Chapter 1446 - Best Friends

"Fangcaodi?" Su Wan was surprised. Solving the male Elders' lower-body problems had cost the Council enormous resources in manpower and materials. Transferring a life secretary trained at such expense directly to Fangcaodi? That was an extraordinary loss. Once at Fangcaodi, she would become a "female student" under the Ministry of Education—no longer a "female slave" controlled by the General Affairs Office. Though still a "slave" belonging to the Council, her personal autonomy would, at least on paper, exceed that of a "death contract" life secretary.

"Exactly—I was also quite surprised." Mu Min said. "Spending so much to bring these life secretaries here, then actually letting one go? Would those men stand for it?"

"Do you know how many students are currently in 'pending assignment' status?" Dong Weiwei smiled bitterly.

"No."

"About three hundred. According to the General Affairs Office rating document, two-thirds of students in the school now are B-grade or above. Almost no D or E grades left."

"That many!"

"High quality and ample quantity—" Dong Weiwei suddenly realized that describing female students this way risked "objectifying" them and sounded self-deprecating. She paused, then continued. "Students haven't been distributed for quite some time."

Starting in 1630, when the first batch of life secretary students enrolled, small irregular intakes had arrived each year—ranging from a dozen to thirty per batch. Though B-grade or above students were fewer, demand in those hungry-and-thirsty days meant Elders weren't picky, so there was essentially no backlog. The handful of truly undistributable D and E-grade students—except for those retained at the school—were transferred to the Human Resources Department for reassignment.

After the Engine Operation began, student numbers surged. "Prime seedlings" poured in from quarantine camps in Shandong, Jeju, Taiwan, and Zhejiang—each batch ranging from twenty or thirty to nearly a hundred. Then came female servants from Europe, Korea, and Vietnam. The school's scale was expanded accordingly. Fortunately, when the General Affairs Office first planned the Elders' "human diversity museum," they had anticipated such ambitions and set aside surplus land. Teacher shortages caused by expansion were filled by previous-phase students who had failed to be distributed but had excelled academically.

The result of the large influx was a large backlog. Elder interest in maids had declined significantly, while limited residential space and heavy workloads further suppressed demand for second life secretaries. After all, time, energy, and physical stamina were finite. After the initial scramble to "solve existence," the reality was that most Elders had not built harems as originally imagined.

In recent months, except for the rare S-grade maids and European female slaves—still in short supply due to limited arrivals—the school faced a situation where graduates waited and no one came calling. Even A-grades couldn't find placements.

To address this, the General Affairs Office and Ministry of Education had instituted a rule: after completing six months of training, students entered a six-month "candidate" period during which they continued receiving vocational training suited to their abilities, remaining available for selection at any time.

If after six months no one claimed them, they were handed over to the Human Resources Department for assignment based on their vocational training. Those with good grades stayed on as teaching staff or transferred to Fangcaodi's vocational programs. The rest entered general distribution, losing their maid-student identity entirely.

"In that case, it's better not to be picked by those men at all. At least the future isn't bad—the administrative branch is desperately short-staffed. Doing anything outside beats being a professional mistress."

"The Executive Committee finally did something humane for once." Long isolation as the boss had made Dong Weiwei outspoken—enough to make Mu Min slightly nervous. Fortunately, she didn't elaborate. "But Lin Xiaoya's case is a bit special."

"How so?"

"According to the regulations, maid students transferring to Fangcaodi enter vocational programs. Only those with exceptional basic-subject grades can join the regular classes. But Lin Xiaoya was placed in the first year of higher primary school."

Maid School students were generally expected to reach primary-school-equivalent academic ability before graduation. At that level, entering higher primary school shouldn't have been an issue—except no such pathway existed in the placement regulations.

"How is that possible? Since nothing in the regulations allows it, who sponsors her tuition? Besides, the Higher Primary Department at Fangcaodi wouldn't accept her."

"With an Elder's recommendation, it becomes possible. And he also agreed to fully sponsor her tuition and living expenses."

"Rather generous. Who recommended her?"

"Yang Xinwu—an Elder teacher at Fangcaodi."

"So it was him."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Mu Min covered quickly. Yang Xinwu's status as a primary suspect wasn't something to discuss openly yet. "But unrelated Elders aren't allowed inside the school. How could he know Lin Xiaoya?"

"It's not that strange, actually," Dong Weiwei said. "His maid Yang Jihong was Lin Xiaoya's roommate. The two had an extremely close relationship—they were best friends. I imagine it was Yang Jihong's doing. Their friendship was really quite deep."

Mu Min nodded. The web of relationships around the victim was now fully connected. She opened Lin Xiaoya's file. In the black-and-white photograph, taken with a wet-plate glass process, Lin Xiaoya looked plain. Rated C—and according to Dong Weiwei, even A-grades were now going unplaced, making C-grades utterly superfluous.

Her file was quite brief, identical to most maid students'. A few thin pages recorded her native place, age, naturalization date, transcripts, physical examination form... and finally, a transfer of student status document. The Maid School's stamp was already affixed, but the receiving party's stamp line remained blank—forever blank.

"If Elders are allowed to recommend and sponsor students like this, couldn't they effectively bypass General Affairs Office procedures and select life secretaries at will?"

"Lin Xiaoya's candidate period had already expired. Technically, she was no longer a maid student." Dong Weiwei said. "Besides, she didn't qualify as 'best-selling merchandise'—sorry, I have to describe it that way."

"I see." Mu Min asked again. "May I see Yang Jihong's file?"

"No problem. The original is at the General Affairs Office, but we keep a copy here." Dong Weiwei rose, rummaged through a filing cabinet, and retrieved a document.

Yang Jihong's file was similarly unremarkable. Rated D. Two years older than Lin Xiaoya. Mu Min noticed her enrollment date was earlier than Lin Xiaoya's.

"Correct—she was from the second phase. Though placed rather late, she did get distributed. Lin Xiaoya was several phases later and remained unplaced even after her candidate period ended. Speaking of looks and grades, Lin Xiaoya was actually much better than Yang Jihong." Dong Weiwei sighed. "Beauties suffer unlucky fates, I suppose."

Mu Min had no interest in literary sighs. She recognized that the relationship between Yang Jihong and Lin Xiaoya was the critical angle for cracking this case. As for what role Yang Xinwu played between these two women—that was harder to say.

The theory that he coveted Lin Xiaoya's beauty didn't hold water. If even A-grade maids could be selected at will, Elder Yang had no need to fixate on a C-grade. Unless this particular girl satisfied some special need of his, making her indispensable—but even so, he could have followed normal procedures and simply purchased Lin Xiaoya outright. There was no need for this convoluted recommendation-and-sponsorship path.

Logically, Yang Xinwu's recommendation suggested that he personally had little interest in Lin Xiaoya—quite likely, he was merely honoring Yang Jihong's request. The homicide was very probably a matter between Yang Jihong and Lin Xiaoya, with minimal connection to Yang Xinwu.

The only thing that didn't make sense was why Yang Xinwu would issue a pass to bring Lin Xiaoya into the Elder residential area. If this too was Yang Jihong's request, then what had been Yang Jihong's purpose?

Common sense dictated that even best friends didn't typically recommend competitors to their own master.

"Was their relationship really that close?"

"It should be." Dong Weiwei said. "If you're concerned, I can find a few students to ask."

"I'd appreciate that."

Dong Weiwei rang the bell and gave her female secretary a few brief instructions. Then she turned back: "Anything else I can help with? Don't be polite—I want this murderer caught as much as you do."

"Can students here go out freely? Is there a curfew?"

"Students cannot normally leave—only for group social activities and organized visits. However, students like Lin Xiaoya, who have passed the candidate period and are about to transfer or enter distribution, may go out. They're allowed three leave requests per month, four hours each time. Curfew is 9 PM."

"What about staying out overnight or returning late?"

"Overnight absence gets one hundred strokes of the rattan cane and three days solitary in the dark room. If the student was slated for the regular class, she's downgraded to Human Resources for direct distribution instead. Late return or overstaying leave gets ten to sixty strokes depending on severity, plus one day in the dark room. During confinement, only relief rations and water are provided."

"Quite strict."

"Nothing can be accomplished without rules. I have no objection to corporal punishment per se—regarding its purpose, I do have reservations."

Mu Min recalled that Dong Weiwei was something of a Ming-dynasty enthusiast; she probably wasn't entirely opposed to such methods. No wonder the Executive Committee had chosen her as principal.

"Dong Weiwei found me several students who were relatively familiar with both Lin Xiaoya and Yang Jihong. But they offered nothing particularly useful. Yang Jihong was reticent; Lin Xiaoya was lively and energetic—considering their backgrounds, the former a farm girl and the latter from urban poverty, such personalities weren't surprising. By all accounts, Lin Xiaoya was a thoughtful and clever girl, usually full of smart ideas."

Su Wan observed: "Actually, girls like that suit those men's tastes better."

"Yes—it's a pity Lin Xiaoya can no longer prove her abilities." Mu Min said, deep regret threading through her words.