Chapter 3602 — Truly Cannot Help!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
It was no exaggeration to say that eight parts in ten of the spirit jades Dai Wuchang had scraped together were obtained through Meng Jueming—by ways that must never see the light of day, of course. Given how strictly the Spirit Jade Hall supervised its spirit jades, without a smooth operator like Meng Jueming, Dai Wuchang on his own would never have had the slightest chance; even with the conveniences of his post as steward-in-charge, it would have been utterly impossible for him to skim off the least little drop.
To offend Meng Jueming and cut off his fattest source of gain merely to do Lu Bianren a favor—by any reckoning, that did not look like a wise choice! Yet Lu Bianren too was no insignificant nobody like that wretched fellow, and was not someone to be lightly offended!
"What? Is there some difficulty with this?" Seeing Dai Wuchang give no answer for so long, Lu Bianren could not help but frown. To his mind this should have been a trifling matter, easily done—after all, he could never have imagined that Dai Wuchang and Meng Jueming were so deeply entangled.
Dai Wuchang mused a while, then at last made up his mind and said with a bitter smile, "Pavilion Master Lu, by rights, once you have spoken, your junior brother ought to have no second word to say. Only, to be plain with you, the Spirit Jade Hall has been examining such matters very strictly of late. This is not an easy thing to arrange."
"Examining them very strictly?" Lu Bianren was taken aback. Another man might well have been fooled by Dai Wuchang, but he had already heard the wretched senior brother describe how matters had stood, and now, looking at Dai Wuchang's rather unnatural expression, he understood at once.
Lu Bianren thought for a moment, then said, "Brother Dai, this concerns a newcomer's prospects. It is not only I who ask you this—it is for the good of our whole Azure Cloud Pavilion. I must beg you to do this favor! I shall hold today's kindness in my heart, and when I return to the Azure Cloud Pavilion, I will surely repay it!"
"Ah, Pavilion Master Lu, you put your junior brother in a hard spot. I would dearly like to help, but I truly dare not defy the rules of the Spirit Jade Hall!" Dai Wuchang had already made up his mind and would not budge for any persuasion. "Besides, he has already signed the contract. To alter it, without an introduction letter from the grand pavilion master of your Welcome Pavilion, there is no way I could manage it—nor answer for it above! You know how it is: at times, only the pavilion master himself has the authority to arrange such things..."
"So you truly cannot help?" Lu Bianren's face went cold. This should never have been any troublesome matter, and he had, after all, shown Dai Wuchang no small kindness back in the day; now that words had come to this pass and the man still hemmed and hawed so, even a clay figure would have some temper in him.
And now the fellow must drag in the pavilion master proper—meaning, was it, that a vice-pavilion-master's authority was not enough to serve?
"Truly cannot help." Seeing the other's face change, Dai Wuchang simply dropped the pretense and refused him outright.
He had thought it through: this Lu Bianren was nothing but a third pavilion master of the Welcome Pavilion whose power had been hollowed out from beneath him—he had no real authority at all, and even if he were recalled to the Azure Cloud Pavilion in days to come, there was no saying he would ever have power over Dai Wuchang. To offend Meng Jueming, who fed him spirit jades, just to curry favor with the likes of this? Was his brain diseased? Who in his right mind would turn his back on spirit jades!