Chapter 314: Chapter 314: Together?
Shen Yanchuan was silent for a moment. "Can you bear to?"
Ye Chutang knew what he meant: after coming all this way from Qingzhou, how could she bear not to go inside and see for herself? Still, the question sounded strange when she first heard it.
After a moment’s thought, she answered honestly, "I can’t."
Otherwise, all her days of travel and preparation would have been for nothing.
The corner of Shen Yanchuan’s lips curved ever so slightly, as if in a smile.
Ye Chutang peered through the main gate. She could vaguely make out a mine pit dug in the center of the site and a few furnaces, but nothing else.
Under the circumstances, there was no choice but to go inside and look.
She couldn’t help but sigh. "If I had known, I would have contacted you sooner."
’Why did I have to make this extra trip?’
Shen Yanchuan raised an eyebrow. "You trust me that much?"
Ye Chutang nodded. "Of course."
Although she had always found Shen Yanchuan dangerous, she had to admit he was also extremely capable.
Besides—
Ye Chutang tilted her head slightly, her tone sincere. "Aren’t we already in the same boat?"
Shen Yanchuan scoffed lightly.
"Then I must thank Second Miss Ye for thinking so highly of me."
Ye Chutang: "..."
’What’s with his sarcastic tone? Is it just because I was wary of him and passed the buck a few times before?’
’Why be so petty?’
Here at the mine, no one knew what the situation was inside. Since their goals were aligned, they were naturally on the same side.
Ye Chutang silently convinced herself, then took a bottle from her sleeve, bent down, and waved it under the two men’s noses.
Shen Yanchuan found it strange but didn’t stop her. He only asked, "What is that?"
"A knockout drug," Ye Chutang explained. "When they wake up later, they will have forgotten everything that happened in the few days before they passed out."
Shen Yanchuan paused. "You call that a knockout drug?"
With such a precise effect, this was clearly no ordinary poison. Ye Chutang had obviously come prepared.
"Same purpose."
In her past life, Ye Chutang had been a diligent worker—the ultimate overachiever. If her peers developed one type of poison, she would insist on refining it into dozens of variations, each with a different effect.
She just couldn’t be bothered to fuss over such things in this life, so she kept it simple.
Shen Yanchuan glanced at the two men again. "I thought you were going to make these two disappear completely."
Ye Chutang: "..."
She put the bottle away and looked at Shen Yanchuan, speaking earnestly. "While things that can dissolve bone and devour flesh do exist in this world, I am a kindhearted person. Why would I ever use something like that?"
Shen Yanchuan stared into her eyes. The moonlight was dim, no match for the sparkling light in her gaze.
He was the first to look away, nodding in understanding.
’She only said she didn’t use it, not that she didn’t have it.’
Ye Chutang didn’t know what he was thinking, nor did she particularly care. After tidying up, she prepared to head inside. She took one step, then turned her head back and offered politely:
"Shall we go together? But—"
"Yes."
"..."
For once, Ye Chutang was left speechless.
She had figured that since Shen Yanchuan was here, he must have his own things to investigate. Moving together would be inconvenient. She just needed to be a little polite, suggest they split up, and she could smoothly get rid of him.
She never expected—
Shen Yanchuan watched her silent form, a faint hint of a smile touching the corner of his eyes.
"Didn’t you say we were on the same side?"
"...Yes."
Ye Chutang’s expression was blank.
"Then I’ll be... in your care."
Shen Yanchuan gave a slight nod, replying very naturally:
"Of course."
"..."
He agreed so smoothly that Ye Chutang once again felt that strange sense of something being not quite right.
But she didn’t dwell on it. Time was short; they had to move quickly.
The two exchanged a look. No more words were needed.
With a turn, they slipped silently into the mine.
...
Due to the undulating terrain, the mine site was not particularly open.
The two advanced through the night, the path littered with piles of coarse rocks.
Further ahead, by the faint moonlight, they could vaguely see that the center of the vast mine was a near-perfect circle, with rock layers terraced downward.
At first glance, it bore some resemblance to the terraced fields of southern villages.
As Ye Chutang walked, she committed the mine’s terrain and layout to memory.
This iron mine wasn’t particularly large, but it would still require a good number of miners to operate.
And the deeper they went, the tighter the security became.
Suddenly, Shen Yanchuan stopped.
Ye Chutang looked at him.
Shen Yanchuan whispered, "Can you hear anything?"
Ye Chutang focused and, sure enough, heard the faint, intermittent sound of heavy tools striking something.
She frowned slightly. "Are they still mining at this hour?"
Iron mining was already extremely arduous work in a harsh environment, with all sorts of dangers to guard against.
Was it really necessary to work nonstop like this, late at night when the light was poor?
Shen Yanchuan shook his head. "It doesn’t sound like they’re sinking a shaft or digging a tunnel."
Ye Chutang gave him a somewhat surprised look.
First, she was surprised that Shen Yanchuan seemed to know quite a bit about mining operations. Second... his Inner Strength was so profound that he not only heard the sound first but could also clearly distinguish its source.
Shen Yanchuan looked in the direction of the sound, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"It sounds more like..."
Before Shen Yanchuan could finish, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the distance.
He reacted instantly, pulling Ye Chutang behind a large boulder.
The sound of wheels crunching over gravel grew closer. It seemed someone was passing by, pushing a minecart.
The cart was filled to the brim, its contents glinting faintly in the dim moonlight.
—It was refined iron blocks!
Ye Chutang shot a quick glance and was inwardly shocked by what she saw.
It was perfectly normal to see iron blocks at an iron mine, but the key point was—this person was pushing the cart *into* the mine!
The man pushed the heavy cart forward, and within moments, he was drenched in sweat.
But he didn’t dare to slow down in the slightest, gritting his teeth and pressing on.
Finally, another person emerged from the darkness, a whip in his hand.
CRACK!
The person flicked the whip and cursed, "Haven’t you eaten?! So slow! If this gets delayed, not even ten of your lives would be enough to pay for it!"
The man who was hit didn’t even dare to dodge. He took the blow head-on, enduring the piercing pain while nodding and bowing obsequiously in apology.
After cursing a few more times, the man with the whip finally stopped. He pointed at the scrap iron and rocks on the ground. "What are you standing there for?! Unload the goods, then load this stuff up and send it out!"
The man quickly got to work, unloading the cast iron blocks from the cart. He then placed a few rocks into the cart and piled some scrap iron on top.
At a glance, it looked no different from the iron blocks that had just been unloaded—the ones forged in the smelting furnaces.
After loading the cart, he turned it around and headed toward the outer perimeter of the mine.
—A large pile of "iron blocks" was already waiting there to be transported out of the mine.
