Chapter 3851 — He Still Threw Them Down
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Oh? Is that not so? Do you truly dare utter even half a word of refusal to my face?" Nan Tianguan sneered coldly, not taking Hong Zhong's counter-question to heart in the slightest.
He knew all too well just how much weight a Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division carried within the Hong Clan Merchant Guild—he had learned it plainly enough back when he first made contact with that senior figure from the Central Island, who, amid casual conversation, had cast a branch steward down into the dust; the man had not only been utterly powerless to resist, but to save his own skin had even had to kneel in public and beg for mercy!
With this letter standing as his guarantee, even if Hong Zhong, that old codger, were lent a few extra spines, he would never dare breathe a single word of refusal.
"Half a word of refusal?" Hong Zhong raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. "Then I fear I must disappoint you, sir. This old man has never been one to speak only half a word. Still, I can tell you plainly enough right now: you may leave."
"Hm?" In an instant the atmosphere inside the Hong Clan Merchant Guild turned to ice, and Nan Tianguan, so certain that everything lay within his grasp, felt his expression turn subtly, and then almost incredulous.
"Do you not understand this old man's words?" Watching Nan Tianguan's expression, a note of mockery and cold severity entered Hong Zhong's gaze. "Then allow me to put it even more plainly. You—can get out."
"Ha? Have you gone senile, you old codger?" Nan Tianguan's face flushed crimson in an instant, and he sputtered in fury, "Have you even read what is written on this letter? You dare disregard the word of a Four-Direction Inspector of your own Hong Shadow Division—dare pretend you never saw it?"
Nan Tianguan had assumed that once he deliberately invoked that title of such weight within the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, the other man might not be as fearful as he had imagined, but surely would not simply turn a blind eye and dismiss it altogether.
Yet Hong Zhong, hearing these words, still regarded him with the look one gives an idiot, and said mildly, "What he says, I have naturally seen. But so what? As steward of the North Island branch, this old man holds full authority over every affair of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild on the North Island. Does your honor perhaps imagine that a mere Four-Direction Inspector can dictate terms to me?"
"My god!" Nan Tianguan was struck dumb, and seasoned and prudent though he ordinarily was, even he could not help but curse aloud—and even the others present in the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, down to those four guest retainers who came and went like dragons glimpsed through clouds, could plainly feel their aura falter for a beat. They had clearly been stunned.
There was not a single flaw in the logic of Hong Zhong's words. A so-called Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division held only the power to inspect the four branches; he had no direct authority over them. So in theory, whatever the steward of the North Island branch wished to do, this Four-Direction Inspector truly had no say over it.
But even without that authority, the man was still someone who could strangle a career in its cradle. Offend him in earnest, and Hong Zhong would surely have no easy path ahead either!
Even the lowest errand boys of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild could see this calculus of interests plainly enough—so how could Hong Zhong, a veteran steward who had held the North Island branch for decades, possibly fail to see it?
Yet he had done it anyway, and that was truly beyond comprehension. Could Steward Hong be so lacking in tact as to let mere pique over one Lin Er drive him to defy a Four-Direction Inspector to his face? That was simply too unreasonable!