A gold mountain?!"
As soon as the old professor finished speaking, there was an immediate commotion in the hall and everyone couldn't help but discuss it. Obviously, no one expected that Mount Modu was actually a "gold mountain". This is definitely an extremely shocking news. I turned my head and looked around, and found that some people had already turned around to leave. The situation obviously meant they were going to dig for gold on Mount Modu.
The old professor looked at everyone, apparently very satisfied with their reaction. He probably said that Mount Modu was a gold mountain just to sensationalize it and cause a sensation so he could appear again later to dispel everyone's doubts. In this way, he would achieve a thrilling effect.
I think this old man should write novels instead of wasting his talent; he has great potential to become a master.
"Everyone calm down," sure enough, seeing that everyone's appetite had been whetted, the old professor smiled slightly and shook his folding fan while looking at everyone: "Don't misunderstand me when I say 'gold', I'm not talking about yellow gold."
"Is it platinum?" A middle-aged woman asked eagerly.
"And diamonds too," the old professor laughed: "When ancient people referred to metals collectively as 'gold', Mount Modu contains high levels of metal content in its mountainside which makes it a 'gold mountain'. But this 'gold' is not yellow gold but rather metal such as copper, iron or tin."
"Oh! So that's how it is." Everyone murmured upon hearing this explanation.
"Don't be disappointed though," the old professor continued: "Yellow gold is also considered metal after all; there may be some deposits of yellow gold on Mount Modu too but perhaps only in small quantities insufficient for commercial development otherwise the entire hill would have been dug up long ago."
"That means you're just making things up then," someone retorted.
"Don't be like that," the old professor chuckled: "How can you say I'm making things up? Did everyone forget what we were discussing earlier about the high frequency of lightning strikes on Mount Modu? We weren't even talking about yellow gold. So let's get back to our topic, shall we?" The old professor was pleased with himself for steering the conversation back on track and asked everyone: "Do you know why there are so many thunderstorms on Mount Modu?"
The question was simple enough at this point and someone immediately answered: "That's because Mount Modu has a high metal content; in other words, it is a metal mountain. Metals have good conductivity which makes Mount Modu a natural and very large lightning rod or conductor. It would be strange if lightning didn't strike it."
"That's right," the old professor nodded in agreement: "Another reason is that Mount Modu itself is located in an area with heavy rainfall and frequent thunderstorms. Therefore, these combined factors result in more than usual lightning strikes on this mountain, even leading to rumors of 'lightning pools'."
"By now, I think everyone understands." Everyone nodded but one local woman still had some doubts as she stood up to ask the old professor: "Since you know so much about Mount Modu then why did you come here to investigate?"
"Haha! Good question!" The old professor laughed before answering her: "It's not really a secret; I came here this time because I was invited by Deqing City Government to inspect the situation at the top of Mountain Modu where there are frequent occurrences of 'lightning pools'. They want me to provide them with a reliable report regarding whether or not it is suitable for tourists to visit and if so, what security measures should be taken.
Oh, so that's the situation," everyone nodded in agreement and praised the old professor. "You must find a way to open up Lei Chi. Although it is dangerous, it is definitely a treasure trove. Where else can you see scenes of lightning falling from the sky? When Mount Modu was first developed for tourism, I wanted to contract Lei Chi for development too. But then the government said it was dangerous and fenced it off completely, not allowing anyone near it. Isn't that a waste?"
"Hehe, don't worry everyone. I will evaluate this thoroughly and come up with feasible solutions. Just wait for my good news," said the old professor as he looked outside and noticed that night had fallen and the rain had eased up slightly. He stood up with his disciple and prepared to leave.
The people in the hall saw him off at the door before turning back inside to continue their discussion on another topic.
Throughout this process, I stood dazedly in a corner of the hall lost in thought with an odd feeling stirring within me - like I had grasped onto something important but couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly.
"YiHeng, what's wrong? Did you discover something?" Xie Yilin walked over to me curiously.
"Could it be ghost possession?" After thinking about it for some time, I finally came up with a reasonable explanation which caused me to murmur under my breath.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" Xie Yilin asked quizzically as she clearly didn't understand what I meant.
"You've been here at Mount Modu for three years now right? Let me ask you something: have there been any legends or stories about spirits around here? Are there many haunted incidents nearby?"
"I'm not very sure about haunted incidents nearby since such folk tales exist everywhere regardless of whether they're true or false; no one can really tell. However, there are indeed some legends about spirits," Xie Yilin replied.
"Alright then, you can tell me more later." I looked outside and saw that it was getting dark so I said to her: "I'll go call Jietou down and we can find a place to eat while discussing this."
"Okay," Xie Yilin nodded before grabbing my arm and asking: "Oh wait, I have a question for you.
What's the matter?" I asked curiously.
"Is JIETOU mentally ill? Why do I feel like he's always acting strange and not talking? Compared to him, it's like night and day. Could it be that he hates me and doesn't want to talk to me? When we were in the car on the way here, I was just teasing you guys. I'm not really that infatuated with you two little brats," Xie Yilin said.
"He doesn't have a mental problem, nor does he hate you. That's just his personality. Of course, he wasn't always like this before. His story is quite long, but if there's a chance in the future, I'll tell you about it and then you'll understand what kind of person he is. Don't worry though, even though he seems cold on the outside, inside he has a warm heart and is a very kind person," I told Xie Yilin.
Hearing this, Xie Yilin nodded her head: "Okay then, go call him down. Tonight I'm treating everyone to grilled perch which is a specialty from Moganshan Lake; it tastes really good.