Chapter 4376 — A Brand-New Beginning

"Spare me, Grandmaster of the Eastern Sea... Your disciple... your disciple never spoke ill of the two young ladies... I merely thought they might have been deceived... used by someone..." Qin Deli, seizing on a desperate inspiration, clutched at his last thread of a chance and rushed to defend himself.

At those words, the faint killing intent about the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea at last dissipated. In her heart, neither Wang Xinyan nor Huang Xiaotao was the sort to make unreasonable trouble—but if it was a question of being deceived and used, that was not entirely out of the question.

"You slanderous wretch!" Huang Xiaotao flared up at once. The creature had deliberately hinted that the two of them had been used, plainly trying to turn the spearpoint toward Wei Zhao—truly a villain who would not give up!

"Indeed. What is your aim in deliberately sowing discord between us and our sister Xiaotao's senior brother?" Wang Xinyan demanded coldly.

"No... that is not it, please calm yourselves, young ladies. The world is treacherous, and a man's face is not his heart—that Ling Yi knew full well you were the Grandmaster of the Eastern Sea's own disciples, yet he still deliberately dragged you off to wreck the Hong Clan Merchant Guild's premises. Any clear-eyed person can see he was using the two of you..." Qin Deli wore the expression of one pleading earnestly out of the goodness of his heart. "Borrowing the tiger's pelt to make a banner—he plainly meant to use you to drag our entire Morning Star Academy into opposition against the Hong Clan Merchant Guild..."

At these words, the faces of all three magnates shifted slightly. From an outsider's perspective, the affair could indeed be read that way; one man alone could certainly never stand against the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, and that Ling Yi had deliberately pulled Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao into it—perhaps he really had harbored some such design.

Qin Deli was adept at reading faces and knew his words had taken effect. He pressed his advantage at once: "As for this business between the Sky-Supporting Escort Agency and the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, whoever is in the right or wrong, our Morning Star Academy has no need and no reason to meddle in it. And besides—that Ling Yi, under the banner of investigating Wei Zhaotong—your disciple would venture to ask: he is nothing but a petty escort guard, where did he get the authority? When all is said and done, it is merely private vengeance, dressed up in fine words to deceive and use the two young ladies. A base man like that deserves death a hundred times over!"

The three magnates nodded slightly. There was no small sense in what he said: even if Wei Zhaotong truly had a problem, the Hong Clan Merchant Guild should deal with it itself—it was not for some utterly uninvolved escort guard to come knocking in the dead of night, wreck the place, and seize a man!

"Hmph, who says Ling Yi has no authority?" Wang Xinyan shot Qin Deli a glare and said coldly, "He is the Hong Clan Merchant Guild's honorary vice-chairman. Wei Zhaotong committed his crimes against the guild's own senior ranks—should he not clean house?"

"Honorary vice-chairman?" All three magnates wore looks of astonishment. An honorary vice-chairman of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild was no small figure wherever he went. That Ling Yi looked utterly unremarkable, betraying nothing of rank or bearing—who would have thought he held such a station!

"That is only what he calls himself. If he truly were honorary vice-chairman, how could he possibly stoop to lodge at the Sky-Supporting Escort Agency and serve as a mere escort guard?" Qin Deli rushed to challenge.

"Some months ago, my senior brother and I were on North Island, dining and chatting with the Hong Clan Merchant Guild's newly promoted vice-chairman, Hong Zhong. Vice-Chairman Hong confirmed this to my face. Are you trying to say that I, too, am lying?" Huang Xiaotao said, eyes blazing with contempt.

"That..." Qin Deli was instantly choked off. Of course he wanted to say exactly that, but one furtive glance at the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea's expression and he could only force it back down. To question Ling Yi, an outsider, was nothing—but to question Huang Xiaotao along with him would be courting certain death.

The two magnates, Ling Yuanqing and Wei Hebei, both turned to look at the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea. Having heard the matter this far, there was no longer any point in arguing further; it remained only for the Holy Nun to render her own judgment.

"This old woman trusts that her disciple would not lie," the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea said mildly. To trust Huang Xiaotao was, naturally, to trust Ling Yi as well.

No one was surprised at this. She had always been one to shield her own; between Qin Deli, an outsider, and her own personal disciple, whom she would choose was plain at a glance—there was no suspense about it whatsoever.

"Thank you, Master," said Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao, one on either side, as they happily clung to the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea.

Qin Deli, meanwhile, looked ashen, so dejected he nearly coughed up blood again, and refused to give up: "But..."

"Have you something more?" The Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea gave him no chance to speak at all, cutting him off outright. "Why must you be so full of trouble? Are you some kind of busybody? Every single time it is you who comes to lodge complaints, and now you would even slander my disciple as a liar. Do you no longer wish to hold this post of procurement officer? Or is it that you no longer wish to remain at the academy?"

"No, no, no... your disciple has nothing more... your disciple takes his leave..." Qin Deli scrambled away in terror, tumbling and crawling, and fled the room as though for his very life.

The Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea, as a magnate of the Mountain-Opening stage, was absolutely a woman whose word was law. Truly provoke her wrath, and not only would his rice bowl be smashed—his little life would go with it.

"Serves him right!" Watching Qin Deli's bedraggled back, Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao exchanged a smile. The scheming wretch was no small talent at quibbling, but set against the bond between them and their master, the Holy Nun of the Eastern Sea, it was pure self-humiliation—he had only himself to blame!

Morning Star Academy convened its selection tournament on schedule, and the focus of the entire city of Weihu shifted accordingly to the venue of the trials. The chatter in the streets about the Hong Clan Merchant Guild dwindled imperceptibly. With less attention from the outside world, there was naturally far less turmoil as well.

The Hong Clan Merchant Guild, high and low, gradually returned to normal under Chai Laoshi's management. The people were no longer so fearful and unsettled; they began little by little to accept reality—the era of Wei Zhaotong was over, and the Weihu Branch was about to greet a brand-new beginning.

These past few days, Wei Zhao had not been idle, save for having Wei Zhaotong kept under strict watch. This was the crucial period for the investigation of Wei Zhaotong; apart from Chai Laoshi's ledger, just how much decisive evidence could still be found would depend on what was reaped in these days.

Thanks to Chai Laoshi's zealous efforts, the harvest of these past few days had been considerable indeed. Watching Wei Zhaotong's shameless dealings—which the man had fancied seamless—be unearthed one by one by Chai Laoshi, Wei Zhao rejoiced greatly and could not help but sigh in wonder as well.

Chai Laoshi was truly a talent—at least in the running of a merchant guild and in auditing and bookkeeping, the fellow was a genuine expert. By comparison, Wei Zhaotong's bookkeeping tricks, which were merely of the entry level, looked like a show-off wielding an axe before the master carpenter—far too childish.