I'm not one to pry, and I understand that meddling can sometimes bring unnecessary trouble.
But I am curious why this woman thinks I would help her.
"Are you really willing to help me?" Ni Li asked, looking at me.
"I'm not sure," I replied truthfully.
She hesitated for a moment, picked up the cigarette I had placed on the table, lit it, and began to speak, "In this place, everyone's eyes are only on gold. People can become like beasts for gold... You saw the duel today, do you really think those two were fighting over a woman?"
I remained silent. She smiled at me and said, "I don't mind telling you, the woman they are fighting over has gold dust, left to her by her ex-husband. A few days ago, her ex-husband died in the mine, and the gold dust belongs to her now."
Hearing this, I was stunned. Although I was very surprised, I didn't show it.
"I remember when I first came to this place, I was only fifteen. My father became a gold digger to earn money to treat my mother. We lived in the same shack you live in now. Every day I stayed at home and was responsible for cooking for him..."
She paused here. "Do you know? Every time I finished cooking, I was terrified. I was afraid my father would never come back and never eat my cooking again. So, I would sit by the door every day waiting for him. Every time I saw him return covered in mud, my anxious heart would finally be at ease."
"Several times I told him to leave this place, to stop mining. But all I got was his perfunctory reply... Just wait a little longer, and when I earn enough money, I'll take you away..."
Ni Li exhaled a puff of smoke, a hint of mockery on her face. "Wait... it's laughable. Does he really think he can get rich by mining?"
I picked up my teacup and took a sip. "If gold mining can't make you rich, why do so many people come here?"
She sneered, "The people who come here are all those who expect a windfall... They think they can find gold nuggets, get rich overnight like those in the legends, and become mine owners... But they don't know that it's all a scam."
"A scam? What do you mean? Can't you find gold here?"
"It's not that you can't find it, it's that all the gold found goes into the mine owner's hands."
"Don't they say that as long as you pay off the mine owner's debt, you can leave?"
"Pay off? Can you ever pay it off? You have to live here, eat, and stay. What doesn't cost money? Where does this money come from? Year after year of debt, the gold you mine is always used to pay off debts..."
In fact, I had already understood this over the past few days. The bottom-level gold diggers were indeed as she described.
To put it bluntly, the moment you decide to become a gold digger here, you've essentially sold yourself.
Some sell themselves, while others sell their entire families...
"If that's the case, why do people still want to come here?" I asked.
Ni Li replied, "Because they have no other choice. When a person struggles even to eat, do you think they care where they go? Moreover, here, they can at least see hope... It is hope that has destroyed them."
"And your father?"
"He died long ago," Ni Li said lightly, taking a puff of smoke. "He died when I was seventeen. I thought I would be free after he died, but his unpaid debts fell to me. However, I'm not as foolish as he was. I refuse to become a gold digger, so I found a protector."
"You mean your late husband..."
"That's right, my husband. Although he wasn't a mine owner, he had good relationships with the mine owners. He specialized in gathering gold price information from outside for them and facilitating their transactions, earning a commission. Unfortunately, he was too greedy and eventually got himself killed..."
"Too greedy?"
She sneered, "He always thought other mine owners wouldn't dare do anything to him, that he was the king of this place... It's just that he underestimated human nature. In the face of profit, even a dog will eat a wolf!"
As I waited for her to continue, she stubbed out her cigarette and asked, "I'll ask you one more time, are you willing to help me?"
I fell silent, not saying a word.
She grinned, "You've been here for over an hour, and quite a few people know you came to see me..."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean nothing, I just want to tell you that although I am a widow now, I have a lover. If he finds out that you did anything to me, even if you're Old Ghost's man, he won't let you leave here alive... He's a jealous man..."
With that, Ni Li burst into laughter, looking as if she had me cornered.
My heart skipped a beat. I didn't realize this woman was plotting against me.
"What if I scream for help right now, what will happen to you when people come?"
I looked at her coldly. "Are you doing this to make me help you smuggle gold?"
"If you agree, I'll keep my word. Once the gold is out, you get seventy percent, and I'll take thirty."
I took a deep breath, feeling uncertain. "Your story doesn't seem to be finished?"
She smiled. "You still want to hear it?"
I nodded, then lit another cigarette, planning to stall for time and think carefully.
"Alright, since you want to hear it, I'll tell you."
She beckoned me, signaling me to give her the cigarette. I handed her the one I had already taken a puff from, and she didn't seem to mind, holding it directly between two fingers and smoking.
Seeing this, I had to light another one.
"Although my husband was greedy and arrogant, he treated me very well. From the day I was with him, he never mistreated me. Although we lived here all the time, anything I wanted, he would fulfill... You could say he was a qualified husband and father."
"Several times I advised him, telling him I wanted to live outside with him. Like my father, he always said the same thing: Just wait a little longer, and when I earn enough money, I'll take you away... But when will this money ever be enough?"
"Finally, one day, I had had enough of this life. I told him that if he didn't take me out, I would jump into the river with our daughter..."
She smiled. "This method of threatening suicide, surprisingly, worked. He finally agreed. He said he would do one last big job, and after that, he would take me away from here... But who knew that this time he would lose his life..."