Chapter 4365 — A Lesson

"Mm, Sister Xinyan treats me even better than her own flesh and blood, and Master dotes on me too—she indulges us in everything, just like we were her own daughters. You saw it yourself just now," Huang Xiaotao said, her face glowing with happiness.

She had thought parting from Wei Zhao would be painful, but both Wang Xinyan and the East Sea Divine Nun had made her feel something like home. Even though she thought of Wei Zhao every waking moment, the days were not nearly as hard to endure as she had imagined. On the contrary, she had been happy these past weeks.

Orphaned young, she had been forced to live as a dependent in relatives' homes, where everyone around her treated her less like a child than like merchandise—and even after they discovered her fine aptitude for cultivation, she was merely a rare commodity, something to be hoarded and sold at a profit. Never once had anyone shown her genuine care.

But now she had not only Wei Zhao, but also Wang Xinyan, a gentle, lovely sister, and the East Sea Divine Nun, a master as devoted as a loving mother. Huang Xiaotao was a contented soul; to have so many people who cared for her was happiness enough, and she asked for nothing more.

Wei Zhao cast Wang Xinyan a grateful glance, secretly counting himself lucky that all his confidantes were so good-natured. Had even one of them been the jealous type, his head would be aching by now.

Wang Xinyan naturally knew what he was thinking. She shot him a glance brimming with allure, then could not help covering her mouth to laugh. She had always been kindhearted by nature, and she and Huang Xiaotao had taken to each other so well that her goodwill toward the girl came straight from the heart.

To contend without contending—perhaps Wang Xinyan herself never realized it, but this reasonableness and generosity of hers only made Wei Zhao adore her more, value her more, love her more.

"Never mind the two of us. How about you? Seems you've run into trouble again?" Wang Xinyan asked with concern.

Though she did not know exactly what Wei Zhaotong and his lot were scheming, this whole affair reeked of conspiracy. Had Wei Zhao handled things just a little poorly earlier, it might have ended in disaster. Fortunately the outcome was decent—not only had they failed to get their way, but they had ended up trapping themselves.

"A bit of trouble, yes, but nothing serious. I can handle it," Wei Zhao said with a smile. It was rare for him to be reunited with the two women, and he did not want to spoil such a fine moment with dismal talk. Besides, with his own strength, he truly could cope.

"Tell us about it. Do you really mean to report only the good news and keep the bad from us? Then we'll do the same from now on—whatever trouble we run into, we won't tell you either!" Wang Xinyan pursed her lips in mock displeasure.

"Right. I learned it from you," Huang Xiaotao chimed in.

"How long have you two even known each other, and already you're speaking with one voice?" Wei Zhao said, caught between laughter and tears. He could only surrender. "All right. There's nothing else to do anyway, so I'll tell you."

"That's more like it!" Only then were Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao satisfied. They sat down, each clinging to one of Wei Zhao's arms, and signaled for him to hurry up and talk.

"That they suddenly recommended me to the Academy's Big Three—I'm certain that was Wei Zhaotong and Cheng Qitian's doing. I believe you've both seen that much," Wei Zhao said.

"Cheng Qitian scheming is no surprise—we've crossed him before. But Wei Zhaotong is a branch shopkeeper of the Hong Merchant Guild, and an old friend of Hong Zhong's. You had no quarrel with him, so why would he join forces against you?" Huang Xiaotao asked, puzzled.

"I wouldn't say no quarrel—at least not from his point of view. I ruined a good thing of his, so he holds a grudge," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile.

"Ruined a good thing of his? What good thing?" Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao were instantly more curious than ever.

"Xiaotao, do you remember when we were escorting cargo and four pirates waylaid us? I told you then that something about it seemed fishy. Well, the fishy part is that those pirates were hired by none other than Wei Zhaotong himself!" Wei Zhao sneered. "He had his own goods swallowed up by men he'd hired, and at the same time extorted a huge sum of spirit jade from the Qingtian Escort Agency—three hundred thousand, paid in full as compensation!"

"What? The man is that black-hearted?" Huang Xiaotao was left somewhat speechless. Unlike Wang Xinyan, because she had known beforehand that Wei Zhaotong was an old friend of Hong Zhong's, she had once taken it for granted that he was a good man.

"That's the truth of it. If I hadn't happened to catch those four pirates, I wouldn't have believed Wei Zhaotong capable of such a thing either. What you don't know is that the shipment he had swallowed was life-saving supplies for the several hundred souls of the Fang family manor on Xianpeng Island. Thank goodness I intervened—otherwise they would have faced utter ruin this time," Wei Zhao said with a sigh.

"And after that? Once you caught the pirates, you had both the men and the goods—surely he couldn't deny it?" Wang Xinyan asked.

"I had the men and the goods, yes, but the old fox is cunning and slippery, impervious to reason. Even when we brought the witnesses to his door to confront him, he insisted it was all fabricated evidence. He's a branch shopkeeper of the Hong Merchant Guild, after all—we couldn't very well use force, so there was simply no way to touch him," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head.

"So you're saying the Qingtian Escort Agency was cheated out of three hundred thousand spirit jade, and he still gets to walk free?" Wang Xinyan said in astonishment.

"Everyone at the agency was furious and helpless, but that's the way it was. All I can say is that people change—this time even Hong Zhong misjudged him," Wei Zhao said with a shrug.

"This Wei Zhaotong is truly rotten to the core! He has no conscience at all—ignoring hundreds of lives, framing the Qingtian Escort Agency, and now coming after you. We can't just let him get away with it!" Even someone as gentle as Huang Xiaotao was seething with righteous indignation after hearing all this. She turned to Wang Xinyan. "Sister Xinyan, why don't we ask Master to help and teach him a lesson?"

She knew Wei Zhao would be staying in the Weihu Sea for some time yet. If she left without first dealing with the threat that was Wei Zhaotong, she would never feel at ease. Besides, Morning Star Academy held a transcendent status—if the East Sea Divine Nun herself were to step in, then no matter how fox-cunning Wei Zhaotong might be, he would never dare quibble in the presence of an Opening Mountain tier titan.

"That..." Wang Xinyan hesitated. Having spent over a year at Morning Star Academy, she understood many things better than Huang Xiaotao did. Shaking her head slightly, she said, "Little sister Xiaotao, the Academy may be transcendent in status, but it still cannot afford to abruptly sour relations with a top-tier merchant guild like the Hong Merchant Guild—otherwise we'd be in a very passive position later on. And besides, there's no connection between the two to begin with. Even a titan of the Opening Mountain tier like our Master cannot simply dispose of a member of the Hong Merchant Guild—that would be a grave taboo. Didn't you see how Director Ling was plainly furious just now, yet still let Wei Zhaotong off in the end?" (To be continued) R466