Chapter 372 - Wanli Huang

After Wen Desi’s speech, the construction of the standard villages progressed day by day. The newly minted naturalized citizens, doubly motivated by the promise of a bright future and the reality of full stomachs, burst forth with tremendous energy. Feng Zongze, of course, did not hold back, scheduling 12-hour workdays. If not for the need to conserve fuel, he would have even had the naturalized citizens work in two shifts.

The security enhancement campaign led by Xue Ziliang, after the capture of the Suwondong manor, became a combination of an armed parade and violent demolition, meeting no organized resistance. The troops followed the map drawn up earlier by the special reconnaissance teams, visiting the villages and manors marked on it. The common people were taken to transition camps to undergo purification, while the landlords were all used for on-the-spot “struggle sessions.” All their property was confiscated.

As news from Jeju Island continuously appeared in publications like the Lingao Times and The Morning Star, the inconspicuous island suddenly became a focus of the Yuanlao’s attention. Besides the various policies being implemented on Jeju sparking a new round of verbal battles, it also attracted the keen interest of other Yuanlao.

Wanli Hui, having just returned from overseeing the spring planting in Wenchang, took a wonderful shower in his apartment. Ever since the General Office replaced the old boilers in Bairen City with a new central heating system, the erratic hot water supply, which had previously relied on small boilers in the dormitory area, finally became normal, providing hot water 24 hours a day.

Wanli Hui scrubbed himself clean several times, generously using the natural herbal perfume distilled in the Agricultural Committee’s laboratory to wash himself from head to toe, finally suppressing the smell of fertilizer he had acquired over the past month.

As soon as the Lunar New Year of 1632 was over, Wanli Hui, as a key agricultural technician for the Heaven and Earth Society, began his inspection and guidance tour of the state-owned farms and Heaven and Earth Society clients in the newly naturalized counties of Northern Qiong. He traveled through the four main agricultural counties of Northern Qiong, promoting new high-yield rice varieties. Starting in 1631, the Agricultural Committee had established a seed production field in the directly managed farms of Meitaiyang, setting aside several hundred mu of the best land for rice seed production. From 1632, the high-quality rice seeds brought from the old world were officially promoted.

Due to the limited quantity of seeds, the new rice varieties were currently only being promoted on the state-owned farms and to Heaven and Earth Society clients in Lingao and three other counties.

The work was arduous, but Wanli Hui felt a sense of renewal in both spirit and body: seeing the silent land filled with water and planted with green seedlings, the newly planted windbreak saplings swaying in the breeze, and the hopeful faces of the farmers and farm workers… his heart was filled with an irrepressible surge of emotion.

He recalled his first visit to a Heaven and Earth Society client’s home in Lingao, the atmosphere of rural decay, desolation, and indifference, a feeling of intense loneliness that had almost made him give up.

Now, even in “new areas” like Qiongshan and Wenchang, one could feel a brand new, vibrant, and upwardly mobile atmosphere in the countryside. Water conservancy and road construction projects were underway everywhere, with crowds of laborers working under the sun, and newly built farmhouses. Everything was full of life and had a fresh look.

Land, grain, and farmers—Wanli Hui had never felt so close to it all. In the past, he had never thought of agriculture as so beautiful, so appealing to him as a career. He had initially chosen to join the Agricultural Committee only because it was the only skill he and his brother possessed, thinking of it merely as a stepping stone for advancement.

With these wonderful feelings, he finished his shower, changed into clean clothes, and went out. He whistled his way towards the farmstead—he was going to the South Sea Cafe to enjoy life and meet his brother, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

As material conditions continued to improve, the bourgeois atmosphere of the South Sea Cafe was constantly being upgraded. Not only had its area expanded, but the ambiance was also getting better and better. Coupled with the deliberate management by Wu Nan-hai and his wife, it had become a sacred place for leisure and entertainment in the minds of the Yuanlao. Despite their busy schedules, the Yuanlao still liked to bring their life secretaries here to sit for a while.

For this reason, besides adding more private booths, the South Sea Cafe had also opened private rooms for the Yuanlao’s use. This was not for the Yuanlao to be intimate with their life secretaries, but to provide a private place for small-scale discussions among the Yuanlao, as many discussions were not suitable to be held in front of the maids.

As soon as he entered, Wanli Hui saw his brother sitting under a carved wooden window, head down, drinking tea. After not seeing him for a few months, his brother had become more robust, his skin tanned, looking more and more like a real man.

Wanli Hui plopped down opposite his brother and snapped his fingers at a busy waitress in a maid’s uniform: “The usual.”

A moment later, a cup of coffee and a plate of sliced watermelon grown in the farm’s greenhouses were brought over. Wanli Hui took a satisfying sip of his coffee, then looked up and noticed something was off with his brother—he seemed distracted and restless.

“What’s wrong? Did someone bully you?”

“I’m homesick. I miss Mom and Dad.”

“Sigh, didn’t we buy a huge insurance policy for ourselves when we left? That’s enough for our parents to live out their later years comfortably.”

“Why didn’t you bring Mom and Dad with us?”

“I wanted to, but this is an adventure. How could you dare to let Mom and Dad take such a risk with us? What if something happened? Besides, they’re old. Can the medical conditions here compare to the old world? Alright, alright, Mom and Dad will be fine over there.”

Seeing his brother was still hesitant, Wanli Hui quickly changed the subject: “How are you doing in Lingao?”

“Fine, just not very interesting.” Wanli Huang looked listless. “It’s the same work every day, nothing new.”

Because Wanli Huang was relatively young, Wu Nan-hai generally didn’t send him on business trips, so he basically worked in Lingao.

Seeing his low spirits and signs of boredom, Wanli Hui felt a little anxious. A hard life and strenuous work were not to be feared, but low morale was the most frightening. Once a sense of boredom set in, one couldn’t do anything well.

It’s not good to always stay in Lingao, he thought to himself. His brother was still young and restless, at an age where he needed to be active. Instead of being cooped up here doing repetitive work day after day, it would be better to let him go out and do some independent work. It would not only train him but also accumulate political capital for the future.

As for assignments abroad, places like Qiongshan and Wenchang were not very exciting. Although they also needed agricultural technicians, they were not considered new development zones, just routine work. He needed to go to places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Jeju.

Based on his solid knowledge of agricultural geography, Wanli Hui knew that although Hong Kong was both safe and close, its agricultural development was unremarkable. Hong Kong Island itself had little agricultural value. The Kowloon Peninsula area had already been assigned several agricultural reclamation squadrons for colonization, and the Agricultural Committee had also sent people to provide guidance. Although it was at the mouth of the Pearl River, it was within the Yuanlao Senate’s sphere of control and heavily guarded. If calculated in terms of merit points like in a game, Hong Kong’s merit value was clearly lower than that of Taiwan and Jeju Island.

Wanli Hui felt that between these two places, Jeju Island was safer. Although it was farther away, Jeju Island did not have the problem of malaria. This was an unavoidable obstacle in the development of Taiwan, and news of development personnel contracting malaria there was constantly coming back.

Jeju Island’s latitude is similar to that of Jiangsu, with a mild climate and no major hostile threats. The Yi dynasty was a joke, and according to news from Jeju, the local resistance was even weaker. Moreover, there wasn’t a single agricultural professional there. If his brother went, it would be like a private instance opened just for him—he could rack up merit points like crazy.

Thinking of this, he took another good look at his brother. His brother was already a fine young man. It had been almost four years since D-Day in 1628, and he would soon be twenty.

A twenty-year-old man in ancient times would already be married with children, the head of a household shouldering the heavy responsibility of supporting a family.

To make a name for oneself in the Yuanlao Senate, one had to work hard.

“Xiao Huang, have you bought a female servant?” he suddenly asked.

“No, didn’t you say I was too young and shouldn’t buy one, brother?” Wanli Huang said.

“Buy one. I’ll give you the money,” Wanli Hui said. “The Morning Star reported that a new batch of Shandong refugees will be arriving in Lingao soon. There will definitely be newly selected female servants among them. You didn’t sign up for the lottery or buy a servant last time, so if you sign up this time, you can get priority in the lottery. Go pick an A-grade or above.”

Wanli Huang was a bit surprised, because his brother had always been strongly opposed to him buying a female servant. Of course, his brother hadn’t bought one himself either.

“Alright, I’ll go sign up tomorrow. Money is not a problem, I haven’t used much of my allowance, salary, or subsidies,” Wanli Huang said, then asked, “Brother, when are you and that girl named Fu Xi going to make it official?”

“There’s no hurry with that. Fu Xi is a bit young and still studying at Fangcaodi. It wouldn’t look good for me to propose marriage now: it would look like I’m taking advantage of a female student. But, I definitely want her. I plan to use this as a model case—unfortunately, the first prize has already been snatched by Xun Suji. But it doesn’t matter, his case is about a tenant landlord, which doesn’t fit the spirit of the Executive Committee. Fu Bu’er is an emerging business-oriented landlord, the type we will vigorously support in the future.”

“I think Fu Yijin is pretty good. Although she’s a bit dark, she has a good figure,” Wanli Huang said. “When you were on your inspection tour, Fu Yijin attended a training class at the farmstead. I think she’s a nice and generous girl.”

“Is that so?” Wanli Hui thought of Fu Yijin’s appearance and felt it wasn’t out of the question. But he couldn’t be bothered with that now. He brought up the matter of having Wanli Huang apply to work on Jeju Island.

“…You’re bored with your work in Lingao now. Why not go to Jeju Island and do something? They’re in desperate need of Yuanlao from the agricultural sector there. You’ll be given important responsibilities as soon as you arrive. It’s much better than being cooped up here working in obscurity.”