Chapter 193: Grand and Solemn

The children to present the flowers were quickly selected. Zhao Chuanyi was chosen because of his fair skin and tall stature—he was one of the very few children not from a farming family, which made the other boys envious. Such an honor was not something one could get anytime.

Suddenly, a puff of white smoke rose from the great fort—now commonly called the Beacon Tower—and a salute cannon fired. The bustling crowd on the pier instantly fell silent. The fleet was entering the port.

Fang Fei glanced at the nurses and life secretaries who had just arrived. They had just finished lining up, still panting. It seemed they had run all the way here. Fang Fei, having previously managed showgirls, had a keen sense of how to present women at their best. He immediately noticed that dust and sweat had seriously affected some of their complexions, especially the color of their lips, which were noticeably dark instead of a healthy red. The dust on their eyebrows and hair was also particularly conspicuous under the sun.

“Quick! Get towels! Get water!” At Fang Fei’s command, all the native clerks and cadres around him sprang into action. Fang Fei was well-prepared for such situations, with basins, towels, lipstick, combs, needles, and thread—everything that might be useful.

Some elders thought Fang Fei’s preparations were excessive, but Fang Fei thought to himself that when he led a team to ChinaJoy, he brought ten times more things than this. He had countless spare socks alone.

Fang Fei glanced at the fleet entering the harbor. It would take at least ten minutes for them to dock and set up the gangway. That was just enough time. He gave his orders: “Everyone, hurry up! Get the girls cleaned up!”

He then wrung out a towel himself, stuck a comb in his pocket, and ran into the ranks of the nurses. A clerk quickly followed with a basin.

Fang Fei swiftly wiped a girl’s face and neck. She was clearly startled but had been trained to absolutely obey the authority of her superiors, so she stood motionless. Fang Fei dropped the towel, inspected her carefully, and quickly combed her bangs. He then held out his hand, and a clerk immediately presented a box of lipstick. He used a disposable cotton swab to pick up a little and apply it to her lips.

“Spread it yourself!” he said, immediately moving to the next person.

This series of actions, as swift as a fleeing rabbit, filled the other clerks who were also helping to groom the girls with awe—Chief Fang was truly remarkable! In less than ten minutes, all sixty people had been tidied up.

Just as Fang Fei breathed a sigh of relief, a jeep suddenly arrived, screeching to a halt behind the customs building. Out jumped none other than the Governor-General. He was wearing an old-style standing-collar cadre uniform. Behind him was Hou Wenyong, carrying a briefcase, with a serious expression, wearing the same four-pocket standing-collar cadre uniform, a pencil with a cap tucked into his upper pocket.

After getting out of the car, Ma Qianzhu scanned the crowd on the pier, looked at the fleet’s flagship flying full colors as it approached the jetty, and strode forward. The native cadre from the General Office in charge of the welcoming ceremony at the pier hurried to greet him and lead the way.

Thirty seconds later, the loudspeakers began to play “March of Unity and Friendship.” The elders resting in the shaded area stood up one by one, straightened their clothes, and, with solemn expressions, strode confidently behind Ma Qianzhu towards the jetty.

On the flagship, the gangway was already in place. A smartly dressed marine honor guard, wearing a special white ceremonial belt, marched down from the warship in goose-step, executed a sharp turn, and saluted. The music stopped, and a bugler played a fanfare. Wen Desi descended the gangway almost in time with the beat, dressed in his naval uniform. He first waved briefly at the top of the gangway, then walked down slowly. As he passed the honor guard, he gave a crisp, concise salute.

Ma Qianzhu had arrived at the foot of the gangway about five seconds earlier, and the two men met face to face. The Governor-General extended his hand.

They shook hands firmly. The elders behind them could see them exchanging a few words, both with beaming smiles, but no one could hear what was said.

“…State Councilor Ma is presiding over the ceremony at the pier, warmly welcoming Chairman Wen, Minister Chen, and their party on their triumphant return from the Guangzhou campaign, and congratulating them on their great victory in the Pearl River Basin operations…”

Zhang Yu’s stammering but standard Mandarin broadcast was transmitted through the wires to the loudspeakers in many parts of Lingao. Of course, the elders in Bairen City immediately turned off their loudspeakers and continued with their own business. But elsewhere, the natives gathered with great interest under the loudspeakers, listening with relish to the sounds coming from the “speaking trumpets.” For them, the mere fact that sound could come out of these trumpets was fascinating.

“…Young pioneers present flowers to Chairman Wen, Minister Chen, and the heroic soldiers of the navy, army, and marine corps…”

In the accounting office, Housekeeper Zhao was smoking, looking at the account books while listening to the live broadcast from the county town’s loudspeakers. The loudspeakers in Lingao county town had gradually become an influential facility. The residents had gone from surprise and curiosity to taking them for granted. Everyone was used to the “Athletes’ March” playing at five in the morning, followed by the precise time announcement from the Gaoshanling time station. Besides occasional emergency announcements, the broadcast ran from 5 a.m. to noon, and then from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Most of the time it played music and opera, with other times dedicated to news, agricultural programs, supply and demand information, ship departures and arrivals, and advertisements—of course, mostly for the Australians themselves.

Housekeeper Zhao had grown accustomed to the constant chatter in his ear and would sometimes hum along with the music. He didn’t quite understand the content of the current broadcast, only that some high-ranking Australian official had returned and was being welcomed at the pier. He was more interested in the subsequent local opera program, which would broadcast so-called “Cantonese opera”—what was known as Guangdong grand opera. Housekeeper Zhao was not a Lingao native and was not very familiar with the puppet shows sung in the Lingao dialect, but he had a special fondness for Guangdong grand opera. Of course, the Guangdong opera played by the Australians was a bit different from what he had heard: the biggest difference was that it was sung in Cantonese, not the “stage Mandarin” of the theater troupes, which made it more pleasant to his ears. Secondly, not only were the tunes and singing styles different, but the repertoire was much larger, and the sound was more magnificent and mellow, far better than the famous actors he had heard in Guangdong in his youth. Housekeeper Zhao had always found it strange; did the Australians also have people who sang Cantonese opera?

He carefully recorded each expense in the account book—a crucial responsibility for a housekeeper. The Liu family was not particularly wealthy, and they didn’t have much land to collect rent from. The annual income was just enough to cover the household expenses. With twenty to thirty servants of all ages, and Master Liu having to buy books and stationery from Qiongshan and Guangzhou, بالإضافة to providing for the poor, scholars, clansmen, and relatives, and the necessary entertainment for visiting scholars and gentry from the county, the expenses were considerable. Housekeeper Zhao managed the budget carefully, barely managing to keep it balanced, sometimes having to dip into the next month’s funds. It was only in the past year, when the master took on a concurrent post as the headmaster of the Moli Xuan Academy—though he couldn’t often lecture there, the Australians still paid him 300 circulation coupons a month as a travel allowance—that things had eased. Initially, Liu Dalin had refused this income, not because he wanted to draw a line, but because he had stated that his role as headmaster was voluntary. Recently, after Housekeeper Zhao repeatedly complained about the financial difficulties, he had reluctantly agreed to accept the money.

“If there’s a major event in the family, we’ll probably have to sell land,” Housekeeper Zhao thought, his brow furrowed as he recorded the recent expenses for doctors and medicine. This “major event” was Master Liu’s funeral.

Over the past month, Master Liu’s health had been declining day by day, and he was gradually becoming bedridden. Although they had sought doctors and medicine from all over, even paying a high price to bring a doctor from Xuwen—Lingao had no decent doctors; the best used to be Yang Shixiang, the owner of Runshi Tang, but he had recently gone to Anguo. As for the hospital opened by the Australians, although it was said their medical skills were exquisite, even capable of performing surgery, this reputation, for the gentry who were not desperately poor or on the verge of death, was more of a deterrent. Everyone still trusted traditional Chinese medicine more.

But the doctor brought in at great expense couldn’t figure out the problem either. After saying a lot of things no one understood, he wrote a prescription and left. The medicine, taken for over ten days, had no effect, and the illness gradually worsened. According to the customs of a large household, funeral preparations had to be made in advance, partly to “ward off bad luck with a happy event,” and partly to avoid being ridiculed for being unprepared in the event of a death. Where the money for Liu Dalin’s funeral would come from had been a major headache for Housekeeper Zhao recently.

Given Liu Dalin’s prestige and status in the county, the funeral could not be too shabby. All the prominent figures in the county would come to pay their respects. A shabby funeral would be unacceptable. It would cost at least a hundred taels of silver.

Housekeeper Zhao calculated the figures in the account book over and over again, but he couldn’t find any spare money. The Liu family had no wealthy relatives to borrow from, and their family rules strictly forbade borrowing money. After much thought, the only option was to sell land. But the Liu family didn’t have much land to begin with, and the price of land in Lingao was not high. Selling off a portion would make the family’s finances even tighter in the future.

“Sigh!” Housekeeper Zhao pondered for a long time, unable to come up with a good plan. He sighed, “I’ll have to rob Peter to pay Paul!”

But even robbing Peter to pay Paul was not easy. The land in Lingao was not very valuable, and buyers were few and far between. It couldn’t be sold off at a moment’s notice. Housekeeper Zhao was at his wit’s end. Finally, he thought of the Australians.

Although Master Liu forbade asking the Australians for anything, selling land to them was a willing transaction. The Liu family would not be getting any favors from the Australians, so there would be no grounds for gossip. With this in mind, he decided to go to Bairen City in a few days to see his son and discuss the matter, to get it settled as soon as possible.

The loudspeakers faintly broadcasted, “…Attending the welcoming ceremony at Bopu today are: State Councilor of the Central Government Council, Ma Qianzhu; Director of the Planning Commission, Wu De; Chief Justice of the Arbitration Tribunal, Ma Jia; Director of the Executive Committee General Office, Xiao Zishan… Lingao County Advisory Bureau officials Li Sunqian, committee members Huang Bingkun, Zhang Youfu, Lin Quan’an, Fu Baiwen… and others attended the welcoming ceremony… Chairman Wen had a cordial conversation with the committee members. Committee member Li Sunqian said: Chairman Wen, you have worked hard. Chairman Wen said: I have not worked hard. You look very healthy. You should pay more attention to rest…”

The members of the County Advisory Bureau were also in the welcoming crowd. Even the Lingao County Yamen had sent Wang Zhaomin as a representative. Wen Desi specially shook hands with the members of the County Advisory Bureau. For a moment, gongs and drums thundered as he and the others received the welcome of the people from all walks of life in Lingao. Finally, the gongs and drums stopped, and the Lingao Seminary Choir sang “Jerusalem,” with lyrics and music composed by Dean Wu.

Finally, the students of Fangcao’di sang “Land of Hope and Glory” together. Wen Desi and the others listened with smiles, expressed their gratitude to the choir, the students, and all who attended the welcoming ceremony. Then he and Chen Haiyang and the other elders boarded their carriages one by one. A line of black Red Flag carriages, escorted by members of the Special Reconnaissance Team on electric bicycles, headed towards Bairen City.

Fang Fei watched the convoy leave and breathed a sigh of relief. The entire welcoming ceremony had gone off without a major hitch. He communicated with Ran Yao to begin dispersing the crowd, while instructing Ji Denggao and others to pack up all the welcoming equipment and inventory each item. The banners, in particular, were made of cotton, which was hard to come by. It would be troublesome if they were stolen.

He had been busy with this event for a whole week. Playing this game in the 17th century was a hundred times harder than in the 21st. The people of the 21st century had at least seen such scenes before. The natives here had no concept of it and could only perform mechanical tasks. Even the smallest details had to be handled personally. And Fang Fei had another major event on his mind: the annual meeting.

The victory celebration and annual meeting, originally planned to be held together with the Mid-Autumn Festival, had been postponed due to the “Pearl River Expedition” and had been delayed until November. This time, the Standing Committee of the Senate decided not to postpone it any further and to hold a large-scale celebration banquet separately in honor of the “dual victory on land and sea.” Of course, the reason this celebration was put on the agenda so quickly had a lot to do with the active lobbying of the North American branch. Several of them had been elected to the Standing Committee of the Senate. Their dissatisfaction with the current political state and their eagerness to use the annual meeting to expand the influence of the North American faction made them push hard for it.

Fang Fei didn’t know why Qian Shuiting and the others were so enthusiastic about this annual meeting. Especially Zheng Shangjie, after returning from Guangzhou, besides discussing plans for a Lingao version of the Zhiming Tower with Li Mei every day, was also planning this annual meeting. She had even proposed a complete set of plans for the annual meeting—entirely American-style, ten times more complex than Fang Fei’s original plan.

However, Zheng Shangjie’s plan received widespread support in the Senate. Everyone wanted to take the opportunity of this great victory to relax their tense minds and find an excuse to eat, drink, and be merry. Many had already bought “life secretaries” and were eager to show off the “Australian lifestyle” to these young women.

A combination of these factors finally led the General Office to approve Zheng Shangjie’s plan for a “big party.”

Of course, Fang Fei was not aware of why because he was not paying attention to certain things. Anyone who paid even a little attention to the internal social activities of the transmigrator group would know what the North American branch’s intentions were.

Since Du Wen had won the right for elders to freely form associations at the general assembly, a complete law on associations had followed. This law was largely copied from Austria, but with changes made according to the specific situation of the transmigrator group. The two most important articles were: associations could only accept elders as members, and the funding of associations adopted a quota system, meaning that the dues paid by each member had to be the same, and the amount of the dues had to be approved by the General Office. Large donations to associations were not allowed without permission, nor could property be given to associations.

Ma Jia was well aware that the ultimate result of association would be the formation of small factions with different political demands within the transmigrator group. This prospect was probably unavoidable. Even without the so-called right of association, factions and cliques would form on their own. The presence or absence of association would not change much, and some factions had not formed associations at all. The clause allowing only elders to join was mainly to prevent any elder from using native forces to suppress other factions in the Senate, while the restriction on dues was to prevent any association from misusing resources.

Overall, the elders were not very interested in forming associations. Most had little interest in politics and were not enthusiastic about participating in association activities after work. As for managing an association, that was something many would respectfully decline. Managing equal elders was not as satisfying as managing respectful natives. So, in the nearly one year since the association law was passed, the only associations registered with the General Office were: the Spartacus League, the Women’s Federation, the Native Rights Protection Association, the Law Club, the Scale Model Club, the Steampunk League, and the Otaku Party.

The initiator and chairman of both the Spartacus League and the Women’s Federation was Du Wen. The former was, of course, a so-called “left-wing political faction,” while the latter was a “women’s rights protection organization.” However, to date, the former was almost a one-woman show, while the latter, through her active efforts, had pulled in almost all the female elders and had organized some activities. Besides these, the most lively was the Otaku Party.

The Otaku Party was established shortly after the second general assembly. The members of the North American branch, deeply worried about the political system established by the second general assembly, gathered on the yacht Feiyun in Bopu on a dark and stormy night.