When the miners ascended the shaft and came to the surface, it was as if they had been reborn.
At 3:00 in the afternoon, when Luo Xuan and his group stepped out of the kiln entrance, everyone looked at the yellow sun in the sky.
Everyone felt as if they had just stepped into the earthly world again from the netherworld.
Breathing in the sharp cold wind and the fresh smog coming out of the chimneys.
Everyone sighed secretly in their hearts: It’s so good to be alive!
Every time the miners went up to the well, someone would greet them at the wellhead: the person in charge of the canteen.
——He had to count the miners’ food consumption in their net bags.
Other miners basically didn't do much in their net pockets. They only opened half a package of fried rice, or tore off half of a piece of naan bread.
As for the remaining half, it is impossible to return it.
The miners would take the half of the cake down the mine to eat on their next trip down the mine.
This is not because the portions of the naan bread at the canteen are large, but because no one wants to have the luxury of eating a whole naan bread at once.
——That is equivalent to eating the miners’ own flesh and blood!
But this time, when the person in charge of the canteen counted Luo Xuan's net bag, he couldn't help but be surprised: Damn it, this guy!
The person in charge raised his head and looked at Luo Xuan blankly.
"What? Does your meat hurt from eating?"
Luo Xuan, whose face was dark, grinned like a grinning black-faced old man: "Are you not allowed to eat?"
The person in charge of the canteen clearly twitched his cheeks a few times, "You love to eat! As long as it's within the share of the debt given to you by the mine, you can eat as much as you like."
After Luo Xuan signed the sales form, turned around and walked away.
The person in charge spat: "This Luo Da Bang! You are just a fool. The money you spend working in the wells for a day is not enough to fill your hole!"
A group of exhausted miners, as if they were dead and not alive, supported each other and walked towards the canteen of the coal mine.
in the middle,
All the miners, whether they are veterans or newcomers, are all doing the same thing: spitting, picking their noses, and picking their ears.
The old phlegm spit out is sticky, like well-mixed cement mortar.
What was dug out from the nostrils were piles of black slime.
It is estimated that if all the black and indescribable things dug out by this group of miners were gathered together.
If you beat a few pieces of briquettes, there probably won't be any problem.
Everyone's ears, nostrils, and hair were covered with layers of black slime and black soot.
It’s simply endless and I can’t clean it up!
along the way,
They were all sounds of "bah" and "ha tui", one after another, never ending.
Everyone is dirty, so don't look down on anyone.
The coal mine does provide hot water for the miners to wash themselves.
But by this time, many new miners had listened to the experience of the old miners, and none of them were willing to pay for water to wash their faces.
"Comrade, please bring two basins of hot water!"
Luo Xuan shouted, "It's all on my account!"
The old man in the boiler room in the cafeteria must also have connections in the mines, so he was able to get this lucrative job that could earn him the cost of the coffin.
When the old man heard Luo Xuan shouting, he smoked the smoke and asked: "You are all black, like potatoes just taken out of the fire, roasted to a dark black! Who can tell who you are?"
,What number?"
Luo Xuan took out the number plate from his neck and showed it to him, "No. 67021829."
After every miner arrived at the Doujiapan Coal Mine, they no longer had their own names, only a wooden sign with a number engraved on it.
The old man looked at the numbers on the number plate, then turned back to the house to get a pen and write it down in his notebook.
Then he took out two porcelain sugar basins from the shelf and filled two basins of hot water for Luo Xuan.
After washing his face, Luo Xuanzhu stood at the end of the queue of miners for meals and slowly entered the canteen.
This afternoon in the cafeteria, the scene from yesterday was repeated: all the miners followed the barriers in the passage and lined up to enter the cafeteria one by one to eat.
The windows are still the same, and the food has not changed much.
But this time, the miners learned their lesson: they all crowded into the queue at window No. 1.
Nowadays, everyone only dares to break the chaff that has not been sifted cleanly, and even has small pebbles. It is a free meal specially provided for the miners.
Everyone no longer dares to go to window 2 or window 3 to get food.
The miners who had just gotten off work were very hungry.
One by one, they were carrying rice bowls, like hungry wolves who had not eaten for a long time. Everyone was eager to shovel the yellow rice into their mouths.
"Ni Ma! Is this thing for people to eat?"
A miner was eating rice in his mouth, and his tongue was running around in his mouth, as if he was looking for something, "Ah! There is so much sand in the mud."
There is a miner's tooth next to it, which is not good to begin with.
At this time, only a "click" sound was heard. The miner stretched out two fingers and took out a fallen tooth from his mouth: "This meal is really uneatable! It knocked out all my teeth."
.”
"Maimaipi!"
Brother Zeng also scolded: "There is a lot of sand in the rice. We can make do with it if we eat it slower. What a dog! This dish has no oil or salt. How can we eat it with rice!"
The person in charge of window No. 1 in the dining hall is obviously familiar with this situation.
The man banged the vegetable basin and sneered: "Want something delicious? Window No. 2 sells braised pork noodles today. Window No. 3 sells stewed vegetables, white rice, and big white steamed buns. You should go and eat it!"
"Want to have a good meal? I also have spicy oil and fermented bean curd here."
The face of the person in charge, as well as the tone of his words, were full of contempt: "You guys come here and buy it! One by one. You don't have a penny with you, and you still want to eat stir-fried vegetables?"
"Look at that little brother."
The person in charge of window No. 1 pointed at Luo Xuan, "Miner No. 67021829, he is willing to eat a stew! Does the oily pork belly, sauerkraut, potatoes and vermicelli taste good? You are reluctant to spend money, you are complaining.
Who’s coming?”
The man was raging sarcastically, and the miners eating in the canteen did not dare to say a word.
Jian Teng endured the pain in his throat and forcefully swallowed the yellow rice in his mouth, "Brother Luo Dabang, if you eat like this, not only will you not get your wages at the end of the month, but you will also owe the coal mine. Brother.
, bear with it, you still have to save some money."
Brother Zeng also felt sorry for Luo Xuan about money: "Brother Luo Dabang, although we have entered a black coal mine, we must be careful and economize. Otherwise, we may not be able to get out of this coal mine in our lives."
Luo Xuan asked them: "Do you think no matter how frugal we are and how hard we work, we can really get out of this coal mine?"
The two fellow villagers were surprised: "What do you mean? Luo Xuan, can you explain it to us in detail?"
"You go get a better meal first and recover your strength before we talk."
Luo Xuan said, "Don't be so frugal! The money you saved actually ended up feeding the black-hearted wolf."
Jian Teng and Brother Zeng looked at each other.
After all, he listened to Luo Xuan's words, got up and went to get another stew, and came back with white rice.
However, when they went to prepare meals, they still did not forget to tell the chefs in the kitchen not to serve them so-called "high-quality stews".
The reason why Luo Xuan asked them to change the food in the basin was actually a test of whether they believed in him or not.
After all, it costs almost 2 yuan to buy such a meal.
When facing money, it can most test a person's trust in himself.
Seeing Jian Teng and Brother Zeng pass the test.
Luo Xuan said: "I want to ask you a few questions. First, do you think if we work hard in this mine and save everything, how much money can we save to go home at the end of the year?"
"About 6 or 70 yuan."
Brother Zeng replied: "If you can save so much, it's probably as high as the sky."
Luo Xuan nodded: "In three years, we have saved 200 yuan. But after these three years of working, do you think our bodies will become useless? Will we get pneumoconiosis, which can never be cured?"
"Probably."
Brother Zeng's expression began to become serious, "For the sake of 200 yuan, I will turn myself into a useless person and become a burden to my family from now on. This is impossible!"
Luo Xuan continued in a low voice: "And only if we don't encounter roof collapse, landslides, gas or other things within these three years can we get the 200 yuan safely."
Jianteng swallowed the stew with big mouthfuls, and tears fell into his rice bowl, "But on the way here, we have already spent nearly 20 yuan in travel expenses.
If we stop working now, it doesn’t matter whether people will be released from this coal mine.
As for our traveling expenses, I don’t know how I will face my parents when I go back, and I don’t know what I can use to pay for my brother’s tuition.”
"It's impossible to release people in coal mines."
Brother Zeng sighed, "Don't forget, each of us is still carrying a large debt from the mine! And when we pay off the old debt, we don't know how much the new debt will be!"
He is right to worry: for miners who have worked in the coal mines for a long time, Doujiapan Coal Mine may only settle debts with them.
As for these new miners, they have not yet been able to create benefits for the coal mine.
Doujiapan Coal Mine will definitely not be so generous.
They have many ways to increase the debts of new miners: for example, the interest on travel expenses advanced to certain mines.
Or increase the unit price of items consumed by miners in the coal mine.
Even the name is cleverly created,
Directly tailor some "management fees", "middleman introduction fees", "sanitation fees", and "accommodation and heating fees" for the miners who want to leave.
People are knives and servants, and I am fish and meat.
What else can these miners do who are so weak except to accept their defeat obediently?
This was done by Doujiapan Coal Mine.
It is extremely difficult for the miners to pay off their debts and leave this hellish place neatly!
Unless the miner is determined to leave here at any cost, his family has money, and he is willing to use the money to redeem his people.
Otherwise, these new miners want to pay off their debts through their own efforts and then leave here?
That is impossible
Knowing that they could no longer leave, Brother Zeng and Jian Teng suddenly became worried.
"How about we just run away?"
Jian Teng asked cautiously, "Brother Gu Xiangyu, isn't he planning to drag us away together?"
"eat first."
Luo Xuan didn't answer his question, "Let's go back and take a nap after dinner."
The three of them finished their meal in silence.
At this time, the "team leader" Lao Tong was notified by people at the mine to go to the office for a meeting.
The rest of the miners, dragging their tired bodies, went back to their dormitories to rest.
Jian Teng, who was sleeping on the Datong bunk next to Luo Xuan, was ready to say something.
But Luo Xuan stopped him with a look.
It didn't take long before the thunderous snoring sounded in the miners' dormitories.
Luo Xuan was snoring in his nostrils, but secretly he was breathing in his luck, nervously regulating his eight meridians and internal organs.
About half an hour later.
At this time, Luo Xuan had recovered his physical strength and at the same time adjusted his body functions to their peak state.
Suddenly I heard the sound of the door.
But it was an old colleague who went to the mine's office for a meeting and had already returned from the meeting.
When the old fellow, who was about to collapse from exhaustion, also lay down on the big bunk to sleep, he began to snore.
Gu Xiangyu quietly raised his head and observed the people on the two rows of bunks for a while.
He saw that some of the miners were talking in their sleep, some were crying in their sleep, and some were shivering in their sleep.
Gu Xiangyu quietly got off the bed, put on his clothes secretly, and then quietly went out.
Luo Xuan noticed that he had gone away.
Then he reached out and pushed Jian Teng, who was sleeping deeply, to wake up Brother Zeng.
The three of them wore thick cotton-padded jackets and went out for a stroll.
At this time, Gu Xiangyu was sitting in an office in the coal mine, reporting to the director in charge of coal mine safety: "Director Li, our team seems to have no problems so far."
Director Li has a slicked back hair, his forehead is slightly bald, and his bald scalp is shiny with oil.
"I don't want to, maybe, as if!"
Director Li threw a cigarette to Gu Xiangyu, but unfortunately it was thrown a little crookedly, so that Gu Xiangyu didn't catch it. At this time, he was lying on the ground and taking it out from under the chair.
"I want something to be sure of! I have so many things to take care of every day, who the hell has time to stare at the new guys in your team every day?"
Director Li said leisurely, "There are three newcomers in your team, and one of them is an old colleague, one is you, and the other one is Wei Pao, right?"
"Yes, yes, Director Li, you have a really good memory."
Gu Xiangyu picked up the cigarette and approached Director Li with a flattering look on his face, "Director, are you ready to make a fuss? I haven't smoked in a long time and I'm almost starving to death!"
Director Li put the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray, "Tell me about the three new guys, do they have any plans to escape?"
Gu Xiangyu carefully put the cigarette in his hand into his pocket, and quickly stepped forward to pick up the cigarette butt from the ashtray.
Then I saw him using two fingers to straighten the slightly bent and badly deformed cigarette butt.
He impatiently held it on his lips and said, "Ahem, no! Director, I assure you, the three guys in our team have no intention of escaping!"
Director Li said calmly, "Oh? Tell me the basis for your judgment."
Gu Xiangyu chuckled: "I followed your instructions, director, and said I planned to escape. I asked them if anyone was willing to come with me? As a result, director, guess what?"
Director Li glanced at Gu Xiangyu coldly, and then asked word for word: "You, let me guess?"
Hearing Director Li speak like this, Gu Xiangyu was so frightened that he trembled all over!
"Pah, pah, pah—"
"Young one is wrong. Director, please don't worry about me!"
While Gu Xiangyu slapped himself, he quickly reported Luo Xuan's performance to Director Li, as if pouring beans through a bamboo tube.
only,
When they were underground, Gu Xiangyu naturally wouldn't say anything about him and Lao Tong asking Luo Xuan not to dig so much coal.
