Lan Qiaoyan thought for a moment, then nodded slightly. "He does count as someone of standing in Skyward City. We shouldn't put your tower master in a difficult position. Since he's here, let them meet."
"Very well. I'll pass that along right away." The manager promptly cupped his hands in farewell and left.
Before long, the manager and Cao Puqing arrived together in a reception room in Wangbo Tower and took their respective seats.
Old Dong and Big Stone had already been brought over. After establishing who was who, Cao Puqing questioned them directly. He asked only whether they knew Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, and whether they knew where those two fellows had gone.
The two explained their relationship with Shi Chun, but firmly insisted that they knew nothing of his whereabouts.
After listening, Cao Puqing took a noncommittal sip of tea, then dropped a question with an expressionless face. "I hear that near dusk the day before yesterday, you took a Bank Draft for fifty thousand gold to the Money House and withdrew fifty thousand gold. Is that true?"
At those words, the manager's gaze snapped toward Old Dong and Big Stone.
Old Dong and Big Stone exchanged a glance. They wondered whether the Money House had leaked its customers' information. If so, that Money House had shown rather little regard for the rules.
Viewed another way, it also proved that Lü Taizhen's influence in Skyward City was indeed considerable.
After the two veterans of the Eastern Nine Plains exchanged looks, Old Dong promptly answered, "Mr. Cao, your reach truly is remarkable. You even know about that."
Big Stone added, "That's right. It did happen."
Cao Puqing's brows twitched again and again. He had expected these two fellows to deny it outright and had even prepared witnesses. To