Chapter 4350 — A Grand Gathering of Escort Agencies
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"There's no wall in this world that wind cannot pass through. Within two days, word of this incident will have spread across the entire Weihu Sea—no, even the neighboring waters will hear of it. By then everyone will know that although our Qingtian Escort Agency had its shipment waylaid midway and although we had already paid out compensation, we kept our word: once the goods were recovered, we still delivered them to their destination!"
"Brother Qi means that although this incident cost us three hundred thousand spirit jades, it has also restored the agency's reputation?" Wei Zhao's eyes lit up. He had to admit that Qi Wenmo's reasoning did carry a certain blessing-in-disguise logic—it was not mere self-consolation.
"Precisely. A man without trust cannot stand, and in our line of work, reputation is everything. Reputation is the very foundation on which we stand. If three hundred thousand spirit jades can burn the image of our agency keeping its promises deep into people's hearts—that is worth every coin. You could not buy that with any amount of spirit jades. In days to come, the returns it brings will far exceed three hundred thousand spirit jades—three million, perhaps more!" The more Qi Wenmo spoke, the more animated he grew, until he no longer felt they had taken a loss at all, but had made a killing.
"Ha, to see the good in a bad turn—Brother Qi, you are truly an optimist at heart. Having a man like you at the helm is a blessing for the Qingtian Escort Agency," Wei Zhao said with an involuntary smile.
He did not mean it as mere banter. In truth, people with that quality were exceedingly rare, and in some measure, such people were always closer to success in whatever they did than anyone else.
"Haha, you could call it finding joy in hardship. The deed is done, so I can only use it as a pretext to console myself." Qi Wenmo laughed magnanimously, then said, "Brother Ling, I really must apologize. I never imagined you had been concealing your strength all along—the fault is mine for being blind to it. Had I known, I should have put you in charge of the convoy from the start instead of handing it to petty men like Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan. Then none of this would have happened."
"We have not known each other long, and neither of us is familiar with the other's abilities—that is only natural. Besides, Brother Qi, if you had put a newcomer like me in charge of such an important escort mission right off the bat, it may well have caused resentment among the ranks. The outcome might have been hard to say." Wei Zhao waved a hand dismissively.
This was the honest truth. Given the nature of Li and Guan, even if Qi Wenmo had declared Wei Zhao the man in charge, the two of them would certainly have paid lip service while doing as they pleased. If a situation like this had arisen, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao would have had to watch their backs in case the pair played some trick behind them. For safety's sake, they might not have risked a head-on clash with the pirates.
"By the way, Brother Ling, I would like to invite you to formally join the Qingtian Escort Agency. What say you?" Qi Wenmo said, suddenly perking up.
From the very first time he laid eyes on Wei Zhao, he had been struck by his strength. True, that time he had joined forces with Huang Xiaotao, but to wound Old Kong, who stood at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, was already a remarkable feat.
And now, the strength Wei Zhao displayed was even more formidable—he had effortlessly slain three pirates at the peak of the late Golden Core stage, and frightened the pirate chief so badly that the man's soul seemed to have left his body; he did not dare harbor even the slightest thought of resistance. Such was the force of his intimidation.