Ma Wu bought over twenty carloads of coal from the coal bosses at Loess Bridge and quickly shipped them out.
The coal from Loess Bridge was cheap. With shipping costs, the profit margin was slim. However, Li Qi and Ma Wu had an agreement with the Defense Agency to halve the freight cost, so they still made a decent amount of money.
After calculating the accounts, Ma Wu made a suggestion, "Old Qi, why don’t we just become middlemen? It’s less trouble than mining coal ourselves."
Li Banfeng replied, "We still need to mine our own coal. We didn’t come here just for this bit of business."
Ma Wu was just speaking off the cuff. The main focus was still on boosting the human energy of Loess Bridge.
Once the Little Train was repaired, the buyers were contacted, and enough coal was mined, Ma Wu immediately arranged for the loading and delivery of the coal.
Come nightfall, twenty coal cars were filled. Ma Wu sat in the cab while the Coachman stayed by the Little Train, accompanying him.
Li Qi didn’t show up, so the Coachman asked, "Brother Ma Wu, did Old Qi run into some trouble?"
Ma Wu said, "Old Qi was supposed to come, but he drank a bit too much tonight and fell asleep. I saw he was really tired, so I didn’t call him."
The Coachman nodded. "Let him rest. It’s just one batch of coal; the two of us can handle it."
Ma Wu looked at the Coachman and asked, "Brother, why do you insist on pulling the cart by foot instead of taking the Little Train?"
The Coachman laughed. "I feel more secure pulling this. Don’t worry, I’ll be faster than you!"
The Little Train chugged out Steam. After passing Xiqiao, it moved smoothly until it suddenly slowed down near the town.
Ma Wu asked the driver what was wrong.
The driver, drenched in sweat, couldn’t find the problem. The shovel used for adding coal almost sparked from wear, yet the Little Train just wouldn’t speed up.
The Coachman, who had been jogging alongside the Little Train, now slowed to a walk. Sensing danger when the Little Train started having issues, he said, "Old Five, tell your servants to fix the Little Train quickly, so we can leave this place as soon as possible."
After a short time, the Little Train came to a halt. Ma Wu called for his technicians to repair it while the Coachman, with his coach, used the Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster skill to sense the direction of the impending danger.
Chuanzi quickly found the malfunction: a bearing in the engine had lost its balls. The drive shaft couldn’t rotate, essentially braking the Little Train as it moved forward and naturally slowing it down.
"Lucky we caught it early, the axle’s fine!" Chuanzi pulled out a spare part from the carriage, replaced the bearing, and the Little Train continued on its way.
But soon after, a leak developed in the steam chest. The steam pressure plummeted, and the Little Train couldn’t move again.
The Coachman, with his coach, said, "Brother Ma Wu, what did I tell you? I move faster than your Little Train. This thing is no good."
Ma Wu was used to this. Delivering coal from Loess Bridge was never smooth.
The great thing about steam engines is they can be fixed on the spot.
Chuanzi climbed onto the steam chest and located the leak. Using his cultivation level, he braved the high temperature and pressure to use adhesive to seal the leak.
With more coal added and water replenished, the Little Train set off again.
Less than three hundred meters later, the train carriage became uncoupled from the train head.
The Coachman set down the coach pole and laughed. "I’ve never been fond of this Little Train; it doesn’t run fast, and it sure has a lot of issues. Don’t rush. Let the brothers check it thoroughly. If it really can’t move, I’ll pull the Little Train itself."
The Coachman wasn’t bragging. He really could pull the Little Train. And he indeed wanted to give it a try. With so many carriages behind him, it was clearly more satisfying than pulling a coach.
Everyone checked for faults. A cold breeze brought a tune, accompanied by a singing voice, to their ears.
The tune was pleasant, and the singing was even more captivating. After listening for a while, everyone was entranced. In the blink of an eye, a large group had fallen asleep.
Ma Wu forced himself to stay alert, using the Lust Cultivation Technique to inspire the people around him not to sleep.
With his Fourth Layer Cultivation, he was considered a mid-level Cultivator. Affected by the technique, several people nearby indeed resisted the sleep.
While they struggled on one side, the Coachman, pulling his coach, had found the source of the singing.
The voice came from a teahouse on the street corner that had been abandoned for many years.
In Puluo State, teahouses typically had young ladies singing. Most played the pipa, and some played the sanxian. Very few played the huqin because it was extremely difficult to learn.
This girl was singing and playing the pipa, performing the song "The Crow Marries the Phoenix." The Coachman stood at the teahouse entrance, quietly waiting for the song to end before calling out, "Miss, your song is quite lovely, skilled too. We are busy with business today and really don’t have time to enjoy your music. Once we’re done with our business, I’ll come to support you. You can sing a hundred songs for me, and I’ll give you One Foreign Silver Dollar for each. What do you say?"
The pipa’s sound abruptly stopped. The Coachman sneered, "Miss, you seem to understand reason. Today I’ll spare you, but don’t cause me trouble again."
The Coachman pulled his coach back to the side of the tracks. The Little Train was fixed. Those who hadn’t slept were no longer drowsy, and those who had were waking up.
Ma Wu asked the Coachman, "Did you find that singing girl?"
The Coachman nodded. "Found her. Gave her a little lecture; she won’t dare come next time."
"’She won’t dare come next time...’" Ma Wu looked into the distance. "But what about this time?"
Behind the train head, there was nothing but empty space.
The twenty coal cars, along with their carriages, had vanished.
「...」
Li Banfeng sat inside his Portable Residence, opening his Pocket Watch and calculating the time.
The Old Man coughed and said, "No need to calculate, we’ve already arrived."
This was rare. When Li Banfeng was in his Portable Residence, the Old Man seldom reminded him of the outside situation. However, the current situation indeed required a reminder, because otherwise, it would be difficult to find the key.
Before the coal-carrying Little Train departed, Li Banfeng pretended to be drunk and feigned sleep.
In reality, he wasn’t asleep. He had hidden the key in the coal pile, following the Little Train to the railway station.