After the villagers had been restless for an entire day, their enthusiasm for panning for gold gradually and naturally died down.
That evening, the Xiao family of three, along with Gao Jinghui, were gathered around the table eating.
"Dad, stop hauling sandbags at the mine. Let's find a mine ourselves."
The gold sand from the river had already been washed out. Su Qiao estimated that it could be exchanged for at most thirty or forty thousand yuan.
But the family owed 130,000 yuan in outside debts. They were still far from being able to pay it all off.
Xiao Aimin shook his head slightly. "Girl, gold deposits aren't that easy to find, and mines aren't that easy to operate.
"First of all, there's the Mining Permit. That's very difficult to obtain nowadays. Without the right connections, there's no way to get one."
"Then, to open a mine, you first have to conduct geological surveys and various analyses, locate the mining site, dig tunnels into the mountain, and find the exact vein. Only then can Miao Lu follow it downward and possibly find gold ore. Otherwise, you'll just be wasting money."
"A few years ago, your dad borrowed quite a lot of money and finally partnered with someone to open a mining site. In the end, they dug for more than two years without finding anything at all, and lost a great deal of money."
"Besides, opening a mine requires a lot of machinery—air compressors, blowers, crushers, generators, water pumps, bulldozers, and so on.
"You also need skilled pneumatic drill operators and blasters. All of that costs money."
Whenever the subject of digging a tunnel came up, Xiao Aimin was genuinely terrified.
When he was young and hot-blooded, he had relied on sheer stubbornness, borrowed money, and partnered with someone to