Chapter 37: The Mountain and the Woman
Chapter 37: The Mountain and the Woman
Wang Cheng led Yu Meilin and Li Zian into a prefabricated panel house. The room was tidied up neatly, with a simple wooden bed about one and a half meters wide. It would be a bit cramped for two people to sleep on. There was also a small square table and two plastic stools, all looking quite worn out.
After taking one look inside, Yu Meilin frowned.
Since she was little, when had she ever lived in such a room?
Wang Cheng said awkwardly, “General Manager Yu, conditions at the mine are tough. Please make do for now.”
Yu Meilin asked, “Is there only one room?”
Wang Cheng glanced at Yu Meilin, then at Li Zian. “You two…”
You’re a married couple, do you really need two rooms?
He didn’t say it out loud.
“Forget it, we’ll stay here,” Yu Meilin said, checking the watch on her wrist. “Gather all the mine staff. I want to hold a meeting in half an hour.”
“Okay, I’ll go right now.” Wang Cheng left.
“You take the bed tonight,” Yu Meilin said.
Li Zian sighed inwardly. There’s only this small bed in the room. You’re a woman, and I’m a grown man. How could I possibly take the bed? There’s still that chair over there. I can manage on the chair for one night.
“I’m going to the office tonight. I need to understand the situation of this mine thoroughly. I won’t be coming back to sleep,” Yu Meilin said.
A bitter smile appeared on Li Zian’s lips. Was she worried he might force himself on her, so she didn’t dare stay in the same room with him?
Even though they were a married couple in name only, couldn’t they at least pretend in front of others?
That look Wang Cheng gave him earlier was very awkward.
After a moment of silence, Yu Meilin said, “I’m sorry.”
Li Zian was slightly startled. “Why are you suddenly apologizing to me?”
“Well…” Yu Meilin hesitated.
Li Zian just looked at her quietly.
“You’re a man. I know you have needs, but…” Yu Meilin paused for two seconds before continuing, “I’m not ready yet.”
Li Zian felt caught off guard. He never expected her to say something like that.
He had originally felt very uncomfortable inside, but after hearing this, his mood cleared up like the sky after rain.
He actually understood her.
She was such a proud and strong-willed woman. Back then, due to family reasons, she married him, took advantage of his drunken state to sleep with him, and gave birth to Li Xiaomei. For her, that was already the greatest price she could pay.
There were no marital feelings between them. By saying this now, she was telling him that if he wanted to have a relationship with her, it would have to be based on them developing feelings and her being ready.
“What… do you say?” Yu Meilin actually seemed a bit nervous.
Li Zian smiled. “I understand you. Give me an account number, and I’ll transfer the money to you.”
This kind of conversation was awkward no matter how they discussed it, so it was better not to talk about it.
Yu Meilin obviously didn’t want to discuss it either. She immediately took a bank card from her briefcase and handed it to Li Zian.
Li Zian took out his mobile phone and started operating it.
Yu Meilin said, “Your account isn’t a corporate account, so you can only transfer up to one million per day. Transfer one million to me today, and another one million first thing tomorrow morning. During the meeting, I’ll have Wang Cheng make a trip to the bank to inform them, so we can withdraw the money tomorrow morning.”
“I really didn’t know there was a limit if you hadn’t told me. And you need to inform the bank before withdrawing money?” Li Zian said, comparing and entering the account number digit by digit.
“I didn’t know before that you were so good at making money. Just by reading faces and fortune-telling, you easily earned two million.”
Li Zian said with a smile, “Do you think I overcharge? They gave it voluntarily.”
“I know you’re capable. Check carefully as you enter it, don’t mistakenly send it to someone else’s account. This is life-saving money,” Yu Meilin reminded him.
Li Zian completed the transfer and returned the bank card to Yu Meilin. “I’ve set the payee. I won’t need this card next time. You keep it.”
“I’ll consider this money as a loan from you. I’ll pay you back later,” Yu Meilin said.
Li Zian looked at Yu Meilin, a bitter smile appearing on his lips. “Do we really have to be so clear about things between us?”
Yu Meilin avoided Li Zian’s gaze and turned to leave. “I’m going to the meeting. You can look around. I’ll come find you after the meeting.”
Li Zian nodded and watched her leave. He stayed in the room for a while, then also left, walking up the mountain along the mine road.
As he walked uphill, Li Zian saw many places that had been blasted, along with a few mine tunnels. However, those tunnels were all abandoned; some had collapsed, and others were overgrown with weeds.
Li Zian felt somewhat puzzled. Before Yu Meilin invested in this mine, she must have done research. And Wang Cheng also said earlier that instruments don’t lie, which means there must be a copper mine here. So why can’t they find the vein?
Before he knew it, he had climbed to the mountaintop. Jingua Village a few kilometers away was faintly visible, though somewhat blurry. The mining site at the foot of the mountain was also visible, but he couldn’t see any people. He didn’t know where Yu Meilin was holding the meeting with the mine staff.
Li Zian’s gaze scanned both near and far, from north to west, from west to south, from south to east. He looked in front and behind, observing the mountain’s shape and the direction of the mountain ranges, seeing where the rivers came from and where they went.
Feng Shui technique seemed like a possible solution. Because Feng Shui technique is also called Kanyu technique, which means geomancy. It involves observing landforms, balancing qi and yin-yang, searching for dragon veins and pinpointing acupoints, combined with the five elements, eight trigrams, heavenly stems, and earthly branches. A skilled Feng Shui master could figure out the situation of a place through geomancy.
However, the Great Sluggish Cauldron did not contain any sealed Feng Shui secrets. Medicine, Divination, Astrology, and Physiognomy were also unconventional and different from others.
“Ji Da didn’t pass down any Feng Shui secret methods to me. Presumably, such things didn’t exist during the Western Zhou period. Many things developed later. Or perhaps the old master thought geomancy was too low-level, so he didn’t seal it in the Great Sluggish Cauldron?” While observing the surrounding terrain, Li Zian pondered this question.
But he didn’t feel regretful either, because Feng Shui technique originally developed from Divination, Astrology, and Physiognomy. For him to study and learn Feng Shui would be like someone who knows how to make nuclear bombs learning to make firecrackers—there was no difficulty at all. Moreover, when he inherited Ji Da’s peerless skills, he made a vow: to combine Ji Da’s peerless skills with modern knowledge, carry them forward, and reach even greater heights.
This current situation was a perfect opportunity to train himself.
Li Zian calmed his mind and continued observing. He noticed this mountain was the tallest among the surrounding mountains, yet also the most barren. Only sparse Yun Di-specific cloud pines grew here and there, along with some weeds.
Copper is a heavy metal. The soil on this mountain contains copper elements, which is unfavorable for plant growth, hence its barrenness. However, having copper elements in the soil is different from mining copper ore. Mining requires veins. If you can’t find the vein, it’s useless.
Li Zian shifted his gaze to the river at the right foot of the mountain. The river flowed past the right side of the mine, circled around several mountain peaks, flowed into Jingua Village, and finally passed through the village, its end unseen. Looking down at the river from above, its shape was like a ribbon blown by the wind. The sunlight shone on it, dyeing the river water golden.
The scenery here was really beautiful.
He had seen everything worth seeing, but he still had no clue about where the vein was.
After some thought, an idea popped into Li Zian’s mind. “I wonder if I use the Anatomy Physiognomy Technique to read this mountain’s face, would I gain anything?”
No sooner said than done.
Li Zian held his breath, focused his spirit, and awakened the Great Sluggish Cauldron. Wisps of zhenqi gathered toward his eyes according to his will.
He couldn’t see it himself, but deep within his left and right eyes, faint green lights flickered. The phenomenon was like two green stars appearing in the dark night sky—mysterious and eerie.
With zhenqi entering his eyes, the scenes he saw became clearer, but he didn’t “anatomize” anything. The mountain remained a mountain, the water remained water. The location of the vein was still a complete mystery.
Li Zian persisted for about a minute. When his eyes felt hot and somewhat uncomfortable, he gave up. “After all, a mountain isn’t a person. The Anatomy Physiognomy Technique is a secret method for reading people’s faces, analyzing facial features to determine their fortunes and misfortunes. This mountain has no facial features, let alone fortunes or misfortunes. This method definitely won’t work.”
Among the physiognomy secret methods sealed by Ji Da in the Great Sluggish Cauldron, there was also Bone-Feeling Technique. After failing with the Anatomy Physiognomy Technique, he had no interest in even trying it. This mountain isn’t a person; where would he even touch?
Since physiognomy couldn’t be used, only Astrology and Divination remained.
It was afternoon now, so he couldn’t observe stars.
As for divination…
Li Zian stretched out a hand and said to himself, “Great Mountain, I’ll divine a hexagram for you. You come and draw randomly on my hand. I’ll tell you when to stop.”
The mountain didn’t respond.
Li Zian smiled wryly. He was amusing himself to relax, but he didn’t feel relaxed at all.
But just then, a voice suddenly came from behind him. “How did you know my name is Dashan?”
It was a woman’s voice.
Li Zian was startled and quickly turned around. Standing before him was a woman wearing Caotian Tribe attire, roughly in her early thirties. She had a round face, a full figure, and gave an impression of being sturdy and good-looking.
The woman held a small mountain hoe in her hand and carried a bamboo basket on her back. The basket contained some medicinal herbs, and she was looking at him with surprise in her eyes.
“You are…”
“I am Dashan. I just asked you, how did you know my name? And you want to tell my fortune?” the woman said.
Li Zian was stunned for a moment before he understood. He smiled and said, “So that’s it. Big sister, I wasn’t talking to you just now. I was talking to the great mountain.”
“But I am Dashan.”
Li Zian: “…”
Why did you have to pick this name of all names? And appear quietly behind me at this moment? You don’t need to steal the spotlight like this, do you?
“You said you’d tell my fortune. Why aren’t you saying anything now?” Dashan stared at Li Zian, looking him up and down.
Li Zian held back his laughter. “I was just talking to the great mountain beneath our feet, not to you.”
“Young man, are you sick? You talk to the mountain—can the mountain hear you?” Dashan’s eyes showed a trace of concern.
“Big sister, do you have medicine?” Li Zian couldn’t hold back and laughed.
Dashan shook her head. “Yes, I do. My husband is sick. I came up the mountain to gather some herbs. Look at the herbs in this basket. Whatever you want, I can give you some.”
Li Zian looked at her speechlessly.
Why was she so adorably dense?