Chapter 325: Women's Issues

As she listened, her interest grew. Of course, Li Mei’s interest was not in protecting women’s rights, but in discovering a new business opportunity.

Li Mei was a businesswoman at heart, and a businesswoman, by definition, seizes every opportunity, even at the most inappropriate times. Five minutes ago, she was worried about whether her cooperative would be “communized” by the masses, and whether her property could be preserved. Now, she was already scheming to make money off the thirsty nerds.

The demand from these five hundred men was not small, Li Mei thought to herself. The entertainment industry was very profitable. In the other time and space, the investment required for this industry was too large, the waters were too deep, and she had to consider her daughter-in-law’s future, so she didn’t even dare to think about it. But this time and space was different.

Her mind was racing, calculating the scale, the style of decoration, the investment required, and how to get the investment…

Seeing her solemn expression, Du Wen thought she was taking her words very seriously. She didn’t expect that Li Mei would then develop a strong interest in opening a nightclub-like establishment locally and ask her many questions.

Obviously, after Du Wen realized Li Mei’s true motives, the conversation became less harmonious. It was only when Li Mei talked about her worries for the future of the cooperative that Du Wen found an entry point again.

“Today, men are targeting the women’s cooperative. Tomorrow, they will target the interests of the entire female community,” Du Wen said persuasively. “This conspiracy is approaching step by step. What are life secretaries and maids but concubines in disguise? As female comrades, many of us have not yet awakened. We must know that for every step we retreat, the enemy will advance!” She then proposed that the female comrades in the Transmigration Group should unite and “let out the roar of women” at this general assembly.

Li Mei said nothing. Her interest was in how to save the cooperative, not in women’s rights. Seeing that Du Wen had been talking for a long time without any substantive content, she had lost interest.

In the end, Li Mei made the excuse that her family all had temporary ID cards and probably wouldn’t be eligible to propose or vote at the general assembly, and managed to send Du Wen away.

Of course, Du Wen knew that this “old capitalist” was not sincere and her main goal was to save the cooperative. She couldn’t help but feel resentful, thinking that it might be better to take the opportunity to attack the cooperative at the general assembly and let the Executive Committee completely “communize” it. Then she remembered that Li Mei had promised the Women’s Federation a 5% stake, and it would be too much of a loss if it collapsed.

Du Wen was not stupid. She knew what Commissar Ma meant. She sat alone under the willow trees on the Wenlan River embankment for a long time, only coming to her senses when Dong Weiwei came to call her for lunch.

Dong Weiwei and Du Wen were now both working in the Social Work Office under Wu De’s Civil Affairs Committee. Since they had worked together to open up the situation in the Shisan Village area, the Civil Affairs Committee had designated the Shisan Village area as a pilot area for grassroots political power. Du Wen, in particular, treated Daolu Village as a banner for new rural construction, visiting every two or three days, which made the village chief Liu Si dare not be negligent and busy dealing with her various instructions every day. It was only recently that Wu De issued an instruction, telling the people from the Social Work Office not to go to the countryside before and after the New Year, to let the local cadres rest, that she had some free time.

Dong Weiwei did not share Du Wen’s high enthusiasm for political participation. On days when she wasn’t in the countryside or in meetings, she would practice with her steel-tipped spear in the courtyard and write social survey reports. She was not very enthusiastic about Du Wen’s canvassing for women’s rights. Seeing Du Wen worrying alone again, she advised her:

“What? Are you still worrying about the life secretary issue?” Dong Weiwei looked at her as if she were seeing a man from the state of Qi who was worried the sky would fall. “Men, they just care more about their lower body than anything else. So many single men, isn’t it a good thing for them to have a woman? At least I feel a little safer when I take a shower.”

“Xiao Dong, you have to see the essence through the phenomenon,” Du Wen shook her head. “Isn’t this a reactionary resurgence of polygamy? A life secretary is a concubine, you can’t be blind to that, right?”

“It’s monogamy with multiple concubines,” Dong Weiwei began to show off her knowledge. “A concubine and a wife are not the same thing. There are big differences in family rights and personal dependency…”

“A mistress is also illegal, but it’s the same thing,” Du Wen said.

“Now it’s about solving the life problems of the majority of single men. You can’t say that because you might have a mistress in the future, you can’t have a woman now. That’s too unreasonable.”

“You’ll see,” Du Wen said listlessly. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Dong Weiwei tried to persuade her a few more times, asking her to go to lunch, but Du Wen declined, saying she wasn’t hungry.

As she was staring blankly at the Wenlan River, someone sat down beside her. From the corner of her eye, she could see it was a man, and a transmigrator, but she didn’t recognize him. He was clearly one of the ordinary masses.

She didn’t bother to ask why he was sitting next to her, and she didn’t want to talk to him. Unexpectedly, he spoke:

“What? Already discouraged.”

Du Wen was surprised. His attitude was as if he knew her. She turned her head to look at him carefully—no impression at all.

The man was in his late twenties or early thirties, looked strong and powerful, with a dark complexion. He was obviously not a “cadre” after D-Day. Besides, she knew all the cadres, and he was definitely not one of them.

“Who are you?!” A woman’s self-defense instinct made her subconsciously take a step back.

“You’re Du Wen, right?” The man didn’t care about her attitude. He took out a pack of “Holy Ship” from his pocket, put a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it.

“That’s right, who are you?”

“Hehehe,” the man suddenly laughed. “How is it? Women’s work is not easy, is it?”

This hit her right where it hurt. She quickly looked around and asked again, “Who are you? What’s your business with this?”

“I’ll give you a piece of advice,” the man said, smoking his cigarette. “Instead of this ineffective canvassing, you should go and participate in the preparatory work for the second general assembly and think about what proposals to make.”

“I don’t need you to remind me. Don’t pretend to be some kind of enlightened master,” Du Wen said, not to be outdone. Of course, she had already thought about her proposal. It was naturally to propose the establishment of a Women’s Federation. It was not enough for her to run around like this alone. There had to be an organization to unite the women around her. Not just the transmigrators, but also the native women.

“If you propose a Women’s Federation, it will be shot down in the discussion stage, one hundred percent.” The man seemed to know her thoughts. “Men are the majority. Who would create trouble for themselves by establishing a Women’s Federation? Besides, even if it is established, what good would it do them?” He coughed. “Your proposal is too targeted.” He didn’t wait for Du Wen to ask, flicking his cigarette ash. “I think it’s better this way—”

After several rounds of meetings and votes, the caretaker cabinet set the schedule for the second general assembly and at the same time established a preparatory committee for the second general assembly.

The preparatory committee was chaired by Wen Desi, with Ma Jia as the deputy chairman. The specific personnel were mostly from the Law Club, almost the same group as the Maid Policy Committee, just with a different name.

Of course, to balance the reactions from all sides and to better reflect public opinion, the preparatory committee also absorbed 1-2 professionals from each professional field to participate.

Proposals would be accepted from 00:00 on January 10, 1630, to 24:00 on January 15. Every transmigrator had the right to make proposals, with no limit on the number of proposals per person. The full text of the proposals would be published on a special section of the internal BBS for everyone to browse. Each proposal had to be co-sponsored by 5% of all transmigrators to be effective and enter the specific discussion stage. Each transmigrator could co-sponsor 5 proposals.

From January 15 to January 25 was the discussion stage. The form of discussion was not limited. The BBS or group discussions could be chosen at will. After the discussion, a proposal had to be co-sponsored by 10% of the people to enter the public debate and voting stage of the meeting. Each transmigrator was also limited to co-sponsoring 5 proposals.

From January 10 to January 25 was the preparatory stage. Everyone worked as usual, and discussions and proposals were made during their off-duty hours.

The general assembly would officially convene on January 26 and last for five days. The agenda included the debriefing of the first Executive Committee, and public debate and voting on the proposals. Except for a very small number of dispatched personnel who could not be recalled, all dispatched personnel of the Transmigration Group would be recalled. Those who could not attend the meeting due to work would be notified of the proposals and vote by telegraph and telephone.

Considering that there might be many proposals and not enough time to debate and vote on them one by one at the meeting, the proposals that entered the general assembly discussion would be graded. Major issues concerning the future development of the Transmigration Group, legislation, and proposals with more than 50% co-sponsorship would be discussed as first-level proposals with priority.

As soon as this plan was announced, various interested individuals in the Transmigration Group began to hold private meetings to discuss their proposals. Some were already canvassing for co-sponsors before their proposals were even announced. Yi Fan was even more enthusiastic, working late into the night writing proposals after his daily auditing work. His proposals alone filled a thick volume.

Ma Jia and his key members, in addition to handling the administrative work of the preparatory committee during the day, also organized all the members of the club to hold meetings late at night, drafting various legal proposals to be submitted to the general assembly for deliberation.

Some members of the caretaker cabinet were canvassing and talking everywhere, while others were hiding in their offices writing. Only Xiao Zishan seemed very relaxed. In addition to handling various matters and maintaining the normal operation of the Transmigration Group every day, his main task was to handle the maid issue and ensure it was implemented.

“A telegram from Lingao!” Zhang Yuchen emerged from the telegraph room and handed the message to the other people at the Guangzhou station who were waiting for the latest notice from Lingao.