Chapter 212 - Aftermath

While the men were enthusiastically shooting and swimming, the women continued to chat in the pool. Mendoza, as pre-arranged by Zheng Shangjie, deliberately teased Pan Pan about how she and Ding Ding controlled public opinion. Pan Pan, who had always considered herself a “journalist” rather than a “mouthpiece,” was very embarrassed by Mendoza’s teasing.

“He used to rail against media control all day long, saying that freedom of the press was a fundamental right. His thesis topic was even on media supervision,” Pan Pan said. She had met Ding Ding at a university where she was an exchange student and he was a master’s student in media studies. “He even said he wanted to fight for freedom of the press!” Pan Pan felt a sense of betrayal. “I didn’t expect him to change so much as soon as he came to the new world!” The thought of it made her angry. It wasn’t that Pan Pan didn’t want Ding Ding to climb to a high position of power in this new aristocratic group, but his attitude had changed so quickly and so nakedly that it was hard for her to accept emotionally. She couldn’t help but go on about how shamelessly Ding Ding wanted to be Goebbels.

“Goebbels is Goebbels. At least he’s good at media,” Sarina said, feeling that it was inappropriate to discuss this topic. Her observations were much deeper than Pan Pan’s and Mendoza’s: the Lin’gao regime was essentially an oligarchic aristocratic republic. Under such a system, the rulers would inevitably use the media as a controllable propaganda tool. Therefore, she felt that whether Ding Ding was Goebbels or not was not a big deal under the Lin’gao system. Just as the Political Security Bureau and the Police General Administration, where she now provided consulting and training services, had a strong resemblance to the Internal Affairs and Security Committee, she would certainly not refuse a promotion in this system—people are always realistic.

“He’s certainly ambitious. Newspapers, radio, he even wants to start a magazine…” Pan Pan sighed, her interest in media piqued again. “It’s a pity we can’t do color printing. Large-scale pattern printing can only be done with lithography right now. The magazine would have to be mainly text-based, which is fine—the problem is the debate over content.”

Regarding the content of the magazine, the Propaganda Department and the Grand Library had different opinions. The Propaganda Department wanted to focus on current affairs and news to expand the political and cultural influence of the transmigrator group, while the Grand Library wanted to focus on popular science. The two sides were at a stalemate.

“The Grand Library is directly under the Executive Committee and doesn’t answer to the Propaganda Department,” Pan Pan said, forgetting her complaint about Ding Ding being Goebbels. “There’s still no result.”

“I think you should first figure out who the magazine is for—”

“Of course, it’s for the naturalized citizens and the local populace,” Pan Pan said. “I think even the internal edition of the Lin’gao Times is superfluous. It would be better to just issue some government gazettes.”

“Not necessarily,” Pei Lixiu pouted. “The lives of the Elders in Lin’gao are very boring. If there were a recreational magazine, everyone would love to read it. I think we should start a women’s fashion magazine.” Pei Lixiu said, unwilling to be left out. “There are quite a few female Elders, you know. Look at what we’re all wearing!”

If the female Elders hadn’t brought enough clothes from the old world, they could only rely on the Lin’gao Garment Factory—the clothes the factory could provide to the Elders were not much different from those provided to the naturalized citizens. They were all various kinds of cotton or linen uniforms. Not to mention aesthetics, it was impossible to even have more styles. After Xun Suji arrived at the Ministry of Light Industry, in order to win the favor of the Elders, he specially ordered the establishment of a special supply department in the garment factory to make clothes for the Elders. The materials and styles were slightly more refined, for example, more silk was introduced as fabric, but there was still not much choice in terms of style. People like Zheng Shangjie and Ai Beibei knew how to make their own clothes. They bought various silk fabrics from the cooperative in East Gate Market and cut and sewed them themselves. But most female Elders did not have this skill and had to make do with the special supply clothing.

“We can teach everyone how to make clothes, and provide different clothing patterns in each issue to make cutting easier!” Ai Beibei also had a new idea. “I have a lot of patterns.”

Pan Pan’s interest was also piqued. Her thinking was more divergent. She suggested starting a fashion magazine that would cover everything from beauty and cooking to clothing.

“The men have all bought life secretaries. This can also be considered a form of re-education, right? The men will buy it too.”

“Maybe it can even be sold in Guangzhou. Isn’t this the so-called Australian lifestyle?” Zheng Shangjie thought of a new economic growth point for the Guangzhou Station. “We can also sell clothes in Guangzhou!”

“That’s right. Look at the domestic sales of red wine. Isn’t it all because of the so-called French style that was hyped up by fashion magazines? Otherwise, who would drink sour French dry red wine if it were sold directly?”

Although they were still not finished, they had to send Li Quan home, and several people had work to do in the evening, so the party broke up before four in the afternoon. There was no dinner reception. This was a slight relief to the wives of the three hosts. They would have been in a difficult position to prepare another sumptuous and varied dinner. They couldn’t just have another seafood barbecue.

However, none of the guests left empty-handed. Xue Ziliang received Qian Shuiting’s SIG P229. Bei Wei took a case of bolt-action rifles for the Special Reconnaissance Team, including Mosin-Nagants and K31s, all with scopes, and more than two thousand rounds of 7.62*54R steel-cased ammunition and Swiss 7.5mm ammunition each.

“I still need to go through the formalities,” Bei Wei said. Although he was eager to experience the actual power of these two rifles, he couldn’t just take these unregistered guns back to the headquarters. “I’ll leave them with you for now.”

“No problem. I work at the Planning and Development Commission. You can submit a requisition application tomorrow. I’ll get it approved by Wu De directly, and it’ll be okay.”

Bei Wei didn’t ask for anything for himself, but Qian Shuiting insisted on giving him two packs of opened foreign cigarettes. It was agreed that in a few days, the North American group would be invited to the Special Reconnaissance Team’s base with several types of weapons to coach them in shooting techniques—shooting at the training base was a legitimate activity.

Ai Beibei gave Sarina and Pan Pan some clothes they had made themselves. Li Quan also received some of Qian Duoduo’s old clothes that she had outgrown. These clothes made Li Quan’s eyes widen. She asked several times in a row, “Are these for me?”

“Of course, they’re for you. I’ll explain it clearly to your mother,” Ai Beibei said, afraid that Li Mo would refuse to accept them. She felt that although Li Mo appeared to be the most obedient servant on the surface, she had a strong sense of self-esteem.

Pan Pan also received a jar of instant Colombian coffee—she said she often had to stay up late writing. The South Sea coffee, which was said to be exclusive to the Elders, required boiling water, which she found troublesome. In comparison, instant coffee was very convenient to use.

The others also received some gifts, more or less, and everyone left in high spirits. Pan Pan, disregarding her image, packed up all the remaining small pastries to take with her—she had been craving them for a long time.

Lin Chuanqing was not interested in gifts, but today he had drunk his fill of fine wine. Lin Chuanqing was a fisherman. After coming to the United States, he had also worked on fishing boats for a long time, and thus developed a love for hard liquor. Although Lin’gao had a good supply of high-quality rum, it did not have his favorite whiskey. This time, the Qian brothers brought out several bottles of whiskey, including ordinary American corn whiskey and higher-grade bourbon. He had his fill of alcohol. Xue Ziliang also drank a lot of whiskey on the rocks. When he was half-drunk, Xue Ziliang talked about his hope of opening his own distillery in the future to make beer and various foreign liquors. When he left, Qian Shuiting gave Lin Chuanqing two bottles of blended whiskey.

Lin Chuanqing carried the two bottles of whiskey, humming “Strive to Win” on his bicycle as he rushed back to the naval base. He lived in a single officer’s dormitory at the Bopu Naval Base. The room was not large, but it was comfortably furnished. He counted his purchased maid as an orderly, of course, an off-the-books one who did not receive military pay. This way, she could openly live in the orderly’s room outside his dormitory.

Lin Chuanqing was not very interested in the “sexual” function of women; he mainly wanted a woman to serve him. He had just returned to his dormitory when his phone rang. It was Wei Aiwen from the General Staff’s Political Department.

“One of your men has been arrested by the Garrison Battalion,” Wei Aiwen said briefly over the phone. “There are also a few others who joined in the brawl. They are also from the Navy. They are being identified now, but they will only be confined for a few days. Your sailor is involved in a public order incident and will have to stay at the Political Department for a few more days. You are the unit’s commanding officer, and you need to give an opinion on how to handle this.”

The sailor who was arrested for beating his wife was a member of the Fisheries General Brigade under Lin Chuanqing’s command. He had recently participated in the Pearl River Delta operation—but as a logistics unit, performing fishing, patrol, and transportation tasks near Lantau Island.

“What? His wife cheated on him? And he beat her in East Gate Market?” Lin Chuanqing shouted. “Good for him! Why didn’t he beat that bitch to death!”

“Fortunately, he didn’t kill her,” Wei Aiwen said. “He also hit the military police from the Garrison Battalion.”

“I’ll state my position on this matter,” Lin Chuanqing said. “He assaulted a military policeman, and he should be punished according to the regulations. I have no objection to that. But the adulterer and adulteress must be severely punished! I request that they be publicly hanged at the naval pier.”

“Whether to execute them is another matter. The problem now is that there is no legal basis. The people at the Arbitration Tribunal are rushing to draft a law against undermining military marriages—and there’s also the issue of jurisdiction.”

“Anyway, that’s my position. You can inform the people at the Arbitration Tribunal. My opinion is that this matter should not be treated with leniency. We must make an example of them,” Lin Chuanqing repeatedly emphasized. “When soldiers are out fighting, and their wives are having affairs at home, this kind of thing is extremely damaging to morale. They must be severely punished—especially the adulterer. Killing him is not enough to appease the public’s indignation—no, the military’s indignation. Otherwise, how can we expect the soldiers to be willing to go on long sea voyages in the future?”