Chapter 464: Chapter 433, Trashy Girl _1
After the snake incident, Daohua became even more cautious in her steps. Before, she would walk ahead of Xiao Yeyang, but now she obediently followed behind.
Xiao Yeyang saw her becoming well-behaved and smiled silently, gripping her hand tighter and scanning their surroundings carefully to avoid similar accidents.
The cave wound steeply downward into a deep, pitch-black abyss. As they ventured further, the glitter of gold became denser. By the time they met up with Sun Changze and the others, they could already see gold ore with a decent amount of gold content.
Upon seeing Xiao Yeyang, the Guard Captain approached excitedly, “Master, because there were too many branches ahead, I worried that exploring them would take too long, so we stopped here. I’ve just done a brief exploration, and these branches are all natural gold mines with a particularly high content of gold in the ore.”
Xiao Yeyang nodded, seeing that his entire view was filled with gold ore, his eyes shining with amazement. This gold mine was of much higher quality than the one in the River Valley, and it was also easier to mine.
After a moment of silence, Xiao Yeyang said, “Divide into several teams, each team to explore one tunnel entrance, and return within half an hour. I want to know how deep these gold mine tunnels are.”
The Guard Captain nodded, quickly gathered his subordinates, assigned teams, and Sun Changze’s group of four became one team. They randomly chose a tunnel and proceeded.
Once everyone had left, Xiao Yeyang and the three siblings of the Yan Family waited at the fork.
A little while later, Daohua felt that waiting around was a waste of time. After some thought, she pointed at several other mine tunnels that no one had explored and said, “Why don’t we pick one and take a look inside?”
Xiao Yeyang looked at her with a smile, “Sure, you choose a tunnel.”
Yan Wenkai also said with a smile, “Yes, big sister, among us, you have the best luck. Look, ever since you arrived, we have found two gold mines.”
Daohua was somewhat speechless, “How would I know which one to pick?”
Xiao Yeyang said with a smile, “Just pick one at random.”
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Seeing Xiao Yeyang and her two brothers watching her, Daohua thought for a moment, squatted down to pick up a stone, turned her back, and threw it behind her.
Watching her use this method to choose, Xiao Yeyang, Yan Wenkai, and Yan Wentao were somewhat amused.
Daohua turned back around, “Which one did it hit?”
Xiao Yeyang pointed to the one on the far edge, “Let’s go, we’ll take a look inside this mine tunnel.” After saying this, he left a Hidden Guard to wait there, then took Daohua’s hand again, and only after the bodyguard and the Yan brothers had entered the tunnel, did he lead Daohua to follow.
“This mine tunnel is quite large; it will be good for mining in the future.”
As they walked, they discovered that the mine tunnel even had branches.
Seeing that the main tunnel was deep and unfathomably long, impossible to explore in a short time, Daohua tugged at Xiao Yeyang, “Why don’t we explore one of the branches instead?”
Yan Wenkai shook his head, “The branches are a bit smaller; you’d have to bend over to walk inside. Let’s stick to the main tunnel.”
Xiao Yeyang glanced at him, “Why are you and your sister arguing? The main tunnel is being explored by others; let’s check out one of the branches.” Saying this, he motioned to the bodyguard to take a torch and lead the way, then he pulled Daohua into one of the branch tunnels.
Seeing the two of them enter, Yan Wenkai was somewhat reluctant and turned to Yan Wentao, “Third brother, shall we continue exploring the main tunnel?”
Yan Wentao looked at Yan Wenkai with annoyance, “Are you going to just forget about Daohua and let her be alone with the Little Prince?”
Yan Wenkai said with a smile, “Third brother, you’re worrying over nothing. With the Little Prince protecting her, Daohua will be fine.”
Yan Wentao was annoyed, “We are Daohua’s brothers. Always letting the Little Prince protect her, that doesn’t seem right, does it?”
Yan Wenkai retorted, “What’s wrong with that? The Little Prince and big sister get along so well. What’s wrong with him looking out for her? It would be heartless of him not to.”
Yan Wentao, not wanting to waste his breath, quickly went to catch up with Daohua and Xiao Yeyang.
Seeing his third brother looking at him with a ‘why can’t you be more responsible’ expression, Yan Wenkai scratched his head, “What’s the big deal? Whenever we meet Sister Jingwan, doesn’t third brother often help Zhou Brother look after her?”
And he himself, watching the Su Family’s sister appear so fragile, wouldn’t he be extra protective as well?
They were brothers and friends with Zhou Brother, Dong Brother, and Su Hongxin. Wasn’t it natural to take care of a brother’s sister?
The Little Prince’s status was exalted and, although they couldn’t call each other brothers, they were still close friends. What’s the issue with helping to look after a sister?
“Ridiculous!”
Yan Wenkai glanced at the branch tunnel that required them to stoop to get through and resignedly followed along.
The side cave was not like the main one, growing narrower as they went, the ceiling getting lower too.
Just when it could barely fit two people walking side by side, the bodyguard at the front suddenly called out.
Daohua was startled and quickly tightened her grip on Xiao Yeyang’s arm, “What happened?”
Xiao Yeyang wrapped his arm around Daohua’s shoulders, reassuring her in a low voice, “It’s nothing, I’m here.” Then, with a tone of dissatisfaction, he asked, “What are you shouting about?”
The bodyguard excitedly said, “Master, there are many gold nuggets ahead.”
Defu hurried forward, illuminating the area with a torch, and immediately, a golden glow caught their eyes.
“What gold nuggets? Let me have a look!”
Yan Wenkai strode forward, and in passing Daohua and Xiao Yeyang, his sturdy body squeezed Daohua right into Xiao Yeyang’s arms.
Xiao Yeyang quickly pushed Yan Wenkai away, discontentedly saying, “Why are you squeezing through? You bumped into your sister.”
Yan Wenkai chuckled awkwardly, “It’s all because this cave is too small.” After saying that, he quickly walked towards Defu.
Daohua looked at her fourth brother with a gloomy expression on her face. After struggling a bit and feeling Xiao Yeyang’s arm around her shoulder loosen, she swiftly backed out of his embrace and stood aside, her demeanor somewhat awkward.
Xiao Yeyang was about to say something when Yan Wentao walked over and, coincidentally, stood between Daohua and Xiao Yeyang, completely ignoring the razor-sharp glare from Xiao Yeyang, not moving an inch.
Compared to Xiao Yeyang’s displeasure, Daohua actually felt relieved.
Thinking back to when she stepped on the snake and jumped onto Xiao Yeyang, as well as the recent moment she had been in his arms, she felt a bit awkward and embarrassed.
Now that they had found the gold mine, it was time for her to return.
During her time at Ningmen Pass, Xiao Yeyang’s meticulous care for her had touched her, but as he became more and more affectionate, she felt lost and conflicted.
To respond?
Just thinking about Xiao Yeyang’s status and the complex webs behind it made her thoughts hectic and her scalp tense. The family she longed for was one of ease, comfort, simplicity, and purity; the rigid hierarchies, intricate rituals, and complicated relationships of the imperial family were not for her.
Not to respond?
It made her feel pretty awful, enjoying his tender little kindnesses without reciprocating any feelings, not initiating, not taking responsibility, not refusing—it was the behavior of a cad.
At that moment, Yan Wenkai’s excited voice rang out.
“Big sister, Little Prince, third brother, come quick! There are really a lot of gold nuggets here; I feel like we won’t even need to refine them before taking them out.”
Upon hearing this, Daohua immediately walked over briskly and her eyes lit up upon seeing the lustrous gold nuggets, the worries in her mind forgotten in an instant.
“We can take all these with us, right?”
Xiao Yeyang gave Yan Wentao a fierce stare and when he turned back to face Daohua, a smile spread across his face again. Glancing at the gold nuggets in the cave, he roughly estimated that they could be refined into about ten thousand liang of gold.
Thinking of the past days, with the Yan siblings following him all over the hills, although the gold mine would be reported and the imperial uncle would surely reward them, it was proper to give them a preliminary compensation.
After pondering for a moment, Xiao Yeyang said with a smile, “Someone will come later to take these gold nuggets. Once they’re made into gold bars, they’ll be sent directly to you.”
Daohua immediately asked, “How will we divide them?”
Xiao Yeyang asked with a smile, “How about giving them all to you?”
Daohua righteously declined, “Money is an external object; it should be shared with those who are present.”
Xiao Yeyang laughed, “You want to divide the spoils to silence others, don’t you?”
Daohua’s face stiffened, and indeed, that was what she was thinking. The gold nuggets from this cave could be refined into at least ten thousand liang of gold, worth a hundred thousand liang of silver. She felt apprehensive about accepting so much silver.
Xiao Yeyang might not say anything, but his men might.
Having understood Daohua very well by now, Xiao Yeyang immediately knew what she was thinking when he saw her glance subtly at the bodyguard. He promptly said with a laugh, “Don’t worry, take it. I’ve got everything under control.”