Chapter 326: The Guangzhou Station Before the Meeting

Every Saturday night at this time, the few people from the Guangzhou station would secretly gather in the safe house to listen to the latest instructions from Lingao.

The few people sitting around the mahogany round table were now completely different from before.

The biggest difference was that they had all grown their hair out and wore it in a bun. Meng Xian’s hair was not yet long enough, so he wore a fake bun and a gauze scarf.

Everyone was dressed in the clothes of the wealthy of the Ming Dynasty. Needless to say, the silk and satin, the accessories and pendants they wore were enough to drive the comrades in Lingao mad with envy. The lightness of PEPI’s silk robe, the delicacy of its color, and the exquisiteness of its embroidery would make the female transmigrators in Lingao green with envy.

Four kinds of dried fruits were displayed on the table. The Wuyi Da Hong Pao, a top-grade tea even in this time, had already gone cold. None of them had taken a single sip. In any other place, the servants would have already cleared the tea and replaced it with a fresh pot, but here, they dared not enter—this courtyard on Huifu Street was Guo Dongzhu’s forbidden ground. Any servant who entered without permission would disappear without a trace the next day.

Guo Yi, Yan Maoda, Zhang Xin, PEPI, and the recently arrived Meng Xian sat around the table, watching as Zhang Yuchen unfolded the telegram and read it aloud.

They had already guessed the content of the telegram. Although no official telegram had arrived from Lingao, the news of the Maid Revolution, the mass resignation of the Executive Committee, and the upcoming second general assembly had already reached Guangzhou through Zhang Yuchen’s daily radio chats with Li Chiqi’s sister, Zhang Yu. Not long ago, they had received an official telegram announcing the resignation of the Executive Committee and the establishment of the caretaker cabinet.

This news was a bit unsettling for the people at the Guangzhou station. After all, under the leadership of this Executive Committee, the development of the Guangzhou station had been smooth sailing. Now, they suddenly heard that there would be a change of guard—although they knew it was something that had to be done. And hearing that the internal conflict over the maid issue was intense made these dispatched personnel, isolated in a foreign land, even more worried. First, they were afraid that the internal disputes would lead to a split in the group. Second, they were worried that they would become the target of certain people within the group. When it came to the issue of possessing women, except for PEPI, everyone at the Guangzhou station was “above standard.” While their comrades in Lingao were agonizing over life secretaries, they were surrounded by beautiful maids and concubines. It was a good thing those people hadn’t seen it, or they would have been eaten alive.

If the Guangzhou issue were to be maliciously incited by someone, it was not guaranteed that the caretaker cabinet would not make a decision unfavorable to the Guangzhou station under the pressure of “public opinion.” The recent establishment of the audit department and the rumors of an upcoming comprehensive financial audit and inspection of all departments of the Transmigration Group added to their worries—if there were problems, the Guangzhou station, having handled countless amounts of money, grain, and goods, could not be completely clean. It all depended on whether someone was prepared to make an issue of it.

Guo Yi was even more worried about his own future. Although he was the station chief of the Guangzhou station and could be called the number one general in the field of commercial foreign trade of the Transmigration Group, his identity had always been a problem. To this day, he still held a temporary ID card.

Obviously, if someone was looking for a negative example at the Guangzhou station, he, an outsider with no foundation within the group, was the best choice.

The content of the telegram was divided into two parts. The first part was a request for the Guangzhou station to quickly prepare a batch of women in Guangzhou. The requirement was “women who conform to modern tastes,” with the basic requirements being good health, regular features, unbound feet, and an age between sixteen and twenty-five.

“…the number is 300-400,” Zhang Yuchen read. “If there are indeed difficulties, at least 100 must be sent to Lingao before the end of January 1630. The expenses are to be listed under special expenditures.”

“It’s not that there aren’t any, but it’s difficult to gather so many,” Zhang Xin muttered. He was currently in charge of the refugee camp in Guangzhou.

The second part of the telegram was a notice of the agenda for the second general assembly. It required them to also conduct proposals and proposal discussions in Guangzhou. The proposals for the general discussion would be delivered to them by the navy’s transport ships, and the Guangzhou station’s proposals could be submitted by telegram.

Finally, they were instructed to return to Lingao by January 25 to attend the general assembly. They could leave 1-2 people behind to guard the station, with the specific personnel to be decided by the Guangzhou station itself.

“I’ll stay behind,” Guo Yi said. “It’s more appropriate for me to stay.”

Everyone knew that Guo Yi was not, strictly speaking, a member of the Transmigration Group. Whether he had the right to speak and vote at the general assembly was still a question. It really didn’t matter much whether he went or not.

“I think it’s better for you to go back once,” Yan Maoda said. “On one hand, it’s for the meeting, and on the other hand, it’s for a debriefing. The Guangzhou station has been established for over a year. The Executive Committee will definitely have to give an account to everyone. You are in charge of the overall situation. It’s not appropriate for you not to go.”

Guo Yi nodded. Besides this meaning, Yan Maoda’s words had a second layer: if he avoided going, others would not think it was about his voting rights, but might instead suspect that he had done something shady at the Guangzhou station and did not dare to go back for a debriefing.

Zhang Xin also said, “I agree. As for staying behind, PEPI and I can do it.” Zhang Xin was practically the general manager of the Guangzhou station, familiar with all aspects. With him there, they could manage.

No one else had any objections. PEPI was not at all interested in things like the general assembly—she was now completely focused on the Zhiming Tower, skillfully navigating among the powerful and wealthy, and enjoying the feeling of being flattered by many men. From time to time, she would host local dignitaries and their favorite concubines in her small salon. Her life was incredibly fulfilling, and Lingao held no attraction for her.

Zhang Yuchen was very enthusiastic about returning to Lingao. He could go on a date with Zhang Yu when he got back. The two had been chatting over the radio for over a year, and he was eager to meet this girl. He had even collected many beautiful small accessories and clothes in Guangzhou to please her.

“It’s just that this matter of preparing the girls is not easy, and they are in such a hurry,” Zhang Xin said. “Three or four hundred girls who meet these requirements can’t be gathered in a short time. Even a hundred is difficult.”

“Let’s first see how many girls in the refugee camp meet the age range,” Yan Maoda said. “I think as long as they are the right age, healthy, have unbound feet, and are at least 1.55 meters tall, it should be fine. As for ‘conforming to modern aesthetic tastes’—that standard is too vague. Let’s just ignore it.”

“Even so, it’s not enough,” Zhang Xin took out an account book from a locked cabinet. “This is the statistic as of last Sunday. Not counting age, there are only over six hundred females in total, and less than a hundred meet this age range. As for the other requirements, they are completely out of the question.”

“And they are all sallow and emaciated. It’s hard to say they are healthy. The caretaker cabinet in Lingao will definitely not be satisfied if we send them back.”

Local procurement was of course possible, but the cost was too high. The price of girls from human traffickers was very high, and the most important thing was that they could not hide such a large-scale purchase—this was not the usual act of charity of taking in refugees from the streets, but a sudden purchase of several hundred young girls. This kind of thing would attract a lot of attention anywhere.

Zhang Xin thought for a moment: “I think we should do this. Instruct Sun Kecheng to buy them in places where the Qiwei Escort Agency has branches in Guangdong and Jiangxi. Buy a dozen or so in each place. That way, we can gather about a hundred. Then we can find some suitable ones from the refugee camp.”

Everyone thought this was feasible. Yan Maoda smiled and said, “It’s really thanks to our controlling stake in Qiwei back then. With this outsourced contractor, it’s so convenient to do anything. Manager Sun is righteous and reliable.”

In the past year and a half, Qiwei, with the financial support and expanding business of the Transmigration Group, had grown from a small escort agency to a giant that was famous throughout Guangdong. Not counting its “outer counter” part, on the main business of the escort agency alone, the number of registered escorts exceeded three hundred.

“The matter of Qiwei will definitely be discussed when we return to Lingao this time,” Guo Yi said. “This escort agency is now very large. Their relationship with us can only be said to be cooperative. After all, there is still a layer of separation, and their independence is still too strong. It’s not a big problem now, but in the future, once it involves the government, I’m afraid it won’t be so easy to use.”

“Right,” Zhang Xin nodded. “And Qiwei is now almost a world of people from Jiangxi. Old Manager Sun is a good person, but he still uses the traditional way of employing people.”

In the Qiwei Escort Agency, the escorts were almost all disciples and grand-disciples of Sun Kecheng and his martial brothers, plus relatives from their hometown. The vast majority of these people came from Manager Sun’s hometown. People from other places were almost all on the outer counter.

This kind of system had the effect of close unity, but it was also suspected of nepotism. And their tight-knit group was also a potential threat to the Transmigration Group.

“I think we should absorb Qiwei and completely control it,” Yan Maoda said. “If we don’t take it over now, it will be even more difficult to control when the situation gets bigger in the future.”

“How do we do that?” Guo Yi had also thought about this, but he hadn’t come up with any good ideas.

“Sprinkle sand.”

“You mean mix in sand? It’s very difficult!” Zhang Xin shook his head. “Sun Kecheng’s group is very tight-knit. It’s impossible to mix in sand. If we force it, it might hurt feelings!”

“I said sprinkle,” Yan Maoda said. “Right now, the Jiangxi gang in Qiwei is a clump of sand, tightly held together in Guangdong. What if we sprinkle it all over the country? Wouldn’t this clump of sand be scattered?”

“You mean let Qiwei expand nationwide?!”

“That’s right,” Yan Maoda nodded. “Actually, it’s not really nationwide—there’s no need for that. We can start by setting up branches in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the capital. Once the business expands, the existing people will definitely have to be dispersed. Old Manager Sun probably wishes his disciples and grand-disciples could all go out and be independent. At that time, we can mix in our sand locally.”