Chapter 4373 — Promotion

"Chai Laoshi, how about you help me run the Weihu Branch from now on?" Wei Zhao suddenly proposed.

Rather than forcing himself to take the field in haste, it was better to hand things over to this professional. Never mind the rest—at the very least, he had already witnessed the man's bookkeeping skills, and Chai Laoshi was a deputy steward besides, one who had even provided evidence against Wei Zhaotong. Asking him to help was only natural.

"Truly?" Chai Laoshi was overjoyed at the words and hastily said, "Thank you for your trust, Deputy Chairman. I will do my utmost to soothe everyone in the branch and guarantee that no trouble arises."

"Heh, then it's all on you," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile.

"Yes!" Chai Laoshi nodded emphatically. Small wonder he was so excited—after all, Wei Zhao was an outsider, and by the looks of it a rank amateur besides. This so-called help in running the branch was in truth equivalent to temporarily assuming the steward's post, and that was a rare opportunity indeed.

Chai Laoshi had languished in the position of deputy steward of the Weihu Branch for more years than he could count, always diligent and never once erring, yet the steward's seat had remained forever beyond his reach.

The reason was simple: to become a branch steward, one needed first a dazzling record of achievement to show, and second a powerful backer at the Zhongdao headquarters. Neither could be dispensed with. Wei Zhaotong was a textbook example, while he, Chai Laoshi, had not a shred of either.

But now the opportunity had finally come. Everyone knew that once one could sit in the acting steward's chair, the true steward's seat was not far off!

If all went smoothly—testifying against Wei Zhaotong and helping Wei Zhao run the Weihu Branch—that alone would be a great merit. And if he could seize this chance to win the favor of Wei Zhao and Hong Zhong, then he would have his backer too. The two conditions that had once seemed impossibly distant were suddenly both met. How far off could the steward's seat be?

Chai Laoshi was no fool. Having reasoned it all out, he quickly found his footing, and immediately strode out in high spirits to help soothe the crowd, leaving Wei Zhao alone in the reception hall, baffled. Just moments ago the man had been meek and deferential—how had he suddenly become a different person?

"Here's hoping this one can be propped up," Wei Zhao muttered, scratching his head, then followed him out. If this Chai Laoshi proved useless, taking over the vast Weihu Branch afterward would become truly thorny.

"How did it go?" Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao asked the moment they saw Wei Zhao come out.

"All smooth. From here on, it's up to this one to see whether he can hold things together." Wei Zhao pursed his lips and gestured at Chai Laoshi.

"Heh, a spineless coward like that? If even he could hold things together, the sun would rise in the west!" Wei Zhaotong, trussed up to one side, sneered at the words.

At that moment Chai Laoshi had been puffing himself up, preparing to address the whole crowd, but Wei Zhaotong's ill-intentioned mockery deflated him on the spot, and he began to cower and shrink as he had before.

He was, after all, a timid and honest man. After years of being trampled by Wei Zhaotong, a shadow had long since taken root in Chai Laoshi's heart. Even his earlier private delivery of evidence to Wei Zhao had been forced out of him. To expect him to stand up to Wei Zhaotong openly, face to face, was truly asking too much.

Over the past few years, though Wei Zhaotong had not yet fully controlled the Weihu Branch, he was already nine parts of the way there. Not only was Chai Laoshi, the deputy chairman, thoroughly sidelined, but the rest of the crowd did not dare oppose him either. Just as now—a single careless remark from him, and the looks in everyone's eyes turned subtle once more.

"Whichever way the sun rises, you certainly won't be around to see it!" Wei Zhaotong had been gloating, but Wei Zhao walked over and slapped him so hard he was knocked senseless. "One foot already in the coffin, and still so much drivel!" Wei Zhao said with a curl of his lip.

Watching Wei Zhaotong's neck loll to one side, foam spilling from his mouth, more dead than alive, the whole crowd's expressions shifted again, and they instinctively shrank back. This man was far too savage—that Wei Zhaotong had not been slapped to death on the spot was already a stroke of luck.

"From today on, all affairs of the Weihu Branch are placed in Chai Laoshi's hands. If anyone wishes to make trouble, I don't mind loosening up a bit. Is that clear to everyone?" Wei Zhao addressed the crowd in a ringing voice.

With such a living example of what happened to dissenters right before their eyes, who would dare say no? They nodded vigorously at once, murmuring their assent.

In the eyes of these ordinary clerks and servants, whether it was Wei Zhao and his companions or Wei Zhaotong, all were lofty immortals, while they themselves were mere mortals. When immortals fought, it was the immortals' business; they mortals need only obediently follow the victor's commands.

"All right, what comes next is up to you." Wei Zhao threw Chai Laoshi a meaningful look. This was as far as he could help—his only role was to overawe the crowd and keep anyone from harboring disloyal thoughts. Beyond that, it all came down to Chai Laoshi's own ability.

Chai Laoshi nodded gratefully, then turned to the crowd and began assigning each person their tasks for the morrow, one by one.

Wei Zhao had initially worried that the man had nothing but a flair for bookkeeping and no way to command respect. Chai Laoshi was, after all, far too timid, with not the slightest air of a superior about him. The crowd might well refuse to be governed, and he might prove to be another hopeless case who could not be propped up.

But Wei Zhao soon found he was wrong. Chai Laoshi indeed lacked the presence to overawe men's hearts, yet he had another style altogether when it came to handling affairs—methodical, reasoned, and well-grounded. No matter whom he assigned a task to, no one could find fault with it, and each person came away feeling valued and genuinely convinced.

When the hundred-odd people present had been dealt with one by one, not a single brow was furrowed; every one of them accepted his lot gladly. Wei Zhao could not help but look at Chai Laoshi with new eyes—this was a highly refined style of management that others could not learn even if they tried!

Only after Chai Laoshi had settled everyone and sent them off to rest did Wei Zhao voice his puzzlement. "I was worried you wouldn't be able to keep the situation in hand, but it turns out you're a fine hand at managing people. For someone of your caliber not to be branch steward—that's a real loss to the Hong Merchant Guild."

"The Deputy Chairman flatters me. It's really nothing. I've been deputy steward of this branch for over ten years, so I know every matter great and small inside and out—I've done most of them myself. That's how I know who's suited to what, and I used to assign tasks to everyone often enough. It's only since Wei Zhaotong dropped in from above that I've never done it again," Chai Laoshi said with a bitter smile. (To be continued)