Chapter 456 - 232: First Exploration: An Unexpected Harvest!

Chapter 456: Chapter 232: First Exploration: An Unexpected Harvest!

"Ouch! Easy, easy! If you kick it and damage it, it won’t be worth as much!" Mel said, wincing.

"Huh?" At the sound of Mel’s voice, everyone present turned to look at him.

Seeing all eyes on him, Mel deftly pulled a small, sharp-pointed wooden pick from his clothes. He crouched down and started working on the gold nugget. In just a short while, he had pried off all the dirt caked on it.

He carried the nugget to the river and washed it clean. Only then did he carry it back, stopping three to five meters away from the group. "Take a look," he said. "What does this gold nugget look like to you?"

Mel’s words made everyone pause. Coming back to their senses, Su Chen and the others squinted, examining the gold nugget in his arms.

"Mr. Su, doesn’t it look like an eagle perched on a rock, wings spread, about to take flight?" Chen Fei, standing behind Su Chen, suddenly blurted out.

"An eagle?" At Chen Fei’s words, the image of an eagle immediately popped into everyone’s minds, perfectly matching the shape of the gold nugget in Mel’s hands.

"It really does look like an eagle!" A smile spread across Su Chen’s face. Natural gold nuggets were valuable on their own—a fist-sized one was worth at least a million—but if one formed a shape with special significance...

...its value would skyrocket by at least tenfold.

And that was just its domestic value. If taken abroad, and if the image happened to match the totem of a certain country or a top financial family, its value would double yet again.

Seeing the eagle-shaped nugget, the names of several places instantly came to Su Chen’s mind: America with its bald eagle, and the wealthy tycoons of the Middle East. Especially the Middle Eastern tycoons... their totem was the eagle. ’If they found out about a gold nugget like this,’ he thought, ’wouldn’t they hop on their private jets and fly over here overnight to find me?’

Su Chen made a quick calculation in his head. The price of this nugget would definitely be no less than nine figures. After all, those tycoons were famous for being both incredibly rich and exceedingly generous.

A mischievous thought struck Su Chen. He pulled out his phone, snapped a few cool-looking photos of the nugget in Mel’s arms, picked the clearest ones, and sent them via text to a certain someone.

After doing this, Su Chen’s gaze swept over Chen Fei, the Mel brothers, and the Tiandi Xuanhuang group. The corners of his mouth curved up slightly, and he announced loudly, "Around here, we believe that hard work pays off and merit is always rewarded. As long as you get results, there will be a bonus. Your boss is not a stingy man!"

"Chen Fei, you did a great job this time. You’ll get a one-hundred-thousand bonus when we get back to the ranch!" Then, he turned to the Mel brothers standing nearby. "You two contributed as well. Fifty thousand for each of you!"

At his words, Chen Fei and the Mel brothers were ecstatic. "Thank you, Mr. Su!" "Thank you, Boss!"

"As for the four of you, Tiandi Xuanhuang..." The four of them hadn’t gone into the water, but they had still put in some effort.

Seeing the expectant looks in their eyes, Su Chen’s smile widened. "Ten thousand for each of you!"

"Thank you, Mr. Su!" the Tiandi Xuanhuang group shouted, grinning broadly. Inwardly, however, they sighed with regret. ’If only we’d been more proactive and gone into the river to pan for gold,’ they thought, ’maybe Chen Fei’s windfall would have been ours.’

Ivan and the rest of the patrol team, watching from the side, felt a fire ignite in their hearts. A bonus of one hundred thousand was over a million Rubles—more than they could earn in a whole year. How could they not be envious?

Realizing this all stemmed from the gold nugget Chen Fei had pulled from the river, their eyes turned to the flowing water nearby, glinting with eagerness.

After arranging for Chen Fei and the Tiandi Xuanhuang four to take the gold nugget back to camp, Su Chen noticed the patrol members’ expectant expressions. His eyes flickered slightly, and he said softly, "Anyone who’s interested can go have a look in the river. If you find a gold nugget, you’ll get the same bonus!"

As soon as he said this, the patrol members erupted in cheers. Shouting their thanks to the boss, they started stripping off their clothes, grabbed the tools Chen Fei’s group had used, and ran toward the river.

They moved as if they were afraid that being too slow would let someone else beat them to the punch.

Even the Mel brothers sidled up to Su Chen and asked a little sheepishly, "Mr. Su, can we go too?"

Su Chen couldn’t help but smile at their question. He nodded and said, "If you want to try your luck, go ahead."

"Yeah!" A look of excitement appeared on the Mel brothers’ faces. They immediately turned and plunged into the river to hunt for treasure.

Xiao Chen, who had been quiet the whole time, walked over to Su Chen’s side with a smile. He looked Su Chen up and down before speaking, "I think I’m finally starting to figure you out. You’re a deeper schemer than you let on, kid!"

"Brother Cheen, I’ll take that as a compliment!" Su Chen replied, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Hearing this, Xiao Chen gave Su Chen a long, hard look. He couldn’t help but sigh internally. ’I really did underestimate him.’ From the moment they arrived at the ranch, everything had been part of Su Chen’s plan. First, he used the bonuses to win the loyalty of the entire ranch staff. Then, by casually displaying his immense power while recruiting the Mel brothers, he had also put an invisible leash on Ivan.

And just now, Su Chen had put on another masterful display of generosity to inspire loyalty. He showed everyone that he wasn’t a petty boss and gave all the ranch employees hope and a reason to strive for more.