Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 106 The Merit of Following the Dragon

The overseers on the ground finally took pity on them and allowed everyone to gather for a meal. Wei Yuan climbed up with his hard-earned spoils, surrounded by a large group of people. He exchanged glances with a few of them, and everything was understood without words.

Upon reaching the surface, a group of people were already waiting at the cave entrance. A scale was placed on the table, indicating that they were ready to hand over the ore as soon as they came out, ensuring that no one could steal it from them under their noses.

Wei Yuan sighed inwardly. If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have needed to be so careful as he poured out the high-quality ore from his basket. The foreman, seeing the superior quality ore, immediately broke into a bright smile. His fat, featureless face narrowed his eyes into tiny slits.

"Little Wei, you're quite skilled and lucky. I haven't seen ore of this quality for over half a month. You're undoubtedly the best today. Someone, give him more meat!"

Yes, the rewards in the mine were that simple and unpretentious: whoever did well got to eat meat. At the foreman's command, two lackeys pulled out two large chicken legs from a tightly closed wooden box and shoved the bowl directly into Wei Yuan's hands.

These laborers, who ate only coarse food and wild vegetables every day, many of whom hadn't tasted meat for over half a year, suddenly saw the large chicken leg soaked in red oil. Many of them stared at it with gleaming eyes. Wei Yuan smiled, then carefully carried the bowl away. The lackeys beside him, unable to see the obsequious thanks, couldn't help but feel resentful.

"My lord, look at that brat! He received your reward and didn't even kneel down to thank you. What audacity! Does he think he's all that just because he found some good ore? Should we send some men to teach him a lesson?"

The person in charge squinted and pondered for a moment, then shook his head, feigning magnanimity.

"How can you talk like that? He's doing me a favor, and he's done it so well. Look, we haven't seen ore of this quality in almost a month, have we? To be honest, the mine down there is almost empty. To find ore of this quality at a time like this, this guy surnamed Wei really has some luck. The deadline for those big shots to deliver is approaching. If we don't hurry up and dig out some top-quality ore to get it over with, those big shots will skin us alive, you believe it or not?"

"Yes, yes, you are very farsighted, sir. I am just a farmer who has never seen the world. Please don't be offended, sir."

The person in charge was being flattered and sat comfortably in a deck chair, basking in the sun. When he discovered that the ore handed over by the laborers was of average quality, he wasn't particularly angry. The pile that the man surnamed Wei had handed over was enough to satisfy him.

Wei Yuan, protecting the two chicken legs, twisted and turned, shaking off the envious followers behind him, and disappeared into a dark, damp corner. Although the conditions in the mine were extremely poor, this cave looked filthy and shabby at first glance, so no one wanted to come here. Therefore, the person lying inside was relatively safe.

As soon as Wei Yuan approached, he heard a wary voice coming from inside.

"Who?"

"It's me." Wei Yuan walked in a few steps, and the person lying inside struggled to sit up. Before he could even speak, he started coughing uncontrollably.

Wei Yuan quickly put down the food in his hand and helped the man up. After a while, the man stopped coughing, but he was still pale.

He was a man who looked to be around thirty years old. A man should have a very strong body, but after the ravages of time and the hardships of life, he was now nothing but a skeleton. The flesh on his face was sunken, his eyes were lifeless, and his lips were bluish. He looked like a skeleton, quite frightening.

He finally caught his breath and felt somewhat ashamed.

"It's Brother Wei! My body is really letting me down. I wanted to greet you, but I can't even walk a few steps..."

"Brother Qin, there's no need for such formalities between us. Let's eat first. Your health is still too weak; you need to rest and recuperate."

“Brother Wei, how could that guy surnamed Wang possibly be willing to spare an extra portion of food for me? He'd rather we workers didn't eat. You didn't share your food with me, did you? I'm already a cripple, what good would eating more do? I'd still die. Don't worry about me. If you don't get enough to eat in a place like this, your body will deteriorate day by day. You've only just arrived, there's still hope. Don't ruin your health because of someone I don't know.”

"Brother Qin, you're being too polite. I was beaten half to death by them back then, and it was you who saved me. Otherwise, I'd be buried somewhere by now. Hurry up and eat, or someone will come smelling the food soon."

"Sigh, you..."

Seeing that he was still going to refuse, Wei Yuan simply picked up a chicken leg and stuffed it into his mouth. Qin Liang had no choice but to take it and eat it. He couldn't let Brother Wei eat something he had already bitten.

He never expected that Qin Liang, a dignified military commander of Qianzhou and a third-rank military officer with a promising future, would die not on the battlefield, but in this small, unknown mine! How could Qin Liang, who always sought revenge, not feel aggrieved?
But circumstances are beyond one's control; even a hero can be brought down by a mere penny. He hadn't understood the meaning of this saying before, but after being dragged to this godforsaken place, he'd finally accepted it. That scoundrel Liang Heng! He actually dared to deceive the Emperor and the heavens!

He had already lost hope. After all, he was a dying man; even if he had evidence of Liang Heng's crimes, to whom could he hand it? But now he had met Wei Yuan. They had exchanged messages yesterday, and upon learning that Wei Yuan was a secret imperial envoy sent by the court, Qin Liang, who was barely clinging to life, pulled himself together. He was a fine young man with a bright future, but this scoundrel had ruined him, leaving him unable to walk! The people of Qianzhou were kind, honest, and hardworking. Thanks to His Majesty's ascension to the throne, the region was gradually flourishing, and their lives were improving. But because of that scoundrel Liang Heng, His Majesty's efforts had been wasted!
He noticed something amiss while in office and immediately sent a secret memorial to the court. However, that treacherous villain's influence was so great that he even had connections in the court, and his memorial was eventually obtained by Liang Heng! When Liang Heng threw the memorial in front of him, Qin Liang knew something was wrong, but it was too late. Liang Heng threatened him with the lives of several military officers in Qianzhou. Qin Liang was an orphan and didn't care about anything else, except for these brothers, who were his life-or-death friends. How could he just watch them die?
In the end, they were caught, but Liang Heng was not afraid of his own questioning at all.

"Do you think I'm working for myself? Even if I've worked diligently for decades, I'm only a prefect now, and I don't know when I'll be able to enter the central government in the capital. But now... I'm doing this for the sake of the emperor's rise to power..."

(End of this chapter)