Chapter 60: Coal-Ball the Ox Finds a Kindred Spirit

Yuhe County is located at the far western edge of Sunan Province, clinging tightly to the provincial border on the map. Before the liberation, it had a population of less than twenty thousand and was a notoriously impoverished county.

Although the population was small, the people were fierce and unyielding. Due to its special geographical location at the junction of three provinces, it had a somewhat lawless aura. Legend has it that since the Ming Dynasty, the local folk would till the fields with hoes by day, and when night fell, they would lay down their hoes and pick up broadswords, traveling in bands of three or five to change professions and become bandits who specialized in robbing passing merchants. Through the Ming, Qing, and Republic eras, merchants from Huizhou and Zhejiang suffered greatly from their depredations, making Yuhe County a nationally renowned cradle of bandits.

A fierce folk custom had its good side as well. The people of Yuhe County were bold and fearless of death. Just as it produced bandits, it also produced generals. During the War of Liberation and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the county successively produced seven generals, earning it the renown of being a generals' county.

After the liberation, the genuine generals enjoyed their remaining years in their respective military regions. Aside from its fame as a generals' county, it remained as poor as a church mouse.

In the new society, even the trade of banditry could no longer be practiced; during the slack farming season, people could only go out in groups to beg for food, turning it into a notoriously renowned beggars' county.

It was not until Li Siguang led a team across the country to search for coal mines and discovered several large coal mines in Sunan Province—with Yuhe County being one of them—that this small county, once possessed of a "brilliant" history, regained its vitality.

Zhao Zejun first took a vehicle to the county seat, then transferred to another vehicle to visit Old Niu's home, and finally followed Old Niu to the nearby pharmaceutical plant.

You only realize you lack a vehicle when you actually need one; it was at this moment that he truly felt how convenient it would be to have a car of his own.

Upon entering the county's borders, he immediately felt the intense dominance of "coal" here. Starting from the highway exit, almost all billboards along both sides of the Provincial Highway D were energy-related. On the potholed asphalt road, empty or fully loaded coal trucks could be seen roaring past at any moment.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the air in the county seat was hazy and gray. The coming and going crowds looked as if none of them had washed their faces, travel-stained and dusty. Even the cars driving on the road seemed to have crawled out of a time tunnel, covered in a layer of grime.

Old Niu lived in a place like this, and yet the bastard actually wanted to attain immortality? Keep on dreaming! In this wretched place, he wouldn't come to live here even if someone built an imperial palace for him.

Foul-mouthed though Old Niu was, he still knew how to put on a grand display when dealing with people. Knowing Zhao Zejun was coming, he had specially dispatched a driver to wait for him in the county seat.

"Is this car from Deyuan Group?" Zhao Zejun sat in the Audi and casually chatted with the driver.

When he first saw the car, he was somewhat uncertain because the license plate clearly was not something an ordinary citizen could use.

The driver said with utter nonchalance, "The fleet in the county is entirely sponsored by President Niu. Our company's vehicles also carry county license plates, which makes coming and going much more convenient."

"Awesome," Zhao Zejun laughed.

Leaving the county seat, the driver accelerated to eighty or ninety kilometers per hour all the way down the provincial highway, treating the speed limit signs completely as thin air.

Upon arriving at Old Niu's home, Zhao Zejun realized that he had still underestimated Old Niu.

Old Niu's home was not in the county seat at all, nor was it in the coal mining area, but rather in the mountains some forty or fifty kilometers away from Yuhe County. The surrounding scenery was picturesque, yet someone had brazenly blasted out a massive flat expanse amidst the mountains to construct an estate covering dozens of acres.

Right beside the estate was a parking lot. At the main gate, a pair of bronze lions taller than a man stood on the left and right. Before even stepping inside, Zhao Zejun heard the barking of large wolfhounds coming from the courtyard.

There was a duty guard post at the entrance, inside of which two strapping fellows—somewhere between security guards, bodyguards, and local hoodlums—were playing cards. After the driver stated their purpose and Zhao Zejun's identity, one of the thugs made a phone call. Not long after, the electric security gate opened, and a middle-aged woman walked out.

"President Niu is fishing out back. Please follow me, Mr. Zhao."

"Alright, thank you."

Following the middle-aged woman into the estate, they were greeted right away by a fountain pool large enough to serve as a swimming pool. Flanked by two rows of three-story buildings, the middle-aged woman explained that this was where President Niu usually handled his administrative work.

These two rows of buildings, which were not overly luxurious, were probably the true core of Deyuan Group.

The front was the administrative area, and the rear was the residential zone. Along the way, they passed through several courtyards designed very much in the style of Suzhou classical gardens, separated by walls into individual zones. In each zone stood a standalone small villa. The five wives of Niu Shengli, along with the core figures of his family, lived within these spaces.

There was also another building rumored to house the servants, including chefs, security personnel, and so forth.

Walking to the very back of the estate, Zhao Zejun was momentarily stunned.

There was actually a small artificial lake. Moored at the edge of the lake were three small motorboats commonly seen in amusement parks, and a long corridor extended directly from the shore to the center of the lake.

In the small pavilion at the center of the lake, Niu Shengli was fishing, while a pretty young woman with a delicate face and an even more stunning figure stood behind him, cradling a chubby baby boy in her arms.

"President Niu, Boss Zhao has arrived," the middle-aged woman stepped forward and said softly.

Niu Shengli let out an "mm" and kept his gaze fixed intently on the water's surface.

Zhao Zejun walked over, nodded and smiled slightly at the beautiful young woman holding the child, then greeted President Niu. He squatted down beside Niu Shengli to watch him fish.

"You've come at a good time. Stay at my place for a few days, and we can have a proper chat about the longevity medicine. Someone, go get him a stool to sit on," the latter sentence was addressed to the young woman.

"Alright," the young woman replied with a gentle expression. She cradled the child, turned around, and walked over to the middle-aged woman who had brought Zhao Zejun in, saying a few words. Before long, the middle-aged woman returned with a small folding stool.

"Thank you, sister-in-law," Zhao Zejun said as he took the stool, nodded at the young woman, and then pulled out the prepared beeswax piece. "Take this for the little one to play with."

"Thank you," the young woman expressed her gratitude, but instead of taking it, she looked toward Niu Shengli.

"Sister-in-law? All five of your sisters-in-law are playing mahjong in the front!" Old Niu turned his head and burst into a hearty laugh. "She's my housekeeper cum secretary."

This caused Zhao Zejun to blush deeply, thinking to himself that this was utterly wasteful. Such a gorgeous young woman, possessing both striking facial features and an enviable figure, was actually being used as a housekeeper.

Niu Shengli put down his fishing rod, took the chubby boy from the "housekeeper's" arms and cradled him. The chubby toddler babbled, "Daddy, daddy," making Niu Shengli's face crease into smiles as he said, "Well, you didn't call her wrong either; she became your sister-in-law last month. After the New Year, when I formally welcome her across the threshold, she'll be the official sixth sister-in-law. Drop by for the wedding banquet when you have time."

The housekeeper blushed and gave Old Niu's shoulder a shove. "What nonsense are you spouting!"

"Alright, alright, go on and join them for mahjong."

The future sixth sister-in-law smiled at Zhao Zejun, turned around, and swayed her slender waist as she walked away. Zhao Zejun glanced back and remarked, "President Niu, this is already your sixth. You need to take care of yourself; overindulging in bedroom arts will affect your quest for immortality."

"Stop talking rubbish. If you can't even handle women, what use is immortality? Hand over the item and let me see it." Niu Shengli casually took the beeswax and toyed with it in his hand for a few moments. "The quality of this piece is quite good. I heard it can also ward off evil spirits, right?"

Zhao Zejun smiled self-deprecatingly; all the prior preparation he had done turned out to be completely useless since Old Niu himself was in the mining business and understood minerals far better than he did.

Niu Shengli hung the beeswax around the chubby toddler's neck and teased him, saying, "Say thank you, uncle."

Zhao Zejun thought to himself: what kind of messed-up family tree is this? I address your little number six as sister-in-law, and your son calls me uncle?

The chubby boy was already over two years old and could walk and speak quite well. With two chubby little hands cupping the beeswax, he giggled broadly, staring at Zhao Zejun with big, bright, curious eyes, though he stubbornly remained silent.

"Not bad, not bad," Niu Shengli said with satisfaction. "Let me tell you, whether an item is good or not is secondary; the crucial part is an affinity. It seems my son has an affinity with this piece of beeswax. Isn't it a coincidence? My son's nickname is Stone."

"No way, really that coincidental?!" Zhao Zejun wore a look of utter surprise.

What a load of surprise!

A decade or so later, who in Sunan Province wouldn't know that the young master of Deyuan Coal Mine had a rather hilarious nickname: Stone?

In the future circle of prodigal sons in Sunan Province, Niu Stone was a resounding figure, also known by his infamous moniker of the "Three Blacks": black-hearted, ruthless in methods, and having a dark background.

In 2015, Niu Stone—then merely fifteen years old—had a fierce clash with a nationally renowned young scion over a female celebrity. The opponent gave him a resounding nickname on Weibo: Niu Coalball.