Chapter 3621 — Trying to Trade Back
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"What is it? Did you find good jade?" Meng Jueming asked eagerly, and Meng Zhou, standing behind him, wore just as expectant a look.
"This ore node does have a somewhat higher proportion of spirit jade than other places—around fifteen percent, I'd say—and the spirit energy concentration is noticeably higher as well." Elder Brother Ma pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "But it's still far below average. Even if this place can produce good jade, thirty or forty pieces at most—that's the absolute limit. It's simply not worth much."
"Only thirty or forty pieces?" Meng Jueming's face, so full of anticipation a moment ago, fell at once. This was not at all the high-quality ore node he had imagined.
"Correct—and that's an optimistic estimate. In fact, digging out those thirty or forty pieces of good jade would take heaven knows how much effort; you couldn't finish in under two or three months!" Elder Brother Ma declared with absolute certainty.
"My god, so I've really just been kicking myself in the foot—wasting two whole days for nothing?" Meng Jueming muttered to himself under his breath, yet he did not doubt Elder Brother Ma's judgment in the slightest. The man was, after all, a prospecting expert specially retained by the Spirit Jade Hall, with absolute authority in such matters; if he had reached a conclusion, then it was surely not wrong.
"I say, old Meng—you're supposed to be a figure of some standing at the Welcome Newcomers Pavilion. You'd do well to act with a bit more steadiness. Next time, don't drag me out here just because some newcomer got lucky once and hit a pile of dog dung—it's a sheer waste of time!" Elder Brother Ma grumbled in annoyance, and Meng Jueming could only nod again and again as he respectfully saw the prospecting expert off.
Once Elder Brother Ma had gone, only Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou remained in Mining Zone Ten, along with those two bored guards far in the distance.
"Cousin Jiu, what do we do now? There's no point wasting any more time here, is there?" Meng Zhou asked. By Elder Brother Ma's reckoning, although this ore node still held thirty or forty pieces of good jade, it would take at least two or three months to dig them out—less than one piece a day on average. It could not possibly compare with Mining Zone Seven.
Meng Jueming nodded dejectedly. "You're right, there's no point staying any longer. Mining Zone Ten really is a cursed place. I must have been out of my mind for a moment, letting myself be bewitched by that freak Wei Zhao and dragging us all the way out here to waste our strength—while he gets to dig away comfortably in Mining Zone Seven for two whole days!"
True, Meng Jueming had earlier sent word to the people in Mining Zone Seven to give Wei Zhao a proper hard time, but that did not change the fact that Wei Zhao was in Mining Zone Seven. Even the most neglected, worthless ore there was far better than this godforsaken dead mining zone where not even a bird would shit!
At the thought of Wei Zhao sitting comfortably in Mining Zone Seven, Meng Zhou ground his teeth with hatred. That was supposed to be his territory, and now that bastard had taken it over. "Cousin Jiu," he spat out, "let's hurry up and kick that Wei Zhao back here! Let him rot in this dead Mining Zone Ten from now on!"
"We certainly do need to think of a way to kick him back, or else we're letting him off far too easily!" Meng Jueming nodded, unwilling to let it go, but then his face clouded with difficulty. "But how do we get him to agree to trade back? That's the problem. He's had a taste of the good life in Mining Zone Seven—he definitely won't want to come back to this godforsaken dead Mining Zone Ten!"