Chapter 4382 — The Disposition of Wei Zhaotong
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"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!