Chapter 1730: Dong Mingdang
"He might not necessarily be unusable," Lin Zunxiu said. "Now that the court is in trouble, if he steps forward, the court will naturally grant him a future."
Liang Cunhou nodded but said nothing more, seemingly pondering something. Lin Zunxiu waited respectfully for him to speak. On the surface, the Lin and Liang families appeared to share only a merchant-client relationship, but secretly they were deeply connected. The major financial backer behind the restaurant the Lin family operated was the Liang family. Theirs was a case of "possessing the reality of master and servant without the name."
After a long while, Liang Cunhou said: "Let's discuss this matter later. For now, keep trying to win him over. Doesn't he have dealings with the Hair-shorn bandits? You can learn more about their activities through him."
"I understand."
"From now on, simply conduct business and live your life as usual. If anything arises, I will send someone to find you. If you need to see me, go to Visit Spring Courtyard and ask Yuewan to relay a message—I will make arrangements." Young Master Liang said. "I intend to live in seclusion for a while."
"Is Miss Yuewan reliable?" Lin Zunxiu was somewhat worried.
Liang Cunhou replied: "Her entire family, young and old, is in the palm of my hand."
Just as he spoke, a figure suddenly flashed across the wall. Lin Zunxiu, already harboring a guilty conscience, couldn't help but cry out: "Who's there?"
"It is the servant girl Suiyu..."
With the voice came a tall, slender maid, carrying a jade-green plate piled with various fruits.
Liang Cunhou said: "Don't worry. Those who have sought refuge with me in this generation can only serve in the outer courtyard. The inner courtyard employs 'old people' who have received grace for several generations. Those permitted to enter here are loyal servants who can be entrusted with life and death. Words from outside do not enter, and words from inside do not go out."
As soon as he finished speaking, Suiyu knelt and kowtowed: "Thank you, Young Master."
Liang Cunhou made a slight gesture, and the maid withdrew. Lin Zunxiu praised: "Brother Liang indeed manages his household well..." After saying it, he realized the remark was oddly inappropriate. Managing the household was, after all, a woman's duty. Using it to praise a Juren master living at home carried a hint of mockery.
Liang Cunhou took no offense. He said calmly: "Family and state—family and state are actually one body. As the saying goes, if one cannot sweep a room, how can one sweep the world? If one cannot even manage one's own household, how can one serve court and country? I govern my household with military discipline. Controlling subordinates requires only two principles: first, strictness. Regardless of whether you are a new person or an old hand, favored or disgraced, if you make a mistake, you will be punished by family law. Second, benevolence. Those serving in my residence receive monthly wages and rations two or three times higher than servants elsewhere. Everyone's family is amply provided for; the old are cared for, the young educated. Servants who fall ill receive doctors; those who pass away are given coffins and graves. Governing the household thus, there is no worry that everyone won't serve willingly and work themselves to the bone."
Lin Zunxiu said—half flattering, half genuinely admiring: "Young Master has great talent."
Liang Cunhou smiled slightly: "You may go."
After seeing Lin Zunxiu off, his personal page boy came over and whispered a few words in his ear. Liang Cunhou nodded: "It is not suitable for me to come forward in this matter. Tell Master Mai to speak with him."
The Guangzhou Prefectural Yamen—now the Guangzhou Special City Municipal Government—was brightly lit. The staff of the municipal government worked intensely. A gas lamp brought from the old time-space hung in Liu Xiang's office, illuminating the entire room brilliantly.
The large red sandalwood table serving as his desk was piled with documents. Liu Xiang had been frantically busy these past few days: arranging takeover matters, establishing various operations, sorting through asset documents, reviewing endless paperwork, meeting endless people. Rising at the fifth watch and sleeping at midnight every day, his face had shrunk a size.
Hearing the second watch struck on the drum tower outside—at present, Guangzhou City had not yet established a new timekeeping system and still employed the system of morning bells and evening drums, firing a cannon at noon and striking the watches at night. Simultaneously, a strict curfew had been promulgated to prevent sabotage under cover of darkness. Streetlights and large clocks, two necessities of modern cities, were nonexistent in Guangzhou—Liu Xiang set down the red and blue pencil in his hand. Rising to stretch, he had just finished reading Lin Baiguang's "Implementation Plan for Public Security Rectification in Guangzhou."
As the former host of the Guangzhou City Operation Department, Lin Baiguang knew the city's basic situation intimately. Therefore, after entering the city, he had been appointed Director of the Guangzhou Comprehensive Governance Office—a department managing nearly everything from city appearance and sanitation to public security.
In this report and its thick appendix, Liu Xiang saw numerous problems listed as "urgently needing solution"—all-encompassing, really. These were also issues the citizens had reacted strongly to, matters concerning their vital interests: traffic problems, sanitation problems, public security problems. The "big city diseases" of the twenty-first century all appeared in similar forms in seventeenth-century Guangzhou. And the original government agencies of one prefecture and two counties had been profoundly negligent in city management—or could even be said to have let things drift. Many problems had persisted for decades, even centuries.
"Being a mayor is really not easy," Liu Xiang said, patting his dizzy head. He decided to meet with Lin Baiguang tomorrow to discuss selecting a few livelihood issues that were relatively simple to address yet capable of producing sensational results. On one hand, this would demonstrate the new municipal government's efficiency; on the other, it would give the Guangzhou citizens an impression of "a new atmosphere in the new dynasty."
Guo Xi'er walked in: "Chief, supper is ready. Will you eat now?"
"Bring it in." Liu Xiang felt his stomach was indeed empty. "I'll read documents a while longer after eating, then rest."
While eating the white porridge Guo Xi'er brought, he suddenly remembered something: "Has that Dong Mingdang gone to sleep yet? If not, have her come see me."
He had been spinning like a top these past few days and hadn't found time to see her. Finishing work a bit early today, he recalled the matter.
To be honest, he didn't much care about the "hidden Ming officials" Dong Mingdang wanted to report. Though inspection confirmed that several provincial-level officials were indeed missing—neither confirmed alive nor found dead—Liu Xiang wasn't particularly concerned about whether they could be caught. First, they were of little use anymore; second, he believed that with the Senate's security apparatus, as long as they remained within the city, they would be dragged out sooner or later. The upcoming household registration check would be enough to expose them. But this young woman's persistence in trying every means to see him had piqued his curiosity.
Now he scrutinized Dong Mingdang, who had been brought before him. He watched her enter openly, first kowtowing to him, then rising to stand before him. Though her gaze was slightly lowered, she lacked the coyness of small women in this era who would bow their heads nearly ninety degrees when encountering a strange man. She wasn't in mourning—her clothes were plain-colored but exquisitely made and beautiful, and her hair was neatly combed. Where was the appearance of someone whose father had just died?
Liu Xiang was surprised. He asked: "You are Dong Mingdang?"
"This servant is." Her voice was crisp and pleasant, her answer crisp and neat. This gave Liu Xiang a slight favorable impression. He looked carefully: Dong Mingdang wasn't tall, but her figure was well-proportioned. She had a clean oval face, wore no makeup, and possessed about sixty or seventy percent beauty.
"I heard you want to report the whereabouts of officials in the city," Liu Xiang asked slowly. "Now that you've seen me, tell me everything in full detail."
Dong Mingdang said: "Actually, this servant doesn't know the whereabouts of any hidden officials."
Liu Xiang was stunned. Guo Xi'er wore an expression of disbelief—no one had yet dared to deceive a Chief so blatantly. The fate of many who deceived the Chiefs was either death or being slowly tortured to death in mines worse than death. This girl had such nerve! She suddenly felt a sour distension in her lower abdomen, a feeling of being unable to hold her bladder—deeply regretting her meddling to report on this girl's behalf!
Though Guo Xi'er had been a student at Meadow School for a few years and trained in the maid training class for several months, she still couldn't help falling to her knees with a thump: "This servant deserves to die!"
"Get up! This is none of your business!" Liu Xiang barked, then turned to Dong Mingdang: "Since you don't know, why did you say you did? This is a military matter—not to be joked about!"
"If this servant hadn't claimed to have important military intelligence, how could Your Excellency possibly have seen a little woman like me?" Dong Mingdang kept her head lowered as she spoke respectfully.
Liu Xiang nodded: "You have seen me now. If you have something important to say, say it. If it concerns your father's funeral arrangements, you needn't worry—we will handle everything properly. As for you mother and daughter, you needn't worry either."
"Many thanks for Your Excellency's benevolence. This servant didn't seek to see Your Excellency for that purpose—but rather out of a wish to serve the Great Song." Dong Mingdang said with deference.
Liu Xiang hesitated momentarily, wanting to tell her to "say that again," but then thought better of it. Truth be told, over the years he had seen quite a few men and women actively seeking to defect to the Senate. But a situation like Dong Mingdang's was a first.
"Miss Dong, you bear national hatred and family grievance against my Great Song Senate. Now you propose to serve us—how can we believe you?"
Dong Mingdang nodded: "Your Excellency speaks truly. It is unreasonable both emotionally and logically. Even if it were genuine, you probably wouldn't dare employ such a heartless person. However—Master Dong was not my father."
It turned out Dong Mingdang was a child from her mother's previous marriage. Her birth family had been small landlords in some county in Shandong. When Master Dong was serving as magistrate in Henan, he had coveted her mother's beauty and colluded with bandits to murder her father's entire family. He had snatched her mother away as a concubine. She had been young at the time, and being a girl, was permitted to accompany her mother—only at Concubine Jiang's bitter pleading—counted as Master Dong's adopted daughter.
Liu Xiang found this somewhat hard to believe; the background was too extraordinary. He couldn't help but ponder. Dong Mingdang said: "This servant knows Your Excellency naturally won't take my word for it, and my mother's testimony probably counts for nothing either. However, most of the Dong household servants are still here. His personal attendant, Dong De—who aided the tyrant in his oppression—is still alive. You may send someone to interrogate him and ask whether what this servant says is false."
Liu Xiang said: "Regardless of whether what you've said is true or false, serving the Senate requires going through proper procedures. It cannot be decided by my word alone." He thought for a moment. "I am not being dismissive. My Senate operates differently from the Great Ming—everything has rules and regulations. No single person's word is law. If you truly intend to join the Great Song, in a few days my Senate will recruit worthy talents in Guangzhou, regardless of gender. As long as you pass the review, you will become a naturalized citizen."