Chapter 39: A Gathering of Turnips, Part One

Early the next morning, the five dazed and groggy men were stuffed into a cabin, and after a forced tour around Great Ming's Hangzhou City, a certain old man surnamed Xia who called himself the Company CEO began impatiently "assigning work" to this bunch of dullards. Liu Zhe and one fellow sufferer were assigned to operate the newly purchased sand ship, while the other three were dumped wholesale into the Infrastructure Department.

The five members of what would later be self-mockingly dubbed "Weak Intellect Phase One" thus joined the revolutionary work amidst a whirlwind of bizarre and inconceivable events.

Though everyone got into the swing of things at different speeds, without exception they all underwent a mental journey from utter bewilderment to non-violent non-cooperation, and finally to the realization that they were now in the front row. In short, the process was a bit tortuous, but the outcome was the same for all.

There was no other choice — right now, no one in Tangzhuang had any rights, and the Great Ming authorities wouldn't stand up for transmigrators. Anyone truly unable to accept it could go jump in the river — the Qiantang River was right outside the door. Yet after all this time, not a single one had jumped.

Just as Liu Zhe stood at the bow, facing the sea wind and sinking once more into recollection, someone suddenly bumped his shoulder: "What are you thinking about, so lost in thought?"

Bai Hongda, former seaman, fellow sufferer of the same cohort. Running boats was right up Bai Hongda's professional alley, so he had been assigned to pilot the ship from the very start.

Hearing the question, Liu Zhe turned his head to glance at the dark, skinny Bai Hongda, similarly dressed in fisherman's garb and incessantly fiddling with a handheld depth sounder, and replied irritably: "Thinking about my poor wife, what else is there to think about."

"Don't give me that, what wife do you have? Xia Xianze specifically wanted bachelors, alright." At this, Bai Hongda let out a hehe smile: "But that's fine, later on we brothers can each buy a few proper maidservants first. The Great Ming Dynasty, heh, I like it."

"A few maidservants?" Liu Ke heard this and sneered: "Do you think Xia is the type to spend public funds to assign you maidservants?"

"Bullshit, he just came a few days earlier and occupied the pit first, but in the end he's still one vote. Right now there are eighteen of us. Besides, the silver was all scraped together by Cao Zong, not his, Xia Xianze's. I'm going to raise this matter when we get back today, and I'd like to see who isn't willing to buy maidservants."

"Huh, the way you put it, it actually sounds quite promising?"

"Ah, you've just been dulled by the army, always thinking about following commands. Xia is just a bandit king, that CEO hat of his is self-appointed! Cao Zong merely acquiesced to it. Bah, if he dares to stop everyone today, we'll let him witness what democracy is on the spot. Hey, don't you chicken out when the time comes. Raise the hand of democracy, and the bed-warming maidservant spreads the bed, got it?"

A certain person's eyes lit up upon hearing this, nodding repeatedly with a resolute expression: "Got it, I really got it, just watch me!"

Amidst the cheerful chatter of the two men, the square-bowed, square-sterned sand ship beneath their feet seemed to grow livelier as well, cleaving waves and steering with shifted sails, heading all the way toward Tangzhuang.

Tangzhuang today was no longer as bleak as it once was. In the river fork at the entrance, dozens of laborers covered in yellow mud and wearing only loincloths were enthusiastically dredging the river bend. Along the straight line between the river bend and Tangzhuang, another group was digging a half-meter-wide channel. Beyond the back wall of distant Tangzhuang, bamboo and timber scaffolding could be seen erected, with craftsmen climbing up and down — a scene of bustling activity.

The sand ship slowly docked a hundred meters from the river fork.

Three empty-hulled boats were moored ahead; the boatmen were chanting work songs as they lifted long slabs of blue hemp stone from the hold. On the shore, porters drenched in sweat used wooden wheelbarrows to push the slabs of hemp stone toward the construction site.

Once the ship was securely moored, Liu Zhe waved over the shipmaster to give a few instructions, then jumped ashore with Bai Hongda and headed into the estate.

The front of Tangzhuang was also bustling at this moment. Two men dressed as advisers sat there keeping accounts, with three or five knife-carrying henchmen behind them. Various "Cabinet Heads" were crowding around the advisers to settle the day's wages. Liu Zhe and the other man knew they were big and brawny, somewhat resembling bandits, and it wasn't wise to linger in crowded places, so they silently ducked their heads and walked into the estate.

Since the backyard was under construction, the transmigrators had been staying in the side courtyard lately. When the two entered, they found everyone present, gathered around two square tables for a meal. Even the usually elusive Chief Executive Dong Cao was there, in a Western suit, T-shirt, and ponytail, vigorously attacking a plate of large yellow croaker with his chopsticks.

The people at these two tables had a very Impressionist style: a monk draped in a kasaya with a three-millimeter buzz cut; a Daoist priest whose Daoist robe and fake hair bun were tossed aside, wearing an undershirt; a tonsured ascetic with hair neither long nor short and a face full of horizontal flesh; plus people like Liu Zhe with blue cloth wrapped around their heads and front-buttoned short jackets — an atmosphere of peace and harmony, a bizarre visual style.

Seeing Cao Chuan eating fish, Liu Zhe and Bai Hongda hurried over to greet him — any transmigrator who had figured out their situation in the aftermath now sought to cozy up to Chief Executive Dong. Who else was the sole controller of the means of livelihood? If they didn't build a good relationship now, what would they do when they wanted to watch a new anime episode someday?

Cao Chuan was now also very satisfied with his various employees. Everyone's morale was good, and their ideological transformations were swift. Xia Xianze's screening theory was spot on: a broke bachelor who would run to a barbaric wilderness, willing to deal with war, chaos, AIDS, kidnapping, and black uncles just to sell a few pairs of jeans, would not refuse to go to another barbaric wilderness to become a man above others.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help silently giving Xia several thumbs-ups.

It was nearly dark by the time everyone had barely finished off two tables of purely natural cuisine, each patting their bellies, utterly satisfied. Of course, Ming people would not understand the transmigrators' obsession with wild large yellow croaker.

Seeing that everyone had eaten about enough, Xia Xianze began calling everyone inside.

The transmigrators had never quite adjusted to the cramped, dim room layouts of the ancients, so they usually spent time outdoors. Today was a special case; everyone walked into the main hall, squeezing and jostling for quite a while before settling down.

With a few popping sounds, four antique-style solar lanterns lit up inside the gloomy main hall. The soft white light illuminated eighteen faces, and the atmosphere at this moment was somewhat eerie — wasn't this exactly how conspirators throughout history seemed to hold their meetings?

Xia Xianze looked left and right, cleared his throat, and began to speak: "Quiet down, everyone. Ahem, at present we are in the pioneering stage, and many newcomers will need to get up to speed quickly later on, so for now we'll continue operating under a corporate model. Once we establish a base in the future, we can all take our time discussing the grand enterprise of nation-building. Hmm, we've never been able to get everyone together, and today, with Cao Zong also present, we'll formally hold a meeting to catch up on some homework. Ahem, item one: from today onward, this Transmigration Company of ours is officially open for business! Everyone, applause!"

A burst of somewhat uncoordinated applause rang out. After a quick scan, Xia firmly memorized the two people who had lazily not clapped, then said: "Next is item two: I'll first give everyone a summary."