Chapter 3980 — When Will the Cave Dwelling Be Handed Over
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
As a man in a position of authority, the thing Xu Lingchong detested and dreaded most was a subordinate acting on his own and suppressing the truth, for it tore matters beyond his control—and all too easily left him, as now, inexplicably on the back foot while Wei Zhao seized the initiative.
"Yes, yes, Young Master Xu, calm yourself. I know I was wrong." Kang Jingming bobbed and scraped in a flurry of nods, then put on a tragic air and explained, "You are a man of great affairs, Young Master Xu, and I simply did not wish to trouble you over so small a thing. As your loyal follower I should have borne your burdens, yet instead I brought you trouble—I truly had not the face to bring it up. So no matter how great my grievance, I could only swallow it down and leave it for another day."
Kang Jingming was in truth a consummate actor. He had concealed the matter out of a private wish not to lose standing in his master's eyes, yet he twisted it into the tale of a tragic figure who shouldered every grievance alone—so movingly that even a shrewd man like Xu Lingchong was left blinking in a daze.
"So by that account, I have wronged you after all. For the sake of this rare devotion of yours, Zhaoming, I shall not hold it against you." Xu Lingchong clapped him on the shoulder and said consolingly, "You are, after all, a true alchemist born and bred; there is no shame in losing to another in a fight. So long as you handle that matter I entrusted to you, that too shall count as a great merit!"
In truth, did Xu Lingchong really not know what had happened? Not necessarily—it was simply that he was even better than Meng Jueming at winning men's hearts.
"Yes—thank you for your understanding, Young Master Xu. How could I not give my life in your service?" Kang Jingming wore the deeply moved look of a man shedding tears of gratitude, a true knight ready to die for the one who understood him.
Watching this little scene, Wei Zhao was silently speechless. This fellow Kang Jingming was indeed a past master at riding flattery to high office; his flattery was watertight, and even a man like Xu Lingchong swallowed it whole. That the fellow had risen to his present station was not down to luck alone.
Still, in Wei Zhao's view, a creature as shrewd as Xu Lingchong ought not, by any normal reckoning, to be so easily taken in by Kang Jingming. Perhaps he had all along been minded to fashion for himself the image of a magnanimous master, so that his subordinates would serve him the more willingly—and had simply seized the occasion to play his part.
"Enough. You two great actors need not rush to strut the stage. Grand Steward Kang, might I have a definite answer to my question?" Wei Zhao cut in, a mocking smile on his face.
Kang Jingming, who had been quietly preening a moment before, wilted at once. When the ten-day deadline came, Peak No. 1 cave dwelling would have to go to Wei Zhao—a problem he could not dodge no matter which way he turned.
Yet to Kang Jingming that Peak No. 1 cave dwelling meant not only superior spiritual qi but, more crucially, a badge of status.
Had Wei Zhao simply taken the dwelling for his own use, that would have been one thing—Kang Jingming would have lost face and no more. But if, as Wei Zhao had said before, the dwelling were passed on to some other newcomer of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion, then it was not merely a loss of face; his standing as the pavilion's foremost newcomer would be imperiled, and even Xu Lingchong behind him would be dragged into it.
As one of the two or three greatest young lords of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion, with Hu Yunfeng, master of the Welcome Pavilion, a man of his own faction, if the newcomer who rose highest in the Soaring Heaven Pavilion turned out not to be his follower, then quite apart from any question of face, it proved at the very least one thing: Xu Lingchong's grip on his people was weak—and put plainly, that Xu Lingchong's own ability fell short. R1152