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nChapter 63: Exploring the Mine Together

n“Is there anything I can do for you?” After the team that escorted Jia Yuanling was far away, Yuwen Tong asked.

n“No,” Ling Zhang said. He trusted his uncle’s arrangement. They wouldn’t allow Jia Yuanling to reach the border alive.

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nYuwen Tong took a glance at Ling Zhang and said nothing. It seemed that he had seen through something from Ling Zhang’s attitude.

n“Let’s go to the west mountain,” Ling Zhang stood up and said.

nThen Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang left the teahouse together.

n“It will take two hours to get to the mine in the west mountain. We need to rent two horses,” Ling Zhang said.

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nMines and herb farms were located in the distant suburbs of Tanyang, so the horses were the most essential means of transportation and riding. There was a horse shop near the west gate. Ling Zhang rented two horses, and went out of the city with Yuwen Tong. Before going out of the city, Ling Zhang looked around specially, trying to find the traces of those elusive guards of Yuwen Tong, but he didn’t even see a shadow.

n“What are you looking for?” Yuwen Tong asked.

n“You…just you and me?” Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong.

nYuwen Tong raised his eyebrow and said, “I can handle everything. Let’s go.”

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nThinking of Yuwen Ton’s personal guards who protected him all day long, Ling Zhang didn’t think they would give up following him this time.

nAfter mounting the horse, Ling Zhang went out of the city with Yuwen Tong and headed for the west mountain.

n” We will see a fork at the end of this main official road. And the narrow one on the right leads to Jia Family’s mine,” Ling Zhang said.

nHad he known that Yuwen Tong would drag him along, he would not work hard to draw a map.

nHe had not been to the west mountain for a long time and the Jia Family’s mine was strictly guarded, so he had never been there but just knew its general location.

nThey slowed down to avoid going the wrong way or bumping cross the people of Jia Family without the time to dodge after taking the fork.

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nThe further they went, the more remote the place was. It was so quiet that there was only the chirping sound of birds.

nYuwen Tong suddenly loosed the rein and patted the horseback. Then he sprang from the horseback, just like an eagle shooting high into the sky.

nLing Zhang was frightened and hurried to look up at him.

nBut Yuwen Tong disappeared in a blink of an eye and he didn’t know where Yuwen Tong was.

n“Hey.” Ling Zhang was stunned. Yuwen Tong left without even saying goodbye. Did he want to leave him here alone?

nJust when Ling Zhang was scolding Yuwen Tong inwardly, Yuwen Tong fell from the sky, which dazzled Ling Zhang suddenly. Yuwen Tong landed on the horseback, and turned to Ling Zhang. “It’s not far from there. The road ahead is heavily guarded. We need to tie the horse in the woods. Let me take you there then.”

nLing Zhang’s nervousness was finally relieved. Then a dark look formed on his face. Thinking of his flusteredness just now from worrying that Yuwen Tong would abandon him, his face chilled like ice.

nThat obvious anger was hard to be neglected. “What’s up?”

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n“Please tell me in advance when you decide to suddenly disappear, my lord.” Ling Zhang gnashed the teeth in anger.

nYunwen Tong knew what was going on. But the way Ling Zhang gnashed his teeth was really cute. So he nodded, deliberately misinterpreting his words, “I will take you with me next time.”

n‘That’s not what I’m trying to say. He put it in a way like I can’t tolerate a second without him by the side. Pah!’

nLing Zhang stared at Yuwen Tong with anger, blushing scarlet with embarrassment.

nYuwen Tong’s eyes turned profound as he saw Ling Zhang’s cheeks become rosy. Ling Zhang’s eyes gleamed in anger, clear like the surface of a lake under the bright sun where now a cluster of flames was burning. He felt so fascinated by Ling Zhang’s vivid reaction after being pissed off but having no way to vent it out.

nThere was also a fire burning in his heart, which aroused his impulse to bully this person in front of him.

nBut if he did it, Ling Zhang would leave immediately.

n“Cough. I won’t tease you again. Let’s go and have a look,” Yuwen Tong said.

nLing Zhang took a deep breath to regain his cool and turned away first. He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to hold back his impulse to beat Yuwen Tong up if he looked at Yuwen Tong one more time.

nYuwen Tong was a clever man. He said nothing but followed Ling Zhang closely.

nAs they approached the mine, they faintly heard various noisy sounds.

nYuwen Tong suddenly stopped, his face turning serious, “Wait a moment.”

nLing Zhang stopped and looked at him.

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n“Something wrong ahead. Let me take you there, because there are guards ahead,” Yuwen Tong said.

nLing Zhang looked in the direction of the noises and said, “Okay.”

nAlthough he was angry, he never became affectedly bashful when he got down on his business.

nYuwen Tong put his arm around Ling Zhang’s waist and said, “Hold me tight.”

nLing Zhang froze…

nFighting hard to suppress the weird and uncomfortable feeling, Ling Zhang held Yuwen Tong’s waist tightly. The next moment, he felt like he was flying. This feeling of insecurity that he would fall at any time forced him to abandon those complaints about Yuwen Tong and hug Yuwen Tong as tight as he could.

nYuwen Tong took Ling Zhang quietly through the Jia Family’s guard and entered the mine.

n“Hurry up, don’t dawdle!”

n” Move your lazy asses, you fools!”

nBang! Bang!

nAn open pit mine appeared in front of them where hundreds of miners in coarse gray cloth were busy working under the close watch of the guards around. Although these guards were wearing unremarkable black clothes, judging from their standing posture and temperament, they were not ordinary guards. These men kept a close eye on everything that was going on inside the mine.

nA large hole had been dug in the cliff of this open-pit mine, where other miners worked.

nTrolleys shuttled back and forth in the mine. When the trolley was loaded with ore, it would be sent to the furnace on the open space above the mine. The burning ore had raised the temperature here a lot. Many implements were arranged in disorder; and the scorched black stuff piled up like a mountain at the other side.

nHowever, at the exit of the mine, some miners put the ores of better quality into the cargo containers which were then loaded onto the carriages.

nThese people had the same qualities as those men in black who guarded the mine. They were definitely not ordinary guards.

n“These are soldiers,” Yuwen Tong said.

nLing Zhang got it immediately, ‘Prefecture Guards.’

nAt this time, two people walked into their sight from somewhere else. A dark look formed on Ling Zhang’s face when he saw them. “Jia Zhong and Zhang Chong.”

nJia Zhong and Jia Yin had quite similar facial features, only one fat and the other thin. However, the scar on Zhang Chong’s face was what made him easy to recognize.

n“We are so lucky, we happen to see them trading ores,” Ling Zhang said coldly.

nThe purpose of Yuwen Tong’s coming here this time was mainly to figure out the scale of this mine. Now he knew it fairly well.

nJia Zhong and Zhang Chong were talking about something. Jia Zhong showed his flattering smile while Zhang Zhong wore a ferocious look.

nShortly afterwards Zhang Chong left the mine with the carriages.

nLing Zhang watched them leaving and said, “Out from here, then cross the main road and go south, and they’ll get to the rear of the encampment of the Prefecture Guard. This is how they transport ores. With some disguise, no one knows what exactly are in their carriages.”

nAfter following Zhang Chong for a while, Yuwen Tong, still carrying Ling Zhang, stopped and whistled, which sounded weird with rhythm in it.

n“I sent someone to follow Zhang Chong and find out their route,” Yuwen Tong explained.

nLing Zhang was dazed for a second before uttering a “oh” as reply.

nHe didn’t expect that Yuwen Tong would explain this to him.

n“What should we do now?” Ling Zhang asked him. “Shall we go back?”

n“No, let’s go back to the mine,” Yuwen Tong said.

n“Why? What are you going to do?” Ling Zhang asked.

n“To check something out,” Yuwen Tong said.

nLing Zhang followed Yuwen Tong back to the mine. They happened to see Jia Zhong talking to someone like a butler. He took something like an account book and wrote something down after reading.

n“That should be the account book. It’s a good thing,” Yuwen Tong said coldly.

nA good thing? Ling Zhang was confused.

n“We must figure out a way to get it and see if it records the transaction between him and Zhang Chong,” Yuwen Tong said.

nIt suddenly dawned on Ling Zhang, “This is the evidence.”

n“Clever,” Yuwen Tong said.

n“How can we get it?” Ling Zhang asked.

n“Not now. If we act rashly, we will alert the enemy. You wait for me here, I’ll take a look first,” Yuwen Tong said to Ling Zhang.

nLing Zhang nodded. Then Yuwen Tong took him to the trunk of another tall tree and let him sit there.

n“This is the signal flare. Pull this ring if you are in trouble.” Yuwen Tong handed Ling Zhang a small bamboo tube.

nLing Zhang took it, held the trunk and sat there steadily. “Be careful.”

nYuwen Tong arched his eyebrow slightly, surprised. Ling Zhang, the little hedgehog, asked him to be careful.

nYuwen Tong jumped off the tree and disappeared soon.

nLing Zhang held the bamboo tube and didn’t dare to move.

nThis place was too high.

nAfter an hour, Ling Zhang’s legs were numb, but Yuwen Tong had not returned yet. He couldn’t help but frown, worrying if Yuwen Tong was in trouble, although he didn’t want to think about Yuwen Tong.

nIf he exposed his tracks and was besieged…

nLing Zhang lowered his head and estimated the distance between each branch. He was going to jump off the tree and check if there was anything unusual going on near the mine.

nJust as he held the trunk tight, planning to move to the next branch, suddenly Yuwen Tong’s voice sounded in his ear. “What are you doing?”

nLing Zhang was shocked and slipped down from the tree. “Ah!”

n“Watch out!” Yuwen Tong hastened to jump off the tree and caught Ling Zhang in midair before landing softly on the ground.

nLing Zhang’s heart was beating so fast. He thought he was about to fall to the ground.

nYuwen Tong put Ling Zhang on the ground and said, “Why do you suddenly want to go down?”

n“You haven’t been back for such a long time. I want to see what’s going on,” Ling Zhang said. He felt safe when his feet touched the ground. However, his feet became weak as soon as he stood up, then he unconsciously grasped Yuwen Tong’s arm.

n“Your feet numb?” Yuwen Tong said. “Let me have a look.”

n“Wait…” Ling Zhang wanted to refuse. But Yuwen Tong was faster. And the moment his warm palm held Ling Zhang’s ankle, a wonderful feeling of warmth spread all over Ling Zhang from where Yuwen Tong touched, reliving the numbness and tingling sensation in a second.

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