The foreman of the mine returned to the team of miners. Under the dim torch light, several foremen saw that his expression was ugly, and no one dared to ask a question.
The foreman of the mine suddenly sighed and said, "Hurry up and dig, hey."
After the foreman spoke, a more courageous foreman dared to say: "Boss, what exactly does Mr. Zhang want? Are we going to waste all our efforts just because of that magician's words about Ma Xiaoquan?"
The foreman of the mine rolled his eyes and said, "Otherwise, do you think I am willing? But if we don't dig, Zhang Wei will deduct our wages."
"This... Mr. Zhang, why is he like this..." The foremen complained in a low voice in unison.
"Okay, stop arguing and get to work quickly," the foreman of the mine ordered irritably.
...
On the other side, Zhang Wei and Ma Xiaoquan were squatting in a simple tent and drinking hot tea. Zhang Wei was very enthusiastic today and kept adding water to Ma Xiaoquan, which made Ma Xiaoquan feel a little uncomfortable. If you have nothing to do, you are either committing adultery or stealing.
Well, there are no decent toilets in this mining area. Fortunately, if my man wants to pee, he can just find a place where no one is around to pee.
At noon, Zhang Wei went back to rest, while Ma Xiaoquan and Chunqiao continued to stay in the tent.
Chunqiao asked Ma Xiaoquan in a low voice: "Captain, I see those people outside are not happy digging holes. As soon as Zhang Wei left, their mood got even worse."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled slightly and said: "We don't have to worry about this. These are all under Zhang Wei's control. Anyway, Zhang Wei has a time limit. If they can't dig it out, their wages will definitely be deducted."
"That's the case. If they really don't do it, then wouldn't we..."
Ma Xiaoquan squinted his eyes, thought for a moment and said, "Chunqiao, I remember that Shui'er gave you some tea money when we left."
"Well, yes, they said that if we run out of money, we can exchange this for some money."
"How big are the tea notes?"
Chunqiao said: "Not much, there are twelve cards in total, each one is worth five taels of silver."
"Well, as it happens, there are seven mine foremans and foremen. Please give me seven tea notes."
"Okay!" Chunqiao simply took out seven 50-tael tea bills and handed them to Ma Xiaoquan.
"Well, I'd like to ask you again to call in the foreman and several foremen."
"good."
...
After a while, the foreman of the mine led the six leaders into the tent. The seven men bowed their hands to Ma Xiaoquan very rudely. The foreman of the mine said: "Sir, we have dug 20% of the pit now. Let everyone take a rest."
Bar?"
Ma Xiaoquan shrugged and said, "This is your business, I can't control it."
"Master Ma, what do you mean by this? Is it possible that we are born to suffer? If we can't finish it, we will deduct wages. Master Ma will not get any good fruits from the emperor, right?"
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled and said: "Yes, but after all, I am a royal guard. The emperor can only scold me a few words, but as for you, Zhang Wei deducted your wages, and people eat and drink so much that you can't even support your family."
I'm sorry."
Although Ma Xiaoquan's words are not very pleasant to listen to, they are highly inflammatory. No one is stupid, and no one will have trouble with money.
Several people looked at each other, and finally the mine foreman softened his tone: "Master Ma, what do you think we should do?"
Ma Xiaoquan poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and said calmly: "What should I do, will you listen to me?"
"Sir, we all listen to what you say."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled slightly, took out seven tea notes from his arms, threw them on the table, and said with a smile: "Foreman Wang, right? There are seven tea notes here, not many, let the seven of you divide them... ..."
Several people were stunned at first, and then expressions of surprise appeared on their faces.
Seeing the seven, five and a half small tea bills on the table, the mine foreman's eyes suddenly lit up, and his voice trembled a little: "Master Ma, what are you..."
Ma Xiaoquan sneered in his heart, it seems that money has the most power.
"Well, when I came here, I saw that there was a tea note exchange point not far from your mining area. You can take it to exchange for some money. Although it's not much, it's enough to support your family for two or three months. Take it. Come on, don’t tell me what I gave you. If Zhang Wei finds out and confiscates it, I won’t have anything to do with it.”
"Hey, hey, yes, yes, thank you, Mr. Ma, thank you, Mr. Ma." The foreman of the mine hurriedly picked up the seven tea notes on the table and immediately gave one to each of the six foremen around him. Everyone was furious. Some people put the tea money into their arms, and some even covered their chests for fear of losing it.
"Master Ma, don't worry, we will dig this hole!" the foreman of the mine promised, patting his chest.
Several foremen also nodded repeatedly.
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Hey, don't be too fast. After all, you still have to pay attention to safety. Well, just do it according to the progress Zhang Wei said. I emphasize again, I will give you this tea money, don't let Zhang Wei Wei knows, if you want to exchange money, don't go together, just go separately and secretly."
"Yes, yes, I understand."
"And..." Ma Xiaoquan continued to order, "Now that you are entering the tent, Zhang Wei must also know about it, so we have to put on a show. Do you know how to do it?"
The foreman of the mine rolled his eyes and nodded: "I know, I know."
...
Zhang Weiyi slept until the afternoon and the first thing he did was to ask Wang Xun what happened during his absence.
"Well..." After listening to Wang Xun's report, Zhang Wei was secretly proud. He actually had an idea. When he went back to rest at noon, he arranged for Engineer Wang and the others to go to Ma Xiaoquan's tent to have some fun, but because of I forgot about it because I was dozing off. Now it seems that even if I didn’t give the order, they would go and make trouble. Well, not bad, good, great.
"Then what did Ma Xiaoquan say?"
Wang Xun whispered: "Sir, it seems that Ma Xiaoquan didn't say anything. Anyway, there was a lot of noise in the tent."
"What does it mean?" Zhang Wei was a little dissatisfied with Wang Xun's answer.
"Yes, yes, I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything." Wang Xun immediately changed his tune.
Zhang Wei snorted and said, "Okay, come with me to the tent."
Zhang Wei was startled when he opened the tent curtain. There was only a table and three chairs placed in the tent. At this moment, all the tables and chairs were trampled.
Ma Xiaoquan stood alone in the corner of the tent, frowning, not knowing what he was thinking.
Zhang Wei suppressed the pride in his heart, stepped forward and asked deliberately: "Master Ma, what's going on?"
Ma Xiaoquan "came back to his senses" and said in a loud voice: "It's nothing, Zhang Wei, you need to take good care of these miners."