Chapter 1124 - The Wan Brothers
Wan Lihui scrubbed himself thoroughly several times, generously using the natural herbal perfume distilled in the Agricultural Committee laboratory, washing himself from head to toe until he had finally suppressed the field manure smell he had accumulated over the past month.
As soon as the New Year of 1632 passed by the old calendar, Wan Lihui—Heaven and Earth Consortium's main agricultural technician—had begun touring and providing guidance to state farms and Heaven and Earth Consortium clients across the newly naturalized counties of northern Qiong. He had 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 on several hundred mu of prime land at the Agricultural Committee's directly-managed farm in Meitaiyang. Beginning in 1632, the superior rice strains brought from the old timeline were being formally distributed.
Due to limited seed quantities, the new rice strain was currently distributed only to state farms and Heaven and Earth Consortium clients in Lingao and the other three counties.
The work was exhausting, but Wan Lihui felt reborn 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, the hopeful faces of farmers and farmhands filled with new expectations—his heart surged with irrepressible emotion.
He recalled his past—his first visit to a Heaven and Earth Consortium client's home in Lingao—the rural desolation, the atmosphere of neglect and indifference, the intense loneliness that had almost made him give up.
Now, even in "new territories" like Qiongshan and Wenchang, the countryside exuded a completely new, vigorously rising atmosphere. Water conservancy and road-building projects were underway everywhere. Groups of laborers worked under the sun. Newly-built farm buildings rose. Everywhere was vitality and renewal.
Land, grain, and farmers—Wan Lihui had never felt so close to all this before. He had never found agriculture so beautiful, so compelling as a career. Originally, he had chosen the Agricultural Committee only because it was the sole skill he and his brother possessed, planning to use it as a springboard for advancement.
Carrying these fine feelings, he finished his bath, changed into clean clothes, and stepped out. Whistling all the way, he headed toward the plantation—he was going to South Sea Coffee House to enjoy life and to meet his brother, whom he had not seen for quite some time.
As material conditions continued to improve, South Sea Coffee House's petty-bourgeois atmosphere kept escalating. Not only had it expanded, but the ambiance improved constantly. Under Wu Nanhai and his wife's deliberate management, it had become a sacred place of leisure and entertainment in the Committee members' minds. Though busy with work, Committee members still liked to bring their life secretaries here.
For this reason, South Sea Coffee House had added private booths for better privacy, and also opened private rooms exclusively for Committee members—not for Committee members and their life secretaries to canoodle, but to provide private space for small-scale discussions. After all, many discussions were not suitable to hold in front of maids.
Upon entering, Wan Lihui spotted his brother sitting by a carved wooden window, head bowed, drinking tea. After months apart, his brother had grown more robust, his skin dark—increasingly resembling a real man.
Wan Lihui plopped down across from his brother and snapped his fingers at a busy maid-uniformed server. "The usual."
Moments later, a cup of coffee and a plate of plantation-greenhouse watermelon slices arrived. Wan Lihui took a satisfying sip of coffee, then looked up to find his brother seemed off—somewhat distracted and unsettled.
"What's wrong? Did someone bully you?"
"I'm homesick. I miss Mom and Dad."
"Sigh. Didn't we buy huge life insurance policies before we left? That's enough for our parents to live comfortably in their old age."
"Why didn't you bring Mom and Dad with us?"
"I wanted to! But this was a risky venture—would you dare let our parents take that risk with us? What if something went wrong? Besides, they're getting older. Can the medical conditions here compare to the old timeline? Enough already—Mom and Dad will be fine there."
Seeing his brother still hesitant, Wan Lihui quickly changed the subject. "Are you doing well in Lingao?"
"Fine, just boring." Wan Lihuang looked listless. "Same old work every day. Nothing new."
Because of his relatively young age, Wu Nanhai generally did not send Wan Lihuang on trips outside Lingao; he mostly worked locally.
Seeing his low mood and signs of weariness, Wan Lihui felt somewhat anxious. Suffering a little and working hard were nothing to fear—what he feared most was low morale. Once feelings of boredom set in, nothing would go well.
Staying in Lingao all the time was not ideal either, he thought. His brother was young and restless, at an age that craved action. Rather than staying here doing repetitive work day after day, better to send him out to handle things independently. It would train him and build political capital for the future.
For an outside posting, Qiongshan or Wenchang would not be interesting—though those places also needed agricultural technicians, they were not considered new development areas, just routine work. It would have to be Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Jeju.
With his reasonably solid agricultural geography, Wan Lihui knew that Hong Kong, though safe and close, had little agricultural development value. Hong Kong Island itself had no agricultural worth. A few Agricultural Corps companies had been sent to the Kowloon peninsula for reclamation, and the Agricultural Committee had also dispatched guidance personnel. Though it was in the Pearl River estuary, it was also Committee-controlled territory under heavy guard—if calculating merit points like in a game, Hong Kong clearly provided less than Taiwan or Jeju.
Wan Lihui thought Jeju was still safer of the two—though farther away, Jeju had no malaria problem. Taiwan's development could not avoid this hurdle; reports of development personnel contracting malaria there kept coming back.
Jeju's latitude was similar to Jiangsu's, with a temperate climate and no major hostile threats—the Yi Court was a joke in combat. According to news from Jeju, the local resistance was even more pathetic. Moreover, not a single agricultural specialist had been sent there yet. If his brother went, it would be like having a private dungeon opened just for him—merit points would rack up fast.
Thinking this, he studied his brother more closely. His brother had grown into a strapping young man. Nearly four years had passed since D-Day in 1628. He would soon turn twenty.
At twenty, in ancient times, a man would already be married with children, shouldering the responsibility of supporting a family.
To build enough presence in the Committee, one had to work hard and push forward.
"Xiao-huang, have you bought a maid yet?" he suddenly asked.
"No. Didn't you say I was too young to buy one?" Wan Lihuang replied.
"Buy one. I'll give you the money." Wan Lihui said. "Qiming Star reports that a batch of Shandong refugees will arrive in Lingao soon. There'll definitely be newly-selected maids among them. You didn't register for the lottery last time or buy a maid, so this time sign up—you'll get priority. Go pick an A-rank or better."
Wan Lihuang was somewhat surprised—his brother had always opposed him buying a maid. Of course, his brother had not bought one himself either.
"Alright, I'll sign up tomorrow. Money's no problem—I haven't really used my allowance, salary, or subsidies." Wan Lihuang said, then asked: "Brother, when are you going to make things official with that Fu Xi?"
"No rush on that. Fu Xi is a bit young and still studying at Fangcao Ground. If I proposed marriage now, it would look bad—there'd be suspicions of taking advantage of a female student. But I definitely want her. I plan to make this a model case—pity Xun Suji already beat me to it. But his is a rental landlord situation, which doesn't fit the Executive Committee's spirit. Fu Buer is a new-style commercial landlord—the type we'll strongly support going forward."
"I think Fu Yijin isn't bad. A bit dark-skinned, but nice figure," Wan Lihuang said. "When you were on tour, Fu Yijin attended a training class at the plantation. I think she's a good person—very gracious."
"Is that so?" Wan Lihui thought of Fu Yijin's appearance and agreed she was not bad either. But he could not spare thoughts for this now. He brought up the idea of Wan Lihuang applying for a Jeju posting.
"…You're finding work in Lingao boring now. Why not just go to Jeju and do something there? They're short on Committee members in the agricultural sector. If you go, you'll be valued right away—much better than toiling here in obscurity."
(End of Chapter)