Chapter 3597 — Consolation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
The others suddenly saw the light. Given Brother Misery's honest nature, it was entirely plausible that he would help Wei Zhao dig spirit jade to make it up to him. And with a veteran like Brother Misery lending a hand, Wei Zhao's forty-two catties and five taels was no longer so outrageous. The crowd, who had been stewing in disappointment and humiliation, instantly found their balance again: he had two men, they had one; naturally he would come out ahead of them.
Wei Zhao smiled noncommittally. It was true that Brother Misery deserved credit for these results — after all, it was Brother Misery who had found him the mining spot and taught him any number of practical little tricks — but there was no denying that those forty-two catties and five taels were the fruit of Wei Zhao's own labor. That much was beyond question.
Whether it was Brother Misery's excellent teaching or simply a run of good luck, every one of those spirit jades had been dug out by Wei Zhao's own hands, piece by piece. There was no cheating in it whatsoever. If anything, he had understated his haul — he had secretly pocketed two pieces, after all.
But though that was the truth of it, since the crowd insisted on believing otherwise, Wei Zhao could not be bothered to argue. Let them think whatever they liked about such trifles. If these people were determined to console themselves, he could hardly stop them; he simply paid them no mind.
Seeing Wei Zhao so calm and unruffled, the crowd felt a sudden surge of irritation. They had gathered here on purpose to enjoy his humiliation, and now it was they who looked like clowns, with Wei Zhao as the audience to their own joke.
"The weight, in truth, is not the point at all. Dig twenty catties of spirit jade in a good mining zone, and ten of those stones might be fine jade brimming with spiritual energy. But in a certain well-known dead zone, you could dig four hundred catties and not find a single good stone." Meng Jueming looked at Wei Zhao with a cold smile. "In the end, only good jade earns a reward. If they are all worthless stones with barely a trace of spiritual energy, what does it matter if you hollow out the whole dead zone? You will still have labored in vain. Heh heh!"
"Exactly, exactly! Senior Brother Meng speaks the truth. When we dig for jade here, we pick our targets first and go after the stones that look promising. If you just hack away with brute force and ignore quality, then never mind forty-two catties — with the strength we have now, what difficulty would there be in digging four hundred catties a day?" Meng Zhou chimed in at once.
Four hundred catties was boasting, but if one truly ignored quality and dug blindly, a hundred catties was still within reach.
Only, in those better mining zones, any jade that fell out and was plainly worthless was never even put into their baskets. It all went into the waste-jade basket together, and only the stones that looked like good jade went into their own baskets.
Wei Zhao, on the other hand, was alone, so good and bad alike went into the same basket.
Hearing Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou, the crowd immediately recovered its confidence. For a while, the looks they cast at Wei Zhao were once again full of contempt and mockery.
True enough — everyone who came here to mine was after the spirit jade reward. Even if Wei Zhao dug several hundred catties and outdid everyone present, he had been assigned to Mine Zone Ten, which doomed him never to find good jade brimming with spiritual energy. And without good jade, there was no reward. That was common knowledge.