Chapter 3643 — A Strange Reminder

This time, however, the deal with Li Zhengming had no such pretext to lean on. It was a perfectly ordinary exchange of spirit jade—after all, by any sane person's logic, trading three ordinary fine jades for one top-grade one was hardly a loss for Wei Zhao. If he had demanded more, they would have grown suspicious that he had already discovered the jades were worthless!

As for discovering only after the trade that all those ordinary fine jades were in fact duds, that was another matter entirely.

And to look at it from the most cautious angle, it was simply unrealistic to quote a newcomer like Li Zhengming a price of dozens to one. Even knowing full well he was asking too little, Wei Zhao had no choice but to swallow it this time.

Give these people a little sweetness first, and only then would more of them come knocking with jade in hand. A thin trickle runs long; cast a long line to land a big fish! After all, so long as Wei Zhao held the jade pendant space, any worthless jade that came into his hands became a fine one. Twenty-five to one or three to one—either way, it was a sure profit with no loss.

After this transaction, Wei Zhao could already foresee that his "fool halo" would only grow stronger with time. Once that impression took root in people's minds, others would inevitably line up one after another to trade spirit jade with him and take advantage of him!

Little did they know that under the cover of this "fool halo," Wei Zhao was gleefully raking in a fortune in silence!

Seeing Li Zhengming draw six pieces of spirit jade from his robes, Wei Zhao blinked in slight surprise. "You want to exchange for two?"

"That's right. You're welcome to examine them carefully," Li Zhengming said, with a meaning-laden look.

The remark struck Wei Zhao as rather odd. Had he not been deliberately playing along, Li Zhengming's single sentence would already have exposed two glaring flaws.

First, as a newcomer, when everyone else generally clutched only a single piece of spirit jade, he had produced six at once. Was he not afraid of arousing Wei Zhao's suspicions?

Second, anyone else in Li Zhengming's position, seeing Wei Zhao agree to the trade, would have taken the spirit jade and made a swift exit—that was the wisest course. Who would go out of their way to remind Wei Zhao to examine them carefully? Was he not afraid Wei Zhao would actually do so on the spot and find they were all worthless?

He clearly did not seem such a fool, yet he had blundered into flaws so obvious. This fellow really was a strange one!

Wei Zhao found it peculiar, but he did not much care. After all, worthless jade was exactly what he wanted. If he truly did examine them as the man suggested, the whole play would fall apart. So he briskly made the exchange, putting on a look of astonished delight at having won a great bargain, terrified that Li Zhengming might go back on his word. He tucked away the six duds and said, "This will do."

Li Zhengming gave Wei Zhaoyi a somewhat startled glance, but said nothing more. After a brief word of parting, he put away the spirit jade and took his leave.

Emerging from Wei Zhao's Cave Residence No. 14 at the foot of the mountain, Li Zhengming did not head straight back to his own dwelling. Instead he turned and entered Cave Residence No. 15 next door. Inside were not only Meng Zhou, the residence's owner, but Meng Jueming as well—both there to learn as quickly as possible how Wei Zhao had reacted.

Seeing Li Zhengming come in, Meng Zhou at once asked impatiently, "Did you get the spirit jade? Let me see!"

Li Zhengming glanced at Meng Jueming beside him. Though the man had not spoken, the urgency written between his brows made plain that this was precisely what concerned him most at the moment.

These two cared only about getting their hands on the spirit jade, and not in the least whether he had been beaten! In that instant, Li Zhengming suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

In truth, when Meng Jueming had first proposed this idea, the one he had originally intended to send to sound out Wei Zhao had not been Li Zhengming, but Meng Zhou.

But Meng Zhou had found an excuse to decline, and had shifted the probing task onto Li Zhengming instead. On the surface he claimed to be handing him a golden opportunity to take advantage of Wei Zhao, but Li Zhengming knew perfectly well that Meng Zhou, the wretch, was simply afraid of a beating and had offered him up as a sacrifice!

No Heaven-Rank expert was ever a true fool. By Meng Jueming's own account, Wei Zhao had already taken in two piles of worthless jade in succession. Any normal person would have caught on by now. Three times is the limit—getting a man like Wei Zhao to step into the same pit a third time seemed hardly plausible, however you looked at it.

And though Meng Jueming had supplied a seemingly very reasonable pretext, it rested on one crucial premise: that Wei Zhao had never once realized the jades he took in before were worthless. Put bluntly, Wei Zhao would have to be a fool through and through!

Any sane person knew the odds of such a probe succeeding were vanishingly small. The only reason to attempt it anyway was the wishful thinking bred of self-interest.

And once the probe failed, Wei Zhao's fury would erupt with near certainty. The fate of whoever was sent to test him could well be imagined—a sound thrashing would be the least of it; he might well lose his life on the spot!

And even if he were beaten to death, by the rules of Heaven-Rank North Island, he would have died for nothing! For Heaven-Rank North Island expressly forbade the circulation of worthless jade in the market disguised as fine jade. Break the rule first, and if you got beaten to death for it, you had only your own bad luck to blame.

Even Meng Zhou, whose mind was not the sharpest, could work that out—so how could Li Zhengming not? But Meng Zhou had pushed him forward, and Meng Jueming had nodded his assent. However unwilling, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and go. What could he do? He was the underling.

But even an underling, returning from a probe, deserved at least a word about his safety—yet they reached straight for the spirit jade. Did they not regard him as a human being at all? A faint bewilderment crept into Li Zhengming's heart. Was such a patron even worth clinging to any longer?

"Well, say something! Did you get the spirit jade or not? What are you standing there gawking for—did Wei Zhao beat you senseless?" Seeing Li Zhengming slow to answer, Meng Jueming frowned and snapped at him.

"Oh—it worked. That Wei Zhao fellow is even stupider than expected, didn't even bother to check. I traded him six duds for two fine ones, and he looked like he'd struck it rich. Dumb as they come!" Li Zhengming came to his senses and answered hastily, producing the two pieces of spirit jade. Then, covering for himself, he added, "I was just so happy I got a little carried away!"

"Oh! Hahaha!" At the sight of the spirit jade, Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou were overjoyed. They took the jades and examined them closely, anxious lest they turn out to be two of the worthless pieces the pair had given Wei Zhao before! RP