Chapter 2021: Gao Yang's excitement, an unexpected joy

"Yes!"

Li Laoshi had long heard of Gao Yang's prestige and respected him immensely, but he also feared him like a tiger, a trace of deep fear in his eyes.

When he heard Gao Yang's words, he hurriedly pulled a heavy, pitch-black stone from his pocket.

He said, his whole body trembling, "My lord, this is the object."

Gao Yang looked at the black stone Li Laoshi pulled out, and his pupils instantly constricted.

He stepped forward quickly, took it in his hand, and felt its weight. The texture was fine and dense, with a special oily luster and a cold touch.

This thing...

The expression on Gao Yang's face had shifted from watching Gao Changwen's joke to one of solemnity.

"Brother, what's so good about this piece of junk? Let's hurry and find a river so this younger brother can wash up; it's almost dried onto my hands." Gao Changwen urged.

"No rush."

"Chen Sheng, you take Changwen to find one."

Gao Yang said without turning his head.

Chu Qingluan and Shangguan Wan'er understood Gao Yang extremely well. Seeing the expression on his face, they sensed something was wrong.

The two looked at each other, their faces filled with curiosity.

Gao Yang looked at Li Laoshi's cowering face and said coldly, "I ask, you answer. Do not hide even the slightest bit, otherwise... I will wipe out your whole family. Do you understand?"

"What is your name? Where did this object come from?"

Li Laoshi was almost scared to the point of wetting himself. Upon hearing Gao Yang's questioning, he hurriedly began to speak like beans spilling from a container, not daring to hide anything.

"My lord, this small one... this small one is named Li Laoshi, a tenant farmer from Li Family Village at the foot of the mountain. This... this is a plague stone, also called a ghost stone. This small one truly couldn't survive, so... so I dared to steal a little..."

Gao Yang's fingertips rubbed against the black stone, his eyes becoming increasingly deep, "Tell me in detail, why is this object called a plague stone, a ghost stone? And why did you steal it?"

Li Laoshi dared not hide anything and said with a sobbing voice: "Replying to my lord! This small one picked it up only because this stone can burn. Once lit, the fire is extremely vigorous, much more durable than firewood!"

"But... but the smoke it burns is poisonous. If you inhale too much, you get dizzy and have no strength. Old Five Chen's family in the west mountain hollow of our village burned this to keep warm with the doors and windows closed last year, and the next day... the family of five, all gone!"

"The way they died was terrifying, their faces were purple and blue, like... like ghosts. It was too scary!"

"Every year, people die from burning this, so gradually, everyone spread the word, saying this is a stone sent by the Plague God, a ghost stone! Let alone burning it, you shouldn't even touch it!"

As he spoke, Li Laoshi caught his breath and continued indignantly: "But... but this year, the Heavens are not looking out for us, it's cold so strangely!"

"It's barely winter, and it's already so cold. Now everyone knows that this winter will likely be very hard to endure. What's even more hateful is that those unscrupulous merchants took the opportunity to raise prices, and the prices of firewood and charcoal have been skyrocketing!"

"Now firewood... firewood has risen to fifteen wen per catty, already doubled, and top-quality charcoal is fifty wen per catty, and it's still rising crazily!"

"With these sky-high prices, us poor wretches couldn't afford it even if we squeezed the oil out of our bones! But this small one has an eighty-year-old mother, a young child, and a wife at home. This small one is afraid they will get frostbite this winter, and just enduring it... enduring it means death!"

"Although this ghost stone is poisonous, some people have burned it and didn't die, so this small one thought to pick some up, and when it became truly unbearable, burn a little at night with the doors and windows tightly closed to keep a warm breath for my mother and child. Who knew my luck was bad, and I happened to... happened to be caught red-handed by the patrolling Steward Liu..."

After Li Laoshi finished speaking, he kowtowed in fear again.

After hearing these words, Gao Yang's pupils suddenly constricted.

He gripped the black stone in his hand again, and an indescribable sense of excitement swept through his whole body!

These characteristics, this description, plus this touch... it was definitely coal! And it was high-quality, open-pit coal buried extremely shallowly and very easy to mine!

"I'll give you two taels of silver, lead me to the place where you picked up these ghost stones immediately!" Gao Yang took a deep breath and said directly.

Li Laoshi was shocked.

What?

Not killing him, and giving him money?

Is there such a great thing in the world?

Li Laoshi, you are truly lucky!

Two taels of silver, that's quite a lot.

"My lord, this small one will lead the way, will lead the way!"

Li Laoshi hurriedly climbed up and led the way very diligently.

Gao Yang followed closely behind.

As he moved, Shangguan Wan'er and Chu Qingluan all followed.

Not long after.

Li Laoshi led Gao Yang to the foot of a barren hill. He pointed to this bald hill with sparse vegetation, where large black rock layers and black stones scattered everywhere could be seen on the exposed mountain body.

"My lord, we are here!"

"Look at this mountain, it's pitch black, so it's called Black Wind Mountain. You can find this kind of stone just by digging anywhere at the foot of the mountain. I heard that if you go inside, there are even more black stones in the mountain gullies and on the cliff walls. This is where this small one picked them up."

A huge ecstasy surged in Gao Yang's eyes as he stared at the barren hill before him. That look was like a hungry wolf seeing a plump lamb, even more intense than discovering a mountain of gold!

If Li Laoshi was not exaggerating.

Then this mountain before him was not a barren hill at all, but a huge, open-pit coal mine with considerable reserves and easy to mine!

"Take me up the mountain. If it is truly as you say, I will reward you with another three taels of silver!" Gao Yang suppressed the excitement in his heart and said.

Upon hearing this, Li Laoshi was both shocked and happy, thanking him repeatedly.

Very quickly, the group ascended Black Wind Mountain.

When he saw the scene before him, the last trace of doubt in Gao Yang's heart vanished.

The entire mountain body was covered in an unhealthy grayish-black tone, with sparse vegetation, and only scattered, low, drought-resistant weeds growing stubbornly.

On the hillside, large areas of exposed black rock layers were like the scales of a giant beast, shining with an oily luster in the sun. Due to rain erosion and human excavation, many shallow gullies and pits had gradually formed, in which thick layers of pitch-black, shiny, varying-sized coal fragments and fine coal dust were piled up.

Gao Yang took a deep breath and could clearly smell a faint, sulfur-like mineral scent permeating the air.

This didn't need deep digging at all!