Chapter 4370 — Chai Laoshi
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Listen well, all of you! In my capacity as an honorary vice-chairman of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, I am taking temporary charge of the Weihu Branch!" Wei Zhao announced at once, his voice ringing out clear and loud.
His gaze swept slowly across every face present, and each person it touched could not help but lower his head, not daring to meet his eyes. They did not know whether this man truly was an honorary vice-chairman, but of one thing at least they were certain: from this moment on, everything was for him to decide.
"Where is the deputy steward?" Wei Zhao asked abruptly.
No one answered, but the eyes of the crowd had already given him his answer, all of them coming to rest on a middle-aged man at the edge.
Wei Zhao followed their gaze and saw a man with his head bowed and eyes lowered, wearing an air not so much of honest simplicity as of the born whipping boy—the sort whom one glance told you could never be a forceful man in anything.
The middle-aged man had been shrinking into himself, but seeing that everyone was looking at him—and that Wei Zhao and his two companions were sizing him up as well—panic seized him, and he steeled himself and stepped forward.
"This… this humble one is Chai Laoshi, deputy steward of this branch. I pay my respects to the vice-chairman…" the middle-aged man stammered, cautiously making his salute.
Though he was deputy steward, he had risen purely by keeping his head down and serving out his years. He had no connections among the higher-ups at headquarters either, and naturally knew nothing of any purple-gold jade pendant. His attitude toward Wei Zhao and the other two was exactly that of every other clerk and errand boy in the place.
But Chai Laoshi was a timid man by nature. Wei Zhao and his companions were clearly not to be trifled with—even a formidable figure like Wei Zhaotong had been left utterly cowed—so he naturally dared not defy them openly. If Wei Zhao said he was an honorary vice-chairman, then an honorary vice-chairman he would be.
"Hm. Were you involved in Wei Zhaotong's affairs?" Wei Zhao looked him up and down. Many a man seemed honest at first glance when in truth he was merely hiding himself deeply; and since this man had served as deputy steward under an old fox like Wei Zhaotong, he was very likely not to be underestimated. Perhaps they were birds of a feather.
"I—I beg to report to the vice-chairman… this humble one… this humble one has been idle, and knows nothing of anything. I have never taken part in such matters," Chai Laoshi said, nearly frightened out of his wits, hastily shaking his head in denial.
"Idle?" Wei Zhao frowned, somewhat skeptical. "You are a deputy steward in good standing—how could you possibly be idle?"
In any branch of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, the deputy steward was the second most powerful figure. He might not oversee the whole enterprise and act as agent of a region the way the steward did, but his authority was likewise very great. Wei Zhaotong himself, back in the Gaolin Sea Region, was a case in point: without sufficient power, he could never have conspired with Qin Deli to line their own pockets.
How could a man in such a crucial position possibly be idle? How could he know nothing of anything?
"It is true—every word this humble one speaks is true. I would not dare utter the slightest lie; if I deceive you, may heaven and earth destroy me!" Chai Laoshi hastily swore. If Wei Zhao took him for one of Wei Zhaotong's accomplices, he would have nowhere even to weep—his death would be more unjust than Dou E's.
"There is no need to panic. Whether it is true or not, I need only ask someone and I will know," Wei Zhao said mildly, then signaled to Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao to keep a close watch on the trussed-up Wei Zhaotong, while he himself casually singled out a clerk by name.
Wei Zhao took the clerk into the reception hall, leaving Chai Laoshi and the rest to wait outside in anxious suspense.