Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

After returning to the inn after dinner, Hua Xi was idly playing with her tortoise. Xu Xian glanced at the tortoise, which looked utterly lifeless as it rolled around with Hua Xi, and sighed, feeling a little sorry for it.

Hua Xi ran over giggling, "Brother, tell me a story!"

Xu first picked her up and carried her to the bed. "Today we'll talk about Diao Chan's seven entries into the Land of Light, her defeat of Ultraman Tiga, and her capture of Zero..."

...

The next morning, Xu Xian and Yang Xu went to the Inspection Department again, where Wang Yanni had already prepared nearly three years' worth of Han Tie shipment records.

Each month's order has multiple layers of signatures, from the ironmaking department's shipment all the way to the destination for inspection. Each step has someone signing and affixing their seal, leaving no loopholes. Finally, a copy of the order is returned to us to indicate that the goods have been received correctly.

Seeing that Xu Xian had stopped looking at the list, Wang Yanni spoke up from the side, "What did you see?"

"Flawless."

Xu Xian chuckled lightly, "That makes sense. If this doesn't match up, someone will definitely hold them accountable, so this book can't possibly be wrong."

Yang Xu frowned deeply. "Tsk... So we're going in the wrong direction? It wasn't the Cold Iron that was stolen?"

Xu Xian shook his head, holding the Eight-Sided Sword in his hand. "Just because this side is fine doesn't mean the other part is fine. What if there's a shortage of cold iron here?"

...

Xu Xian and Yang Xu, along with six Black Cavalry Guards, rode their horses toward the Cold Iron Mine in the north of the city.

The mine manager, surnamed Ma, was a large, fat man with a face full of scars. He wore clothes made of better material than Xu Xian, and had two gold rings on his fingers.

He bowed and scraped as he ushered the inspectors inside, his face beaming with smiles.

"Gentlemen, you have come from afar! I am so sorry for not greeting you properly! Please, please, have a seat inside! I'll have someone make some tea!"

"No need for tea."

Xu Xian hung the riding crop on the saddle. "Are you in charge? I have something to ask you."

Fatty Ma's smile froze for a moment.

"Manager Liu isn't at the mine today; he went into town early this morning. Would you mind waiting a moment while I send someone to fetch him?"

"Then let's go down into the mine and take a look."

"The mine is dirty and stuffy; it's not a place for adults... Why don't you rest in the communal room and have a cup of tea..."

Yang Xu took a step forward and slammed his heavy sword into the ground.

"Tsk... We're here to investigate a case, not to have tea. If you keep stalling, I'll assume you're hiding something and we'll take you back in handcuffs for a couple of days of questioning!"

Sweat beaded on Fatty Ma's forehead as he repeatedly said he would lead the way, trotting ahead and guiding Xu Xian and the others toward the mine entrance.

The mine was dark and damp, and the tunnels were so narrow that only one person could pass by bending over.

The air was thick with the smell of mineral dust and sweat; every breath felt like chewing sand.

Xu Xian walked in with his back bent, his feet stepping on a muddy mixture of broken ore and muddy water, with water droplets falling from above and hitting his neck from time to time.

The miners were shirtless, their backs covered with layers of old and new scars from the ore, some still bleeding.

  

Their arms were so thin that you could see the outline of the bones, but their hands were unusually large, their knuckles were deformed, and their fingernails were filled with black mineral powder that could never be washed off.

Xu stopped an old miner who was loading ore onto a mine cart.

The old miner looked to be in his sixties, his back was hunched, and he walked with a limp.

Xu Xian took out his water pouch from his pocket and handed it to him. The old miner hesitated for a moment, then took it, drank a sip, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and handed the water pouch back.

"Old man, how much ore can you mine in a day? How are the wages calculated?"

The old miner held up two fingers. "About two hundred jin. It's paid by the jin. One jin of ore is worth one wen. The mine deducts half for food and lodging, so I get one hundred wen."

One hundred coins.

Xu Xian recalled passing by a steamed bun shop in Qingzhou City yesterday, whose sign read "Meat buns are three coins each".

One hundred coins can buy thirty meat buns.

This old miner digs out 200 jin of ore a day, which is worth 30 meat buns.

Yang Xu pressed for more information.

"What are the working conditions like at the mine?"

The old miner was silent for a moment, then lifted his shirt to reveal an old, repulsive scar on his chest that ran from his collarbone down to his ribs.

"I was hit by a landslide last year, which broke three of my ribs. I lay in the workers' shed for half a month. The mine didn't pay me a penny in compensation, and I was sent back to work before my injuries had healed."

"Five people died the year before last, and each person was compensated with five taels of silver. Heh heh... Five taels of silver isn't even enough to buy a coffin. We all signed death contracts, so if we died, we deserved it; if we got hurt, we just had to accept our bad luck."

Xu Xian handed his water bag to the old miner and patted him on the shoulder.

"How much can the mine produce in a month?"

...

When he came out of the mine, the light was so bright that he couldn't open his eyes. Xu Xian stood at the mine entrance for a while, squinting to adjust to the light.

Yang Xu followed from behind, patted the mineral dust off his shoulder, and handed him a water pouch. Xu took a sip and spat the saliva mixed with mineral dust from his mouth onto the ground.

Fatty Ma came running over, "Thank you for your hard work, adults. I had the kitchen prepare a meal, all local specialties from Qingzhou..."

"No need."

Xu handed the water bag to Yang Xu, saying, "We can eat with the miners in the work shed."

The shed was a large, open-plank bed made of wood planks and tarpaulin, with drafts coming from all sides.

The miners squatted on the ground, eating their bowls of brown rice with pickled vegetables.

The brown rice was mixed with bran, so it made a gritty sound when chewed, and the pickled vegetables were sandy and gritty.

Yang Xu took a couple of bites, his brows furrowing in a frown. One of the black-clad guards took a bite of pickled vegetables, spat out a mouthful of sand, and then spat it onto the ground.

Xu took a couple of bites, then looked up at a young miner, about ten years old, who was squatting next to him. The boy was wolfing down his food, and even though the bowl was empty, he was still scraping it with his fingers.

Xu squatted down next to the young miner, pushed his bowl towards him, and asked, "What's your name? How old are you?"

The young miner looked at Xu Xian's bowl, then at Xu Xian, and timidly took the bowl. "My name is Shi Tou, and I'm eleven years old."

Xu paused for a moment.

Eleven years old.

He had witnessed many tragedies in his past and present lives, but every time he faced a child, he still felt as if something was pressing down on his chest.

Where are your parents?

"My father is gone. He died in a landslide last month."

Stone held his rice bowl, his voice as calm as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"If my mother is sick in bed and I don't work, my sister will starve to death."

Xu Xian took the chopsticks from Shi Tou's hand and pushed his own bowl in front of him.

"Eat up, there's more if you're not full."

He stood up, walked to the well, looked at the gray sky outside, and didn't say a word.

Yang Xu walked to his side,

"You know... that's just how the world is. The rules here are set by the imperial court, and we can't do anything about them. But I still want to do what I can to give ordinary people a place to voice their grievances and seek help, so I joined the Inspection Bureau..."

"When I was little, my family was neither rich nor poor, we were alright. We ate candied hawthorns every day. When I was ten, my father..."

Yang Xu smiled. "Never mind, I won't say anything more..."

Xu Xian glanced at Yang Xu for a few moments, then turned to Fatty Ma and asked, "Has Steward Liu arrived yet?"

"We're here! They're waiting for us at the public housing!"