Chapter 1466 - Bright Spot
It wasn't until the National Army cooperated with the police to conduct several rounds of crackdowns—executing a batch of criminals for "sabotaging strategic communication lines" and arresting hundreds of men, women, old, and young for labor reform—that this wave was finally curbed.
Just as the trend of wire theft was halted under severe laws, Shao Zong suffered the biggest blow since his transmigration. He had originally set his sights on a maidservant trainee at the maidservant school, preparing to take her as a "second domestic secretary." However, when housing was allocated, he had underestimated his physiological needs and bought a small unit, leaving no place to put this newcomer—the existing maidservant's room was already small enough, fitting only a single bed and a wardrobe.
Of course, swapping in a bunk bed in the maidservant's room or simply setting up a cot in the living room wasn't impossible; quite a few transmigrators with second secretaries made do this way. But Transmigrator Shao Zong had always been concerned about the quality of life of his staff. Just as he was hesitating on the most appropriate solution, this trainee was bought by someone else.
Of course, no one could be blamed for this—neither the school administration nor the transmigrator who bought his intended knew his intentions. The most inexplicable part was that in a time when maidservants were slow-moving stock and hundreds of A-grade maidservants went ignored for years, such a low-probability event actually occurred.
Since she had been bought, there was naturally no reason to ask for her back. Student Shao Zong had to swallow his disappointment, and consequently lost interest in expanding his team.
Starting from this dramatic event, combined with the hardship of rotating construction site shifts, Shao Zong gradually changed his attitude, becoming—in his own words—a member of the "We're Screwed Party." Shan Liang frequently mocked this guy's petit bourgeois weakness: a self-provisioning 50-cent party member turned to the other extreme just because his enthusiasm wasn't valued by the "Executive Committee," stopping just short of shouting at the Executive Committee gates every day: "Chief Wen, Lord Du, I'm Shao Zong!" However, one less opponent in the department wasn't a bad thing. Relations among the Telecom transmigrators became harmonious again. Li Yunxing now actually worried less about personal conflicts affecting work; he had to hide from the Executive Committee that this place had become a nest of slackers...
"What Big News can I create? I'm almost an expired product." Shan Liang took out a Shengchuan cigarette, pulled one out, and tossed it to Shao Zong.
"I'll stick to cigars."
"What's the point of smoke you don't inhale?" Shan Liang lit up on his own, taking a deep drag. "What news do I even want to make now? Everyone pretends not to know me." He blew a smoke ring. "This Yang Jihong case... feels like the water runs deep. Quite a few people are eyeing the case."
"Recently everyone's excitement point is on Big Boobs Yang Jihong's case. I see you haven't gone to talk to Yang Bailao but are crashing around everywhere—seems you haven't found the right path."
Shan Liang hadn't really taken the Yang Jihong case to heart. He had read the briefing on the case in the Weekly Bulletin. There was juice, sure, but not much. In his current state, jumping out might not necessarily produce any new tricks.
Of course, if connected to the grapevine news about the maidservant school abolition he was currently working on, it could be considered continuous—both involved the Lingao maidservant issue.
The current situation was that the abolition rumor was going nowhere; further activity on his part might not yield a breakthrough. Better to return to the Yang Jihong case and see if there were any bright spots.
However, apart from having seen the Senate's official announcement, Shan Liang lacked firsthand material. Conveniently, Shao Zong had brought records of briefings, internal communications, forum discussions, and various grapevine rumors since the incident began.
Shan Liang looked silently at the documents in the manila envelope, shaking his head inwardly. Not because the materials were messy—but what were you doing taking notes on designated "Lingao Telecom" letterhead, and this handwriting... did you get a secretary to copy it?! Shan Liang facepalmed. This guy had self-knowledge not to be an opposition faction member...
"This thing, I don't see any play here." During this time, Shao Zong just ordered a watermelon juice to alleviate boredom. Seeing Shan Liang put down the documents after thinking for a while, only then did he pop out a sentence in Sichuan dialect.
"Oh?" Shan Liang looked up, somewhat curious—judging by the richness of information Shao Zong had collected, he somewhat suspected who exactly wanted to create Big News but got this suggestion.
"Old Shan, you have your own ideas; I'm just spouting nonsense." Shao Zong said carelessly. "Heard Yang Xinwu complaining about having nowhere to appeal, unable to protect even his own woman after an incident, claiming it's a manifestation of soy sauce transmigrators being marginalized, blah blah. I think that's bullshit." For a moment Shan Liang thought this Shao Zong had gone "50-cent" again, but Shao Zong hurriedly explained, "Old Shan, don't look at me like that... Think about it. If Wen or Ma's maidservant committed this kind of thing, impeachment motions against them would probably have come out long ago. To clear themselves, would the maidservant still be saveable? Transmigrator Yang's thinking isn't clear."
Shan Liang frowned but didn't interrupt Shao Zong.
"What is Yang Bailao actually asking for? If it's just keeping Big Boobs alive, in fact no one wants to kill this maidservant. He's already been given assurances; a pregnant woman won't be jailed in the end no matter what. Reportedly, merely reportedly," Shao Zong showed a mocking expression, "Transmigrator Yang wants the legal circle to concoct some not-guilty release, saying something about it being bad for the child."
Shan Liang laughed aloud: "Actually, if it's bad for the child, he shouldn't have made such a fuss. The more he tosses about, the more everyone remembers this Yang Jihong murder case... er no, intentional injury causing death." Thanks to legal education in the old timeline, although the legal circle's internal discussion content hadn't leaked onto the Lingao BBS, it didn't prevent most people from guessing a rough outcome based on old-timeline laws. Interestingly, no one mentioned things like the Great Ming Code.
"So what Yang Xinwu needs isn't law, but the Men in Black—a flash of the little stick and everyone forgets the matter so he can get his wish." Shao Zong finished his watermelon juice. "By the way, Ji Xin is the defense attorney for this case."
"I know that. Old Ji is a decent person, just stubborn." Shan Liang recalled the slight twitch of Transmigrator Cheng's mouth when mentioning Ji Xin and found it rather amusing—unknown how this man, dull as dead wood and cold ash, managed to anger Sister Cheng to that extent.
"Now we can only guide it toward accountability." Seeing Shan Liang still listening, Shao Zong continued, "Speaking of which, I'm quite dissatisfied with the Police Department. Heard that to make it an ironclad case, they insisted on waiting a week for the autopsy even with solid evidence! You have to be responsible to the involved transmigrator, but do you ignore the calls of us residential district residents for speedy case-solving? How about you organize something on this, Old Shan?"
Shan Liang shook his head. This could only be considered nitpicking. The other side could completely say they waited for Mu Min to return to handle it because it involved a transmigrator. From a procedural legality perspective, the strong-arm agencies and the Administrative Office had no vulnerabilities to grab. If he went to great lengths to interpellate, an evaluation of "making a mountain out of a molehill" would be inevitable.
"Then, the management of the maidservant school definitely has problems. But, well, their principal is Dong Weiwei..." Shao Zong's meaning was clear: you were a "movement leader" back in the day, even if you've lacked presence these few years, your first shot upon returning can't be grabbing a female transmigrator...
Shan Liang didn't care much about gender. He said: "There's no juice on Dong Weiwei. Making it big would at most force her to step down and be an official elsewhere. What's the use? Maybe she'll resign taking responsibility in a few days anyway."
For the current Lingao regime, the officialdom had too few carrots and too many pits. Resignation had zero use besides symbolic meaning.
A light flashed in his mind. Right—if Dong Weiwei resigned in the next few days, it would prove the school abolition matter was true. Given the Executive Committee bunch's usual nature of fully utilizing value in everything, since the maidservant school was to be abolished, Dong Weiwei could very well magnanimously resign to absolve herself of responsibility.
"Going higher, the maidservant school is under the Administrative Office leadership. We could pull at Xiao Zishan's issues..."
"Xiao Zishan has no juice either. He's always good at camouflage and even better at winning over transmigrators; many are hoodwinked by him." Shan Liang blew smoke rings, shaking his head. "He has good popularity. We don't have real material; empty talk about leadership responsibility is useless except for drawing hate."
After all this, Shao Zong felt the pile of materials he had collected seemed to have limited significance too.
"I'll look over it carefully." Shan Liang thought—his key point now wasn't taking down an Executive Committee member or a transmigrator with real power, nor was it re-election or the like. The key lay in making people remember: he, Shan Liang, was still active, still crying out loudly for the rights of the broad mass of transmigrators—the sole purpose was to farm presence.
Shao Zong spread his hands: "Of course, we've always looked at issues superficially, huh. I'm just saying. Anyway, the legal circle is still spinning its wheels in meetings; you watch the situation slowly."
"This packet of documents?"
"It's yours. Give it back when you're done." A hungry expression had appeared on Shao Zong's face. He cleared the table in two or three moves and impatiently rang the service bell, calling the waiter in.
"Come come come, waiter, serve the dishes! Eating on you tonight ahahaha!"
"Eat on me then. No problem." Shan Liang cursed silently: Your own field allowance isn't less than mine, and you still mooch.
The two ate and drank while chatting idly. Shao Zong started on his "tragic history," then began the usual male boasting:
"If not for the apartment being too small, I couldn't get a platoon maybe, but a cooking squad's worth of staff would have been assembled long ago—now I have to make do with one maidservant, and can't even screw her every day, she yells she can't take it if we do it too much..."
"What did you just say?" Shan Liang asked suddenly.
"My secretary chick said she can't take it..."
"Not that, before that."
"Too small apartment—"
Shan Liang nodded. Apartment too small—capability and desire were useless. No matter how uninhibited transmigrators were, they weren't livestock; necessary privacy and personal space were indispensable. The so-called maidservant surplus now was better described as caused by housing shortage. If this was used as a reason to abolish the school, it would be putting the cart before the horse.
(End of Chapter)