My dad’s pretty quick on the uptake, so he mortgaged a few ancestral houses plus the apartments we later got allocated, borrowed five million from the bank to buy in, and became the second-largest private shareholder of Yuanzhou Mine.

Because of my dad’s change in status, the miners started to distance themselves from him. Later, my dad proved with his actions that he was still the same person who worried about everyone, so his relationship with the miners improved again, and whenever they ran into something they couldn’t solve, the first person they’d think of was him.

But because of this, his relationship with the mine director isn’t very good. To be honest, these years my dad’s been holding a lot in. If it weren’t for the sake of the villagers, he’d have long since just taken dividends and stopped meddling."

Finally hitting on a topic she was good at, Lu Qingqing spilled everything she knew like beans from a bamboo tube, dumping it all out in one go.

"Uncle Lu really is a rare good man." Luo Ye praised sincerely.

Lu Qingqing said very earnestly, "I can accept that compliment on my dad’s behalf without blushing. If he weren’t there holding things down, after the rectification the mine would absolutely treat the miners like draft animals. If it weren’t for the shares my dad holds plus the prestige he has, he would’ve been squeezed out long ago."

"If there’s a water inrush accident at the mine, what does Uncle Lu generally do? Of course, I’m just curious. If it’s inconvenient for you to say, Sister Qingqing, you can pretend I never asked." Luo Ye began steering the questions in the direction she wanted.

"He organizes a rescue at the first possible moment. If manpower at the mine isn’t enough, he has to immediately ask the higher-ups for support, and afterward he must report the situation to them."

Luo Zhong felt a flicker of doubt and continued asking, "As far as I know, places like this all have some local thugs, figures who throw their weight around. Yuanzhou Mine doesn’t?"

"There used to be a few idle punks in the village who wanted to stir up trouble, but my dad and some respected elders in the village dealt with them. These past few years, no one like that has popped up again."

For now, parts of what Sang Cao and Lu Qingqing said overlap, and parts contradict each other.

According to Lu Qingqing’s description, this water inrush incident shouldn’t have been sealed off, and those earlier minor accidents shouldn’t have been suppressed either. So what on earth is going on?

Judging from what she currently knew, Sang Cao’s account sounded more truthful. So, is Lu Qingqing deliberately painting things prettier on her side to save face, or does she genuinely not know the facts?

But whichever it is, she can’t bluntly ask right now. Leaving aside that Lu Qingqing and Wen Su aren’t actually together yet, even if they really were, this matter involves Lu Qingqing’s father; she still can’t go against her principles.

In a bit she still has to quietly remind Grandma not to let anything slip in front of Lu Qingqing.

"Ye’er, are you in the army?"

"Hm?" Luo Ye froze for a second, then laughed. "Sort of, I guess. But I haven’t graduated yet."

Lu Qingqing masked it by taking a sip of tea. "Sorry, Wen Su never talks to me about his family. I only got curious when I saw you in that outfit."

"It’s fine, there’s nothing I can’t talk about. Actually, you could say we’re half fellow townspeople. My dad’s hometown is Midong, which is also in Ludong." Having said this much, it would have been a bit inappropriate for Luo Ye to keep concealing her family’s ancestral home.

Lu Qingqing’s face lit up with delight. "Really? My aunt is from Midong too. I’ve been there—it’s way better than where we are. Oh, right..." She hesitated for a moment and didn’t continue.

"Qingqing wants to ask if my aunt’s family is still in Midong, right?" Wen Ke asked on her behalf.

"That’s a bit overstepping." Lu Qingqing looked embarrassed.

Luo Ye smiled and shook her arm. "It’s fine, it’s just chatting, we can talk about anything. My parents aren’t in Midong anymore, but my eldest uncle, second uncle, and aunt still live over there. Every year we go back to visit."

"To be honest, ever since I found out about the Wen Family’s background, I’ve kept feeling I don’t deserve Wen Su, always anxious and insecure. Not gonna lie, the clothes and shoes I’m wearing now are all borrowed from other people." Since it had come to this, Lu Qingqing simply laid everything out openly. Seeing Wen Ke’s puzzled look, she explained, "My parents give me quite a bit of money, but if I want to wear new clothes every day, it’s still not enough."

Wen Ke suddenly understood and nodded. "That really is a bit of an obsession. But how did you get over it? I mean, if you were still that anxious and insecure, you absolutely wouldn’t be telling us all this."

Two red patches appeared on Lu Qingqing’s cheeks. "On the way here, Wen Su was, for once, really nice to me. I got carried away for a moment and showed my true colors. Then he said he likes the real me. All of a sudden, I just got over it."

"So that’s how it is..." Wen Ke responded, her mind drifting off a little. Clearly, she was thinking of her relationship with Wu Zetian.

Luo Ye also fell into thought. It wasn’t that she’d had any epiphany about relationships, but that she now believed a bit more of Lu Qingqing’s earlier account.

In that case, there should be three possible reasons why Lu Qingqing doesn’t know about this matter. One: Mr. Lu was involved, but kept it from his daughter. Two: Mr. Lu wasn’t involved but knows the general situation and, not wanting his daughter to worry, has never mentioned it to her. Three: Mr. Lu is also being kept in the dark.

But with just a bit of analysis, you can see that the third possibility is almost zero. If even the miners know about it, how could Mr. Lu possibly not know?

----

That’s it for the First watch today. If nothing unexpected happens, there should be two more updates. Guys, I’m asking for all kinds of support—pink, rewards, subscriptions—I really, really crave them. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast a Recommendation ticket or a monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)