It would be strange not to realize sothing was fishy.
But...
Ordinary mines transport slted iron ingots out, so why was this place doing the opposite?
To cover their tracks, they even deliberately used ore and scrap tal as a disguise, hauling it out daily.
If you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes, you would never suspect there was sothing wrong with the iron ingots from this mine!
Ye Chutang’s gaze shifted to the foreman who had just beaten the worker. She could vaguely make out what looked like a door behind him, but there was no way of knowing what lay inside.
One thing was certain, however: all the slted iron ingots were being sent in there.
"This iron mine produces and consus its own product. How interesting," Ye Chutang mused.
Shen Yanchuan, however, said nothing.
Hearing no response, Ye Chutang turned her head.
"What do you think—"
Sothing cool and gentle brushed against her forehead.
Ye Chutang froze.
The air around them seed to congeal. Ye Chutang blinked, but all she could see was the smooth line of the man’s jaw.
Shen Yanchuan stood right beside her, and with his superior eyesight, he had naturally seen everything clearly as well.
Connecting this to the faint, rhythmic sound of hamring from before, the suspicion in his mind was all but confird.
It was precisely in this mont of deep thought that he failed to hear Ye Chutang’s words right away.
When he realized what had happened, his lashes fluttered, and he instinctively looked at the woman before him.
Only then did he belatedly realize—they were standing too close.
The already cramped space seed to shrink even further, until they could hear each other’s breathing.
Yet, what was running through Ye Chutang’s mind at that mont was—’This man’s face is disguised, but the rest of him doesn’t seem to be.’
’Mmm... he really is handso. His shoulders are straight, his neck is long, and even his Adam’s apple is beautifully shaped. When it bobs up and down, it gives off a rare, ascetic vibe.’
It made one want to—
’Resist.’
Ye Chutang squeezed her eyes shut and discreetly took a soft breath.
’How can I be thinking about this stuff when there’s important business to attend to???’
’They say a handso face is a dangerous distraction. It’s really true.’
’If I’d known, I shouldn’t have drunk that pot of wine earlier this evening...’
"You’ve been drinking?"
The man’s low, leisurely voice sounded by her ear, startling Ye Chutang so much that she imdiately looked up. For the mont their eyes t, she felt an inexplicable sense of guilt.
"Hm?"
’Don’t tell he figured out what I was thinking!?’
Shen Yanchuan hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from her and raised an eyebrow slightly.
"You sll of wine. Can’t you sll it?"
In truth, the scent was very faint, but at such close quarters, and with his heightened senses, it seed quite strong to him.
Ye Chutang crinkled her nose.
"Is it that bad...?"
She had specifically tried to air out the sll of wine before coming. She could only bla this man, Shen Yanchuan, for being too perceptive.
"I had a little. What, am I not allowed to drink?"
’Why is he looking at so strangely?’
Shen Yanchuan seed to chuckle. "Of course you can. I’m just surprised that Second Miss Ye would be willing to drink such common liquor."
Ye Chutang froze for a second.
’I’ve never been picky about this, have I? Why would Shen Yanchuan suddenly say sothing like—’
"To ignore the many fine wines of the Capital City’s Yunlai Tavern, only to co to this small town and sip on so naless swill... Second Miss Ye certainly has peculiar tastes."
Ye Chutang: "..."
She was silent for a long ti before finally speaking in disbelief.
"Shen Yanchuan."
"Are you really holding a grudge just because I didn’t send you any wine?"
Shen Yanchuan glanced at her and said coolly, "I’m surprised Second Miss Ye even rembers that."
Ye Chutang: "..."
’It would have been one thing if Shen Yanchuan had denied it, but he just went and admitted it so directly!?’
’The dignified Heir of Duke Dingbei isn’t hurting for a single pot of wine!’
Ye Chutang’s lips parted, just as she was about to speak, when she suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. She imdiately fell silent and looked over.
Several figures seed to be carrying sothing as they walked.
They were far away and the light was poor, so the overlapping silhouettes made it hard to see what it was.
But the next mont, Ye Chutang saw them toss the "thing" aside.
It was a person!
"Pah! What damn luck!" one of them spat on the ground. "This is the third one to die this month, right?"
Another chid in, "You said it! If they keep dying like this, we’ll never finish our work!"
In their chatter, there was no sorrow for their dead coworker, only complaints.
"In the end, it was exhaustion! But who isn’t exhausted? And to think he looked like he was in good shape. Turns out he couldn’t handle it!"
"His death doesn’t matter, but having to recruit soone to replace him is just another hassle."
"Shh! Keep your voice down! If soone hears you, do you have a death wish!?"
But the man who’d been shushed only grew more indignant.
"So what? It was one thing when they paid more silver, but recently, there’s been no word from the higher-ups. We haven’t seen a scrap of at in days! Who can stand it if this keeps up!?"
"Didn’t Mr. Liu say the situation is special and it’ll be fine once this period is over? Besides, so what if you can’t stand it? Now that you’re here, did you really think you’d get out in one piece?"
The speaker’s voice trailed off, and the group fell silent.
"Forget it! Let’s go!"
The n turned and left.
Ye Chutang’s brow furrowed.
Listening to them, it seed that death was a common occurrence at this mine, and no one, from the top down, seed to care.
’What exactly are they doing here?’
"Should we go take a look?"
The man’s question suddenly ca from her side.
Ye Chutang turned her head and t his gaze.
After a mont, she gave a slight nod.
"Okay."
There was only one foreman guarding that main gate. As long as they dealt with him, they could get inside.
Of course, it went without saying that the inside would be heavily guarded as well.
This venture of theirs—
"It would be best if we can find sothing. If not, we still must leave within half an hour," Shen Yanchuan said.
They didn’t have much ti left, and that was assuming everything went smoothly.
Ye Chutang nodded in agreent.
...
「Inside the city.」
Su Pei’er lay on her bed, tossing and turning.
The small couch beside her was empty. Second Miss Ye had not returned since leaving that morning.
’She must have gone to that iron mine outside the city, right?’
Su Pei’er clasped her hands together and prayed silently.
’I hope she’s safe...’
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