Chapter 2837 Wei Aiwen and Wang Tao (Part 2)

Though the Senator Club traced its origins to the public recreation room from the old Bairen City days, it had evolved over time into a physical forum that replaced the old online BBS. Various small groups now used its private rooms for drinking, singing, and games while conducting discreet discussions and negotiations.

The venue had also become a popular spot for male Senators to flirt with the attractive female staff. Even if it amounted to nothing more than a few teasing remarks and the occasional liberty taken with these deferential young women, the roughnecks never seemed to tire of it.

Wei Aiwen and Wang Tao sprawled across the sofa in one of the Senator Club's private rooms. Two cases of beer sat on the table, nearly empty. Wei Aiwen puffed on a cigar, his gaze trailing after several female servers as they moved in and out.

Thanks to Wu Nanhai's insistence, the Senator Club wasn't that kind of establishment—but the servers were all part-time workers recruited from organizations with many young women, such as Bairen General Hospital. The fresh, youthful energy they exuded was something the professionals at Ziming House simply couldn't match.

"See something you like?" Wang Tao teased, noticing his bleary expression.

"No, don't be ridiculous." Having worked for so long at the General Staff Political Department, Wei Aiwen held himself to rather strict standards and rarely indulged in womanizing.

"Your eyes have gone completely straight."

"When you see something beautiful, naturally you look carefully. That's quite different from you!" Wei Aiwen spoke with the self-righteous confidence of the thoroughly intoxicated.

"Old Wei, does The Story of Pine Fort really affect you that much? I was thinking of adapting it into a storytelling performance." Wang Tao's eyes remained fixed on a tall female server, though he'd suddenly shifted to business.

"Absolutely. Ever since the Second Counter-encirclement, discharge applications have been increasing year by year. It's understandable, really—once life improves, who doesn't want to marry and settle down?" Wei Aiwen sighed. "It's even worse now. The moment the troops got some rest, discharge applications came flooding in like snowflakes. Those who enlisted early, if they didn't make officer, basically all want out—even some officers are looking to retire."

He raised his glass, then glanced at the busy tall server. "Take this girl, for instance—definitely a migrant we brought back from the north. The gender ratio has eased among civilians, but you think the troops—a heap of men—won't have ideas? Besides, The Story of Pine Fort is about active-duty soldiers romancing local women at their garrison. How do you think soldiers fighting up north will take that story? There's already the Foshouwan model as precedent."

"I see..." Wang Tao picked up the empty rum bottle and held up two fingers at the server. The tall server nodded and walked away.

"Let me give you an idea. Have your people set the performance at some colony—do a trial run first, see how it goes. Meanwhile, I'll go back and talk to people about revising the script. Change the setting to some colonial outpost. A soldier responsible for protecting colony security falls in love with a migrant girl or a local indigenous girl, then decides to stay and put down roots on the frontier... How's that for a model?"

Wei Aiwen's eyes lit up. "Jeju Island troops have lots of new recruits who are northern migrants. No discharge pressure for now. And Jeju Island itself needs migrants. If soldiers actually retire and settle on Jeju, they could immediately serve as local National Army officers and government cadres—that would be the ideal outcome. Feng Zongze would definitely welcome this kind of propaganda campaign. We could even take the opportunity to..."

"I think Jeju Island isn't exactly an undesirable posting. And there are plenty of Korean girls there. No need for us to promote it further—those fellows have already gotten their hands dirty. We should target somewhere with more hardship..."

"Vietnam? Brunei?"

"Those are harsh enough, but right now they only have some National Army units. My suggestion is Taiwan."

Taiwan's conditions were severe—currently one of the Senate's "exile destinations"—so there was genuine propaganda need. Second, Taiwan had many local Pingpu tribes. Encouraging soldiers to marry indigenous women was quite an effective means of stabilizing order and expanding the naturalized population.

"You've really thought this through."

"Of course, of course. And a storyline set in Taiwan would have an 'exotic flavor' or 'frontier romance'—much easier to develop the plot. Isn't that better than using the Central Plains as a backdrop?"

"Let's go with your idea." Wei Aiwen nodded repeatedly. "When it comes to crafting stories, you professionals know best."

"Director, your rum." The tall server brought the drinks. As she bent forward, both men paused their conversation and straightened slightly. Their gazes slid from the bottle along the server's arm toward her collar opening. The tall server's face flushed. She quickly collected the empty bottles and withdrew.

"Hey, hey, hey—watch your image." Wang Tao tapped the bottle on the table. "Colonel, stop staring at her chest."

Only then did Wei Aiwen reluctantly turn back to explain: "I wasn't—I wasn't looking—don't be ridiculous... I was thinking about something."

"Sure you were. Come on, come on... let's drink. Rum with soda water, add some lemon juice."

An hour later, the half-drunk Wang Tao was collected by his life secretary. Wei Aiwen saw him to the carriage, stood at the entrance enjoying the cool breeze for a while, then returned inside and casually stopped a female server. "Where's the tall one with the ponytail who was serving earlier?"

The server answered with a mixture of disappointment and envy: "Director, Little Qian already got off work."

"Gone off duty?!" Wei Aiwen felt a twinge of disappointment. He'd wanted to understand her situation face-to-face.

Never mind, no other business today. With that thought, he let the server help him back to the club's lobby.

"Director, will you be sleeping in the Bairen barracks dormitory tonight? Or..." His life secretary inquired hesitantly, a trace of uncertainty and shyness in her tone. Earlier, when picking up Wei Aiwen from the club, a server had secretly told her the director had been asking about some female server. She'd heard from more experienced life secretaries that when you caught wind of such romantic inclinations, the wisest move was an immediate, proactive bedroom offensive to extinguish the man's desires. Otherwise, you'd need the skills for "crying, making scenes, and threatening suicide" to keep your man in line. Without either strategy, you could only pretend not to notice.

"Oh?" Wei Aiwen seemed to snap out of his thoughts. He glanced at the Bairen dormitory area visible through the carriage window, was silent for a moment, then said: "Go home and sleep first. Don't wait up for me. I'm heading back to the office to work overtime." With that, he casually opened the carriage door. Watching his life secretary reluctantly climb out, even as the guard closed the door, he failed to notice her resentful gaze.

"That vixen surnamed Qian—just let me catch you again!" The life secretary watched the departing carriage, spat hard on the ground, her eyes reddening.

The wrongly accused Wei Aiwen remained absorbed in constructing the entire propaganda work concept. He'd completely forgotten about the female server. Women couldn't compare to the satisfaction of professional achievement. The troubles that had plagued him recently—now he had a fairly complete countermeasure. Transforming these ideas into concrete results was what mattered most now.

The next morning, the General Staff Political Department officers found Director Wei in the conference room—he'd pulled an all-nighter—along with four orders, further refined, for naturalized-citizen officers to complete.

First was investigating "post-battle fear" and other psychological phenomena among combat units, with particular focus on PTSD symptoms. They were to summarize the main manifestations, how grassroots officers had handled them, and the results—all to provide material and direction for post-war psychological construction propaganda.

Second was collecting cases where troops had experienced significant ideological fluctuations. This mainly concerned the troops' views on casualties, MIAs, and POWs during combat; their opinions on how the military and civil affairs departments handled related personnel; and their views and attitudes toward the rear. This was actually a longstanding problem. As early as when the first batch of wounded and discharged personnel returned to Guangzhou and Lingao, conflicts had arisen due to the vast differences between the front and rear.

Then there was propaganda work. First, to promote the Fubo Army's heroic performance in the Two Guangs Campaign, establishing a spirit of "Not Afraid to Bleed and Sacrifice for the Senate and the People" throughout the military. Second, vigorously publicizing local "veteran support work" and highlighting local "support model stories." Finally, implementing various specific projects.

"Veteran support work involves significant expenditure. Though money isn't our department's responsibility, we do have input on specific projects. Everyone should brainstorm on this. Don't get carried away launching projects everywhere, then run out of money and find yourselves embarrassed... Even worse is making promises everywhere—failing to deliver causes even greater trouble!"

Subordinates began reporting on the implementation of various veteran support projects. Monetary distributions went without saying—money could get things done. The key was ensuring it reached the recipients' hands. This was something Wei Aiwen repeatedly emphasized. Especially death benefit payments for soldiers killed in action—these had to be delivered point-to-point to immediate family by personnel from the deceased's own unit. No transfers through intermediaries.

"...The widespread feedback is that village-level veteran support often fails to be properly implemented," the subordinate reported. "Especially proxy farming for military families has major problems: either half-hearted and perfunctory, or outright embezzlement."

"I'll communicate with Liu Muzhou on this and see what improvements can be made."

"Reporting, Director!" One of his naturalized-citizen officers stood to deliver a report.

"What is it?"

"Regarding the Loyalist School proposal." The officer spoke carefully. "It's been raised for almost two years, and the Education Ministry still hasn't given a clear response..."

"I know." Wei Aiwen's reply was somewhat deflated. He'd actually proposed this for years, but Education kept saying they were "studying it." According to Hu Qingbai's view, children of Fubo Army and National Army martyrs already had explicit regulations for enrollment and tuition waivers, with practical guarantees. There was no need to specifically establish a separate school.

"I'll speak with Education about this again." Wei Aiwen knew full well that no progress would come from talking now. So he shifted the topic to selecting heroes and model figures from across the military to form speaking groups for touring presentations.

(End of Chapter)