Chapter 5002 — Quite a Character
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Zheng Dongyang and the others sneered in unison. Here he stood at death's very door, yet still he put on airs—the boy truly did not know death when he saw it. Even Zheng Dongyang himself did not believe the Eastern Continent would actually sanction the Central Island over this and leave Oda Zhou, the acting island lord, in an awkward spot. But no matter—Wei Zhao and the Tian Dan Pavilion were doomed beyond any doubt. Of that there was not the slightest question.
"Since the talk has come this far, let us not dawdle. Open it and let us see," Oda Zhou said offhandedly, still drinking with Wei Zhao as though he could not care less.
"Very well!" Zheng Dongyang cast the two of them a triumphant glance and took the Eastern Continent's reply from Wu Che's hands. Within were two letters—one from Zhuang Yifan, chairman of the Yellow-Rank Academy Alliance, and the other from Ling Yuanqing, headmaster of the Morning Star Academy.
"I shall first read Chairman Zhuang's reply to everyone," Zheng Dongyang said, immensely pleased with himself. That Zhuang Yifan should reply to him in person left him somewhat overwhelmed—the man was a true personage of standing. What did a Central Island lord amount to before Zhuang Yifan? Never mind that Oda Zhou was, in name at least, merely an acting island lord.
He opened the letter under everyone's watchful eyes, and upon it were only a few short words. Zheng Dongyang thought to himself that this was only fitting for a great man—his answer to such a matter would be terse and to the point. No doubt he had never given the Central Island a thought at all.
He deliberately cleared his throat, and only then began to read aloud Zhuang Yifan's reply: "Chairman Zhuang says in his letter: 'Go screw your mother...'"
Reading to this point, Zheng Dongyang himself was the first to be struck dumb. His erstwhile triumphant expression flushed a deep red on the spot. What in the world was this?!
Wu Che and the others gaped at one another, while Wei Zhao very nearly burst out laughing on the spot. Zhuang Yifan's reply was quite a character, to be sure.
"'Go screw your mother'? Might Master Zheng explain for us what Chairman Zhuang means by these words?" Oda Zhou looked at Zheng Dongyang with open mockery.
"This..." Zheng Dongyang's face could no longer hold its composure. He did not know why Zhuang Yifan should curse him, and after choking for a long while could only force a self-justifying explanation: "By my reckoning, the Trial of the Titans' Road must have just concluded, and Chairman Zhuang is surely busy with the rankings of the various academies. To trouble him with such a trifle at so busy a time—of course he would be displeased. And the chairman has always been fond of jesting, and speaks rather freely..."
"So that is what you call jesting. This is the first I have heard of it—I have truly broadened my horizons today," Wei Zhao said with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Chairman Zhuang jests with great individuality. It seems Master Zheng's relations with him are indeed good—otherwise he would never have chosen such phrasing," Oda Zhou said with perfect solemnity.
Hearing the two of them mock him, Wu Che and the others all wore strange expressions, glancing at one another and at a loss for words. A sense of foreboding rose in every heart—the way things stood, something was not quite right!
Zheng Dongyang choked for a long while.
His face shifting from green to white and back again, he nonetheless forced an expression of being wholly in control, and with a cold snort said: "Though Chairman Zhuang did not say so plainly, his meaning has certainly been conveyed to Headmaster Ling. How the matter is to be handled will be plain enough at a glance." (To be continued.)