"Hey, it's that room where we checked on Zhou Bocai, your maternal uncle used to live there back in the day."

  "How did you know?"

  "He told me last night." Zha Wenbin stuffed a bun into his mouth and asked me coldly, "Didn't he go find you last night?"

  I remembered, the one riding a donkey and waving at me, could it be... I choked on my bun, almost unable to breathe, and waved repeatedly: "No..."

  After dinner, we went to Zhuangyuan Village again. It happened that they were holding a funeral for the old man, who was the head of the Zhou family. We were outsiders, but it was good that there were many people visiting during the first month, so we didn't draw much attention. I heard that they also handled Zhou Bo's body on the same day, and nothing out of the ordinary happened.

  It was still the neighbor from last time, I bought two bottles of wine, a pack of cigarettes and a bag of sugar. Now it's already the first month (of the lunar year). That person was very polite and insisted on having us stay for lunch. His wife also saw that we didn't come empty-handed and her attitude improved a lot, she even slaughtered an old hen.

  After three rounds of drinks, it's time to open up and talk. Let Fatso handle this kind of thing, I'll just listen along with Cha Wenbin.

  "Big brother, you've lived here for most of your life. I'd like to ask you something. When the mine opposite was opened, did many people come to our place?"

  "Been here, troops ah that time, our country lacked energy, at that time all the troops came to open, our big yard was living with more than 30 people, a row of large beds, at that time busier than now."

  "Then I'll ask you personally, you must know him, your neighbor who lives next door, the father-in-law of Zhou Bo who died, are you familiar with him?"

  He put down his chopsticks and said: "You're talking about Lao Gua, of course I know him."

  As soon as I heard that there was a show, the nickname of my maternal uncle's father-in-law is called Old Gao. However, not many people know to call him by this name, it seems that this person is indeed reliable.

  He continued: "Isn't Lao Gua's son-in-law the one who was introduced when he opened the mine? Zhou Bo is indeed eloquent. At that time, Lao Gua's daughter was also quite pretty. Zhou Bo's father took a liking to her at first sight and often invited Lao Gua to his house. Who would have thought that both the son-in-law and the father-in-law would pass away one after another? Ah, what do you think he does?"

  "This old man is my uncle's brother-in-law." I explained: "These two days, he has been appearing in my dreams, saying that there used to be a good friend here and asking me to come visit. He said the friend's name was Zhou Youfa, isn't that you?"

  "Really?" The man's two small mustaches at the corners of his mouth both curled up.

  "That's natural, or else why would he come again today? He said that you treated him well back then." Actually, I had already seen his name on the village entrance notice board, but he really believed it.

  That week, Fa was very happy and poured himself another cup of wine. He took a sip and said, "Hey, this old fellow really has a heart, not bad, not bad, it's worth it that I didn't save him in vain back then."

  "Did you save him too?" asked Fatso, taking over the conversation.

  "That's natural, just like in those years..."

  This wine talk, once started, that week had a lot to say and never ended. One sentence thought back then was always told to us until dusk, but this story is not bad.

  In the 1940s, my maternal uncle was captured by the Nationalist Party and taken to Tongchuan, Shaanxi as a laborer. At that time, he worked in coal mining for Yan Xishan's troops. After liberation, he returned to northwest Zhejiang and became a farmer.

  In the late 1960s, coal mines were discovered in southern Anhui Province. At that time, there was an urgent need for coal miners, and my maternal uncle naturally became a member of the Wan Nan Coal Mine, which is located just opposite Zhuangyuan Village.

  At that time, my uncle was already quite old, but as an old man with coal mining experience, he was still entrusted with important tasks and was responsible for the safety management of the coal mine at that time. In other words, he was a safety inspector. Every day, he had to go down into the pit three times in the morning, noon, and evening to check the coal mining situation, and lived on the mine all year round, 365 days a year.

  At that time, Zhou Youfa was younger than my uncle, Old Gao. He was a villager who worked in the coal mine. Since labor was scarce, people were drafted from nearby villages to work in the mine. It was hard labor, and although Zhou Youfa had a good mouth, he wasn't very strong. Fortunately, he was diligent and had a sweet tongue, so he managed to get a job as a safety inspector and became Old Gao's assistant.

  At that time, Lao Gao was the class leader, Zhou Youfa was a member of the group, and this safety patrol team had a total of five people.

  It is said that the coal mine was not discovered by local people back then. One day, several large trucks of soldiers suddenly arrived and started digging. At that time, a few leaders lived in the village office building.

  The village of Zhuangyuan has produced coal, which is a big deal. The whole town has been mobilized. The first batch of coal was excavated within a month and the report said it was high-quality coal. In the following three months, not a single bit of coal was produced again.

  Three months later, what was opened were still stones. Later on, the troops withdrew one after another. Although the troops withdrew, the things and equipment remained, which were all socialist assets. As a result, several people from the security patrol team were retained, saying that they might come back to continue opening at some point in the future.

  This old fellow's style of doing things is to be serious and meticulous. Although the troops have left, his safety inspection work still needs to continue. One day it was his turn with Zhou Youfa to take a shift, and the two of them took their lamps and went down into the mine for an inspection. The mine was dug at an angle, not too steep, with a narrow iron track that had been laid down, barely over 1.5 meters wide, so people had to walk bent over, with black coal slag on both sides, going in over 100 meters deep.

  When they walked halfway, Lao Gao's headlamp went out. Zhou Youfa suggested going back to change the bulb, but Lao Gao insisted on continuing the inspection. The two shared a lamp, and the end of this mine was originally sealed with several wooden boards, supposedly to prevent someone from entering to steal coal. Lao Gao was just going to check the seal when they encountered a collapse. The footboard had also been made of wood, but over time, the terrain here was low, the mountain leaned against the river, and the air was humid, causing the wooden boards to rot.

  With a creak, Zhou Youfa only heard the old man's "ah!" and then he was gone. He lowered his head to shine his lamp down and found that there was a vertical pit here, and all he could hear was the sound of rushing water inside, "gurgling" away.

  "Save... save me!"

  This week, he heard Lao Gao's cry for help and rushed to the mine cave, where he found a rope, tied one end around his waist and went down, only to discover that Lao Gao had already drifted tens of meters away with the water flow, clinging to a large stone tablet.

  Lao Gua was rescued by Zhou Youfa like this, but he also became lame in one leg.

  Logically speaking, Lao Gua's injury was a work-related injury, so he submitted a report to the higher-ups and applied for it. A few days later, someone from the top came to take Lao Gua away. Another day passed, and the person from the top notified that the coal mine would be permanently sealed, and at the same time, the inspection team was also disbanded.

  What happened was that Lao Gua was hospitalized for over half a month and then sent back home, which was three years ago.

  "I heard that his son and daughter-in-law went upstairs to make a scene, saying they wanted compensation, but I don't know if they actually gave it to them."

  I shook my head, this matter almost didn't exist anymore, and I didn't know where to go to verify it, but judging from their character, I think they probably went through with it.

  Zhou sighed and said: "Alas, Lao Gua is a poor devil."

  "I asked: 'Then how did the coal mine reopen later?'"

  "Later, I don't know what happened, another group of people came and said that the coal mine had new discoveries. However, this time, none of our villagers were hired, they were all unfamiliar faces. Now, they have been working busily for more than two years."

  At this time we stood up and bid farewell: "That's it, big brother, it's late today, you should rest early, and we should also leave."

  "It's so late now, there are no cars going out from this place, let's stay here for tonight."

  "It doesn't matter, we three will leave quickly, there's an inn in town, so we won't bother you."

  We left the yard and didn't go anywhere, Zha Wenbin said to stay in that abandoned big Tongpu, but Baozi firmly disagreed, he probably had a shadow on that day's affairs, we can only walk to the town, there are more than ten miles of mountain roads.

  Zha Wenbin walked and suddenly asked me: "Xiao Yi, what do you think about this?"

  "There's more to it than meets the eye."

  "Ah, case within a case."

  "This time Fatty got anxious: 'Can you two stop acting like secret agents, always using codes? Can't you say something that revolutionary comrades can understand?'"

  I said to Fatso, "Don't you think there's something wrong with that?"

  "What's wrong?" Cha Wenbin asked back.

  "Afternoon when listening to Zhou Youcai speak, there was a small detail, I don't know if you guys noticed? He said that when Lao Gua fell down, he was hugging a stone tablet! Fatty, what are you doing?"

  "Hey, old chap! I'm not the one who's always with you, the king of junk!"

  "What did you used to do?"

  The fat man said inexplicably: "It's also a waste collection."

  "I'm talking about those rags, underground!"

  Fatso slapped his thigh and said, "Ah, damn it, how come I didn't think of that? So this matter is clear now. I reckon Old Gao saw something down there and then someone found out, so the abandoned coal mine was reopened..."

  "Yes, I also noticed a detail. The road we've been taking for the past two days is so small that the wild grass on both sides has covered up the original roadbed, proving that no large vehicles have passed through here in nearly two years. Those coal mines have been claiming to be operating all along, so where are the things they've been mining?"

  Cha Wenbin said: "A first-class official transferred here is already a problem, and if we're not careful, we might make a big discovery."

  "What's holding you back? Go take a look!"

  The mine area and Zhuangyuan Village were separated by a wide river, with a width of over 50 meters, and there was no bridge. On the riverbank, there was an old boat that was almost broken, tied to a stone.

  "This is obviously not meant to be passed through, and yet they opened up such a large mine without connecting it to this side. There must be something wrong!"

  "So, General Fatty, what's your take on this move?"

  "There's no need to ask, just go and take a look!" With that, the fatty prepared to get into the water and pull the boat.

  At this time, Cha Wenbin pressed both my and Pangzi's heads down and whispered: "Shh, there is movement in front..."