72: Desperate Song Shuming

Wu Shen was the first to voice his opinion:

"I'm the youngest here, so I'll just offer a humble opinion. If there are any shortcomings, I hope the Seniors will not hesitate to give their guidance."

"Hey, how can you say that? Everyone knows you're Chief Steward Jiang's esteemed disciple. Just speak your mind."

"Right, you speak, and we'll listen."

Wu Shen always had a smile on his face, and his first words were a bombshell:

"I suggest we first raise the basic salary of each of us six people to one hundred taels."

Everyone's eyes lit up. Currently, they received twenty taels. Raising it to one hundred, a five-fold increase—what a great idea!

It seemed that Jiang Hanwen's students were human after all, not fools solely devoted to public service.

"Elder Wu said it well. We're so tired making decisions, so let's make it a bit harder on those below us and set their basic salary at one tael of silver per month."

... Amidst enthusiastic flattery, the Elders seemed to envision the joyous scene of their monthly stipends increasing fivefold. Their faces were flushed, and their breathing was rapid.

Suddenly, Lei He interjected, "It's so low, will they be willing to work?"

As soon as he spoke, a bucket of cold water was poured over everyone's heads. Yes, with such a low monthly stipend, would they be willing to work?

"We can discuss that later," Wu Shen waved his hand, looking like a money-grubber, and continued,

"For the monthly evaluations, the first-place winner will be rewarded with two hundred taels of silver, decreasing by fifty for each subsequent rank, with the last two receiving nothing."

As soon as he finished speaking...

"No!" three Elders refused in unison.

One of them spoke, "My field was only reclaimed two years ago; the soil fertility isn't enough. If we calculate it this way, I'll definitely be last. At the very least, the last place should still get one hundred taels."

"Impossible, the Zhuang family won't give us that much. Let's reduce the first-place prize a bit, to one hundred and fifty, and everyone else gets seventy. What do you think?"

"I don't think that's acceptable!"

"..."

As everyone argued fiercely for their monthly stipends, the quiet room became lively.

If they set their own stipends too high, those below them would get less. If those below them got less, who would work diligently? If they didn't work diligently, Spiritual Plants wouldn't be grown, and the Zhuang family would be the first to punish them.

This was a cycle where all parties had to be considered and balanced.

Song Shuming watched his colleagues arguing red-faced, and a flash of insight crossed his mind.

Was this scene of them revealing their weaknesses also within Chief Steward Jiang's expectations?

Absolutely!

He looked at Wu Shen, who had a smile on his lips, and a chill like a venomous snake crawled into his heart.

Strong in ability, skilled in tactics, and valuing loyalty and righteousness—he suddenly understood why the Zhuang family favored Jiang Hanwen so much.

If he were the Clan Chief, he would also deem Jiang Hanwen indispensable.

Song Shuming sighed. He was an old-timer, having lived through the era of Du Qingfu, Wu Qinghe, and Su Xin.

The feeling of powerlessness from being dominated by Jiang Hanwen when compiling books resurfaced.

With such a person leading, what was the point of caring about this pitiful power?

Perhaps, following him might lead to a different life.

"Old Song, judge for yourself, what's wrong with what I said!"

"Yes, Old Song, tell us, is it possible to leave it to just one person!"

Two Elders were arguing red-faced.

Facing his colleagues' gazes, Song Shuming shook his head.

"You all can continue to argue. From now on, whatever Chief Steward Jiang says to do, I will do."

"Ah? Why!"

... Xiang Jie sat in the shadows, witnessing everyone go from unity to division, and finally from being individually hostile to reaching a consensus.

A skilled warrior achieves victory without ostentatious feats.

To subdue the five Elders, Jiang Hanwen didn't even appear, yet even in his absence, that spiritual pressure was omnipresent.

He was filled with emotion and suddenly felt that following Jiang Hanwen to work in the Medicine Field wasn't so bad after all.

While everyone was discussing heatedly, Jiang Hanwen had already left the Medicine Field, taking the token given by Zhuang Kongming to the Zhuang family's Cultivation Technique library to read books.

Anyone who has been a Senior executive knows that recent college graduates have very strong subjective opinions, especially only children who have been pampered since childhood.

If a leader is not careful, they can easily clash with students. There are instances of cursing and arguing, secretly recording, and even reporting.

The solution is simple: build a firewall between the leader and the students.

This firewall is the middle management. Simply with slightly higher salaries and status than the students, the middle management can be made to work tirelessly.

For the sake of status, middle management must complete their assigned tasks, even if it means offending people.

If the conflict between both sides escalates to a physical altercation...

At this point, Senior management steps in to play the good guy, blaming both sides equally.

The result, naturally, is that in the students' eyes, Senior management is the most fair, and the middle management is bad, with petty people in power.

Different people require different handling methods.

For intelligent and capable people like Song Shuming and his group, they must first be allowed to exhaust themselves.

Once they realize they cannot stand alone, that their relationships with colleagues are broken and beyond repair, then he will appear. Without expending a single soldier, he can make all these people obey.

At that time, all that's needed is a common interest, and the entire Medicine Field's efforts will be united, increasing output—that's just a matter of execution.

He could borrow a maximum of four books at a time. In his hand, he held three books: "Seven Steps Vertical," "Idle Cloud Hand," and "San He Quan" (Three Harmonies Fist).

Jiang Hanwen stood before the bookshelf, carefully reading the summary of each book.

He had two purposes for coming to the library this time. The first, naturally, was to take books to Cultivate and increase his foundation.

The second was to deceive others and hide his true strength.

His strength at the ninth level of Mortal Transformation was already known to Fourth Commander Shang Xian, and it was only a matter of time before Zhuang Kongming knew.

It should be known that the Zhuang family only had three people who had achieved a Breakthrough into Qi Induction Realm.

One was the retired Old Clan Chief Zhuang Xian, and the other two were the eldest, Zhuang Kongming, and the second eldest, Zhuang Mingyu.

He was at the ninth level of Mortal Transformation, and the Zhuang family would certainly be happy to have another high-level enforcer.

But if he achieved a Breakthrough to the Qi Induction Realm and became an equal to the Clan Chief, how would the Zhuang family view him?

The human heart is as deep as the sea; one must be on guard.