Fresh Off the Bus

On the ride back to the base Xiao Zishan and the four newcomers were all “What great weather today!” the whole way. Someone tried to ask something, but Xiao Zishan immediately cut him off and launched into a long spiel about how hard drivers worked, how little they charged, and how it really wasn’t easy to make money driving a black car.^[1] The implication was that they shouldn’t leak any nonsense in front of outsiders.

When they arrived, Meng Xian got out and took a deep breath of fresh air. The environment at the base was pretty good, much unlike the stuffy cities. Turning around, he saw a few young men in cadet uniforms come over to help unload luggage from the back of the car.

The four newcomers in this busload were then welcomed into their dormitory, which still retained the structure of the old military barracks. Although it was a little worn down, it was still convenient to live in. In each room were three iron-framed double beds and was replete with all the basic supplies one would need, such as blankets, mats, slippers, a washbasin, cups, toothbrushes and towels. Everything was prepared meticulously.

“Everyone please, take a seat.” Xiao Zishan smiled and waved his hands like those leaders in movies. “The living conditions here are a bit basic, so I hope that everyone can put up with it for now. Haha, after all, the place we are going to will be even more difficult.”

“It’s actually much better than what I thought.” The brother with glasses, who called himself Tian Jiujiu, looked around the dorm room.

“We tried to get everyone comfortable, as after all, there is still some time before D-Day. Only by being well-rested will we have the energy for everything we need to do.” Xiao Zishan continued, “Once you’re settled in, all of you should go to the Building No. 1 for registration. Just follow the signs, it should be obvious”

After they arrived at the registration desk, they spent the next few hours filling out their information forms on the computer. The first few fields were nothing more than a resume: name, date of birth, education, major, work experience, and any professional or technical qualifications. The more detailed form was the one that asked about their specialty. This electronic form had a very detailed list of specialties, spread over thirteen major categories and hundreds of individual projects. For each of them they needed to estimate their level of proficiency. Xiao Zishan guided them through this form, repeatedly emphasising to be as accurate and careful as possible. After this there was also another interests and hobbies form, which was likewise divided into very fine categories and subcategories. In the end it took everyone almost twenty minutes to fill out just this one form. With the paperwork complete, they were then taken to the infirmary where a person dressed in a white coat like an expert checked the physical examination results they had done beforehand–all the prospective travellers had to do a comprehensive physical examination before coming. This medical information was also entered into the database. The Executive Committee also required them to be vaccinated before coming and have the immunisation certifications as proof. As they handed these certificates over, the man in the white coat repeatedly warned them: this was a matter of life and death. Do not hide anything, and those who didn’t get the required injections could get them locally here.

Finally, the doctor handed each of them two white pills and asked them to take them on the spot.

“What is this?” Cha Wuchu looked at the pills hesitantly.

“Anthelmintics. Kills parasitic worms.” The doctor explained concisely.

“But I don’t have worms.” Cha Wuchu protested in embarrassment.

“Just eat it, it won’t hurt you.” The doctor was unmoved, “You are going to a place without a modern healthcare system. Taking a pill here just in case may save you much pain down the road.”

After taking the medicine, they next ended up in a dental office. This time, it was a young man who came and knocked on everyone’s teeth. Obviously, these people had good dental health, and the young dentist didn’t need to resort to any lethal weapons with spinning drills. Just as the four of them were relieved and about to escape, the dentist tore off four appointment slips.^[2]

“On 3 pm the day after tomorrow come and get your teeth cleaned.”

When the four of them, with their fear of dentists reignited, finally returned to the registration office again, Xiao Zishan was already waiting for them behind a computer. He was holding a bunch of what looked to be metal necklaces in his hands.

“This is everyone’s ID.” Xiao Zishan distributed the necklaces. “Don’t lose them.”

Hanging from the chain were two things. One was a simple metal plate engraved with a name and a serial number. The other looked like a small USB drive sealed within a translucent block of material.

“Dog tags?” Someone said.

”Haha, you’re right. But it’s electronic.” Xiao Zishan explained the use of the tag. The metal ID card was nothing special, while the USB drive-like thing was their actual ID card. Through induction it could automatically retrieve all the information about a person from the server database. Of course, this card could also play the role of an access card.^[3]

“So we can use this card to get food as well? Do we need to load money onto it?”

“No need to load money. You just need to show the card to eat in the canteen. From hereon we are operating on a system of rations.”^[4] Xiao Zishan motioned them to sit down, “Let me explain. Everything on the base works by rations. If you have anything you need, go and apply to the logistics team of the Executive Committee, and we will do our best to provide. But please note that this is limited to daily necessities. If you want to smoke, drink alcohol, or so on, you still need to spend RMB. There is a small commissary on base for that.

“What about accessing the internet?” Cha Wuchu seemed to be addicted to the internet.

“It’s also free. But you need to log in using your ID card.”

“Ah, the wonders of communism.”

“It’s still a while until D-Day, if you count a month or two as a while. I believe that you’ve read all the guidelines and regulations before you came?”

Everyone nodded.

“Good. Also, try to not go off-base. If you do leave, you must first ask. Uhh, now let me see. The logistics team has already delivered supplies to your room. Next, the planning team will want to check the luggage you’ve brought. You might have forgotten things, while other stuff must be handed over for unified allocation.” Xiao Zishan smiled, “Of course, we will compensate you according to price. It’s up to you whether to convert it into shares or coupons.”

“The General Assembly will be held soon. Everyone should have a good rest for a few days. It would be good to go to the internet cafe here and check out the internal documents. There’s a lot of material covering our planning and preparation progress. And, take this time to think everything over again. If you want to quit now, all your belongings and money will be returned, no strings attached.”

“The ones who want to back out wouldn’t have come.” Someone said.

“It doesn’t matter, we won’t judge. Just think about things carefully. After all, we are going to completely disappear from this world. People are not like plants; we do not grow freely. We always have things in our hearts. Can you really just leave it all behind?”

---

In a large conference room of the base, the central table was filled with playing cards. Including the spectators, there were more than ten people present, filling the room with a lively atmosphere.

Wen Desi glanced out the window: “Did anyone notice?” He threw down an ace.

“Yes. When I went to the PAF^[5] office to play cards two days ago I overheard someone.” The speaker was Zhong Lishi, who had made friends with almost everyone in the local area. “They said that the police called the office asking about us.”

“Pfft, it’s fine. It’s not illegal to just run a company.” Wei Aiwen leaned back and put his feet on the chair next to him.

Ma Qianzhu slowly slid a card onto the pile. “It’s also not illegal to watch porn, but do you dare do it in the middle of a street?” He frowned, “Did you not wash your feet again?”

“But we’re not watching porn either.” Wei Aiwen felt quite unhappy, and ignored the quip. The people here all spoke in a half-hearted way and all their words went around in circles.

“It’s called gathering a group to watch porn. If we were back in the crackdown during the 80s we would’ve been shot.” Xiao Zishan.

“You’re just making that up. Getting shot just for watching adult films…is your salary also still a nickel?” Wei Aiwen immediately refuted.^[6]

“This is called the greatness of time.” Xiao Zishan made an irrelevant comment and continued flipping through his notebook. “On a serious note, I think that something is afoot recently. Someone came to the bus station yesterday, and he was very suspicious.”

“Could it be the legendary MSS?”^[7]

“I’m not sure.” Xiao Zishan paused. In fact, he had wanted to tell everyone when he got back yesterday, but he’d forgotten. “Maybe he just came by on chance. He felt like someone from a powerful department though…”

“That’s like saying nothing at all.” Wei Aiwen immediately attacked him.

“Well yeah,” Xiao Zishan admitted, “but I feel that he was particularly interested in the word ‘Crossing’.”

The people in the room all fell into a sombre silence, as if some deadly secret had been exposed.

After a few minutes of silent contemplation, Ma Qianzhu asked Wen Desi: “Chief Wen, should we move faster? We have almost everyone. Those who aren’t here probably won’t come.”

“But how much faster can we even move?” Wen Desi slowly shuffled the cards, “We still don’t have a boat!”

“Can we rent one?”

Wen Desi was frustrated. “We are just a new company that’s been around for just over a year. Who would be willing to rent to us? And even if they were willing, the price would almost be the same as buying one ourselves.”

“Then let’s just buy a second-hand ship.”

“The problem is that it’s not like buying a second-hand car, where you can just go to a dealership and hand over some cash. The procedures with boats are very troublesome. Wang Luobin has been working on this problem almost every day for the last two months.”

“Just spend a little more money, and don’t be too fussy. It doesn’t matter if it’s expensive.” Zhong Lishi suggested. “RMB will soon be useless to us anyway.”

“We still have to keep some in reserve for emergencies.”

“Then just keep some gold and silver in reserve. Everyone recognises that.”

“Speaking of gold and silver, shouldn’t we bring a batch of 925 industrial silver? In fact, it would be best if we directly make some Spanish pesos to bring with us. Otherwise how do we trade with the natives?”

“But there was no shortage of silver back then. Bringing silver with us would not be cost-effective and take up a lot of tonnage. We do not require gold and silver to do trade, barter works as well.” Luo Duo disagreed.

“Industrial production is established in stages!” Zhong Lishi got excited, “How long do you think it will be before our factories can produce goods in sufficient quantities for external trade? I estimate at least three months. In these three months where would you get supplies and construction materials? Please don’t say you plan on looting the locals.”

“Brother, have you heard of salt…” Luo Duo said slowly, “Since the start of recorded history salt has always been a universal currency. Even in the era we are going into, salt will have sufficient purchasing power for buying stuff from the natives.”

Zhong Lishi calmed down a bit: “Have we prepared salt?”

“No, but we know how to make salt. I have a lot of material on this topic. Refined salt, iodised salt, pickling salt…” Luo Duo smiled spiritedly, “We can make steel! Glass! Rifles! In our hands are the crystallised wisdom of three thousand years of civilisation, and all the technology of the great Industrial Revolution–” He waved his hands dramatically, “We can do everything!”

This sentence, which he thought would be very inspiring, resounded in the room like a pebble thrown into a swamp, disappearing with a muted gurgle. Except for Zhong Lishi’s suspicious stare, it didn’t stir up any waves.

Luo Duo then tried to sell his salt-making technology, and even exchanged some highly unprofessional comments with Zhong Lishi. After a few minutes of this, Ma Qianzhu sighed:

“Why do our discussions always seem to go off topic?”

“A bad habit…” Wen Desi said. He had packed the cards away already. “Okay, okay. That’s enough. We’ll talk about our financial problems later. Xiao Zishan, how is the personnel situation?” He seemed to remember something, “How are the four newcomers you brought back yesterday?”

[TN]

The title of the chapter is the same as the famous sit-com Fresh off the Boat. There’s also some continuity errors about how long the Crossing Company has been around, which I’ve corrected. If there’s errors I’ve missed, do let me know.

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1. Unregistered rideshare/taxi car ↩︎

2. Original says 3 slips, but this is a continuity error assuming that he meant to give a slip to all the new guys of which there are 4. ↩︎

3. Those USB like things are RFID tags. ↩︎

4. TODO: fix the translation of 供给制 ↩︎

5. People’s Armed Forces ↩︎

6. Don’t know what this nickel bit means. I think he’s making a joke about the law being so old that he’s salary would only be a nickel back then, but not 100%. Also, this section is pruned away on Qidian. I’ve preserved the original here. ↩︎

7. Ministry of State Security (MSS). Note that where the chinese uses the abbreviated name (国安) I’ll also use the english acronym ↩︎