Chapter 619: The Assembly (IV)

Han Bo's proposal on immigration struck a chord with the Transmigrators in attendance.

In stark contrast to the Old World, where people were everywhere and college grads scrubbed public toilets, the power-holders of the New World, faced with an ever-expanding administrative, scientific, and industrial apparatus, felt more and more acutely the painful shortage of "our own people."

They clearly possessed the most advanced guiding theories and scientific knowledge, yet their daily dealings were with illiterate Natives separated by who-knows-how-many generations of chasm. This predicament of having strength but nowhere to apply it often left the Transmigrators, their minds brimming with "grand ambitions" and "time waits for no one," utterly dejected and despondent.

After Han Bo finished his concluding remarks, everyone understood there was only one way to resolve this matter: reopen the Immigration Channel.

And the key figure in reopening the channel was, naturally, the Cao Emperor, sitting in his private redwood booth.

Faced with the masses—the New World's ruling group—clamoring to reopen the immigration route, Cao Chuan did not panic.

Probably because he had long known such a proposal was coming, Cao Chuan, under the weight of countless hopeful gazes, rose expressionlessly. Before walking out the door, he waved a hand and tossed out an ambiguous line: "This matter carries no small risk. I'll think it over for a couple of days."

"Whew—" The attendees let out a long breath: as long as he didn't reject it on the spot, that was good enough!

Everyone was well aware that immigration from the Old World carried extremely high risks. So if the channel were to be reopened now, only Cao Chuan himself could assess the risks and decide. On this matter, the Transmigrators were passive recipients; what they had feared most was actually Cao Chuan flatly refusing.

As it now seemed, there was still hope.

After the Cao Emperor left, a few more inconsequential proposals followed. After this, the meeting adjourned. Yao Jianshe, who had been merely making up the numbers in the audience, hurried off to find Li Dazui.

Yao Jianshe knew Li Dazui. Previously, Yao Jianshe had been commissioned to bring several troupes down south from the halls of Tianjin, injecting some "Northern-style flair" into Li Dazui's casino ventures, so relations between the two sides were decent.

As the chief of the sycophants, Li Dazui's whereabouts were certainly easy to track. Yao Jianshe soon found a group in the Imperial Palace Mess Hall preparing to eat dinner, Li Dazui among them.

Upon learning the purpose of Yao Jianshe's visit, Li Dazui first pulled the man down to sit beside him, then leaned over the long, white-clothed dining table and dragged over an oak barrel. Inside was Tainan-produced barley Black Beer.

With a loud "CLANG," a large enamel mug full of beer was slammed down in front of Yao Jianshe, its surface still printed with worker-peasant-soldier motifs and the slogan "Labor Is Most Glorious." "Consider this your welcome dinner. Down it, then we'll talk."

"These guys really are overbearing, starting the drinking before the cold dishes are even served!"

Yao Jianshe, accustomed to being a big shot in the North with power over life and death, found that upon "returning home," he really couldn't hold his own; anyone could push him around.

The next moment, Yao Jianshe smiled wryly, lifted the enamel mug, and helplessly clinked it against Li Dazui's, drinking it all in one go.

"Now that hits the spot!"

Having downed the beer, Li Dazui grabbed a napkin, wiped his mouth, then threw an arm around Yao Jianshe's shoulders and whispered with a sly grin: "Old Yao, though we've rarely met, I do owe you one. Now that we've shared a drink, we're brothers!"

Truth be told, Yao Jianshe didn't actually have a bad impression of Li Dazui and his ilk.

The group lining both sides of the long dining table before him, led by Li Dazui, were all die-hard Royalist Party members. They were passionate about revivalism, social superiority, and noble lineage, hoping to establish a three-tiered social structure of "Emperor—Nobility—Commoners," making them the rightmost faction on the Transmigrators' internal political spectrum.

Yao Jianshe himself had no such fervor for political participation; he was a realist. In his view, although society would inevitably evolve into the democratic form of later generations one day, for now, at least within his own lifetime, the social framework with the Cao Emperor on the throne was certain to endure.

That being the case, why oppose the general trend? He was one of the founding elders, a born noble from the very moment of Crossing Over!

"True that. I've always wanted a chance to get closer to you brothers, but my workplace is just too far away—out of reach!"

"Hahaha!" Hearing Yao Jianshe say this, Li Dazui patted his shoulder with a gratified look. "Eat first. We'll talk details after."

Soon, the long dining table was laden with dinner. With society's productive forces steadily rising, the Transmigrators' table was now fully stocked with chicken, duck, fish, and meat, along with all manner of fresh and exotic seafood.

Yao Jianshe, who dominated the North, had attended countless social engagements. Faced with a dinner like today's, he gladly joined in—it had been a long time since he'd eaten and chatted about all sorts of Crossing Over topics with fellow Transmigrators without any reservations.

The raucous, indulgent dinner lasted two or three hours before ending, with both host and guests thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Finally, well-fed, tipsy, and content, Yao Jianshe relocated to what Li Dazui called his office, intending to drink a bit more.

The duty secretary soon brought in tea and liquor.

Yao Jianshe had just sat down and taken a sip of tea when he saw Li Dazui pull several cartons of cigarettes from a large, locked iron filing cabinet and pile them onto the coffee table. "Pick one for yourself."

These were clearly imported cigarettes. There were perks to being a sycophant; Li Dazui was routinely responsible for distributing various personal "gifts" from the Cao Emperor.

Yao Jianshe's eyes lit up. "Whoa, Heavenly Peace, huh? As expected of General Manager Cao's ability. This brand has a good auspicious ring to it. I'll take this one."

Satisfied, he placed the carton of Heavenly Peace by his side, already planning how to divvy it up once he returned to the North.

But then, the unexpected main event arrived. Li Dazui first filled both their cups with tea, then tore open a pack of Yellow Crane Tower cigarettes to offer one. Just as Yao Jianshe leaned in to light it, Li Dazui said with a beaming smile: "Old Yao, don't you feel that General Manager Cao is a bit... half-hearted about our enterprise here?"

"A bit." Having drunk quite a bit today, Yao Jianshe was off guard and casually voiced his own thoughts: "It's all so on-and-off, and he's somewhat indifferent to the issues the masses care about. Hard to serve, eh!"

The moment the words left his mouth, alarm bells shrieked in the mind of Yao Jianshe, who had long conducted subversive work behind enemy lines. He suddenly realized he'd probably gotten too relaxed in the old nest today, daring to speak ill of the Emperor in front of a sycophant. "Damn it, I'm done for now!"

Just as Yao Jianshe opened his mouth, intending to say something to patch things up, he was caught off guard when Li Dazui nodded repeatedly, expressing complete empathy with his remarks: "Right, right. This 'fishing for three days, drying the net for two' approach always ends up affecting the work, after all."

Unable to tell whether Li Dazui had genuinely lost his mind and was badmouthing his own master, or was simply dangling a straight hook to fish for him, Yao Jianshe was left speechless and tongue-tied.

Yet Li Dazui seemed utterly oblivious to Yao Jianshe's abnormal reaction. He shook his head to himself and sighed deeply: "Ah, but then again, everything has to be about matching responsibility with authority, right? The way things are now, if you ask me, you can't blame General Manager Cao. How much of what was promised back then has actually been delivered? If it were me, working without getting my bonus, I wouldn't be happy either! Don't you agree, Old Yao?"

Yao Jianshe's tipsiness had long since evaporated completely. Though he hadn't yet digested the massive amount of information Li Dazui had just released, his rich life experience gave him a vague sense that a colossal crisis was bearing down on him. "Could it be that the scripts from the history books are about to land on my head so soon? My life and property are under threat here—where are the police uncles?"

After a long while, having figured out his current predicament, Yao Jianshe understood he couldn't dodge this and would apparently have to state his position. "Damn it, why is it so bloody hard just to smoke a Kouwai cigarette?"

He coughed, took a sip of tea to wet his throat, and asked cautiously: "Brother, give it to me straight. What does General Manager Cao want to do?"

"Assume direct rule."

"Just as I damn well figured!" Yao Jianshe sucked in a sharp breath. The next moment, he nervously scanned the nanmu wood screen in the corner of the office. Only after determining that no armored soldiers could be hidden behind it did he stammer: "I, personally, have no objection to this. But this matter mainly depends on General Manager Xia and the others, right? Someone of my rank isn't high enough, and I work far away—I can't really help much!"

"Hahaha." Li Dazui threw his head back and laughed. "What kind of help were you thinking of offering? Leading the Yan Yun Iron Cavalry to Panyu to stage a coup?"

As if seeing right through Yao Jianshe's thoughts, Li Dazui patted his shoulder and said reassuringly: "It's nowhere near that level. Don't imagine General Manager Xia to be so narrow-minded. He and General Manager Cao already hashed things out long ago."

Yao Jianshe found it hard to believe. "Really?"

"Go ask Old Xia yourself first thing tomorrow morning!" Li Dazui said impatiently. "It's just because you're so far away that your intel is slow. Actually, pretty much everyone who should know about this already knows, and everyone's quite looking forward to it."

"Holy crap, you scared the hell out of me!" In an instant, Yao Jianshe went from ice-cold to blazing hot, letting out a huge sigh of relief. "If it's all been hashed out, then what the hell was that whole act you put on for me today?"

Li Dazui let out a Hehe Smile. "Well, orders came down from 'the top' to do the work thoroughly. You're more or less the representative of the Northern group, after all. When the time comes, shouting a few cheers and helping fill the crowd is a necessity, right?"

"Uh... so that's how it is..."

Yao Jianshe, a man shrewd to the very marrow, understood everything in that moment: So they just want to stage a script where everyone stands up and applauds in unison...

The next moment, Yao Jianshe tucked the carton of Heavenly Peace under his arm and slowly rose. At that moment, Yao Jianshe's face glistened with an oily sheen—no, a sacred radiance. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was a newly sworn-in Holy Knight.

With a solemn expression, he slowly raised his hand and declared, one deliberate word at a time: "On behalf of my colleagues in the North, I hereby make this solemn pledge: We firmly support General Manager Cao in returning to the country to take charge of the overall situation, and in working together with everyone to build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, and harmonious New World."

Having delivered this crucial speech, Yao Jianshe reached out and snagged a carton of Yellow Crane Tower from the coffee table, tucked it under his other arm, and swaggered out the door.

Unexpectedly, just as he was leaving, Li Dazui shouted from behind: "Hehe, what a fine, loyal dog you are!"

Yao Jianshe glanced back with a smile. "Democracy comes at a price, doesn't it!"