Although Qin Siyang was used to being arrogant on a daily basis, acting like Heaven was number one and he was number two, when something really happened, he still knew who was who.
He waved his hands repeatedly, "Secretary-General Gu, everyone taking a seat today is a senior who has made outstanding contributions to the development and order of the Safe Zones. I'm just a student. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to sit at the table."
Secretary-General Gu Weiyang first smiled and said, "I've also paid attention to Student Qin's achievements. You're a prominent figure among the younger generation, and you'll be a mainstay of the Safe Zones in the future. Being selected as one of the Safe Zones' [Five-Good Students] is just a matter of time. I thought you'd have some youthful pride, but I didn't expect you to be so modest. This humble attitude of yours really is a little beyond my expectations. I believe that under the leadership of your generation, the future of the Safe Zones will go higher and farther."
It sounded like Gu Weiyang was merely making some harmless pleasantries and praising Qin Siyang.
But everyone present was shrewd and knew that Gu Weiyang couldn't possibly waste time saying useless things.
Stripping away the words of praise, this was what Gu Weiyang really meant.
He had paid attention to Qin Siyang's achievements and thought Qin Siyang would have some youthful pride, but instead he was very modest.
After distilling it down, those few sentences showed that Gu Weiyang seemed to have some vague dissatisfaction with the way Qin Siyang had acted before.
Whether it was openly hiring someone to kill another person at the Zhao Chamber of Commerce ceremony, making the director of the Civil Engineering Bureau, Dadova, disappear at the guesthouse, or getting into a conflict with Yan Xiaowu and killing him just outside, all of it seemed completely reckless.
Qin Siyang gave people a sense that order could collapse at any moment.
The reason he hadn't caused any major trouble was that every time, Qin Siyang had stayed right on the line between crossing the boundary and not crossing it. No one could fault him, and he had judged the limits perfectly.
But as a maintainer of order in the Safe Zones like Gu Weiyang, he certainly wouldn't want more people like Qin Siyang engaging in this kind of "borderline" behavior.
So there was also a slight warning in his words.
Qin Siyang also understood the deeper meaning behind Gu Weiyang's words. He thought to himself that Gu Weiyang really wasn't someone who could be easily dealt with, while his face showed an expression of having learned his lesson.
"Thank you for your praise, Secretary-General Gu. From now on, I'll definitely guard against arrogance and impatience and maintain a humble attitude."
A slight glint appeared in Gu Weiyang's eyes. He had originally said those words to make his position clear to all the factions seated here and hadn't considered whether Qin Siyang would understand them at all.
He hadn't expected that Qin Siyang, despite his young age, had actually understood what he meant.
The smile on Gu Weiyang's face deepened a little more, "I'm very pleased that Student Qin can think this way. Come, sit beside me. I've already had a chair placed here for you."
"Secretary-General Gu, I'm just a young kid. Sitting beside you would be too presumptuous. Just adding a little stool beside Principal Zhao would be enough."
"Ah! You can't put it that way. Everyone seated here grew from being a young kid. No one will look down on you because of that. As the saying goes, don't bully a young man for being poor."
Gu Weiyang pointed again at the seat already prepared beside him, "Come, Student Qin. Without your help, this crystal coin issuance ceremony wouldn't have been possible at all. If you count it up, you're the number one contributor."
Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Qin Siyang had no choice but to jog over and respectfully sit beside Gu Weiyang, full of gratitude.
Not far away, Jiang Changqing watched Qin Siyang take his seat, his eyes filled with disdain as well as a hint of jealousy.
He cursed inside, 'Look at Qin Siyang, acting like such a bootlicker, without a shred of backbone. How could someone like that possibly be worthy of becoming a rival of the Haori Chamber of Commerce? Father is giving others' ambitions a boost while diminishing our own prestige.'
After Qin Siyang took his seat, Gu Weiyang spoke, "All right, now that everyone with a crystal coin quota is here, we can discuss the specific plan."
Next, Gu Weiyang first divided the quotas according to the affiliations of the various factions.
The United Government maintained the operation of the Safe Zones and provided research funding for research institutes and universities, so it would receive fifty percent of the crystal coins, the largest share.
Next, all the legions would divide twenty percent of the crystal coins among themselves.
All the chambers of commerce, including the Zhao Chamber of Commerce, would divide twelve percent; the four major mining companies and other extraction industries would receive ten percent.
All the churches would receive three percent.
The final five percent would be given jointly to Qin Siyang and the Zhao Chamber of Commerce under the pretext of "raw material supply."
But Zhao Longteng had already privately agreed with Qin Siyang that of this five percent share, the Zhao family would take one percent as the cost of minting and operations, while the remaining four percent would belong to Qin Siyang.
After introducing the initial distribution of the crystal coins, Gu Weiyang said, "This round-table meeting can't possibly complete the allocation of everyone's quotas in a single session."
"So, in order to improve the efficiency of our discussions, the initial division will be based on the functional quotas of the various groups represented here. Afterward, we'll split into smaller round-table meetings. The military will discuss how to divide the twenty percent among the various legions, the chambers of commerce will discuss how to divide the twelve percent among all the chambers of commerce, and so on. You'll carry out the specific division of the quotas I've just mentioned within your respective groups, and then determine the final crystal coin quotas."
Gu Weiyang swept his gaze around, "For now, we'll only discuss the initial major quotas. Does anyone have any objections? If so, please raise them."
"I do."
The moment Gu Weiyang finished speaking, Qin Yingguang raised his hand.
"Commander Qin, please go ahead."
"I think the mining industry's ten percent quota is too high. Meanwhile, the twenty percent given to the legions responsible for resisting divine invasions is too low. I hope the mining industry can give five percent to our legions."
Before Qin Yingguang had even finished speaking, the bosses of the four major mining companies all laughed.
Xie Nanyun, chairman of Xie Mining, spoke leisurely, "Commander Qin, what you're saying is a bit ridiculous."
"In terms of manpower, the jobs provided by our four major mining companies are more numerous than the combined personnel of your six major legions."
"In terms of contributions, we provide the construction materials, metal materials, and mineral materials for equipment in the Safe Zones. Meanwhile, up to now, all the legions have only defended the Safe Zones against divine attacks three times in total, and all three were because the anti-aircraft glass was accidentally damaged."
"To be honest, our mining industry's ten percent share is already out of proportion with our contribution. We haven't even said anything yet. I don't know where Commander Qin gets the nerve to take a swipe at us first."
Han Huizhi spoke up, "Since Boss Xie doesn't agree with Commander Qin, I'll refute you point by point on Commander Qin's behalf."
Qin Siyang silently glanced at Han Huizhi, Commander of the Han Legion.
Although the commanders of the major legions might not have good relationships with each other, when it came to fighting for their collective interests, they still clearly stood together on the same side.
"You bring up jobs. The ordinary civilians who make a living relying on our major legions number dozens of times the number of our personnel. As for contributions, Boss Xie seems to have forgotten that one of those pieces of anti-aircraft glass that was accidentally damaged was produced by the company of Boss Yu sitting beside you."
"Heh! Without our legions risking our lives to resist them and reduce the losses, your mines would all have been smashed to pieces!"
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