Chapter 3642 — Quite the Actor
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Though he knew nothing of the details behind the scenes, he had more or less guessed the gist of it. Spirit jade was exactly what he was short of just now, and since the other man had come delivering jade to his door of his own accord, there was no reason for him to push it away—but the play still had to be acted out, or else he would rouse suspicion.
Li Zhengming pondered for a moment, then asked, "Those fifteen pieces of spirit jade that Senior Brother Meng lost to you yesterday—they're in your hands now, aren't they?"
"Is there some problem with that?" Wei Zhao answered the question with one of his own, neither confirming nor denying.
Li Zhengming took this as tacit agreement, so he marshaled his words and said, "It's like this. That pouch of spirit jade Senior Brother Meng gave you was public funds temporarily in his keeping. In his agitation he didn't notice and mixed things up. Now, it's not that he couldn't make it up out of his own private spirit jade, but you know as well as anyone, Brother Wei Zhao, that good jade comes in grades. The trouble is that this public fund is top-grade good jade, and Senior Brother Meng cannot, on short notice, lay hands on enough top-grade good jade to cover the account..."
Here Li Zhengming glanced at Wei Zhao, and seeing him unmoved, went on: "Once the higher-ups audit the accounts and find a discrepancy in quality, Senior Brother Meng will inevitably be punished. As a new disciple, I can hardly stand by and do nothing, so..."
This whole story was, of course, Meng Jueming's own invention. On first hearing it sounded perfectly reasonable, with no obvious flaw to pick at.
What was more, the top-grade good jade was real enough—only that top-grade good jade belonged to Meng Jueming himself!
"So you want to trade me back these spirit jade to curry favor with Senior Brother Meng?" Wei Zhao cooperatively picked up the thread.
Li Zhengming nodded again and again. "Exactly. So might Brother Wei Zhao be willing to part with them?"
Wei Zhao could not help laughing. Deliberately putting on a gloating expression, he said, "I can understand what you're saying, but this is Senior Brother Meng's own business from first to last. He made a mistake, so naturally he ought to be punished. What has that got to do with me? Besides, you said yourself that this is top-grade good jade—and you want me to trade it for ordinary good jade? You take me for an idiot?"
"Uh... Brother Wei Zhao, you misunderstand. I know this is asking a lot, so I won't let you come out the loser. How about I trade you two pieces of good jade for one piece of your top-grade good jade?"
"Well now..." Wei Zhao deliberately put on a look of being tempted, but still shook his head. "Your two ordinary pieces of good jade against my one top-grade piece—the values may be about the same, but it still doesn't do much for me. Don't forget that Senior Brother Meng has gone after me time and again. Since there's no obvious benefit, why should I help him? Go on, give me one good reason."
At that, Li Zhengming hesitated a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "All right then, three pieces of spirit jade for one. Surely Brother Wei Zhao is satisfied now? Even if one top-grade good jade is worth two ordinary ones, at three for one you've absolutely come out ahead!"
Heh, this fellow knows a thing or two about acting himself!
Wei Zhao laughed inwardly. After pondering a moment, he finally nodded. "Fine then. It's a deal."
Purely in terms of value, a single piece of good jade was equal to a thousand pieces of worthless scrap. Setting aside all other considerations, three for one was a terrible loss for Wei Zhao—after all, the last time Meng Jueming came to "swindle" him, the rate had been at least twenty-five to one!