Chapter 3599 — Pretend, Keep Pretending!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Senior Brother Tong was an old man, a disciple of the Mystic Pavilion. As one of the middling officials in the quality inspection office, he had never thought much of the people from Qingyun Pavilion. Yet after several encounters, he had developed a rather favorable impression of Meng Jueming, who was exceptionally good at handling people.
"Mine No. 10?" Senior Brother Tong could not help frowning in surprise. How could Mine No. 10 possibly produce eight pieces of good jade? Had he really read the name wrong?
But when he turned back and checked carefully, he found that Wei Zhao's name was indeed written on the basket, and that the eight pieces of good jade had indeed been taken from it. Even he could not help shaking his head in disbelief. "Eight pieces of good jade. They are indeed Wei Zhao's. No mistake."
"Er... Senior Brother Tong, are you sure all eight of those are good jade? Could you perhaps have overlooked something?" Meng Jueming persisted, still unwilling to give up. Beside him, Meng Zhou and the others wore expressions of utter disbelief, as though they had seen a ghost. Being defeated by Wei Zhao in a single move could still be explained away as a moment of carelessness. But now they had been outdone even at mining, and by a poor wretch assigned to Mine No. 10 at that. If word of this got out, would it not be humiliating beyond words?
"Overlooked something? Are you suggesting that your eye for identifying spirit jade is sharper than this old man's? Why not come in and have a look yourself?" Senior Brother Tong's face darkened at once. The favorable impression Meng Jueming had carefully cultivated through several deliberate attempts to ingratiate himself vanished in an instant because of that one remark.
"I would never dare! I am simply clumsy with words. Please do not take it to heart, Senior Brother Tong!" Meng Jueming hurriedly apologized again and again, almost wishing he could slap himself. To tell the head of the quality inspection office that he had made a mistake, and to do so in front of so many people, was practically the same as digging up the man's ancestral grave. He really must have lost his mind!
"Even if it is Mine No. 10, so long as one's luck is good enough, one can occasionally dig up some good jade." Senior Brother Tong shot him a cold glance before delivering his final verdict. "Wei Zhao. Eight pieces of good jade. Confirmed beyond doubt!"
Good heavens! What kind of world was this? A poor wretch from Mine No. 10 had actually managed to dig up eight pieces of good jade! How was anyone supposed to live with that?
The assembled newcomers looked at Wei Zhao, who remained as calm as drifting clouds and flowing water, with tears in their eyes and despair in their hearts. Then they turned to Meng Jueming, the senior steward brother in charge. Though none of them dared show it too plainly on their faces, every one of them was cursing inwardly. This was nothing like the script they had been promised!
They had thought that throwing in their lot with Meng Jueming, the senior steward brother in charge, was unquestionably the wise choice. But now look at what had happened. Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming, who had received Meng Jueming's special favor, had only six or seven pieces of good jade, while Wei Zhao, the poor wretch who had plainly been set up for misery, had managed to dig up eight!
They did not entirely believe that Mine No. 10 could truly have such an outrageous yield of jade. Still, one thing could be inferred with certainty: Wei Zhao's ability to mine so much good jade was unquestionably owed in large part to Senior Brother Kusheng. It was highly likely that Senior Brother Kusheng had chosen Wei Zhao's mining site for him, which was why the yield had been so astonishing!