Chapter 3944 — Meng Jueming's Suspicion
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Looking back now, that trick of trading waste jade for good jade had likely been precisely what Wei Zhao wanted—the man had been playing them all along, reeling them in to bring him waste jade, which was how the scheme had kept succeeding.
Otherwise, even if Wei Zhao really had been foolish, once Ku Bi and the others around him noticed something was off, they would long since have stepped in to stop it—they could not possibly have stood idly by, turning a blind eye all this time.
To any normal person, trading one's own good jade for another's waste jade—even at a favorable exchange rate—was nothing short of squandering one's fortune.
But Wei Zhao was plainly different. If the conjecture held, he must have some means of rapidly charging waste jade!
Only that could explain why the spirit jade in Meng Jueming's hand had inexplicably turned from waste to good; only that could explain why such a crude, transparent trick—one anyone could see through at a glance—had succeeded again and again.
All of it was plainly a trap Wei Zhao had set himself, waiting for them to deliver waste jade right to his door.
And to think they had once gloated, believing they had finally gotten the better of Wei Zhao—looking back now, they had been played in the palm of his hand from start to finish!
With all the pieces thus linked together, the truth was already crying out to be seen. Even if a few doubts remained, they needed only further confirmation—and in Meng Jueming's eyes, the matter of Wei Zhao being Lin Er was all but settled!
"Heh heh, this trip to the market district really wasn't wasted after all!" Having worked it all out, Meng Jueming could not help but sneer in smug satisfaction.
Originally, given Wei Zhao's domineering displays of late, he had already resolved to find some way to make peace with the man—after all, the wise man adapts to circumstances, and there was no helping it. Wei Zhao's strength had grown so formidable that even Meng Jueming felt his heart quail. What was he supposed to do?
Matters having come this far, it was no longer realistic to count on his subordinates to finish Wei Zhao off. Neither Meng Zhou nor Murong Zhen could possibly be a match for him.
Meng Jueming was, after all, a clever man, and he had come to recognize with painful clarity that if he and Wei Zhao continued to oppose each other openly, blade against blade, he would be the one to suffer in the end.
Meng Zhou had already made one trip through the gates of hell; a next time would likely mean death outright. If things truly reached that point, Meng Jueming would be entirely on the back foot. Even if he were promoted to Third Pavilion Master, without men under his command he could never suppress the aggressive Wei Zhao—his situation might well prove even more awkward and tragic than Lu Bianren's!
Thus, with no other choice, Meng Jueming resolved to feign compliance with Wei Zhao for the time being. So long as he could stabilize the situation for now, a small loss of face did not matter; once he had secured the position of Third Pavilion Master in the days to come, it would not be too late to settle accounts afterward.
It was precisely because of these misgivings and calculations that, when he happened upon Wei Zhao in the market, he had begun by behaving so courteously—even trotting out a lofty address like "Young Hero Lin." It showed just how hollow Meng Jueming, the senior managing disciple, now felt inside. R1152