Chapter 3621 — Trying to Trade Back

"What is it? Did you find good jade?" Meng Jueming asked eagerly, and Meng Zhou, standing behind him, wore just as expectant a look.

"This ore node does have a somewhat higher proportion of spirit jade than other places—around fifteen percent, I'd say—and the spirit energy concentration is noticeably higher as well." Elder Brother Ma pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "But it's still far below average. Even if this place can produce good jade, thirty or forty pieces at most—that's the absolute limit. It's simply not worth much."

"Only thirty or forty pieces?" Meng Jueming's face, so full of anticipation a moment ago, fell at once. This was not at all the high-quality ore node he had imagined.

"Correct—and that's an optimistic estimate. In fact, digging out those thirty or forty pieces of good jade would take heaven knows how much effort; you couldn't finish in under two or three months!" Elder Brother Ma declared with absolute certainty.

"My god, so I've really just been kicking myself in the foot—wasting two whole days for nothing?" Meng Jueming muttered to himself under his breath, yet he did not doubt Elder Brother Ma's judgment in the slightest. The man was, after all, a prospecting expert specially retained by the Spirit Jade Hall, with absolute authority in such matters; if he had reached a conclusion, then it was surely not wrong.

"I say, old Meng—you're supposed to be a figure of some standing at the Welcome Newcomers Pavilion. You'd do well to act with a bit more steadiness. Next time, don't drag me out here just because some newcomer got lucky once and hit a pile of dog dung—it's a sheer waste of time!" Elder Brother Ma grumbled in annoyance, and Meng Jueming could only nod again and again as he respectfully saw the prospecting expert off.

Once Elder Brother Ma had gone, only Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou remained in Mining Zone Ten, along with those two bored guards far in the distance.

"Cousin Jiu, what do we do now? There's no point wasting any more time here, is there?" Meng Zhou asked. By Elder Brother Ma's reckoning, although this ore node still held thirty or forty pieces of good jade, it would take at least two or three months to dig them out—less than one piece a day on average. It could not possibly compare with Mining Zone Seven.

Meng Jueming nodded dejectedly. "You're right, there's no point staying any longer. Mining Zone Ten really is a cursed place. I must have been out of my mind for a moment, letting myself be bewitched by that freak Wei Zhao and dragging us all the way out here to waste our strength—while he gets to dig away comfortably in Mining Zone Seven for two whole days!"

True, Meng Jueming had earlier sent word to the people in Mining Zone Seven to give Wei Zhao a proper hard time, but that did not change the fact that Wei Zhao was in Mining Zone Seven. Even the most neglected, worthless ore there was far better than this godforsaken dead mining zone where not even a bird would shit!

At the thought of Wei Zhao sitting comfortably in Mining Zone Seven, Meng Zhou ground his teeth with hatred. That was supposed to be his territory, and now that bastard had taken it over. "Cousin Jiu," he spat out, "let's hurry up and kick that Wei Zhao back here! Let him rot in this dead Mining Zone Ten from now on!"

"We certainly do need to think of a way to kick him back, or else we're letting him off far too easily!" Meng Jueming nodded, unwilling to let it go, but then his face clouded with difficulty. "But how do we get him to agree to trade back? That's the problem. He's had a taste of the good life in Mining Zone Seven—he definitely won't want to come back to this godforsaken dead Mining Zone Ten!"

Even though Meng Jueming had deep connections in the Spirit Jade Hall, the Hall's rules were the Hall's rules: anyone wanting to change mining zones had to sign the contract in person. Just as he had schemed and tempted Wei Zhao into signing on the spot when he first sent him to Mining Zone Seven, now, to bring him back, he would still have to find a way to get Wei Zhao's signature.

Otherwise, if Wei Zhao himself refused, even if Meng Jueming got Acting Impermanence to process the paperwork, it would be useless. After all, the man was not one of those "newcomers of former terms" who had failed their Foundation Establishment and had no rights to speak of. Without special justification, even Meng Jueming, the chief steward, could not force Wei Zhao into such a thing.

Meng Zhou knitted his brows in thought. "Cousin Jiu, how about we give him another twenty-five pieces of waste jade?"

"Are you an idiot?" Meng Jueming was caught between laughter and tears. How on earth did he have such a fool for a cousin? Rolling his eyes, he snapped, "Do you think Wei Zhao's as big an idiot as you? He fell for it once—that wasn't enough? You think he'll fall for the same trick again?"

"Uh…" At Meng Jueming's words, Meng Zhou himself began to feel rather foolish, and could only say weakly, "Then what do we do? If Wei Zhao won't agree, won't he just dig in his heels in Mining Zone Seven and refuse to be chased out?"

"Easy to invite a god in, hard to send him away!" Meng Jueming scratched his head helplessly.

A couple of days ago, when he had schemed so hard to lure Wei Zhao into Mining Zone Seven, he had been full of hope that he would find a high-quality ore node in this dead Mining Zone Ten and strike it rich. Instead, he had found no good jade at all, wasted two days for nothing, and now had no idea how to kick Wei Zhao back. He had truly kicked himself in the foot!

In truth, if he could not kick Wei Zhao back to dead Mining Zone Ten, it would not be the end of the world. As long as he sent Meng Zhou back to Mining Zone Seven afterward, Meng Jueming would lose nothing—he would merely have to stew in his own displeasure at seeing Wei Zhao comfortable. But the problem was that he now faced a very serious hidden worry!

The key reason he had succeeded two days ago in getting Wei Zhao out of dead Mining Zone Ten was that Xu Lingchong, that young master Xu, had nodded his approval. Otherwise, no matter how close his friendship with Acting Impermanence, Acting Impermanence would never have dared to go against Young Master Xu's wishes.

And the reason Xu Lingchong had nodded back then was that Meng Jueming had sworn to his face that once he uncovered what was fishy about dead Mining Zone Ten, he would absolutely not let Wei Zhao off easy! And now? Now the fishiness in dead Mining Zone Ten had not been uncovered at all, and instead Wei Zhao was comfortably entrenched in Mining Zone Seven, impossible to dislodge. If this ever reached Young Master Xu's ears, Meng Jueming would be in for a world of trouble!

The more he thought about it, the more kicking Wei Zhao back to dead Mining Zone Ten was no longer an optional act of venting his spleen—it was a mission that had to be accomplished! Because this involved not only his own personal grudge but also the face of Xu Lingchong, Young Master Xu!

Yet the more Meng Jueming realized the gravity of the matter, the worse his headache became, for at the moment he truly could not think of any way to kick that brat Wei Zhao back to dead Mining Zone Ten.RS