Chapter 397 - The Question of Interests

"I don't know—" Wan Lihui found his thoughts wandering. Could that fifteen or sixteen-year-old village girl have taken a fancy to him? What would he do if Fu Bu'er proposed marrying off his daughter? Should he accept or decline? The Executive Committee didn't seem to have any regulations about marrying native women. And when he thought about it, Fu Yijin wasn't unattractive—just a bit dark-skinned. Though in this era, she was surely a virgin...

"What are you thinking about?" Fu Xi's voice shattered his reverie. "Sister Yijin was just saying you work very diligently and teach everyone useful things. She doesn't think you're a fraud at all."

"Oh, is that so." Wan Lihui felt a flicker of disappointment, but the words indicated his strategy was paying off. The Fu household trusted him reasonably well now.

Redoubling his efforts, he set about cultivating goodwill among the family's servants and children. Knowing they usually ate poorly, he began saving his leftover rice after each meal, wrapping it in lotus leaves. He would wait until Fu Xi had collected the dishes before slipping her the rice. During rest breaks in the fields, he often shared the rations from his pack with the workers. Thanks to his persistent charm offensive, Wan Lihui's standing in the Fu household grew steadily, and everything he did proceeded smoothly.

Yet Fu Bu'er's attitude toward him remained lukewarm. The landlord never obstructed Wan Lihui's suggestions, but this cooperation was compelled by the transmigrators' collective intimidation—Wan Lihui doubted the effect would persist after he left.

The key, he reasoned, was catering to Fu Bu'er's desires. What did Fu Bu'er lack most right now? Money, naturally. The Fu household wasn't destitute, but the man seemed to have an almost obsessive appetite for accumulating wealth. Fu Bu'er had tried growing cash crops several times and was now raising ducks—clear signs of a powerful drive for profit. One evening, while they sat cooling off in the courtyard, Fu Bu'er had summoned the courage to ask for help recovering Fu Fu's military pay.

"Your Honor doesn't understand—Fu Fu is my domestic servant. I raised him from infancy, provided his food and clothes. I raised him to eighteen or nineteen years old; I'm practically his father. Now he's become a soldier, yet he doesn't send back a single wen of his monthly wages! That's one tael of silver per month! One whole tael of silver!"

Remembering Fu Bu'er's indignant expression when mentioning the silver, Wan Lihui decided this was the man's weak point. The results of rice cultivation wouldn't be visible until autumn. What could he help him profit from right now?

Perhaps he could arrange for Fu Bu'er to supply vegetables and ducks to the transmigrator collective? That was already happening—business agents from Quanfu Vegetable Trading came to the village every week with ox carts to purchase vegetables, pigs, and poultry eggs.

Wan Lihui pondered this vexing problem all night without arriving at an answer. Whether planting or animal husbandry, neither could generate quick returns. He had considered helping Fu Bu'er develop a sericulture business—something he knew relatively well—but mulberry trees were scarce locally. If they had to wait until after planting mulberry trees to raise silkworms, the timeframe would stretch far too long.

To get rich quickly, commerce and industry were still the only options. Wan Lihui arrived at the same conclusion countless predecessors had reached.

About half a month passed this way. Once he saw that Fu Bu'er's second rice crop transplanting was essentially complete and that he had conveyed all the key points of field management, he set off back to the farm to rest for a few days.

Upon returning, Wan Lihui first wrote reports on his client's economic situation, population demographics, and ideological trends. He also attended a briefing on the field inspectors' guidance work. After the meeting, he went directly to General Staff Headquarters.

Originally, Wan Lihui wanted to find Ma Qianzhu, but he wasn't there. After wandering around for a while, he found someone and asked, "Who's in charge of political and ideological work?"

And so he came to the Political Department. Wei Aiwen was in his office talking with several new soldiers, so Wan Lihui had to sit outside the door, waiting. Though the door was closed, he could faintly hear a man sobbing inside. What was going on in there? Physical punishment? Something else entirely?

While his imagination ran wild, the door opened and two young men wearing educational soldier insignia emerged. Their eyes were red, but their faces bore expressions of relief.

Wan Lihui strode into the Political Department office. Before he could even stand still, someone shouted:

"What squad are you from? How dare you walk in without signing the register and reporting! Don't you have any discipline!"

The speaker was a half-grown boy in an army uniform, staring at him with a severe expression, gesturing decisively for him to leave.

"What?!" Wan Lihui nearly went cross-eyed with fury. He'd been composting at the farm, dredging river mud in the countryside at risk of encountering bandits, transplanting rice seedlings in the paddies—and here were these people, living comfortably in their offices, putting on airs like some privileged class.

"Hey, hey—this is a senior official—" Wei Aiwen didn't recognize Wan Lihui, but he knew the man was a transmigrator. Seeing his expression turn hostile, he hurried over to smooth things out.

"Senior officials aren't exempt either. Non-summons entries to the Political Department office are forbidden. Those seeking an audience must register..." The boy was stubbornly by-the-book and paid Wan Lihui no attention.

"This gentleman had an appointment with me. Please step outside for now." Wei Aiwen quickly ushered the meticulous young cadet out and closed the door, then turned and asked: "And you are?"

Wan Lihui sized up the man before him—about twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing a crisply pressed Year-One pattern army uniform. A German-style military officer's belt cinched his waist, and his boots were polished to a gleaming shine. Wan Lihui felt an immediate surge of distaste. "Since this is a military restricted area, perhaps I should go out and register first."

"No need for that!" Wei Aiwen said quickly. "I'm Wei Aiwen. And you are—"

"Wan Lihui, from the Agricultural Committee." He dropped into a chair. "I have some business I originally wanted to discuss with the Supervisor, but since he's not here, I'll talk to you directly—it's still political work-related, after all."

"There's a soldier in the army named Fu Fu..." He proceeded to explain the Fu household's situation and mentioned Fu Bu'er's desire to obtain the military pay. He hoped the Political Department could mediate and convince Fu Fu to send a portion of his wages home each month.

"Not much—just a few hundred wen would be a nice gesture..."

"That makes no sense at all." Wei Aiwen was dismissive. "Fu Bu'er was his master, not his father—not even an adoptive father. It was purely a master-slave relationship. Now that Fu Fu is our soldier, he's no longer anyone's servant. The demand to claim part of his military pay is completely unjustifiable."

"True enough. But Fu Bu'er feels quite cheated. He raised Fu Fu from childhood, and now that Fu Fu is serving as a soldier for us, not only has Fu Bu'er lost a laborer, but he's not receiving any benefit either. Doesn't that seem rather inappropriate?"

"He should have received two hundred kilograms of rice as a settling-in allowance when Fu Fu enlisted. This landlord is simply greedy!" Wei Aiwen's contempt was plain.

"Greedy for certain, but I think we should still satisfy him somewhat," Wan Lihui said. "Cultivating his goodwill is very useful for the Tiandihui's expansion plan."

"Impossible. Absolutely not." Wei Aiwen shook his head repeatedly. "Whether a soldier sends his pay to his family is his personal freedom. We have no right to interfere."

"That's precisely why I'm asking you to do political and ideological work—you are the Political Department, aren't you..."

Wei Aiwen found this whole business distasteful. Suddenly suspicion crept into his thoughts: Why was this Wan Lihui so eager to fight for a landlord's interests? Could he have accepted some bribe during his time in the countryside? But given that this landlord Fu was scheming to get his hands on a mere tael of silver a month in military pay, he probably couldn't afford much of a bribe. So it had to be—

The phrase "sexual bribery" suddenly popped into his mind. Yes, that had to be it. In ancient society women had no status; they were surely offered as gifts to build connections... Wei Aiwen's imagination took flight: Wan Lihui feasting in the landlord's great hall, the landlord's daughter emerging to offer wine, and then...

At this thought, his tone hardened: "Speaking on behalf of slave owners is definitely not the kind of political work our Political Department does."

"You—!" Wan Lihui nearly jumped up, but then realized Wei Aiwen's words were technically correct. His tone softened into a plea: "This matter is indeed rather unreasonable, but it would help our work."

"I don't see how it would be useful—" Wei Aiwen replied curtly.

"You don't understand the issues here!"

"Isn't he just a greedy landlord?"

"It's not that simple!"

Their voices rose, back and forth, growing louder. The cadet outside quickly opened the door and rushed in.

"Get out—you don't need to come in!" Wei Aiwen feared the cadet might do something drastic in his agitation, which would leave him holding the bag.

"Let's all calm down and not argue." Wu De's voice came from beyond the doorway.

Wu De had come to the Army Department to coordinate labor deployment. The military was currently the most commonly used source of organized labor for the allocation department he managed.

"Good timing—come settle this dispute." Wei Aiwen quickly pulled him inside and explained the situation from beginning to end.

Wan Lihui also laid out the Fu household's circumstances and his own reasoning.

Wu De smiled. "Little Wan, you're quite enthusiastic. But this matter is indeed tricky."

"Tricky? We simply shouldn't get involved." Wei Aiwen huffed. "Currying favor with a landlord by forcing soldiers to send their pay to slave owners? What would that make us! Lackeys for the landlord class?"

"Alright, alright—don't escalate this to a political level." Wu De pressed his hands down in a calming gesture. "This matter isn't insignificant—we'll likely encounter similar issues in the future."

The Ming Dynasty wasn't a slave society, but the system of domestic servitude was widespread. The deeper they penetrated into this society and the broader the population they encountered, the less they could avoid this issue.

"If you ask me, we should simply refuse to recognize this servant system at all..."

"Not recognizing it would be the simplest solution. But don't forget—the immigrants are all contract slaves of the transmigrator collective. We are slave owners ourselves. Since we're using this servant system for our own benefit, we must treat everyone equally. We can't allow ourselves to start fires while forbidding others to light lamps."

"Fine," Wei Aiwen softened his tone. "Tell me what you think should be done. But I'm opposed to this approach."

"Since we're going to recognize the servant system, then Fu Bu'er's request has its own rationale—Fu Fu is his domestic servant. Having him serve as a soldier while extracting his military pay as income is essentially no different from exploiting his labor for free."

"That can't be the same thing though. Being a soldier carries high risk—he could be maimed or killed at any moment. That's not the same as farming and doing odd jobs."

"Perhaps this could be considered high-risk, high-reward. It's just that the reward is taken by his master, which reduces him to the status of livestock or a tool. Now that Fu Fu is refusing to send his pay back, it shows he's already developed a consciousness of resistance—he's no longer passively accepting his fate."

"How should we handle this then?"

"If we ignore it, Fu Bu'er naturally can't do anything about it—although he'll be dissatisfied, it won't necessarily affect the Tiandihui's expansion..."

Wan Lihui was about to raise an objection, but Wu De cut him off:

"Little Wan, your intentions are good, but this is more like icing on the cake than sending coal in the snow. If you help Fu Bu'er get Fu Fu's military pay, he'll naturally trust you more, and future work will be easier. But if you simply ignore him, he won't suddenly develop a dislike for us or sabotage the Tiandihui's expansion—he can still tell the difference between the big picture and minor grievances."

"There's a lot of opposition in the village, and many rumors circulating..."

"Even if you help him get Fu Fu's military pay, it won't eliminate the rumors, will it? You want to use this matter to increase Fu Bu'er's trust in you—a fine idea, but you need to think more comprehensively." Wu De lit a cigarette. "If the Political Department intervenes to convince Fu Fu, it can naturally be done. But what will Fu Fu think? He'll definitely feel we're siding with the wealthy—after all, he's the one sweating and bleeding, not Fu Bu'er. Moreover, they have a master-servant relationship. Fu Bu'er feels he showed Fu Fu the grace of raising him, but Fu Fu might feel he was mistreated and exploited since childhood and harbors deep resentment."

"Ah, right—" Wan Lihui realized he hadn't considered that.

"As they say, where you sit determines who you speak for. Landlords like Fu Bu'er, we need to win over; the poor people like Fu Fu are our base of support."

"You mean don't offend either side..."

"Heh—what I mean is you don't need to pay any attention to Fu Bu'er at all." Wu De smiled. "I've already explained the reasoning—the benefits Fu Bu'er receives from us far outweigh that trivial military pay. Just pretend you didn't hear him. As for how to handle this in the future, we'll come up with a plan."

"I understand." Wan Lihui nodded and took his leave.

This incident also reminded Wu De that similar problems would likely become more frequent in the future. Since they had chosen to carry this historical burden for the time being, they needed to find a reasonable solution.

"Little Wei, conduct a survey: How many soldiers in the military currently have servant status? What are their situations—are they runaways, or were they sent by their masters? I suspect there are quite a few people like Fu Fu among the conscripts from the various villages."

"We have the political vetting forms. I'll have the Computer Center run the statistics immediately." To conserve the lifespan of computer components, the number of machines allocated to each department had been greatly reduced. Except for certain key departments and a few individuals' offices, each department had its own Computer Center to centrally process various tasks.

The Computer Center quickly sent back a reply. According to the political vetting forms, more than thirty soldiers were registered as servants of various Lingao households. Those registered as runaways from servitude were even more numerous—three or four hundred.

"The vetting forms may not fully reflect the situation. Some people may have concealed their history. Have the squad leaders investigate more carefully—just don't make it too formal and frighten anyone."

After giving these instructions, Wu De went to find Ma Qianzhu and discussed the issue with him, hoping to formulate a solution for similar problems.

"Ah De, this is indeed something we need to think about," Ma Qianzhu said. "As we interact more with the natives of this timeline, we must have formal documentation to regulate behavior. Besides the servant issue you mentioned, there's also the matter of adoption, taking on apprentices—and some people have asked the Executive Committee what procedures are needed to marry a native wife."

In fact, some people had inquired whether they could buy a personal servant for themselves—the exploits of Chang Shide in Leizhou had spread throughout both banks of the Wenlan River, inspiring envy among the single men. Since they couldn't wait for the state to distribute women, wouldn't it be fine to simply buy one? Suddenly, purchasing servant girls had become the hottest topic of conversation.

Wu De's face reddened slightly. First Rain, residing in his own household, still existed in a state of "undefined status," continuing under the title of "Commune Secretary."

"Let's just draft a law then—a 'Native Relations Act.' Use legal provisions to establish all kinds of relationships, rights, and obligations with natives, and how to handle disputes when they arise. We can have the Justice Office draft it."

"Just leave it to Ma Jia—doesn't he enjoy drafting legal provisions? That Law Club of his, tsk tsk."

"There's no ready-made book to copy from for this law. We should first draft a guiding document."

How to provide guidance? Ma Qianzhu thought about the myriad aspects of relationships with natives. They weren't easy to sort out immediately. He had someone summon Ma Jia for consultation—the man spent most of his time at the farm's coffee house these days, where the Law Club's jurists used it as their office.

After hearing their situation briefing, Ma Jia said: "Producing a formal codified law quickly would be difficult. For now, I think we should use a case-based approach. Cases are flexible and can be modified and updated at any time."

They would list all the various interactions with natives that the transmigrator collective had encountered so far, then write out specific handling methods and reference opinions for each scenario, followed by the Executive Committee's guiding principles. This way, one merely needed to look up cases to find answers—much clearer and simpler than obscure legal provisions.

"Take the current servant issue in the military," Wu De said, explaining the day's events. "Cases like this are quite typical: a master sends his servant to serve as a soldier, yet still wants to take his military pay. Whose side should we take? After investigation, there are more than thirty people with local servant status in the military, and landlords who think like Fu Bu'er are surely not isolated cases."

(Chapter End)