Chapter 4824 — Betrayal?

"It's no use. Even if someone did buy them and secretly smuggle them out, they could never sell them openly, because every one of these restricted pills has a special mark and serial number on it. The merchants' associations on the other Cloud-Tier Islands neither allow private purchase nor private cross-trading—anyone who tries it gets hit with heavy penalties from the Merchants' Alliance," the waiter explained with a smile.

"So that's how it is." Wei Zhao nodded, though there was still room for smuggling—after all, one need only carry the goods out without offering them for public sale. A private, under-the-table transaction and no one would ever be the wiser.

Of course, the risk in doing so was by no means small, since it amounted to offending both the East Continent and the Merchants' Alliance at once, and if discovered the consequences were unthinkable. But so long as the profit was high enough, there would always be someone willing to take the gamble—and wiping such practices out entirely was well-nigh impossible.

There was, however, one rather difficult factor in all this: the treasure ships and warships that came and went. Not just anyone could simply up and travel to another island.

As Wei Zhao and his companion spoke, another waiter not far off had been watching them closely. After listening for a while, he hurried off to report. "Manager, there's a man who doesn't look like he's from the East Continent asking about the restrictions on pill sales—and asking very carefully at that. He might be looking to buy pills and smuggle them back. Shall we keep an eye on him?"

"Oh? I'll go take a look myself." The manager rose at once and came over. This was no matter to be careless about. If someone really were smuggling goods out and it got found out, not only would the smuggler be as good as dead, but the merchants' association that sold him the pills would be punished too. After all, no one could tell whether the two parties had been in cahoots, and the only way to make an example was to flog both sides equally.

Led by the waiter, the manager came before Wei Zhao. After one careful look he froze where he stood, staring in disbelief and looking the man over again and again before he finally confirmed it. "Vice Chairman Lin?"

Wei Zhao turned at the sound of the voice, and he too froze. "Manager Chai? What are you doing here?"

The newcomer was none other than Chai Laoshi, the man Wei Zhao had personally promoted back in the South Continent seas. Only, instead of minding his post as manager of the Waihu Branch in the South Continent, what on earth was he doing here? Had he somehow been transferred to the East Continent?

Hearing the exchange, the two waiters beside them exchanged bewildered glances. So the man was actually an acquaintance of the manager? But "vice chairman"—of which power's association was that a title? It surely couldn't be their own Hong Merchant Association. They'd memorized the names of all the vice chairmen during training, and there didn't seem to be one surnamed Lin.

"Vice Chairman Lin, it really is you! I didn't dare believe my eyes at first—thought I must be seeing things. I never imagined I'd actually run into you here!" Chai Laoshi's face lit up with delight, and he at once proposed, "This is no place to talk and catch up. Why don't we go to a private room and have some tea?"

"Very well." Wei Zhao nodded. The two went to a private room and seated themselves, and Chai Laoshi hastily had a pot of fine spirit tea brewed. With no one else about, Wei Zhao went on, "So you're the manager here? That is to say, you've been transferred to the East Continent?"

"That's right, just recently. It's only been a matter of the past half year. I never expected to run into you here!" Chai Laoshi smiled with some surprise, then promptly clapped a hand to his head. "Look at me and my muddled head—your junior sister, Miss Huang, is at Morning Star Academy, so of course it makes sense for you to come here."

"Heh, from the Waihu Branch in the South Continent to the Morning Star Branch in the East Continent—Manager Chai, that's quite a promotion for you," Wei Zhao said, giving him a meaningful look.

A manager's post might look the same on paper, but one was in the South Continent and one in the East Continent, and the difference in power and status between the two was like heaven and earth. Everyone knew the East Continent branches had always been the most sought-after fat posts, while the chaotic South Continent seas were nothing but hard, thankless drudgery—the cream to be skimmed from the two was not even on the same scale.

Back then, Wei Zhaotong had gone from being a mere deputy manager of a branch here to full manager of the Waihu Branch in the South Continent—and even that had counted as a promotion in name but a demotion in fact. It had soured him thoroughly. From that alone, one could well imagine how vast the gulf between the two really was.

"You flatter me, Vice Chairman. All of this is thanks to you. If not for your sake, why would we have joined forces with the Qingtian Escort Agency so early on? And if not for that, how could we possibly have become the largest partner of the new overlord of the South Continent escort trade?" Chai Laoshi poured tea for Wei Zhao with eager courtesy as he explained with a smile.

"Oh? You mean the Qingtian Escort Agency put in a great deal of effort?" Wei Zhao blinked.

"Exactly. We're all grasshoppers on the same string. As the Qingtian Escort Agency rose to power, our Waihu Branch's business rose with the tide, gradually spreading across the whole of the South Continent seas. Without that, how would I have had any achievements worthy of the headquarters brass's notice? Without some dazzling results to show, a lateral transfer to the East Continent would have been utterly impossible," Chai Laoshi said with a nod.

Transferred to the East Continent because of his outstanding achievements? At first hearing, the reason sounded perfectly reasonable—but on closer scrutiny, Wei Zhao found it simply didn't hold up.

One had to understand that in a place like the Hong Merchant Association, advancement was not won on the strength of a single achievement, especially not with Chai Laoshi's scant credentials. To go from barely two years as a branch manager to a sudden transfer to the East Continent—who ever heard of such a rapid rise?

Anyone could guess with their toes that those fat posts in the East Continent branches were all firmly gripped in the hands of the various headquarters higher-ups. Without those higher-ups giving the nod, however remarkable Chai Laoshi's exploits in the South Continent, they would count for nothing. Only if Hong Zhong pulled every string on his behalf up above would there be even a sliver of a chance.

But Vice Chairman Hong Zhong had been stuck on North Island all this while, essentially squeezed out of the headquarters' inner circle. Even if he wanted to pull strings for Chai Laoshi, it wouldn't be so easy. Getting Chai Laoshi into the Waihu Branch manager's seat last time had been a special circumstance, a stroke of luck that couldn't be counted on twice.

Which brought the question right back: how exactly had Chai Laoshi been transferred to the East Continent? There had to be more to it than met the eye—certainly not as simple as the "outstanding achievements" he had just described. Unless he had found himself some powerful new patron!

Chai Laoshi was, after all, a man Wei Zhao and Hong Zhong had raised up with their own hands. To go and pledge himself to another patron without so much as a word to the two of them—such conduct was nothing short of betrayal!

Wei Zhao might not be a man of ruthless cruelty, but when it came to traitors he would never be soft. This business today had to be gotten to the bottom of. (To be continued.)