Chapter 94

Zhang Weixin and Yang Xiaojun were whispering sweet nothings to each other in the private room for quite a while until the door was knocked on, and Wu Peng's voice came from outside: "Seventh Brother, I'm sorry to interrupt."

Zhang Weixin responded, "If there's something, come in and say it."

Wu Peng pushed the door open, came to the table, and sat down. After taking a sip of water, he said, "Seventh Brother, I just followed Liu Yunyan back to her residence."

"Did she take out her anger on my family? Did she make things difficult for them?" Yang Xiaojun asked, somewhat uneasy.

Wu Peng waved his hand and said, "Seventh Sister, don't worry. Liu Yunyan is a seasoned person and won't make things difficult for your family at this time. After she got back, she went straight to her room and didn't even see your family."

Yang Xiaojun let out a sigh of relief but then realized that Wu Peng had called her "Seventh Sister," which made her blush. She said, somewhat annoyed, "Who is your Seventh Sister? I'm still a maiden, so how did I become your Seventh Sister?"

Wu Peng replied nonchalantly, "Hey, Seventh Sister, don't be shy. You and Seventh Brother getting married and becoming my Seventh Sister is just a matter of time. Whether I call you now or later, I'll have to call you eventually. Seventh Brother and I are brothers, so calling you Seventh Sister makes us closer, right? Seventh Brother, what do you think?"

Zhang Weixin chuckled and said, "Right, right, right. Thirty-one, you're absolutely right. That's the way it is. Hahaha..."

Seeing that her beloved not only didn't speak up for her but also joined in with Wu Peng's teasing, Yang Xiaojun was embarrassed and her face turned even redder. She pinched Zhang Weixin's waist and scolded him for helping others tease her.

Zhang Weixin, seeing this, quickly stopped laughing. He pretended to blame Wu Peng while softly coaxing Yang Xiaojun, finally freeing his waist from her grip. Then, he took Yang Xiaojun and Cheng Fei back to "Qingyuan."

Upon entering "Qingyuan," Zhang Weixin introduced Yang Xiaojun to Han Qingwen, who would arrange her accommodation. Then, he and Wu Peng went to the small meeting room to report the day's negotiation with Liu Yunyan to the committee and the "Expansion One Action" executive committee. Everyone present agreed that Zhang Weixin's negotiation with Liu Yunyan had been very effective, a good start.

Based on the negotiation, after discussion, it was decided that the next day's negotiation would still be directly handled by Zhang Weixin and Cheng Fei, while all members of the executive committee would go to "Tianfu Building" and listen in from the adjacent room. This would allow the executive committee to fully grasp the progress of the negotiation and respond immediately to any conditions or issues raised by the other party. Additionally, they discussed the specific cooperation terms, profit distribution, and the rights and obligations of both parties, and drafted a guiding document for the negotiation.

The most crucial point was that during the cooperation, the "Qingyuan" side must participate in the management of the brothel and have the authority to influence its operations. The selection and hiring of all types of personnel in the brothel must be reviewed and approved by the "Qingyuan" side. The financial management of the brothel would be handled by "Qingyuan" personnel, and "Qingyuan" would receive 60% of the profits, while the "Feiyan Hall" Youzhou branch would get 40%.

On this basis, the "Qingyuan" side would not interfere with the activities of the "Feiyan Hall" Youzhou branch in the brothel. Liu Yunyan or the Youzhou branch could arrange relevant personnel to carry out secret tasks without revealing their names or the content of the tasks to the "Qingyuan" side. However, the activities of the "Feiyan Hall" must not affect the normal operations of the brothel or put the brothel or "Qingyuan" in conflict with local authorities. If such a situation arose, "Qingyuan" had the right to take any measures to eliminate the related harm.

After the meeting, the members of the executive committee dispersed to continue their work, while the four committee members stayed behind to discuss and negotiate the arrangements after the negotiation. Although the negotiation was just beginning and both sides would still engage in a series of bargaining, possibly making some necessary concessions and compromises, the four committee members were very confident about the success of the negotiation. To ensure that work could begin as soon as an agreement was reached, they felt it was necessary to determine the responsible persons for the relevant positions now.

After careful study and discussion, they finally decided that Wang Xiaojun, as the general coordinator of the "Expansion One Action," would be the overall leader of the cooperation with the "Feiyan Hall" Youzhou branch. However, considering that Wang Xiaojun was also the head of the finance group, responsible for reviewing and approving the use of team funds, and was seen as the leader of the team, he would have many social obligations and could not be away from "Qingyuan" for long. Therefore, his role as the overall leader was largely nominal, responsible for the overall coordination of the cooperation. Zhang Weixin, who was fully involved in the matter, would be the executive leader, responsible for the specific leadership of the cooperation.

In terms of specific work, Yang Xin would be responsible for security during the cooperation, with Cheng Fei, who was on a business trip, as his deputy. The security personnel would be selected from the team's security group, "Qingyuan" security class, and "Jingyuan" security class, but the total number would be limited to less than eight to avoid affecting the security tasks at various locations. If it was felt that more personnel were needed in the future, the security group would adjust based on the actual needs of other locations. If necessary, they could also recruit from society, but the recruited personnel must pass the review group's approval and could not participate in the security work of other team locations without the committee's consent.

Fan Wucheng would be responsible for the commercial operations of the cooperation, specifically the operation of the brothel, with Song Feiyang as his deputy. Although neither Fan Wucheng nor Song Feiyang had any experience in running a brothel, the committee believed that with their commercial wisdom and talent, they could do well after some time of understanding and involvement. Based on Zhang Weixin's suggestion, the committee agreed to have Yang Xiaojun and her family, who were familiar with the industry, serve as consultants to provide professional advice and suggestions for the operation of the brothel. To fully control the operation of the brothel, Fan and Song could add personnel to their management team as needed. The first choice for personnel would be employees of "Qingyuan's" existing businesses, but if necessary, they could also recruit from society, with the recruited personnel passing the review group's approval and not participating in the operations of other team businesses without the committee's consent.

Liang Ziyue would be responsible for personnel review during the cooperation, reviewing all non-"Qingyuan" system personnel, including the main component of the brothel—the prostitutes. Considering the large number of people to be reviewed, the workload for Liang Ziyue alone would be very heavy, so the committee decided to provide him with an assistant to help.

Regarding the selection of Liang Ziyue's assistant, the committee members each proposed their opinions. Zhang Weixin spoke first, saying, "Although the team's review group is nominally led by Old Twenty-six and Old Twenty-eight, Old Twenty-six has been working at Feilong Fort for the past few months and will likely continue to stay there for a long time. So, the review group is basically run by Old Twenty-eight alone. Originally, it wasn't a big issue, as the team's personnel situation has been relatively stable after a year of development, and the review group's workload is not heavy, so Old Twenty-eight can handle it alone. However, once our cooperation with the 'Feiyan Hall' officially begins, the related review work will be very heavy, and Old Twenty-eight will be overwhelmed. Therefore, it is essential to quickly provide Old Twenty-eight with an assistant to avoid delaying the review work.

However, if we are to provide him with an assistant, we must find someone trustworthy. In other words, we need one of our own people to participate in this work. Given the current personnel configuration of the team, it might be difficult to transfer personnel from other functional groups. After all, this work requires certain talent and experience, which not everyone can handle. Therefore, I suggest we select a suitable person from the non-travelers in our team to take on this role."

Zhang Weixin's speech and suggestion surprised the other three committee members, including his close friend Wang Xiaojun. Since this topic was raised temporarily, the two had not discussed it beforehand, so Zhang Weixin's suggestion caught Wang Xiaojun off guard, and he was unsure of his friend's intentions, not knowing how to support him. He could only remain silent and wait to see what Zhang Weixin would do next before trying to help.

Unlike Wang Xiaojun's silence, Zhang Weixin's suggestion was immediately questioned by Xu Shaoran, who countered, "Seventh Brother, I disagree. I believe that as a very critical department of the team, the members of the review group must be absolutely trusted by all the travelers. No non-traveler, no matter how close or harmonious they are with the team, can gain the absolute trust of all of us. Allowing non-travelers to participate in the review group's work will definitely be opposed by some travelers.

I think, although the team's traveler personnel are currently tight, it's not to the point of being stretched thin. With proper planning, we can solve this problem. At worst, we can have Old Twenty-six return to the review group and assign someone else to take over his work at Feilong Fort, or reduce the number of members in the Feilong Fort留守组 to four. After all, after the reorganization, the instability at Feilong Fort has been largely eliminated, and one less person there won't affect the team's control over the Feilong Vanguard Camp."

Xu Shaoran's suggestion seemed to appeal to Li Junwu, who nodded subconsciously and was about to agree when Wang Xiaojun interjected, "Both Seventh and Eighth Brothers' suggestions have their merits, but they also have some shortcomings. Seventh Brother's suggestion is well-intentioned, aiming to alleviate the tight personnel situation among the travelers and avoid our own brothers being hindered by a lack of relevant experience. Although the Yang family can provide us with help and support in professional matters related to the brothel, the focus of the review group's work is on personnel review, an area where the Yang family cannot provide any experience. Given our time constraints, we cannot arrange for Old Twenty-eight to train the relevant personnel. Having someone who is basically a layman in this field review the brothel's employees and prostitutes might not only fail to assist Old Twenty-eight but could also create more trouble for him.

However, having non-travelers take on review work does pose some security risks. Especially for a department like the review group, which is close to the core interests of the team, the selection of members must be handled with great caution and not rushed.

Similarly, Eighth Brother's suggestion is reasonable but lacks long-term consideration. It's true that with Feilong Fort's current situation, having Old Twenty-six return to the review group is not a problem. The Feilong Vanguard Camp now has only about 300 people, and four people can manage it. However, we must look beyond the present and consider the future.

Old Twenty-six has been at Feilong Fort for several months and has established a good reputation among the soldiers. Moving him now might cause unnecessary speculation and unrest among the soldiers, weakening the authority he has worked hard to establish and making his previous efforts in vain.

In the long run, the scale of Feilong Fort will not remain static. As time goes on, the Vanguard Camp's structure will likely be adjusted. What is now a battalion might become a regiment or even larger in a few years. At that time, someone like Old Twenty-six, who understands the soldiers and is familiar with team building, will likely need to be reassigned to the留守组. This will expose the issue with the review group again. Old Twenty-six will have to re-establish his authority at Feilong Fort, leading to a situation where he has to work twice as hard for half the results. Therefore, it's better to leave Old Twenty-six at Feilong Fort if possible."

Zhang Weixin, seeing that Wang Xiaojun had not only rejected Xu Shaoran's suggestion but also his own, did not feel upset or blame him for not supporting him. In a sense, his proposal today was somewhat self-serving. His original plan was to use the opportunity of operating the brothel to suggest that Yang Xiaojun and her family, who were familiar with the industry, participate—this goal had been achieved. Then, by adding personnel to the review group, he aimed to set a precedent for non-travelers entering the team's core circle, laying the groundwork for eventually bringing Yang Xiaojun or her family into the core circle. This would not only provide him with an assistant but also strengthen the Dongshan faction, a proposal that would benefit both public and private interests. Since this idea was a spur-of-the-moment decision and he had not discussed it with Wang Xiaojun beforehand, it was within his expectations that Wang Xiaojun did not immediately support him.

Of course, Zhang Weixin also disagreed with Xu Shaoran's suggestion, especially the part about bringing Zeng Zhilin back, and he knew that Wang Xiaojun would not accept this either. Therefore, he could understand Wang Xiaojun's purpose in speaking. He did not want to agree with Xu Shaoran's suggestion but also did not want to directly support Zhang Weixin, as Xu Shaoran's reasons for opposition were somewhat valid. Thus, he chose to reject both suggestions and then propose his own, which would be easier to gain the agreement of Xu Shaoran and Li Junwu.

So, Zhang Weixin followed up on Wang Xiaojun's words and asked, "Then, what do you think, Fifth Brother, about how to solve this problem?"