Seeing Yang Che walk out, Yang Hu's face, stacked with fat, surprisingly smiled as he said to him, "Yang Che, come here."
Yang Che's eyelids twitched slightly, but he calmly walked into the courtyard, saying nothing, just staring indifferently at Yang Hu.
The ferocious-looking stranger was a burly man with a full beard and a face full of flesh.
He carefully scrutinized Yang Che for a few moments, then frowned and said, "Yang Hu, this person is too thin and weak. Can he do it?"
"Foreman Zhao, he can. Although this kid is a bit thin, his bones are hard, and he has a lot of strength."
Yang Hu immediately said fawningly when he saw that the burly man with the full beard was somewhat displeased.
"Alright then, since he has strength, I'll take him."
The burly man with the full beard said, pointing at Yang Che: "You come with me."
Yang Che was utterly bewildered, standing rooted to the spot.
At this moment, he saw Yang Hu pull out a piece of paper covered in writing from his embrace, shaking it in front of him, and said with a fake smile:
"Yang Che, this is Foreman Zhao from the neighboring county. He's here to hire laborers for our village. I've already secured a spot for you and signed an employment contract with Foreman Zhao. You can go with him. From now on, you'll have a formal job, and I've done right by your deceased grandfather."
Upon hearing this, Yang Che wished he could immediately erupt and fiercely slap Yang Hu a few times. Yang Hu clearly knew he was illiterate, so even if he tampered with the document, Yang Che would have no way of knowing.
What was even more hateful was that this very person had caused his grandfather's death, yet he had always feigned innocence and magnanimity, which was truly despicable.
Yang Che turned his gaze to Foreman Zhao, still not thinking the man's intentions were too malicious, and asked expectantly, "May I ask, Foreman Zhao, what exactly is written on this paper?"
Foreman Zhao, the burly man with the full beard, glanced at Yang Hu, then said indifferently:
"It is indeed an employment contract signed by Yang Hu on your behalf. The content states that you will mine at my Xingshan Mine and receive two taels of silver per month. You can leave Xingshan Mine after working for a maximum of three years."
"Mining?"
Yang Che had vaguely heard of this.
Whether it was when his grandfather was alive or in recent years, he had heard of people from the mines coming to the village to hire laborers.
Some people in the village had also become wealthy from mining and returned to the village to marry wives and live good lives.
Yang Che pondered that if he went to mine for a period and earned silver, learning to read and write would be much easier.
However, he fundamentally could not believe Yang Hu's words, so only after Foreman Zhao personally reiterated it did Yang Che become half-convinced.
There was nothing much to pack. Yang Che bundled a few changes of coarse cloth clothing, and after careful consideration, he still wrapped all the items he had obtained in the Stone Cave into his bundle, then followed Foreman Zhao to a main road outside the village and boarded a carriage parked by the roadside.
As soon as he got on the carriage, Yang Che found that it was already packed with several teenagers.
These children, like him, were dressed in ragged clothes, clearly from impoverished families.
The carriage jolted along for four or five days before finally arriving at a mine located deep within a large mountain.
"All of you, get down, quickly!"
With a vulgar shout, the carriage door was flung open.
Foreman Zhao, the burly man with the full beard, who had seemed 'gentle' earlier, suddenly seemed like a different person. Holding a black, oily whip, he lashed out indiscriminately at Yang Che and the others.
"Ouch, ouch! Foreman Zhao, why are you hitting people?"
Two of the slightly older children screamed in pain while shouting at Foreman Zhao in confusion.
At this moment, a sudden ominous feeling arose in Yang Che's heart.
"Hitting people? Hehe. I bought you with real silver and gold. Whether I hit or scold you depends on my mood, doesn't it?"
Foreman Zhao spat fiercely on the ground and continued viciously:
"Hu Lai, Yang Che, Meng Ran, Zhang Gu, Liu Song, you five are now my mine slaves. From now on, you must obediently listen to me, or else I won't hold back, and if I accidentally beat you to death, you'll only have yourselves to blame."
"Ah, I want to go home, I want to go home!"
One of the younger children cried and howled as he rushed out of the mine, trying to escape.
Yang Che recognized this child as Meng Ran, who had been the most shy and introverted along the way, almost never speaking to the other children.
With a loud 'bang,' Meng Ran was blocked by a burly man.
The big man directly kicked Meng Ran in the stomach. Meng Ran flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the hard stone surface. After a few convulsions, foul blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead.
This scene immediately terrified the other children. Their faces turned pale, and they stood frozen in place, no longer daring to move an inch.
Yang Che's eyes were cold, and he unconsciously clenched his fists.
When he learned that he had been sold as a mine slave to Foreman Zhao by Yang Hu, a raging inferno seemed to erupt from his chest.
But Meng Ran's tragic state constantly reminded him not to act impulsively.
At this moment, Yang Che completely enveloped his inner self. He coldly observed this world, and his Heart-Nature became increasingly resilient.
Meng Ran was dragged away, and Yang Che, Hu Lai, Zhang Gu, and Liu Song were assigned to the same simple wooden hut.
Inside the wooden hut, there were only five wooden plank beds and nothing else.
After the arduous journey in the carriage and the recent fright, Hu Lai, Zhang Gu, and Liu Song quickly fell asleep on the wooden plank beds, their snores soon filling the air.
Yang Che also lay down, his hands behind his head, resting on his bundle, but he couldn't fall asleep no matter what.
Getting up, he sat cross-legged. Yang Che Cultivated the first layer of the Purple Origin Art again, and immediately felt refreshed and all fatigue vanished.
He vaguely felt that the strange Qi flow within his body seemed to have thickened by a fraction, but he was frustrated by his inability to know what purpose this strange Qi flow served.
While he was pondering, the door of the wooden hut was pushed open, and a gaunt young man walked in.
"Don't sleep, all of you get up quickly. Follow me to get your tools." The young man kicked each wooden plank bed.
Hu Lai and the others, still groggy with sleep, only stood up with cries of pain after being roughly grabbed from their beds and thrown to the ground by the young man.
Yang Che, seizing the moment when no one was looking, secretly tucked his bundle under the bed.
Afterward, Yang Che and the others followed the young man to an incredibly spacious stone room.
Behind a long table at the entrance of the stone room sat an old man whose life was flickering like a candle in the wind.
The gaunt young man bowed to the old man, then said to Yang Che and the others:
"This is Old Wei, who manages the tools at our Xingshan Mine. If your tools break and need repair or replacement in the future, just come to Old Wei."
Saying this, the young man turned to the old man again: "Old Wei, please give them each a set of tools."
"Come in with me."
Old Wei coughed, and with a hoarse voice, stood up.
Yang Che and the others followed the old man into the room and saw a large quantity of stone and iron tools piled inside.
Subsequently, each person received an iron pick, a stone shovel, and an iron hoe.
These tools were all very heavy.
Yang Che saw that Liu Song, who was about his age, struggled just to pick up the three tools, let alone use them for mining.
Hu Lai and Zhang Gu were both fourteen or fifteen years old, and picking up these tools didn't seem to require much effort for them.
Yang Che had originally thought that he would struggle with these tools as much as Liu Song, but to his surprise, he easily grasped them in his hands.
Yang Che quickly feigned a look of extreme effort; he didn't want others to see how easily he handled them.
However, Old Wei noticed Yang Che's actions, and a peculiar glint flashed in his dim, aged eyes.