Chapter 317: The Interrupted Date

The crowd on the street burst into laughter. Some cheered, while others scoffed and hurried off to call the Executive Committee.

Sun Li shouted along, “The cadres of the Executive Committee have stolen power and are corrupt, amusing themselves with countless women. Can we stand for this?!”

Countless nerds on the street yelled back with tears in their eyes, “No!”

Just then, a basic laborer named Cheng Mo jumped into the procession and started leading the chants: “Kick out the Executive Committee and start a revolution!” and “All power to the General Assembly!”

“Let’s go to the Executive Committee together and let them hear the voice of the people!” Sun Li waved the flagpole in his hand, the paper on it fluttering.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

And so, people from the street joined the procession, along with a crowd of onlookers who were just there for the show. The group, which had started with just over thirty people, swelled to more than a hundred. Ma Jia secretly regretted how things had turned out, but it was too late for regrets. He could only follow along and act according to the situation.

He called An Xi over and whispered, “Go find Dong Shiye. Tell him to slip away unnoticed and get back to the survey team. The others with official positions should leave quickly too.”

An Xi nodded in understanding. “Dean Ma,” he said quietly, “shouldn’t you leave as well? Otherwise, this will look like our entire club is behind it. What if…”

“I already spoke at the café. If I slip away now, it’ll look like I was maliciously inciting the masses! Remember, we are petitioning for the people. That’s a justifiable position anywhere—we have to be on the right side of this. The essence of our Law Club is to maintain ‘pure academics’ and to be ‘open and aboveboard’! Besides, things haven’t reached that point yet,” Ma Jia said.

“Dean Ma, your foresight is truly profound.”

While the streets of Bairen City were in an uproar, Xue Ziliang was having a heart-to-heart with Salina. He hadn’t seen his female colleague in a long time. Salina had been working under Ran Yao as a consultant and instructor for police affairs.

Due to a general atmosphere of distrust towards foreigners in the group, and Salina’s extremely eye-catching appearance, Ran Yao had decided to reduce her public appearances after she was attacked by several lust-crazed transmigrators during a mission in Bopu. He had her stationed within the Internal Affairs Committee compound in Bairen City, giving her the title of “Consultant Instructor” to justify her rations. Her specific task was to write public security training manuals.

Xue Ziliang had long been smitten with his blonde colleague and wanted to make a move. But since being inexplicably swept into this transmigration, he had been stuck in Bei Wei’s Special Reconnaissance Team with no chance to see her. The Executive Committee had deliberately kept the two Americans separate to prevent them from forming a clique.

The Special Reconnaissance Team had expanded considerably, from a dozen or so members to a full company. Bei Wei had divided the team into several squads, stationing them in Bairen, Nanbao, Gaoshanling, and Bopu. The team’s headquarters was in Bairen City, and the squads rotated through the different locations for targeted training.

For over a year, Xue Ziliang had heeded the advice he’d heard from Guo Yi before they parted: be an instructor, carry out missions, work hard, and keep his mouth shut. He had earned enough trust and had bonded with his comrades in the team. The friendship between him and Bei Wei, in particular, had deepened, giving him solid backing. With Bei Wei’s endorsement, Xue Ziliang had recently been promoted from a guest instructor to one of the three squad leaders of the Special Reconnaissance Team, finally securing his footing in the group.

Xue Ziliang had just returned from leading a training rotation in Bopu and was now resting at the team headquarters. To support the Sanya development plan, Bei Wei had been ordered to expand the team further by creating a new squad to be stationed in Sanya. To fill the resulting vacancies, fifteen volunteers had been recruited from the Army. Xue Ziliang had been leading this new batch of recruits in maritime adaptation training in Bopu.

The “Special Reconnaissance Team Headquarters” was their own name for it; officially, it was the Special Reconnaissance Team Department. It was a fortified position next to the East Gate of Bairen City. The team had been stationed there partly to guard the gate, a duty they still performed.

After returning to Bairen City, Xue Ziliang called Salina and asked her out for a talk. Salina, surrounded by Chinese people, felt isolated and had little in common with anyone. As for her fellow countrymen, Miss Mendoza was a Hispanic Catholic and couldn’t connect with a WASP like Salina. Pan Pan was the only one she could talk to, but due to the nature of her work and the strict access to the Internal Affairs compound, Pan Pan rarely visited. Lonely, bored, and feeling very isolated, Salina was thrilled to receive a call from a fellow American and immediately agreed to a date with Xue Ziliang.

Following the basic American dating script, Xue Ziliang planned for a heart-to-heart on the first date. If it went well, the second date would be dinner, followed directly by bed. So, he put a lot of effort into this first date—if it went well, he might seal the deal right away. Of course, in this time and place, there were no romantic spots, and even getting real coffee was difficult. Aside from a few people with private stashes, only the Plantation Café had a limited supply. Xue Ziliang found the café too crowded, with everyone’s eyes practically glowing, and felt it was unsafe to take Salina there. In the end, he found a quiet spot near the city wall by their base, borrowed a small tent and a moisture-proof mat from the long-range survey team, bought a bottle of wine, and got some snacks from the cafeteria, preparing for a bit of romance.

The two chatted animatedly in English. Salina was in a different time, her homeland a wild land thousands of miles away, not to mention her family—her ancestors were probably squatting in some corner of England. Even if she could return to Europe now, with her clothes and manner of speaking, she’d be lucky not to be dragged off and interrogated as a witch. In America, Salina was an educated woman with two degrees; she was well aware of the social conditions and status of women in the 17th century. Her life in Lingao was not exactly pleasant, and she didn’t get along particularly well with those around her—she had even been the target of an attempted rape. But at least she was living among “civilized” people. Salina knew very well that without the water purification system built by the transmigrators, she would have probably died from diarrhea long ago. Even so, she had suffered several bouts of it at the beginning from her habit of drinking tap water directly, before finally adopting the local custom of drinking boiled water.

All this dissatisfaction made Salina feel a strong sense of kinship with her compatriot of a different skin color. It didn’t take much effort for Xue Ziliang to greatly reduce the safe distance between a man and a woman. He had already smoothly placed his hand on the small of her back, his fingers caressing the area between her waist and hips.

Salina’s waist and hips were firm and elastic, with a pair of sexy dimples that felt wonderful to the touch. Aroused, Xue Ziliang’s hands began to wander. Salina, a long-frustrated woman feeling lonely and isolated, welcomed the attention from a man who seemed to understand her. The two became passionate, touching and exploring each other. Just as they were flushed and panting, they suddenly heard distant shouts and singing. Salina, already pressed down onto the waterproof mat, strained to listen.

“What’s that, Winnie?” she asked, sitting up.

“Who cares? It’s none of our business,” Xue Ziliang said. The woman was almost his; he couldn’t care less if the sky was falling.

He was just about to unbutton Salina’s jeans when a sharp recall bugle sounded from the Special Reconnaissance Team headquarters.

“Damn it! FUCK!” Xue Ziliang cursed. Why blow the recall bugle at such a critical moment! He was so close to docking! But as a soldier, he knew the seriousness of an order and dared not delay. He reluctantly climbed off Salina.

“What? An emergency assembly?” Salina quickly pulled down her tight T-shirt, which had been pushed up to her shoulders.

“Yeah, I don’t know what’s happening!” Xue Ziliang handed Salina her jacket. “You should head back. I’ll call you, sweetie.”

It took Xue Ziliang a moment to get a certain part of his anatomy back to its proper place. He zipped up his pants and hurried towards the headquarters. When he arrived, the place was brightly lit. The two squads present at the headquarters were already assembled. Of the three squad leaders, Chen Sigen had taken his team to Gaoshanling, leaving only him and Ye Mengyan. Ye Mengyan’s face was flushed with excitement as he shouted into the phone.

“What’s going on, Ye?”

“Big trouble!” Ye Mengyan put down the phone. “It’s a coup!”

“What?!” Xue Ziliang was stunned. The word “coup” was powerful.

“Are we… are we… what?” Xue Ziliang wondered if the Special Reconnaissance Team was on the side of the coup or the government. It was a difficult situation. He wasn’t particularly loyal to this transmigrator government, but if he ended up on the losing side of a coup, as a foreigner, he would surely face dire consequences, maybe even be executed as a scapegoat.

“That’s right, someone is trying to overthrow the government and is marching on the Executive Committee building,” Ye Mengyan said, his eyes dancing with excitement. “The Special Reconnaissance Team must move out immediately to crush this conspiracy!”

“So we’re the government forces?”

“Bullshit, what coup,” Bei Wei said, rushing over. “Who told you to blow the recall bugle and assemble the troops? It’s just a few bored guys marching to the Executive Committee to petition.” His brow was furrowed as he scolded, “Why did you assemble the team? Are you planning to lead them to arrest people?”

“If the Executive Committee gives the order, we’ll go immediately!” Ye Mengyan wasn’t actually interested in the protestors’ cause; he just found the situation exciting and was eager to be involved.

“If that order is given, it’s an unjust order, and I will absolutely not carry it out,” Bei Wei said immediately. “You stay out of it too, or you’ll be doomed!”

Xue Ziliang stared at them, dumbfounded, struggling to understand what was happening. Bei Wei said, “Old Xue! Take a few men to East Gate Street immediately. Dongmen Chuiyu just called. Dugu Qiuhun is trying to bring the police force from the East Gate Market into the city to suppress the riot…”