Chapter 4343 — The Truth Behind the Escort Robbery
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"You do the talking, then. Why rob the escort, and how did you know our route?" Wei Zhao nudged the black-clad man with his foot and said coolly, "Hurry up. I'm giving you one chance. If you can't make it clear, then you needn't say anything more. You have the example of your three brothers before you—you should know well enough what kind of man I am. How ruthless I can be, you can imagine for yourself!"
The black-clad man shuddered at once. He had not seen how the second brother died, but the fates of the third and fourth he had witnessed clear as day. If this creature before him wanted him dead, it would truly be as easy as turning his hand.
"Yes, yes, rest assured, senior—I wouldn't dare hide the slightest thing." The black-clad man nodded again and again, then addressed Qi Wenmo and the crowd: "I received word and a map of the escort route in advance, so I waited there ahead of time. Once we seized the cargo, we were to hand it over to the other party as agreed beforehand, and we would receive a great sum in payment."
"And who is the other party?" Qi Wenmo's expression turned cold at once. The losses from this affair were truly too great; he had to root out the mastermind, or the Qingtian Escort Agency would never again hold its head up before its peers.
The black-clad man glanced at Wei Zhao, then said slowly to the crowd: "The Hong Merchant Guild. Wei Zhaotong."
At these words, everyone present—Qi Wenmo included, and Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan sprawled to one side—drew a sharp breath in unison. The answer was shocking beyond belief, yet on reflection it seemed only reasonable.
This was a deal worth three hundred thousand spirit jade. Ordinary men had neither the inside information nor the appetite to swallow such a prize, and the crowd had already concluded that someone must have leaked word of this affair. It was just that until now they had all been suspecting Wei Zhao, and it had never once occurred to them to look toward Wei Zhaotong.
"You're saying he swallowed his own cargo and then turned around to extort three hundred thousand spirit jade from my Qingtian Escort Agency?" Qi Wenmo's face turned exceedingly ugly.
As for this unexpected answer, the others present might still harbor doubts, but he believed it at once upon hearing it—and for good reason. Looking back now, Wei Zhaotong's conduct when the contract details were being settled had indeed been rather odd and out of place.
At the time, Wei Zhaotong had demanded that in the event of any mishap, the escort agency must compensate the full amount, and to that end he had even gone out of his way to spell out the cargo's value at three hundred thousand spirit jade—something that had never once happened in all their past dealings.
After all, the two houses had worked together for many a year, not one or two, and nothing had ever gone wrong. The risk was negligible, and there had never been a single failure; there was no need for him to emphasize such things on purpose.
Beyond that, another highly unusual point was that Wei Zhaotong had insisted on personally taking part in drawing up the escort route. By the rules of the trade, the route was known only to the head of the agency and the escorts responsible for the run; no one else was to be told, not even Wei Zhaotong himself, employer though he was.