Chapter 4358 — A Good Business

This put Wei Zhaotong in a thoroughly foul mood. His rank had gone up, true enough, but from now on there would be no more raking in piles of spirit jade—after all, his distant cousin could hardly be expected to travel all the way to the Weihu Sea to purchase supplies, could he?

Had he known it would turn out this way, he might as well have stayed put in the Gaolin Sea and remained a deputy shopkeeper with a fat cut of the profits.

By the same token, his distant cousin, the purchasing steward, had run into trouble of his own. Ever since Wei Zhaotong was transferred away, he had lost his inside man in the Hong Merchant Guild; after all, a branch shopkeeper could hardly do what Wei Zhaotong had done—issue him inflated price quotes while actually collecting payments at a steeply discounted rate.

The Hong Merchant Guild had always conducted its business aboveboard and under strict supervision; it would never stoop to such tricks as falsifying prices. Only a man consumed by greed like Wei Zhaotong would dare tread the crooked path and do things on the sly.

Still, even if the Hong Merchant Guild could no longer be milked for the price difference, the purchasing steward could at least turn to other merchant guilds and find other partners to continue lining his own pockets—only now Wei Zhaotong would get no share of it.

From the Gaolin Sea of the Eastern Continent to the Weihu Sea of the Southern Continent, Wei Zhaotong felt the drop all at once. Had he never known the days of scooping up great profits, it might not have mattered so much; the trouble was that such things were addictive. Once a man grew used to the side roads, he could never again walk the straight path.

Now he merely drew a fixed monthly stipend. Even if a branch shopkeeper's stipend was, by ordinary standards, already quite handsome, to Wei Zhaotong, accustomed as he was to lining his own pockets, it was a mere drop in the bucket.

Yet he dared not brazenly tamper with the Hong Merchant Guild's internal accounts. Quite apart from the fact that the foothold he had established here in the Weihu Sea was nowhere near solid enough to let him run everything single-handedly, the tight surveillance of the Hong Shadow Group alone was enough to keep him from making any rash move; at most he could resort to roundabout means and skim a little off the top.

But in the end, that could not satisfy his greed. Ultimately he found another way, exploiting the chaotic conditions of these southern waters and taking up the pirate trade.

Naturally, Wei Zhaotong could not go and play pirate himself. For safety's sake he dared not secretly keep pirates in his pay either. Every time, he merely acted as the man behind the scenes, quietly contacting the pirates, then buying the goods back for himself while simultaneously demanding enormous compensation from the escort agency.

Once he had fleeced one house, he moved on to the next. Over the years, no small number of escort agencies and clients had fallen prey to Wei Zhaotong.

But he went about it with extreme caution and secrecy. Moreover, the vast majority of escort agencies, once an escort shipment went missing, would do all they could to play the matter down in order to preserve their reputation—quietly offering him compensation and settling it privately. No one would make a great fanfare of it and voluntarily leak such an ugly affair for outsiders to know.

And so Wei Zhaotong had always rested easy. Outsiders knew nothing of these dealings of his, and could not even begin to suspect him. Only this time, he had stumbled—and fallen flat on his face before the Qingtian Escort Agency.

Wei Zhaotong had never imagined that a shipment already in his grasp could be snatched back by Wei Zhao, still less that Qi Wenmo would believe it so utterly and come knocking with men in tow, raising such a storm that the whole city knew of it!

As a result, even if Wei Zhaotong managed to fob them off this time, he would never dare pull the same trick again to fleece anyone. Otherwise, however slow others might be on the uptake, they would eventually catch on and grow suspicious.

What was more, the escort agencies and clients he had fleeced in the past, seeing what had befallen the Qingtian Escort Agency, might well come to their senses too—and perhaps even band together to settle scores with him, Wei Zhaotong!

Not only had his money road been cut off, but it had brought him such a grave hidden danger besides—and the chief culprit behind it all was that fellow called Ling Yi. If he could let that slide, he would not be called Wei Zhaotong.

Wei Zhaotong and Cheng Qitian waited until evening, until everyone from the Morning Star Academy had settled into the inn, before setting out in eager haste to call upon his distant cousin, Qin Deli.

The Morning Star Academy stood aloof on high. Even as a branch shopkeeper of the Hong Merchant Guild, Wei Zhaotong could only announce himself and then wait obediently outside the inn's main gate until Qin Deli came out.

"Brother Wei, you've come at just the right time—I was about to go looking for you!" Qin Deli was massively built, with the look of a coarse, rough-hewn fellow, and his bearing and movements were open and unrestrained. No one could have guessed that this man was, in fact, just like Wei Zhaotong—a thoroughgoing merchant, and a black-hearted one at that.

"Cousin was looking for me?" Wei Zhaotong was slightly taken aback.

"Mm, there's a matter to discuss. Let's go to your place—easier to talk there," Qin Deli said with a nod.

"Very well. After you, cousin." Wei Zhaotong at once had a carriage readied and returned to the Hong Merchant Guild, introducing Qin Deli along the way: "Cousin, this is the young master of the local Poison Eye Mercenary Corps, Young Master Cheng Qitian."

"I have seen Senior Qin," Cheng Qitian said, not daring to be remiss, and hastily cupped his hands in salute.

Qin Deli gave a slight nod but said nothing. As a purchasing steward of the Morning Star Academy, he was a man whose eyes were fixed high above; let alone a mere Cheng Qitian, even the entire Poison Eye Mercenary Corps was, in his eyes, nothing but a pack of bumpkins who had never seen the world, hardly worth his notice.

Cheng Qitian had never suffered such a cold reception, and his anger flared at once—but he was not so foolish as to challenge a man of that stature, especially when he still counted on him to deal with Ling Yi together. He could only swallow his anger back down.

The three arrived at the Hong Merchant Guild and stepped into the inner hall. Qin Deli not only dismissed the servants but even sent Cheng Qitian, who wanted to follow them in, out of the room before speaking: "Brother Wei, business has come. This time we're docking at Weihu City, and all our supplies are being replenished here, so you know what that means—the usual arrangement."

"Certainly!" Wei Zhaotong was overjoyed. Since being transferred out, he had long been parted from this sort of "good business." Though it was only this once, he could still make a hefty sum from it.

"Remember, cover your tracks cleanly. The partner I found on the Eastern Continent side isn't reliable—it seems someone up there has already caught wind of something. Whatever you do, don't leave any handle for them to grab," Qin Deli warned him solemnly.

"Cousin, have you ever known me to be anything but reliable in handling matters?" Wei Zhaotong pledged, thumping his chest.

"Of course I trust you—otherwise why would I come looking for you?" Qin Deli laughed. Those five years Wei Zhaotong had spent in the Gaolin Sea had also been the years he himself had reaped the most, and their cooperation had been a great pleasure. What a pity things had not gone as hoped. (To be continued..)