Chapter 3625 — Not a Single Piece Less

"And why should I?" Wei Zhao shot him a sidelong glance, a faint, ambiguous smile on his face. "I'm doing just fine in Mining Zone Seven. I can dig up good jade without even trying. And now you want me to go back to that godforsaken dead zone and waste my time? Senior Brother Meng, do I look like I've lost my mind? Or is it you who's lost yours?"

"I knew you wouldn't agree—but no matter. I'll make you say yes." Meng Jueming gestured for Meng Zhou to set the sack of spirit jade on the stone table. "Give it three months, and that miserable little pit of yours in Zone Seven will earn you six or seven pieces of spirit jade at best. But if you agree to switch zones, I can give you ten right now. What do you say?"

"Ten pieces of spirit jade? All just to get me back to Mining Zone Ten? Spending that much—do you really think it's worth it, Senior Brother Meng?" Wei Zhao broke into a laugh, then put on a show of suspicion. "Nothing falls from the sky for free. You two aren't digging a pit for me to jump into, are you?"

"Tch! Junior Brother Wei Zhao, a man shouldn't think so highly of himself. Spending this much just to dig a pit for one person—do you really think you're worth that price?" Meng Jueming gave a scornful sneer, paused, then explained, "I'll be straight with you. Young Master Xu found out I had you transferred to Zone Seven. He was furious. So I had no choice but to find a way to swap you back. This cost is forced on me—there's nothing left for you to doubt, is there?"

Heh. They clearly just want to trick me back to the dead zone with a few pieces of waste jade, and yet they've spun the lie quite neatly!

Still, though he saw through their little trick at a glance, Wei Zhao was more than happy to play along. When people come rushing to hand you spirit jade, who in their right mind would turn them away at the door?

Top-tier good Samaritans like Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou were truly rare—practically one in a million. Wei Zhao genuinely felt lucky to have run into them the moment he set foot on Cloud Terrace Island.

"Well then, since you've put it that way, Senior Brother Meng, it'd be unreasonable for me, your junior brother, to keep refusing. But—don't you think ten pieces of spirit jade is a little on the low side?" Wei Zhao feigned reluctance, deliberately dangling the bait.

"Ten pieces... that's already a lot..." Meng Jueming said, pretending to ponder.

"Good heavens, you're haggling up the price again!" Meng Zhou saw that Wei Zhao had taken the bait just as planned, and inwardly he was already gloating. Wasting a few more pieces of waste jade was nothing to him, but on the surface he deliberately played along with Meng Jueming, putting on a show of great displeasure. "Ten pieces of spirit jade is already plenty—it far exceeds what you'd earn from mining, all right? Don't push your luck! Not a piece more—this is already an astronomical price!"

These two are really getting into character! Wei Zhao laughed inwardly, but kept his face stony and feigned anger. "Senior Brother Meng, have a conscience when you speak! A couple of days ago you had me transferred out, and today you want me transferred back. From start to finish it's been you jerking me around, and I haven't uttered a single word of complaint! Since you feel you're getting the short end of the stick, then fine—I won't switch zones at all. Satisfied?"

Seeing Wei Zhao about to throw up his hands and walk off, Meng Jueming hurried to block him. "Now, now, Junior Brother Wei Zhao, don't be hasty. I never said ten pieces of spirit jade was the absolute ceiling and couldn't go higher, did I? That was Meng Zhou who said that! Tell you what—I'll add two more. Twelve pieces of spirit jade!"

"Twelve?" Wei Zhao looked at Meng Jueming and arched both eyebrows. "Senior Brother Meng, two days ago you had me moved from Zone Ten to Zone Seven and gave me twenty-five pieces of spirit jade. Now you're kicking me from Zone Seven back to Zone Ten—don't you think that price is a bit shameful?"

"How is that the same? Those twenty-five pieces of spirit jade were for buying that little spirit jade of yours—not for getting you to switch zones!" Meng Jueming paused, as if making a tremendous decision. "Still, considering how hard it really is for a newcomer like you to be assigned to Zone Ten, I'll make another concession. Fifteen pieces of spirit jade!"

"Thirty. Not a piece less, or don't bother coming to me again." Wei Zhao's tone was decisive. In any normal negotiation, that kind of demand would have made the other party turn hostile long ago, but he had Meng Jueming's psychology pegged. To get him to take the bait, Meng Jueming surely wouldn't begrudge a dozen or so extra pieces of waste jade.

If he didn't seize the chance to squeeze out a few more pieces at a time like this, the heavens themselves would strike him down!

Sure enough, Meng Jueming's face darkened for a while, and in the end, with a look of gritted teeth, he agreed. "Fine. To quell Young Master Xu's anger, I'll swallow this loss. Twenty-five pieces—that's the absolute limit I can bear! Sign the mining zone contract."

"All right!" Wei Zhao smiled faintly, nodded, and without the slightest dawdling signed the contract. He counted the spirit jade, turned, and left.

In truth, although Wei Zhao knew it was waste jade, he also knew when to stop. After all, he was taking it as if it were good jade—if he insisted on too high a number, it would seem as though he didn't treasure the jade at all.

Only once Wei Zhao was far away did Meng Jueming, who had been deliberately suppressing his fury, let his expression change. He sneered with satisfaction. "That kid sure knows how to haggle. He must have spent plenty of time buying groceries in the mortal world—haggling over every ounce like a champion. A pity he's got nothing but petty cleverness, no real wisdom! Falling into the same pit twice in a row—someone with that kind of intelligence making it up onto our Cloud Terrace Island really is a once-in-a-millennium freak!"

"Heh heh, who told him to run into our Ninth Cousin? If you ask me, it wouldn't be strange if he fell in a few more times! The kid's good for nothing except a streak of dumb luck—how he managed to dig up good jade in the dead Zone Ten before is a real mystery! But now that he's swapped back, let's see if he can still dig up any good jade!" Meng Zhou said with eager anticipation.

"No need to wonder—tomorrow we sit back and enjoy the show," Meng Jueming said, his face full of mockery. The prospecting experts had already condemned Zone Ten to death. He was certain that no matter how outrageous Wei Zhao's luck was, once back in Zone Ten this time, there was absolutely no way he'd dig up good jade. And so now he could hardly wait to savor the sight of Wei Zhao's miserable, dejected face.

The next day, the moment the bell for turning in work rang out, Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou gleefully rounded up the new recruits of Azure Cloud Pavilion and gathered around the work depot, sitting and waiting for the spectacle.

The new recruits exchanged glances. They didn't know much about what had happened these past few days, but thanks to Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming's deliberate spreading of the story, they more or less had a general idea.

Word had it that to help Wei Zhao switch mining zones that day, that poor, long-suffering senior brother had, at great cost, persuaded the legendary Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion, Lu Bianren, to step in—only to end up humiliated, sent fleeing in disgrace after a thorough dressing-down from Young Master Xu! RS