Chapter 548

You must know that wealth is a thing that, perhaps with the exception of the parents of the person who possesses it, everyone else will be jealous of.

Whether it be relatives, friends, classmates, lovers, or even one's own brothers and sisters, they will all feel envy, jealousy, and even hatred!

There is an old saying that is very well put, and that is:

"If you are poor in the city, no one asks after you; if you are rich in the deep mountains, you have distant relatives. If you don't believe it, just look at the wine at the banquet; every cup is first offered to the rich!" But then again, if you are a rich person, and those "distant relatives" come to you to borrow money or even demand it, and you not only don't lend it to them, you don't even pay them any mind.

Then you will soon discover that your "notoriety" will quickly spread throughout your circle of relatives.

This is human nature, an unchangeable human nature! It's just that many people are very rational, or they have true backbone, and will take this kind of "ignoring" or "contempt" as motivation to strive forward, rather than becoming that kind of "true villain" or even "hypocrite" who harms others without benefiting themselves! The reason why "true villain" is placed before "hypocrite" is because compared to a "true villain," a "hypocrite" is the thing that truly deserves to be struck by lightning and sliced into a thousand pieces!

Therefore, Wang An will absolutely not use money to test human nature, and at this very moment, Wang An also absolutely does not want to use the dog-head gold that hasn't been found yet to test his relationship with everyone.

Furthermore, dog-head gold is simply too valuable; almost everyone knows it is far, far more expensive than pure gold.

And so, Wang An said with a chuckle to Wang Li, though in reality to everyone:

"Fifth brother, you are worthy of being my younger brother; this suggestion is truly good and hits the nail on the head. It's not right for me to be the only one making a big fortune every single day while you all make small fortunes! To be honest, it makes me feel embarrassed."

When he said the last two sentences, Wang An even put on a shy expression, which instantly made the atmosphere among the group relax quite a bit.

It must be said that Wang An's words were absolutely flawless; they carried both the meaning of "don't blame me for getting rich" and the intention of wanting everyone to get rich.

Most importantly, Wang An was very subtly hinting to everyone that they were able to come and pan for gold because he was the one leading them.

Their harvest was already quite impressive, because was the so-called "small fortune" really "small"?

Therefore, Wang An's main point was that in the future, they shouldn't stare at him, and even more so, they shouldn't let gold cloud their minds.

After Wang An finished speaking, he looked at everyone and discovered that the "golden light" in their eyes had immediately vanished. Only then did he pretend to ponder for a moment before continuing with a chuckle:

"How about this, starting from the afternoon—well, don't even wait for the afternoon, let's start right now. You all take turns; whoever can get this 'Immortal' to help find gold, that's who has the ability. Let's not look at each other with jealousy, everyone, does that sound okay?"

After Wang An finished speaking, he discovered that the "golden light" in everyone's eyes had not only disappeared, but there even seemed to be a feeling of shame or embarrassment.

Thinking about it, that was normal, because the vast majority of people cannot truly be "shameless."

The things like "the grass is always greener on the other side" and "eating from the bowl while looking at the pot" are not things everyone can do.

Moreover, the vast majority of people understand what is meant by propriety, justice, integrity, and shame. Besides, Wang An's eyes are still very sharp, and his ability to judge people is quite accurate.

Therefore, Wang An had already anticipated that everyone would be in this state; after all, these people were all sharp, and you could say they understood as soon as it was pointed out.

However, although everyone no longer had greedy thoughts, the matter had already developed to this point, and if they wanted to stop now, they couldn't stop at all.

Because when it comes to people, they know exactly what is in their own heads.

But when facing a matter that is "too shameful to speak of," they feel that saying anything is inappropriate, and that saying anything would expose their own "shitty" thoughts.

It's just that there is a feeling that if I don't speak, no one will know about this, and if I don't express myself, it proves that I didn't have "shitty" thoughts before. These, in fact, can also be considered a form of self-deception and self-comfort.

And at such a time, there needs to be someone to break the deadlock—someone who, from beginning to end, had no thoughts about the "gold-seeking beast," which is the tail-less fox, and who also had to be someone who saw the whole situation clearly.

This person was Feng Chengmin.

Therefore, one only heard Feng Chengmin say with a smile:

"I won't get involved with you all. This tail-less fox is almost becoming a spirit; can it really be that obedient and help find gold? That's nonsense."

Feng Chengmin's words served as a good start for everyone and also gave everyone a way to back down, so after Feng Chengmin finished speaking, everyone began to say similar things one after another.

In short, they all meant the same thing: they wouldn't lead the tail-less fox to look for gold anymore.

And until this moment, although Wang Li was the one who started it, Wang Li finally understood the general meaning of the whole matter.

That was because Wang Li's words almost caused Wang An to have a conflict with everyone.

So at this moment, the look Wang Li gave Wang An was full of apology.

If it weren't for his ill-timed suggestion to lead the fox to look for dog-head gold, the others might have kept their thoughts to themselves instead of staring at Wang An with glowing eyes, wanting to get a share of the pie from him.

However, Wang An gave Wang Li a reassuring look. To be honest, Wang An really didn't mean to blame Wang Li.

It was mainly because this kind of thing would happen sooner or later, because greed is the nature of all animals, including humans. It is said that "wealth moves people's hearts," but in Wang An's view, gold is far more likely than wealth to make people lose their reason and cloud their minds.

Discovering problems early and solving them early could also reduce the conflict among everyone.

Wang An didn't want to pan away his relationship with everyone just because of panning for gold.

The key is that no matter when, for Wang An, this kind of interpersonal relationship that can serve as a backup is far more valuable than dog-head gold.

After hearing everyone's words, Wang An also took the opportunity to step down, pretending to complain a little about everyone as he said:

"It's not that I'm stopping you from getting rich; I haven't slacked off at all. It's that you all aren't capable enough yourselves."

Zhang Shuya, who had returned to normal, also wanted to cover up her own embarrassment, so she stepped forward quickly and grabbed the corner of Wang An's clothes, saying:

"I haven't disciplined you for a few days, huh? Come, tell me, who isn't capable?"

Wang An immediately accompanied her with a smile and said:

"I'm the one who isn't capable, it's me who isn't capable. Big sister, be gentle, you'll tear my clothes in a moment."

With this, the conflict that had just begun to emerge was dissolved into nothingness by Wang An.

(End of chapter)