Chapter 3643 — A Strange Reminder
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
In truth, when Meng Jueming had first proposed this idea, the one he had originally intended to send to sound out Wei Zhao had not been Li Zhengming, but Meng Zhou.
But Meng Zhou had found an excuse to decline, and had shifted the probing task onto Li Zhengming instead. On the surface he claimed to be handing him a golden opportunity to take advantage of Wei Zhao, but Li Zhengming knew perfectly well that Meng Zhou, the wretch, was simply afraid of a beating and had offered him up as a sacrifice!
No Heaven-Rank expert was ever a true fool. By Meng Jueming's own account, Wei Zhao had already taken in two piles of worthless jade in succession. Any normal person would have caught on by now. Three times is the limit—getting a man like Wei Zhao to step into the same pit a third time seemed hardly plausible, however you looked at it.
And though Meng Jueming had supplied a seemingly very reasonable pretext, it rested on one crucial premise: that Wei Zhao had never once realized the jades he took in before were worthless. Put bluntly, Wei Zhao would have to be a fool through and through!
Any sane person knew the odds of such a probe succeeding were vanishingly small. The only reason to attempt it anyway was the wishful thinking bred of self-interest.
And once the probe failed, Wei Zhao's fury would erupt with near certainty. The fate of whoever was sent to test him could well be imagined—a sound thrashing would be the least of it; he might well lose his life on the spot!
And even if he were beaten to death, by the rules of Heaven-Rank North Island, he would have died for nothing! For Heaven-Rank North Island expressly forbade the circulation of worthless jade in the market disguised as fine jade. Break the rule first, and if you got beaten to death for it, you had only your own bad luck to blame.
Even Meng Zhou, whose mind was not the sharpest, could work that out—so how could Li Zhengming not? But Meng Zhou had pushed him forward, and Meng Jueming had nodded his assent. However unwilling, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and go. What could he do? He was the underling.
But even an underling, returning from a probe, deserved at least a word about his safety—yet they reached straight for the spirit jade. Did they not regard him as a human being at all? A faint bewilderment crept into Li Zhengming's heart. Was such a patron even worth clinging to any longer?
"Well, say something! Did you get the spirit jade or not? What are you standing there gawking for—did Wei Zhao beat you senseless?" Seeing Li Zhengming slow to answer, Meng Jueming frowned and snapped at him.
"Oh—it worked. That Wei Zhao fellow is even stupider than expected, didn't even bother to check. I traded him six duds for two fine ones, and he looked like he'd struck it rich. Dumb as they come!" Li Zhengming came to his senses and answered hastily, producing the two pieces of spirit jade. Then, covering for himself, he added, "I was just so happy I got a little carried away!"
"Oh! Hahaha!" At the sight of the spirit jade, Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou were overjoyed. They took the jades and examined them closely, anxious lest they turn out to be two of the worthless pieces the pair had given Wei Zhao before! RP