Chapter 3732 — Three Insiders
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
The crucial thing was that over the past month or so, not the slightest sign of anything had been detected in Wei Zhao—the fellow had hidden it deeply enough!
Little did they know, this was purely their own fantasy. Although Wei Zhao had many hidden cards up his sleeve, a defensive martial skill of this sort was the one thing he did not possess. This time they had truly overthought it.
"Indeed, it is so. The fault is mine for failing to notice this beforehand and letting the boy exploit the gap, which caused our plan to fall through at the final step. I beg Young Master Xu to punish me!" Meng Jueming hastened to apologize with a crestfallen look.
Xu Lingchong's expression shifted unpredictably, and for a long while he said nothing.
This time, in order to do away with Wei Zhao and to ensure nothing went wrong, he had expended no small amount of effort and capital—not only stepping forward to persuade Zhao Hongbo, the fourth elder of the Green Cloud Pavilion, but even going so far as to part with a fourth-grade Great Return Pill at great cost.
Yet now the result was this: Wei Zhao was not only entirely unharmed, but had once again, just as last time, magnificently scored a perfect divine-grade result. Every bit of his investment had gone down the drain.
And that was not even the crux of it. Losing this bit of capital was one thing—even the costly fourth-grade Great Return Pill he had not taken much to heart. The crux was that this time he had once again lost face before Shangguan Lan'er!
Three days ago in the Enforcement Hall he had already lost face once, and now again. At this rate, how would he ever have the face to meet Shangguan Lan'er in the future? After all, his grandfather Xu Yuanzheng had given him a strict order: he must attach himself to the Shangguan family's high branch. Whether the Xu family could truly enter the ranks of the top-tier elites all depended on him alone!
Watching Xu Lingchong's exceedingly grim expression, Meng Jueming could not help feeling uneasy, scarcely daring to breathe too loudly for fear of provoking the young master's fury.
Strictly speaking, although this attempt on Wei Zhao had not succeeded, Meng Jueming's performance was in fact creditable. After all, from the perspective of men like them, had it not been for Wei Zhao's formidable and uncanny "defensive martial skill," any other person in his place would have had no possibility of failure.
To put it plainly, this was in no way a fault of the battle itself. Meng Jueming could not be blamed for not trying hard enough—only Wei Zhao could be blamed for being too uncanny.
But when trouble arose, Meng Jueming, as the behind-the-scenes mastermind of this attempt on Wei Zhao, had to step forward and accept blame on his own initiative. Otherwise, how could Young Master Xu have been given a graceful way out?
"Enough. The fault this time does not lie with you, Old Meng. So what if that brat Wei Zhao escaped this once? He is still nothing but fish and flesh on our chopping block; he won't be able to prance about for long!" Xu Lingchong pressed his anger down into his heart and patted Meng Jueming's shoulder reassuringly.
Xu Lingchong was, after all, the future heir of the Xu family, trained by Xu Yuanzheng's own hand—not some pure playboy of the second generation. He knew well that to achieve greatness, one must not only be able to afford to lose, but still more must have the capacity to tolerate others.
And judging from Meng Jueming's earlier performance, the fellow was indeed a talent—merely buried because his origins in the Green Cloud Pavilion were too lowly. It would be just right to take him in and make use of him.
"Many thanks for Young Master Xu's magnanimity. Old Meng will hereafter go through fire and water for you, sparing no effort!" Meng Jueming hurriedly fawned and pledged his loyalty, secretly heaving a breath of relief. This way he could go on cherishing his hopes for the position of third pavilion master.