Liu You sold all three carts of flour to the grain shop in the city, received a hefty sum of silver, and then hired a horse-drawn carriage so his wife and children could ride comfortably.
One carriage and three ox-carts rolled slowly out of Heyang County and toward the Jinshuigou Coal Mine.
When he arrived, Li Daoxuan was sitting nearby, peeling spicy crayfish while watching the progress of the mine's construction.
After Gao Yiye and Shansier had toured Jinshuigou and discussed the "private-operation" issue with Feng Jun, the mine had become one of Li Daoxuan's major focuses.
After all, coal was the father of industrial revolution.
Without the father, there'd be no son — no revolution. And the industrial revolution was, in turn, the father of modern society. Without it, the old agrarian mindset would never truly change.
As Ma Dashen once said: "Content and form must match."
An advanced system of governance required an equally advanced productive force.
If production lagged, the system would collapse; if the system strangled progress, productivity would stagnate.
Right now, Li Daoxuan could rely on his own "golden-finger" cheats to stabilize Gaojia Village's "New Thought." But should anything happen to him — an accident, or simply old age — then without that golden finger of productivity, the whole ideology would crumble.
Improving the villagers' own productive skills was therefore a matter of absolute urgency.
Three engineering teams were busy at the coal mine.
The first consisted entirely of Heyang County laborers, handling the simplest roadwork.
The second team, also from Heyang, included a few blue-capped technicians from Gaojia Village who instructed the yellow-caps in constructing the workers' concrete dormitories. Though still in early stages, the buildings already looked spacious and grand.
The third team was the elite — all blue-caps from Gaojia Village, and among them a young man in a white cap and white robes: Young Master Bai.
Nearly seventeen, handsome and poised, Bai Gongzi was already at an age to stand on his own. He was bent over a sheet of drawing paper, sketching, looking up at the mine pit, then sketching again.
His blueprint depicted a small rail track extending from outside the pit down into the mine, with a trolley attached to an iron cable that ran through a pulley system.
Satisfied, he lifted the drawing toward the sky.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, please take a look. Is this design feasible?"
Li Daoxuan tapped rapidly on his strange device; the printer beside him whirred, and a sheet slid out.
"Don't ask me if it's feasible," the paper read. "Test it. Do experiments. Only practice brings true knowledge."
Bai Gongzi bowed deeply. "Dao Xuan Tianzun's teaching is right."
He handed the blueprint to a nearby blue-cap.
"Begin construction immediately! Build this coal-car exactly as drawn. Once it's ready, I'll test whether it works. If it does, the miners will no longer have to carry heavy coal on their backs up from the pit."
The blue-caps glanced over the drawing, then began shouting orders to the yellow-caps. The entire mine buzzed with energy and purpose.
Amid this lively scene, Liu You arrived.
His horse carriage and ox-carts stopped by the road. He craned his neck and stared wide-eyed at the busy mine.
Was this the same Jinshuigou Mine he remembered? When did it turn into this?
A coal-blackened miner came over. "This yuanwai, may I ask what brings you here?"
Being called yuanwai stunned Liu You for a moment — then he understood.
He had a carriage, ox-carts, clean clothes; in the eyes of poor miners, that was already gentry level.
Straightening his back, he said with a hint of pride, "I've come to buy coal. You're still selling, right?"
"Selling, of course!" the miner answered eagerly, turning to shout, "Boss! Boss! We've got a coal buyer here!"
Soon the mine foreman came over — not one of Gaojia Village's transferred officials, but the original local headman.
He used to work for the county office, managing the mine on the government's behalf, but there hadn't been wages for ages. Even the frontier soldiers hadn't been paid; who could expect the miners to be?
So for a long time, Jinshuigou survived by secretly selling coal to fund their own pay. Feng Jun knew this but had no choice but to turn a blind eye — he couldn't pay them either.
Now that Gaojia Village had taken over, Shansier had arranged proper wages. The miners treasured this new income and, afraid of losing their jobs, no longer sold coal privately. Instead, they logged every sale, turned the money in to Gaojia Village, and received an official commission bonus.
That system made them work harder — the more they sold, the more they earned.
The foreman approached Liu You. "You're here to buy coal?"
Liu You nodded. "Three carts."
The foreman's eyes lit up. A single customer buying three cartloads — that was a good day's commission.
"Price is the same as before," he said. "But since you're taking so much, I can shave a little off for you."
Liu You grinned. "Perfect. Fill all three to the brim."
At once, the miners got busy — lifting, carrying, dumping. Soon all three ox-carts were piled high with coal.
Liu You's heart swelled with joy.
Just think of it — all this coal taken back to Gaojia Village to boil water for Water-Fresh Dumplings! How many bowls could he cook? His costs would drop, profits rise, and his little shop would thrive. Life was about to get deliciously good.
As he day-dreamed about fortune, a massive convoy appeared on the road — Shansier's grand transport team. Dozens of carts in a line stretched for hundreds of zhang, filling the whole mountain path.
From the carriage, Madam Liu peeked out, astonished.
"Ah-You, are all these carts coming to load coal too? What village could possibly use so much of it?"
Liu You laughed proudly.
"You'll see once we reach Gaojia Village. It's not a mere village anymore — you could call it Gaojia City and still not exaggerate. The forges there burn day and night, smoke curling to the heavens. There's a grand school full of students — our child will study there too. The Gaojia Marketplace shines with lights and laughter. It's the best place I've ever see.
Trivia: Ma Dasheng (馬大聖)
Who is Ma Dasheng?
Ma Dasheng was a legendary philosopher and political theorist of the late Ming and early Qing era (fictionally reimagined here). In historical records and local lore, he was known for blending Confucian political ideals with proto-industrial reformist thought—a rare combination in a time when "manual labor" was seen as inferior to scholarship.
His famous quote—"Content must match form" (內容與形式必須匹配)—is often interpreted as an early commentary on the relationship between governance and productivity. The phrase implies that no matter how advanced or moral a government system is, it cannot survive without a matching level of productive technology and public capability.
In the novel's context, Dao Xuan Tianzun quotes Ma Dasheng to justify his push for technological progress and industrial reform in Gaojia Village—echoing real historical tensions during China's early industrial movements.