The vehicle passed the roadblocks and continued forward along the narrow path. Soon, it arrived at a settlement, which, if one could call it that, was merely a collection of dilapidated shacks.
These shacks were constructed from wooden planks, thatched grass, and rush mats, with countless numbers of them scattered about.
Beside the shacks flowed a river, where some women were washing clothes and a group of children were playing.
The car stopped at the entrance to the settlement. As we alighted, Zhu Li introduced the place, saying, "This place is called Hekou, and it's where the gold prospectors live. There are several factions here, and the gold miners my partner and I hired also reside here. This place is generally unmanaged."
Zhu Li walked along, acting as our guide, and began to explain.
This place, Hekou, was no larger than the palm of one's hand, yet as we made our way, I observed that it possessed its own functioning system.
There were vendors selling pork, others selling clothes, and small general stores. In addition to these shops selling necessities, there were women openly standing at their doorways offering their services.
Zhu Li explained that people living in Hekou were generally not allowed to leave without the mine owner's permission. This was to prevent them from smuggling gold.
"Smuggled gold" referred to gold prospectors, while working under the mine owners, secretly hoarding gold and selling it outside.
The roadblock we had passed earlier was a checkpoint, manned by guards dispatched by the various mine owners on a rotating basis.
Today it was one mine owner's men, tomorrow it would be another's. The purpose of this arrangement was undoubtedly to prevent collusion.
It had to be said, despite its small size, this place was rife with rules.
I suddenly recalled something Old Yuan, from Yang Hanxue's employ, had told me about gold prospecting, so I asked Zhu Li, "Do you have what they call 'gold arrivals' here?"
"Gold arrivals?" Zhu Li laughed and looked at me. "Hanxue told you that, didn't he?"
I didn't deny it. He continued, "Gold arrivals is an old term. We used to call it that when we prospected for gold, but people don't call it that anymore."
As he spoke, he pointed to a man carrying a rifle not far away and said, "See? These are the people who maintain order here. They perform the same duty as the 'gold arrivals' did, but here, they are not called 'gold arrivals,' but 'Yi Huoda'."
"Yi Huoda means 'guard' in Spanish," Zhu Li added.
We reached the riverbank and boarded a speedboat, heading downstream.
Not long after the speedboat set off, we saw people busy working by the river. Zhu Li explained that there were two types of gold mines here: dry mines, which were tunnels, and wet mines, which were river sections.
Each mine owner possessed both mine tunnels and river sections. The one who owned the most river sections and mine tunnels was his partner.
Watching the people by the river washing sand with sieves, I couldn't help but wonder if they could actually find gold.
About ten minutes later, the speedboat stopped, and we arrived in front of a large stilted building.
Before we even entered, we saw a man casually sitting on the balcony of the stilted building, wearing a floral shirt and a pair of sunglasses.
The man saw Zhu Li, stood up, smiled, and took off his sunglasses, saying something. Zhu Li replied a few words, then pointed to me and Fatty.
I couldn't understand what they were saying, but judging from their expressions, he was likely introducing us.
The man was about Zhu Li's age, but his skin was much darker than Zhu Li's.
Just as we were about to go up, someone ran over in a hurry and, standing below the building, said something to the man upstairs in a rapid stream of words.
Upon hearing this, the man's expression changed, and he quickly descended from the building.
Reaching the bottom, the man looked at us and greeted us, "Welcome, you two."
His Chinese was very stiff and sounded extremely awkward.
He then exchanged a few words with Zhu Li, waved at us, and clearly had something to attend to.
Zhu Li told us that his partner was named Da Gui, and others called him Master Gui.
"Uncle Zhu, did something happen?" I asked.
Zhu Li smiled and said, "Nothing much, just that someone died. He's going to take a look."
"Someone died?"
"It's normal. Gold prospectors often have accidents here. Afterwards, it's just a matter of paying some money," Zhu Li said dismissively, as if death was nothing to him.
"Is it a mining accident?" I asked.
"You could say that..." he hesitated for a moment. "Do you want to go and take a look?"
I was about to say no, as there was nothing to see in a death, but before I could speak, Fatty agreed, "Okay. Master Xiang, shall we go and see?"
I felt a bit helpless and could only nod.
Upon arriving at the scene of the incident, I saw many "small pavilions" by the river. These pavilions were all constructed of wood, with four posts and a roof, about the size of a square table for eight people.
These small pavilions were arranged in rows, about a dozen or so.
In front of each pavilion stood three to four people. In the center of each pavilion was a water pit enclosed by wooden planks, with a pipe about the size of a little finger inserted into it.
At this moment, the mine owner, Da Gui, was negotiating with two people not far away.
Those two seemed to be the deceased's family, one old and one young. The older one was likely in his fifties or sixties, while the younger one, I guessed, was about fifteen or sixteen.
Da Gui's voice was loud, seemingly reprimanding the deceased's family. The two were so frightened that they knelt before him, kowtowing repeatedly.
"They want more money," Zhu Li said. "Generally, a young man is worth about eighty thousand pesos, and they want an additional thirty thousand."
"How much is eighty thousand pesos in Chinese currency?" I asked.
"It's only about ten thousand yuan," Zhu Li replied.
Fatty and I exchanged glances, feeling some sympathy for the gold prospectors here.
A human life was only worth ten thousand yuan?
"When they come here to be gold prospectors, they sign indentured servitude contracts. Upon entering, the gold prospectors receive a sum of money. They work here until the debt is repaid, and then they can leave. Of course, there are also those who have repaid their debt but don't wish to leave..." Zhu Li said.
I sighed, unsure of how to judge the situation.
Fatty walked curiously to a small pavilion, and we followed.
As he reached the pavilion, his hands itched, and he reached out to touch the pipe extending into the water pit. A person nearby was startled and began babbling at Fatty, pointing at him. Clearly, he wasn't saying anything nice.
Zhu Li came over and said something to the man, who then quieted down.
"Don't touch anything randomly," I admonished Fatty with a hint of curiosity.
He gave a sheepish smile and said, "What is this pipe for? Could it be that the gold sand is drawn up with this pipe?"
I was also somewhat puzzled. This pipe was connected to an air compressor beside it, and air was being continuously pumped into the pipe. I had no idea what was going on.