Chapter 3771 — Did Not Dare Agree
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Yet no one had expected that, just as the challenge was about to begin, Wei Zhao would spring such a trick on them.
"I recall you said at the very start, Senior Brother Meng, that the Welcome Pavilion allows newcomers to swap cave dwellings among themselves—so there should be no problem with us doing this, correct?" Wei Zhao asked, one brow arched.
Meng Jueming and Xu Lingchong exchanged a glance and at once understood Wei Zhao's intent. Any sharp eye could see that under the rules of this challenge tournament, the Mountain-Low No. 1 cave dwelling was the most awkward, most hopeless position of all—and here Wei Zhao was, volunteering to trade with Xiao Che. Plainly he was putting on airs again!
This fellow truly lived up to his name as the rookie who loved to show off—every waking moment he was angling to look like a big shot in front of his underlings, as compulsive as a man with a psychiatric disorder!
"That may be so, but we are in the exceptional period of the newcomer assessment right now; allowing the two of you to swap cave dwellings at such a time seems somewhat improper," Meng Jueming said evasively.
Though he had already seen through Wei Zhao's scheme, he had not yet had time to sort out the pros and cons, so he needed to stall for a few sentences and think it over.
"Permitting newcomers to swap cave dwellings among themselves is a rule explicitly written in the Welcome Pavilion's regulations—are we to change it overnight just because of a temporary newcomer assessment? Moreover, not a single article of the assessment rules contradicts it. Where exactly lies the impropriety Senior Brother Meng speaks of? Please be so good as to spell it out!" Wei Zhao's expression remained as placid as ever as he spoke coolly, yet a note of unquestionable authority had entered his tone.
Even if Meng Jueming refused here, Wei Zhao still had other means—he need only take the initiative to challenge Xiao Che in the first round that afternoon, then have the two of them go through the motions so that Xiao Che lost, and the effect of swapping cave dwellings would be achieved all the same.
But in that case, compared with swapping beforehand, Xiao Che would naturally forfeit one round's worth of challenge opportunities—and, just as naturally, the two points that came with the Mountain-Low No. 14 cave dwelling.
For if Wei Zhao won as master of the Mountain-Low No. 14 cave dwelling, he would indeed swap dwellings with him, but the points would be seized unilaterally: Wei Zhao would gain his initial fifteen points, while he could not gain Wei Zhao's initial two points. So from Xiao Che's standpoint, this was more or less a losing bargain.
Of course, Xiao Che would have no complaint about this, since those two lost points would not fall to an outsider's benefit but to Wei Zhao's—yet Wei Zhao was not satisfied with it.
Since he had proposed swapping dwellings with Xiao Che, he had never taken those points seriously at all; to him they were not worth a fart, but to Xiao Che they might be absolutely crucial.
If a thing was not to be done, then leave it alone; but once decided upon, it must be done to perfection. Here he was fighting for Xiao Che's benefit—naturally Wei Zhao would not be careless about it.
Wei Zhao's display at once moved the other newcomers present. To willingly jump into a pit himself just to bail out his underling—a leader who cherished his followers to such a degree was truly rare!
Among them all, Li Zhengming felt it most keenly.
Thank goodness he had had the foresight to throw in his lot with Leader Wei Zhao early on! Had he ended up with a sorry excuse for a leader like Meng Zhou instead—forget jumping into a pit to bail him out; Meng Zhou would more likely force *him* to jump into a pit to save his own skin. Damn it, people really did die by comparison—and goods, by contrast, got thrown out!