Chapter 4044 — Framing Wei Zhao
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"This... all right then!" Murong Zhen hesitated for a moment, but in the end nodded in agreement.
Stepping forward to denounce Wei Zhao was in fact a rather risky business, but Kang Jingming had already spoken thus; she could hardly reject it outright. Once the two of them fell into a quarrel and turned on each other, it would all be over. After all, Shangguan Lan'er's status was no trifling matter—every extra moment they waited added another measure of danger.
Murong Zhen set off at once for the Sandie Pavilion and went straight to the Enforcement Hall to denounce him, declaring that she had inadvertently witnessed Wei Zhao leading men to kidnap Shangguan Lan'er!
The moment those words were spoken, the entire Enforcement Hall was shaken. Last time it had been an attempted assault by Xu Lingchong; how long had it been since then, and now she had been kidnapped? Was this year some ill-fated zodiac year for Shangguan Lan'er, beset by disaster upon disaster?
It wasn't only the report itself that was shocking—the Enforcement Hall's reaction, or more precisely the reaction of Hall Master Gongyang Jun, was even more astonishing. Within a mere half hour of receiving Murong Zhen's accusation, without even notifying Shangguan Tianxia, her own kin, the Enforcement Hall issued a wanted notice far and wide, calling for Wei Zhao's arrest!
Such a decisive, swift response stood in stark contrast to the way things had seemingly sunk without a trace after Nan Tianyong's murder—one was heaven, the other earth. Even Murong Zhen, the accuser, found it all incredible as she watched.
She had assumed the Enforcement Hall would at least conduct a careful investigation, and had even prepared a speech in advance, only to find everything going so smoothly—so smoothly that it left her rather disgruntled. All that preparation for nothing; before she could even perform, she was told to say no more. Still, thinking of the business with Xu Lingchong before, it was understandable enough. When Shangguan Lan'er was involved, speed was the order of the day.
Once the wanted notice went out, the whole of the Sandie Pavilion was in an uproar again. And what was even more surprising was that a mere hour after the notice was issued, Wei Zhao—utterly unaware of any of it—was caught on the spot.
Only when he saw his own wanted notice and was subdued by the combined efforts of a host of Enforcement Hall experts did Wei Zhao finally realize that all of this was a conspiracy aimed squarely at him. These past days, busy studying forging techniques with Scrap King, his thinking had drifted somewhat out of step with the outside world.
In the past, given Wei Zhao's consistently cautious ways, he ought to have been on his guard the moment he first discovered Shangguan Lan'er was in danger. He would never have swaggered back to the Welcome Pavilion like this, much less belatedly pushed his way forward to look at his own wanted notice.
But now it was all too late. In the hands of the Enforcement Hall, with his own strength, Wei Zhao had no hope of fighting his way free. Everything from here on depended on Gongyang Jun's whim.
Judging from his dealings with Gongyang Jun at the birthday banquet last time, and from Gongyang Jun's arrogant, domineering nature, Wei Zhao's instinct told him this was not the sort to relish scheming and intrigue. If he wanted to deal with Wei Zhao, he needn't go to such elaborate lengths, nor drag in a sensitive figure like Shangguan Lan'er as a pawn.
As long as Gongyang Jun was not the mastermind behind it all, Wei Zhao still had a glimmer of hope! R1152