In a rural town on the eastern outskirts of Jinling, there is a straight street in the town.
This street is directly connected to the city of Jinling. You only need to ride a bicycle to reach the most prosperous Chaoyang commercial district in an hour or two.
However, it is snowing heavily now, and there are almost no pedestrians on the asphalt road.
I saw only twos and threes of dark-skinned natives clearing snow from the road and spreading coarse salt on the road.
In the distance, a motorcade passed by.
The steam locomotive at the head was flying the sun and moon flag, and a group of officials were sitting in the car reading newspapers and chatting.
The convoy entered the town and stopped at a coal and water supply station.
Su Changwen got out of the car, looked at the heavy snow in the sky, and opened an umbrella.
Other officials also got out of the car and stood in the snow waiting for Su Changwen's instructions.
As the mayor of Suzhou, Su Changwen will come to Jinling to hold a conference at the end of the year. After handing over the work, he rushed to Jinling to see old friends.
Under the curious eyes of the town residents, everyone first inspected the street infrastructure, and then greeted some people who had just moved here to greet them.
Gradually, the people also understood the purpose of this group of officials coming here, saying that they wanted to learn from the advanced experience of Jinling suburban construction so that they could start work in Suzhou.
That night, in a remote corner of the town, Su Changwen led the officials into the old neighborhood in a zigzag manner.
This was originally the most prosperous street in the neighborhood during the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. However, after the Ming Dynasty renovated the suburbs of Jinling, the old street gradually faded out of the sight of the people.
Most of the people here have moved away, leaving only a few people who are reluctant to leave. Some even occupy the houses and want to negotiate with the government for demolition payments.
Su Changwen entered a bleak restaurant. There was no one there. There was only one boss and a few employees cleaning the floor.
"Didn't you see the big words on the wall? My restaurant has moved to the town a long time ago and is closed!"
The boss was a fat man with a rich look on his face. He started chasing people away without raising his head.
Several officials looked at each other and wanted to reprimand, but were stopped by Su Changwen.
Su Changwen silently took out a card from his pocket and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper, we were introduced to you by someone. I heard that your tofu soup is excellent, so I came here to try it."
The fat boss took the card, looked at the gilded words "Wang Defa, Minister of Household Affairs" on it, and immediately changed his smile.
He carefully put away the card, wiped his hands with a piece of white cloth, and shook hands with Su Changwen enthusiastically.
"It turns out that someone introduced me. A flood has washed away the Dragon King Temple. One family doesn't recognize the other. Please invite me to the private room on the second floor~"
The fat boss led everyone up to the second floor.
Compared with the first floor, the second floor is a completely different place. Fine wool carpets are spread all the way to the room, and the walls on both sides are covered with paintings by famous artists.
In that private room, when Su Changwen entered, his eyes widened.
I saw that the windows here are bright and clean, and they are all expensive new decorations, with independent luxurious bathrooms, soft sofas, huge glass countertops...
Even the feet are covered with the latest carved colorful tiles.
Su Changwen was amazed. He pointed at the glazed screen not far away and asked the smiling fat boss.
"The decoration here is not cheap, right? In a rural town or in an old neighborhood, why don't you accompany me to grandma's house?"
The fat boss laughed, pointed at himself and asked softly: "Guess what my last name is?"
"There are countless surnames throughout the Ming Dynasty, how could I guess them all?"
"My surname is Wang, and I am the cousin of Wang Defa, the Minister of Household Affairs in the Central Government. Do you understand now?"
"oh?"
Su Changwen was a little shocked. Wang Defa didn't tell him about this, he just said he came here.
"So, your store is not simple. It seems that I came to the right place this time!"
The fat boss was still smiling. He led everyone to sit down, clapped his hands, and a dozen girls wearing revealing clothes came out from behind the screen.
Su Changwen's eyes widened.
"Now that the inspections are so strict, how can you still dare to do this?"
The fat boss shook his head and explained.
"You only know one thing but not the other. These girls were all maids sold by the common people to various landlords during the previous dynasty.
After I returned to the Central Plains in the Ming Dynasty, the landlord ran away, leaving behind this group of lonely maids.
In order to allow those orphans to find jobs and support themselves smoothly, His Majesty opened welfare homes all over the country and taught the orphans skills until they reached adulthood..."
As the fat boss explained, Su Changwen gradually understood everything. He did not expect that such a darkness could be hidden under this policy that benefited the country and the people.
According to common sense, after orphans learn skills, when they enter society as adults, they can work in various factories to support themselves through a recommendation letter from the director of the welfare home.
But in actual implementation, it backfired.
Some officials above prefer leaving positions to relatives when selecting staff such as directors of welfare homes.
The welfare home is a poor one, and its funds are provided directly by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and are paid out in full and on time.
There is a lot of oil and water here.
With so much money and power, many deans began to lose sight of themselves, turning a deaf ear to the wishes of their loving father Zhu Zaiming, going in one ear and out the other.
Among the orphans, the boy is okay, they say the dean is a tool for making money.
The dean will send them to various factories to work, euphemistically called internships, but behind the scenes, the boys are sold to factory owners as child laborers.
The cost is low, and they are willing to fight and endure. Coupled with the protective umbrella above, almost no one can find them.
In the upward work report, it is only necessary to write that the dean and the children in the orphanage practiced skills in the factory and repeatedly solved the pain points of personal lack of skills.
Finally, add the sentence "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth", which makes it clear that the clever name is used to serve the purpose.
As for girls, in addition to learning female worker skills in welfare homes, they are also arranged to learn "etiquette" and then be sent to "secret restaurants" to work as waitresses.
Work-study program~
Serving big people is also part of learning.
Just like this, in some old streets and alleys in the countryside, there is always a restaurant with a big word "demo" written on it.
These restaurants refused to accept customers on the grounds of relocation, but from time to time they received people with cards.
And the banquet here is extremely luxurious.
After the fat boss finished explaining, he clapped his hands again after the officials in front of him digested the information.
Another group of girls came in carrying delicious dishes.
The extremely thin pulled pork core noodles and dragon beard noodles, the legendary golden Buddha jumping over the wall, the boiled cabbage that looks clear and watery...
When various dishes were served, the officials who saw this scene for the first time curiously pointed to these strange dishes and asked.
"Is this a bear paw? Doesn't it look right?"
Su Changwen used chopsticks to pick up a piece of rotten meat from the palm of some kind of animal, with a curious expression on his face.
He had eaten bear paws in Suzhou, but the shape shouldn't look like this.
The fat boss touched his smooth chin and said, "You're right to say bear's paw, but actually it's the front paw of an iron-eating beast!"
The so-called iron-eating beast is the giant panda.
