Little Haozi knew he could not dodge the issue, so he braced himself and bargained, "Grandpa, if you don't hit me, I... I'll tell you. Otherwise, even if you beat me to death, I won't say a word."
Before the old man and old woman could lose their tempers, Zhou Lihua hurriedly pinched her son hard. "You little brat, your grandpa asked you a question, so hurry up and answer him. Otherwise, I'll deal with you."
The old man quickly stopped her. "Don't scare him."
"Xiao Hao, Grandpa promises not to hit you or punish you, but you have to explain everything clearly."
Seeing that his grandpa had agreed, Little Haozi finally mustered the courage to speak. "I... I followed my sister in through the abandoned path behind Coal Mountain. I didn't go in by myself."
He might have been young, but at a critical moment, he knew how to protect himself.
As for whether this would cause trouble for his sister, he could not afford to worry about that right now.
The old man's brows furrowed slightly. "Why would your sister go there?"
The abandoned passage behind the mountain had actually been dug open?
How had he not known about this?
"Yesterday, I overheard Erya from the village head's house telling Sis that the mine had stopped work these past few days and there was no one there. She also said there was an underground passage on the back mountain that led into the mine.
"She also said that someone had secretly come to the village a few days ago to buy coal. Sis secretly carried a basket to the back of Coal Mountain at noon today, and I... I just wanted to follow her and take a look."
Although Xiao Hao's explanation was somewhat vague, none of the