Chapter 4648 — Playing Along
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
At this, Yan Xinlan suddenly started as she took in Ning Xuefei's peculiar expression. Thinking of what was already settled for the birthday banquet to come, she wondered—could this girl be hoping to use this chance to convey her feelings to Wei Zhao?
"Aunt Yan, I say this woman is suspicious. Seize her and interrogate her rigorously, implicate her whole clan, and see whether she is lying! I want to know just who has the gall to come to a gathering like this and frame the North Island's envoy—this is an attempt to sow discord between our West Island and the North Island, and we must not take it lightly." Ning Xuefei's tone carried a hint of frost.
At those words the temperature in the hall plummeted several degrees. Ning Xuefei might be naive and sweet by nature, but she was, after all, the chosen heir to the West Island, and here her word carried absolute authority.
Yan Xinlan was taken aback. Her prejudice against Wei Zhao came purely from her distaste for libertines of his sort—she feared Ning Xuefei was growing too close to him and would be taken in by the rogue. But now that Ning Xuefei had spoken up for Wei Zhao in front of everyone, she could hardly contradict her publicly; otherwise outsiders would take it as discord among the West Island's leaders, and that would spell real trouble.
"Guards!" At Yan Xinlan's command, two imperial guards stepped forward at once. Both were women, but clad in full armor they cut an imposing, murderous figure; and to serve in the island lord's palace, their strength was naturally nothing to sneeze at. Seeing this menacing approach, the woman who had sprung up to frame Wei Zhao promptly wet herself in terror.
"Say something, quickly! Didn't you promise me it would be fine—that as long as I played along, I could..." the woman cried, turning to Kang Jingming in a panic. She had taken this role purely to earn a few spirit jades; never once had she imagined she would be risking her life.
But before she could finish, Kang Jingming rushed forward recklessly and kicked her square in the head. The blow knocked every tooth from her mouth. "You vile wretch, don't you dare slander others with your filthy lies!" he roared. "I see it now—you must be a spy sent by another island! Not content with trying to sow discord between our North Island and the West Island, now that your scheme to frame my senior brother Wei Zhao has failed, you turn around and frame me instead. What a vicious, venomous heart you have!"
"Mmmph, mmmph..." Her mouth full of blood, the woman could not utter a word after Kang Jingming's kick. Hair disheveled, she collapsed to the ground howling in agony, glaring at him with such venom that she seemed ready to devour his flesh and gnaw his bones—except that by now there was nothing left for her to do.
Kang Jingming's reaction had been swift, to be sure, and at first hearing his explanation might even hold up. But most of those present were sharp-eyed, and all of them knew that by this point the truth was plain. Whatever unsavory tricks lay behind it, one thing at least was certain: Wei Zhao had been wronged and framed.
"Envoy Lin, how do you think this should be handled?" Yan Xinlan knew Wei Zhao had been wronged, and she felt a measure of guilt. Besides, in both fairness and courtesy, the matter ought to be left to Wei Zhao himself to decide—he was, after all, the sole victim—and for the sake of relations between the two islands, he deserved a satisfactory accounting.
Wei Zhao glanced at the woman cowering on the ground, then at Kang Jingming, who was eager to paper things over, and said with a faint smile, "When in the host's house, follow the host's customs. Your island's people are naturally yours to deal with; I have no objection. Besides, I have suffered no loss."