Men who mine are the most romantic

"Have you eaten yet?" Cheng Tian's father asked apologetically. "I have. Just barely enough."

"Then let's go to my office first. You can have a little more there." With that, Cheng Tian's father led him to his office.

Cheng Tian's father was neither a miner nor a senior executive here, just an ordinary clerical employee. His usual work involved preparing spreadsheets and contracts, compiling statistics, and the like.

As one of the mine's few clerical employees, he had an office of his own despite not being part of management.

Cheng Tian's father brought him into the office. "Sit here for a bit. Help yourself to the fruit on the desk. I need to deliver this contract."

Cheng Tian nodded. "Dad, can I go look around the mine?" His father looked surprised. "What would you go there for? It's dangerous."

"It's fine. I'll just look around outside and see how you work here," Cheng Tian explained. "All right, go have a look, then." His father pointed to the hard hat on the wall. "Remember to wear a hard hat when you go there, and stay away from dangerous areas. Understand?"

Cheng Tian nodded obediently. "Don't worry. I won't go anywhere dangerous."

Once his father had left, Cheng Tian stood up, stretched, and ate two oranges from the desk. Then he dusted off his hands and let Froakie out.

"Froakie!" Cheng Tian patted Froakie's little head. "Come on. Let's see what this mine looks like."

The boy and his Pokémon left the office, went downstairs, and headed toward the mine behind the building.

Although they hadn't reached the mine yet, Cheng Tian could already hear the tremendous noise coming from it. As he drew closer, the sound grew even louder, and he could feel the ground trembling.

Entering the #Field-Style Mining Area, he could see plenty of people and Pokémon working at every level, from top to bottom.

Numerous Coalossal moved in and out of the mine tunnels in orderly streams, hauling an endless supply of coal, while many Machoke swung pickaxes to extract ore.

"Hey, Gurdurr, you're off! You're off! Move it a little to the left! Ah, too far again..." A middle-aged man below was directing Gurdurr as the Pokémon operated a crane to lower supplies into a shaft.

Seeing a mining operation for the first time, Cheng Tian continued downward out of curiosity. "Hey, you over there! Don't go that way!" A safety supervisor wearing a white hard hat shouted at him.

"Huh?" Cheng Tian froze in confusion. Seeing this, the safety supervisor gritted his teeth, charged over, grabbed Cheng Tian's arm, and ran to one side. "Move!"

They had barely scrambled any distance away when the rock wall beside the spot where Cheng Tian had been standing suddenly exploded. Thick smoke and dust billowed out, covering him in grime in an instant.

"Cough, cough..." The safety supervisor coughed a couple of times, waved a hand, and brushed the dirt and stones off himself. Then he glared at Cheng Tian. "Have you got a death wish, kid? You were this close to getting blown up!"

Only then did Cheng Tian realize that the explosion had been caused by buried blasting caps being detonated. He hurriedly apologized to the safety supervisor. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to."

"You're not an employee here, are you? What are you doing here, then? Trying to get yourself killed?" The safety supervisor wasn't appeased. "My dad works at the mine. I came to bring him something."

"Your dad works here? Perfect. Come on, hurry up and call him so he can take you away." As he spoke, he pulled out his own phone and asked for the number.

Cheng Tian wore a bitter expression. He hadn't expected to cause trouble for his dad so soon after arriving, but he could only reluctantly recite the phone number.

The hand entering the number suddenly stopped. The safety supervisor in the white hard hat looked up in surprise at Cheng Tian. "You're Old Cheng's son?"

"Huh?" Cheng Tian was taken aback. "Sir, you know my dad?" The man frowned as though trying to remember something. "Hmm... I remember. Your name's Cheng Tian, right?"

"Yes." Cheng Tian quickly nodded. "I've heard about you. Old Cheng tells us about his precious son every day." The man's gaze softened, and he dialed Cheng Tian's father's number. The call soon connected, and he raised the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Old Cheng? What's your son doing over at my section of the mine? Huh? He brought you something? Oh, you're discussing business. I'll hang up, then. Sure, sure, no problem. I'll keep an eye on him." With that, the man ended the call.

"Um, sir, my dad..." The man patted Cheng Tian's shoulder. "Your dad asked me to look after you. Oh, my surname's Ma. Just call me Uncle Ma. I'm a good friend of your dad's here at the mine."

"Okay, Uncle Ma." Cheng Tian immediately changed how he addressed him. "Why'd you come here instead of heading home after delivering your stuff?" Uncle Ma asked.

Cheng Tian answered a little sheepishly, "Hehe, I don't get to visit the mine often, so I wanted to see what mining was like."

Uncle Ma understood. "You want to see how mining works? Perfect. Come with me, then." With that, he led Cheng Tian deeper into the mining field.

Meanwhile, in a meeting room, Cheng Tian's father ended the call, set down his phone, and looked apologetically at the man opposite him. "Sorry about that, Mayor Su. Something came up and interrupted us."

Su Mulin smiled gently. "It's all right, Mr. Cheng. Let's continue where we left off. Your mining company would let our municipal government take an equity stake through technological contributions. We would help you replace your mining equipment, provide technical support, and ensure the safety of the workers and Pokémon at the mine. What do you think?"

Su Mulin had come here specifically to discuss this technology-for-equity arrangement. Bingzhou's economic development was lagging, and these traditional fossil-fuel companies needed reform. The government's technological contributions in exchange for equity would help the reforms proceed more smoothly while also helping the companies increase production and value.

Now that I've come to Bingzhou as deputy mayor, I ought to get some real work done.

Cheng Tian's father nodded excitedly. "Mayor Su, our company's position is that we fully support and will cooperate with the municipal government's reforms."

Su Mulin smiled in satisfaction. "That couldn't be better." Cheng Tian's father took out the contract and handed it to him. After both parties signed, Su Mulin stood and shook his hand. "Here's to a successful partnership!" "Yes, to a successful partnership!"

Cheng Tian's father was delighted. He had worked at this mining company for over twenty years. The owner was a coal boss with little education and no gift for words, but after all those years together, he trusted Cheng Tian's father completely. That was why he had chosen him to sign the contract with a deputy mayor like Su Mulin.

With this contract signed, Cheng Tian's father's year-end bonus would probably increase. I'll have more money to give my son for raising his Pokémon, he thought contentedly.

The two walked side by side as Cheng Tian's father saw Su Mulin out. Rather than discussing more business, they began chatting about their families.

"Was that your son calling just now, Mr. Cheng?" Su Mulin asked with a smile. "Haha, no. A coworker ran into my son and called me."

"Oh, I see. May I ask where your son is working?" A proud smile appeared on Cheng Tian's father's face. "The boy got lucky and performed better than usual on his high school entrance exam. He got into Bingzhou No. 1 High School and just started in Pokémon Studies."

"Oh?" Su Mulin's eyes lit up. "What a coincidence. My daughter studies there too. Perhaps she knows your son."

Cheng Tian's father smiled and waved a hand. "I'm embarrassed to say that my boy has never had many friends. They're all friends he's played with since childhood. He doesn't usually talk much with his other classmates."

"I see. My daughter actually just transferred there, and I don't know whether she's settled into her new school yet. If possible, I'd like her to make friends with your son."

"You're too kind, too kind. I know exactly how much weight that boy carries. He blushes the moment he sees a girl..."

Achoo!

Uncle Ma turned to look at Cheng Tian. "What's wrong? Caught a cold?" Cheng Tian shook his head. "Maybe there's a little too much dust. It's nothing. Let's keep going, Uncle Ma."

Cheng Tian didn't know why he'd sneezed either. Surely it wasn't because someone was thinking about him?

Uncle Ma nodded and explained as they walked, "You nearly got blown up back there, kid. That was part of our routine blasting. We keep Dugtrio at the mine specifically to locate mineral veins. Once they find one, we use blasting caps to open a gap, then let people and Pokémon mine it together and haul everything out."

Uncle Ma pointed to an enormous mine tunnel. All sorts of clanging and banging came from within, and coal emerged in a steady stream.

Uncle Ma checked his watch. "Almost time for the shift change?" Cheng Tian thought a shift change meant another group of people would head down into the mine, but instead, he saw a group of sweating Machamp emerge from the tunnel in work clothes and yellow hard hats.

"This tunnel is mined entirely by Machamp. It's a fairly unusual setup for us."

No wonder each arm was either carrying a pickaxe or holding a drill. Cheng Tian was speechless. Machamp have more arms, so they can carry more things?

Oh, this damned, oppressive capitalism!

Once the group of muscular Machamp came up, another group headed down. Uncle Ma walked over to greet one who was clearly their leader.

"Thanks for your hard work. Come up and take a break." "Machamp." The Machamp nodded and called the others over to sit down and rest.

"Where did the company find so many Machamp?" Cheng Tian asked curiously. "These are all wild Machamp who volunteered to work at the mine. The mine makes sure they have food, drink, and rest every day, and they use their powerful bodies to mine while getting some exercise," Uncle Ma explained. "Well, I suppose it's a sort of win-win?"

Cheng Tian nodded. Each side got what it needed. It really could be called a win-win: the mine gained workers, while the Machamp no longer had to brave the wind for their meals and sleep under the open sky, and could still train their bodies.

Was this the legendary... men who mine are the most romantic?

Just then, Cheng Tian suddenly felt something bump against the back of his leg. Turning to look, he discovered an entire case of large bottles of mineral water.

The case still seemed to be pushing forward, but once whatever was behind it realized something was blocking the way, a small figure slowly emerged from behind the case.

"Roly."

"This is..."

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