The carriage stopped at the foot of Dongshan Mountain. Chen Hongtao got out of the carriage, looked at the muddy road, and walked up the mountain step by step.
From time to time on the road, large trucks from the iron yard would transport goods down the mountain, leaving streaks of mud on the wet and soft road.
On the way up the mountain, there are paths branching off, leading to the shack areas where the miners live.
Chen Hongtao reached the second intersection and turned in. The road under his feet became increasingly difficult to walk.
There is only one road down the mountain in Dongshan. Cars from various iron yards have to take this road when entering and exiting. The road is paved with a layer of coal ash and slag. It is easy to walk when it is not raining. After a heavy rain, I pull the iron ingots and iron tools. The carts ran over it several times, leaving behind piles of mud of varying shades.
Walking onto the trail, Chen Hongtao took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, and walked barefoot, one foot deep and one foot shallow, toward the shack area ahead.
During the day, the miners go to work in the iron yard, and most of the people guarding the shacks are the elderly and children.
As he approached his shack, Chen Hongtao saw his wife squatting outside the house, collecting briquettes with her hands.
"The boss is back, how are you finding work? Which iron yard is it at?" When Chen Hongtao came back, Chen Hongtao's wife washed the cinders and dirt off her hands with the rainwater nearby, wiped them dry on her body, and then stood up.
Seeing his wife's hands peeled from the rain and the cinders remaining between her fingernails, Chen Hongtao felt a sore nose and said against his will: "Oh, I found a job. I can start work in two days."
He didn't tell his wife about his trip to Hutou Village, for fear that she would be worried. Even though Hutou Village had a good reputation, he was still a bandit.
Chen Hongtao's wife showed a smile on her face and said, "It's good to find a job. In the future, the children won't have to search for wild vegetables in the mountains. The weather is cold and it's hard to find wild vegetables in the mountains."
Chen Hongtao hummed, bent down and walked into the shack.
His wife came in and said, "You haven't eaten yet. There's some porridge in the pot and the wild vegetables the children dug yesterday. You can eat some first."
The shack was not big, and the two wooden beds were already fully packed, leaving only a place to turn around.
Sitting on the bed, Chen Hongtao asked: "Where is the child?"
"It's getting cold, so the two children went to the iron yard to collect cinders." Chen Hongtao's wife handed over a bowl of wild vegetable porridge.
Taking the porridge bowl, Chen Hongtao hesitated for a moment.
When the wife next to me saw it, she said, "Eat quickly. The porridge will get cold very quickly in the cold weather. It looks like this winter will be difficult. I don't know how many people will freeze to death."
When saying this, Chen Hongtao's wife showed a look of lingering fear on her face.
For miners living in shacks, if they cannot find work in the winter, their families will not survive the winter.
Picking up the bowl of porridge, Chen Hongtao began to slurp down his food. After drinking a bowl of porridge, he could only cheat his stomach. After going outside for a few times, his stomach would be clean.
After putting away the porridge bowl, Chen Hongtao's wife asked casually: "Which ironworks do you work at?"
"Yes..." Chen Hongtao hesitated.
When the wife outside the door saw her, she whispered, "Is it the Xu family?"
Chen Hongtao once had an iron farm that was passed down from his ancestors. Later, the iron farm was conspired by the Xu family, which made Chen Hongtao bankrupt. In order to survive for his family, he was forced to stay in Dongshan as a miner.
The wife outside the door thought she had guessed correctly, but she was afraid that her husband would not be able to think about it, so she advised: "No matter which iron yard it is, at least there is work to do. Do you remember Han Si last year? He couldn't find any work, and his family froze to death in the shack. Here, remember that you and others went to bury it together."
"I know." Chen Hongtao said in a low voice, "It's not the Xu family's iron farm."
He was stunned at first, then breathed a sigh of relief, and his wife said: "Well, you don't have to work for the Xu family, so why are you looking so sad?"
Chen Hongtao said: "A new iron yard is going to be opened in Dongshan, and they asked me to be the manager of the iron yard."
"Please be a steward!" Chen Hongtao's wife said happily, "This is a good thing. The wages of a steward are at least four or five taels. Even if it is only four taels, it will be enough for our family to survive this winter."
Chen Hongtao frowned and said, "You are a woman who doesn't understand what's going on here."
"I don't understand." Chen Hongtao's wife said, "I knew you would never be able to find a job again. This winter our family of four will have to wait to be carried out like Han Si's family last year."
Chen Hongtao in the shack was speechless.
Chen Hongtao's wife added: "Ask the new owner if they can give you one month's salary first. Even if the iron farm cannot continue to work, our family will not starve to death."
As Chen Hongtao's wife, she knew some things about the Dongshan Iron Works. All she cared about was whether she could get wages and let her family survive this winter.
Chen Hongtao in the shack said: "That guy promised to give me fifteen taels of wages a month."
"Fifteen taels!" Chen Hongtao's wife opened her mouth in shock, "The highest paid steward at Dongshan Iron Works only earns eight taels a month."
Chen Hongtao added: "Not only that, as long as the documents are signed, five taels will be paid in advance on the spot."
Chen Hongtao's wife hurriedly asked: "Then have you signed it?"
"No."
Hearing this, Chen Hongtao's wife put the porridge bowl aside, bent down and walked into the shack, and said angrily: "Why don't you sign for such a good thing? With these five taels of silver, our family can survive the winter. "
"Do you know who the owner of the newly opened iron yard is?" Chen Hongtao said to himself before his wife asked, "They are the bandits from Hutou Village. Do you think I dare to go to their iron yard?"
"Go, ask why not go."
Chen Hongtao was stunned for a moment, thinking that he had not made it clear, so he repeated: "The person who came to Dongshan to open the iron yard is the big boss of Hutou Village."
"I know."
"Then you still let me go."
"If you don't go, our whole family will freeze to death and starve to death. If you go, maybe the whole family will survive."
"But those are bandits!"
"The Xu family are not bandits. They not only robbed the iron field passed down by your ancestors, but also bankrupted our family. In my opinion, the Xu family are worse than bandits."
"If I go there, I will be a bandit. If the government investigates, I will be beheaded." An excited Chen Hongtao made several gestures on his neck with his hands.
But his wife said: "If you don't go, can our family survive? If you ask me to be the steward, maybe the whole family can still have a way to survive."
"What do you mean?" Chen Hongtao looked at his wife in confusion.
"You have also run an iron yard and been a boss. You can't even see this." Chen Hongtao's wife said, "Have you ever seen a bandit who opened an iron yard and did business?"
Chen Hongtao shook his head.
Chen Hongtao's wife continued: "The bandits from Hutou Village dare to come to Dongshan to open an iron yard. It shows that they are confident. They are not afraid of the government and the iron yard owners in Dongshan. Our whole family is about to starve to death. What are you afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid alone, but what about our family?" Chen Hongtao asked worriedly.
Chen Hongtao's wife sighed: "If we can't make any more money, our family will not be able to survive this winter, and we will all die."
Chen Hongtao clutched the bed board with both hands, his expression changing.
