Chapter 3812 — No Easy Feat

As the chief steward and senior disciple, he had failed to deal with even the two underlings under Wei Zhao's command—a fact no amount of excuse-making could disguise. Meng Jueming felt his face burn with shame, and he dared not offer Xu the Young Master any pretext or evasion.

From his years of seasoned experience, Meng Jueming knew the best response at such a moment was to put on a sincere and contrite face and prepare to take his scolding, without saying anything else—because anything he said would be superfluous.

This Young Master Xu before him was a genuinely clever man. Any attempt to shirk responsibility in his presence was the foolish act of someone fancying himself clever; the more one said, the more one erred. Far better to present a good attitude, which might at least leave a favorable impression of pragmatism.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Xu Lingchong spoke: "Enough. This young master has a general understanding of the matter now. This is not your fault, Old Meng—after all, those two underlings of theirs suddenly succeeded in building their foundations, and no one could have anticipated that. Besides, it is only natural that Meng Zhou alone could not hold them off. You need not blame yourself too much."

Xu Lingchong was, after all, no ordinary profligate young master; his depth and magnanimity far exceeded those of common men. Once a figure like Meng Jueming had caught his eye, then so long as the man committed no error on a key matter of principle such as loyalty, ordinary mistakes of this sort were entirely tolerable.

For only in this way could he cultivate an image of broad-minded humility, and only then would more talented people come to serve beneath his banner and willingly risk their lives for him.

Moreover, Meng Jueming's case this time was genuinely excusable. If Xu Lingchong clung to it and would not let go, he would only appear petty—not only failing to improve matters, but easily damaging his reputation as well. The loss would outweigh the gain.

"Thank you for your understanding, Young Master Xu. I, Old Meng, will spare you the empty flattery. Please judge me by my conduct hereafter—I shall exhaust my loyalty and wisdom, and never dare disappoint you again," Meng Jueming said, his face awash with gratitude.

Xu Lingchong was plainly pleased by this. Rarely did he stoop so low as to reach out and pat Meng Jueming on the shoulder: "Enough, Old Meng. Your loyalty is plain to this young master's eyes. Serve well from now on, and this young master will never treat you shabbily."

Watching this master and servant pair put on their little show of dying for a true confidant, Shangguan Lan'er at the side could not help but curl her lip in secret disdain. Even with her limited worldly experience, she could sense the affectation in it. Truly, birds of a feather flock together—these people were hypocrisy through and through, not fit to be compared with her own junior brother Wei Zhao!

Little did she know that Xu Lingchong was deliberately putting on this performance with Meng Jueming. His sights were not confined to a mere Wei Zhao of Yingxin Pavilion. He did all this purely to shape himself into the image of a wise and brilliant young lord, to spread his good name through the mouths of those present, and to pave the way for eventually stepping into the hall and taking charge of the Xu family!

Master and servant played their parts for some time, until the whole gathering had fallen into animated discussion and the effect seemed about right; only then did they stop, thoroughly satisfied.

"That said, in the present situation, what do you think should be done, Old Meng? We cannot simply let Wei Zhao and his underlings run wild and insolent like this, can we? If this goes on, where will this young master's face be put?" Xu Lingchong inquired.

Clever man though he was, his attention had always rested on the upper tiers, and he would not waste too much energy on lowly nobodies like Wei Zhao. If he had to do everything himself, what would be the point of having subordinates like Meng Jueming?

As the master, Xu the Young Master considered his task to be backing Meng Jueming up, helping him resolve matters he could not resolve himself, and then letting him go do the work. To deal with a lowly nobody like Wei Zhao, one Meng Jueming was entirely sufficient.

Meng Jueming had long been waiting for these words. On hearing them, he answered at once: "Young Master Xu, although Wei Zhao and his lot have somewhat grown too unwieldy to control in the current situation, in my view the way to deal with them is actually quite simple. So long as we seize back the advantage and initiative in the matter of strength, all other problems will naturally resolve themselves."

"Oh? And how do you propose to seize back the advantage and initiative, Old Meng?" Xu Lingchong asked, knitting his brows slightly.

He of course knew that the strength Meng Jueming spoke of referred to the strength of the new recruits under his command. After all, if they did not wish to take desperate risks, the only way to deal with Wei Zhao's faction was through these new recruits. And Wei Zhao and the others were all now at the early Foundation stage, whereas among Meng Jueming's new recruits there was only Meng Zhou—a contrast that made them look pitifully thin.

But if the other new recruits under Meng Jueming, besides Meng Zhou, were all to make a push for the Foundation stage as quickly as possible, then quite apart from the vast quantities of pill resources that would consume, the crux was that pouring in so many resources might not yield any visible results.

For even Meng Jueming, the chief steward and senior disciple, could not guarantee the loyalty of so many new recruits, and how many of them could succeed in breaking through was unknown. When the time came to face Wei Zhao's faction, they might not gain the upper hand either—the returns would be meager.

Meng Jueming had long considered this. He said at once: "Young Master Xu, spreading more resources among several people may not produce immediate results, but if they are all concentrated on Meng Zhou, raising his strength one level higher to the peak of the early Foundation stage—what do you think?"

At these words, Xu Lingchong's eyes lit up at once: "Not bad, not bad! So long as Meng Zhou alone regains an overwhelming advantage in strength, then no matter how many early-Foundation cultivators Wei Zhao's faction musters, it will be useless—he will kill them one by one. Old Meng, this idea of yours is a good one!"

Yet after a pause, Xu Lingchong shook his head again: "But though you speak truly, if this young master remembers correctly, Meng Zhou only succeeded in building his foundation last month, and only after taking a Foundation-Building Pill and Foundation-Building Liquid. You want him to reach the peak of the early Foundation stage in a short time—no easy feat!"

Beside them, Meng Zhou had been overjoyed, thinking he might reap a great windfall this time; but now, hearing Xu Lingchong's words, his heart sank straight back into the depths.

Now that even Young Master Xu said so, was his grand ambition of advancing to the peak of the early Foundation stage in the near term to go settle scores with Wei Zhao and the others to become nothing but a daydream?

Yet Meng Jueming did not give up. He pressed on, pleading his case: "Young Master Xu, I, Old Meng, know well that you have already invested too many resources in us, and we subordinates feel we have no way to repay you but to serve you like beasts of burden. But we truly cannot stand by and watch a blind, petty man like Wei Zhao run rampant—otherwise, if it damages your prestige, Young Master Xu, we would truly be unable to eat or sleep in peace."