Chapter 440: Inside Information

“Who says it isn’t,” Qian Shuixie said, looking at the liquid in his Czech crystal carved red wine glass. “When class contradictions become prominent at home, what do you do? Start a war abroad to divert the masses’ attention—the old routine.”

This made Liu Xiang a little resentful, because he still supported the mainland campaign. To say it was to divert attention, there was indeed a little bit of that meaning in it, but the dignified Senate had been attacked by the Ming dignitaries. If they didn’t launch an attack and continued to bide their time and accumulate strength, wouldn’t they be pointing their fingers at the Executive Committee and cursing them just the same?

In short, those in power are inherently sinful. Liu Xiang now understood a little of the psychology of the self-proclaimed “soy sauce” Elders. He still remembered the attitude of that deputy director who had just been parachuted into Qiongshan, picking at his work—you are guilty for being a leader! You are wrong! We, the masses, are the most innocent and pure!

Fortunately, he changed his attitude after working for a period of time. Practical work is still the best way to train a person.

“This is also a situation forced upon us,” Liu Xiang said, taking a large gulp of beer. “If we don’t launch an attack, the Executive Committee won’t be able to explain itself.”

“That’s also true,” Qian Shuixie nodded. “But this matter is a professional match for our Special Reconnaissance Team.”

Liu Xiang didn’t understand again. According to his understanding, attacking a large city like Guangzhou was no different from the Pearl River campaign of that year, with a combined land and sea attack, and also artillery. Although the Special Reconnaissance Team was useful, it was only for “decapitation” and “reconnaissance” work. They couldn’t be asked to climb ladders to attack the city.

Perhaps seeing Liu Xiang’s confusion, Qian Shuixie laughed loudly. “My dear brother, do you still think attacking Guangzhou is as complicated as when we burned the Five Goats Posthouse back then?”

“Then what else can we do?”

Qian Shuixie stood up and poured himself some more mixed fruit brandy. “The current Guangzhou is actually no different from being undefended. As long as we’re willing, we can have a party in Guangzhou tomorrow. There are three companies of troops and a dozen cannons stationed in the Guangzhou Great World alone.”

“Isn’t this tantamount to preparing for war long ago?”

“Not really,” Qian Shuixie shook his head. “Big brother said that there was originally a debate within the Executive Committee about whether to attack Guangzhou. The focus was still on the trade issue with the Ming—Si Kaide, that capitulationist, was always afraid that a war with the Ming would cause a trade interruption—of course, he doesn’t object now. As for sending a few companies over, it was mainly for guard duty and to act as a construction team. The investment in this Great World is not small.”

No way! Liu Xiang cursed in his heart! “I’ve been designing the actions in Guangzhou according to the underground government plan! Now this is great. Is this the rhythm of starting all over again?”

Liu Xiang thought gloomily in his heart: It’s not good to not be at the center of power! The channels for small talk are lacking!

As if on cue, just as the two of them were talking like they were engaged in underground work, the sound of Qian Xuanhuang’s footsteps broke the mysterious atmosphere.

“Sir!” It was Qian Xuanhuang’s voice. “The people from the General Office are here. They said they are the orderlies and guards assigned to Elder Liu in Lingao. The official letter is with me.”

Qian Shuixie sat up straight and said loudly, “Please have them come up.”

Liu Xiang took the official letter and looked at it. It was indeed stamped with the seal of the General Office. He asked Qian Xuanhuang to bring the people in—the official letter also had a special handwritten note saying that something was to be handed over to Liu Xiang in person.

“Hello, sir! Guards Lin Dengwan (leaderone), Di Bage (debug), orderly Ye Siman (yesman), reporting to you!” The three of them gave a very stylish self-introduction as soon as they arrived.

“Hello, sir! This is a package designated by the Executive Committee for you to sign for personally!” Another young man with a liaison officer’s cloth badge from the Executive Committee took out a package and handed it to Liu Xiang. The kraft paper envelope was stamped with a red seal: Top Secret. Liu Xiang opened it and saw another thick set of materials: “Historical Materials on the Liberation of Shanghai and the Campaign to Suppress and Eliminate Counter-revolutionaries,” with a receipt attached. Liu Xiang took out a pen from his breast pocket, filled out the receipt and handed it to the liaison officer. The energetic young man then took his leave.

He turned back and chatted with the three of them for a while, joking about Di Bage’s rare surname, and then sent them outside to wait—as a rule, the Flying Cloud did not receive anyone other than Elders and their female servants.

“It seems we’re really going to open fire!” After it was quiet again, Liu Xiang said to Qian Shuixie, patting the Historical Materials in his hand.

Seeing Liu Xiang’s obvious helplessness and anxiety, Qian Shuixie understood with a little thought—this guy probably didn’t know from the beginning that this was going to be an armed recovery. He probably thought it was an underground government like in Leizhou.

After chatting a little more, Liu Xiang indeed expressed with great sorrow that he had always thought it was an underground government and had never expected that the Guangzhou direction would be an armed takeover. On the one hand, Liu Xiang was eager to study the newly arrived Historical Materials. On the other hand, Qian Shuixie was also in a hurry to contact the Ogura—the sun was about to set, and that girl Duoduo had been out all day. She was still not back at this hour, which was really worrying.

At this moment, Qian Xuanhuang came up. “Sir, the port called. The young lady’s boat has just passed the battery monitoring point…”

“I’ll go right away!” Qian Shuixie stood up abruptly. “She’s rebelling! Does she have any sense of crisis at all!” He quickly apologized to Liu Xiang with a smile. “I have to go over first. My brother and sister-in-law are busy, and that girl Duoduo…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You go ahead,” Liu Xiang said quickly.

“Xuanhuang, you serve Mr. Liu first. Start the barbecue.”

“No hurry, no hurry,” Liu Xiang said, but he was actually very hungry.

Qian Duoduo was of course fine. It was just that the girl was finally not satisfied with crawling along the coast. Today, on the Ogura, she had ordered the boat to sail to Xuwen in the name of the captain. The two “oldest” girls in the girls’ commando, Little Lin and Little Zhang, felt that there were more patrol boats in the strait recently, and the route to Xuwen was a straight up and down line, so it was hard to get lost. So they argued with Qian Duoduo a little, made a few agreements, and finally agreed.

The boatswain on the boat was a retired sailor who had participated in the naval battle of Xuwen. He was specially hired by Qian Shuixie and was also familiar with the Xuwen route. The boat went and returned without any danger. It was just that on the return trip, Qian Duoduo insisted on going to the sea area where the Gu family pirates were once surrounded and annihilated to “pay her respects,” which delayed the time.

After Qian Shuixie spoke with the Ogura on the PHS radio and knew that the Ogura was about to enter the port, he personally went to the anchorage in the park to “pick up” the people. After Qian Shuixie left the restaurant, Liu Xiang began to study the Historical Materials, comparing it with the Compilation of Conditions as he read. Qian Xuanhuang came in from time to time to bring a few plates of grilled seafood, meat skewers, and vegetables, and refilled his beer. More than an hour passed without him noticing, and it was dark—Guo Ling’er was already in the cabin on the boat, accompanying the little girl to sleep, and had no time to come over and serve him.

When pregnant, you can’t have sex. During breastfeeding, because there is no period to signal, it is easy to get pregnant again by accident, so you can’t have sex either. After weaning, the baby starts to recognize people, and having sex is also very inconvenient. But many Elders who think with their lower body, especially some who treat their life secretaries as toys, don’t care about these things at all. Therefore, in the past few years, there have been several incidents of miscarriage due to sex during pregnancy, or accidental pregnancy due to sex during breastfeeding, which made Ai Beibei, Shi Niaoren, and other people in the medical circle furious. Finally, under the operation of Du Wen and others, a “campaign to establish good living habits” was launched, and sex education pamphlets were distributed to every Elder.

Just as this matter ended, Shan Liang and others, who had been criticizing Du Wen and the health department’s “education campaign” as “trampling on the rights of the Elders and interfering in the lives of the Elders,” made trouble again, demanding that the Executive Committee provide a second secretary for free to all Elders and expand their living space, so as to solve the problem of the prospective fathers’ and new fathers’ five girls going on duty without a license again. After all, not all Elders bought a second maid. For example, the money was spent, for example, on building their own private villas, for example, being controlled by someone… This matter dragged on for a long time and there is still no result. However, many Elders who lead their own teams have already developed their own “nth secretary” in their own backyard—unlicensed. But is this unlicensed one considered a mistress, a life secretary, or something else? In short, things are getting more and more troublesome.

Liu Xiang also wanted to develop a second secretary, but that Lu Cheng, whom he was not willing to get close to, always hung around him, which basically blocked the “path of advancement” for others. He couldn’t just tell this Mrs. Lu to her face that he wasn’t interested in her. As a result, the entire “best excuse period” passed and Liu Xiang was unable to “take in a new person.” He could only spend his time and energy after work making ship models with a few craftsmen from the timber factory. He never expected that this would become a model case. When Du Wen wrote an article criticizing a certain group of Elders who could only think with their lower body, she specifically used Liu Xiang as a positive example, which made Liu Xiang want to cry but had no tears. Of course, when Guo Ling’er, who was responsible for reading the newspaper to Liu Xiang, read this passage, her eyes were obviously full of tears, and her reputation soared from full admiration to fanaticism. She immediately bolted the door and then… did this and that…

Liu Xiang, who had been sitting for an hour, was completely unaware of how much time had passed—after all, the sitting skills of IT migrant workers are very strong. He had just finished reading a paper on “The Initial Attempt of New China to Consolidate Urban Political Power” and was about to turn the page when he heard Qian Shuixie’s scolding and Qian Duoduo’s rebuttal from outside.

The argument between the uncle and niece grew louder and louder as it moved onto the deck. Qian Duoduo was tanned, with a sun hat on her head. Her sailor shirt was stained with water and some salt.