Chapter 2392 — Inference and Plans
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"That..." Xiao Ji thought it over. His younger brother had a point, yet he still clung to a sliver of hope. "But in the past, weren't Wu Chengtian and the Hidden Pi family also at odds with Wei Zhao? And haven't they now won his trust?"
"Whether the Hidden Pi family has truly thrown in with Wei Zhao, I still can't say for certain. But whether it's the Hidden Pi family or Wu Chengtian—did they ever have direct conflicts with Wei Zhao, ever come to bitter blows? Did they ever cause serious consequences?" Xiao Ben waved his hand. "None of them did! Wu Chengtian and the Pi family never had any great conflict with Wei Zhao—at most they were on bad terms for a while. But never the drawn-blades hostility that exists between us and them! Take Zhao Qibing of the Hidden Zhao family, or Xie Yufeng of the secular Yu family—these men made enemies of Wei Zhao. Do you think there's still any chance of reconciliation? The secular Yu family was wiped out by Wei Zhao, and Zhao Qibing of the Hidden Zhao family had his legs broken several times and nearly lost his life. Do you think that if this less-than-promising relative of ours, Wang Xinyan, went over to Wei Zhao's side, he would keep the rest of us alive?"
"That..." Xiao Ji did not have much of a mind, and after Xiao Ben's analysis, he found it really did seem possible! After all, the enmity between the Xiao family and Wei Zhao was immense! When Wei Zhao was injured, the Xiao family had repeatedly leapt out to kick him while he was down. Would Wei Zhao let them off so easily?
"Then... can't we just plead with the Hidden Pi family..." Xiao Ji said after a moment's hesitation.
"Plead?" Xiao Ben shook his head. "Do you think the Hidden Pi family, now that they've thrown in with Wei Zhao, would still give us the time of day? Never mind the lofty Hidden Pi family—even Wu Chengtian stopped paying us any attention after he sided with Wei Zhao. And you're counting on the Hidden Pi family? We were nothing but a money-making tool to the Hidden Pi family. Now that the Hidden Pi family has gone over to Wei Zhao, and Wu Chengtian is Wei Zhao's henchman, wouldn't the Hidden Pi family and Wu Chengtian rather do business with Wei Zhao? Would they still consider us?"
"That's true..." Xiao Ji nodded in deep agreement. "Even if we gave Wang Xinyan to Wei Zhao, it wouldn't win us any favor with him at all. Wei Zhao would still ignore us as before, and the Xiao family's position would remain precarious... But if we force Wang Xinyan to marry Kang Jinglong, wouldn't that be setting ourselves against Wei Zhao? Couldn't Wei Zhao wipe us out in his fury?"
"If he wanted to wipe us out, he'd have done it long ago. The reason he hasn't is likely that he still remembers we are the maternal family of Wang Xinyan's own uncles, so there's no need for us to fear anything," Xiao Ben said. "When the Hidden Tang family broke with Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi back then, we never saw Wei Zhao raise his hand to destroy his own kin."
Xiao Ben was right—Wei Zhao had indeed not moved against the Hidden Pi family at the time. But it was not that he did not wish to; it was that he was no match for them! RQ