Chapter 4748 — The Photo Was Fake
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Yet rules are dead things, and people are alive. Ning Shanghe knew full well that if she clung stubbornly to such rules, West Island would never attract a transcendent, world-defying talent like Wei Zhao. A closed-door policy would only make them weaker and weaker, widening the gap between them and the other Cloud-Tier Islands, until at last they sank into eternal decline.
In truth, Ning Shanghe had any number of ways to circumvent this so-called ancestral rule, but there was one crucial precondition: before these matters could be properly handled, they must never be brought out into the open. They had to be done in private.
But now, Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu had suddenly leaped out at this very moment, carelessly letting everyone present see the photograph. In one stroke they had wrecked Ning Shanghe's plans, leaving her straddling a tiger she could not dismount.
At this moment, Liu Ziqi's expression beside her was just as grim. She could accept the relationship between Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie in private, but to have it dragged out before everyone in this manner was to lose face for the entire Eastern Continent.
Liu Ziqi's shame instantly turned to fury. Though she secretly resented Huo Yudie for not conducting herself with propriety, what she hated most right now were those two busybodies, Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu, with their ulterior motives. By pulling this stunt, they had not only disgraced her and the Eastern Continent, but more importantly had damaged Huo Yudie's reputation—and that was the most precious thing a young woman possessed.
Sensing Liu Ziqi's vicious glare, Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu were scared half to death. They had already been frightened to their knees by a single look from Ning Shanghe, and now they could not even kneel steadily. They were practically sprawled flat on the ground, their whole bodies shaking like chaff in a sieve, trembling without pause.
Even if Liu Ziqi could not openly kill them in this public setting, they must not forget that they would all be traveling back to the Eastern Continent together on the treasure ship. When that time came, a single passing thought from this vice-dean of Morning Pride Academy would be enough to make the two of them die without a sound...
Only now did the two of them regret it bitterly, wishing they could slap themselves unconscious. Damn it, how had their heads gotten so hot a moment ago that they hatched such a rotten scheme? This was literally death by花样—dying in style!
But matters had come to this, and regret was useless. Facing the hostile gazes of big shots like Ning Shanghe, Liu Ziqi, and Yan Xinlan, they could only grit their teeth and keep talking.
"Everyone knows this West Island trial concerns the lifelong marriage of the West Island's princess. Yet Wei Zhao carried on shamefully with Huo Yudie during the trial—clearly he holds no one on West Island in his eyes!" Li Yuzhou hurriedly redirected the hatred.
"Exactly, exactly. A man of such base morals, who cannot even take such an important trial seriously but instead commits indecencies, cavorting with another woman in broad daylight—how could the West Island princess be entrusted to him?" Sun Baolu chimed in.
Eager for spectacle and never minding the consequences, the rest of the crowd began to clamor as well. Huo Yudie's face went deathly pale. In a flash of panic, she broke free of Liu Ziqi's supporting hand and made ready to step forward and explain the truth.
But Wei Zhao stepped forward before she could. He did not want Huo Yudie to be the one to clarify matters. Though there was nothing improper between them, even if Huo Yudie told the truth, he could not escape the fact that he had been lying beneath her skirts to heal the poison. If word of that got out, it would still inflict irreparable damage on her reputation.
"Heh. Is there any point in saying all this? You mean to tell me this one photograph can serve as evidence against us?" Wei Zhao spoke slowly, light as a drifting cloud.