Chapter 1630 - Departure
Senator Apartment District Service Center. The "Senators-Only Library."
Zhang Yunmi sat at the reading room table. On the lustrous black lacquer surface lay a freshly sealed letter—white, Senator-exclusive stationery, faintly printed with a gray Holy Ship Sunrise watermark. Elegant. Exquisite.
The perforation seal bore a red wax imprint of her personal stamp: the character "Zhang" rendered in seal script, artistically stylized into the shape of a phoenix in flight.
Her face had completely lost its usual youthful vitality, replaced by a leaden pallor. She had been staring into the middle distance for some time when, suddenly, a gleam of light burst from her ashen gaze. Her eyes swept toward the bookshelves to her front left—position I210.1/1:3. She remembered the call number so precisely only because she had just returned that copy of The Complete Works of Lu Xun before writing the letter.
Human blood steamed buns, huh...
She pressed one hand on the envelope as countless voices echoed chaotically through her mind.
"Yunmi! No matter what happens, I'll support you! Your business is my business! Whoever makes you unhappy for a moment, I'll make them unhappy for life!"
Self-proclaimed manager classmate—outside of dance rehearsal conversations, do our other topics even add up to three thousand words? Don't you think you're meddling a bit much? Running to school to swear loyalty to me doesn't make you my boyfriend, you know.
"Little Zhang, you're the ACE of the idol group our Plaid Skirt Club worked so hard to build. We can't tolerate this kind of thing! We must seek justice for you!"
Hehe! Zhang Yunmi reflexively released a goddess-class mental skill. You people and your leg fetish, foot fetish, stockings fetish, safety shorts fetish—paying eighty yuan for standing tickets, craning your necks at the performance, waiting for Mr. Floor Fan to make a contribution. Otaku.
"Today's politics class, we'll discuss the dialectic of procedural justice versus substantive justice..."
"This history class, we'll examine how the real-power nobility of Europe handled matters of face..."
When Zhang Yunmi recalled these lectures, she could not even summon a mental hehe.
"Little Zhang, Auntie Du is telling you: This is not a simple issue!"
"Little Miss Zhang, as a modern woman, I, Sister Cheng..."
"Little Zhang, in Uncle Shan's experience of struggle..."
"Senator Zhang, if we don't pursue this matter, how can we uphold the dignity and authority of Senators? This is a matter of right and wrong. You mustn't be confused!"
Not a single good person among them!
For the self-proclaimed boyfriend's image. For some group's face. For their respective so-called ideals. For attacking dissidents... you've been buzzing around me long enough!
Zhang Yunmi's delicate palm touched the sealing wax. This artistic rendering of the seal-script "Zhang" dated from a year before the crossing—an elementary school handicraft assignment to carve radish stamps. To help her finish the project, Dad had stayed up all night designing it for her.
But none of you understand me.
No matter what... forever and ever... he is my dad.
Maltreating a Senator's child. Slandering a Senator. Two charges sufficient for the "Ten Unpardonables." According to the Law Society's opinion, enough to warrant the death penalty. Right now, the Law Society people were drumming up discussions on court procedures, applicable laws, and judicial selection.
As for the other parties, they all had their own agendas and were actively maneuvering. Although this matter had not resulted in death like the Maid Suicide Case, because it touched on sensitive issues at multiple levels, it had triggered quite a battle among the Senators—even major military and political events like the upcoming Guangzhou expedition could not dampen certain people's enthusiasm.
Zhang Yunmi stood at the center of this storm, suffering its ravages every day. Different people, different interests, different propositions—yet they all hoped unanimously that she would do something to add weight to their side. And Old Zhang? His image had already been nailed as "went home and knelt before everything that could be knelt to, for the maid who could bear him a son and daughter." Beyond serving as a "negative example," no arena of public opinion harbored any expectations for him.
I'm young. But I'm not stupid.
Dad needed her support, even though his position in the Senate was finished. He would never be put in an important position again. From now until death, he would be a "salary-collecting Chief." Even if she despised that maid, that was only about the woman herself. When she considered how the "ambitious" mom had dumped her on the "unambitious" dad—how this man had toiled to maintain a broken family with income that was not meager but was hardly abundant—well. At the crossroads of fate, he had also made a rare effort to fight hard and join this magical time-traveling group.
"Girl, I'm going with them now to fight, not to find myself a wife. You're grown up. It'll be hard for me to take good care of you anymore. I'm going for you." She vaguely remembered the words Dad spoke the night of the Maid Revolution, tucking the wrench into his belt. His eyes, when he spoke, were sincere.
Dad... your daughter only wishes for you to be happy.
Since this was the case, even if Qian Duoduo had not come to hint, Zhang Yunmi had long conceived a response plan. Since the vast majority of people believed that woman deserved to die, and since the Executive Committee also believed such a "major event" could not be dismissed with a simple "family matter"—fine. Do whatever you want. But according to the principles of "aristocratic politics" you used to educate us Junior Senators? Since Dad has clearly stated forgiveness, I'll give you a pardon letter too.
But I don't want to stay here anymore. Zhang Yunmi's heart was ice cold, as if the blazing tropical sun could not dispel the chill.
I want to leave. Anywhere but Hainan Island will do.
For an instant, she even thought of leaving this messy Senate entirely and vanishing without a trace. Roll your doctrines and ambitions as far away as they can go.
However, she also knew this was impossible. She was destined to be unable to disappear like characters in novels.
"Uncle Xiao, this is the pardon letter I personally signed. You can call it a statement or whatever. It doesn't matter." Facing the General Manager of the Senate, Zhang Yunmi's voice had lost much of its cold edge.
Still throwing a tantrum, huh! Xiao Zishan sighed inwardly but did not take issue with the slight impropriety in this Junior Senator's tone.
"Uncle Xiao, I've already mentioned it to Uncle Hu and Principal Zhang. I want to apply for an administrative internship."
"Ah?" Holding the wax-sealed pardon letter, Xiao Zishan did not process her words immediately.
"As you know, recently there's been a lot of talk that's been very disruptive to my studies—" Zhang Yunmi repeated to Xiao Zishan the same words she had said to Hu Qingbai and Zhang Zhixiang. For some reason, she intuitively felt that Xiao Zishan could play a decisive role in this matter.
"Our systematic study ended long ago. What remains now is specialized training. For me, that just means reading, writing, and translating more foreign language materials—I can do that anywhere. So I want to apply for an administrative internship. Go somewhere outside Hainan Island to lay low for a while." By this point, Zhang Yunmi had a look of grievance on her face, appearing incredibly pitiable, as if the allusion "I too find her sympathetic" should be transferred to her.
Sigh. This girl has it hard too! Running into such a thing, running into such a father.
"But Uncle Hu and Principal Zhang both said they can approve their portions. Since there's no precedent for an underage Senator applying for an administrative internship outside Hainan Island, they suggested I come here to submit the pardon letter and ask Uncle Xiao how to handle this process."
Indeed there's no precedent. But if this comes to me and we have to hold a formal meeting to discuss new procedure, I suspect you won't need to think about going out to relax. Xiao Zishan silently cursed the Senators' damnable decision-making efficiency on these "major policies," then scratched his head in considerable difficulty. How exactly should I handle this for her?
"How about Qiongshan? Or Sanya. Sanya's been developed pretty well now. Nice place for a vacation."
"I don't want a vacation. I want to go farther away. Preferably off Hainan Island." Zhang Yunmi said.
Off Hainan Island—Jeju Island and Shandong were a bit far, conditions somewhat harsh. Whether Little Zhang could handle the bumps of a long voyage was also a question. Taiwan had recently had an assassination incident, and malaria was prevalent there too. Hangzhou had a Luddite movement, and sending her there would immediately make him a focus of public opinion. Where else was there... Hongay was about to go to war. Guangzhou?
"Tell you what. There's going to be action in Guangzhou. Senator Liu Xiang—you know him, right?" He paused, and seeing Zhang Yunmi nod, Xiao Zishan then remembered that Liu Xiang seemed to have taught the Junior Senators at Fangcaodi before.
"Well, in the next few days, he'll be taking his team there to take over the Guangzhou regime. He's been authorized to invite other Senators to join his team. If you really want to leave Hainan Island for a while and find a place for administrative internship, you can ask him for help. I'll put in a good word for you too."
Recalling the gaze that swept back and forth three times when she first met Liu Xiang on the Feiyun the other day, Zhang Yunmi felt that convincing this Teacher Liu should not be a big problem.
"Then I'll go pack my bags now. We'll leave in the next few days!"
"No rush," Xiao Zishan said. "Although you've issued a pardon letter, the Honor Court trial process still needs to go through. After all, this is a 'serious case.'" He weighed his words. "Anyway, the trial will be held in the next few days. Just wait a bit."
"Can we skip the trial?"
"This matter is actually quite complicated." Xiao Zishan said. "If you consider the facts of the case, you'll understand. Strictly speaking, this has already become a public prosecution case. Although 'a Senator's power is above all,' legally speaking, this kind of pardon can only mitigate punishment, not fully exonerate..."
(End of Chapter)