, stealing dogs, thieves, Zhang Ya Wu Quan, brocade career, thick appearance, deep feelings, extreme beauty, empty hands, all colors are complete. What's the point of being a clear dust, muddy water, light, upright, hidden evil, and good? In fact, when it comes down to it, each one is a glutinous rice cake with a knife in their smile, a person with a heart full of desire, a comfortable and secure person. In places where the atmosphere is similar, they gather together, and this way of gathering together is called "socializing" by the upper class society that people admire.

  Long Bao, who hadn't slept for a night, somehow didn't have his usual vigor today and was instead somewhat tired. At 11 am, he sat on the sofa and dozed off while listening to his subordinates' reports. The two subordinates were at a loss, thinking that Long Bao disliked them, and they sat there not daring to make a sound, unsure whether to stay or leave.

  Just then, Jiao Siyu arrived and beckoned them to come out. She whispered to them, "Chairman Long has been working hard lately, I'm sure he was up all night again. You go wait in the reception room, and you can continue your report after he wakes up." She herself slipped quietly inside, sat on the sofa looking at Long Bao who was sleeping with his head tilted back. After more than ten minutes, she went out to ask Lin Yang to bring a thin blanket, then she carefully covered it over him.

  It was already December 2005, and Guangdong had also entered winter. Outside the window, layers of clouds were piled up, hazy and dim. The scenery in front of me was not as clear and bright as it would be on a sunny day. The distant and gloomy mist made everything vague and remote, and this vagueness always made people lose patience to gaze out at the world afar.

  Long Bao is dreaming, in his dream he is holding a shotgun and accompanied by a leopard, searching for pheasants and partridges in the bushes of Bear Mountain. He holds the shotgun at an angle, loaded with good gunpowder and iron pellets, with the trigger cocked and ready to fire at any moment. The leopard is about ten or so steps ahead, sniffing out the scent of flying birds in the bushes. The leopard can always quickly find where they are hiding, and will use its tail to signal that the prey is right in front, and all Long Bao has to do is wait for the leopard to swiftly run over and scare them into flight, then immediately, just like in an Olympic skeet shooting competition, follow the trajectory of the flying birds, aim ahead by about one body length, and pull the trigger!

  Bang!

  The bird would fly at an odd angle for a distance before falling, and then the leopard would immediately pounce on it and bring it back. The leopard used to like to bite its prey to death before bringing it back, but it had a bit of a strange temper. If the prey dared to resist, it would definitely tear it apart. I remember one time when a wild chicken pecked at its nose, it bit the chicken's head off, broke its wings, and tore the whole chicken apart, so that it couldn't be sold for money, and we had to eat it with Grandpa Qi. After that, I scolded it and demonstrated how to catch injured wild chickens and rabbits. It improved a bit, but still liked to play with its prey, like the time it caught a rabbit in the snow. It played with the rabbit for a while before letting it go, then chased after it when it ran away, using its paws to play with it. The rabbit was clever and pretended to be dead, so the leopard wouldn't fall for it. I got annoyed and broke the rabbit's two front legs, so it couldn't run away anymore, and we could safely put it in the bamboo basket on my waist and continue searching for the next target.

  The leopard started wagging its tail, there was prey in front, hurry up and be quiet to get ready. The leopard turned its head and looked at itself for a moment, it let out a soft hiss, the leopard received the command and immediately launched a lightning-fast attack!

  Boom!

  Wow, there are actually five or six of them flying up! What kind of birds are these? They're so beautiful, each one has such lovely plumage, their flight posture is so elegant, even their cries are crisp and moving. I'm sure their meat must be incredibly tender! Who cares! Let's take them down first and then sort them out later! After bringing them down, we can carefully distinguish between them. The appearance of these birds has never been seen in Bear Mountain before, they must be taken down.

  The trigger was pulled, a loud bang, the muzzle burst out of invisible flames and smoke, countless iron balls shot towards these beautiful birds!

  Wow! Wow! I didn't expect this shot would bring down all these birds! This is truly a miracle!

  Delighted, he rushed forward to take a look, but unexpectedly the leopard, who had been through many battles, did not use its paws to press down on those birds as before, so that it could pick them up one by one into the bamboo basket. Instead, it kept making mournful cries in its mouth, and with fear, anxiety, and pain, it circled around these birds in a daze. What's going on?

  What a useless stupid dog! If it weren't for the wild chickens, ducks and pheasants, you wouldn't dare to bite or grab them? With a snarl, he bent down and prepared to break the wings of these birds that were still flapping on the ground so they couldn't fly away, then put them in the bamboo basket.

  Good heavens! What kind of strange bird is this? Why do they have human heads instead of bird heads? Yes, human heads, and they're all women's heads! Even the hair is women's hair! They have women's eyes, women's noses, women's eyebrows, and women's lips! Let me take a closer look!

  Is this not Jing Er, not Qiu Ya, not Wen Li, not Xue Bingying, not Jiao Siwei, not...?

  They were all crying, no, that's wrong, it was these birds with faces like theirs who were crying, no, not them either, just the birds were crying, or were they people? No, no, nothing at all, I hadn't even fired my gun at them earlier, they had fallen down on their own, it had nothing to do with me, no, I had definitely fired my gun, it was me who shot them, it was me who brought them down!

  Good heavens, did I really bring them down from the sky? Won't they be unable to freely and leisurely graze among the wildflowers and grasses, and beautifully fly between the blue sky and white clouds from now on?

  What's the point of this? Such beautiful birds, such beautiful birds with faces like those of women I know, hurt by my own merciless gun. Why did I bring them down? Why did I bring them down just to eat their flesh? Wouldn't it be better to let them live freely and for me to stand on Bear Mountain watching them live freely?

  Suddenly, the sky collapsed and the earth shook violently! The Bear Mountain collapsed with a loud noise in the violent shaking of the earth, the whole mountain covered the sky and sun, just like the dark clouds that filled the sky rapidly and irresistibly pressed towards oneself! Tens of billions of tons of mountain body suddenly pressed itself under, itself was like Sun Wukong being pressed down by the Five Fingers Mountain of the Buddha, unable to move or breathe again!

  Come on! Use all your strength to push this mountain away! You mustn't let it crush you!

  Leopard, you lazy dog! Why are you biting my foot instead of helping me? Get out of here!

  Long Wan's emotions couldn't help but make her stomp her foot!

  Jiao Siwei covered Long Bao's body with a blanket and then stood there with his head bowed, staring at him blankly.

  Watching him change his facial expressions from suspicion to joy, surprise, horror, gritting his teeth and unrelenting anger, the expression was so rich that she looked at it as if she were drunk. When she saw Long Bao waving his hands and kicking his feet in his sleep, she was certain that he must be having a nightmare. He slept like a child, who would have thought that this sleeping child who had nightmares and made expressions was the cunning and intelligent Long Bao who commanded hundreds of billions of funds and assets?

  Long Bao suddenly woke up with a start, opened his eyes, and only then realized that it was all just a dream. In fact, the heavy bear mountain on him didn't exist at all, but rather a quilt. Those birds with women's faces that he had hurt were also just an illusion. What reflected in his eyes was actually Jiao Siwei, the beautiful and charming daughter of Deputy Chairman and Vice President Jiao Sen of the group that had been supporting his work for years.

  Jiao Siyu saw Long Bao wake up and stared at her face with a dazed expression. She hastily stood up, holding her hair with her hand, then turned around and sat back on the sofa, saying in an unnatural tone: "Chairman Long, you're awake? When I came earlier, I saw that you were sleeping, so I had *** and *** go to the reception room. Have you rested well? Or should I call them over?"

  Long Bao rubbed his eyes with both hands, took a deep breath and said: "Wait a minute, Vice Chairman Jiao. Let me discuss something with you about Ye Ziheng, the chairman of the board, Mo's enterprise and He's enterprise. They have conveyed this meaning to us several times through others. We can't not show any attitude. What do you think?"

  Long Bao decided to make contact with them, and in the following days, he and they conducted a series of negotiations, exchanging part of the shares of their respective companies under the banner of Long Bao's enterprise. Both parties finally achieved their desired goals. Long Bao knew that he didn't have the energy or need to get too deeply involved with them; he just let the group acquire 25% of the shares of those enterprises. He felt that this was also a fulfillment of Qian Lao's unspoken wish. As for Mo Gui Shan and others, they allowed their assets to undergo restructuring with Li Heng Group, which had risen to fame, making outsiders believe that they would receive full support from Li Heng Investment Fund, causing the stock price to rise immediately. They also made peace with Li Heng Group, eliminating the threat that was gradually approaching.

  The person who paid the most attention to this matter was Qian Yu Hui. She and Mo Gui Shan had a kind of worldly relationship, using her special identity to mediate between Long Bao and those people. Her efforts also made Long Bao think that Qian Yu Hui was really doing things around the future development of the group, and Qian Yu Hui's husband Ma Jian Qing's work performance at the Hong Kong headquarters was also very good. The couple did not show any signs of intentionally pulling in subordinates to form a faction.

  After the negotiation, Jiao Siwei invited Long Bao to attend a luxurious wedding in Taiwan. She took Long Bao to see the host's house, where there was a room filled with gold products, including furniture covered in gold leaf, and even an 18K gold toilet. The room was called "Golden House". Jiao Siwei told Long Bao that the host's assets were only around NT$40 billion (approximately HK$10 billion), which was only a fraction of Long Bao's net worth. However, his life was much more comfortable than Long Bao's, even surpassing that of ancient emperors. It was said that when he took a bath in the golden bathtub, two beautiful women wearing only transparent clothing would attend to him, satisfying his every need at any time and place.

  Long Bao looked, listened and nodded along with Jiao Si's explanation. His eyes didn't show any envy or disdain, he simply followed Jiao Si's pointing finger to take a glance at these items emitting strange light. He didn't even use his hands to touch them. After leaving, he went with Li Da Shan and Meng Yuan to eat a bowl of beef noodles at a street stall, and drank two cups of beer.

  Louise was completely disappointed and suggested that Jiao Siwei give up the temptation of Long Bao from now on and directly take revenge. Jiao Siwei was also confused, suspecting that Long Bao was a monk who had cultivated to the realm of no desires or pursuits, so they asked Gu De about it.

  Goodrich didn't respond immediately online, but an hour later he sent them a message: "It's the foundation of human existence, the basis and source of life. Possessing more material things to get more spiritual enjoyment is human nature. Human senses are born to yearn for more comfortable stimuli. It's hard for anyone who hasn't experienced mental cleansing to transcend the ordinary. This person occupies so much material wealth but doesn't use it for bright charity, and yet he forces himself to restrain his pursuit of pleasure. In fact, he has already reached the edge of ideological collapse, and his downfall will be more terrifying than others. Don't forget his devilish revenge tactics, and don't doubt the justice you've done. Remember one thing - "It was originally just a boiling point".

  Suddenly, she remembered that the two men who had stolen and excavated Longbiao's ancestral tomb, Wu Xizhong, had mysteriously died in prison. She clearly recalled that at the time, Longbiao had said "Deserves to die!" Those two words, and just a few days ago, Longbiao had jokingly told her that Hu, the deputy secretary, was a corrupt official who didn't deserve to be an official in Mountain City. There was no doubt that Hu was someone Longbiao had used his influence to remove from office. In recent days, she had heard some secret rumors that Longbiao, in order to take revenge on Zheng Xue, who had forced him into exile, had even used Qian Lao to send Zheng's father and uncle, both high-ranking officials, to prison, where they later mysteriously took their own lives. Now, thinking back, not only was Wu Xizhong someone Longbiao had ordered others to kill, but it was also possible that Liao Ye had been killed by Longbiao as well. This person's heart was extremely ruthless and cruel, just like what Gede and the others said - a twisted personality, an abnormal demon, this demon had killed his own most beloved father.

  December 2005 was indeed a strange day.

  The road built for the convenience of loading and unloading vehicles transporting sand and gravel for the construction of the reservoir on Xiongshan Mountain has been completed with nearly four-fifths of the earthwork. Along the way, heavy rollers are repeatedly rolling the road surface, and workers are also neatly paving anti-skid gravel on the road surface. The highway from Tianlei Township to Jiangping Town is also busy widening and repairing the road surface, and after completion, a thick layer of asphalt will be paved on it.

  Gao Zhongyong is now at the Xiongshan Reservoir construction site supervising several contractors and a group of migrant workers who are blasting rocks to quarry stones for road construction.

  A contractor, Liu Erxi, eagerly handed a cigarette to Gao Zhongyong, who lit it with a lighter and cupped his hands around the flame to protect it from the strong wind. As he smoked, Gao glanced at Liu, whose eyes sparkled with flattery and sycophancy. Liu's son had been classmates with Long, the chairman, and was now serving in the army. He was the richest boss in Tianlei Township and owned a construction company in Mountain City, which had undertaken many road construction projects and held building qualifications. Two of his relatives were also leaders of the county bureau in Mountain City. Considering his special background and potential to facilitate their work, Gao and the command center decided to award some engineering contracts to him after conducting research.

  Liu Erxi didn't know what Gao Zhiyong was thinking in his heart at this moment, and he also handed a Fu Rong Wang to several contractors standing beside him. One of them spoke to Gao Zhiyong in Mandarin with a strong mountain accent: "Director Gao, don't worry, at this rate, the road will be fixed in ten days, we absolutely won't delay your plan, you see how hard they're working?"

  Gao Zhiyong knew that this person was the village branch secretary of Guzhai Village, Tianlei Township. His elder brother was the deputy secretary of the party committee of Tianlei Township. The deputy secretary had a joint venture with a construction boss in Jiangping Town and subcontracted some earthwork projects. He arranged for him to recruit migrant workers to work on the project. Long Bao had a special requirement for the contractors, that is, to try to recruit local villagers from several townships as much as possible.

  Liu Erxi saw Gao Zhiyong nodding, and was afraid that the good words would be said by others, so he hurriedly spoke in a more pleasant tone: "Director Gao, Chairman Long is considering the villagers' livelihoods and can increase their income through labor. We, as contractors, will naturally follow Chairman Long's requirements. Look, these people, except for the blasters and a few technical personnel, are almost all farmers from this area. Hehe, not a single fake one."

  Gao Zhīyǒng kicked his foot on the gravel, looked at the scenery halfway up the mountain, and said with a deep breath: "I can tell you that Chairman Long is not bad to you. He has said that he will never delay any engineering payments, but he has also strictly ordered that no contractor be allowed to delay or deduct migrant workers' wages. He has prepared protective labor insurance products for migrant workers, set the minimum wage standard, and promised that if an accident occurs, he will take responsibility to the end. He considers the villagers who work so thoroughly, do you know why? It's because this is a charitable cause to benefit the villagers. Since it's charity, it's to help fellow villagers, so you're absolutely not allowed to make black money from migrant workers! You are contractors, foremen, and he won't let you earn less than a cent, but if he finds out that you dare to violate his requirements, then you can forget about getting projects!"

  In the eyes of the villagers, among these people who have a little money, Longbiao's generosity is unimaginable. Moreover, Longbiao is one of those bosses that these contractors rarely see in a hundred years, who guarantees not to delay payment for the project. You know they usually have to work hard and use every means possible to get a small engineering project, and also have to please those people in countless ways, especially when contracting with government departments, they even have to give money and gifts just to get the project funds back. Where would they ever meet such a big boss who doesn't ask for kickbacks but only asks them to work hard?

  Liu Erxi heard Gao Zhongyong say this, and he quickly waved his hands repeatedly and guaranteed: "Director Gao, Director Gao, please rest assured, we will pay the wages to these workers as soon as we receive the money from you. We dare not hold it overnight! Just look at how hard they work, they regard Chairman Long as a Bodhisattva who saves them from suffering, and as the mountain god of Xiongshan. They are working hard to make a good living for themselves, and they are doing their best for the sake of Xiongshan's god. According to Chairman Long's requirements, all these workers must know that if we dare to violate the requirements of their god in their eyes, they will not spare us!"

  "That's right, that's right," several others chimed in, nodding their heads repeatedly to emphasize the certainty of this statement.

  "It's okay if you know," Gao Zhiyong smiled, "Although I'm a foreigner, I have ears to listen, eyes to see, and a mouth to ask, right?"

  Gao Zhīyǒng looked at the package heads with their extremely respectful and flattering expressions, and couldn't help but think of what his lover Duàn Línglíng said last night: "Zhīyǒng, although the villagers indeed regard Dragon Chairman Lóng Bǎo as a god, the package heads have made you their god too! You're the god of wealth. That Dragon Chairman is too far away and doesn't have time or energy to manage these tens of millions of projects; his heart is in those billions of enterprises. So, you are the god of wealth who directly interacts with them. It's strange if they don't try to curry favor with you!"

  Yes, Lingling is always so clever and charming, speaking with a gentle tone that is full of feminine warmth. I remember when I first arrived at Tianlei Village after being appointed by Longbiao, it was she, the director of the village office, who received me. As soon as I saw the beautiful Lingling, I fell in love with her at first sight. It's no wonder, I'm 43 years old and have been divorced from my wife for three years due to our incompatible personalities. Two years after the divorce, in order not to let my son be affected by the shadow of his parents' divorce, and also to give him the best education, I spent all my savings to send him to study in France. This made me even more lonely. By rights, I should find a suitable woman to rebuild my family, but I just haven't met the right one yet.

  Lingling was 24 years old at the time, two years after graduating from university. Her father, who was the former party secretary of Tianlei Township and now the vice chairman of the Shan City People's Congress, arranged for her to work in Tianlei Township. Tianlei Township was poor and miserable, but her father insisted that she go there to temper herself. Usually, she saw some township cadres and villagers who had no quality at all, so when they saw this university professor come, they also had a good impression of themselves. As soon as she met him, she said that she knew him since he was very young in Longbiao, and even bought wild rabbits and fish from him. The two immediately had something to talk about, and facing such an intelligent and lovely girl, he also moved his heart at once.

  It's all thanks to Liu Erxi that this happened. Liu Erxi knew he had a thing for the beautiful Deputy Director of Tianlei Township, Duan Lingling, so he went out of his way to create opportunities for them to be together. Lingling didn't mind that he was older and had been married before with kids, and agreed to date him. When Longbiao found out, he even told Liu Erxi that he still remembered Duan Lingling and congratulated him. Originally, Lingling's father was strongly opposed to their relationship, but Lingling's love moved him to tears, and four months ago she got pregnant with his child. Seeing that things had already progressed so far, her father could only agree, and now Liu Erxi and Lingling have been officially married for three months. The baby in Lingling's belly is growing bigger every day, and just yesterday it was kicking her!

  As soon as Gao Zhongyong thought that he was going to have another child, his heart became particularly excited. He didn't know whether Lingling would give birth to a boy or a girl in the future. If it was a girl, then he would have a son and a daughter, and he hoped that Lingling would give birth to a daughter who would grow up to be as beautiful and intelligent as her mother. If it was a boy, then he would have two sons, but this child must not be like his older brother. Don't even mention the 17-year-old son from his previous marriage who was studying in France - just thinking about him made Gao Zhongyong feel annoyed. This child was just like his mother, indulging in vanity and extravagance, and didn't study hard at all while he was in school in France. He spent money like water, and if it weren't for the high salary from Longbiao's job, it would be impossible to afford this guy's expenses abroad with just the little income from his university job and part-time work.

  Whenever I think of money, I recall those contractors who would offer tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan in bribes to secure these projects. It's hard not to be tempted by the thick stacks of cash, but after careful consideration, I know that this is absolutely not something I can accept. I remember last year, in the first half of 2004, a serious accident occurred at the employee recreational center building under construction by Liheng Group, resulting in seven injuries and one death. Longbiao investigated and found that the project manager had accepted bribes from contractors, and as a result, he was sent to prison. Everyone in the group knows that Longbiao offers high salaries, but you absolutely cannot accept bribes or do anything that would harm the group's interests.

  This student of mine, Long Bo, has turned out to be far more accomplished than I, his teacher. I recall being impressed by him when I taught at Changhan University; he was unassuming and intelligent, with excellent grades in his major courses. When he came to me for guidance on difficult points in his studies, I made a point of helping him thoroughly. I never imagined that years later, this unassuming and intelligent Long Bo would become the chairman of a large conglomerate, daring yet kind-hearted. I had thought I would spend my life teaching hydraulic engineering at school and helping local governments with water conservancy construction projects. But then Long Bo invited me to join him, offering me a monthly salary of 25,000 yuan, a dedicated car, and full responsibility for his charitable endeavors in his hometown. He gave me the authority to set up a command center team, dispatching only an accountant and a cashier to manage construction funds, as well as an employee from Guangdong who would oversee certain supervisory functions.

  He paid himself such a high salary, and also said that after the construction was completed, he would give himself a bonus of 500,000 yuan. Of course, this is all later on, but being able to do something meaningful in his lifetime is not a waste of life. In Tianlei Township, there are too many legends about his family and his childhood, it's really funny, and he even collected couplets he wrote when he was a child.

  So those contractors who offer bribes to themselves in order to undertake engineering projects are absolutely unacceptable. What they need to do is everything for the smooth completion of project construction, with qualified construction qualifications as required by contractors, and fully consider various relationships, openly tendering and contracting out engineering.

  Alas, those people are so greedy and opportunistic, only caring about making money. They think of every way to benefit from this multi-million dollar charity project. Although it's a self-initiated charity construction by Long Bao, not requiring government funding, and genuinely aiming to bring welfare to the villagers, getting approval from higher authorities, persuading villagers to sell their land at reasonable prices due to highway expansion and reservoir construction, which will inevitably flood some farmland, and coordinating with local governments, village committees, and various departments has been exhausting for over a year. Fortunately, Ke Pa's Lingling has been accompanying and comforting me, taking care of my physical and mental well-being. Long Bao also understands my difficulties and raised my salary to 30,000.

  There is a saying that all crows under the sky are black, and the relationship between officials and businessmen in Mountain City is intricate. Sometimes it's infuriating to think about it. Some local leaders repeatedly recommended contractors with certain connections to him, implying that this project wasn't his, but if he took care of their faces, they wouldn't let him down. He had reviewed several contractors they recommended and was not satisfied. However, Long Bao was indeed clever and reminded himself beforehand to publicly bid for the project while taking care of important relationships, strictly supervising the construction progress. After successfully renovating the Tianlei Township Market and Primary School, he also successfully handled the relocation and land acquisition compensation for the migrants, and simultaneously carried out the preliminary work of building a water tower, highway construction, and reservoir construction. Additionally, he organized farmers to join the High-tech Agricultural Development Cooperative.

  The contractor's money can't be taken, no matter what. They always want to invite you to play cards and then use losing money to themselves as a way of bribery. I won't fall for it.

  Lingling is not only a clever woman but also not greedy. She told herself that as long as he treats her well, she's willing to eat even bran. Lingling, my dear, Lingling...

  While Gao Zhongyong was walking on the road and daydreaming, a shrill whistle came from the front where the mountain was being blasted, indicating that the explosives had been placed in the rocks and everyone should immediately evacuate outside the safety warning line. Gao Zhongyong looked up and saw that the working migrant workers were also leaving, the warning whistle and loudspeaker continued to shout "blast, blast, hurry up and leave" for several minutes, and the flag on the mountain top was waving left and right, indicating that it could be detonated normally.

  The explosives used to blast rocks are all civilian explosives, and the blasting is done with electric detonators. First, a wind drill is used to drill holes in the rock, then the explosives are placed in the hole, and the detonator is inserted into the explosives. The small wires are connected to each explosion point, and then pulled back to a safe distance. Once it's confirmed that there are no people or livestock remaining, the power can be turned on. As soon as the electric current passes through the detonator, it will immediately ignite the explosives. The sound is earth-shaking, and the rocks blasted into the air can fly tens of meters away. Large stones can be lifted high into the air, and small stones are like high-speed bullets or shrapnel from a hand grenade explosion. If they hit someone, they may cause injury and bleeding, or even death. Although the method of igniting ordinary detonators and explosives with a fuse string can result in many misfires, this electric detonator ignition method also has misfires, but it is much safer and the accident rate is greatly reduced. Even so, Longbiao repeatedly warned Gao Zhiyong that he hoped there would be no work-related injuries throughout the entire construction project.

  Boom! Almost simultaneously, several loud explosions sent rock fragments flying into the air, and then fell down again, filling the air with dust produced by the explosion.

  Gao Zhiyong took the walkie-talkie from the foreman and asked the blasters to confirm that there were no duds before issuing a permit for entry. A few minutes later, the two blasters reported back that it was just a broken wire and there were two duds. Gao Zhiyong immediately ordered that no one be allowed to enter the explosion danger zone. Liu Erxi and several other foremen exchanged a glance, somewhat amused. This General Manager Gao always did things so responsibly. What's the big deal about a few duds? If you cut off the power source and remove the electric detonator, there's nothing to worry about. Without the detonator, these civilian explosives won't explode on their own, even if you hit them with a hammer they won't go off.

  This is winter, and it should be the season of flying snow and frost. However, due to the increasingly severe warm winter phenomenon, Xiongshan has become less and less likely to see the sky filled with fluttering snowflakes. According to reason, the dark blue-gray clouds hanging in the air above Xiongshan should have scattered pure white crystal snowflakes all over Xiongshan. But who would have thought that just as the pyrotechnician was preparing to reconnect the electrical wires to eliminate the dud firework, a strange gust of wind suddenly rolled up from the ground and howled down from the top of Xiongshan, blowing people almost unable to stand!

  As the wind rose, the entire Tianlei Township was immediately plunged into a strange world. Woooo! Hoooo! Sharp and yet coarse, crazy and yet piercing, like the howling of hellish demons, and also like the roar of enraged mountain gods, the fierce and powerful wind seemed to be foretelling the arrival of a terrifying disaster that would destroy everything in the heavens and on earth. Immediately following this, houses had their tiles blown off, trees were snapped in two, and those two firework launchers were even blown over by this strange gust of wind, rolling around on the ground several times. What was even more frightening was that the sky rapidly darkened, turning into night, and the entire Tianlei Township and Mount Xiong were shrouded in a terrifying darkness. The mournful and strange winds swept through everything above the ground with an indescribable momentum, even uprooting trees as thick as waists or snapping them in two, and heartlessly sweeping away all light objects on the ground into the air. The heavens and earth were dull and without light, as if the sky had collapsed, and it seemed like this was the scene of the end of the world!

  Right after that, pea-sized raindrops mixed with hailstones came pouring down on Tianlei Township and Xiongshan Mountain, pounding loudly, the sound echoing through the air. Immediately following were flashes of lightning illuminating the sky and thunderclaps shaking the earth, one after another. All living creatures, filled with fear, were so frightened that their souls were about to leave their bodies, trembling with fear. The only thing they could do was to cover their heads with both hands, curl up their bodies, and quickly find a safe place to protect themselves from harm amidst the cries and curses.

  It laughed maniacally, beating its war drums, spewing its saliva, and radiating its cold glow. At this moment, the only thing in the world that was wildly bellowing with rage was it! Everything else was nothing but an object for its magical hand to trample at will, and no living creature dared not to surrender to it!

  Boom!

  A bolt of lightning that pierced through the sky and broke through all darkness, its trajectory clearly visible, like a winding golden dragon, one head was stuck in the position where the dumb cannon was found. This strong and unmatched current immediately detonated the electric blasting cap that had not been taken out yet, and the blasting cap immediately detonated the explosive, and the firelight emitted by the explosion could be seen clearly in the darkness!

  It's terrible! An accident has happened!

  Gao Zhiyong's first thought was that the silent firework had been struck by lightning and an accident must have occurred! Those two pyrotechnicians were still in that dangerous area!

  Something has indeed happened, and it's big.

  Half an hour later, all the strange phenomena and evil spirits disappeared, and the sky suddenly cleared. However, after clearing up, Tianlei Township was in a mess, with almost 90% of the tiles on the houses blown away, many earth-shed cowsheds and pigpens were blown down, power poles were knocked down, wires were broken, countless trees were snapped, and many satellite dishes installed on rooftops were blown away dozens of meters. Tianlei Township suffered severe property losses and a complete blackout.

  Two blasters were injured, one with a fractured arm and the other hit by flying rocks from the explosion, which cracked his skull. After calming down, Gao Zhongyue immediately ordered the blasting site to be sealed off and arranged for the injured blasters to be sent to Tianlei Township Hospital. He then announced that work would be suspended for the day, and the workers were allowed to return home to check on their families' financial losses.

  Liu Erxi and the others didn't dare to say that Gao Zhiyong was overreacting about the dumb cannon explosion, but instead followed behind him as he insisted on going to personally inspect the scene of the explosion. They explained in a flattering tone: "Director Gao, Director Gao, this place has never had such a strange occurrence before. What do you think is going on?" "Ah, Director Gao, could it be that our village's name 'Tianlei Village' is not auspicious? It was fine and then suddenly the sky darkened, and there was such a strong gust of wind, and even a lightning strike ignited the dumb cannon! This is truly something we've never heard of before!"

  Gao Zhìyǒng's mood didn't lift, and he thought to himself that this matter needed to be reported to Long Bīn. He casually replied: "What do you mean by 'not good'? Isn't your Tian Lei Village just called Tian Lei Village? It's only called Tian Lei Village because there is thunder!"

  One sentence reminded Liu Erxi of the legend about the origin of Tianlei Township's name, and he suddenly spoke with a trembling voice: "Yes... our Tianlei Township is called Tianlei Township... I heard from the old folks that it was because two hundred years ago, on a rainy day, eighteen thunderbolts struck down a young man who was riding a horse and fleeing wildly, burning him to ashes. Have you guys ever heard of this?"

  The village branch secretary of that ancient stockade village immediately responded: "I've heard, I've heard, I've heard that this person is the ancestor of Chairman Long. That's why we call it Tianleiwa here, and during the Republic of China era, it was called Tianlei Township."

  Tianlei Village? --- Longbiao ancestors? --- Longbiao? --- Longbiao reservoir repair? --- Mute cannon? --- Strange wind? --- Thunder? --- Mute cannon explosion? --- Injured? --- Curse? Gao Zhīyǒng had heard many people mention the legend of the Dragon family's curse during his stay in Tianlei Village, but now no one took it seriously. However, as he connected these pieces of information, his body hair stood on end, and he couldn't help but shiver, despite wearing thick clothes that still left him with goosebumps. As a science enthusiast, he would be the laughing stock of university professors if he were to doubt because of such baseless superstitions.

  Gao Zhongyong is an engineering expert who has participated in many water conservancy projects and witnessed numerous blasting scenes. He knows that as long as there are no objects colliding with the electric detonator and exceeding its pressure limit, and as long as there is no current passing through the detonator, it will not self-ignite the explosives. He carefully observes the ground to avoid stepping on unexploded buried explosive detonators. He remembers hearing only one explosion earlier, which means that two more unexploded bombs may still exist. This must be ruled out immediately, first by removing the electric detonator from the explosives to prevent accidents.

  Liu Erxi didn't think the mute cannon was a big deal, thinking that back in the day when he inserted a detonator into explosives and then tied a fuse shorter than half an inch to the detonator and then bound stones to it and lit the fuse before throwing it into the Zijiang River to catch fish, he wasn't afraid of such things. How could he be afraid of just one mute cannon? Even if thunder struck from the sky, he wouldn't be afraid! The fortune tellers all said that he would have a family property worth tens of millions in the future, now it seems that in order to have tens of millions in family property, he must curry favor with Gao Zong, this big tree. Because behind Gao Zong is Long Bao, that billionaire! He followed closely in order to fully show his friendship with Gao Zhongyong and to prove his own bravery. The other several foremen also wanted to follow but were still afraid of the terror from earlier, so they stood five or six zhang away with a few onlooker workers to observe.

  The migrant worker pointed out the location of the shells from a distance, and Gao Zhongyong indeed found one under their guidance. He carefully removed the detonator from the explosive, placed a small red flag on a stone as a warning sign, and began to look for another shell.

  Liu Erxi was also searching carefully, he really wanted to find another dumb cannon and solve it well so that Gao Zong would be moved and feel his risk and difficulties. He walked to the explosion site, bent down and searched, suddenly he found something strange in the broken rocks.

  He couldn't help but reach out and touch the strange, bright color, muttering to himself: "What is this thing? There's actually a stone like this? It's quite nice-looking."

  Gao Zhīyǒng had been in Shānchéng Tiānléi Xiāng for over a year and could roughly understand the local dialect. He thought Liù èr Xǐ had found the dumb cannon, so he carefully walked over to ask: "Have you found it? Where is it?"

  Liu Erxi hastily revealed a smile, explaining: "Oh, General Gao, no, not yet. I was looking at this stone, it's strange, I've never seen it before. You take a look." He pointed to the bright spots on the grayish-colored stone that had been blasted open!

  Familiar with geological geophysics and able to accurately identify various minerals, this is the most basic requirement for a water conservancy engineering expert. Gao Zhongyong was in a hurry to find the dumb cannon and did not notice that the rock had already burst, thinking it was just ordinary granite or limestone mica, etc. When he walked closer and followed Liu Erxi's finger to look, he immediately took a fright: My goodness, what an extraordinary stone! The outer layer is thickly wrapped with quartz-containing granite and limestone, and when the surrounding gravel is pried open, a gray rock with extremely fine golden bright spots can be seen inside, which is a high-grade gold ore commonly known as "carbon lead"! Such high-grade ore appearing on the surface of the rock is absolutely not isolated!

  Good heavens! There's a gold mine vein in Bear Mountain! This mountain is so big, it's terrifyingly huge, and the quality of the gold is so rare. How much gold will there be down there? What kind of wealth are we talking about? Hundreds of taels? Thousands of taels? Tens of thousands of taels? Hundreds of thousands of taels? Even millions of taels?!

  This is not copper or iron! This is gold! This is gold that's worth hundreds of yuan per gram! One tael of gold is worth 5,000 yuan, ten taels is 50,000, a hundred taels is 500,000, a thousand taels is 5 million, ten thousand taels is 50 million, a hundred thousand taels is 500 million! What about one ton? How much is one ton? How much is one ton?

  Liu Erxi thought Gao Zhiyong was really funny, a big professor actually asking himself such a simple question. Although Liu Erxi had only read up to the first year of junior high school, he definitely understood this basic common sense. He looked at Gao Zhiyong's strange expression and quickly took out a Fu Rong Wang cigarette and handed it to him, and carefully lit the lighter for him to light it.

  Gao Zhiyong's hands trembled as he held the cigarette to the lighter flame, but his trembling fingers refused to obey him. After several attempts, he finally managed to light it and took a quick drag, only to be suddenly choked by the smoke that invaded his throat, causing him to cough violently. The construction workers in the distance saw this and anxiously asked, "Is everything okay, Director Gao?" as they prepared to come over and take a look.

  Gao Zhīyǒng waved his hands frantically at them, "You... you just stand there... just stand there, I'll talk to Er Xi about something!" After making sure they obeyed and didn't move, he then asked Liu Er Xi in a low voice, "Quickly, tell me quickly, how much is one ton? Quickly!"

  Liu Erxi saw those contractors looking at him with extreme jealousy, thinking that Gao Zong was going to talk to him privately, and he felt extremely pleased, thinking that his relationship with Gao Zong had taken another step forward. On the other hand, he also thought that he was much more dignified and respectable than the construction contractors in the nearby towns. He thought to himself: It seems that Gao Zong will definitely give him more engineering projects.

  He replied with extreme politeness: "Gao Zong, one ton is equal to one thousand kilograms, which is two thousand catties. If we calculate it as two, then it's twenty thousand catties. If we calculate it in grams... let me think for a moment... ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million... oh, it's one million grams! Hehe, Gao Zong, it's one million grams, I shouldn't have made any mistakes."

  Kao Chih-yung's voice returned to normal and he continued to ask: "What is one hundred times one million ten?"

  Liu Erxi was really puzzled in his heart: What's wrong with General Gao today? Why is he like his own math teacher, making him do these addition and subtraction calculations? Of course, he didn't dare to ask the questions in his heart to General Gao, he calculated in his heart and said on his mouth: "Ten times one million is ten million, one hundred times is one hundred million, no mistake, no mistake, General Gao, it's one hundred million, it's one hundred million."

  This mountain is so big, so strangely large, and yet such high-grade gold ore appears right on the surface of the rock, just a few meters into the body of the mountain. If this carbon vein runs all the way through, or if it's just one of the thousands of gold veins inside the mountain, how much will its reserves be? A few tons? Tens of tons? Hundreds of tons? Or thousands of tons? One ton is 100 million, ten tons is a billion, 100 tons is 10 billion, and 1,000 tons is 100 billion! 100 million makes you a billionaire, one billion makes you a decabillionaire, 10 billion makes you a centibillionaire, and 100 billion makes you a milliardaire!

  Trillionaire, trillionaire, trillionaire!

  Wait, wait, the more gold there is, the more it's buried underground. If you don't dig it up, it's not gold, but rather unknown wealth that will forever be pressed down by mountains and stones. Only when you dig it up can it become wealth that can be used in reality, only then can you become a billionaire!

  Wait, wait a minute, Liu Er Xi! Although Liu Er Xi may not recognize this as gold ore, he might tell others about the strange rock, and it will spread from ten to hundreds, thousands to tens of thousands, until someone with ulterior motives comes to investigate. Once they do, they'll discover the secret of the golden mountain, and that secret won't be mine alone anymore! Thousands and thousands of people knowing about it will only bring disaster to my dream of a golden mountain! Yes, yes, definitely, definitely!

  So, we must stabilize Liu Erxi! Right, the best way to stabilize Liu Erxi is to pull him in and make him have the same interests as himself. He will then go all out to keep secrets and exhaust his strength to dig for gold and refine gold!

  But how can such a large amount of gold be dug out? Liu Erxi, partner Liu Erxi has some background, yes, some background, can use his background relationship as a protective umbrella, right, protective umbrella, with the protective umbrella, you can smoothly and secretly dig up the gold!

  "Huh? Why do we have to find Liu Erxi as a partner? Isn't Long Bao a bigger umbrella of protection? No, he's just a boss who hired himself to work for him and then sought charitable fame! He's been working to death these days, but he's fine with just taking out a small amount of money to gain the highest reputation among the villagers. What is he? He's Long Bao, just one of his students, didn't even graduate from college, became a billionaire by luck, and only willing to spend tens of millions on hometown construction. The salary he gave himself was a meager 300,000! If he told him this secret again, with his ruthless and brutal personality, he would definitely use his influence and connections to buy the entire Xiongshan at a very low cost, and then swallow all the wealth by himself! At most, he would reward himself with tens of millions, even if it's hundreds of millions!"

  A few million? What's a few million? As long as we secretly mine along this carbon vein, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, and even billions are no problem! Why should I give him the glory for just a few million? Why not become a billionaire myself? Do I still need to work for that dragon and flatter him? Lingling is pregnant, my two children, must be raised to be superior to others, must let them live the best life, the life of a billionaire, make her feel that marrying me was her wisest choice, make that heartless ex-wife who divorced me to remarry a millionaire regret it!

  Secrets, Jinshan's secrets. Once this secret is leaked, the mountain will no longer be a gold mountain to itself!

  Gao Zhiyong became more and more calm, he had to make himself calmer, this secret must be kept, absolutely! He couldn't let anyone know that Xiongshan was actually Jinshan! If they found out, it would be over. He was very aware of the gold rush disasters in history.

  Slow down, the most crucial thing now is to stabilize Liu Erxi and absolutely prohibit anyone else from approaching this gold ore that has surfaced. Oh heavens, thank you for letting a dud appear here. If they had all exploded at once, the secret of the gold mine would no longer be a secret. This high-grade gold ore, even pigs would know there's gold here! I'm also extremely grateful for the sudden storm and lightning bolt that came from the sky, without which I wouldn't have been the first to discover the gold ore. This exploded dud is so peculiar, it just so happens to be the source of the carbon vein that extends above ground! That lightning bolt, isn't it like a golden dragon shining brightly? It's telling me that there's gold here, this is Gold Mountain, and there's boundless wealth here!

  Gao Zhīyǒng smiled and said to the still-standing foreman and workers: "You all go back first, I'll talk to Er Xi for a bit. Go back and ask someone to substitute for me to take a look at the injured worker. In two days, I will apply to Chairman Long to give everyone some low-temperature heating subsidies. Go, go!"

  When they heard that Gao Zhiyong was going to give his engineering team a low-temperature allowance, these people were overjoyed. Old Master Gao is really a good man, he's truly the god of wealth!

  Gao Zhīyǒng watched them walk a few steps before calling out to stop them, saying: "Wait a minute, you go back and tell them that there's a deafening cannon here, temporarily no one can approach. If a safety accident occurs, I won't be able to explain it to Chairman Long! The reservoir construction site will take a two-day break, and we'll wait until the blasting worker recovers before resuming work." These people hastily responded and left, still casting envious glances at Liu Erxi.

  Gao Zhīyǒng looked around cautiously, making sure there was no one within a 50-meter radius. Only then did he speak to Liu Erxi in his most serious tone: "Since you already know the secret, I'll tell you the truth. Chairman Long's orders for me to come to Tianlei Township to repair the reservoir and highway were just a cover-up. His real intention was for me to explore and find out the gold reserves beneath Xiongshan!"

  With a stern and majestic expression, he said in a sharp tone: "Do I look like someone who would cheat you?" Liu Erxi, after all, was an old mountain pig, and seeing the situation, he quickly regained his composure and nodded repeatedly, saying: "No, no, how could you possibly cheat me?"

  Gao Zhīyǒng pulled Liù èr Xǐ to the front of the rock, pointing at the faintly yellow shining dots on it and said: "This is the gold ore that Chairman Lóng instructed me to find. See? The yellow specks on this are high-quality gold particles."

  Liu Erxi's face suddenly showed an extremely greedy look, and he even prepared to reach out and scrape off those spots. Gao Zhiyong immediately grabbed his arm and whispered: "What are you doing? What if someone sees you?" Liu Erxi hesitated and stopped, his eyes fixed on the stone slab.

  Gao Zhiyong knew what was on his mind, and with a loud slap on his shoulder, he said in a low voice: "You're a pig! I told you about this matter, of course, there's your share. What are you in such a hurry for?" Liu Erxi was startled, took a big fright, and hurriedly looked at Gao Zhiyong with a mixture of fear and utmost respect, waiting for his further instructions.

  Gao Zhiyong knew that to succeed in subduing Liu Erxi and the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee behind him, as well as the director of the Mining Bureau, so that everyone could join hands to get rich without being thrown away by them, he had to rely on Long Bao's tiger skin. Long Bao's ostentatious Rolls-Royce chassis, his proud helicopter flying over the mountain city, his net worth of two or three hundred billion, his business network spanning the world, his tens of thousands of employees under him, and those bodyguards who were said to have the skills of palm strikes, brick-breaking, iron rod-bending, and flying knives, could not help but make everyone in the mountain city respectful and dare not make any moves that would offend him. Moreover, it was said that Long Bao had easily caused Wu Xizhong, a thief who had dug up his ancestral grave, to mysteriously die in prison, and had also easily caused Hu, the deputy secretary who had been implicated and had old grudges with him, to be removed from all party and government positions. His evil energy had long made some people in the mountain city's officialdom fearful and trembling, and when handling affairs in the mountain city, they never dared to ask for money bribes, but only dared to request that he be allowed to intervene in some engineering projects on the grounds of giving him face.

  "With a resolute mind and an air of unparalleled severity, he said: 'You know better than anyone what kind of person Chairman Long is. When he's in a good mood, he's better than anyone else, but when he's ruthless, he's more heartless than anyone else, without the slightest regard for face! If someone dares to do something he doesn't like, he'll definitely retaliate to the end! Isn't that right?'"

  Liu Erxi's forehead couldn't help but break out in dense cold sweat, secretly regretting the thought he had just had that absolutely shouldn't have existed. He hastily nodded in agreement. Gao Zhiyong's tone became a bit softer, looking at Liu Erxi's tense and fearful appearance, suddenly having an epiphany, saying: "Erxi, do you know why the ancestors of the Long family lived here for over a thousand years? It was to guard this Golden Mountain! They passed down through generations that beneath the Bear Mountain lies a gold mine rich enough to rival a nation. They always instructed their descendants that if they didn't have the ability to protect the Golden Mountain from being snatched away by others, they absolutely couldn't let outsiders know that the Bear Mountain was actually a Golden Mountain! Now that Chairman Long has the ability to protect it, he's decided to excavate this Golden Mountain!"

  Liu Erxi was stunned, the Long family had always been shrouded in mystery. To think that a 20-year-old young man could become a billionaire in just a few short years, wasn't that divine? He thanked the reform and opening-up policy, as well as his two relatives who were officials. After working hard and racking his brains, he had finally managed to accumulate a family fortune of 6-7 million. Billions were beyond his wildest dreams! It turned out that Chairman Long's talk about repairing roads and reservoirs was just for show, the real reason was to secretly excavate gold mines! How clever! Truly clever! No wonder they paid Gao Zhongyuan a salary of 30,000 yuan per month. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that if Gao Zhongyuan wasn't after the gold mine, why would this university professor come to this poor mountain village to suffer? They said it was for building reservoirs and roads that they requisitioned those lands, but in reality, it was to occupy this treasure trove of a mountain under the guise of legitimacy! Unbelievable! The Long family could indeed protect this gold mine now, who dared say otherwise? He could kill someone as easily as squashing an ant! My gold mine, my gold mountain! Why didn't I use explosives to blast it open and take a look earlier? Wouldn't I have gotten rich sooner that way?!

  Gao Zhīyǒng patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "You also have merit in this matter, you let me find the source of the gold vein, what can others say? The name of Tianlei Township is because of the ancestors of the Long family, now the thunder from the sky has come down again, this thunder has allowed you and me to make great contributions for Chairman Long! Let's do it this way, you wait a minute, I'll report to Chairman Long."

  He finished speaking and took out his mobile phone to dial a number, walking to one side and saying to himself: "Chairman Long? I'm Teacher Gao... Oh, it's like this, Chairman Long. I'm reporting to you that I and your classmate's father, Liu Erxi, who contracted our project... Yes, yes, he has relatives who are the Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee and the Director of the Mining Administration Bureau. I have followed your requirements and planning, and successfully found the surface source of the gold mine! ... Oh, you're saying that I should be responsible for cooperating with him and his relatives to develop it? ... Giving them 40% of the shares? ... Of course, they must provide some funding and choose workers who can keep secrets... Oh, when will the mining equipment arrive? ... Good, good. I'll organize people to further investigate the reserves... My preliminary estimate is that there are at least over 200 million yuan in reserves here... Good, good. I'll definitely follow your instructions, but please send someone to guard it as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the ore!

  He said, staring at Liu Erxi with his eyes, feeling that it was almost done, and then he hung up the phone. Then he said to Liu Erxi: "Erxi, Chairman Long said that he is currently conducting a $400 million business negotiation in the United States and has no time to return to deal with such matters. He authorized me and you, as well as your two relatives, to cooperate on development and gave us 40% of the shares. He said this is a good opportunity for us to reward our meritorious ministers and become rich."

  Liu Erxi's face suddenly showed an expression of extreme surprise, excitement and fear as he quickly divided 200 million yuan by 40% and immediately got the answer of 80 million. Gao Zhongyong said seriously: "Don't smile too early! I warn you that this matter must be absolutely confidential, and we must cleverly cover up the scene. Today, we will bring a stone to see your relatives and discuss with them how to prevent villagers from rushing to dig up gold ore, and how to secretly extract and refine the gold. You also know what Chairman Long means, and you will explain it to your relatives later."

  Gold is a bright yellow metal that does not easily oxidize in air or water, and only a few acids can dissolve it, such as aqua regia or a solution of potassium cyanide containing selenium. It is an excellent conductor of electricity and heat, highly ductile, and can be beaten into thin sheets, less than 0.0001 mm thick (thinner than paper). Marx said that gold is naturally money, the metal of wealth, but more accurately it is the metal of madness.

  So far, humans have excavated a total of 80 to 90 million tons of gold from the earth. The current proven reserves that can be mined are only about half of what has been unearthed, which is around 40 million tons. At the current annual mining rate of 1,000 tons, it's possible that all the gold on Earth will be depleted in about 40 years. What does 90 million tons of gold mean? It means that just two swimming pools with a length of 100 meters, a width of 25 meters and a depth of one meter can hold all of it. The total amount of gold reserves available for mining is roughly equivalent to the volume of three such swimming pools.

  There is a real gold country in the world, and this place is located in a wide arc-shaped area of 480 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa. People call it the "Golden Crescent". So far, 35,000 tons of gold have been produced here, and no one can imagine what a huge treasure this is. In 1986, a gold mine was discovered in the wilderness of Brazil, where more than 50,000 people work every day. They dig at the bottom of the giant pit or climb up the steep cliff with a load of about 50 kilograms of ore on their backs through the terrifying ladder road. Tragedies can be seen everywhere, and no one knows how many people have died, nor does anyone know how much gold they finally got.

  Gold always brings people dreams, brings people greed, and around the dreams and greed, countless wisdom is derived. So it's said that it's stained with blood, yet reflects human nature and heart in the blood, running through the evolution of human civilization. It's not excessive to say that it has always been a collection of contradictions: wisdom and brutality, warmth and savagery, diligence and extravagance, bloodshed and glory, power and honor, pain and surprise, survival and death.

  It was never crazy, from the moment it appeared, it has been quietly and comfortably watching humans, letting humans perform various stories for it, and letting humans arrange its existence in any way, because it has always known that what is crazy is not this metal that does not know where to go or what to do, but rather the people who are boiling with excitement over its fate.

  Gao Zhīyǒng and Liu èr Xǐ were afraid that others would notice their strange behavior, so they pretended to be sightseeing and strolled back and forth at the source of the gold mine. They chatted intimately from time to time, trying to make outsiders think they were discussing how to build roads and reservoirs. After dark, Liu èr Xǐ used a hammer to knock off a stone and then applied yellow mud to the surface where the mineral might be exposed. Only then did he feel relieved but also worried as he drove with Gao Zhīyǒng to the county town.

  In the home of the Political and Legal Committee Secretary, Gao Zhongyong smashed the stone into small pieces with a hammer in front of the Political and Legal Committee Secretary, the Mining Bureau Director who didn't understand mining knowledge, and Liu Erxi. He then carefully panned and used a piece of sheepskin to capture the gold particles. Looking at the tiny gold grains in front of him, Gao Zhongyong calculated the reserves for them. The Political and Legal Committee Secretary and the Mining Bureau Director felt that this matter was too big for just the two of them to handle, so they had to bring in the County Party Committee Secretary. After the situation changed, they would then bring in the County Mayor and the main leaders from the city, ensuring their safety.

  Gao Zhongyong said that he would definitely reflect the suggestions of everyone on the semi-open shares to Long Bao, and these county leaders also felt that this was not corruption or bribery, but rather a joint venture to open a company. If they were investigated by their superiors at most, it would just be a fine for the person in charge of the mine and then seal off the cave. Later, they could set up a joint-stock enterprise to get an excavation permit and excavate openly and honestly. Now, they just needed to seize the opportunity to deceive all the villagers and quickly follow the ore vein to dig in and get their hands on the discovered gold, which was the most important thing. So, they secretly agreed that Gao Zhongyong's Liheng Group would hold 50% of the shares, the county party secretary would hold 15%, the political and legal committee secretary would hold 10%, the mining management bureau director would hold 10%, Liu Erxi would hold 10%, and the remaining 5% would be used for activity expenses.

  These agreements were all verbal, and leaders would not leave their own handwriting. They had done such things in other places in the mountain city, which was called "entering dry shares".