Chapter 132: Hearing for Fallen Women (2)

The Special Committee’s People’s Congress differed significantly from its pre-apocalyptic predecessor. The primary distinction was that the vast majority of its members were survivors from the lowest social strata. Li Fengyi and his fellow youths were uncertain whether this phenomenon was normal or abnormal, but they knew one thing: these grassroots delegates were highly effective. They were daring and decisive in dealing with former corrupt officials, which greatly eased the anxieties of the grassroots leadership. These leaders lived in constant fear that some high-ranking official would one day produce a political document and forcibly seize control of the military to purge them.

Commander Liu, having witnessed so much in his lifetime, once explained it to the grassroots leaders of the Special Committee this way: "In truth, the first National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of the New China were composed of our defeated foes—influential and ambitious activists from various regions. They dared not offer any substantive opinions; it was merely a placement agency, and it certainly couldn't exercise the legislative or supervisory powers mandated by the Constitution. These people were already in their forties or fifties when the war ended. The Party couldn't be accused of 'slaughtering the donkey after the millstone was put away,' so we had to support them. It took twenty or thirty years to finally wait for them to retire, and then the 'special period' erupted... total chaos. When that finally ended, Chairman Deng insisted on the rejuvenation of leadership and the implementation of a normal retirement system. You must understand, after the founding of the nation, one crisis followed another, and things never truly normalized. After enduring a decade of turmoil, those involved were all old comrades-in-arms; it was even harder to 'slaughter the donkey.' We had no choice but to push them into the Congress and the Consultative Conference, where they certainly couldn't exercise normal legislative or supervisory authority."

Speaking of the founding of the nation, his chest swelled with pride, and he stood perfectly straight. When he mentioned Chairman Deng, his expression softened with admiration. "After the Reform and Opening-up, we waited another twenty or thirty years. By the years just before the apocalypse, most had been settled. By then, people had more paths in life and didn't have to crowd into the political sphere. Upon retiring, they could start companies. Despite various economic drawbacks, one could feel that the Congress was finally passing new legislation and handling new oversight cases each year. And then... the apocalypse."

"That is why our current Congress and Consultative Conference are composed of grassroots citizens. This is the true original intent of the designers of this system; the initial arrangements were merely a compromise for the sake of the overall situation. Aren't we currently placing the heads of various survivor bases into the Congress and the Consultative Conference? Though their numbers are few. You must realize that the number of people from the founding era and the end of the turmoil far exceeded the capacity of a normally functioning state institution. They were not good at getting things done, but they were certainly skilled at causing trouble."

Commander Liu sighed deeply and said, "Politically speaking, drastic changes—whether for better or worse—are never a good thing. In our current situation, we are finally exercising the true function of the Congress, but the people are almost all dead... Reforms should not be too radical; they often claim the lives of both the opponents and the proponents, making it easy for foreign instigators to reap the benefits."

Before the apocalypse, Old Liu had despised those "latrine intellectuals" who advocated for radical change. In his view, those who took money from Europe and America were more insidious and dangerous than the warlords supported by foreign arms during the civil war. At least those foreign-backed warlords had clear battle lines, whereas these people were deceptive. He intended to seize them and incite the Congress to punish them as severely as corrupt officials.

The grassroots officials did not know if he was right or wrong, but as they usually did, they nodded in succession to show they understood—as for demanding that the Congress punish them severely, anyone could now go to the Congress to offer opinions, and the grassroots delegates were more than happy to intervene.

With the grassroots officials' anxieties assuaged and Commander Liu's somewhat convoluted explanation, everyone treated the Congress’s legislation and oversight as the supreme directive—at the very least, if things went south, they would have to bear the brunt of it first, Li Fengyi and his two brothers thought uncharitably.

The Congress held a hearing for this matter. Considering the sensitivity of the "fallen women" issue, attendees were given the choice to remain masked or face the public. A notice was issued in advance, and various survivor bases were allowed to participate via radio—the United Front Work Department hoped to publicize these political changes to all of humanity and increase their appeal, ideally achieving victory without fighting. They believed such hearings were highly representative.

The women involved in the case chose to wear light makeup and appeared openly; the police also appeared openly. Several men attended masked, and, surprisingly, a few housewives attended while heavily pregnant.

First, the moderator, the "Gold Speculator" Wu Tianxiong, announced the order of speakers. He thought the radio hearing was utter nonsense; the United Front Work Department was full of bored people who only knew how to hype things up. If only they would speculate on gold instead, wouldn't that be more promising?

Speakers were limited to ten minutes each, and interruptions were forbidden. Those who wished to speak had to register first. The meeting mandated the use of Chinese. None of the foreign bases objected; during these days, the primary school Chinese teachers from the Propaganda Department had been working very hard, and the students were studying earnestly. The various zombie characteristics announced by the Special Committee were essential survival guides; they had no choice but to study their hardest.

To this end, several primary school teachers had begun drafting "Chinese Proficiency Test" questions. They planned to prioritize the rescue of those who passed the Level 4 or 6 exams whenever the Special Committee had the capacity to do so, which sparked a new wave of intense study.

The electricians hired by the Congress set up wireless and camera equipment in the hall, preparing for a live broadcast to all of humanity.

The hearing commenced punctually at 9:00 AM on October 15, 2015.

The official in charge of the matter first explained why the Congress was concerned: "...Many believe that institutions for fallen women have a necessity for existence, and that while the methods need improvement, a total ban is not advised; instead, management should be strengthened."

The first to speak was one of the women. A prettily dressed girl stood up and spoke into the microphone: "I have infertility... I cannot be a mother, and I cannot contribute to the nation in the apocalypse by bearing more children. I see women who can conceive bearing children to make contributions, while men are busy working all day and cannot have intimate relations with their wives to relieve stress. Once, I saw a man in a factory working day and night. I asked him why he didn't go home, and he said his wife was pregnant; he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself and might bring harm to his wife and child..."

At this point, the girl choked up. With tears streaming down her face, she said, "I looked into it, and almost all the men are using inflatable dolls, electric dolls, or resolving it themselves..."

From the gallery came the sympathetic laughter of women, followed by the bitter laughter of men.