Chapter 313: The Undercurrent

“Rest assured,” Hu Qingbai reassured him again. “Home economics is also taught in the school…”

“Alright, I’m scared of you,” Ji Runzhi said dejectedly. “But where do they live now? I live in a collective dormitory, and they can’t get into Bairen City.”

“No need. They will naturally join you when you go to Sanya.” Hu Qingbai gave him two envelopes containing the relevant materials. “The procedures are all inside, along with their living expense passbooks.”

“They have living expenses?”

“Of course. Do you think you have to pay to support them yourself?” Hu Qingbai said with some apology. “Logically, you should also be given some subsidy, but the Executive Committee hasn’t decided on it yet. It will probably be settled after the New Year.”

Hu Qingbai was full of complaints. “The Executive Committee’s efficiency is too low. I’ve reported the issue of the maintenance allowance for apprentices and adopted children several times, but I still haven’t received a clear answer.”

“Yes, yes,” Ji Runzhi walked away dejectedly.

The preparatory work for the development of the Sanya Special Zone finally came to an end. The New Year of 1630 was approaching.

On this New Year’s Day, all the areas under the control of the Transmigration Group were in a festive mood, preparing for the New Year. According to the Ming dynasty’s imperial calendar, the New Year was still more than a month away, but the Gregorian calendar used by the Transmigration Group had more or less influenced the local people. Some people—especially those directly under the jurisdiction of the Transmigration Group and those who had benefited from the “Australians”—began to imitate the celebration of the “Australian New Year.”

Now that the Transmigration Group’s economic situation had greatly improved, the consumption of “fancy and clever” goods had also increased. Mo Xiaoan’s light industry department, on the one hand for export and on the other for self-use, continuously developed new consumer goods for the market. The variety of goods that could be supplied each month gradually became richer, and the types of daily necessities and luxury goods continued to increase.

Items like large red lanterns and red “Chinese knots” also gradually appeared on the market. These were the latest small-batch productions organized by the Ministry of Light Industry to “enrich the festival market.” Zhou Dongtian’s printing factory also mass-produced modern-style, brightly colored couplets, New Year pictures, and “Fu” character posters. They were not only distributed to the transmigrators but also given to the commune members. The Transmigration Group’s partners also received them. Many people treasured these inexpensive trinkets, which became a symbol of the new rich and noble in Lin’gao.

If there were a social survey like a happiness index in this time and place, the happiness index of the people of Lin’gao would have risen. However, not everyone in Lin’gao felt happy.

An undercurrent was surging on the internal BBS. The number of complaints was constantly increasing, and from time to time, a certain post would trigger a debate. A few days ago, there was a post titled “How to Educate a Personal Assistant.” It was originally a YY post by a certain otaku, discussing how to educate a personal assistant to conform to the aesthetic tastes of the transmigrators. The suggestions ranged from the traditionally elegant zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting to the less elegant “sitting on a jar”; from the modern and elegant ballet and physical training to the more vulgar massage and sauna. The contributions were extremely enthusiastic, and the thread once reached over 250 floors. In the midst of the excitement, someone suddenly went off-topic and questioned the standard by which the Executive Committee distributed personal assistants.

This question undoubtedly touched a nerve with many. For a time, the crowd was in an uproar, with verbal cannons flying, almost reaching a “just two more people” situation. The post was locked only when someone shouted “a cannon shot from the Fengcheng.”

Although the BBS used a real-name system, the transmigrating masses were obviously much more fearless than in another time and place. Many people immediately posted to question the reason for locking the post. Someone tried to defend the Executive Committee and was immediately labeled with the epoch-making “five circulation coupons” hat. The situation then changed from a one-sided denunciation to a two-sided melee. Somehow, the topic turned to Xi Yazhou again. The old grievances of his deleting posts were brought up again. In the midst of the public outrage, someone proposed to shoot him immediately after the “second revolution.” Just as the atmosphere of both sides posting and building up the thread reached a climax, the 0 o’clock steam whistle blew, and Chang Kaishen punctually pulled the power switch, and all discussions ceased.

The discussion the next evening was a little calmer. That day, Xiao Zishan had just announced on the BBS on behalf of the General Office that the ration system for many daily necessities was abolished, and everyone could buy them freely. This slightly appeased the resentful masses. Moreover, the General Office had just released a draft of the residential design for soliciting opinions, seeking opinions on the independent residences for each transmigrator. These things greatly alleviated the dissatisfaction of the otaku.

However, the dissatisfaction was still fermenting. News was passed through various channels to the Political Security General Directorate. Ran Yao felt that this matter was a bit tricky. He personally edited an issue of the Public Opinion Bulletin specifically for reporting on the ideological trends of the transmigrators, printed a few copies, and placed them on the desks of the main members of the Executive Committee.

In the blink of an eye, the winter solstice had passed. A cold air mass arrived unexpectedly, and Lin’gao, in the Little Ice Age, saw its first frost. The grass and trees were covered in a layer of white. In the morning, before the sun came out, the temperature dropped to 3 or 4 degrees Celsius. The transmigrators, who were used to wearing shirts and single layers, hurriedly put on their autumn clothes. Some of the plants began to wither, and the feeling of winter finally arrived.

Xiao Zishan, wearing a warm coat and sweater, was walking on the road in Bairen City. Every transmigrator he met on the road would greet him, so he was constantly nodding and saying, “Morning,” “It’s really cold today,” “I’ll consider that later.” As the director of the General Office, he was responsible for the daily lives of the five hundred, so almost every transmigrator knew him.

The position of the director of the General Office was not prominent, but being familiar with everyone was a great advantage. Xiao Zishan felt that doing this kind of work at this stage was better.

He came out of the canteen after eating a bowl of rice noodles, feeling warm all over, and went to his office. The development of Sanya was in full swing, and his affairs had also become busy. In his office were several large, locked iron filing cabinets, with drawers arranged alphabetically, filled with the personal personnel files of the transmigrators. After the institutional adjustment, he had personally led people to copy them down from the computer system, one by one, and then print them into books. The computer would last for twenty years at most; the data had to be backed up in time.

Xiao Zishan had no experience in personnel work, but he had been a regional sales manager for many years. A regional sales department was not a company, but most had a small setup. He was very clear about the set of procedures and management methods in an office. Managing the personnel files of 500 people was not too complicated. He had also, based on the introduction of professional books on personnel management, asked someone to design a set of personnel retrieval cards, in case the computer crashed and they had to be retrieved manually.

After sitting down, Xiao Zishan began to handle the personnel procedures for the recently appointed people. The procedures were not complicated, but Xiao Zishan was a little worried.

The content of his worry was naturally the increasing number of dissonant voices coming from within the group, and this voice was becoming louder and louder as the situation of the Transmigration Group improved. He often dealt with ordinary transmigrators on a daily basis for living issues. He didn’t need to read the Public Opinion Bulletin or the discussions on the internal BBS to know that the masses’ emotions were accumulating more and more dissatisfaction, which made him very uneasy.

After handling the procedures for a while, his mood still could not calm down—a sense of imminent crisis was becoming more and more intense. Xiao Zishan felt that he had to talk to the other members of the Executive Committee, who were busy with the Sanya development plan, about this matter immediately, lest it turn into a mass movement that would be difficult to clean up.

He picked up the phone and rang it three times, saying, “Connect me to Wen Desi.”

After the phone was connected, he said, “President Wen, there’s this matter, have you considered it? …”

Wen Desi’s voice came from the receiver. Xiao Zishan “um-ed” a few times, then said, “This matter should be handled early. Everyone has a lot of ideas during the holidays. It’s better to release some news early to calm people down?”

“Well—I’m afraid that when the time comes, the situation will be difficult to control,” Xiao Zishan said with some concern after hearing Wen Desi’s words.

Finally, he said, “Alright, alright, I know.” Xiao Zishan nodded repeatedly. “The matter of the personal assistants must be resolved this time. If you don’t object, I’ll give a heads-up to the Guangzhou station first and have them buy some suitable girls recently.”

“No hurry,” Wen Desi said. “This budget is too large, and how to distribute it will definitely cause controversy. Let’s just have a democratic discussion before deciding.”

While Xiao Zishan was on the phone, Ma Qianzhu was in his office writing the Planning Committee’s Year-End Summary Report. In another time and place, this kind of thing was official paperwork, but here, Ma Qianzhu felt it was absolutely necessary.

The farm’s cafe was bustling. The cafe was newly decorated, and many new tables, chairs, and wine utensils had been added. The goods supplied had also increased by several kinds. The rum produced in Leizhou had been removed from the list of specially supplied goods that could only be purchased with coupons. Since the Leizhou sugar industry had installed a second set of boilers and larger distillation equipment, and Huang Dashan had personally gone there once to provide modern fermentation strains and improve the fermentation process, the output of Leizhou rum had been further increased. Thus, rum became available for open supply, sold by the glass at the farm cafe, with a daily limit of 250ml per person. This was not because the supply of alcohol was insufficient, but because Xiao Zishan was worried about the emergence of alcoholics.

Ma Jia’s law club and some other people who did not belong to the club were gathering in this cafe. The nominal reason was, of course, “it’s the end of the year, we should get together.” In reality, this group of dissatisfied or ulteriorly motivated people were planning an important event—to initiate the first plenary session.

“Our transmigrating group should immediately convene a plenary session,” An Xi said with great passion. “The current political structure of the Transmigration Group has been in operation for more than a year, and various drawbacks and contradictions have gradually emerged. Now is the time to convene a conference to correct these problems.”