Pan Yun believed this was Heaven's support for her. Otherwise, how could tossing a branch to find Pu Min lead them to a tungsten mine?
Clearly, Heaven also supported her efforts to speed up the course of the times, so that the people of today and tomorrow might suffer a little less.
Pan Yun gave a sinister chuckle, shattered a great boulder with one palm, then casually picked up several pieces of tungsten ore and put them away. "Let's go. Since Heaven has given us guidance, Pu Min should be nearby. Get to high ground. They must need fire to refine silver, so follow the cooking smoke to find the silver mine."
They waited until dusk before they finally saw smoke rising.
One look at the smoke, and Wang Cong said, "That's cooking smoke. Looks like this mine's output isn't much. There isn't even any smoke from silver refining."
There truly was no smoke from silver refining, because the ore was not refined in the mountains at all.
Pu Min said, "Because illegal mining has become so severe, and because miners caused unrest everywhere last year, the Imperial Court no longer refines silver beside the mines. Instead, the ore is hauled elsewhere."
Pan Yun and Wang Cong saw the little road worn down by cart wheels and sighed. "They've had it hard."
They could at least repair the road a little.
Pu Min looked at them and asked calmly, "The two of you have gone through untold hardships to sneak into the deep mountains. What are you here for?"
Pu Min had just come out of the mining area and collected his evening meal. Feeling troubled, he had deliberately found an empty spot to squat down and eat by himself, to digest his emotions alone. He had not expected that