Escape

Escape

Dodu sighed. "Then be careful. That kid Aoduo is terribly petty. Watch out for him finding people to beat you up. His father is Steward Sam, and he can hire martial arts instructors. Be careful."

Dole sighed as well. "I'll be careful. If he comes later, I'll run. At worst, I just won't work here anymore."

Bianchi Mine was one of the moderately sized mines around Duomeng City, but the pay and benefits were good, and they provided two meals a day. Most people would not want to leave, but if someone kept causing him trouble, Dole would have no choice but to go.

Today's task was still washing gold ore. Besides the gold ore, they had also found another valuable metal, a silver-colored ore. However, following the rules, the two of them honestly sorted out the ore without hiding any for themselves and placed it by the riverbank to wait for someone to collect it.

When they ate that morning, the overseer came to collect the ore. Though there was an additional kind of ore, he said nothing and took it all away. Someone would deal with it later. But Dole noticed that only half of his vegetable buns remained. There had originally been two, but now there was only one. His face immediately darkened.

So this was where they had been waiting for him. Steward Lem really did protect his son.

Seeing this, Dodu sighed too. However, he did not share his vegetable bun with Dole and simply ate his own. Dole did not hold it against him and took out the vegetable bun he had bought extra that morning.

Fortunately, he had been prepared and had bought an extra vegetable bun with one copper coin earlier.

Vegetable buns were different from rice balls. Rice balls were mostly dough and contained plenty of energy for the body to burn. Vegetable buns were mostly vegetables. They had little energy but could fill the stomach. Still, anyone doing heavy labor would get hungry again very quickly. Dole even wondered whether he would starve himself sick if this continued.

If lunch and dinner were the same, he would have to consider whether to keep working here.

If he could not even eat his fill, where would he get the strength to work? Over time, it would wear a person down.

That was what the master who had taught them basic martial arts back then had said. A person needed strength, and to have strength, they had to eat their fill and eat meat. If they did not eat enough or eat meat, they would never amount to much in life.

Although Dole came from the slums, the Northern Kingdom had a rule that children had to undergo three months of martial arts training and three years of cultural education before the age of ten. That was why Dole had grasped a little martial arts skill and learned some words.

With a sigh, he continued working.

Dole and Dodu were partners, but their wages differed by threefold. Dole was still a child, so his daily workload was limited. Most of the time, he merely assisted Dodu and did not need to exert much strength. Seeing this, Dodu felt somewhat troubled as well. If Dole was driven away, finding someone else to partner with would be a problem.

Sure enough, at noon and in the afternoon, just as Dole had expected, his rations were reduced again. How was he supposed to work without eating his fill? And that afternoon, the overseer watched him fiercely. If he dared stop, he would probably be whipped immediately.

Looking at the hostile overseer, Dole knew he could not stay here any longer. Yet strangely, despite eating very little, he had not lost much strength. It was truly odd. Throughout the entire day, he had not given the overseer a chance to whip him.

The mine rarely withheld workers' wages, even if they had conflicts with the stewards. Doing so would provoke resistance from the other workers, and the stewards would lose their jobs. To the mine owner, the stewards were not important; the mine depended on its workers.

That afternoon, the two went to collect their wages. After receiving their money, Dodu and Dole exchanged smiles and headed out together. As he left, Dole casually picked up a wooden stick by the entrance and held it in his hand.

At the mine entrance, Aoduo had gauze wrapped around his face, covering his entire nose and making him look rather miserable. It was not just his nose; the skin around it was bruised as well.

Beside him stood four young thugs with sticks in their hands, lounging about as they stared fixedly at the entrance.

They did not dare stand directly at the gate and instead waited a short distance away.

Just then, one of them shouted, "Boss Aoduo, it's Dole! He's out!"

Aoduo had naturally seen Dole too. His expression turned vicious. He had not been paying attention yesterday and had taken a punch. He had starved Dole all day today; let's see if he still dared act arrogant tonight.

The people nearby quickly moved aside.

To the adults, this was merely children fighting, something to watch for amusement. But since it involved a steward, no one wanted to interfere. They did not even want to watch and hurried away.

Dodu stood beside Dole and sighed. "Dole, be careful." Then he noticed the stick behind Dole and said nothing. He knew that after today, he might never see Dole again. Judging by the situation, Dole would probably not have an easy time today.

Dole nodded, pulling a faint smile onto his lips without saying anything.

Once they left the gate, Uncle Dodu quickly moved away from Dole, while Dole calmly followed the crowd forward.

Aoduo and the four burly men were already waiting near the entrance, only waiting for Dole to come out. They slapped the sticks in their hands against their palms as they slowly approached.

Normally, Dole would have walked slowly and waited for them to come rob him. After robbing him, they would leave to rob someone else. But today, Dole had made up his mind not to let them succeed, so naturally he would not foolishly wait for them to come over.

The moment he left the mine, Dole deliberately moved to the outer edge of the crowd and suddenly broke into a run, moving incredibly fast.

"Get him!" Aoduo's nose ached from anger at the sight. His face flushed red as he waved a hand and immediately ran after him.

But Dole was on the other side of the crowd. They had to push through the crowd before they could catch him.

Dole had worked all year round. Although he trained mainly his upper body, he could run very fast as well. Once he sprang forward, he was like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, racing down the mountain road.

It was about seven or eight li from the mine to the gates of Duomeng City. Beyond the city gates lay a scattered market. As Dole ran, he looked back. At first, he could still see Aoduo's vicious glare, but soon Aoduo could no longer keep up. They had no horses and simply could not catch him.

Seeing this, Dole stopped by the roadside, bent over with his hands on his knees, and panted heavily. Once he calmed down, he realized that today's matter might be over, but what about tomorrow?

Sighing inwardly, Dole waited until his breathing steadied, then walked alone along the main road toward the market.

This time, he bought three copper coins' worth of rice balls, because he would not be able to work tomorrow.

When he returned home, Hellhound Aoduo poked its head out from inside, looked around, and vigorously licked Dole's palm several times. Once Dole entered, it obediently waited for him to feed it. Though rice balls were not a Hellhound's staple food, it had gotten used to them after eating them for the past few days.

Oh, not bad. Three vegetable buns today. Did Dole strike it rich?