Chapter 3618 — Sabotage in the Dark

"If I were still stuck in Mine No. 10, I honestly couldn't say. But now..." Wei Zhao arched an eyebrow. Just then the quality inspection office called out, "Wei Zhao, seven pieces of good jade, twenty-three pieces of waste."

Meng Tong's face went stiff at once. Even Meng Jueming, standing nearby, looked at him as though staring at an idiot. The man had already been switched to Mine No. 7—how could he possibly fail to dig up good jade? To spout such brainless drivel was practically rushing up to have his face slapped.

"Are you two going to keep at it in Mine No. 10 tomorrow? Let me, your junior fellow, offer you a kindly warning: I've already carried off all the good luck in Mine No. 10. Digging up good jade there is going to be awfully hard." Wei Zhao said this with a half-smile, then ignored the two of them and turned to go.

"My god! This bastard is arrogant beyond all bounds!" Meng Tong glared at Wei Zhao's receding back, grinding his teeth. "The luck of Mine No. 10 carried off by him? What does a bumpkin fresh up from the mortal realm count for?"

Meng Jueming was just as furious, but he forced his anger down and said thoughtfully, "What does the boy mean by saying that on purpose? Could it be he's afraid we'll keep digging in Mine No. 10 and end up pulling out good jade?"

"Yes! That must be it!" Meng Tong's eyes lit up with excitement. "The bastard's definitely scared we'll dig up good jade, so he said that on purpose to make us give up! Still, Cousin Jiuming is the clever one—this bastard really is just too damn devious!"

"Hmph, that's got to be it! Even at a fine ore node, a temporary dry spell of good jade is perfectly normal. So long as we keep digging tomorrow, we're bound to strike good jade!"

Meng Jueming had been rather downcast, and had even begun to doubt whether his earlier inference about a fine ore node was sound. But at Wei Zhao's words a flash of insight struck him, and the smug confidence he always wore returned to his face. "The boy's cleverness has backfired on him. He thinks one sentence will scare us off—heh, well, I'll do the exact opposite of what he wants!"

"Haha, I told you the bastard's a fool through and through! Thinking he could play the clever one before our Cousin Jiuming—the man's a fool to the bone!" Meng Tong laughed and chimed in.

Never mind how Meng Jueming and Meng Tong rubbed their hands together, all set to fight three hundred more rounds in the dead mine of No. 10—Wei Zhao himself never imagined that one careless remark would produce such an effect. He truly had not meant to set these two fools up; you could only say that the two wretches were born to wretched fates, and when a man is bent on making a fool of himself, there is simply no stopping him.

Of course, whether Meng Jueming and Meng Tong wore themselves out in Mine No. 10 or moved back to Mine No. 7 was no concern of Wei Zhao's. What concerned him was how to keep stashing spirit jade in Mine No. 7 the way he had in Mine No. 10—that was the pressing matter.

After a full day of observation yesterday, Wei Zhao had a fair grasp of the conditions in Mine No. 7. Though the supervision there was far tighter than in Mine No. 10, it was not without its flaws.

After all, the whole sequence of drawing spirit jade into his jade pendant's space or taking it out again was relatively covert, something he could complete without a sound. So long as he found a remote, little-noticed ore node, Wei Zhao could simply copy the method he had used in Mine No. 10, and there would be next to no risk involved. Of course, all of this first required finding a remote ore node.

After all, Mine No. 7 had none of that pure rubbish jade to serve as cover. If a single piece went missing from his basket, that was one thing; but if several went missing and were then taken off to be charged all at once, it would look a bit conspicuous.

Wei Zhao had dug out only seven pieces of good jade yesterday, but strictly speaking, the node he had chosen was actually of decent quality. He had, after all, spent no small effort yesterday scouting the surroundings, and had he truly gone all out for spirit jade, turning up eight or nine pieces of good jade in a day would have been quite likely.

More to the point, this node sat at the center of the mining area, yet unlike other popular nodes it was not constantly swarmed by three or four people fighting over it. And judging from the fact that Li Zhengming was right next to it, it was very likely a fine node that Meng Jueming had specifically ordered reserved for Meng Tong, which was why no one else dared brazenly seize it. Thus did Wei Zhao, who had come in yesterday as Meng Tong's substitute, get the better of it.

But that very fact now put Wei Zhao in a bind. Without some special reason, if he abruptly abandoned this well-known fine node to seek out a cold, out-of-the-way node with a poor yield, wouldn't that look highly suspicious?

Yet if he stayed on at this node, there was a pack of guards watching like hawks just a short way behind him, and the slightest furtive move would be noticed at once. There was simply no way for Wei Zhao to carry out his plan the way he had in Mine No. 10. And if he really did nothing but dig jade with his head down like everyone else, earning his day's wage, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

For a moment Wei Zhao found himself caught between two stools. Yet when he passed through the mine tunnel and reached Mine No. 7, the sight before his eyes made him start—his fine node from yesterday had been seized by Li Zhengming, who had arrived a step earlier!

Seeing Wei Zhao appear, Li Zhengming brandished his jade spade in a show of swagger and raised his middle finger. The hostility in the gesture needed no explanation.

Ha, so this fellow who had been hiding his strength had long had his eye on Meng Tong's node, had he? Only the weight of Meng Jueming's authority had kept him from showing it. And now that Meng Tong was gone, the serf had turned and sung his own song?

Wei Zhao was instantly delighted. At any other time he would have gone over and given Li Zhengming a good dressing-down, but now—the man's move suited him perfectly! He had been worrying over how to switch nodes with good reason, and before he could even think of dozing off, Li Zhengming had promptly brought him a pillow. A timely rain indeed!

But Wei Zhao had in fact misjudged Li Zhengming. From the way he had hidden his strength, one could tell he was a rather low-key sort; his behavior today was entirely because Meng Jueming had given him instructions last night, ordering him under no circumstances to let Wei Zhao grab a good node today.

Wei Zhao's seven pieces of good jade yesterday had been enough to drive Meng Jueming wild with rage. If he turned up another seven today, wouldn't that be adding to his own misery? So Li Zhengming had no choice but to follow Meng Jueming's orders and provoke Wei Zhao into leaving.

Wei Zhao glanced at Li Zhengming without betraying a thing, said not a word, and turned to walk toward another node off to the side.

For the fastest updates, please read without pop-ups.