Chapter 4044 — Framing Wei Zhao
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"A letter? How would I write one?" Shangguan Lan'er turned her head to look at him.
"It's simple. Just tell your grandfather that Wei Zhao led men to kidnap you," the masked man in black coaxed.
At those words, Shangguan Lan'er's eyes curved into a lovely crescent moon. Seeing the masked man staring at her so eagerly, she suddenly smiled and said, with a helpless air, "But I've hardly read any books. I don't know how to write!"
Gah! The masked man nearly choked to death on the spot. You, the honorable Eldest Miss Shangguan, the apple of Shangguan Tianxia's eye—and you claim you can't write?
The masked man was dumbstruck for a good while, unable to tell whether she was lying. After all, some cultivators had trained since childhood, so it wasn't impossible that one might be illiterate. So he said, "How about this, then: you tell me, I'll write it, and you can sign it at the end and put your mark on it. That should be fine, shouldn't it?"
But Shangguan Lan'er kept shaking her head. "I can't do that either. I've never signed or marked anything in my life. Back at the Sandie Pavilion on North Island, who would dare ask this young lady to sign or put her mark on anything?"
"You—" Even through the black cloth mask, one could feel the man's face twitching. "Then tell me, do you still want your grandfather to know Wei Zhao kidnapped you, so he'll come here and save you?"
"Not really. It's quite fun here. Let's wait a few days and decide then. Let Grandfather worry a bit too—it'll keep him from nagging me to cultivate all day long." Shangguan Lan'er wore an expression of one who had settled in for the long haul.
Pfft! The masked man nearly choked on his own spit. Now he was completely out of tricks. Impervious to reason and persuasion alike—how was he supposed to deal with this little girl?
At that moment, outside the ruined martial arts grounds, the two masked men from before had already taken off their masks. Had anyone from the Welcome Pavilion been present, they would surely have been astonished, for these two were none other than Kang Jingming and Murong Zhen.
"Once that little girl's handwritten letter is in Shangguan Tianxia's hands, this time Wei Zhao will be like mud dropped into a pair of trousers—whether it's crap or not, it'll look like crap. Steward Kang, what a clever scheme!" Murong Zhen said with an excited laugh.
"You flatter me. It's Miss Murong whose daring truly commands admiration—to dream up something as audacious as kidnapping Shangguan Lan'er." Kang Jingming replied smugly, while turning his head to watch for activity at the ruined grounds. "It's just that I never imagined the girl would be this foolish, unable to catch even such an obvious hint. Now all we can do is pin our hopes on that fence-sitter Zha Wu."
"Rest assured, Steward Kang. Zha Wu may be a fence-sitter with not a shred of loyalty to speak of, but the smaller the man, the more pragmatic he is. If only to save his own skin, he won't dare ruin our grand plan," Murong Zhen said confidently.
As the two were speaking, Zha Wu came out from the other side, head hanging, wearing an expression of utter dejection and speechless frustration.
"Zha Wu, how did it go? You got it done, right?" Kang Jingming asked.
"Ah, don't even mention it..." Zha Wu looked utterly glum.
After hearing Zha Wu's report, both Kang Jingming and Murong Zhen were struck dumb at the same time. Just how had Shangguan Tianxia raised his only granddaughter? She had already been kidnapped—how could her heart still be this light? Was she missing a few screws?
Kang Jingming thought it over and made a prompt decision. "The longer this drags on, the more trouble we'll have. We can't keep waiting like this. Miss Murong, go back and report right now. Wei Zhao has been coming and going mysteriously these days, no one knows where he's holed up. As long as he's not in the Welcome Pavilion, whatever you say will hold water!"