Page 442
The middle-aged woman's address and tone suddenly changed. The previous kindness and enthusiasm were gone, and now it was full of awe.
They didn’t dare to imagine Huo Yuhao’s strength. After all, the red-haired burly man who was a second-ring great soul master was not someone they dared to oppose.
Huo Yuhao smiled slightly and said to the middle-aged woman, "Don't be afraid, Auntie. I just came to the mining area to learn about the situation. I didn't expect to encounter something like this."
"Just chat with me casually like before."
Huo Yuhao's image was elevated a lot when he taught the lackeys of the local evil forces a lesson.
One of the miners suddenly realized, "So that's why you are a soul master, that's why you can buy such cheap fish."
Huo Qiuer asked: "Any explanation?"
The miner sighed, "When those people from the Sun-Moon Empire hear our Xingluo accent, they will raise the price. But as long as we are soul masters, even if we only have one ring, they dare not raise the price."
Another miner took over the conversation and said angrily: "Yes, that group of people buy goods at low prices in Mingdu, then transport them to the mining area and sell them to us at high prices."
"It's fine to be slaughtered by the Sun and Moon people, but I didn't expect that they would slaughter us without mercy even though we are all from Xingluo. If I want to take my whole family for a good meal, I may not be able to stop it even with a Gintama coin."
The group of people they were referring to were naturally the so-called Brother Nan.
As soon as one person complained, another would join in, and the whole surroundings soon turned into a scene of cursing against Brother Nan.
“Sometimes, it’s easier to kill a fellow villager.” Huo Yuhao said calmly, “Have you ever thought about leaving here?”
The old miner lamented, "We have lived here for so many years, and there are not many other places that can accommodate us. Things are more expensive, but the income is not bad. As long as you are willing to save, you can still save a lot of money."
They truly are like that: finding joy in adversity, thinking positively, and trying their best to comfort themselves.
Huo Yuhao chuckled when he heard this: "The money earned in the mines should be spent in the mines. I want to take some home with me."
The middle-aged woman stared at Huo Yuhao for a long time before she hesitated and said, "Young man, I told you that you are not here to set up a stall. Listen to my advice. There is no future for you to stay here. You have offended the mine owner's people, so you'd better leave as soon as possible."
Huo Yuhao smiled slightly: "Auntie, don't worry, those people are nothing to be afraid of."
The middle-aged woman paused and continued to persuade him, "Young man, you have such a strong talent at such a young age. Staying here will only bury you. With your ability, why come to this broken mining area when you can stay in Mingdu?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “Auntie, on the contrary, if nothing unexpected happens, this mining area will soon become a gold mine that everyone wants.”
His words did not arouse excitement among the people around him. On the contrary, everyone's face changed when they heard these words.
Huo Yuhao immediately noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
There is a story here, these people must know something.
"Ma'am, do you know anything?"
"No, we know nothing."
The middle-aged woman waved her hands hurriedly.
Huo Yuhao was silent for a moment, then looked at another young miner who was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
"Brother, do you know anything?"
“I don’t know, I don’t know.” The young miner shook his head hurriedly, “I don’t know anything about the Mithril Mine.”
Huo Yuhao: "..."
Everyone cast angry looks at the young miner. The young miner quickly covered his mouth, realizing that he had said the wrong thing, his face full of shame.
He didn't know why he blurted out the secret by mistake. It was as if there was an invisible force that made him answer the other person's question subconsciously.
Huo Yuhao frowned and warned, “Auntie, there is nothing to hide. It is impossible for such important news to go unnoticed just because you don’t want to tell others. Isn’t that why I came here?”
"Besides, you can't keep mithril. Once a large amount of mithril appears on the black market, it will be easy to trace it back to the southeast mining area. When the metal detectors are used to scan it, no mines can be hidden underground."
The old miner sighed deeply and said, "Young man, you misunderstood us."
"We only know how to mine, and we don't know how to refine metals. We don't want outsiders to know about the mithril mine. We don't want to take the mithril mine for ourselves."
Huo Yuhao frowned and asked, "Then why did you hide it?"
The old miner sighed again: "We only know that once the news of such a precious rare metal mine spreads, it will definitely attract competition from other forces."
"No matter who the new owner of this mining area is, they will not allow us to continue mining here. Even if they hire miners, they will only hire local people from Mingdu."
"We have no choice but to leave this mining area. But where can we go after leaving this mining area?"
His dark face looked even more tragic, and his black beard kept trembling.
"We don't have any special abilities. We just hope that the news about the mithril mine is fake. We can dig here for a few more years and save more money."
Huo Yuhao fell silent after hearing this.
His first reaction was to think that everyone concealed the truth because they coveted the priceless mithril mine. He was extremely surprised by the real reason given by the old miner and felt a little heavy.
After a long while, Huo Yuhao said calmly, “Thank you, uncle and aunt. I understand it now.”
As he spoke, he packed up his grill and stall, gestured to those beside him, and Bingdi carried Tianmeng and Xuedi Huo Qiuer followed him and left.
The miners and women just watched him leave, no one said a word, perhaps they just thought he was sent by some powerful force to find out the information about the mithril mine.
Sighs were heard one after another. They seemed to have seen the struggle among various powers for the mithril mine, and they, the immigrant miners, were forced to be displaced.
After so many years in the mining area, most of them have saved some money, but what they fear more is that the homes they are used to will be destroyed and they don’t know where to go.
Should he continue to stay in the Sun-Moon Empire and be ostracized? Or should he return to the Star Luo Empire?
Huo Yuhao and Huo Qiuer were walking side by side on the street. Tian Meng and the Ice and Snow Emperors had already returned to the sea of consciousness.
Tian Meng had been crying in the sea of consciousness while hugging Bingdi's legs. The fish-grilling time that had finally come was over in a flash and it was not satisfying at all.
Huo Yuhao recalled the words of the red-haired burly man, his mind full of questions.
The mine owner Ding he mentioned should be Ding Yi, the largest mine owner in the mining area mentioned by Pingfan League. However, it seems that mine owner Ding does not care much about this mining area that is on the verge of depletion. He actually left it all to his subordinates to take care of.
That Brother Nan has become the local tyrant of this immigrant community, relying on his power to bully his fellow villagers.
But Huo Yuhao was very curious, why did the mine owner Ding say that he would hand over the mine to Brother Nan? Did he have no other subordinates and was going to hand it over to a foreigner?
"You always have the greatest compassion for the weak and never refuse to integrate with them." Huo Qiu'er's tone sounded like praise, but more like teasing, "You really have an inexplicable obsession with setting up a stall to sell barbecue."
Huo Yuhao said calmly, “Peddlers and hawkers, pulling carts and selling pulp, are professions that have existed since ancient times. Just like the miners in Shipenghuiyou, they rely on their own labor to exchange for fair rewards. I know that the universe is vast, but I still pity the green grass and trees. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this.”
He slowly raised his head and faced the direction of a rather grand restaurant that he had detected through his spiritual detection. This should be the expensive tavern that the miners had mentioned.
"Next, I'm going to grab market share." Huo Yuhao smiled slightly, "Do you want to see what business war is like?"
Huo Qiuer was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are you sure you're talking about a business war?"
Chapter 446 I don’t eat beef
There are mostly low-rise houses next to the immigrant community, and most of the people living in them are miners. There is a market not far from the residential area. There are no mobile vendors in the community. If the residents want to buy food, clothing and daily necessities, they can only go to this market.
Among ordinary people, the income of miners is definitely very high, but some people are eyeing the coins in their pockets. As long as you buy things in the market here, the price is not cheap at all.
Of course, there is no wall around this mining area, and those immigrants can choose to leave and go to other areas of Mingdu to make a living. However, on the one hand, they will be excluded in Mingdu, and on the other hand, they will not be able to find such good jobs anywhere else.
After much thought, I decided to stay here. As long as I can be patient and live frugally, I can still save a lot of money.
In the very middle of the market there is a restaurant with the most outstanding decoration, which naturally occupies the largest area. There are many diners inside, most of whom are local miners and their families.
They sat at the dining table in groups of three or four. There were only a few dishes on each table, and most of them were vegetarian.
Only occasionally there were a few tables with children, and they would order a small plate of meat dishes. The mother would distressedly put the meat dishes into her husband's bowl, and the husband would not dare to eat more, so he would also put the meat dishes into the children's bowl and keep eating the rice in the bowl.
Next to them sat another younger miner, staring at the meat on their table and swallowing his saliva.
Each table is extremely economical, but the air in the restaurant is filled with the rich aroma of meat.
On one side of the lobby, there is a huge wooden barrel filled with stewed beef, from which emanates the rich aroma of the stew.
Two burly men were sitting next to the wooden barrel. They each took out a palm-sized piece of well-cooked beef from the barrel, blew on the hot air, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and put them into their mouths.
The tempting aroma of the beef is very easy to chew. As soon as you put it in your mouth, the full aroma will be exhaled from your mouth through your nose, leaving your mind with the most pleasant enjoyment in the world.
"Um……"
A big man hummed with satisfaction as he ate. He ate with relish again, and in just a few bites, the palm-sized beef was all gone.
He was still not satisfied, so he took out the second piece from the barrel and continued to devour it.
When other people in the cafeteria saw him eating beef from afar, their mouths watered and they also wanted to have a bite, but they held back.
Another big man laughed and shouted to the cafeteria while eating, "The best braised beef in soy sauce really needs to be eaten in big mouthfuls to enjoy it."
"Brothers, you've been working hard underground all day, so don't treat yourselves badly when it comes to food. Why are you being so stingy? Just eat when you want to."
After his persuasion, the young miner's throat bulged again, and he was obviously eager to have a plate of braised beef in soy sauce.
A middle-aged miner nearby advised: "Young man, don't waste that money. They rip you off so ruthlessly here. You might as well save the money."
His dissuasion seemed to work. The young miner just nodded, but his eyes still remained on the wooden barrel containing beef.
The big man who was eating beef continued to shout leisurely: "You can't take it with you when you are born, and you can't take it with you when you die. What's the point of keeping so much money? Only what you eat is yours. If you can't even bear to eat a mouthful of meat, are you still a man?"
The young miner couldn't bear it any longer and left his seat to walk over there.
The middle-aged miner stopped trying to persuade him and just sighed. Of course, he also wanted to have a bite of the delicious braised beef and drink a bottle of strong liquor happily.
After a day of mining, the physical fatigue urgently needs to be relieved by offering some food to the stomach.
He earned a lot of money, but he had a wife and children to support. He couldn't treat himself to food and drink like the young miner. There was a hint of envy in his eyes when he looked at the other person.
Seeing the young miner walking towards him, the big man who was shouting couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
The young miner looked at the steaming barrel and asked, swallowing his saliva, "How much is the braised beef?"
The big man bared his teeth and said, "One portion is two taels, one silver soul coin per portion."
After hearing the price, the young miner was stunned and asked in surprise: "One... one Silver Soul Coin? Why is it so expensive?"
His current salary is not high, only about two Gintama coins a day. Obviously, a serving of braised beef at one Gintama coin is too expensive for him.
The other big man snorted coldly upon hearing this and glared at the young miner.
"Why is it so expensive? It's expensive there, and the price has been this high for many years."
The young miner was so stunned by his glare that he stood still and dared not speak.
"That's right, don't talk nonsense with your eyes open. Besides, our braised beef is not just stewed randomly. One portion is only one Gintama coin, what a good deal."
The two big men sang in unison, relying on their own imposing manner to suppress the young miner so that he dared not reply.
While he was stunned, the big man on his left had already fished out a large piece of braised beef from the wooden barrel, put it on a plate, and threw it on the table.