Chapter 191: Mine

Wearing safety helmets, they entered the mining area. The place seemed a bit deserted due to the holiday, and no production was taking place. Only a few people were on security duty, which made it convenient for Chu Ge and his team to investigate.

It was only when they were inside and listening to Cai Zhijian’s explanation that Chu Ge learned that Old Zhu wasn’t a good person either, at least not in his early years.

Because there was actually no real purple clay mine in Nanjiang. Old Zhu had made his fortune by passing off some kind of nonsense sandy soil as high-quality purple clay…

In other words, even the large teapot Chu Ge used to brew tea was not made of good material. Both Chu Ge and his girlfriend clenched their fists, contemplating giving Old Zhu a beating when they returned.

“Although it’s not genuine purple clay, it still has what’s needed,” Cai Zhijian pointed at the sandstone profile and explained, “Look at this, the top layer is the surface soil, then the yellow stone layer, below that is the vermilion clay, further down is cotton-head armor clay, and then green clay, and here you see the red clay layer…”

Chu Ge’s eyes were spinning, but Qiu Wuji kept nodding in understanding.

Having seen many things in her life, the ancient lady couldn’t blame Chu Ge for not understanding; after all, he was just an indoor guy. She thought mining was about taking out chunks of minerals by the cartful, but now she realized that the rocks were divided into so many layers, each with its own use.

How the hell could an ordinary person recognize which kind of clay was good? They had no choice but to rely on the merchants’ boasting.

“So, while it may not be genuine purple clay, it still serves its purpose,” Cai Zhijian smiled and said, “As for whether it has any health benefits… well, hehe, I can’t say for sure about real purple clay, but our imitation purple clay, that’s for sure.”

Indeed, thanks to the spiritual energy nourishment, when it came to health benefits, the value of Old Zhu’s fake stuff was now truly immeasurable, even if the content was very diluted after making the teapots.

The main reason they didn’t sell it was that the value had become incalculable. If they were to sell it as an ordinary mineral, they wouldn’t be willing to part with it, no matter how much they were offered…

As the three continued talking, the cable car had already descended to the bottom of the mine. Actually, the mine wasn’t very deep compared to those in the coal industry; you could still see daylight when you looked up… but it still had its mysteries.

Turning into the mine tunnel, the dim lights of the mining lamps and the chilling and eerie atmosphere gradually surrounded them, making their footsteps in this environment sound like something out of a ghost movie.

Cai Zhijian’s smile became somewhat forced. “Well, um… not many people come down here to see, so it feels a bit, you know…”

“Don’t worry,” Chu Ge patted his shoulder nonchalantly. “If there’s a real ghost, I’ll knock out the guy and send him to you, and as for the girl… uh… I’ll send her to Qiuqiu to be her maid.”

Cai Zhijian felt a bit helpless. “Regardless of gender, just keep them to yourself… We’re almost there.”

The mine shaft wasn’t very deep, and they reached the bottom after not walking too far.

Chu Ge jumped directly down and groped around for a while. “Is this the bottom?”

“That’s right. Based on the current mining progress, this is the bottom. Of course, there are multiple mine pits, and this is the deepest one. If you want to see the others, we can tour them later.”

Chu Ge chuckled, “Cai Zhijian, even though you don’t have any supernatural abilities, you seem quite interested in this, don’t you?”

Cai Zhijian smiled, “It’s our own mine after all, of course I am concerned about it. Can I be as carefree as little Mengmeng? Besides, who knows, maybe I could gain some supernatural powers from this…”

“That’s true. You have a point.” Chu Ge laughed and didn’t say much. He squatted at the bottom of the pit, gently pressing the ground with his hand, trying to sense if there were any anomalies deeper down.

Qiu Wuji had already been doing the same. Her delicate hand rested on the pit floor, her eyes flashing with a faint light, evidently using all her efforts to activate her spiritual awareness, covering an unknown area beneath the ground.

The result of their investigation could be said to have found something, as this pit had been excavated further down at some point, but it was filled back up for unknown reasons.

On the other hand, it could also be said that they found nothing conclusive. All the rock layers in this entire area contained a faint spiritual energy, but there was no particularly dense concentration, nor was there a clear and definitive source. It seemed as if the area had been like this since the beginning of time. If there was a source, it could only be deeper and farther than they had explored.

This was normal; if it were easy to find, someone would have found it until now.

“Cai Zhijian …” Chu Ge suddenly asked, “When did you discover that the minerals here were special?”

“Since my father-in-law started making purple clay teapots himself, I guess?” Cai Zhijian replied, “Before that, we only sold the mined clay and provided it to others for making crafted teapots. Later, we found that the teapots others sold had a high rate of repeat customers, as if they had health benefits. My father-in-law felt like he was at a disadvantage, so he stopped the agreement with them and started making teapots himself…”

Chu Ge pondered, “Hmm… about five or six years ago?”

Cai Zhijian thought for a moment, “Yes, it should be around five or six years ago. At that time, I either didn’t know Mengmeng or had just met her. Anyway, that’s what I heard later.”

Five or six years, it sounded like a casual time frame, but Chu Ge couldn’t help but think of Moon Shadow. She said her ability awakened about five or six years ago. And around that time, his own parents started getting busier. It felt like something must have happened in those one or two years. He would ask Zhong Yi about it later or just ask his mother directly.

“By the way, doesn’t Old Zhu plan to explore deeper into the mine himself?”

Cai Zhijian smiled, “Geologists from the government once came to survey, and they dug several tens of meters down this pit, but they didn’t find anything significant, so they filled it back up. My father-in-law thought that if the authorities couldn’t figure it out, it would be even less reliable for him to research this stuff himself. So, he decided to just stick to mining and making money.”

Chu Ge nodded and suddenly smiled, “I have a somewhat embarrassing request…”

Cai Zhijian asked, “Don’t be shy, go ahead and tell me.”

“Could you look away for a moment? We’re going to do something that’s not very appropriate for others to see…”

Cai Zhijian widened his eyes in surprise, looking at Chu Ge and then at Qiu Wuji, “You guys… Can you still have fun in a situation like this?”

Qiu Wuji’s eyes were even wider. What on earth was going on in the minds of these men?

Chu Ge blushed a little as he hugged her waist, “Yes, our hobbies are a bit peculiar…”

Cai Zhijian laughed helplessly and stepped outside.

Qiu Wuji watched Cai Zhijian leave the mine without any expression, and once she heard the sound of the cable car going up, she secretly transmitted her thoughts to Chu Ge, “Do you want to use earth manipulation to go down and take a look?”

Chu Ge also replied via mind transmission, “Yeah, the pit was already excavated, so it’s relatively loose. Can I learn earth manipulation?”

“You’re not quite ready to learn it on the spot. Let me go down and take a look; it’s the same thing,” Qiu Wuji said. “Why did you want to distract him and make him leave?”

“Wow, you’re so smart now, Qiuqiu. You can tell what I’m thinking with just a few words.”

“Of course! Don’t tell me your hobby is really that special and you want to do something here!”

Chu Ge secretly looked at the Cloud Horizon Mountain. Actually, he was a bit curious about it.

Qiu Wuji kicked him, “Answer my question!”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s just that this guy clearly has supernatural abilities, but he’s been pretending to be ordinary. Naturally, I’m a bit cautious about him. Besides, if we can avoid showing our abilities to others, we should. Earth manipulation is a new skill; let’s not show it to him.”

“Do you feel it’s not just for that reason?”

“Don’t you think he knows quite a lot about the mining industry for someone from a film and television company? Moreover, he has been living apart from Mengmeng for a long time. When did he ever manage a mine?” Qiu Wuji narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Curiosity is the most dangerous thing. If we don’t let him see, he’ll be even more curious,” Chu Ge continued via mind transmission. “If we can find out how he’s eavesdropping on our actions or what ability he’s using to spy on us, I feel that the reward might be just as significant as finding the source of the spiritual energy in the minerals.”

Qiu Wuji sighed. Writers are really devious.

She stopped using mind transmission and spoke normally, “I’m going down. You stay here and watch over.”

Chu Ge nodded, but before he could say anything, everything blurred before him, and Qiu Wuji had already vanished into the ground.

Chu Ge silently sensed the spiritual fluctuations around him, especially those coming from Cai Zhijian on top of the pit. But he gained nothing; there were no fluctuations at all.

He frowned tightly. Could it be that he was overthinking things?