Clouds and Moon Shadow

Chapter 58 Masters compete with each other

"What are you in charge of? Where exactly is the mine you're working on located?" Gu Qingyue asked, staring into his eyes.

"Oh, you mean the iron mine? It's about three miles from here. The mine is huge, and the iron content is high. Oh, that's what Old Zhang said. By the way, let me tell you, these guys aren't very dedicated to mining," he said, gesturing with his chin to the miners sitting on the ground not far away, eating their food.

At the same time, he showed an extremely heartbroken expression.

Gu Qingyue: ? ? ?

Then, he talked at length about how the miners behaved every day while they were mining. At the end, he added, "They don't work properly all day, they just think about running away. You can run away if you want, but they always try to sneak their own stuff out. We rack our brains all day to provide them with food and drink. Do you think it's easy for us?"

Gu Qingyue: ? ? ?

You've probably eaten everything edible; you can tell just by looking at your size.

"And those few who caused the most trouble, disobeying Steward Qiu's orders, always digging randomly, and always eyeing Steward Qiu's relatives with greedy looks, isn't that shameful? Just because they're good-looking doesn't mean they can be seen naked. If we don't beat them up, who should we beat up?"

After saying that, he pointed in the direction of three or four young miners sitting in a corner, and curled his lip in a fierce sneer, showing his utter disdain.

Gu Qingyue: ? ? ?

This is not what I imagined.

If she hadn't found this group of people in a bandit's den, she would have almost thought that Qiuqiu in front of her was an honest, kind, and dedicated shopkeeper.

Shouldn't these bandits have denied everything to the death? Shouldn't they have been utterly vicious? Shouldn't they have either cursed and swore or cried and begged for mercy in fear?

Why are they sitting on the ground chatting with the people who came to arrest them?

Just now, after Gu Qingyue led her people into the stone gate, this group of people came running over to greet her, asking if they had been replaced again, and saying that they had always been very careful and honest people. Although they were only in charge of the main kitchen, they had never made a mistake on the stove.

Gu Qingyue... well, her brain wasn't working properly. If she had been a little nicer, those people would have started reporting to her immediately.

Gu Qingyue said her brain was a little oxygen-deprived and she couldn't process it.

Hey uncle, didn't you see the soldiers behind me? They're holding knives! They look really fierce!

After sitting there dumbfounded for a quarter of an hour, Gu Qingyue finally understood the logic of the ball-shaped uncle in front of her.

Did he always think he was just a minor manager at the imperial iron mine, and that they were there to hand over management duties?

Did he know why these miners were hastily gathered here by the bandits?

Is it genuine ignorance or a deliberate attempt to confuse the public and clear one's name?

Before I could think it through, the voice rang in my ears again.

“Young master, can you let us go? We really haven’t done anything wrong. I’m only in charge of everyone’s food and drink during work hours. If something goes wrong at the mine, you should find Manager Qiu. He’s our supervisor. We’re the most law-abiding people here.”

Upon hearing this, the four or five people squatting with him immediately nodded with pitiful expressions.

After Uncle Qiuqiu finished speaking, he looked at Gu Qingyue with an even more aggrieved expression.

What is this mess?

Gu Qingyue's lips twitched. She raised her hand and gestured to a black-clad guard not far away, asking them to help interrogate these people separately to see if they were lying.

Her brain cells were telling her they needed a break, or they'd collapse.

After settling these people in and inquiring about the location of the iron mine, Gu Qingyue set off in the direction of the iron mine that Uncle Qiuqiu had indicated.

After walking about half a mile, they ran into Mu Yun Chu, who was being escorted by two black-clad guards who were leading Steward Qiu towards them.

"Caught him?" Gu Qingyue felt a sense of relief; this scoundrel had finally been caught.

Mu Yunchu nodded.

"Where are you going?" Mu Yun Chu asked.

"Let's go find an iron ore mine. A bandit confessed to it, but I don't know if it's true or not. Let's go check it out first," Gu Qingyue said, her bright phoenix eyes sparkling, showing that she was in a very good mood.

Upon hearing this, Mu Yunchu waved behind her and turned to follow Gu Qingyue into the depths of another passage.

Gu Qingyue relayed Uncle Qiuqiu's words to Mu Yunchu along the way. Mu Yunchu watched Gu Qingyue speak fluently and her eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, revealing a faint smile.

As Gu Qingyue got excited, she turned her head and saw the faint smile on the young man's face beside her, like a summer breeze blowing across a lake.

Gu Qingyue's eyes widened involuntarily, her gaze fixed on his face as if she couldn't tear it off, and her heart began to pound wildly.

Is God rewarding her, this beauty-obsessed girl, again?

In such a cheerful mood, he seemed to have forgotten all his troubles and worries, even the pitiful miners he had just seen at the stone gate.

Mu Yun Chu: Why is there something strange about this kid's eyes? Or is it just my imagination?

As they reached a narrow passage, the two stopped simultaneously. With a "ding!" sound, a hidden weapon unexpectedly shot out from around the corner of the passage.

Gu Qingyue and Mu Yunchu nimbly dodged, and the next moment, Gu Qingyue, who had just pressed herself against the stone wall, felt a tall shadow stop in front of her. When she looked up, she saw Mu Yunchu's tall back completely blocking her view.

"careful!"

Gu Qingyue was taken aback.

A warm feeling welled up in her heart. In her previous life, she had carried out countless missions. Except for some that required the cooperation of teammates, she usually completed them all by herself. No one had ever stood in front of her like the person in front of her, shielding her from danger almost instantly.

She was not used to it at all.

Before she could react, her arm suddenly tightened, and Mu Yun Chu pulled her behind a protruding rock.

"Ding-ding------" Two sounds came again from the stone wall not far away.

"Hide here!" Mu Yun Chu said, then leaped away.

Gu Qingyue's eyes gradually deepened as she watched the young man who was already fighting with the masked man opposite her.

Seeing another group of people appear behind the masked man, Gu Qingyue made a decisive move, gripping her dagger and charging forward.

Gu Qingyue swiftly dispatched a tall, muscular man in a few moves, and immediately two more men pounced on her. Gu Qingyue kicked a short man away, but a long sword came slashing at her from the side, its weight as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Gu Qingyue raised her dagger to parry, but the impact made her arm go numb. After two rounds, Gu Qingyue knew that these assassins were definitely not simple.

This was the first time she had encountered such a master since she came into this world.

If it weren't for the fact that she had been cultivating her internal energy with her master for some time and making rapid progress, she would have been completely powerless against the man in front of her.

After several dozen exchanges, Gu Qingyue began to feel the pressure.

The man in front of me had long hair hanging down one side of his face, sharp eyes, and a youthful appearance, but his sword moves were fast and ruthless, and his expression was icy cold as he made his moves. His aura was far beyond that of an ordinary assassin.

She steeled herself and took the opportunity to act unexpectedly.

With a flick of her foot, Gu Qingyue kicked a longsword from beside a corpse. She refused to believe that the swordsman in front of her, whom she had learned from all the world's masters in her previous life, could not defeat her.

With a flick of her longsword, she feinted and slashed horizontally at her opponent with her right hand. The opponent raised his sword to block, but in the next instant, Gu Qingyue raised her left elbow and pressed down. The opponent was caught off guard and was hit on the right shoulder. With a crack, the man's right hand fell down and his longsword hit the ground. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gu Qingyue raised her right knee and struck the opponent's left ribs.