Chapter 3891 — Is This How You Handle It?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Since living spirit herb seeds could only be cultivated under the special conditions of the spirit herb garden, everyone present, Meng Jueming included, had long since concluded that Wei Zhao's forty seeds, if not wholly wiped out, were certainly more than half dead. There was absolutely no chance he could cultivate them all to viability at the last moment, on the final day—such a thing was beyond anyone's power.
Indeed, the latter Wei Zhao could not manage either. But the former was no trouble at all.
"Steward, and Senior Brother Meng, if the results I deliver can satisfy you, then what becomes of today's affair?" Wei Zhao asked with a faint, deeply suggestive smile.
"Satisfy us?" Meng Jueming looked at Wei Zhao's unruffled expression, and his heart could not help but quaver. He began to mutter to himself.
This brat—surely he hadn't been sitting on cultivated, living seeds all this time and only planned to hand them in today? Others might not have the nerve, but given Wei Zhao's habitual taste for grand displays, the possibility truly could not be ruled out!
Meng Jueming rolled his eyes, then said with a sinister smile, "That is simple enough. Your two underlings, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, each handed in six spirit herb seeds. As their leader, your results surely cannot be weaker than those of your own underlings, can they? My demand is hardly unreasonable."
"Senior Brother Meng means that so long as Junior Brother Lin also hands in six living spirit herb seeds, the fault today is not his—is that right?" the Long-Suffering Senior Brother said, his eyes lighting up.
He knew about Wei Zhao helping Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai cultivate their spirit herb seeds. In his view, even if Wei Zhao really had been playing with fire and left it all to the final day, producing six living spirit herb seeds should be no trouble for him.
"Hmph! Six? Long-Suffering Junior Brother, were you born with a pig's brain? Can you not understand plain speech?" Meng Jueming snorted.
Meng Zhou jumped in with a chuckle. "Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai each drew only ten seeds and managed to hand in six. By that ratio, Wei Zhao drew forty, so he has to hand in at least twenty-four. Now do you understand what my cousin means?"
When they had earlier learned that Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai had each cultivated six living spirit herb seeds, he and Meng Jueming had suspected the two must be cheating—perhaps they had gone outside to buy seedlings—but with no evidence, they had held their tongues all this while. Now the opportunity had come to use it to bury their leader, this Wei Zhao!
Hisss! The Long-Suffering Senior Brother and the others drew a sharp breath. Cultivate twenty-four living seeds out of forty? Damn it, even the professional staff of the spirit herb garden could not manage such a feat!
But before they could retort, Meng Jueming had already spoken first, all smiles. "Steward, do you think this arrangement is acceptable?"
"Since they are Steward Meng's subordinates, then naturally Steward Meng's word is law. All anyone wants is an explanation they can account for, so that the forty spirit herb seeds our garden labored to cultivate are not wasted for nothing," the Spirit Herb Steward said, face like ice.
He was no fool. He had already seen that Meng Jueming was using this as a pretext to stir up trouble, apparently bent on purging his own ranks. But that had nothing to do with him. From where he stood, his sole purpose in coming today was to kill the chicken to frighten the monkey, and to set a rule for future newcomer assessments.
"You all heard that. This standard has the Steward's approval—strictly by the book. Wei Zhao, if you cannot meet it, do not blame me for showing no mercy." Killing intent flickered faintly across Meng Jueming's face. (To be continued...)
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