Eternal Life as False Emperor

Zheng Yi’s proposal was something he had never envisioned.

Although for Zhao Qing, he could actually skim a bit of Fire Rock Ore every day through various means.

But such petty actions couldn’t be too blatant.

After all, if this kind of thing really stirred up, it would be more trouble than it was worth.

Moreover, the benefits he gained weren’t solely his; he had to give some to the accountants and guards around him.

This way, they would turn a blind eye to his actions.

But as long as he agreed to Zheng Yi’s proposal, all these Fire Rocks would be his, without the need to share any profit with others.

After the initial shock, Zhao Qing rolled his eyes and sneered disdainfully: "Shut up, what do you take me for?"

"Don’t think you can easily buy me off. If you dare speak such outrageous words in front of me again, don’t blame me for being ruthless."

Zheng Yi sneered secretly. Still, if Zhao Qing was really as loyal to the Zhao Family as he claimed, he wouldn’t still be here.

"Six pieces." Zheng Yi swiftly upped the ante: "Steward Qing, we’re just trying to find a way for our people in Riverbend Village to occasionally get lucky and dig out one or two more pieces of ore."

"Being able to provide you six pieces a day is already our utmost limit."

"You know, we first have to complete our own tasks, only then can we offer the extra to you."

"Otherwise, why don’t you just report this to the higher-ups."

Zhao Qing’s demands couldn’t be outright rejected, but they absolutely couldn’t be fully satisfied either.

Such greedy people could be provoked if treated too harshly, yet being too soft might make them see you as a pushover.

Indeed, under Zheng Yi’s mix of firmness and tactful persuasion,

Zhao Qing was a little scared that the opportunity would slip away, so he quickly agreed: "Fine, considering that it’s not easy for you, I’ll make things a bit easier for you this time."

"How about this." Zhao Qing frowned and thought for a while before saying: "Inside the mine, there are some pits that, due to complex terrain and difficulty, many people don’t want to go."

"I’ll talk to the higher-ranking Steward to assign you there, so you don’t have to fight with others every day, how’s that?"

This guy was even greedier than Zheng Yi had imagined.

Not only did he want benefits from them, he also wanted to assign them to the hardest-to-dig mines that no one else was willing to go to.

However, this actually played right into Zheng Yi’s strategy.

Those less frequented mining areas matched his requirements perfectly.

Of course, such a request couldn’t be easily agreed to. Zheng Yi immediately showed a reluctant look: "Manager Qing, this isn’t quite suitable..."

Zhao Qing’s eyes widened: "What do you mean suitable or not? I’m doing this for your own good. With the commotion you’re making, even if the Zhao Family members don’t find out, the mine stewards will."

"Rather than causing a big fuss later that’s hard to handle, it’s better to find a quieter place, which is better for everyone involved."

"That’s settled then. I’ll talk to the mine’s Steward tomorrow to have your mining area changed."

"In that case, we’ll leave it to Steward Qing to arrange."

Even though he was extremely happy inside, Zheng Yi still put on an unwilling face.

Zhao Qing left smugly.

Not only had he obtained a great advantage, but he also managed to dump the troublesome people from Riverbend Village into mines no one wanted.

This Fire Rock Ore site has been mined for over a thousand years, and its scale is simply enormous.

It’s not just the villagers from nearby mining it; even if thousands more were added, it wouldn’t be a problem.

So, the stewards wouldn’t force anyone to mine those particularly difficult deep pits if no one was willing to go there.

After all, the shallow surface pits still had a vast amount of Fire Rock Ore to extract.

For them, fulfilling the Zhao Family’s quotas was most important.

Zhao Qing acted with remarkable speed, and by the second day, they had already been reassigned a new mining pit.

Feng Haitao gritted his teeth and cursed: "That slick dog really is nothing, after all the benefits we gave him, he still managed to put us in the dreaded deep mines hard to dig."

Zhou Yang nodded in agreement: "If it weren’t for the mining pickaxe the Immortal gave us, we’d be in big trouble."

Though they were angry, the situation being what it was, they just grumbled a bit and turned their eyes to Zheng Yi.

In just a few days, Zheng Yi had quietly become their backbone.

"Arrange four people to take turns mining, the rest should focus on cultivation and enhancing their cultivation levels."

"Remember, only strength can preserve our current way of life."

They all answered in unison: "Yes!"

Their lives now were immensely better, not having to arduously mine every day, and still being able to eat well.

Only now did they realize how miserable their previous lives had been.

Even Zhou Kunshan probably didn’t know what a dramatic transformation Riverbend Village had undergone compared to before.

They just needed a catalyst for everyone to realize this change.

While the people of Riverbend Village were mining, Zheng Yi vaguely sensed something deep within the mine attracting him.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!