Chapter 505: More valuable than gold
Time flashed by like the snap of a finger and many changes took places in the families. For one, Chi Rui proposed to Rize and she accepted, the peep star was the first to break the news of the engagement. Phoenix television followed this up the following day by having the new couple sit down for an interview on tea with the princess but hosted by a temporary guest since Rize could not interview herself. The ratings of that episode went through the roof, because many people were eager to know even more details about the relationship than what had been shared by NBTV, the national television station and the royal family’s official weibo page.
Secondly, Phoenix magazine was released selling four hundred thousand copies within three days. More copies had to be printed because of demand and eventually the sales totaled to one million and two hundred fifty thousand. It was extremely good for a start up magazine.
Thirdly, Phoenix television was doing successfully well and Chi Lian was nominated for an award as the most outstanding upcoming business personality of the year.
Chi Wei returned home from the military base more joyful than he had been when he went away which made grandpa Wang walk around with a secret smile on his lips.
For the old master of the Jun family however his friend’s smile was a source of irritation considering the fact that his oldest grandson did not return home even once in all those weeks. He was running out of excuses to give the Jiang’s about the sudden disappearance of their daughter’s husband.
As for Chi Lian she had traveled to F city three days ago to finally pay a visit to that almost depleted gold mine. It had been two days of searching, digging and tunneling out of curiosity but all she found so far were thirteen bars of gold. If this was what the system meant by a small mountain of wealth then it had to be broken. Today was her last day of digging before she would turn around and leave.
The gold mine was in an old town named Pindanshan, from the 1800’s to the early 2000’s the town was lively. Back then it was filled with life in the form of people, businesses, markets, it boasted of a population of about eight million people. Because four gold mines were sitting on the land in this town, roads were constructed, hospitals and schools. Mining companies provided jobs and the standard of living in the town was not bad, Pindanshan was voted one of the best places to live in F city five years in a row from 1998 to 2002. Happiness filled this golden town but nothing lasts forever, as with many minerals in the ground, the gold reserves started to dwindle and the companies started pulling out, one at a time. Eventually all the companies left and because they were the main source of employment in the town, the unemployment level went up suddenly at once.
More people moved out of Pindanshan to find jobs, fancy hotels and restaurants closed and the town became deserted. The population of Pindanshan today was roughly around one to two million people. Most of them worked in the local shoe factory and water factory. There was also a clothing manufacturing company a few minutes out of the town which employed others but as for the mines, they were abandoned and sealed off completely.
Some even had warning signs at the entrances, telling strangers and children to stay away in case the mines were inhabited by dangerous animals.