Chapter 4748 — The Photo Was Fake

Yet rules are dead things, and people are alive. Ning Shanghe knew full well that if she clung stubbornly to such rules, West Island would never attract a transcendent, world-defying talent like Wei Zhao. A closed-door policy would only make them weaker and weaker, widening the gap between them and the other Cloud-Tier Islands, until at last they sank into eternal decline.

In truth, Ning Shanghe had any number of ways to circumvent this so-called ancestral rule, but there was one crucial precondition: before these matters could be properly handled, they must never be brought out into the open. They had to be done in private.

But now, Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu had suddenly leaped out at this very moment, carelessly letting everyone present see the photograph. In one stroke they had wrecked Ning Shanghe's plans, leaving her straddling a tiger she could not dismount.

At this moment, Liu Ziqi's expression beside her was just as grim. She could accept the relationship between Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie in private, but to have it dragged out before everyone in this manner was to lose face for the entire Eastern Continent.

Liu Ziqi's shame instantly turned to fury. Though she secretly resented Huo Yudie for not conducting herself with propriety, what she hated most right now were those two busybodies, Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu, with their ulterior motives. By pulling this stunt, they had not only disgraced her and the Eastern Continent, but more importantly had damaged Huo Yudie's reputation—and that was the most precious thing a young woman possessed.

Sensing Liu Ziqi's vicious glare, Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu were scared half to death. They had already been frightened to their knees by a single look from Ning Shanghe, and now they could not even kneel steadily. They were practically sprawled flat on the ground, their whole bodies shaking like chaff in a sieve, trembling without pause.

Even if Liu Ziqi could not openly kill them in this public setting, they must not forget that they would all be traveling back to the Eastern Continent together on the treasure ship. When that time came, a single passing thought from this vice-dean of Morning Pride Academy would be enough to make the two of them die without a sound...

Only now did the two of them regret it bitterly, wishing they could slap themselves unconscious. Damn it, how had their heads gotten so hot a moment ago that they hatched such a rotten scheme? This was literally death by花样—dying in style!

But matters had come to this, and regret was useless. Facing the hostile gazes of big shots like Ning Shanghe, Liu Ziqi, and Yan Xinlan, they could only grit their teeth and keep talking.

"Everyone knows this West Island trial concerns the lifelong marriage of the West Island's princess. Yet Wei Zhao carried on shamefully with Huo Yudie during the trial—clearly he holds no one on West Island in his eyes!" Li Yuzhou hurriedly redirected the hatred.

"Exactly, exactly. A man of such base morals, who cannot even take such an important trial seriously but instead commits indecencies, cavorting with another woman in broad daylight—how could the West Island princess be entrusted to him?" Sun Baolu chimed in.

Eager for spectacle and never minding the consequences, the rest of the crowd began to clamor as well. Huo Yudie's face went deathly pale. In a flash of panic, she broke free of Liu Ziqi's supporting hand and made ready to step forward and explain the truth.

But Wei Zhao stepped forward before she could. He did not want Huo Yudie to be the one to clarify matters. Though there was nothing improper between them, even if Huo Yudie told the truth, he could not escape the fact that he had been lying beneath her skirts to heal the poison. If word of that got out, it would still inflict irreparable damage on her reputation.

"Heh. Is there any point in saying all this? You mean to tell me this one photograph can serve as evidence against us?" Wei Zhao spoke slowly, light as a drifting cloud.

Everyone was stunned at his words. Given what had happened, anyone would have expected Wei Zhao to fly into a shameful rage. Yet here he was, utterly unruffled, as if the matter had nothing to do with him at all. Could it be that something about it was false?

"Is this not evidence? We all saw it—this is solid iron proof. Do you still mean to quibble?" Li Yuzhou pressed, seizing the moment to nail him down.

"Iron proof? Any random photograph can pass for iron proof? Ignorance is not your fault, but taking us for fools no different from yourselves—that is truly uncalled for." Wei Zhao curled his lip in disdain.

"Ignorance? Where are we ignorant?" Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu exchanged bewildered glances.

The rest of the crowd wore expressions of dawning awe. In any case, none of them dared to join the clamor now—otherwise, if they were taken for ignorant, brainless fools, would they not become clowns for everyone to laugh at?

Seeing that Wei Zhao had seized the rhythm of the entire gathering with just two sentences, and that a crisis threatening to spiral out of control had been so easily brought to heel by him, Ning Shanghe, whose face had been somewhat dark, now felt the corners of her mouth curve upward ever so slightly.

It seemed this boy Wei Zhao not only possessed outstanding strength, but even in the way he conducted himself he understood deeply the art of advance and retreat—far beyond other young people of his generation. Truly extraordinary!

"Heh. I come from the secular world. The phones and cameras of the secular world all come with photo-editing functions these days. Stitching two people together is the simplest thing in the world. And this can pass for evidence? You dare bring this out to hoodwink people in such a solemn gathering of the worthy?" Wei Zhao sneered, looking at the two as though they were idiots. "Such feeble tricks might fool the brainless, but trying to fool someone from the secular world like me—you are simply inviting humiliation!"

"That's right, Brother Wei Zhao is absolutely correct. If the two of you wanted, Jingjing could photoshop the two of you together—do whatever you like, any position you want, she could photoshop you until you couldn't take it anymore!" Han Jingyi stepped forward to back him up.

Her words set the whole crowd roaring with laughter. Though some of the secular-world vocabulary escaped them, these were all quick-witted, intelligent people, and it did not stop them from grasping the meaning. Now, one and all, the looks they turned on Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu grew wicked, flushing the two of them red to the ears with shame.

"Do you have any evidence to prove this photograph is real?" Ning Shanghe asked, seizing the moment without fail.

"This..." The answer was obvious. Li Yuzhou and Sun Baolu were natives of the Cloud-Tier Islands through and through; being able to use a camera at all was already remarkable. They had assumed a photograph was ironclad proof, never imagining there was such a catch.

The two of them were complete and utter technological illiterates. If they could explain this clearly before the crowd, pigs would fly.

They hemmed and hawed for ages without producing a single complete sentence, sweating profusely in their panic. If they could not explain this clearly, they really would die here today! (The Android version of *The School Beauty's Close-Range Bodyguard 3D* is now live! This server opening has many lavish events, and the prizes are said to include a powerful Samsung S5, plus a physical book personally signed by Yuren. For participation details, follow Yuren's WeChat public account yuren22! Oh, I forgot to mention—the iOS version of *School Beauty 3D* shot up to fifth place on the paid chart on its very first day. A pretty good result, haha. The iOS version has now gone free, so everyone can download it for free~) (To be continued...)