Chapter 314: Dissatisfaction

An Xi finally shouted out the thoughts of his colleagues in the law club: “This state of emergency should end!”

According to the first proposal of the Executive Committee passed by the general assembly before departure, the period after D-Day was a state of emergency. Except for matters involving declarations of war, treaties, and major personnel reorganizations, all affairs were to be handled by the Executive Committee with full authority. This state was to last for six months.

“Logically, a general assembly should have been convened this spring to decide on the major political direction. But it’s been a year and a half now, and the Executive Committee has shown no intention of holding a general assembly. They haven’t even made a show of holding a meeting to decide to extend the state of emergency for another six months,” An Xu complained.

The law club’s gathering was, of course, not for the purpose of holding a meaningless gripe session, but to create public opinion and urge the Executive Committee to convene the first general assembly after D-Day as soon as possible.

There were already many problems at this stage. Living standards, distribution of benefits, division of power, organizational structure… all had problems to some extent. Some problems were quite serious—especially the dissatisfaction of the ordinary transmigrating masses regarding their living standards and the distribution of benefits. If these were not resolved quickly, it would affect subsequent development and even the unity and stability within the Transmigration Group.

Once the hearts of the people were scattered, the team would be difficult to lead. Ma Jia, as a beneficiary of the existing system, hoped that this system could maintain stability. Therefore, he believed that a general assembly must be convened to at least determine the terms for the distribution of benefits within the Transmigration Group, so as to put the minds of the “soy sauce” transmigrators at ease.

Ma Jia and the members of the law club had prepared a rough package solution based on the many problems that existed at this stage, intending to sell it to the Executive Committee during the meeting preparation phase.

Of course, this had nothing to do with magnificent reasons like the interests of the masses and mass democracy. The law club hoped to establish the major policy of ruling the country by law through this conference, so as to ensure that the members of the law club could secure an official post and form a stable judicial circle. In fact, there was indeed such a need now, and his own selfish desire was to enter the Executive Committee. The best ideal was to become a justice of the Supreme Court under a future system of separation of powers, or the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission under a communist model. Either would be fine.

“I think they’ve forgotten, or they simply don’t want to hold it,” someone began to sneer. “Long live President Wen, eternal health to the Duke.”

“The iron ore in Tiandu is still in the ground, and some people are already talking about villas in Dadonghai.”

“The current trend is very bad! Very bad!”

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ma Jia, who had convened this gathering, was not preparing to launch a beer hall putsch. He quickly signaled his club colleagues not to join in the complaining and to quickly pull the topic back to the demand for a general assembly.

“The current institutional problems are indeed very serious—” Ma Jia had just started to speak when he was interrupted. “To hell with the institution! The officials are now openly corrupt and degenerate!” Shan Liang, a technician from Lin’gao Telecom, stood up. He had long been dissatisfied with the windbags of the law club and now stood up directly.

He ignored Ma Jia and spoke loudly on his own. “The current problems are: first, the uneven distribution of hardship and pleasure. Some people sit in offices while others scoop up feces. Although there is a preferential policy in terms of subsidies, this preference is simply ridiculous! Not to mention anything else, in the summer, the temperature in our machine room can reach 40 degrees. Can an office, no matter how hot, reach 40 degrees? Would you rather be in an office or a machine room?”

This statement reminded many people of the summer heat, especially those who worked in the Industrial and Energy Committee and outdoors. Someone followed up by shouting, “That’s right! The workshop is almost 50 degrees even with the exhaust fan on!”

“That’s the point,” Shan Liang said loudly. “Your workshops at least have a roof to shade you from the sun. The construction supervisors of the construction company and the technical promoters of the Agriculture Committee are all working under the scorching sun.”

This resonated with many people, and a buzz of agreement grew louder.

“I think they’ve become so engrossed in being leaders that they’ve forgotten themselves,” Sun Li, a technician from the machine factory, said, spitting. “What the hell is this? I’m a fitter in the machine factory and also an electrician, working 16 hours a day. The leaders sit in their offices every day issuing documents and holding meetings. I just don’t get it. Who decides who becomes a leader?” he then roared. “Just take that Ji Runzhi who became the planning director of Sanya with a few shabby models! In terms of contribution, if it weren’t for me and Xiao Gui making the key parts of Li Di’s small steam engine by hand, it would have been impossible to imitate it. Is our contribution not as great as his making a few plaster models?”

“No one said your contribution was small,” An Xi, seeing that the situation was not good, quickly came out to ease the atmosphere. “Besides, he’s in planning and design. You can’t have development without a planner, can you?”

“Actually, this is a continuation of the first problem,” Shan Liang continued. “It’s a fact that society has different divisions of labor. I’m not asking everyone to come to the workshop to work for absolute equality—but the personnel in administration are becoming bureaucratic, even corrupt. This is something everyone can see, right?”

“I agree with the bureaucratization, but I don’t think we can talk about corruption yet…” Ma Jia tried to defend the Executive Committee.

“Can’t talk about it? Let’s just talk about the issue of personal assistants.” Shan Liang continued to vent his dissatisfaction. “The matter of personal assistants has been brought up by everyone many times. And what’s the result? Nothing. There are many restrictive policies, a notice today, a warning tomorrow, no relations with native women, no casually taking in or buying native women… We’ll accept your prohibitions, but you also have to solve our physiological problems! Is that so difficult?!”

“Ignoring the interests of the masses is a characteristic of bureaucratization!” Sun Li echoed him.

“As soon as someone becomes a cadre, they are immediately assigned a personal assistant. I understand that Old Tang has a secretary—it’s not easy for him to be in that desolate place. But why does the cook have a secretary? And Chang Shide, it’s said that he bought three or four women. Isn’t the Leizhou sugar industry our common property? If he can buy female slaves, why can’t we?”

Chang Shide’s amorous adventures were the most talked-about topic among the transmigrators in Lin’gao, and this immediately aroused great public indignation.

“Privilege! Corruption!” Shan Liang made a pained expression. “The appointment of cadres is not transparent. A few executive committee members meet and make the appointments. Where are the standards for appointing cadres?”

“I think it’s whoever is close to them. What’s the deal with Mo Xiaoan?” someone questioned. “What kind of professional in light industry is he? Wu Nanhai is at least an agricultural university student!”

Ma Jia shifted uncomfortably. Mo Xiaoan was also a member of the law club, and it was not good to drag him into this.

“And that cook, he suddenly became a factory director and deputy general manager, and even has a secretary. Who would believe that he’s not having an affair with Wu Nanhai!”

“Wu Nanhai is gay?”

“He’s playing with a mother and daughter at the farm. He’s too full to be gay.”

“Damn, I don’t even have porn to watch when I jerk off, and someone is having a mother-daughter threesome. What kind of world is this!”

“He also has Chu Qing!”

“While the rich feast, the poor freeze to death on the road.”

…

Amidst the noisy complaints, someone made a very profound expression and said, “I have a bad feeling about the current trend. We people at the grassroots have basically become tools. We have almost no idea what the higher-ups are doing or planning to do!”

“That’s right, they just issue a government gazette to fool us.”

“I don’t care about the major policies. Just solve the problems of electricity and women for me first!” someone said very realistically.

“Without women, at least solve the electricity problem. Otherwise, there’s no excitement when you jerk off. Relying on imagination is not enough!”

“Let’s go to the Executive Committee’s door to protest!”

“Yes! Let’s go now. If we don’t put a stop to the arrogance of these leaders now, we’ll be Boxer in the future!”

…

The crowd was in an uproar, and Ma Jia secretly complained. He wasn’t worried that he would be reduced to Boxer from Animal Farm. He was a law student and was very sensitive to institutional issues. The Executive Committee, as the representative elected by the general assembly of the transmigrators, going back on its word and taking the lead in breaking the rules was a very dangerous signal and a great blow to the cohesion of all the transmigrators. Ma Jia usually had more contact with the ordinary masses and knew that there were indeed ideas among the masses, but most people’s opinions were mainly focused on living standards, and there was not much discussion on major policies.

If the basic masses were incited now, and the spearhead of the struggle was directed at sensitive issues such as the distribution of power, once the Executive Committee handled it improperly, it would cause great turmoil within the entire Transmigration Group, and might even lead to a split, which he did not want to see.

“Everyone, don’t get excited,” An Xi tried to calm the emotions. “I believe the Executive Committee is just too busy and has forgotten. Besides, in the past year and a half, the situation in Lin’gao has developed quite well.”

“What’s the use of a cake that you can’t get a piece of, no matter how big and good it is?” Shan Liang retorted.

An Xi was at a loss for words to answer his retort. Seeing him in a predicament, Ma Jia quickly came out and said, “The phenomenon you mentioned does exist, but the individual and the whole cannot be generalized…”

“That sounds familiar,” Shan Liang said sarcastically. “You should go and work for Ding Ding as a mouthpiece, not as the president of the court.”

Ma Jia was furious, feeling as if he had encountered an “unruly commoner.” He calmed himself down and tried to maintain a restrained tone: “I’m telling the truth. The privileges and corruption of the Executive Committee do exist, but they are not widespread,” he said. “As for Wu Nanhai’s so-called mother-daughter threesome, who has evidence that it’s true?”

The crowd fell silent. Wu Nanhai was usually very low-key and was considered a good person in everyone’s mind. The so-called mother-daughter threesome was more of a collective fantasy. Moreover, the mother of the Li family had been working at the Bairen General Hospital, and the daughter was only eight years old. Besides helping out at the farm during the holidays, she was a long-term boarding student at the National School.