Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Seven: Lu Cheng's Family

Subsequently, nominated by Zhao Manxiongski and approved by Ma Jia, Zhou Botao was appointed as the head of the Investigation Department; Wu Fo was appointed as the head of the Technical Department; and Wu Mu was appointed as the Director of the Office. The position of head of the Execution Department was temporarily left vacant; he intended to select someone from among the elders without a position.

He then also changed the office location. Although the original Internal Affairs Committee compound had a good environment, it was, after all, inside Bairen City. From a security perspective, it was excellent, but in terms of convenience for carrying out work, it was far from ideal. Affected by the restriction order on native staff within Bairen City, it was difficult to carry out work at any time, and meeting with personnel was also troublesome.

Zhao Manxiongski set up the offices of the Investigation Department and the Execution Department at the Political Security Bureau’s training camp outside the county seat. This not only facilitated the entry and exit of personnel but also allowed for immediate on-site interrogation of arrested individuals, eliminating the need for back-and-forth transfers. Only the General Bureau Office and the Technical Department were kept within the Political Security Bureau compound, where all technical equipment and archival materials were also stored.

Wu Mu suggested requesting the Executive Committee to reinforce the internal affairs troops and formally place them under the jurisdiction of the General Political Security Bureau to facilitate the execution of various tasks and the security of the agency. In the past, an internal affairs unit composed entirely of transmigrator members had indeed been established as a means of self-preservation in emergencies. As the army and navy expanded and security issues diminished, and with not enough transmigrator members to maintain the force, the internal affairs troops had informally disbanded, leaving only an empty designation.

Since the designation had not been revoked and was still under the Internal Affairs Committee, it was justifiable for the General Political Security Bureau to inherit it.

Zhao Manxiongski rejected this suggestion: “Now is the time to expand our operations, but we can’t be in a hurry to grab the guns.”

“Then what is our task at this stage?” Since his transfer to the General Political Security Bureau, Wu Mu had been drowning in a sea of paperwork. He was drafting, copying, and distributing countless documents every day, while Director Zhao Manxiongski spent his days constantly talking to people and holding meetings—there was no atmosphere of secret work at all.

“Recruiting personnel,” Zhao Manxiong said.

The staff of the General Political Security Bureau was still quite small, and almost all of them were trainees from the military and political school’s training classes. Their characteristic was a deep-seated hatred for the Ming government and the old social system. Many were orphans and were politically very reliable, but this group was young and had limited work ability. Zhao Manxiong believed that if they were to train their own staff according to the current system, it would take ten years to form an organization capable of effectively carrying out its work. The result was a serious shortage of personnel in various departments, with heavy reliance on part-time staff. For example, to conduct long-term surveillance in Dongmen City, they had to notify the Dongmen City Police Station and ask them to send personnel to help.

Since the most reliable people were generally younger, it was better to reserve them as future main cadres for long-term training. At the present stage, they would conduct a large number of short-term training classes to produce cadres quickly. Zhao Manxiong felt that there was no one in the world who could not be reformed. The Cheka staff back then were also selected from ordinary workers, peasants, and soldiers. Many were not even Russians; Poles, Hungarians, and Germans captured in World War I later became the backbone of the Cheka.

Dzerzhinsky’s conditions were even worse than his own—before him, all political police work was not worth mentioning. In contrast, he at least had countless reference materials to use.

He personally presided over the selection of staff for the General Political Security Bureau. They were mainly selected from immigrants who had settled in Lingao for more than six months, and also from the local natives of Lingao. The requirements were: aged between 16 and 23, unmarried, having completed basic literacy studies and obtained a C-grade diploma, regardless of gender. Unlike the thinking during the training of cadres in military and political schools, which gave priority to orphans, Zhao Manxiong had no special requirements for the “orphan” premise. Not only that, but he also specifically investigated how these candidates felt about their parents and siblings.

But what Wu Mu didn’t quite understand was that whether the feelings were deep or shallow, as long as the general conditions were met, they were still accepted.

Wu Mu could somewhat understand recruiting natives with deep feelings for their relatives into the General Political Security Bureau—this was to better control them, as there was no more effective tool than hostages. But why were those with shallow feelings also needed?

“A person who has shallow feelings for his own relatives will not have much love for others either,” Zhao Manxiong answered his question.

He was not even strict about the “hatred value.” People with a high hatred value were relatively reliable, but their psychology was prone to distortion and they could only perform certain tasks, unable to handle positions that required calm thinking.

As soon as the New Year passed, the General Political Security Bureau began to recruit a large number of personnel through the Cadre Department of the Civil Affairs Committee.

Lu Cheng sat at the entrance of her new home, watching her father and younger brother return from the farm headquarters—their faces were full of fatigue, and today’s work must have been hard. However, her father looked much better than when he first arrived in Lingao, and his complexion was ruddy. When they boarded the ship in Guangzhou, the manager was worried that he would not make it to Lingao and advised their family to wait a few more days. But hearing that the masters in Lingao had good doctors and “miracle medicine,” and that her father’s illness might be saved if they went early, she begged the manager to let their family go first. The manager did not make things difficult for them and let them go ahead.

Lu Cheng’s father was named Lu Chuyi, because he was born on the first day of the new year. After arriving in Lingao, the “Australian” chiefs found this kind of name too common and difficult to distinguish, so they changed his name to Lu Bai—that day, names were given according to colors, and there were also immigrants named Wang Bai, Li Bai, Zhao Bai, Qian Bai. She was renamed Lu Cheng.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with being called Lu Cheng. Originally, Lu Cheng was called Lu Xiaoniang—which was not really a name at all. Only her younger brother’s name was not changed; he already had an “official name,” Lu Shouye.

Although Lu Chuyi was already sickly when he disembarked, he shed a few tears of gratitude when he heard that the masters only changed their given names but not their surname. For a servant, this was the greatest grace. Lu Cheng, however, felt indifferent—for a destitute family like hers that was on the verge of starvation, what did their surname matter?

They went through the same treatment of bathing and shaving their heads that they had experienced in Guangzhou, with the additional spectacle of having their buttocks spread. Everyone had signed a deed of sale; they had to do whatever their masters wanted. Whether it was to take her virginity or her backside, they had to obey. No one dared to say “no.”

Seeing Lu Bai being supported by his family and looking like he was about to die, the manager did not make him go through the ordeal again. Instead, he called a few people to carry Lu Bai away. Her mother wanted to follow, but was stopped by a manager dressed in blue cloth.

“We’re taking your husband to the hospital. Don’t worry, if he’s lucky, he’ll most likely come out alive.”

These words ignited endless hope in the Lu family. The Lu family were not fleeing peasants. They were originally small shopkeepers in Sanshui County, Guangdong, who made a living by selling some cloth and daily necessities to farmers. Life was barely manageable. Lu Cheng was already 19 years old. Because her family could not afford a decent dowry, they had finally arranged a marriage for her—the son of a local small shopkeeper. Lu Cheng had secretly seen the young man a few times. He was well-built, but he always wore a hat. She wondered if he was bald from a scalp disease. Later, she heard that her future sister-in-law was very formidable and ran the household, which made Lu Cheng secretly worry about her future.

But a sudden “compulsory government purchase” directly ruined the whole family. One day, a few yamen runners came from the county with an official document, ordering their family to provide one hundred bolts of fine cloth and three hundred bolts of coarse cloth. This news was like a bolt from the blue—the Lu family was a small shop, and this kind of task would surely bankrupt them. The government’s compulsory purchases were said to be purchases, but in reality, they were robbery. Not only was the price paid for the goods meager, but they were also exploited and skimmed by the clerks who handled the matter. The shops that were forced to make the purchases would be severely weakened at best, and their families would be ruined at worst.

Lu Bai begged everywhere, but no one paid any attention—such a small citizen had no power and could not get close to the powerful families, so no one was willing to speak up for them. In the end, not only did they go bankrupt, but they also accumulated a debt of several tens of taels of silver. They sold all their goods and property to pay off the debt, leaving only their ancestral house.

Lu Bai fell ill with anger. Hiring a doctor and taking medicine consumed the last of the family’s property. After consulting several doctors, listening to various contradictory diagnoses, and taking many doses of medicine, the debt continued to increase. Lu Bai was finally bedridden, with more air going out than coming in. The creditors were afraid that he would die in the house and bring bad luck, so they forced the whole family to move out quickly.

On a sunny day, the Lu family was driven out of their home. Lu Cheng no longer needed to worry about her fiancé’s hair or her sister-in-law—the in-laws had reclaimed the betrothal letter and the eight-character cards for the price of four taels of silver.

With nowhere to go, the Lu family, like the fleeing peasants, placed their hopes of survival on going to Guangzhou. When Lu Bai was an apprentice in Guangzhou, he had a good relationship with a senior fellow apprentice. He had heard about ten years ago that his senior had opened a shop in Guangzhou, and he wanted to go to him to find a way to make a living.

With the money from the returned betrothal, they scrimped and saved all the way to Guangzhou. On the way, Lu Bai had been on the verge of death several times, but he always pulled through. By the time they reached Guangzhou, their travel money was exhausted. They finally found the place, only to hear that the senior’s shop had closed more than a year ago, and the senior had taken his family back to Xuwen County. The family was stranded in a dilapidated temple without food and clothing, and they were on the verge of a desperate situation.

When a poor family has nowhere to go and nothing to sell, they can only sell themselves. The most valuable person in this family was naturally Lu Cheng. Although a 19-year-old girl was considered too old to fetch the best price, she could still be exchanged for ten or twenty taels of silver. With this money, they could start a small business and make a living.