Chapter 219: A Midnight Deal
The middle-aged man with the leather briefcase didn't mind Lin Feiming's cold reception. He casually walked around the hospital room before plopping down on the edge of the bed.
"I just spoke with the doctor. You can be discharged today. I've already paid all the hospital bills. Once the doctor checks in, you can go straight home. No need to stay in this place—it smells awful."
"Alright, I'll leave today," Lin Feiming replied curtly, showing no warmth, but also not objecting.
"If there's nothing else, then let's call it even."
The man stood up, opened his briefcase, and pulled out a yellow envelope packed with flat stacks of money.
"Here's five thousand yuan. That covers your lost wages, nutrition fees, and everything else."
But Lin Feiming didn't take the envelope.
Lying on the bed with his arms crossed, he glared, his eyes full of defiance.
"My truck—even if it was secondhand—cost me more than ten grand. I've been hauling ore for you for two years. Now the truck's totaled. The money I earned doesn't even cover the cost of the truck. And you're offering me five thousand?"
"Brother, let's be reasonable. This wasn't my fault," the man replied, sitting back down on the bed's edge.
"You had the surgery—I paid for it. I took full responsibility, no hesitation. That's more than most would do."
"If I hadn't been hauling your ore, would I have crashed?" Lin Feiming was getting agitated, practically jumping out of bed.
"Calm down, alright?"
The man frowned slightly but didn't seem intimidated. "Let's talk reasonably. You lost control of your truck—that's not my fault. You were hauling ore for me, sure, and I've acknowledged that. Out of goodwill and because you've worked with us for two years, I paid your medical bills and gave you five thousand. That's more than what our plant workers make in a year!"
"My truck's totaled. You need to take at least half the responsibility. I want eighty thousand!" Lin Feiming was tough as nails. "I've got nothing to lose. You don't pay, and once my leg's healed, I'll camp outside your house. Eat your food. Drink your tea. Let's see who gives in!"
"This kind of attitude doesn't help anyone." The man's voice remained calm.
"You know what kind of person I am. I've got nothing to lose. If you push me, I'll make sure you regret it." Feiming's tone was fierce. "If you don't cough up the money, I'll go raise hell at Tongdu Nonferrous Metals. We'll see who ends up screwed! You want me dead? Fine. Let's all go down together."
The threat was real. The air in the room turned heavy.
Just then, Feiming's wife rushed back in, clearly worried her husband might actually get into a fight. She'd overheard the raised voices from down the hall.
The middle-aged man forced a smile as he nodded at her, then sighed, "You get discharged first. I'll send someone with a vehicle to take you home this afternoon."
He handed the envelope with five thousand yuan to Feiming's wife.
"Don't take it!" Feiming snapped.
The envelope hit the floor with a thud.
The man didn't pick it up. He waved his hand dismissively, then turned and left. But his expression was cold and dark.
Once they were gone, Feiming's wife slapped his shoulder. "What are you doing? Picking a fight when your leg's still broken? You think you can take on all those men?"
"I haven't fought in years, okay?" Feiming wiped the sweat from his brow. "I'm not about brute force anymore—I use my head! If Tao Jing Shen won't pay up, I'll outlast him. I'll show up at his house every day. Let's see who can endure longer!"
"I heard they're bad news. Didn't they beat up someone from another mining company once?"
"Let them try hitting me! See what happens!" Feiming barked defiantly.
But when he said the word die, his eyes betrayed a flicker of fear.
He was in his thirties now, with a family to support. The edges of his youthful recklessness had been worn down by years of hardship.
The fire of his teenage years had long since cooled.
Nobody wants to risk their life—unless they're desperate.
Li Tang bent down to pick up the envelope, dusted it off, and placed it on the bedside table.
He opened it—thick stacks of bills. All real.
"Your truck crashed. Why didn't you claim insurance?" he asked, puzzled.
"There's no insurance. The truck was illegal."
Feiming had been so caught up in his standoff with Tao that he'd forgotten Li Tang was even in the room. "Sorry about that. I must look ridiculous. Don't worry—we'll handle this."
Based on the heated exchange just now, and that one word—"black truck"—it looked like Tao was the reasonable one, the good guy who paid the bills.
While Feiming came off as a greedy, reckless rogue.
And the illegal truck? That was a crime in itself.
If it had been anyone else, Li Tang wouldn't have interfered.
But this was his cousin—someone he'd grown up with, someone he cared about.
"Why didn't you register the truck or get insurance?" Li Tang had a hunch something deeper was going on.
The way Tao had acted didn't match the behavior of a typical business owner. And those bodyguards—clearly not nice guys.
"We drive in the mountains all year—no need to register it or insure it. Nobody checks. Insurance costs a few thousand a year, and that truck? It was a decommissioned mine truck, sold to me cheap. Couldn't even get insured."
Feiming was clearly bored in the hospital, so he started chatting with Li Tang.
"Why not buy a proper truck?" Li Tang didn't understand much about the hauling business.
"New ones cost 300,000 to 400,000—some even 500,000 for high-power models. Where am I supposed to get that kind of money?"
"What about a cheaper one?"
"Cheap ones can only carry a few tons. The mines won't even let you in with those."
"I see." Li Tang still didn't fully understand, but he'd caught on to something earlier—a name he recognized.
"You mentioned Tongdu Nonferrous Metals. That guy earlier—is he with them?"
"He's not with them. He's just a private boss. I was hauling ore for his processing plant when the crash happened."
"So how's Tongdu involved?"
"Raise the bed a bit," Feiming said to his wife, who adjusted the incline so he could sit up comfortably. "Let me explain—this is actually kind of interesting."
He lowered his voice. "At Tongdu's copper mine, when they extract ore, they only send the high-grade stuff for refining. Around the rich ore, there's a layer of lower-grade rock they just toss away."
"Right. Ore must meet a certain grade for it to be economically viable. If it's too low, the costs are too high, so they just pile it up as waste," Li Tang said. This was standard in mining.
"I don't know about grades or anything. But I know those waste piles can still be profitable."
Feiming pointed at the hospital door. "That guy—Boss Tao—has a relative in the Tongdu mine leadership. That's how he's able to haul away the discarded ore and run a small, illegal processing plant. Deep in the mountains. No one regulates it."
"Can he really make money doing that?" Li Tang asked.
"Of course! He drives a fancy car and lives in a mansion!"
Feiming was full of envy.
Li Tang thought it over. These unregulated shops avoided paying the 30% tax rate. They skipped the cost of opening a proper mine. They just paid for transport and cheap labor, yet still extracted molybdenum. Huge profit.
No wonder state-owned mines were losing money, while the shady little "mosquito factories" next door made a killing.
"Tongdu clearly bans this kind of behavior. They pile up the low-grade ore and plan to reprocess it later."
Feiming lowered his voice—he was spilling industry secrets now. "But Tao has connections, so he can do it. We drivers show up in the middle of the night—three or four in the morning—while everyone else is asleep. That's when we haul the waste rock."
"You guys ever accidentally take high-grade ore too?" Li Tang asked, thinking of an even more profitable angle.
"Who knows? They load the truck for us. We just drive and dump. That's it. No questions asked."
"So you're part of a shadow operation," Li Tang muttered, starting to see why Tao had acted so cautiously earlier.
He might've looked tough, surrounded by bodyguards, but he clearly wanted to keep things quiet. He didn't want trouble.
If Feiming caused a scene at the Tongdu mine, Tao could lose everything.
Nobody wants a petty dispute to ruin a big business.
Feiming knew Tao wanted to keep things quiet—that's why he felt justified in demanding more compensation.
But both parties were operating outside the law.
This wasn't an easy situation.
Li Tang didn't want to be heartless. But even if he had the power to help, was it really wise to get involved?
If his dad found out he did nothing, he'd probably beat him with a stick.
Should he go to Tongdu and blow the whistle—expose Tao's midnight mining scam?
It would feel satisfying.
But it would also be dangerous.
Push Tao too far, and he might lash out. Those men didn't look like the type to take things lying down.
Li Tang could walk away easily. But his aunt and uncle lived here. So did his cousin, his cousin's wife, and their child.
They'd already been seen. Tao knew who they were.
If they ended up on his radar, they'd be in serious danger.
This… wasn't an easy problem.
And it wasn't easy to solve.
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