The Tip of the Duckweed

Out of consideration for the Elder, Ji Jue had instructed Isis to keep an eye on Yu Shu for a while. The main thing was that Xinquan was a godforsaken place. Claiming that nobody locked their doors at night or that lost items went untouched on the roads would be pure nonsense. The average moral character of settlement dwellers and scavengers was typically in a state of sustainable decline, completely unlike the city. One misstep, and you’d get taught a harsh lesson. Out of respect for the Elder, he couldn't very well let the man fall flat on his face. In reality, nothing of the sort happened. Just as Ji Jue had told him before, without a fixed post, he was free to take his pick among any business or position in Haian and Courier, just to settle in for a while. And settle in he truly did. From quality inspection and supervision on the assembly lines to transit and distribution in the logistics warehouses, he even spent some time in the underground workshops. He never showed the expected terror or paled at the mere mention of these things. From start to finish, his expression remained completely placid. Afterwards, he did odd jobs for the Xinquan Municipal Management Team and even stayed with the security team for a stretch. His primary focus was simply getting things done. Wherever he was, he did the work required without minding how others looked at him. As an outsider, he put on no false pretense of humility, nor was he arrogant because of his own background. When he didn’t understand something, he never butted in, but where there were actual problems, he scrutinized every last detail. During his time with the Municipal Management Team, he spent half a month organizing and completing a census and survey of Xinquan's permanent population, overhauled the regulation of the night and morning markets, standardized emergency firefighting procedures, reported corrupt procurement in the cafeteria along the way, and finally whipped the security team into shape over their recent lax habits. At the same time, without concealing his inclinations in the slightest, he cleared out one of the town's vacant buildings to set up an office for the Church of Chongguang and submitted a proposal and plan to reorganize Haian’s clinic, expand its scale, and run it as an open joint operation. If things really were revamped according to this plan, if all went smoothly, Haian's clinic would pretty much qualify as a township hospital from then on. The remarkable thing was that after doing so many things that normally invited resentment and hostility, hardly anyone disliked him. Even those who pushed back or resisted admitted that while working with him was a hassle, he was a very good man. He could do the work, make plans, and organize personnel. He had plenty of warmth and no lack of leadership. Everyone who had worked with him said he was great. Whenever Old Gou or Engineer Yan spoke of him, they would both give a thumbs-up and praise him as a true man of action. And then, they promptly booted him straight over to Ji Jue's office. Not because of exclusion or suppression, but simply because the plant manager on this end was slacking off and doing nothing, while this was where the damned trouble was most annoying and piled the highest! At present, Haian's operations were on track, Courier Logistics' footprint was growing bigger by the day, and as Xinquan flourished, problems were multiplying! The matters that couldn't be settled below and ended up pushed to Ji Jue involved all sorts of angles—no single party could resolve them alone. Secretary Isis was shrewd, capable, and rigorous in her audits, but regrettably, she never showed her face, meaning there were always discrepancies in the fine details and implementation, sometimes even leading to delays due to pushback at the execution stage. Now that Yu Shu was here, the previous issue of measures and plans languishing on paper and proving difficult to enforce was resolved in an instant. He had empathy and understanding for frontline workers and implementers, possessed rigor and perseverance in his duties, and having personally experienced the workings of all three sides, he was intimately familiar with their defects and difficulties. Although the work was still far from easy, once the tangled mess began to unravel, he grew increasingly adept. Thus, before many days had passed, a rumor began circulating through Haian: the secretary and the assistant had joined forces to sideline the plant manager and seize control of Xinquan... Regarding this, Ji Jue felt the need to step forward and clarify—it wasn't a rumor, it was the truth. In the office, a teacup was placed on the desk. "Your tea, Mr. Ji." "All right, thank you." Ji Jue yawned. Having just emerged from his busy workshop and barely lain down for a moment before being dragged over by his assistant to work, he naturally harbored a bit of petty resentment and reluctance. On the desk, all the reports and documents had already been neatly categorized and prepared. "Miss Isis has already reviewed this stack. You only need to sign and stamp them. This stack contains job applications received by HR; I've singled out the more important ones for you to look through carefully later. And this portion... here... Yes, perfect." Yu Shu moved briskly, his mouth never stopping: "Mr. Gou has brought it up many times, hoping you can attend the mobilization meeting. The employees can't have been on the job for this long without even knowing what their boss looks like." "Sure, next time for sure," Ji Jue nodded. "You said that last time, too." "Then next next time." "...Fine, then." Yu Shu sighed, taking it entirely in stride, and continued, "Also, Engineer Yan said we should increase our investment in campus recruitment this year. Although the currently trained staff is sufficient for general production, they're still hard-pressed to handle many of the more demanding positions and specialized roles. "Um, his exact words were: 'You tell that [ ] Ji Jue, if this goes on, [ ]'s blood pressure is going to blow through the roof.'" Very considerately, he omitted certain words, leaving Ji Jue to fill in the blanks himself. Yeah, somehow that felt even more offensive... Ji Jue waved a hand. "Increase the investment, then. I leave it to you." "Huh?" Yu Shu was taken aback and shook his head instinctively. "Matters regarding finance and HR..." "It's fine. That's just how our ragtag operation rolls." Ji Jue picked up his teacup and took a sip. Mmm, the temperature was just right. Having not visited for a few days, the office seemed different too—no longer as barren and improvised as before. It was neatly arranged, with a potted plant sitting on his desk and several cushions added to his chair. It was far more comfortable in every small detail. Good grief, he'd gotten himself a male mother hen... Flipping through the reports and proposals Yu Shu had submitted—clearing standing water, epidemic prevention funding, power theft rectification, specialized talent training and scholarships coordinated with Tianmen, heatstroke subsidies... Ji Jue couldn't help sighing from the bottom of his heart, "Why would a person like you belong to Vortex?" "Huh?" Yu Shu, busy sorting and archiving documents, looked back in bewilderment. Persistence, resonance, perception, restraint, and passion... "Shouldn't you be in Ascension?" Ji Jue rubbed his chin, utterly baffled. "It can't be that you couldn't find a suitable catalyst for a Higher Calling, right? "The Church of Chongguang shouldn't be lacking in those." "Uh, that..." Yu Shu fell silent for a moment, then gave an awkward smile. "Actually, that was my plan originally. But my father said my ambitions always outstrip my abilities, and that I ignore reality. "He said someone too prone to idealism easily swings to extremes; the faster you walk, the easier it is to stumble, and the grander your ideals, the harder you fall. "So he helped switch me over to the Vortex path. "He said sometimes being a little ordinary is harmless and lasts longer." To be fair, he had a point. Compared to Ascension, Vortex was indeed a solid choice. After all, with sufficient foundation and talent, plus no lack of knowledge and insight, one could pour passion into it just the same. At the same time, it was far safer and more stable. Compared to temporary triumph, the shattering and wavering of ideals was vastly more terrifying. According to statistics compiled by the busybodies of Aether, Ascension's corruption rate ranked near the very top among all Celestial Chosen, trailing only behind Heart Pivot and Swarm. Swarm practically shared a single pair of pants with Frenzied Slaughter, while Heart Pivot... Well, if you were in Heart Pivot to begin with, wasn't flipping out over 'not eating beef' completely par for the course? Embers was still the best. All you had to do was buckle down to do your research, mess with your peers, and mess with raw materials. Ji Jue held his cup, sipping the tea as he sighed with spontaneous admiration. "The Elder's considerations are profound indeed." "Yes." Yu Shu instinctively reached for his collar, but feeling only empty air, he caught himself and smiled self-deprecatingly. "He always does so much yet still feels it isn't enough, too harsh on himself and too indulgent of others..." "Falling into vice is like a landslide; climbing toward virtue is like scaling a peak. Isn't that precisely why he commands respect?" Ji Jue set down his teacup. Having cleared through the backlog of work, he was just about to go take a break when Yu Shu called him back, looking grave. "There is another matter that's very serious. While it doesn't concern Xinquan directly, it could very well cause massive turmoil. After I spoke with Director Gou, he hoped you and I could discuss it." "What is it?" Ji Jue tensed up as well. "Are funds short again?" "No, the financial situation is actually a little too healthy right now, though quite a few revenue streams are rather difficult to record in the books..." Yu Shu's expression was conflicted. "It's not Xinquan, and not even just Haizhou. It's stowaways." "Huh?" Ji Jue went blank. Smuggling people sounded distant and alarming, but for a coastal region like Haizhou, it was practically an everyday occurrence. Those by the mountains live off the mountains, and those by the water live off the water; when the speedboats roared to life, ferrying cargo and human passengers was completely normal. In fact, in the Wild Gathering nowadays, helping wealthy outsiders settle in the Federation was a wildly lucrative industry. It wasn't just Haizhou, either; virtually any coastal territory in the Federation had plenty of it. "Is this... that serious?" "Extremely serious." Yu Shu's expression was solemn. In times like these, as the Thousand Islands descended deeper into chaos, hordes of rich folk had begun selling off their properties to emigrate to the Federation with their families in tow. In reality, though, those who genuinely possessed wealth and influence had no need to sneak in illegally; they could simply buy a passport and residency with cash. The trouble was, it wasn't just the rich who wanted to survive. Long before the rich sensed how bad things were getting, countless people living hand-to-mouth and unable to survive had already begun seeking their own way out. Gritting their teeth and stamping their feet, there was no shortage of desperate souls rowing sampans straight into the sea toward the Federation. Guided by snakehead brokers, organized smuggling rings moving crowds of stowaways were by no means rare. Where else would all the unregistered residents and illegal immigrants in Beishan District have come from? And lately, such cases had only grown more frequent... Granted, Xinquan was also a beneficiary. After all, positions in the city were essentially one person per post, and major factories and corporations strictly adhered to regulations, rendering overseas certificates and diplomas utterly useless. Xinquan, however, turned nobody away, having taken in plenty of senior technicians and specialized personnel of late. Even if someone arrived with nothing to their name and lacked any skills whatsoever, as long as they were willing to work—tightening screws on an assembly line, pouring concrete on construction sites, or driving a motorized tricycle to deliver goods—Xinquan was willing to take them in. Nobody cared about your background, so long as you followed the rules. Yet the crucial point was that outsiders brought far more than just population and labor; they also brought all the sordid, hidden filth of the Thousand Islands. Illicit narcotics, promiscuity, and even disease. Other ailments could be tolerated, but the crux was... "Two days ago, I called the medical team sent over to the Seven Cities and confirmed it," Yu Shu said solemnly. "The spiritus plague is still spreading."