Chapter 4068 — The Woman Behind the Scenes

Just as Si Haitao was frozen in shock, too stunned to speak, the mysterious man produced yet another bottle and set it beside the Fifth-Grade Great Meridian-Opening Pill. "Drink this down now," he said. "It will do your body no harm. Only, you must take an antidote once a month. So long as you harbor no improper thoughts, I will supply the antidote on schedule."

"This..." Si Haitao's heart sank at once. There truly was no such thing as a free meal in this world. The mysterious man had handed him such enormous benefits, and sure enough, there were conditions attached.

"Heh, hesitating is pointless now. Did you think, after everything I have told you, that I would let you leave this room alive if you refused?" As he spoke, a towering aura abruptly burst from the mysterious man's body, so fierce that the entire Central Tea Guild trembled.

Even with all of Si Haitao's experience, he was left gaping in awe at that terrifying presence, the like of which he had never witnessed. Never mind that he was a cripple now—even at the height of his power, before this mysterious man, he would likely have been little better than an ant.

He had no choice. Matters having come to this, Si Haitao could only tremble his way over to the table, pick up the bottle, and drink it down, not daring to harbor a single scheming thought.

"Sensible enough. Withdraw and rest well. Tomorrow you will formally take up your post at the Central Merchant Guild." The mysterious man waved his hand indifferently.

"Yes, yes, this subordinate takes his leave." Trembling with excitement, Si Haitao snatched up the Fifth-Grade Great Meridian-Opening Pill with one hand while kowtowing repeatedly to the mysterious man with the other, crawling backward out of the private room. Servants were already waiting at the door; they helped him change and bathe, and recover his strength.

After Si Haitao had withdrawn, the inner partition of the private room suddenly slid open without warning. The mysterious man's domineering, raging aura instantly dissolved into nothing, and he knelt and bowed toward the inner compartment, utterly reverent, not daring the slightest impropriety.

"The matter is settled. He takes up his post tomorrow. For the time being, this subordinate will supervise him personally," the mysterious man said respectfully.

"Good. You may withdraw." What came from within the compartment was unmistakably a woman's voice.

……………………

The scene shifts back to yesterday. After leaving the Hong Merchant Guild, Wei Zhao and the two women soon found a clean, tidy restaurant. It was nowhere near as grand as Huayang Court in the Skyward Pavilion, nor did it serve spirit-energy delicacies that cost hundreds of spirit jade at a sitting. The dishes were all ordinary fare, unrelated to cultivation, yet they were delicious and carried a warm, homey charm.

As for the five core disciples of the Skyward Pavilion, they had been trailing the three of them the whole time, monitoring every move of everyone around them. After the mishap with Si Haitao, they had to be doubly vigilant. If another clueless fool were to disturb the young ladies' good mood, it would be a grave dereliction of duty.

However, at the firm insistence of Shangguan Lan'er and Ning Xuefei, they did not follow into the private room. They could only take up positions around the area and await orders, leaving only Wei Zhao and the two women inside—along with a certain little curly-furred bear busy stuffing its face.

"Last time we were in such a hurry that I did not dare ask too much. So you are Miss Ning of West Island—forgive my disrespect! For what you did on the Far North Island, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am endlessly grateful and will remember it always." Wei Zhao raised his cup to Ning Xuefei in thanks.

"Oh, if I had known you were Wei Zhao, I would have been all the more determined to save you! It was only right." Ning Xuefei curved the corners of her mouth with a meaningful smile.

Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback at that and could not help glancing at Shangguan Lan'er, assuming she spoke so because she was Lan'er's close friend—loving the house and its crow.

But Ning Xuefei only smiled faintly. Back on the Far North Island, she had known nothing of the matter between Shangguan Lan'er and Wei Zhao. Her words just now had actually referred to another dear friend of hers—Han Jingyi.

From their brief contact on the road just now, she was already certain that this was the very Wei Zhao Han Jingyi had been pining for all this time. Only, a bit of fun like this—she had no intention of puncturing the paper window just yet. Better to give them a grand surprise when the time came!

"All right, you two have no more secrets to keep from me now, surely. What is the story with this little attendant of yours? Out with it, honestly!" Shangguan Lan'er urged impatiently.

Wei Zhao and Ning Xuefei exchanged a glance, then, withholding nothing, took turns recounting the general course of what had happened on the Far North Island.

After hearing how the two of them had met, Shangguan Lan'er clicked her tongue in marvel for a good while, sighing that the world was truly too small—that even this could bring them together. But then her curiosity returned: "Then, little junior brother, how did you get injured back then? Is the Far North Island really that chaotic?"

"Right, that is just what I wanted to ask. Wei Zhao, you were badly hurt at the time!" Ning Xuefei chimed in curiously. She had her guesses, but they were only guesses.

Wei Zhao hesitated a moment. But then he reflected that neither of these women was an outsider; both were close to him and would not betray him. So he lowered his voice and admitted, "Miss Ning must have heard about what happened that night. Zheng Tianjie was killed when his pill furnace exploded during refinement. The truth is, that was my doing."

"What?" Both women were startled at once. Zheng Tianjie's status, even compared with theirs, was not much inferior, and his death had stirred up quite a storm at the time.

According to what the elders at home had said, if the Pill God Zhang Lifeng had not personally stepped forward to settle the matter once and for all, confirming that the man had died from carelessly blowing up his own furnace, Zheng Dongjue had even been prepared to send out the elite experts of the Central Island Pill Hall. Who would have thought that such a great affair had its source in Wei Zhao?

After a long moment of stunned silence, Shangguan Lan'er suddenly gushed with enthusiasm: "Little junior brother, you really are something! That Zheng Dongjue—I ran into him once when Grandfather took me to Central Island. He was handsy and no good at all. I heard he had harassed many girls on Central Island. Little junior brother, you have rid the people of a scourge!"

Ning Xuefei, however, asked in puzzlement, "Then why did you kill him? Oh, I know—it must be that he saw you had all these top-grade pills, the kind money cannot buy, and wanted to snatch them!"

Wei Zhao smiled and shook his head. "Not exactly. Miss Ning should remember the grudge between us; it was at the auction, when I bid against him, that I offended him."

As for the matter with Tianchan, he did not intend to share it with the two women—there was no need. The more people who knew, the more potential trouble it might bring Tianchan. Better to leave it unmentioned.

"Huh? I remember he was the one who won that item in the end, was he not? How petty and vicious—truly no good at all!" Ning Xuefei frowned. R1152