Takeo

Chen Chao stood up feebly, entered the yard, closed the door, and walked slowly towards the stove. He still subconsciously sat on the bench, but after sitting down, he suddenly raised his head and saw the old gun opposite. Old chairs, empty.

Chen Chao put his hands on his face. After shaking for a while, he regained some energy. Then he stood up and punched on the corridor. Then he remembered that his small courtyard was already in dilapidated condition. The courtyard was almost half demolished.

Putting his hand on his forehead, Chen Chao cursed in a low voice: "I should give you more fucking knives."

After scolding, Chen Chao was about to go out and buy some green tiles from the shop outside to re-cover the roof first. As for the potholes in the yard and corridor, they also had to be repaired one by one. By the way, there were also those in the yard. Water tank, need to buy a new one.

Just as he was about to go out, there was a banging sound from the courtyard door.

Chen Chao opened the door, and the person who came was indeed the dark and skinny young man, Lin Cheng.

As soon as he opened the door, Lin Cheng looked into the yard and didn't see the petite and beautiful figure. The boy scratched his head and asked, "Where is my sister-in-law?"

Without waiting for Chen Chao's answer, Lin Cheng thought to himself and shouted: "When I came here, I met a carriage with two horses. Is it my sister-in-law's family? Brother Chen, are you bullying my sister-in-law?" , and then the sister-in-law asked her mother-in-law to pick her up?"

Chen Chao twitched the corner of his mouth and was about to speak when Lin Cheng nodded again, "Then it's because my sister-in-law dislikes your shabby family, so I'll just say, brother, you are the guardian of the town, and you have the same rank as the county magistrate. A big shot should definitely buy a bigger house. It's better for you. You have to live in such a shabby yard. Look, my sister-in-law is now..."

Lin Cheng stopped abruptly, not because he didn't want to say anything anymore, but because Chen Chao pressed a hand on his shoulder with a slight force, which made him grin in pain and unable to say anything else.

"Don't be silly."

Chen Chao glared at the thin black boy in front of him and let go of his hand.

Lin Cheng hummed, put his hand on his other shoulder, and rubbed it. Just when he was about to say something else, Chen Chao glanced at him, and he immediately became honest and started talking about the mysterious building. The matter of Akashi Mine.

In fact, for an ordinary civilian like Lin Cheng, the things he came into contact with were not secrets. However, since the envoy Li Zhen asked him to wait for others, Chen Chao felt that he had to make plans early, and the only person around him who knew something was Yes, it is this young man who is mining in the mine there.

"Actually, it's nothing special. We dig like this every day. We get up in the morning and go down to the mine after breakfast. We load a cart and let the people above pull it out. When we leave the mine at night, the supervisors have to search and check. Do we have any hidden ores? In fact, most of them are very big and we can’t hide them. Even small ones are not easy to hide. Some people think they are stuffed in their farts..."

"There's no need to be so detailed."

Chen Chao frowned. If he didn't stop the young man in front of him, he didn't know what else he would say.

"Think about whether anything special happened, otherwise why would so many mines collapse at the same time." Chen Chao frowned. In fact, he had some preliminary judgments, but he wanted to get the answer from Lin Cheng.

He knew that this boy would not lie to him.

Lin Cheng was a little embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his voice and said, "The mine is not allowed to talk about this matter. Brother Chen, please don't tell it."

Chen Chao nodded and asked first: "Is it because the mines were over-exploited that led to the collapse of many mines?"

Lin Cheng was startled, a little incredulous, "Brother, how do you know?!"

The mining of their stone mine has always been very organized before, and nothing happened. Until recently, the official in charge there asked them to speed up the progress and continue mining even if the mine has reached the mining limit. I heard that it is After handing over this batch of ore, they will go to the new mine to continue mining. This time he comes back is actually the last holiday given by the mine there. He will come back next time after they have taken care of the chores at home. , I don’t know when it was.

Chen Chao did not answer his question, but just thought silently. If the matter was really that simple and the truth was just that little, then it would not be worth it for Commander Li to make a personal trip. He could just write a letter. Even if there is something that cannot be said in the letter, why is it so vague when we meet instead of making it clear?

Chen Chao tapped the stove gently with a solemn expression.

Just for such a small thing, you still have to wait for someone to go with you?

Chen Chao always felt a little uneasy.

Who are you waiting for?An official from the Liang Dynasty, or someone else?

"When did you evacuate? Did those officials from the Ministry of Industry really leave?" Chen Chao took back his hand, casually picked off a piece of paint leather from a wooden pillar, and threw it into the stove. Soon, some black smoke came out of the stove, and there was a smell. Bad smell.

Lin Cheng pinched his nose and said in a loud voice: "I'll leave tomorrow. I was going there after I came to see you today. Those officials left long ago, and the ore was taken away long ago. Now the mine is There are only a few little bosses left, and once we leave, there should be absolutely no one there!"

He stretched out his hand and waved it. After realizing that it was in vain, he looked at Chen Chao with some complaints.

Chen Chao ignored these things, just nodded and said to himself: "It's an abandoned mine, what are you investigating?"

Lin Cheng didn't hear clearly what Chen Chao said, but he just saw that there was no more black smoke coming out of the stove, and then he reached out to bake, and said with some emotion: "If I didn't have a sister-in-law, how would I be able to cook here?" ah."

This is not the first time he has come to Chen Chao. He still remembers coming here in the winter before. The whole courtyard was deserted. Where could these things be found?

In fact, this cannot be blamed on Chen Chao. After starting to practice, even the first-level monks can be immune to cold and heat, let alone Chen Chao, a divine warrior.

"Okay, you can go back."

Chen Chao waved his hand and was about to drive people away.

"You didn't even leave me a bite of the meal?" Lin Cheng felt aggrieved.

Chen Chao didn't bother to pay attention to him and sent him to the door. Lin Cheng looked at him reluctantly.

Chen Chao thought for a while and then said calmly: "I will help you collect the seven-star grass you had before. Whenever you want it, you can come to me again. I don't need that thing recently. By the way, I went to the new mine." , don’t take the initiative to cause trouble, but...if you are bullied, don’t rush to take action, remember to write to me and tell me.”

Lin Cheng said oh, a little absent-mindedly.

Chen Chao patted his shoulder and said sincerely: "In this troubled world, living is the most important thing."

Lin Cheng saw what was in Chen Chao's eyes this time and nodded seriously.

……

……

After seeing Lin Cheng off, Chen Chao returned to the yard and looked up at the dilapidated roof. There was already some snow on the porch, and the snowflakes were falling from the holes above, but now he He didn't even bother to go out and buy blue tiles. Instead, he sat next to the wooden pillar again, leaned against the wooden pillar, and started to move his qi machine before he entered the realm of Shenzang. In fact, his foundation was not yet solid.

Now that he had to face the unknown again, Chen Chao subconsciously wanted to make himself stronger.

In this troubled world, nothing else matters. The only thing that matters is the sword at your waist and your cultivation.

After burning the incense, Chen Chao opened his eyes, glanced at the old wooden chair over there, then closed his eyes again, and began to continue to move the qi machine to swim in the meridians. Every time the qi machine circulated, it was actually for Wu Fu Generally speaking, it is of great benefit. It can not only open up the meridians, but also make the Qi flow more smoothly. Although it is a small achievement, if you continue to persevere, you will have great achievements in the future.

In the next few days, Chen Chao continued to practice at home and never went out, so naturally he did not repair the holes in the roof.

During this period, someone from the county government came in the middle of the night. Mi Ke invited him to have a supper, but Chen Chao sternly refused!
When Chen Chao opened his eyes in the middle of the night one day, the snow outside had stopped, but it was still very cold. He sat next to a pillar and read an old book about Taoism. Although it was very cold to him. For this martial artist, it is of little use, but it is good to look at it more.

After a long time, he put down the old book and remembered what the guard envoy Li said, and how strange the Xuanming Stone Mine was now.

Nothing will look ordinary.

Look at the dawn.

After thinking about it, Chen Chao stood up and headed towards the county government office. It was time to make preparations for some things.