Chapter 4382 — The Disposition of Wei Zhaotong

"A letter has come from Vice Chairman Hong, and a resolution from headquarters was sent along with it. Please have a look at once." Chai Laoshi could not conceal the anxious fretting on his face as he handed the two sealed letters to Wei Zhao.

These two documents decided not only Wei Zhaotong's fate but Chai Laoshi's as well. No wonder he was so nervous.

"Truly? So soon?" Wei Zhao was slightly startled. He had not thought much of it before, but this trip to the Weihu waters had impressed upon him the efficiency of the Hong Merchant Guild. Worthy of the second-ranked top guild on Yunjie Island—such efficiency was truly beyond what ordinary powers could rival.

As he spoke, Wei Zhao took the two letters from Chai Laoshi's hands. In truth, both spoke of the same matter: just as Hong Zhong's last letter had said, the upper echelons of the Hong Merchant Guild had formally resolved to recall Wei Zhaotong to Zhongdao and make him an ordinary chamber steward.

"The disposition of Wei Zhaotong stands unchanged. It seems the patron behind him values him greatly, working so hard to protect him!" Wei Zhao could not help but sneer.

"How could it be like this..." At those words, Chai Laoshi's face went white at once, and he stood frozen as if his soul had left him, unable to tell whether it was terror or regret. His mind was a total blank, and for a moment he had no idea what to do at all.

Wei Zhaotong was going back to the Zhongdao headquarters, and though in name he was only an ordinary guild steward—far below a branch deputy manager in both status and real authority—there was no getting around the fact that he had people behind him. If he truly bore a grudge and meant to move against Chai Laoshi, would that not be a matter of a few words?

Seeing Chai Laoshi's end-of-the-world reaction, Wei Zhao could not help but laugh. In the running of guild affairs, the man was indeed a fine hand, a rare talent, but in the end he could not change his timid, fearful nature. Without a powerful figure backing him, if he had only himself to rely on, he would never make anything of himself in this lifetime.

"Besides the resolution on Wei Zhaotong, there is another matter in here—one concerning you." Wei Zhao kept him in suspense, his expression unreadable.

"Ah?" Chai Laoshi was startled again, and he stumbled so badly he nearly fell on the spot. Trembling with dread, he stammered, "Wh-what does it say..."

"Hm. It says here that your post as deputy manager of the branch is likely no longer yours to keep." Wei Zhao frowned slightly, and Chai Laoshi's vision went black; he nearly fainted from fright. Only then did Wei Zhao smile and go on: "From the day this headquarters resolution is delivered, Chai Laoshi, formerly deputy manager of the Weihu Branch, is appointed to assume the office of branch manager!"

"Branch manager? Me, branch manager?" Chai Laoshi was utterly stunned, and then instantly wild with joy—from hell to heaven in an eyeblink. This plunge from despair to elation had come far too fast and too suddenly!

After so many years as deputy branch manager, if Chai Laoshi had never once entertained the notion of taking the top post, that would have been pure self-deception. But he knew well that with his own connections and abilities, rising to that seat was no different from a fool's dream; even in his dreams he had only ever dared to think of it in secret.

This time he had been forced to step forward and testify against Wei Zhaotong, and had failed to strike the man dead with a single blow. He had assumed his own misfortune would follow; that he might keep his miserable life was already more than he could hope for. Yet who could have imagined that the seat of branch manager would come crashing down on his head out of nowhere? This was more than a pie falling from the sky—it was a whole mountain of gold dropping down on him from the heavens!

"Indeed. With your abilities, you are more than equal to being a branch manager. See that you do not disappoint Hong Zhong's trust in the days to come," Wei Zhao said with a knowing smile.

The matter was plain enough. Hong Zhong had gone to the Zhongdao headquarters in person and crossed swords face to face with the higher-ups there. Though he had failed to have Wei Zhaotong severely punished, he had by no means come away empty-handed. This branch manager's seat that had fallen to Chai Laoshi was precisely what he had won through his dealings with the headquarters brass.

"Yes, yes. I shall surely exhaust my loyalty and wisdom, and never dare disappoint the recognition and promotion bestowed by you and Vice Chairman Hong." Chai Laoshi at once swore to heaven, and then, unable to contain his excitement, asked, "Er... does it say where I am to take up the post?"

"It does. Right here," Wei Zhao said, glancing at him.

"Ah? But according to the rules of our Hong Merchant Guild, are promotions not supposed to be to a different location?" Chai Laoshi was struck dumb on the spot. Once one reached the level of branch manager, anyone at all had to strictly observe promotion to a different locale—an iron rule laid down by the founder himself, from which no one could be exempted, no matter how formidable their backing.

"This is different. Yours is a special case, and special cases must be handled specially. No one knows the situation at the Weihu Branch better than you. If you were to leave now, both branch manager and deputy manager would be newcomers. Never mind holding the overall situation in hand—they would likely not even be able to sort out the accounts, and might well wreck the Weihu Branch altogether. Even headquarters could not bear such a risk," Wei Zhao said with a shake of his head and a smile.

Though the post was the same branch manager's seat, letting Chai Laoshi rise where he stood and sending him to run some other branch would produce entirely different results.

Chai Laoshi's timid, fearful temperament was already fixed; once transferred to another branch, he would find it very hard to control the situation and would most likely be stripped of real power by his own subordinates—a branch manager in name, a figurehead in fact.

But here at the Weihu Branch it was different. He had run affairs here for so many years that he knew every detail, high and low, like the back of his hand. Especially after this Wei Zhaotong affair, and with Wei Zhao's support, the prestige he had built up over this period was enough for him to hold the overall situation in hand.

"That is true enough. The waters here are in chaos, complicated to begin with, and on top of that there is this mess of Wei Zhaotong's, a thousand threads and ten thousand ends. An outsider could not truly get the hang of it in less than a year or half a year." Chai Laoshi nodded, and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

To be promoted to branch manager on the spot was already the best possible outcome for him. Otherwise, if he had truly been transferred elsewhere, he would have worried himself sleepless.

"Very well. Take this headquarters resolution back and show it to everyone. From now on, how the Weihu Branch fares will rest entirely in your hands. I still have matters to attend to here at the escort agency, so I will not be coming over for a while," Wei Zhao said.

"Yes, I guarantee I will not disappoint you!" Chai Laoshi took the headquarters resolution and at once strode off full of vigor. And, truth be told, now that he was branch manager, the man's very air had plainly begun to change. At least he no longer looked as cringing as before; though it was not yet obvious, there was already a faint hint of presence about him.

Wei Zhao watched Chai Laoshi's retreating back and nodded slightly. He hoped the man could stand on his own, or at least hold the Weihu Branch firmly in his grasp. Otherwise, all the effort Hong Zhong had spent fighting on his behalf would be wasted.