Chapter 2840 Penny-Pinching
"Of course, organizing and coordinating this Mainland Cultural Strategy is equally important. I believe that perhaps Wen... Director Wen could handle it. Several Senators have already recommended him, and since he's already responsible for the Guangdong Greater Region, half the work would naturally fall to him anyway." Wang Luobin thought of his close comrade stationed far away in the Two Guangs. According to rumors, the man wasn't doing much proper work these days. Give him this kind of assignment that straddled the line between practical and nominal—surely he'd be willing. What surprised Wang Luobin was that his proposal was met with silence among the bigwigs. No one seconded his suggestion.
Qian Shuiting coughed, lifted his teacup for a sip, cleared his throat, then responded: "Jeju Island and Kaohsiung within Hainan Greater Region are both important components of the Cultural Strategy. Let me state my position: for work within Hainan Greater Region, I'll arrange a dedicated person to coordinate. Their Propaganda sector would face certain difficulties—managing both arts modernization and organizational coordination asks too much of the propaganda Senators. I'm sure Director Wen would think and act the same way. I have no doubt. However, having either greater region handle comprehensive organizational work isn't quite appropriate. This isn't merely cross-regional—it's also cross-departmental. Best to find someone in the Council of State to take charge. Does everyone agree that makes sense?"
Wang Luobin hadn't been particularly interested in this matter to begin with. Qian Shuiting stepping forward to deflect was exactly what he wanted. He nodded at him and said: "You make a good point. If we're talking organizational coordination, the Planning Commission has business relationships with all relevant units. How about troubling A-De?" With that, Wang Luobin turned his inquiring gaze toward Wu De.
Wu De quickly waved his hands in protest: "Last year's institutional reform transferred the enterprises under several ministries to the Planning Commission. These state enterprises' technical upgrade issues are already overwhelming. I really can't spare the bandwidth. Besides, I'm just an old Navy man who's never done cultural work. Better not have amateurs leading professionals."
Taking charge of this work had many benefits for future advancement—Wu De naturally understood this. But the cultural circle had too many twists and turns. He was always quite cautious when dealing with Cultural Propaganda people.
"Unsolicited kindness comes from knaves or thieves." This time Dingding had tossed out an extremely tempting, benefit-laden olive branch, which made Wu De suspect some conspiracy lay beneath the surface.
He naturally desired the State Secretary position. But he was a cautious man. Ma Qianzhu's tenure as State Secretary would end in a few years. When that time came, Wu De would be the strongest candidate for the position. There was no need to add another heavy brushstroke to his resume.
Wang Luobin felt somewhat deflated hearing this refusal. Among the "Ministers," there really weren't many with matching qualifications. He'd thought Wu De was quite suitable. Seeing everyone unwilling to take on this work, was he supposed to do it himself? Or force it back to Dingding and let him be self-reliant? Actually, there was another suitable candidate: Ma Qianzhu. But Wang Luobin really didn't want the Superintendent managing this—because the man already managed too much.
Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly heard a voice: "If truly no one else is willing, I'll do it." Wang Luobin looked up—it was Ma Qianzhu. Trouble comes when you think about it.
Though not entirely pleased, Wang Luobin couldn't think of any other candidates.
"That's wonderful," Wang Luobin said with false enthusiasm, then asked with a cordial smile of concern: "Superintendent, you already have so much work. Can you manage?"
Ma Qianzhu returned an equally cordial smile: "Such important work—someone has to do it, right?" As he spoke, he habitually touched his forehead. Everyone immediately felt the reflection had intensified.
"I'm also at the point where too many lice means no itch, too many debts means no worry. Besides, this role is mainly about coordinating between departments—rather nominal, really. It won't add much workload. As State Secretary, I'm supposed to provide coordination services to all departments. It's professionally appropriate."
Ma Qianzhu's words left Wang Luobin speechless. From the perspective of professional division of labor, he was indeed the right fit. From the perspective of functional allocation, he was helping everyone clean up a mess. Perfectly reasonable. Unless Wang Luobin personally jumped in with "Superintendent, you're working too hard—let me do it instead," there really wasn't any reasonable grounds for refusal.
"Then we'll trouble the Superintendent." In the end, Wang Luobin had to surrender to his own laziness.
For He Fanghui, the Senator Club was a new entertainment venue. Though he spent a month or two in Lingao each year, he habitually frequented South Sea Coffee and Ziming House—he had little interest in this "club" right under his nose.
"What a great place!" He Fanghui marveled for the twentieth time to Fang Fei. "Lingao is still the best. Sanya's so run-down there's nothing but ocean—and sharks at that, damn it." He viciously stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray.
"Great, my ass!" Fang Fei couldn't understand the Senators' corgi-like behavior. Every single one already had several life secretaries, yet they still came out to stare at female servers' uniform skirts like they never wanted to leave. "You're practically an emperor in Sanya. Just exploit a few girls there—isn't that better than this?"
"This just shows you don't understand the suffering of us grassroots folks." On this topic, He Fanghui was suddenly wide awake. "You know how many women there are in Sanya? Besides the life secretaries I brought myself, there are hardly any decent-looking women. Plenty of female workers at the farms, but tanned so dark I'd believe you if you said they were from Rwanda. Only a pirate like Hu Wumei could go for that. Ambiance! Refinement! Bro, you've lost touch with the masses!"
"Then go to Ziming House when you come back! Why come here to harass servers?"
"Ziming House is too commercialized. Boring!" He Fanghui rubbed his gleaming bald head. "No fun!" He pulled the service bell cord.
"Another pitcher!" he said to the entering server, pointing at the punch bowl.
"Drink less." Fang Fei tried advising him, but his stomach churned and he hurried off to the restroom.
The club's restroom was top-tier among Senate facilities—luxurious, with twenty-four-hour continuous cleaning. Its cleanliness and comfort rivaled old-timeline office buildings. Inside were both squat and seated toilets to suit different Senator preferences.
Dingding chose the last stall and settled in comfortably to clear his bowels. Suddenly, clamor arose from outside. Some Senator had drunk too much and was being helped to the restroom by several colleagues to vomit.
After a round of violent retching, the sounds of washing followed. The air filled with a sour stench—clearly a terrible mess. Fang Fei privately grumbled. He was about to flush and leave when he suddenly caught the smell of cigar smoke. Amid the noise, Wu De's and Dingding's names surfaced, immediately capturing Fang Fei's attention.
He could roughly distinguish the voices of the main Senators. These were unfamiliar—clearly people not in important positions.
From their mocking words and colorful language, he gathered these were also Senators who'd come to the club for entertainment. Since they'd mentioned Dingding, he wanted to hear what ordinary Senators thought. So he held his breath and listened intently.
"...Chairman Wang has just over two years left before stepping down. Who the hell wants to take on new responsibilities at this point? If he weren't in the chairman position, would this thing even be doable? Not doable! So might as well not bother—too easy to mess things up..."
"I think Director Wen—no, Director Wen was originally going to take it, except he's in Guangdong and can't coordinate..."
"No, no. Old Wen is keeping his distance right now."
"Anyway, Director Wen's already been kicked off to the mainland."
"Why didn't A-De take this on? I heard he was originally quite interested. He's done civil affairs and economics for years now, and military is his original specialty so doesn't need the experience. Add some credentials, and next term he's State Secretary, the term after that Senate President or whatever—quite possible..."
"Why? You just said it yourself—his credentials are complete across the board. He's got everything. The State Secretary position will be his sooner or later. Why bother mixing with Dingding now?"
"Wouldn't he still want to boost his popularity through Cultural Propaganda?"
"He doesn't need those popularity points anymore."
"Speaking of Qian Shuiting taking this on—that'd benefit him too. Why was he also looking constipated and pushing it away?"
"Outside Hainan Greater Region, he can't control anything. He can't even handle Jeju Island—not as influential as Dr. Zhong there."
"Not a single good person among the bananas..."
"Don't say it like that... Just because you're not a banana means you're good?... Hahaha..."
Just as Fang Fei was caught between laughter and exasperation, thinking these Soy Sauce Senators really had nothing nice to say, he suddenly heard his own name mentioned.
"Doesn't Dingding have several little brothers? Fang something... Fragrant Grass and Fei? Oh, Fang Fei! And the condom brand... Okamoto? These purely labor-intensive jobs—can't he just have his own people do them? Dingding sits back and rules—what's the meaning of giving it away?"
"Can't you see? If he doesn't yield some credit to the leadership, you think his crappy strategy would pass?"
"Damn, how come I didn't realize there's even interest exchange in this?"
"Not really. This bit of credit isn't necessarily worth the bigwigs' attention. Mainly, he can't command anyone."
These weren't exactly novel insights. But listening now, Fang Fei felt an indescribable mix of emotions. Besides Dingding and their own people, no one actually cared about the Cultural Infiltration Strategy. Everyone was calculating what the plan meant for the relevant parties' gains and losses, penny-pinching every benefit and impact.
Hearing this, his spirits suddenly deflated. He waited for the crowd outside to disperse, then left the restroom and made his way to the club's small garden. He lit a cigarette and watched the exhaled smoke rings slowly rise and dissolve in the lamplight.
(End of Chapter)