Chapter 301 (2/2)

“Are you in such a hurry to die?” Peik, the old man in charge of the duty room said. “You’re only thirty years old, and you don’t even have a wife or child. Why do you take things so hard since you now live a comfortable life?”

Reif laughed bitterly. He wanted to tell the old man that he actually had a wife and child.

At least, he once did…

But after all, he did not say that. All the memories and thoughts turned into a silent sigh.

If only he could have met such a good woman as Mayor Felix in those days…

Rief was depressed for just a moment. When the last digger came out of the tunnel to be purified, he took off his protective clothing and went to the newly-built lounge next to the room on duty. The young magician took out a sound transmission staff, and there came his teacher, Mayor Felix’s voice.

“Everyone has worked hard during this period. The production and the quality of the mushrooms are excellent, and the first stage of the work in the ore veins can be said to have achieved great success. Here, I want to thank you for your hard work.”

The excavators laughed happily. Although they did not have any education nor any experience in fighting, they could at least recognize these words were out of sincerity.

Mayor Felix went on to say, “Next, we’ll take three days off, and the salary will be calculated according to the usual standard. And then I will give you a bonus!”

All the excavators cheered after hearing this. They had been living such a poor life, so paid holidays were already very good; but bonuses would be even better, especially since Mayor Felix had never been stingy. She would never give them only a few coins like the previous miners got.

“How much will the bonus be?” a man with a short temper asked in a hurry.

The young magician shook his head showing that he did not know.

“It must be a lot!” another said with a steadier smile.

“Yes! Maybe it will be five silver coins, or maybe even seven, no, eight…”

Anyway, these were all just guesses.

Reif smiled, wiped the sweat and rain off his body with a dry cloth, and picked up his cup on the wooden shelf of the lounge. Then he went to the big barrel to pick up a cup of steaming wheat tea and drank it.

Today, the wheat tea was a little spicy and sweet. He guessed that there were herbs in it that could prevent cold and sickness.

That was great!

He sat on the bench and listened to the enthusiastic comments of his fellow workers. The hot tea flowed through his throat down to his stomach and then to his whole body. He could not help but laugh at the continuous spring raindrops outside.

It was so nice to live such a life!

After a while, a patrolman came in the rain and handed out the “bonus” mentioned by the mayor just now. Unlike their previous speculation, it was not five, seven, eight silver coins for each person, but one gold coin!

All the miners were stunned by the golden coin.

Although ten silver coins could be exchanged for one gold coin theoretically, in fact, it was impossible to save a gold coin all year round for most poor civilians. Even before Mayor Felix came, most people here had no chance to even touch a gold coin.

Life was so difficult. They had used up all their strength just to be alive. Save up money? Gold coins? Only in their dreams.

More than one excavator turned the golden coin over and over again and looked at it many times. They were frantically trying to find a place to put it away, but they did not know where they could put it. It was really embarrassing.

Reif’s right hand was still holding the cup steadily while his left held the golden treasure. He felt at ease when looking at it.

He clenched his left hand and felt the hard coin cut into his palm. Then he raised his head and downed the hot tea with hope and confidence in his eyes.

“Our life will surely get better and better!”

He spoke to himself, but everyone around had arisen in agreement.