Pei Ye nodded, thinking that this really was not a case of him lining his own pockets. The Shuiyang Yuke was what the Yi Family wanted.
The man twisted his gaze that way, then turned back and said, "You don't know the half of it. That's just what comes 'in.' There's what goes 'out,' too-the shipment last month was the really big one."
Pei Ye paused. "Oh? Tell me about it?"
"We didn't even know what it was." The man looked at him. "Anyway, they paid real gold and silver for it, and it came in a big chest-honestly, lad, I'm not bragging, but I reckon that chest alone must've been worth several dozen taels! The fellows helping out in the east city said the Merchant Association sold off several Qi Yun Towers a few months back, and the silver went toward this deal-and guess what happened?"
"What?"
"Other people really don't know about this. It was the middle of the night, and my mates happened to be staying at the docks to clean up. But when the boat arrived, they wouldn't let us unload it, and it didn't go through the accounts either-they brought some servants of their own and carried it away that very night."
"...Where did they take it?"
"Who knows? We weren't allowed to ask." The man rolled his eyes, but after hesitating a while, he still lowered his voice. "Later, word went around that some family head over in Yinyang had died, and this thing was going into his grave."
"..."
"Right? If you want burial goods, you ought to pay for them yourself. At most, Qi Yun should just coordinate things. Since when does the Merchant Association sell its own properties to send someone to his grave?" The man's brows knitted. "As for whose