Lin Taichu sat in the chair for a while, then rose and walked to the door. He glanced back at Liu Zicheng.
"What do you want in exchange for telling me all this?"
"I just feel that, looking back now, the things I did before were pretty meaningless. I've said what needed saying about White Cloud City. It doesn't matter if you don't deal with it. That's a matter of the Southern Region anyway; it has nothing to do with your Luofeng City."
Lin Taichu did not respond. He pushed open the half-closed door and walked out.
When he returned to the front hall, Su Yao was sitting in a chair leafing through a stack of account books. Seeing him return, she looked up at him.
"What did Liu Zicheng tell you?"
Lin Taichu sat down and recounted what Liu Zicheng had said.
After listening, Su Yao closed the account book and set it aside.
"Are you planning to get involved in Sun Desheng's collection of tolls?"
"Not for now."
Lin Taichu leaned back in his chair and looked at the roof beams.
"White Cloud City is in the northern part of the Southern Region, not close to Luofeng City. What Sun Desheng collects are tolls, and the merchants who do business with him are caravans transporting goods north to the Northern Region. Luofeng City isn't sending much cargo to the Northern Region right now, so the matter of tolls won't fall on our heads for the time being."
Su Yao nodded and did not ask further.
She picked up the account book and continued turning the pages, but after flipping through two more pages, she stopped again.
"But you said just now that Sun Desheng has been the city lord of White Cloud City for over twenty years. He