Qin Siyang froze.
What was going on?
He had been standing quietly at the back without saying a word.
And he could still get singled out for criticism?
Before Qin Siyang could react to Hua Weicai's accusations, Zhao Sifang's expression turned cold.
He dropped his courteous manner and replied calmly:
"Mr. Hua, staffing decisions at the Zhao Merchants' Association are for us to settle internally."
"What right do outsiders have to interfere and pass judgment?"
Hua Weicai scoffed twice. "This isn't an outsider passing judgment. It's concern and doubt over the maturity of your association."
"Qin Siyang is an orphan from the edge of the Safe Zone. Forget managing an association-he's never even done business in his life!"
"You're making someone with no experience whatsoever your vice president. If that doesn't make you a bunch of amateurs, what does?!"
Standing before the microphone, Zhao Sifang countered him head-on. "Naturally, there are reasons Qin Siyang can serve as vice president."
"Does every vice president of the Lotus Cloud Merchants' Association handle business? I rather doubt it."
"As far as I know, your grandfather, Mr. Hua Chengliang, didn't come from a merchant background either. Am I right?"
Curious at Zhao Sifang's words, Qin Siyang quietly asked Zhao Longfei beside him, "Principal Zhao, what was Hua Chengliang's background?"
"Before the apocalypse, Hua Chengliang was the boss of a gang in the area where the Safe Zone now stands. After the Safe Zone was established, he got lucky. Every opportunity he bet on paid off, and he rose through the ranks, reinventing himself as a vice president of the Lotus Cloud Merchants' Association, one of the Three Major Merchants' Associations."
"But among their eight or nine vice presidents, he ranks at the bottom. His influence isn't much to speak of."
"Oh, no wonder."
Zhao