Chapter 3606 — Almost Catching Up to Me

"Uh... Young Master Xu, take care, you two junior brothers as well!" Dai Wuchang hesitated a moment, then in the end could only respectfully see the group off.

He had meant to warn Xu Lingchong not to celebrate so soon. After all, he knew that yesterday Wei Zhao had dug up eight fine jade stones and left Meng Jueming and his lot, who had come to gloat, with a thorough humiliation—and there was every chance this Young Master Xu would repeat the same folly. But on second thought, in a dead mining zone like Number Ten, Wei Zhao's eight fine stones yesterday had already been a stroke of heaven-sent luck; surely the boy could not be so lucky again today. He was not some legendary child of fortune!

So in the end Dai Wuchang swallowed his words. If the warning failed to come true, he would only seem to have deliberately spoiled the man's fun and would leave a black mark in Young Master Xu's mind.

Before anyone knew it, darkness fell, and the melodious chime rang out across the mining zones. It was time to hand in the day's work again.

From the various mine shafts the miners emerged one after another in an orderly stream—first the weighing, then the quality inspection. Once this unchanging, age-old hand-in procedure was done, the great majority dispersed. After all, they had been digging all day; even if their bodies could hold up, their minds were more or less weary. Back in their cave dwellings, even a session of seated meditation for cultivation would be a rare chance to recover.

Yet the group of Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers headed by Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou stayed by the inspection station as they had the day before—naturally to watch Wei Zhao make a fool of himself. Though yesterday Wei Zhao's miraculous eight fine stones had left them covered in dust and shame, Meng Jueming absolutely refused to believe the boy could enjoy such dog-luck again today. Otherwise it would be downright uncanny!

But to his surprise, before Wei Zhao appeared, who should arrive but Xu Lingchong and his companions. He lost no time in hurrying over to curry favor and ingratiate himself.

Yet once he had asked their business, and especially once he was questioned about the previous day's events, Meng Jueming's expression turned distinctly odd. He could only smirk shamelessly and say with a dry laugh: "That brat had a stroke of dog-luck yesterday and picked up a few fine stones. But who ever heard of luck lasting every day? Today is when his true colors show. Just wait, Young Master Xu—you will have the pleasure of savoring his woebegone face!"

That brat actually dug up a few fine stones yesterday? Xu Lingchong was briefly taken aback, though he did not much concern himself with it. Even in a dead zone like Number Ten, fine stones did occasionally turn up—but fine stones every single day was utterly impossible. Otherwise it would not be called a dead zone.

The whole party craned their necks and waited a good quarter-hour, until nearly everyone else had gone, before Wei Zhao's figure finally appeared on the empty Number Ten mining road. Every mouth curled into a mocking arc. Brat, let us see whether you can keep gloating today!

"Oh? Quite the crowd today. Don't tell me you are all eagerly awaiting the extra jade I dug up today?" Wei Zhao looked up and saw the whole lot—and notably the rare familiar faces of Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming among them. He was briefly startled, and once he understood, he found it secretly hilarious.

So many people rushing to spectate at his hand-in—Wei Zhao truly did not know whether to feel honored or to feel sorrow. Though, of course, any sorrow would be on their behalf.

Meng Jueming and the others were one thing—they were close by in the mining zone to begin with. But for a "great personage" like Xu Lingchong to come all this way to watch him make a fool of himself, only to get a nose full of dust instead—if that was not sorrowful, what was?

"Show-off newcomer, I dug eight fine stones today, so let us see whether you can enjoy the same dog-luck as yesterday! Though out of pure humanitarianism, I suppose you can still manage eight—only they will all be worthless stones, ha ha ha!" The moment Wei Zhao appeared, Meng Zhou sprang out, unable to contain himself. Today, to give Wei Zhao a proper sting, Meng Jueming had personally taken the field, guiding Meng Zhou in his digging, and Meng Zhou had strained every sinew at it. The final haul was one stone more than yesterday—the envy of all around!

Of course, Number Seven mining zone had more people than just Meng Zhou; there were also outer disciples of Azure Cloud Pavilion who had failed to advance to the early stage of Heaven's Path Foundation Establishment in the previous round and were here doing hard labor.

They no longer enjoyed the treatment of cave dwellings. They could only rely on the jade earned by brute labor to cultivate slowly, and whenever they broke through, they could go and re-enter the trials for inner disciples and rise to that rank.

So, even with Meng Jueming's help, he could only assist Meng Zhou in finding jade where there was no one around, which was hardly efficient! In this respect he was a little envious of his miserable senior brother—that thing could help Wei Zhao find jade across the whole of Number Ten mining zone.

Never mind the newcomers of Number Eight; even Li Zhengming, assigned to the same mining zone as him, now looked at Meng Zhou with plain envy in his eyes. He had only gathered five fine stones today.

"Eight, is it? Not bad at all—you are almost catching up to me. Still, you must keep at it!" Wei Zhao deliberately arched an eyebrow and tossed off the remark while tipping the spirit jade from his basket onto the weighing platform.

"Good heavens! One stroke of dog-luck and you, a jinx from dead Number Ten, think you are something grand? Wait till the inspection—then we will see you cry!" Meng Zhou nearly exploded with rage. He had strained every sinew today to put Wei Zhao in his place, and the fellow had not even deigned to take him seriously. Compared with being belittled, this bland, breezy disregard was all the more hateful and infuriating!

"Forty-five catties and three taels, no problem!" The worker in charge of weighing checked the figure against the ledger submitted by the guards and announced it.

Wei Zhao let out a small breath of relief. Just as yesterday, he had secretly stashed away two worthless stones short on spiritual energy. In truth, given the number of worthless stones he had dug today, he could have hidden one more—but then every worthless stone he had dug today would have had to be charged into a fine stone. A haul of nothing but energy-rich fine stones with not a single worthless one would have been a bit unscientific. To avoid the bird that sticks its head out getting shot, it was better to play it safe—after all, there was plenty of time to come.

At the number read out from the scale, Xu Lingchong, who had been waiting for the joke, could not help but change countenance slightly. Though his deep background meant he had never personally mined, he had once served a stint as a steward in the Spirit Jade Hall to pad his credentials, and he had some notion of these procedures.

Forty-five catties on the scale was nothing rare for the top-numbered quality mining zones, but for dead Number Ten, it was somewhat outrageous. RS