"How long have you been working at Binota Mine?" Zhang Heng then had the waiter bring two more glasses of wine to the miners across from him.
"I've worked at Binota Mine for five years, though I changed jobs for two of those years and worked loading cargo at the docks. It was easier than mining, but the pay was lower. Two years later, I had my fourth daughter and needed more money, so I returned to the mine." The older miner pointed at the younger miner beside him. "He's my nephew. He only started going down into the mine with us this year. He's a good lad—keeps his head down and never complains."
"Mm. When did you stop working this time?" Zhang Heng asked.
"About half a month ago," the older miner said, trying to recall.
"To be exact, sixteen days ago," his nephew added. "We went to work at the mine as usual that morning, but the overseer told us there'd been an accident. A mine passage had collapsed, and work couldn't resume until it was cleared. Everyone could only go home and wait for news."
"Did you go into the passage to take a look after the incident?"
The older miner exchanged a glance with his nephew. "We said we could help clear it. After all, we're paid daily, and there are plenty of mouths waiting to be fed at home. We didn't know how long the shutdown would last, so naturally we wanted work to resume as soon as possible. But the overseer wouldn't let us in. Even when we said we didn't need wages, he told us the slaves could handle it and that we needn't worry. But now... we've been out of work for two weeks. All we've been able to do is pick