Chapter 4184 — A Forceful Appointment
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"You've come? And what about that fellow called Si Haitao?" Xu Lingchong asked directly.
"Si Haitao?" Kang Jingming could not help but look puzzled. "Young Master Xu, you know Steward Si too? But he wasn't one of us before, was he?"
"He wasn't before, but he is now. Go and bring him here," Xu Lingchong instructed flatly.
Kang Jingming did not dare delay. He answered at once and hurried out, going straight from the Central Chamber of Commerce to fetch Si Haitao.
Along the way, Si Haitao could not help feeling both baffled and uneasy. What did Xu Lingchong mean by suddenly summoning him?
Could it be that his secret alliance with Kang Jingming and the others these past days, and his efforts to draw them into the center's outer circle, had been discovered by Xu Lingchong? Was Xu Lingchong displeased at having his people poached, and now meant to make an example of him?
Though his heart was full of misgivings, Si Haitao ultimately decided to come and see for himself. Xu Lingchong had indeed returned in force, and ordinary people would do well to steer clear of him, but Si Haitao was no pushover either. In strength he was at least as good as, if not better than, a mid Golden Core cultivator, and in status he was the Central Chamber of Commerce's spokesman for North Island. There was no respect in which he need fear Xu Lingchong.
Whether Xu Lingchong would prove friend or foe in the end, and how he ought to face this young master of the Chongsheng Pavilion—he would have to come and confirm it in person.
Yet when he arrived at the Chongsheng Pavilion with such thoughts in mind, Xu Lingchong's reaction was utterly beyond Si Haitao's expectations.
"So you're Si Haitao? Very good. From now on, you'll work under me." Xu Lingchong glanced at him and gave a faint nod.
"What?!" Si Haitao was stunned, and his expression quickly turned ugly. Was this Young Master Xu out of his mind? He, a steward of the Central Chamber of Commerce in his own right, was on intimate terms with personages as lofty as Nantian Jiguang—so why on earth should he work for this man?
For a moment the atmosphere in the room turned tense. Kang Jingming and the others exchanged glances, not daring to make a sound.
"Young Master Xu, it's true that you are the managing senior disciple of the Chongsheng Pavilion, but I am the steward of the Central Chamber of Commerce's North Island branch. We belong to different organizations and are not on the same path at all. Aren't your words a bit too abrupt?" Si Haitao said in a low voice.
"Heh, is that so?" Xu Lingchong smiled, unperturbed, and then suddenly tossed out a photograph. On it was unmistakably the mysterious man in black, standing together with him. Thrown out along with it was a handwritten document, which clearly stated that Xu Lingchong was appointed deputy steward of the center's North Island, with full authority over all affairs of the North Island center!
"Deputy steward of the center's North Island? How can this be?" Si Haitao was greatly alarmed at the sight. This was far greater authority than that of the North Island intelligence group he secretly oversaw. And yet Xu Lingchong's strength was plainly not even as high as his own.
"Hmph, I have backing in the center. I am Master Pao's personal disciple—an existence even the mysterious man in black has to respect. Now you understand?" Xu Lingchong saw the other's bewilderment and spoke at once with a note of pride.
"What? Master Pao?" Si Haitao was both shocked and doubtful. He had no way to refute it, and could only lower his head and carefully examine the appointment document in his hand. It bore the center's unique emblem—that could not possibly be faked. Besides, he was in the intelligence business himself. Trying to pull the wool over his eyes was simply impossible.