It was clear that Fu Qian's reaction had caught Taylor completely off guard.
Fortunately, the innate pride of the blood race kept him from slouching, and he managed to maintain his composure.
"Mr. Fang, I came by to apologize for some of my earlier rudeness."
But once he sat down, the nervous caution in his voice was impossible to miss.
"It's fine. We run a shop, so we don't hold things like that against people."
Southern Taylor hadn't come to settle an old score. In fact, his apology sounded quite sincere. Despite his surprise, Fu Qian naturally kept to the friendly, businesslike tone.
And he meant it. He'd profited handsomely from their several collaborations, so why would he hold a grudge?
Fu Qian's attitude was so different from what Taylor had expected that the latter was clearly beginning to doubt himself.
After watching him carefully and confirming he wasn't being sarcastic, Taylor let out a long breath of relief and explained what had led him to come.
"A couple of days ago, one of the elders in my family asked to speak with me. That was the first time I'd learned some of the details about what had been happening in Shangjing recently... Thank you for helping my family throughout the whole affair."
An apology and a thank-you. He didn't particularly doubt Taylor's sincerity, but given Taylor's usual temperament... Fu Qian furrowed his brow.
"Don't mention it. Did Grantham send you?"
"...Yes."
Caught out, Taylor hesitated briefly before admitting it.
As expected. It seemed Selena had spoken with Grantham, letting the man in charge of Gulad's affairs in Shangjing know about what she'd hinted at through Taylor.
That made sense. As someone who'd experienced the whole affair firsthand, how could Grantham not have noticed how Yuan Shan had carefully