Chapter 34 The Mystery of the Western Hills (Part Six)

Ling Wei and her group continued walking forward, with Qing Shu following slightly behind her, his pace seemingly a beat slower.

After walking a while, Ling Wei seemed to suddenly realize something. She didn't stop walking, but just turned her head slightly and glanced at Qing Shu out of the corner of her eye.

Qing Shu immediately understood, quickly took half a step closer, and said hesitantly in a low voice, "Your Highness, my water pouch... I just gave it to that person."

Ling Wei understood and replied, "It's just a water pouch. We'll get another one later."

Qing Shu's voice was even lower: "Yes... but that water pouch was hand-sewn by my mother when I left home."

Ling Wei simply raised her hand, her tone as usual: "Then go and get it back, and come back quickly."

"yes."

Qing Shu accepted the order, turned around and quickly turned back the way he came, his figure soon disappearing around the corner of the alley.

Seeing this, the accompanying officials slowed down, seemingly wanting to wait. Ling Wei, however, acted as if nothing was wrong, continuing her steps with even more steadiness than before. She casually asked where the other fork in the road led.

The officials had no choice but to focus their attention and hurriedly follow the explanation, not daring to be distracted by anything else.

Looking along the way, the main mine tunnels are interconnected. The further you go in, the more regular the traces of human excavation become. The miners are still busy in silence, and the supervisors stand at key points with their waist badges. Everything looks neat and orderly, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Upon reaching the end of this main road, a sealed rock wall appeared ahead, indicating that this section of the vein had been exhausted.

Ling Wei stopped and was listening to the official explain how to fill and reinforce the area to prevent collapse when she heard footsteps behind her.

Qing Shu returned, his breathing steady, holding that familiar leather water pouch in his hand.

Ling Wei turned around and asked casually, "Why did you take so long?"

Qing Shu reported, "That person was clutching the water bag and huddled in a corner, refusing to let go. I couldn't use force at the moment, and it took some effort to get it back."

Upon hearing this, the steward beside him immediately showed annoyance and blurted out, "This ungrateful fool! His Highness bestowing water is an immense favor, yet he dares to hoard it! This humble official will go immediately..."

"Alright," Ling Wei interrupted her. "I just praised you for your compassion for the poor and needy, so why are you turning around and arguing with someone who's not quite right in the head? Am I such an unkind person that I can't even spare a water pouch?"

Sweat beaded on the official's forehead as he bowed repeatedly, saying, "This humble official dares not! This humble official would never have meant that."

Ling Wei's tone softened slightly as she glanced at the officials before her. "Before I leave Fuling, I might recall this matter. If I do ask about this woman then..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was clear.

You must keep a close eye on that woman. If she loses even a single hair because of what happened today, it will be a slap in the face to this kind-hearted princess.

These words sounded light and casual, but they carried immense weight in the ears of the officials. They quickly agreed and assured the officials that they would not make things difficult for the fool.

Ling Wei said no more and turned to walk out of the mine: "I've seen enough for today, let's go back."

The return journey was also on horseback. Ta Xue seemed to sense that its master was in a different mood, and the sound of its hooves was more rapid than when it came. By the time it returned to the inn, the sun was already setting.

Ling Wei went straight back to the main courtyard, with Qing Shu following closely behind.

The door closed, shutting out the noise outside. Shen Zhilan was already waiting inside. Seeing her return, he silently handed her a cup of warm tea.

Ling Wei sat down at the table and drank half a cup of wine. Only then did the turbid air mixed with mineral dust in her throat subside a little. She asked Qing Shu to repeat everything she had seen at the mine that day, especially what the female worker named Ah Sha had said.

Shen Zhilan listened quietly, her expression unreadable, except that her fingers resting on her knees curled slightly when she heard those few sentences.

Qing Shu then reported on what she and Ling Wei had discovered after deliberately turning back, in a coordinated manner.

"When I returned, the woman was still curled up in the same spot, her eyes glazed over. I tried asking her a few other questions, but she didn't respond at all, only repeating the same few sentences over and over again."

Qing Shu continued, "I quickly explored several branch tunnels near the waste material tunnel. The tunnels were all shallow, and there were no obvious secret passages or signs of recent large-scale human activity."

The rock face was solid, with no fresh scratches... like 'rats had gnawed on it.'

No one spoke inside for a moment, except for the calls of a few returning birds that drifted past the window.

Qing Shu's investigation was not unexpected. If Sun Man dared to send her here, the places she could openly go must have been cleaned up.

The real problem lies hidden behind the facade of cleanliness.

Ling Wei stared at the half-empty teacup in her hand, the tea leaves slowly sinking to the bottom. She looked at it for a while before speaking as if to herself: "A rat, gnawing at its hole... It's not unusual to have rats in the mine, but what if this rat isn't a real rat?"

Qing Shu looked over, and Shen Zhilan also looked at her quietly.

Ling Wei unconsciously traced the rim of her glass with her fingertips, lost in thought: "What kind of person would be compared to a rat? Someone who hides in the light, someone who steals... someone who steals minerals. When she said 'gnawing here,' 'gnawing there,' was she implying that the illegal mining wasn't limited to just one place?"

As soon as she said this, her heart sank. If that were true, then the roots of Xishan were probably much more rotten than what was exposed.

She dipped her fingertip in tea, leaving a meaningless wet mark on the smooth tabletop, but her thoughts followed that mark: "And that phrase 'a shadow that cannot speak,' what kind of miner is called 'unable to speak'?"

Recalling what those constables said during their interrogation, they specifically targeted disabled men...

Her gaze fell on Shen Zhilan's calm profile, then shifted away. "Was he born mute, or became disabled later, or was he never even listed in the register? If he died or was injured, no one would say a word for him?"

Qing Shu's face tightened, and Shen Zhilan's lips pressed into a straight line.

“The rats diverted the water, letting it flow into unseen holes,” Ling Wei’s voice lowered. “There are many underground rivers at the foot of West Mountain. Changing its course is no small matter; it’s either out of necessity, or…”

Her eyes suddenly sharpened, like a spark igniting in the dark night. "Or perhaps, the modified waterway, or the path hidden along it, is itself a secret tunnel for transporting ore!"

As the thought crossed her mind, a chill ran down her spine.

If that's the case, those illegally mined ores are like water seeping into cracks in the ground; they'll be hard to find again.

“Sun Man can easily manage the mines that are on the surface, and he only shows us the ones that are visible.” Ling Wei leaned back in her chair, her eyes gleaming with a cold light. “But the rat trails in the shadows, once they existed, can’t be completely without leaving a trace. The shape of the mountains and the flow of water, the direction of the rock strata—these things can’t be faked.”

She remembered something and turned her gaze to Shen Zhilan: "I remember that the old files mentioned that the area around Xitou Village is low-lying and seems to be between several underground rivers?"

Shen Zhilan suddenly looked up. He hadn't expected that she had so quickly pieced together this information from those fragmented words.

Ling Wei was taken aback by his gaze. Shen Zhilan's eyes were different at this moment. It wasn't a sudden realization, but a kind of astonishment. A strange feeling flashed through her mind.

But doubts arose, only to be quickly suppressed.

Now is not the time to think about that.

Xitou Village, the village that was "completely destroyed by disaster," is probably not the end at all, but rather the beginning of all the dirty deeds.

She stood up and walked to the window. Dusk was falling heavily outside, and the direction of the western mountains was only a blurry, chaotic shadow.

She made up her mind: "Sun Man can hide the things on the ground, but what's underground... is another matter."

"Tonight, I'm going to the old site of Xitou Village. I want to see just how many holes those 'rats' have dug."

Qing Shu clasped his hands in a crisp gesture: "Your subordinate obeys."