Chapter 1610 - Network Public Opinion Analysis
"The one who's always running around with you?" Yu Eshui had no real impression of this fellow named Huang Pan. He asked while signing his approval.
"No, that one is Liu Ziming."
When Lu Xuan said that, Yu Eshui vaguely remembered—the silent fellow who followed Lu Xuan around all day was said to be a relative of Lu Xuan's "mistress." He had a perpetually miserable look on his face. Because he couldn't pass even the lowest-tier certification exams, he had eventually gotten into the Grand Library's service team through Lu Xuan's connections the year before last. All naturalized citizens selected to work at the Grand Library had to pass a political review—the key was political reliability; low education wasn't a problem, and sometimes illiteracy was even preferred—one just needed to know Arabic numerals.
"Huang Pan is the tall, sturdy one..."
"That is a pity. A tall, strong man, and now he can't do heavy work." Yu Eshui uncapped his pen and signed the document with a flourish. "What else?"
"According to regulations, Huang Pan is a staff member in a sensitive position. Both his hiring and departure require a filing with the Political Security Bureau. Here's the filing..."
"Just this document?"
Yu Eshui cut him off. He didn't really care about these people—it was just leadership habit to ask about everything. He flipped through it, looking somewhat indifferent:
"Handle things like this by the book. You don't need to bring everything to me for a signature. What else?"
"Director, let me finish. This document needs to be stamped with the Grand Library's official seal, and you, as the head, must approve all external use of the seal."
At Lu Xuan's explanation, Yu Eshui's furrowed brow relaxed. He signed the document Lu Xuan had handed over with a grand flourish.
"Second matter: Captain Jiang of the Special Reconnaissance Unit called yesterday afternoon looking for you. You were in a meeting. He says he wants to borrow me to go to Ma'ao Fort to give the newly selected Special Reconnaissance Squad some political history classes for a few days. What do you think—"
Yu Eshui's face turned sour. He couldn't help grumbling:
"Who do they think the Grand Library is? A temp agency? This one wants someone, that one borrows someone—do they even realize how few real Elders are left working here besides you and me? Are we supposed to just not do our work? Security is so bad right now—terrorists were firing shots in East Gate Market! Everything here is treasure! Irreplaceable treasure! Wealth for our descendants! Any loss at the Grand Library is a crime against future generations, against all of humanity!" The more Yu Eshui spoke, the more agitated he became. He stood up and paced the room. Lu Xuan watched silently. He knew the Elder Council's growing strength had given it a decisive advantage over surrounding powers, breeding institutional complacency. Appreciation for the historical knowledge stored in the Grand Library was gradually declining. While the library's status as humanity's knowledge repository remained paramount, the Ming history research section would inevitably become marginalized, eventually reduced to a pure advisory role. It was natural for Yu Eshui to feel overlooked.
Yu Eshui suddenly grabbed Huang Pan's injury compensation form from the desk and waved it angrily in the air: "Adding Special Reconnaissance members?! Our library—such a vital institution—hasn't gotten any additional security! I've told the Executive Committee so many times that there should be a Special Reconnaissance detachment specifically responsible for guarding Gaoshan Ridge. Right now it's a bunch of Koreans and Japanese protecting us! What the hell! They've got their priorities completely backwards—this is the foundation of the Elder Council! Knowledge is the foundation of the Elder Council..."
"Don't get upset, Director. I heard the Special Reconnaissance is planning to transfer a group of people to something called the Secret Service, directly responsible for protecting Elders and key institutions. A vital place like our Grand Library will definitely be on the Secret Service's protection list..." Lu Xuan said soothingly.
"Secret Service?!" Yu Eshui's feet seemed rooted to the floor. He turned, looking at Lu Xuan in astonishment.
"You didn't know? It's been going around lately—online and in private conversations. They say Speaker Qian has already nominated that tall foreign woman, Salina, to head the Secret Service. And that an Elder Council Security Committee will be established, and the Secret Service will report to it."
Lu Xuan was painting a vivid picture; Yu Eshui's expression grew complicated.
"What? You really didn't know? You're the Executive Committee's Chief Historical Advisor—how could they introduce such a major policy without consulting you?... You don't believe it? The political reform proposals have been up on the BBS for days now. There are detailed posts about establishing the Security Committee and Budget Committee..."
Yu Eshui opened a browser and casually scrolled through the posts. His expression sharpened briefly, then returned to calm inscrutability.
"These are just proposals. Any Elder can submit a civil-military proposal. The BBS gets seven or eight of these every week."
Lu Xuan nodded in agreement: "That's right, that's right."
"Still, from the looks of it, Old Qian and his crew have quite an appetite." Yu Eshui commented as if the matter were of no concern to him. "Oversight or no oversight isn't really the issue—I'm just worried that with all this going on, everyone will want to be chairman or vice chairman, or at least some kind of committee member, and our Grand Library will be even more deserted..."
"What about the Special Reconnaissance request?"
"It's fine. Go ahead. The Grand Library is what it is—one more or one less of you won't matter." Yu Eshui suddenly seemed a bit melancholic. "Working anywhere is serving the Elder Council, after all."
"Indeed, indeed."
Lu Xuan returned to his office. Passing Cheng Yongxin's office, he glanced at her—tense expression, fingers flying across the keyboard. He gave a cold snort.
He turned on his own computer and connected to the BBS, thinking to himself: This place really does feel like a Silent City—you could only connect to one website: the Elder Council portal. All WWW-based applications were on this portal.
In the old time and space, Lu Xuan had paid little attention to online public opinion. Domestic BBSes and interactive network media were mostly anonymous, leading to rampant sock-puppet accounts and professional shills. Anonymity also made netizens prone to emotional venting rather than rational, objective discussion. Whoever shouted loudest seemed to win. Public opinion was easily manipulated.
The Elder Council's BBS was real-name only. This eliminated the possibility of sock-puppets and water-army flooding. In an acquaintance-based society, everyone needed to maintain some propriety. For some people, they had to maintain their personas—they couldn't randomly play dual personalities, much less bare their true selves shamelessly.
So this BBS did reflect a portion of public sentiment—he said "a portion" because too many Elders had no time to hang around on the BBS. Those who paid attention and frequently participated were mostly administrative Elders; those working in the practical sectors generally weren't keen on joining discussions unless it concerned them directly.
Since the "terrorist incident" in East Gate Market, the BBS had been bustling. Post topics had evolved from "incident review," "uncovering the mastermind," and "how to retaliate" step by step: the hot threads of a few days ago had centered on "accountability"; more recently, discussion had shifted toward "reflecting" on "systemic issues." And now it had turned to "systemic reform" and "Elder rights."
Lu Xuan had his own methods for analyzing BBS sentiment. Thanks to real-name registration, he analyzed each hot thread daily by poster. Based on content, he categorized posting and replying Elders by position, stance, and general political inclination. He then weighted their post counts accordingly, allowing him to roughly gauge the mood of the Elder Council and the "direction of public opinion."
Long ago, Lu Xuan had noticed that the BBS had an active "opinion-shaping" effort—not just from the Executive Committee itself, but from the various professional sectors under it and various political factions, all of whom were deliberately or inadvertently attempting to manipulate discourse.
He began searching for threads with new content. Just then, a new post caught his eye: Elder Civil-Military Proposal: Establish Our Youth Organization. He clicked and saw it had been posted by Wei Aiwen of the General Staff Political Department.
From the content, this was no different from other posts. Ever since the core members of the Nerds' Party had issued their "systemic reform" proposal calling for the establishment of a Security Committee and Budget Committee, all kinds of "reform" proposals from fellow Elders had popped up everywhere. Establishing a Youth League—or even a Party—had been proposed before; now, riding this wave, it was perfectly natural to bring it up again.
Lu Xuan examined the replies. The thread had over two hundred "Agree" votes. There were only about thirty replies, mostly supportive or offering suggestions, from Elders with similar leanings to Wei Aiwen. A few replies suggested "postponement" or "clarifying the political structure first." One reply expressed "concern": without proper institutional checks, might the Youth League become a "tool" for "certain Elders with ulterior motives"? Though this reply hadn't directly quoted any other post, it had received over a hundred "Agree" votes.
Lu Xuan took out a notepad and began tallying the relevant Elders as usual. Halfway through, something occurred to him. He tossed the pad aside and picked up the phone: "Archive Room? This is Lu Xuan! Bring me all last week's issues of The Lingao Times immediately."
The Lingao Times was a four-page broadsheet with limited content. Lu Xuan quickly found the article he remembered: Fledgling Eaglets Spread Their Wings — The Xiaocang Women's Crew in Battle Against Terrorists.