Chapter 3610 — Not That Foolish?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"So... Ninth Cousin, what do we do next? Go straight to Dai Wuchang and get Wei Zhao moved to a different mining zone?" Meng Zhou scratched his head and asked.
"No. We go to Wei Zhao," Meng Jueming said, shaking his head. "Changing mining zones is no small matter. With Young Master Xu holding things up on our behalf, there won't be any trouble from the Spirit Jade Hall. But if Wei Zhao himself refuses, if he digs in his heels and won't sign the contract, then it's all for nothing!"
"He still won't agree even if we move him to Number Seven? Wei Zhao can't be that foolish, can he?" Meng Zhou looked utterly astonished. For any normal person, being moved from Number Ten, the dead mining zone, to Number Seven was a stroke of fortune one could not cultivate in several lifetimes—so why on earth would anyone refuse?
But Meng Jueming only looked at him as though he were an idiot. "Not that foolish? If he agreed just like that, that's when he'd be a fool! Put yourself in his shoes: in Number Ten, the dead mining zone, he pulls out ten or eight pieces of fine jade every day. Now suppose someone wants to move you to Number Seven, where you can only dig out six or seven pieces a day—would you go for it?"
"Uh..." Meng Zhou was struck dumb. Put that way, getting Wei Zhao to agree to a transfer really did seem no easy task. So he said weakly, "Then if he won't agree, what do we do?"
"Of course we tempt him with profit. I'll explain the details to you later!" Meng Jueming said, casting a glance at Li Zhengming, who stood nearby.
Though Li Zhengming was, after Meng Zhou, the first newcomer to throw in his lot with Meng Jueming, the trust he enjoyed fell far short of Meng Zhou's. For one thing, Li Zhengming did not share Meng Zhou's naturally reliable kinship with Meng Jueming. For another, Li Zhengming was a man of somewhat deep and calculating mind. Meng Zhou, that brainless simpleton, usually botched whatever he set his hand to, yet from Meng Jueming's standpoint he preferred exactly this sort of guileless fool—because such a man would never hatch thoughts he ought not to have. With Li Zhengming, there was no telling.
Meanwhile, on Wei Zhao's side, when he returned to his cave dwelling, he unexpectedly found two people sitting by the stone table in front of the newcomers' caves. One was Miserable Senior Brother. As for the other, though his features made him look not yet middle-aged, his whole bearing carried a deep, world-weary clarity that spoke of long years and rich experience—only he had never been seen before here in the Welcome Pavilion.
The man sat upright on the stone bench like an old monk deep in meditation, while Miserable Senior Brother kept rising to his feet and looking into the distance. From the look of things, the two had been waiting quite a while.
Catching sight of Wei Zhao, Miserable Senior Brother hurriedly stood up and waved from afar. "Junior Brother Lin, over here!"
"Senior Brother Ku, you came looking for me?" Wei Zhao answered and walked over, a look of surprise on his face, while covertly sizing up the man seated on the stone bench.
"That's right. Come, Junior Brother Lin, let me introduce you—this is Lord Lu, master of our Welcome Pavilion, and a senior brother who came up from our own Azure Cloud Pavilion," Miserable Senior Brother said, rushing to make the introduction.
So this was the legendary third pavilion master? Wei Zhao's heart stirred, and he cupped his hands in salute. "Greetings, Lord Lu."
"Never mind 'Lord'—just call me Senior Brother!" Lu Bianren waved a hand, looked Wei Zhao up and down carefully, and then suddenly smiled. "Just as Junior Brother Ku said—Junior Brother Lin is no creature to be kept in a pond. To have a newcomer like you is a blessing for our Azure Cloud Pavilion."