Chapter 4285 — Hardly Reasonable
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Star Ink Milk was black, which made the bottom of the basin nearly impossible to see. Wei Zhao had thought at first that plenty of it remained, but once he lowered the spirit jade bottle into the basin, he discovered there was only a shallow bottom left.
That bottom was as shallow as shallow could be—barely a thin film, impossible to scoop up with the spirit jade bottle. No matter how they tried, the most they could manage was a few scant drops.
"What's going on? What are you two dawdling about for, stirring up some mischief? Surely you don't think you can pull a trick right under our noses!" Luo Tuoxiang, seeing the two of them acting strangely, immediately voiced his suspicions.
"Hmph, just a pair of clueless bumpkins who've never seen anything of the world. They think they can play tricks in front of us? They're a long way off—I saw through them at a glance!" Cao Shishi, likewise watching their every move, gave a cold snort.
"Play tricks? Fine, then—go ahead and play one for me to see!" Wei Zhao could not have cared less about these two at first, but in that moment he realized he had been played for a fool, and his mood was foul beyond words. He answered at once, his voice icy.
Chang Daoping and his five companions had each filled a whole bottle of Star Ink Milk. Yet only he and Huang Xiaotao had not managed to scrape up even the bottom dregs. This was plainly a scheme to trick the two of them into doing the hard labor for nothing, and no one in their shoes would have been in good spirits at that moment.
Wei Zhao had a vague sense that he might have been set up by Chang Daoping, yet from beginning to end he had spotted nothing out of the ordinary. Everything had gone exactly as previously agreed, and unless he could find clear evidence, he had no grounds to speak. For now, he could only swallow the bitter pill in silence.
And besides, with the other side's Nascent Soul cultivation and Luo Tuoxiang's many companions, even if Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao wanted to turn hostile, they would have to think long and hard before acting.
"Actually... they really couldn't have pulled any trick, because when I was filling mine just now, the Star Ink Milk was already running low at the bottom. I couldn't even fill my own bottle, so..." At this, Fang Miaojin spoke up. She was ahead of Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao in line, and the last of the six led by Chang Daoping.
"Running low?" Cao Shishi and the others were briefly taken aback. They hurried over and checked with their own hands, and only then did they finally stop doubting.
And after that, the way they looked at Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao turned all at once into gloating Schadenfreude.
In their eyes, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were nothing but a pair of weak bumpkins who had caught Brother Chang's eye purely through dumb luck, and only so had they gotten the chance to enter the ruins and explore. Did the two of them really think they could stand on equal footing with the rest, or lay claim to the Star Ink Milk?
Hmph—a toad dreaming of swan meat. Now even Heaven could not stand the sight of it. The Star Ink Milk that had been all but in their grasp had been snatched away, leaving them with nothing. They had it coming!
"Heh heh. So it's the will of Heaven—it seems you two were never fated to have the Star Ink Milk! Wahaha!" The crowd made no effort to hide their mockery, each one sneering in smug satisfaction. At this point it was not only Wei Zhao—even the gentle-natured Huang Xiaotao could hardly hold back any longer.
Wei Zhao could not help clenching his fists in secret. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. If he had never seen the Star Ink Milk before, he might not have taken it so hard. But now, watching it slip through his fingers before his very eyes, his mood was already at rock bottom—he had even begun to suspect that Chang Daoping and the others had pulled some trick.