Chapter 3622 — Zhong Yongliang Offers a Scheme

The two of them trudged out of Mining Zone Ten with long faces. Meng Jueming was just about to go find Dai Wuchang and arrange a replacement Zone Seven contract for Meng Tong when, to his surprise, he caught sight of two familiar figures at the entrance: Kang Zhaoming and Zhong Yongliang.

These two were not merely disciples of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion—they were lackeys hand-picked by Xu Lingchong himself, and counted among the more prominent newcomers of this term's Welcome Newcomers Pavilion.

Kang Zhaoming especially, under Young Master Xu's particular favor, had all but locked in the post of newcomers' steward. From what Meng Jueming had observed, the man was shrewd and full of schemes, and lately he had been haunting the Spirit Jade Hall with great diligence—no doubt with an eye on the spirit jade dug from the mines.

A sudden inspiration struck Meng Jueming. Of course—these two were Wei Zhao's mortal enemies as well, their feud stretching back to the mortal realm. If he could enlist them in a scheme against Wei Zhao, they would surely leap at the chance! Perhaps they knew Wei Zhao well enough to have some clever trick up their sleeves.

At that thought, Meng Jueming hurried forward a few steps and called out, "Brother Kang, Brother Zhong, I never expected to run into you two here. What a coincidence."

"Well, well, if it isn't Brother Meng!" Kang Zhaoming and Zhong Yongliang exchanged a glance, then answered with matching smiles.

Soaring Heaven Pavilion disciples might look down on the men of Azure Cloud Pavilion as a matter of course, but Meng Jueming was, after all, the steward of the Welcome Newcomers Pavilion and had Wei Zhao under his authority, and Young Master Xu Lingchong seemed to regard him with a measure of favor. So Kang Zhaoming was quite willing to cultivate him. As for Zhong Yongliang, whatever Kang Zhaoming did, he did too, resolutely refusing to fall behind.

After a few pleasantries, Meng Jueming asked, "Are you two headed down into the mines?"

"That's right. Small newcomers like us don't have the easy life you do, Brother Meng. Apart from digging jade down in the mines for a bit of spirit jade, we've got no other decent prospects," Kang Zhaoming answered with a smile.

"Ha, Brother Kang, that's far too modest of you! You two are Soaring Heaven Pavilion disciples, and moreover Young Master Xu's most valued subordinates. Even if you go down into the mines, it must be Mining Zone One—digging thirty or forty pieces of fine jade a day is a sure thing. Even a steward like me is a little envious. To call yourselves small newcomers is really a bit much!" Meng Jueming flattered him with a chuckle.

Meng Jueming's words were mere flattery, but beside him Meng Tong's gaze held envy that he could not conceal. What did thirty or forty pieces of fine jade a day even mean? It meant that a single day's casual work for them matched five days of his own labor—three or four days of idle toil and they could claim a spirit jade as reward. Truly, comparisons were maddening!

"Not at all, not at all." Having noticed Meng Tong's envious look, Kang Zhaoming kept his words humble, though inwardly he was rather pleased with himself.

It only proved how right he had been to cling tightly to Xu Lingchong's leg when he first teleported up to Cloud Terrace Island. Otherwise he would have been assigned to a wretched place like Azure Cloud Pavilion, toiling all day for a mere five or six pieces of fine jade—that would have been truly miserable! And of course, if one were targeted on every side as Wei Zhao was, it would be even more pitiful.

But if Kang Zhaoming only knew that he, a prized newcomer of Mining Zone One, had to labor three or four days to earn a single spirit jade, while Wei Zhao could sneak away at least two spirit jades every day—with practically no risk at all—would he not simply die of envy and hatred?

Of course, given Kang Zhaoming's lifelong habit of seeking shortcuts, his comfortable circumstances, enviable as they were, would never satisfy him enough to dig and mine jade honestly. That was why, a few days earlier, he had dragged Xu Lingchong around to build connections—so that once his web of relations was established, he could find opportunities to line his own pockets. That was simply his nature.

It was only that the Spirit Jade Hall's supervision was strict. Even with Xu Lingchong's thick leg to cling to, pulling that off would not be easy for Kang Zhaoming.

After all, even a veteran like Meng Jueming, with all his connections, dared not lightly lay hands on fine jade; he could only bide his time and skim off a few worthless pieces. And those worthless pieces, apart from fetching a meager reward, were good for little else—even if smuggled out by some scheme, at best they could be used to swindle someone, as he had swindled Wei Zhao a couple of days ago.

"Brother Meng, a couple of days ago you told Young Master Xu you were going to investigate how Wei Zhao managed to dig up fine jade in the dead Mining Zone Ten. I don't suppose there's been any progress?" Kang Zhaoming asked in turn. True, digging only a dozen or so pieces of fine jade a day seemed wretched enough in his eyes, but if Wei Zhao could be made to dig up not a single piece, would that not be all the more satisfying?

Meng Jueming was secretly delighted—he had been waiting for exactly this question. He heaved a long sigh. "Ah, don't remind me! As you two brothers know, I kicked Wei Zhao down to that godforsaken dead zone, Mining Zone Ten, to begin with, precisely to vent your anger and Young Master Xu's. But who'd have thought he'd dig up fine jade two days running? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of punishing him? Setting everything else aside, for the sake of the old grudge between you two brothers and him, we can't let him keep living so comfortably!"

Though they suspected him of deliberately claiming credit for himself, Kang Zhaoming and Zhong Yongliang still nodded, and Meng Jueming went on: "So I set a trap and lured him to Mining Zone Seven, meaning to investigate the strange business in Zone Ten. But today I brought in an expert prospector from the Spirit Jade Hall to take a look, and it turns out there's no fine jade at all in that dead zone, nothing strange about it—the past two days were pure dumb luck on his part. If he stays there, no matter how lucky he gets, he'll never dig up fine jade again!"

"Then isn't that perfect? Just kick him back down to dead Mining Zone Ten. Wouldn't you say so, Brother Zhong?" Kang Zhaoming's eyes lit up. He was itching to see Wei Zhao come to grief; if Wei Zhao could be made to spend months without digging up a single piece of fine jade, nothing could be better!

Beside him, Zhong Yongliang gave a slight nod but said nothing. He was Wei Zhao's mole, and with the situation still unclear, he naturally could not speak carelessly—one wrong word might help Wei Zhao or might just as easily do him harm!

"Ha, that was my thinking too, exactly the same as you two brothers!" Meng Jueming said with a bitter smile. "But the trouble is, unless we find some way to make Wei Zhao sign the contract himself, if he simply refuses to leave Mining Zone Seven, there's nothing we can do about it!"

"That... is a problem." Kang Zhaoming frowned, then asked, "So how did you get Wei Zhao to switch out in the first place? From what I know of him, he's no fool. Given how he dug up a dozen or so pieces of fine jade two days running—which by the sound of it is even a bit better than Zone Seven—why would he agree?"

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