Chapter 1699 - The Training Cadre
In a barracks dormitory at Ma'ao Fortress, Tan Xiaoqin gazed silently out the window at the parade ground. The trees surrounding it were now over a zhang tall. When she and the villagers from the salt fields had come here to plant them, the saplings had been only as tall as a seven or eight-year-old child.
Now it was winter. Though the leaves on the trees were still green, they looked dusty and gray. The vegetation wasn't as lush as in other seasons, and the parade ground stood empty. Her heart felt just as hollow.
After the New Year, she would be twenty-four. Tan Xiaoqin thought to herself, feeling an inexplicable sense of anxiety.
Tan Xiaoqin had never had much education and naturally couldn't compose verses lamenting the seasons. But her mood was the same as that of any literary-minded young woman throughout history who had enough to eat—full of melancholy.
Twenty-four years old. Village women at this age had already become mothers several times over. Even those without children were already married. If any daughter remained unbetrothed at this age, she was truly an old maid.
Ever since Tan Xiaoqin entered the training program at the Ma'ao Peasant Training Institute and became a women's cadre, she had come to understand many "Australian principles." When the transmigrators trained her and the other indigenous students, they not only used words but also demonstrated through their actions the concepts of modern civilization. So she knew that twenty-four was still a "prime time of vigor" for a woman, the time for "building a career." She still remembered Chief Du telling them earnestly: "You've caught a good era. When I was your age, I could only stay at home reading and writing. I couldn't do any practical work, let alone take charge of things independently like you! You new-era women cadres must cherish this opportunity!"
The words were true enough. Since Tan Xiaoqin had "followed the dragon," she had steadily risen in rank—from a small women's committee member in the salt field village, she had advanced all the way up. Now she was the head of the Industrial Economics Section for Chengmai County. Young in age but senior in experience, and a graduate of the Peasant Training Institute, she had been marked for "priority cultivation." For this northern expedition, the Organization Department had selected cadres from across Hainan to go north and take over governance—and she was among the first batch chosen. Rumor had it she would be given important responsibilities; she might even become a county magistrate.
Her father and relatives were all beside themselves with excitement. The Tan family had been bitter laborers hauling water and sun-drying salt for generations, and now they were about to produce a "county magistrate"! Although she was a girl, she was still a Tan. With one person achieving the Way, even the chickens and dogs ascend to heaven—this was precisely how her family's elders were thinking.
But her mother didn't share the men's thinking. Before Tan Xiaoqin was selected to join the Northbound Cadre Training Unit, she had been given leave to visit home. After all the festive commotion and congratulatory words had died down, her mother pulled her into her room and whispered: What about her marriage prospects?
"...You're getting on in years. You're a proper old maid now. In the old days, a woman your age could only hope to become someone's fill-in wife."
She said "the old days" because nowadays there were far too many able-bodied men in Lingao without wives.
"...Your father and your uncles all hope you'll be promoted—you're the one from the Tan family who's risen fastest, and they're all counting on you to make it big so everyone benefits. They haven't given a thought to you. Year after year you've been putting this off—are you going to wait until you're thirty to marry? A girl can't wait forever! Once you're old and faded, you're worthless! Don't think I don't know what your father has in mind. He's hoping that as an official, you'll get more face-time with the Chiefs, that maybe a Chief will fancy you as a concubine—but he doesn't think about it: if a Chief wanted a concubine, wouldn't he take a young one? Who'd want an older woman?"
Her mother's words made Tan Xiaoqin's face burn. In truth, this idea had occurred not only to her father and uncles but to herself at one point. But in the end, no Chief had taken a fancy to her. Of all the transmigrators, the one who valued and liked her most was Chief Du—but she was a woman.
Then her mother began matchmaking, speaking of a relative's child on her natal side—also twenty-eight, a locomotive fireman on the Lingao City Rail. In Lingao, this was a genuine "skilled trade" with considerable income.
"...His family is quite well off, and he's a decent-looking fellow. I've watched this boy grow up since he was small. His parents aren't picky people, and the two families are related. You won't suffer if you marry him..."
At the time, she had actually been somewhat tempted. These past few years working as a cadre away from home, as her age crept up, even if her heart was indifferent, the hormones in her body constantly reminded her of her physiological needs as a normal woman. Especially those long nights alone at her posting in other towns, sleeping alone in her dormitory, she inevitably felt empty and lonely. Besides, the man's circumstances were quite good: naturalized skilled workers were very much in demand on Lingao's marriage market.
But then she remembered how, during the Organization Department's interview, her superiors had made it abundantly clear: regardless of gender, no one could marry before departure, and female cadres could not become pregnant. Any violation would result in immediate suspension and assignment to a "study class" for "re-education."
Becoming a county magistrate held no great interest for Tan Xiaoqin. But "violating discipline" was a matter of utmost gravity. The consequences, needless to say, were severe—not just for her personally, but for her entire family, even the whole salt field village. They couldn't afford it. In the end, the matter came to nothing. Her mother sighed in disappointment, and Tan Xiaoqin felt terrible herself.
"Who knows when I'll be able to return," Tan Xiaoqin thought about her marriage prospects and couldn't help but feel sorry for herself.
"Xiaoqin, what are you saying?" The dormitory door pushed open, and in came Lu Cheng, her roommate—someone she'd met during this training program. From what they'd covered in training, she guessed that Lu Cheng would have a similar assignment to hers once they reached the mainland.
Lu Cheng was somewhat younger than her but quite mature for her age. She was meticulous to a fault. Tan Xiaoqin had heard that Lu Cheng used to work in the tax and revenue department—no wonder she had a maturity beyond her years.
"We have a few days off. Aren't you going to browse around East Gate Market?"
Training had concluded yesterday. Starting today, the Northbound Cadre Training Unit had a week's leave. Team members could go home to visit family or buy things they might need after landing on the mainland. After that, they would enter a combat-ready standby status—prepared to depart at any moment.
"Can't be bothered." Tan Xiaoqin said listlessly. "I don't want to buy anything. Besides, we've been issued everything we need."
"Not going home to visit either?"
"My home is right here in Ma'ao—step out the base gate and it's right there." What Tan Xiaoqin didn't want to mention was that going home meant enduring nagging from her parents and other elders. After working as a cadre away from home for several years, she felt very estranged from the Tan family's people and affairs—even somewhat impatient.
"How convenient for you. For me to go home, even after the city rail, I still have to transfer to a horse carriage." Lu Cheng pulled out a package wrapped in large leaves. "I bought melon seeds, freshly roasted. Have some."
Eating melon seeds was a custom that the transmigrators had helped popularize. In the past, few people in Lingao ate melon seeds—it was a pastime for the well-off leisure class, and most common folk couldn't even fill their bellies. Now that living standards had improved, melon seeds had become popular among the naturalized population.
The two sat on the bed cracking melon seeds. Tan Xiaoqin, wanting to change the subject, asked: "What was all that commotion about last night? I saw the ambulance come."
Lu Cheng was the training unit's little loudspeaker, well-informed about everything.
"Someone in the Fourth Company mutilated himself," Lu Cheng indeed knew. "Didn't want to go to the mainland. During evening self-study, he hid at the training ground and stabbed his own foot with a training bayonet, claiming it had fallen and pierced him—way too fake. They didn't even need a doctor; the nurse took one look and said something was wrong. He confessed everything before they'd even finished stitching him up at the infirmary..."
"That's serious. He'll be dismissed from his post, won't he?"
"More than dismissed. I heard he'll be exiled to the south for hard labor." Lu Cheng sighed. "His family will be devastated—I heard he'd only been married half a year. Who knows how his wife cried when she found out..."
Tan Xiaoqin's heart stirred. After a long pause, she said languidly: "So that's how it was. No wonder he had a moment of foolishness."
"Isn't that the truth," Lu Cheng said. "A bright future ruined in an instant..."
"He's actually one of the clever ones, at least he thought to use self-harm to escape. The one from the Second Company last time—he was crying and shouting that he wouldn't go, and his whole family came and knelt weeping before the Chiefs' door. Now that was stupid."
Since the training unit had started, undercurrents had been flowing among the cadres mobilized for the northern expedition. Though most were eager for the imminent mainland campaign, hoping it would be their chance to leap through the dragon gate, quite a few harbored negative attitudes. They didn't doubt the Yuan Council's ability to win—they simply didn't want to leave their families and familiar surroundings. And they feared losing their lives in the mainland campaign—they'd barely had a few years of good life yet.
So since the course began, there had been all manner of feigned illness, deliberate exam failures, pulling connections to find transmigrator patrons, and having wives and children come weeping to the training unit...and so on.
"Short-sighted," Lu Cheng scoffed. "My father also kept droning on about how a young lady shouldn't be tossing about like this, better to settle down as a small cadre and live a quiet life. I couldn't be bothered to argue with him."
Neither continued the conversation. Every naturalized cadre in the Northbound Cadre Training Unit knew that this northern expedition was the beginning of the Yuan Council's "conquest of the realm." Never mind what would become of those who followed the dragon in the future—right now, at a minimum, everyone arriving in Guangdong would be promoted at least one rank. Once all of Guangdong was secured, those who had been mere clerks or village heads in Hainan could very well become county magistrates—positions by the hundreds were waiting for them.
For these people—most of whom, just a few years ago, had been starving and dressed in rags—to have encountered such an opportunity was fortune that couldn't be cultivated in several lifetimes! With the transmigrators changing dynasties and ascending the throne, all of them naturalized citizens would be meritorious servants of the realm. Their own glory was assured, and their children and grandchildren's prosperity was secured.
(End of Chapter)