Chapter 7: No More Hope
"Go pack your things. After lunch, we'll head out. North P County is a bit far."
In front of the other employees, Qin Jianshe never displayed any special relationship with Li Tang.
Of course, their connection wasn't especially close either. He had brought Li Tang into the company out of friendship with his old classmate—it was already a favor done in full.
Qianzhou Province was a mountainous region, lacking in flat land, and the underdeveloped infrastructure made transportation inconvenient. The province didn't have its first expressway until 2001.
The team from Wukuang Exploration Company took a long bumpy ride along national highways. The journey dragged on, and the people in the vehicle dozed off one after another from fatigue.
By dusk, they arrived in North P County. After resting for a night, they continued the next day via rural roads, winding through the mountains, until they reached the Guanling Gold Mine project site deep in the hills.
Two Prado off-road vehicles were already parked outside the project office.
The gold mine project had encountered a major problem.
Deputy Director Yang Xueping from Wukuang Exploration had been stationed here for several days.
As a female manager, she rarely did fieldwork, but the Guanling Gold Mine was too important. She had traveled all the way from Yanjing herself—proof of just how seriously she took it.
After nearly a week in this environment, she was on the verge of losing it.
Every day, she commuted from the county town to the project site on terrible roads, constantly attacked by insects. Rats with long, skinny tails would sometimes dart across her room.
The place could only be described as nightmarish.
She had tolerated all of that—just hoping the gold project would meet expectations.
"We started with a two-million-yuan budget. Then you told me mineralization was found and the exploration plan needed revision, the budget had to go up. I went to management the next day and got it increased to five million."
Yang Xueping's long-suppressed anger exploded in front of the team, who all kept their heads down.
"The second time, you said the mineralization looked promising, but now you needed to drill deeper. Each hole would cost 200,000 yuan, and you needed a dozen of them. I didn't hesitate—I went to management again. They hesitated, but I pounded the table and promised them this project would at least yield a medium-sized deposit!"
She pointed straight at project manager Liao Xinjie's forehead.
"You told me this would at least be a medium-sized gold deposit, maybe even a large one. You said it might rival Jinyindong next door and turn out to be a super-large deposit!"
The angrier she got, the more silent everyone became. No one wanted to be the target of her rage.
Now, she thundered, "And now you tell me the estimated reserves are only enough for a small deposit? No more hope? How can you say something like that!?"
Raising her hand, she looked as if she was about to slap Liao Xinjie.
"How am I supposed to report this to leadership? What happens to my credibility inside the company?!"
"Director Yang, please calm down," Liao Xinjie said weakly.
He was both the project lead and the owner of Jixing Exploration Company.
Everyone knew he and Yang Xueping were distant relatives. Otherwise, he wouldn't have secured Wukuang's project in the first place.
"I never should've trusted you!"
Yang was furious.
When the project was first proposed, a senior-level meeting had been held. Some had recommended hiring a local geological team, but Yang had firmly pushed for Jixing Exploration.
Since she was the main person in charge and there was no strong opposition, her choice stood.
If the project produced results, no one would care about which company had done the work.
But if the discovery didn't justify the investment, problems and accusations would surface fast.
Especially since she had raised the project budget multiple times and made personal promises, the fallout wouldn't just be about losing face—it might lead to scrutiny over the use of funds, potential corruption, and favoritism.
The best way to silence criticism was results.
But now… these people dared say there was no hope!
How could she not explode?
Liao Xinjie had poured effort into the project, too—he wanted to deliver results, to protect his reputation and Yang's trust.
But in mineral exploration, effort didn't always mean success. A project could be full of risks and uncertainty.
He sighed inwardly.
"Director Yang, take a look at this map." He laid a geological map before her, hoping to defend himself with facts. "We did find mineralization in the shallow zone. It's a stratabound deposit—it looked promising. If the layers continued downward, we could've discovered a large deposit. But look here—this major fault cuts straight through the deposit!"
The red line representing the fault sliced through the map like a gaping wound.
"What does this fault mean?" Yang asked, struggling to understand the technical terms.
Liao pointed to the far side of the discovered zone. "We drilled ten holes on the other side of the fault, following the dip of the strata. The rock layers were intact, but the gold content was extremely low—far below the cutoff grade. We can't include it in reserve calculations."
"So there's still gold there?"
"There is, and we found the mineralized layers. Every hole met the geological objectives. But the grades are too low—it's not economically viable."
He glanced nervously at Yang, speaking softly, "That's why we're saying the project shouldn't continue. It's for your company's benefit—to save money."
Yang didn't understand the technicalities, but from Liao's explanation, she gathered that the project was essentially a bust from a professional standpoint.
Still, she couldn't accept it.
She had always been a person who refused to admit defeat.
"Can't you think of another way?"
"Another way…"
Liao started to respond, but a low rumble interrupted him—the sound of an approaching vehicle engine.
"That's Deputy Director Qin's car," someone by the window reported.
"What's he doing here?" Yang's face darkened further. She was convinced Qin had come just to gloat.
She stepped out with a forced smile, all earlier rage hidden.
"Director Qin, what brings you here?"
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