Ji Family Uncle and Nephew moved quickly. Once they had more or less reached an agreement, Ji Rulin led Meng Zhao to meet Purple Butterfly.
The place arranged for these envoys was on the very outskirts of the Dan Chi tribal lands, and the environment was not particularly good.
It was clear how little they trusted these outsiders. Moreover, Meng Zhao could sense that quite a few people were secretly watching the area.
The skill of those watchers was nothing remarkable; they were easily detected. Naturally, they could not hide from Purple Butterfly and his people either.
Meng Zhao asked Ji Rulin,
"Brother Lin, are these people watching in secret stationed here every time they visit, or did you only send people to watch them this time?"
This question was crucial, because it concerned what sort of attitude Meng Zhao should take toward Purple Butterfly.
He had to make every one of his actions appear as reasonable and scrutinizable as possible.
Ji Rulin hesitated, then replied softly,
"There were watchers before too, but not with this level of intensity, and the restrictions were not nearly so obvious."
That was hardly surprising. If Meng Zhao had not appeared and pointed out the hidden danger, Ji Family Uncle and Nephew would never have known that this group was so audacious as to plot against them. Naturally, they would not have been so guarded.
But with Meng Zhao's guidance, not only had they imprisoned those who were feeding from the family bowl while smashing the family pot, they had also specifically intensified the surveillance. Their distrust and hostility now shone out in broad daylight.
Meng Zhao could hardly mock his Pig Teammates. After all, they were his father-in-law and brother-in-law; he had to leave them some face. He could only walk on while