Chen Lan and Xiang Xi, carrying their baskets, took a shortcut towards the mountain gully. Despite a year of drought, the deep autumn forests of Dongshan were as beautiful as ever. As they walked, the surrounding hills were ablaze with autumn colors, a breathtaking spectacle. Golden sunlight bathed the browning leaves, giving them a gilded sheen. The siblings, admiring the scenery, made their way towards their destination.
Familiar with the terrain, they arrived at the spot where Xiang Xi had fallen the previous day. They found the discarded vine. Chen Lan put down her basket, retrieved a machete from her system's storage, and cut several thick vines. She lengthened the existing vine and tied one end to a large tree nearby, securing the other end around her waist.
After bidding Xiang Xi farewell, Chen Lan used the vine to swiftly slide down. As soon as she untied herself, Xiang Xi, not to be outdone, followed right behind her.
Having arrived stealthily and with time being of the essence, they wasted no time and decided to begin their search immediately. They started on the north side of the gully. Chen Lan, head down, simultaneously opened her system's search function and began scanning. After searching for a long time with no results, Xiang Xi grew impatient and asked, "Xiao Lanzi, how's it going? Found anything?"
Chen Lan looked up and shook her head at him, then resumed her search on the system's screen. After a considerable while, still with no findings, Xiang Xi muttered dishearteningly, "It shouldn't be like this! Has Xiao Lanzi's good luck run out? It shouldn't have."
Ignoring his mumbling, Chen Lan decided against this blind search. Without a clear direction, it would be difficult to find what they were looking for. She needed to change her approach. Chen Lan recalled reading a novel in her past life about gold prospectors in Northeast China. She couldn't remember the exact details, but she remembered a piece of folk wisdom about gold prospecting in that region, and wondered if it was true.
Chen Lan decided to give it a try. She thought back carefully, recalling the general idea: alluvial gold deposits are mostly found on the shady side of river valleys, a folk experience known as "gold emerges from the shade."
This meant that for an east-west flowing river valley, the probability of finding alluvial gold deposits was higher on the south side. Chen Lan carefully observed the direction of the gully's water flow and found that it was indeed flowing east-west. She immediately moved to the south side and reactivated her system's search function.
Indeed, not long after, Chen Lan spotted a small red dot on her system's screen. Excitingly, she shouted, "Xiao Xigua, come here quickly! I found it! I found it!" Sudancn.com
Xiang Xi scurried over to Chen Lan, his voice trembling with excitement. He stammered, "Xiao Lanzi, where? Where is it? Let me see, let me see!"
Chen Lan looked at the system screen and pointed to a rock half-buried in sand and gravel about three meters in front of her, saying, "Xiao Xigua, it's that one." Then, she ran towards it. Xiang Xi closely followed her.
They circled the rock, which was about the size of a washbasin, but found nothing unusual. It looked like any other ordinary stone. Had the system made a mistake? That shouldn't be possible.
At this point, Xiang Xi said, "Xiao Lanzi, let's try to dig it out completely and see."
Chen Lan thought, that's right! How could they determine if there was gold inside by just looking at one side?
As soon as Xiang Xi finished speaking, he squatted down and began to dig with his hands. Perhaps because the rock was buried too deep, his efforts yielded no movement. Chen Lan quickly joined in to help.
Good heavens, this rock was incredibly heavy due to how deep it was buried. Chen Lan used half of her strength, and it only shifted slightly. Now Chen Lan was certain that the rock's gold content must be significant. She said to Xiang Xi, "Xiao Xigua, this rock is so heavy, it must contain gold, and quite a lot of it. Perhaps there's a large gold nugget inside! You step aside, I can't exert myself with you standing so close."
With that, she pushed Xiang Xi aside. This time, using eighty percent of her strength, she managed to flip the rock over completely. To their surprise, both sides looked the same! Xiang Xi was dumbfounded. He immediately exclaimed, "No way! Is it just a rock? It shouldn't be! Why is this rock so heavy?"
Chen Lan, unwilling to give up, reactivated her system's search function. The screen displayed that within this rock, there was a gold nugget the size of an adult's fist.
Now, this presented a problem. They needed to find a way to break the rock open!
Chen Lan checked the system time and realized almost two hours had passed. Xu Mingxuan should be looking for them soon. So, Chen Lan decisively said, "Xiao Xigua, Father-in-law said there's a gold nugget the size of an adult's fist inside this rock. But we don't have time to deal with it now. Mingxuan Ge will be here soon. Let's ask Father-in-law to keep it for us first. We'll figure out how to get the gold out later. It's getting late, we need to go up quickly, or if Mingxuan Ge finds out, he'll confiscate it."
Xiang Xi repeatedly agreed, "Yes, yes, you're right, we need to go up quickly and leave this place. We don't want to have gone through all this trouble only for Mingxuan Ge to confiscate it."
Chen Lan immediately stored the large rock in her system's warehouse. They didn't linger and nimbly climbed back up the vine. Chen Lan untied the vine from the tree trunk and placed it back where they found it. Then, they shouldered their baskets and left the area.
Chen Lan took out two crossbows and twelve carbon steel arrows from her system's storage, handing one crossbow and six arrows to Xiang Xi. They began hunting their way back to the camp. With the system as their cheat, Xiang Xi finally had his fill of hunting. They filled two large baskets with wild rabbits and pheasants.
Xiang Xi's excitement was palpable throughout the journey, his mouth never closing. Carrying a full basket of game, he didn't feel tired despite the sweat beading on his flushed face.
Xiang Xi's good mood was contagious. Carrying their heavy baskets, the siblings walked towards the camp, singing the song "Returning from Target Practice."
The sun sets in the west, red clouds fly,
Soldiers return to camp after target practice, after target practice.
The red flower on their chests reflects the sunset glow,
Joyful songs fill the sky.
...