Chapter 1717 — So You've Figured It Out?

"Oh no, what are we going to do? We can't have everyone crammed in here, can we? Every night we sleep shoulder to shoulder — we can barely even turn over..." Yu Xiaoke surveyed the squalid conditions with worry. "It's so hot — I'm afraid the children will break out in prickly heat..."

"Sister Xiaoke, why don't you go see Brother Wei Zhao again?" Little Ken hinted. "Last time, didn't he bring in a huge pile of donations for our orphanage?"

"That time was already pushing it. Most people have already donated — how could we impose on them again?" Yu Xiaoke shook her head. "Besides, my relationship with Wei Zhao isn't all that great. He seems to look down on me a little... I don't want to trouble him either..."

"Look down on you? I don't think so." Little Ken thought to himself, If he looked down on you, would he have gone to rescue you? As if. Ugh, this was really troublesome — he had promised Wei Zhao, and yet he couldn't say it outright to Yu Xiaoke. He could only hint, and she still didn't catch on...

"Xiaoke's right. When trouble strikes, we can't always be troubling others — we have to figure something out ourselves!" The old director nodded as well. "They helped us once already. How could we go impose on them again?"

"Oh..." Little Ken nodded, but inwardly he was thinking that he should find a chance to call Wei Zhao and ask if there was anything he could do. Anyway, it looked like Sister Xiaoke was bound to marry him someday, so it was only proper that he do something for the orphanage now — otherwise, how could he ever carry the heavenly Sister Xiaoke of the orphans' hearts back home?

Right now, the ones with the biggest headaches were none other than Zhao Qibing and Li Cihua. They no longer had the heart to go negotiate with the orphanage — negotiating at a time like this would be tantamount to looting a burning house, and it would leave the police a hold over them besides.

Of course, that was secondary. The main thing was that Zhao Qibing's new tower had burned down again — Zhao Qibing was crying foul! Ever since he'd gone into business for himself, he hadn't succeeded at a single thing! This real estate development had been a string of failures from the very start!

Fortunately, Elder Bi didn't care much for such external things, and Li Cihua had shouldered all the responsibility, so Elder Bi hadn't blamed Zhao Qibing at all. After all, in his eyes, Zhao Qibing was now devoting himself wholeheartedly to his cultivation and had handed the company over to his subordinates to manage — this was a case of Zhao Qibing's subordinates meaning well but bungling things, and it had little to do with Zhao Qibing himself.

After the Great Clans Assembly ended, Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu returned to Songshan City. As per his agreement with them, he was to take them back to Xixing Mountain Village for a trip in early August.

As for Chen Yutian, Qiu Lingshan, and Wu Chengtian, they had all returned to their respective clans for the time being. The landscape of the great clans had shifted, and everyone needed to go home to prepare and discuss countermeasures. In truth, as Wei Zhao's strength grew, so too had his horizons.

The great clans that had once seemed so lofty in his eyes now looked rather ordinary. So Wei Zhao wasn't all that enthusiastic about matters concerning the cultivators' association — he'd merely put up a name for show. In truth, the arms he relied on were still Wu Chengtian, Chen Yutian, Qiu Lingshan, and the like. As for the clans behind them, so long as they didn't make trouble for Wei Zhao, that was enough.

Wei Zhao received Little Ken's call on the way back, and only then did he learn that the orphanage had caught fire and was now reduced to a pile of ashes! And the ironic thing was that Zhao Qibing's tower had also been burned down to a skeleton — it would have to be demolished and rebuilt.

"Little Ken, are you saying you suspect the orphanage fire is connected to Zhao Qibing?" Wei Zhao caught the implication in Little Ken's words.

"We all suspect it, but there's no evidence — and their tower burned down too, which has become their excuse!" Little Ken was young in years but shrewd beyond his age, and he saw things very clearly.

"Oh, I never need evidence to do things. This matter calls for squeezing some money out of them!" Wei Zhao was no Qiu Lingshan — suspicion alone was enough for him!

Wei Zhao thought to himself, That little brat Zhao Qibing — are his legs itching again? Hasn't he had enough of them being broken? Looks like I'll have to find a chance to break them for him again when I get back!

At the mention of money, Little Ken seized the opening: "Big Brother Bandit, could you spare some money to support the orphanage? You're the Bandit — you must be rich... Otherwise, Sister Xiaoke will have to take on another mission, and you wouldn't want her to take such risks, would you?"

Little Ken was, in effect, asking Wei Zhao for money outright, yet he showed not the slightest embarrassment — on the contrary, he was utterly self-assured! In his view, if Wei Zhao wanted to marry Yu Xiaoke, he'd have to pay a bride price one way or another, wouldn't he?

"So you've figured it out?" Wei Zhao was somewhat surprised by Little Ken's powers of deduction. It seemed Yu Xiaoke must have told Little Ken about what happened that day.

"I guessed," Little Ken said. "How could there be such a coincidence? I'd just told you that Sister Xiaoke was in trouble, and then the Bandit went to her rescue?"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao smiled helplessly, thinking, What do you mean, the Bandit? The real Bandit died long ago. Where would I get money? Still, he asked, "How much does the orphanage need?"

"I'm not sure either... but rebuilding will probably cost a lot! Sister Xiaoke and the old director are fretting over it right now!" Little Ken said.

"All right, I'll think of something," Wei Zhao said after a moment's hesitation, and agreed. Wei Zhao was not a man who meddled in others' affairs, but given his relationship with Yu Xiaoke, this was one matter he truly couldn't ignore. Besides, Wei Zhao had genuinely seen how hard the orphanage children's lives were — and now that a fire had struck, things would surely be even harder!

"Then I'll wait for your good news. Thank you, Big Brother Bandit!" Little Ken was overjoyed that Wei Zhao had agreed.

"Mm, wait for my word," Wei Zhao said.

"All right, thanks again, Big Brother Bandit!" Little Ken thanked Wei Zhao once more. "Don't worry, I'll help you keep your identity secret!"

"Heh heh, good." Wei Zhao was somewhat helpless before this child Little Ken. Though the boy's last sentence was close to a threat — meaning that if Wei Zhao didn't help, he'd tell Yu Xiaoke his identity — Wei Zhao felt no aversion at all, because Little Ken wasn't doing this for himself. Like Yu Xiaoke, he was doing it all for the orphanage!

"What's wrong, Brother Arrowhead? Have you run into some trouble? Tell Little Shu about it?" Shen Yushu asked when she saw Wei Zhao's brow furrow.

"That idiot Zhao Qibing burned down the orphanage, and then went and burned down his own newly built tower along with it. He's really just asking for trouble — I say he's begging for a beating, making trouble for me!" Wei Zhao shrugged.

"What? No way? Burned down again? That guy really is unlucky." When Shen Yushu heard that Zhao Qibing's tower had been ruined again, she instinctively stuck out her tongue, wondering if the man was some star of misfortune descended to earth — otherwise, no ordinary person would be this unlucky, surely?

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