Chapter 276: A Dangerous Signal

Jiang Shan frowned as he looked at the Lingao Times before him. This publicly circulated newspaper was the mouthpiece of the Elder Council. The news on it often represented the latest developments, policies, and future trends of the Elder Council. Not only would the more astute among the naturalized citizens and natives read it carefully, but even Elders who could read the internally circulated Weekly News and Morning Star would subscribe to a copy specifically to gauge the policy direction of the Elder Council and the Executive Committee.

On the third page of this newspaper was a short article, and it was this article that made Jiang Shan frown.

From the title of the article, “Initial Success in Lingao County’s Housing Security,” it seemed to be just another piece of official propaganda from the Propaganda Department, praising the “new life” of the new society. It was nothing more than singing the praises of the General Construction Company and the Planning Office, making the naturalized citizens grateful to the Elder Council. But Jiang Shan read something unpleasant in it.

The article reviewed the history of residential construction in Lingao, listing the housing projects for naturalized citizens, the square meters started and completed, and… a long list of the General Construction Company’s achievements. From this content, there was nothing wrong. But in the latter half of the article, it mentioned the row house project for high-level surrendered pirates and the Elder residential complex project from the early days. Not only did it calculate the per capita square meters for both projects, but it also used a “supplementary piece” to write a reportage-style story about the housing of a naturalized citizen worker, a former pirate “manager” turned naval officer, and an Elder.

Although the language was imbued with the Propaganda Department’s characteristic “vibrant and upward” and “happy life” context, Jiang Shan could read between the lines.

The naturalized citizen worker was one thing, but the naval officer, a former manager under Zhu Cailao, lived in a spacious three-bedroom, two-living-room row house, living a harmonious life with his three concubines.

In contrast, the mentioned Elder Cheng Mo lived in a small one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment. Because the small room was used as Elder Cheng’s study and workshop, his maid slept in the living room.

From the perspective of its intention, no one could say there was anything wrong with this article: the Elder’s housing was not as spacious as that of a naturalized citizen officer and was on the same level as a naturalized citizen worker. This just showed the spirit of the Elders, who did not covet wealth and luxury, did not care about personal enjoyment, and lived a simple and frugal life in service of the people. This was as glorious and righteous as it could be.

But Jiang Shan knew that the same article, with the same intention, would have a different meaning to the Elders: an Elder’s housing was worse than a naturalized citizen officer’s! The naturalized citizen had three concubines, each with their own room, while the Elder’s only secretary had to sleep on a makeshift bed in the living room!

This article has venomous fangs, he thought to himself. It was obvious that the article was using the issue of housing construction to imply that the Executive Committee was not paying enough attention to the Elders’ lives, even less so than those early surrendered pirate “managers.”

If such an article had appeared on any other day, Jiang Shan might have thought he was being paranoid. But recently, the General Office had been circulating documents to a small circle to solicit opinions on the “restructuring of the maid school” and the “determination of the legal status of maids and the inheritance system.”

Jiang Shan clearly remembered that in the solicitation document for the maid school restructuring, it was mentioned that a large number of maids were currently languishing in the school due to a lack of sales, and that “the Elders’ demand for maids is not strong.”

It was a fact that the demand was not strong. Jiang Shan himself had no interest in buying a second maid, even though he knew the current maids were much better than before. But after such an article was published, the Elders who read it would easily make the connection that “the reason for the lack of demand is that the allocated housing is too small.”

He looked at the author’s name, a name he didn’t recognize: “Zisu.” But from the proficient use of vernacular Chinese to the journalistic writing skills, it was clear that this was the work of an Elder. It was most likely either Panpan or Cheng Yongxin. Panpan was a foreigner, and although her Chinese writing skills were not bad, Jiang Shan was familiar with her writing style. This must have been written by Cheng Yongxin.

Combined with the recent articles published by Shan Liang and others on the internal BBS, all involving the issues of maids and Elder housing, he now fully understood Cheng Yongxin’s intentions.

“You really thrive on chaos,” he said to himself.

Since the Lin Xiaoya case began, Jiang Shan had been “gently observing” Cheng Yongxin’s activities. Although they still had their weekly dates, the two never mentioned the hot topics of the Elder Council, seemingly avoiding them intentionally.

But this avoidance did not mean Jiang Shan condoned her activities. So far, he basically knew the outline of Cheng Yongxin’s activities. Until he saw this newspaper, he considered them to be within an acceptable range.

But today’s report was a signal. If her past activities were just minor intrigues, then today’s report declared the start of her formal offensive—not about feminism, democracy, or any other nonsense, but about seizing control of the public opinion front.

She was starting by writing for the most popular and authoritative Lingao Times, step by step seizing the right to speak.

Jiang Shan knew very well that although the Lingao Times was not classified, publicly circulated, and seemed unimportant, its role and status among the Elder Council’s media were the highest. Cheng Yongxin’s choice to start with this newspaper was clearly a well-thought-out move.

The PHS phone in the drawer suddenly rang. It was Wu Mu.

“This is Jiang Shan. Yes, I’ve seen it. Yes, there’s a hidden meaning. You think so too? It does have a bit of a strange flavor. Hehe,” Jiang Shan laughed. “I knew you guys knew everything. That’s right, she and I are indeed some kind of life partners, but not the like-minded kind. Yes, work is work, personal life is personal life. I’ve always been a person who separates public and private matters, and I prioritize the interests of the Elder Council. Alright, I understand.”

Jiang Shan put down the phone and let out a breath of foul air. He picked up the phone again. “Please ask Director Wang to come to my office.”

Just as Jiang Shan had thought, as soon as the article in the Lingao Times was published, “maid rights,” “marriage law,” “inheritance system,” and “housing” became sensitive words in the Elder Council, just like “democracy” and “freedom” in the old world. They were not only all over the BBS, but also in the teahouse at the farm, the cooperative guesthouse, and even the Elder canteen in the industrial zone, where Elders were loudly discussing them. And ever since Cheng Yongxin, through Sun Shangxiang, had leaked the possible abolition of the school to the life secretary circle, even Elders who had no connection to the Great Library faction or the Law Club were discussing this major issue concerning the rights of their pillow partners.

As this undercurrent surged through the Elder Council and various parties made their calculations, the man who had almost always been sitting in the office of the First Deputy Director of the General Administration of Political Security slowly paced into the area outside Xiao Zishan’s office.

“Zishan, your days have not been easy recently. Many comrades are choosing their dishes carefully.”

“Hehe, nothing escapes your nose, Director Xiong. You don’t come here for no reason. I heard your young Comrade Wu has been having some romantic luck recently. To win the favor of the proud Miss Carnation is truly not simple.”

The portly Zhao Manxiongsky sniffed warily. “Carnation, she looks elegant, but her heart is full of thorns. Besides, that Carnation is a fake. She knows she’s a substitute, yet she’s quite open about it, plotting some ‘matters of national concern.’ She has the air of a woman from Eileen Chang’s novels. It’s a pity our young Wu doesn’t understand her charms, haha.”

“Comrade Wu’s theoretical understanding is a bit lacking. He doesn’t quite grasp the great leader’s classic saying about ‘eating the sugar-coated bullet and shooting back the cannonball’,” Xiao Zishan said with a slight smile.

“Leaving that aside, Miss Flower did, after all, manage to leak your hidden intentions for the maid school through hearsay. This matter is not big, but it’s not small either. But the waters underneath are too muddy. If not handled well, and others stir it up, I’m afraid it will not only cause a great disturbance in the maid school, but the Elders will also find it hard to escape. The already distributed maids, whether the Executive Committee recognizes their status or not, have become an indispensable part of the Elders’ lives. And the maid school is their window to the new world. Abolishing the school will create a pillow talk storm that is enough to form a huge tempest in the Elder Council.”

“Abolishing the school, we never said that,” Xiao Zishan said, picking up his iconic large tea mug and taking a cow-like gulp of authentic West Lake Dragon Well tea. He rubbed his slightly thinning forehead. “We are just discussing a transformation, a transformation.”

Director Xiong took off his glasses and wiped them, pretending not to see Xiao Zishan’s unseemly way of drinking. “Brother Zishan, you and I are both experienced. Transformation is easy to say, but hard to do. So many state-owned enterprises back then, they said they were transforming, but what was the final result? They broke their backs trying to transform but never made it. All the money and equipment ended up in private pockets. The Map Head back then led the CCCP through such a happy transformation, and the result was the Great Russian Ascension and the birth of the Second Russian. It took them twenty years to recover.”

“Old Xiong, it seems you came prepared. Let’s exchange some ideas.” Although Xiao Zishan’s self-cultivation had improved considerably over the years, Director Xiong was no ordinary person, and his ideas still piqued his interest.

“Ideas, I have none,” Zhao Manxiong shrugged. “But I have someone in mind who is on par with Miss Flower. He might be able to break the deadlock. It just depends on whether you dare to use him.”

“Dare to use him?” Xiao Zishan immediately sat up straight. A person from Old Xiong’s pocket, and he was asking if he dared to use him? There was no such person among the naturalized citizens, so it must be an Elder. As the great steward of the Elder Council, he knew all the Elders. Even if not familiar, he could at least call them by name. How could there be someone he didn’t dare to use? Who was this person?

“Brother Zishan, you probably know this person too. I arrived late, but I heard he contributed quite a bit during the transmigration. Unfortunately, he’s a bit of a schizo. He caused some minor and major troubles after the transmigration and had his activities restricted. The Four of the Black, do you still remember?”