Chapter 4312 — Asking Questions

Though Wei Zhao was indeed relieved to see that Wang Xinyan was doing well, he now had a new worry: he did not know whether he ought to go and make himself known to her.

He thought back to the very first time he had seen Tian Chan at the auction on the Far North Island—Tian Chan had not acknowledged him at first either. What Wei Zhao did not know was whether Wang Xinyan might have similar reasons of her own for keeping her distance.

If he revealed himself rashly and it brought her some kind of trouble, that would run counter to everything he had intended. Yet to leave without even a word, to pretend he had not seen her and let the two of them be swept apart to opposite ends of the earth—that would be too heartless, and Wei Zhao himself would never be able to accept it.

To reveal himself or not—that was the question, and Wei Zhao could not help but sink into a dilemma.

While Wei Zhao was tangled up over Wang Xinyan, Huang Xiaotao, watching him from the side in his distracted state, was just as tangled up herself.

She could guess that it was mostly on account of the woman up on the stage, but precisely why he was behaving this way was something she could not possibly know. Only Wei Zhao himself could answer that, and what Huang Xiaotao was now agonizing over was exactly how she should ask.

She had always been thin-skinned. Even though she and Wei Zhao were as close as could be, there were still some things she simply could not bring herself to ask—and the crux of it was that she feared asking too much, or asking wrongly, and incurring Wei Zhao's displeasure, which would leave her regretting it endlessly.

She was not like those girls from the secular world, Wang Xinyan among them. From childhood she had been schooled in the ancient rites, and a woman's jealousy was an unpardonable offense, one of the seven grounds for divorce. Besides, she had truly never harbored any such feelings, and so she was all the more unwilling to let Wei Zhao mistake her for being jealous of the woman on the stage.

Just as the two of them stood there, each caught up in her or his own tangle, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly sounded beside them.

"Hey there, brother! Got your test token yet?" Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao turned at the sound and found that the newcomer was none other than Ge Wei.

"Oh, yes. I have it. You seem to be doing brisk business today, sir!" Wei Zhao nodded, exchanging a rather astonished glance with Huang Xiaotao, thinking to himself that he was hardly well acquainted with this fellow—so why had he come back?

Wasn't this fellow selling his secret guide to passing the assessment? Had he really finished making the rounds so quickly? There were nearly ten thousand people in the whole venue; at a hundred spirit jades apiece, that added up to a business worth several hundred thousand spirit jades at the very least. He surely could not have moved that fast.

"Heh heh. Just scraping a living, that's all—hardly anything worth calling brisk business." Ge Wei grinned and pursed his lips, then remarked with no small regret, "I'd been counting on this carefully compiled secret guide of mine to make a proper killing while I had this rare opportunity. Ah, what a pity..."

"Hm? Your secret guide is certainly worth the price, sir, and I saw plenty of people buying it. So why the pity?" Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao could not help asking in puzzlement.

"Plenty of buyers, sure—but I can't keep selling. Didn't you notice, brother, how all those academy guards around us have got their eyes on me?" Ge Wei shook his head with a bitter smile.

If not for that, he reckoned he could have kept busy the whole day. As things stood, though, if he carried on peddling, he would likely be seized on the spot—and once he was convicted of disrupting the selection process, he would be in for far worse than he could stomach.

So, with no other choice, he had to abandon this easy way of raking in spirit jades. He had run back to have a chat with Wei Zhao, this big spender of a patron, and seize the chance to peddle a few bits of news and intelligence on the side—perhaps he could still salvage something, and make up a little for today's losses.

"Mm, I suppose so." Wei Zhao nodded in understanding, then his eyes suddenly lit up. Ever since a moment ago he had been puzzling over the matter of Wang Xinyan, only vexed that there was no one at hand to ask. But this Ge Wei before him styled himself the Ge Inquisitor of South Continent—when it came to gathering information, there was surely no one in this whole place better suited. Was this not a ready-made, ideal candidate?

"Does the young hero have something to ask me?" Ge Wei had seen every sort of character under the sun, and he had been watching Wei Zhao's expression closely all the while. One look and he knew business had arrived.

"Indeed. There is a matter I have been rather puzzled about, and I wonder whether you might enlighten me?" Wei Zhao nodded without any attempt at concealment, while Huang Xiaotao pricked up her ears and listened obediently from the side, saying nothing.

"Ask away, young hero, ask whatever you like. I wouldn't claim to know the heavens above and the earth below, but here in South Continent there's truly nothing that I, the Ge Inquisitor of South Continent, don't know—the only difference is whether I know a little more or a little less. You've come to the right man, asking me!" Ge Wei said eagerly and warmly, for he could already see the spirit jades waving at him.

"Heh heh. Actually, I merely wanted to ask: beside that lady vice-director at the Mountain-Opening Stage up on the stage, why is such a young girl seated? Her strength doesn't look especially high to me. And from the look of it, she and the lady vice-director seem rather close—what is the relationship between them?" Wei Zhao asked, betraying nothing in his expression.

"Oh, so it's her the young hero is asking about!" Ge Wei put on a look of sudden understanding and lowered his voice with a chuckle. "Haha, if you went and asked anyone else about this, I guarantee you not a one of them would know. After all, this is a matter of Morning Star Academy in East Continent, and everyone here has never even set foot in East Continent, so naturally they'd never have heard such tales. But ask me, the Ge Inquisitor of South Continent, and you've come to exactly the right man!"

"So you do know, then?" Wei Zhao's spirits rose at once. He was desperately eager to learn anything about Wang Xinyan, in any respect whatsoever—even if it were only hearsay, he wanted to hear it properly.

"Mm, naturally. But this..." Ge Wei did not say it outright; instead he rubbed his fingers together, the meaning plain enough—spirit jades would be required.

The so-called Ge Inquisitor of South Continent made his living precisely by collecting information and selling it—that was his trade. Naturally there was no reason for him to divulge intelligence for free; otherwise, playing the good Samaritan everywhere, he would have nothing to live on but the northwest wind.

Although Wei Zhao had given him thirty extra high-grade spirit jades when buying the secret guide earlier, business was business. Ge Wei would not casually break the rules—that would only be making trouble for himself.

Wei Zhao nodded in understanding and at once drew another small pouch of spirit jades from his pack. Ge Wei took it and weighed it roughly in his hand; it held a good dozen or more, all of them high-grade spirit jades as well. He smiled in satisfaction.

"The young hero cuts a dashing figure and is handsome beyond measure—to go out of your way to ask me about this woman, I take it you've been smitten?" Ge Wei said with a smile. "And no wonder. A beauty like a fairy from heaven, and a disciple of the Sea Goddess of the East besides—countless young men of talent and promise adore her. No normal man could possibly rise above it." (To be continued)