Chapter 1330: Let’s Start Work
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gold nugget or dog head gold was a Chinese term for so naturally occurring deposits of impure gold that usually consisted of a combination of pure gold, quartz, and other minerals.
It was said that the shape of such gold deposits was similar to the head of a dog, hence the na, but in foreign countries, it was sotis called horseshoe gold, because foreigners thought it looked like a horseshoe in its primal state.
Whatever one called it, such natural gold deposits were extrely rare and precious in every age and country.
Li Du stopped his motorcycle and went to the puddle to think about how to dig it out. Of course, the water in the hole was frozen into ice and had not lted yet.
The gold happened to be right under the pool. To dig it up, he had to break the ice.
Li Du took out the pistol he was carrying and tried it. He tapped the ice with the handle of the gun. The ice made a dull sound. Obviously, it would be difficult to break the ice.
He could not find help, nor could he explain how he had found the hidden object.
He was distressed when Ah Ow and the others ran over. The three little ones lined up beside him, looking at the ice in the pool as he did.
After a while, Ah ng huffed and puffed to catch up. The poor honey badger was not good at long-distance running. The motorcycle was not fast, but it was still difficult for a honey badger to follow.
Li Du thought it had gone back to the camp, but it turned out Ah ng had kept on running after him. This tenacity was typical of the honey badger.
Ah ng lay down flat when it got near the puddle, then gave out a relieved sigh as if it was saying, Ah, this was so tiring, I can finally rest.
Li Du looked at it and smiled. Ah ng accidentally looked up and saw this smile, and imdiately looked wary. It had a bad premonition, recalling that every ti its father smiled there was sothing he was planning.
Li Du reached out his hand and touched the small flathead. He laughed. “Are you tired? Ah ng, are you tired of chasing after all the way?”
Ah ng didn’t know what Li Du was mumbling about, but its little black eyes looked panicked.
Li Du continued serenely, “Rest first. Don’t worry. After rest, you’ll do so work. Help daddy to dig up sothing.”
That was his plan. He was going to follow a curved path and get Ah ng to dig from the ground next to the puddle, all the way down to the bottom, and retrieve the gold nugget.
After a rest, Ah ng managed to breathe a little more freely. Li Du pulled it up and began to teach it to dig holes along the route.
The frozen hole was not big. Its diater was only three or four ters, and Li Du soon found the nearest route to the gold nugget. Ah ng only needed to dig two to three ters deep.
He found a good position, and Ah ng soon dug in with his two front claws.
The ground was thawing, and the soil was firm, but not frozen solid. Honey badgers had sharp claws and were extrely good at digging deep holes.
Since Ah ng was working, the others could not just stand by and watch. Li Du looked at Ah ow and Ah Ow and said, “What are you looking at? Let’s make the hole bigger.”
Except for Ali who escaped from the hole digging job because it was not good at digging, the other three had to pitch in.
The three little ones worked while Li Du pondered where the gold nugget might have co from.
As for the source of this precious tal, there were generally two theories in the scientific world. One was that such gold nuggets with impurities were ford from the fall of a teor rich in gold, composed of a gold-rich ore ford during the geological period of golden rain.
The second theory said that the first theory was nonsense, because such gold nuggets were usually found near gold mines, not in a random pattern that would be expected if their source was in teorites.
It was generally believed that the gold nuggets were ford by streams of groundwater and geological activity under suitable conditions.
There were stones and impurities in the gold nuggets, and the surface was mostly uneven. Most research said that the geological environnt they were produced in consisted of sandy soil rich in groundwater. Therefore, the sand grains also ford a mosaic on the surface of the nugget. Upon contact and friction, the sand left holes on the surface of the gold deposit.
The dog head gold found by Li Du could hardly be explained by these two theories. There were not supposed to be gold deposits around, and the craters on the gold nugget’s surface, which were similar to the lting pits on teorites, did seem to co from that source.
In addition, he had just learned that rangers occasionally found bits of gold dust and small nuggets of gold or silver ore scattered over a wide area as if they had been sourced in teorites.
After hard work from the three little ones and digging for more than forty minutes, Ah ng finally reached the gold nugget.
Li Du used a stick to show it the way. If Ah ng dug in the wrong direction, he would put a stick in the hole and kept the honey badger on track.
Eventually, Ah ng reached the dog head gold and pulled it out.
Li Du first swept the dirt off Ah ng’s body, rewarded him with a dollop of honey, and then picked up the gold piece.
This chunk of gold was not very big, but because of its high density, its weight was considerable. Li Du estimated it was at least twenty kilograms.
At this weight and this volu, the dog head gold was worth much more than pure gold of the sa weight.
Li Du estimated that twenty kilograms of gold would be worth more than eight million dollars and that this piece of dog head gold would, therefore, be worth at least ten million dollars.
He happily stashed the gold in the black hole space. He gained quite a lot in this expedition.
The space-ti bug launched a careful search around. Li Du wanted to see if there were any more gold nuggets or teorite traces.
Unfortunately, his luck ran out and there were no other discoveries around except for this piece of gold.
With the elation of his precious find, Li Du had a large lunch when he got back.
In the afternoon, he was ready to set off. Ah Bai climbed onto the motorcycle in advance and swung on its tail. Ah ow went to scratch it. However, because it was swinging from the motorcycle, Ah ow could not pull it down.
Li Du held Ah Bai down and said, “Why don’t you stay back? You stay at ho with Mom Sophie.”
Ah Bai didn’t like it. It grabbed his clothes and squeaked.
Ah Ow was lazily basking in the sun, trying to scratch the itch behind her neck. Ah Bai, seeing this, rolled its eyes and suddenly ran to scratch Ah Ow.
At first, Ah Ow was startled. She stared at Ah Bai with a wary look, but slowly she relaxed and began to enjoy herself.
Monkeys were good at scratching, picking out fleas and grooming, which was a way for them to bond with each other and to please the stronger mbers of the group.
Ah Bai scratched for a while and Ah Ow felt quite nice. Later, she stood up and shook her back. Then she took a stretch, squinting her eyes comfortably and almost groaned in pleasure.
Seeing this, Ah Bai suddenly jumped on Ah Ow’s back.
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