"At first, the brothers were puzzled about how the soil was like that. Who knew that the more they dug, the soil underneath was all golden yellow. But once a layer of yellow soil was removed, they couldn’t dig any further; below was all golden stones. The brothers had so guesses but were not certain. A few days ago, the brothers pried a few pieces down to have them identified, and after learning that it was indeed a gold mine, I went to report it to Lord Prefect."
Situ Er nodded, "Lead the way ahead."
With Situ Er present, the Prefect and others had no authority to speak, plus they dared not offend this nobleman from the capital.
However, they were indignant, especially the Prefect of Yun’an Prefecture, who had hoped to use this opportunity to rise further, only for soone to co and steal the credit before he could even rejoice. It was truly infuriating!
As for the others, their thoughts were much the sa as his.
"You knew there was a gold mine, so why didn’t you think of seizing it for yourselves?" Situ Er asked again halfway.
Tu Niu thought to himself; he wanted to seize it, but he also needed to be able to hold onto it.
However, he said, "How would I dare? There are court orders; gold and silver mines belong to the court. Private mining by commoners is punishable by imprisonnt. My only good trait is cherishing my life; I’m afraid."
"Heh..." It was unclear whether Situ Er’s laugh was sarcastic or not.
The group walked very slowly; these people were used to living in luxury and had never walked such mountain roads before, so they walked a bit then rested a bit, and only when the sun was directly overhead did they reach their destination.
"Is this the place you discovered?" Situ Er asked.
"Precisely!"
Situ Er looked around; there were indeed traces of logging, and so yellow soil surrounded the timber.
Miss Bai held her ssenger bird behind him, and for so reason, she felt sothing was off.
Just then, her bird suddenly flew out.
"Hey!"
Perhaps the bird’s unusual behavior made her uneasy, and without thinking, she chased after it.
"Miss Bai!"
Situ Er called her, but she paid no attention.
Hiding in the shadows, Ye Haoxuan silently made a gesture; this woman must not be spared either.
He had heard from the little girl that this woman might know sothing about her master.
Moreover, this woman played a part when the little girl was captured back then.
"Clear away the yellow soil and let take a look!"
Tu Niu stepped forward as instructed, scraping away the soil on the stones.
Sure enough, golden stones were revealed, dazzling in the sparse sunlight.
"Good, very good!" Situ Er laughed heartily, thinking he was right to have stayed, and once he returned to draft a letter for his father to present to the Emperor, perhaps their family’s recent troubles would also be resolved.
He thought of finally surpassing Ye Haoxuan and couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "Haha..."
People say joy and misfortune are often interlinked, and it was no different for Situ Er at that mont, who, in his excitent, wanted to personally use a shovel to dig a bit and see the gold mine below.
Yet, after a few strokes, the ground where he stood began to beco unstable.
"Careful, young master!"
His guard was the first to notice sothing was wrong and hurried forward to pull him. However, they saw the ground rapidly caving in, and the master and servant duo seed to step into thin air, quickly sinking down and being covered by the earth, with a speed so fast that no one else could react in ti.
"Young master..." His other guards, seeing that the collapse had stopped, jumped over to try to clear away the soil, only for it to shift again when they jumped.
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