Walked seven or eight miles.
Arrived at the mine.
When Xu Lian looked around, he saw people everywhere in the mountains.
It is called a mine, but in fact it is a quarry. The stones are mined and used to build houses for the wealthy families in the city, or to construct city walls.
A young man named Zhang Yuan looked surprised, "Brother Lian, your injury healed so quickly?"
"Alright, almost there."
Xu Lian greeted everyone, went to register first, and filled in the work information.
Zhang Yuan put his hands in his sleeves and stood under a tree. "The day before yesterday, you were hit by a rock that rolled down from the mountain. I was so scared that I thought you were going to die."
He watched Xu Lian sweating profusely as he loaded rocks onto a truck, and said with a smile, "It's not easy for you stone movers. You can only earn one and a half kilograms of food a day, and there is also the danger of falling rocks. It's different for stone transporters like me. I will only approach you stone movers after you have loaded the trucks. Falling rocks can't hit me, right?"
Zhang Yuan is a few years older than Xu Lian. He and the "original owner Xu Lian" have been playmates since childhood. Since Zhang Yuan is smart and good at dealing with the mine supervisors, he bought a car to transport stones to the mine.
Stone transporter has an easier job than stone mover and earns more food than stone mover. Zhang Yuan already has three daughters at home and is definitely a winner in life.
"You are right."
Xu Lian was already hungry and had to do heavy work. He felt exhausted and could only respond to him incoherently.
Zhang Yuan said a little unfairly, "You are only sixteen years old and you are not strong enough yet. It is difficult for you to support yourself. Aunt Wang and Xiya are really cruel. How could they bear to take you in to support the family? If you can't make it, just tell me. At most, I can take Aunt Wang and Xiya to my house. My family can save some money and squeeze out some food. It won't be a problem to feed two more people."
Oh my god... Xu Lian really wanted to rush over and punch him in the face. Why was his face so big
Seeing Xu Lian remained silent, Zhang Yuan asked, "What's going on?"
Xu Lian shook his head. "Thank you for your kindness. No need. I can still handle it."
Zhang Yuan sighed, "Well, just keep showing off. I wonder how long you can continue to show off."
Xu Lian didn't want to talk to him anymore and just worked silently.
There were hundreds of miners in the quarry, and a dozen supervisors with fierce faces patrolled back and forth with rattan sticks in their hands. If they saw anyone working slowly, they would whip him.
The miners had no choice but to endure it, not daring to get angry or speak out. If anyone didn't want to work anymore, they could just leave at any time. There were plenty of people who needed to work to earn a living, so the mine would never have trouble recruiting people.
While working, Xu Lian kept an eye on the supervisor's movements. When he saw the supervisor coming towards him, he hurriedly worked hard to avoid being beaten.
I was hungry and tired, and it felt like time was moving as slowly as a snail, and a snail with a broken leg at that...
I finally made it to noon and dinner was finally served.
He received two steamed buns and a bowl of vegetable soup, which was not even enough to fill him half full, but it was better than nothing. Xu Lian ate them ravenously. He had never enjoyed food so much before.
After finishing their meal and taking a while to digest the food, a dozen supervisors holding rattan sticks yelled at the miners to continue working.
As Xu Lian was working, he suddenly felt a dull pain on the top of his head.
"What's going on?"
"Why do I feel this dangerous?"
He was startled and looked around, but found nothing unusual.
Looking up at the mine, the only possible danger was a landslide.
"The fusion of two souls has given me a keen sense of perception, giving me the talent to sense danger in advance?"
He didn't have time to think and ran away.
Soon I heard a "crash" sound, and when I looked up, I saw large pieces of fallen rocks rolling down!
It hit him right where he was originally. If he hadn't run away in advance, he would have been hit and his head would have been broken!
This made him break out in a cold sweat.
"Uncle Li disappeared on his way home from working in the mines to earn food. The original owner, Xu Lian, took over Uncle Li's job in the mines and was crushed to death. Now I was almost crushed to death. One or two times may be a coincidence, but one after another like this is not a coincidence."
Xu Lian stared at the mountain where the landslide occurred.
There were dozens of quarry workers working there, but nothing much could be seen.
"Who wants to harm me?"
"Why do you want to hurt me?"
"What do I have that's worth being hurt?"
Xu Lian began to think.
If this issue is not clarified, it will be like a thorn in the back.
"The original owner lost both his parents when he was young. His life experience was very simple and he didn't have any enemies."
“Since it’s not the original owner’s problem, then it has something to do with the household registration
"As the saying goes, beauty brings disaster. Li Xiya is very pretty. If a strong man came to live with her, no one would dare to make a move on her. But I am only a sixteen-year-old boy. It is inevitable that I will attract the covetousness of people with ulterior motives."
Xu Lian quickly sorted out his thoughts and guessed that it was probably related to his household registration.
"Could it be Zhang Yuan's doing?"
He thought about it and felt that it was unlikely.
Although Zhang Yuan has some evil intentions towards Li Xiya, he is weak in character and would not dare to do such a thing.
Of course, just because the possibility is small doesn’t mean there is no possibility at all.
"The enemy is in the dark, and I am in the light. This won't work."
"Even if I can sense danger in advance and avoid it once, I can't rely on this to deal with it all the time. I have to hurry up and improve my strength. In this chaotic world, strength is king."
Xu Lian worked and observed at the same time to prevent himself from encountering danger again.
He has obtained an advancement point, which requires a piece of cowhide as raw material, and then he can be promoted to the leather refining stage of a warrior. If he reaches the skin refining stage, his own safety will definitely be greatly improved.
However, he could only get one and a half kilograms of food for working in the mine every day. It was difficult to make ends meet and it was almost impossible for him to save money. Even if he worked for a lifetime, he could not afford to buy a piece of cowhide.
"If there are no conditions, then create them..."
His eyes fell on the ox pulling the cart and lit up.
There are many horse-drawn carriages, ox-drawn carts, and donkey-drawn carts in the mine, so it is not difficult to get a piece of cowhide.
"Zhang Yuan, ah Zhang Yuan, you care about my sister Xiya, and I care about your cow, it shouldn't be too much, right?"
Xu Lian discovered that the nearest ox cart was Zhang Yuan’s. The others’ ox carts were too far away to be easy to attack.
then.
He took advantage of Zhang Yuan's inattention, pulled out an old vine, and quietly wrapped it around the cow's foot, "Brother Yuan, the cart is full of stones, we can go now!"
Zhang Yuan, who was sitting under a tree with his hands in his sleeves, stood up and walked over, jumped onto the ox cart, pulled the reins, raised the whip, and whipped the ox's back.
The ox felt pain and started walking while pulling the cart of stones.
The result is predictable.
The mountain road was originally a bit sloping, and with an old vine entangled on the cow's feet, it tripped hard, and Zhang Yuan fell forward along with the cow, the cart, and the stones!
With a "bang", he fell heavily down the slope!
Xu Lian lowered his head to work, he really couldn't bear to watch... After all, they were brothers who had grown up together.