In addition to the party's celebratory cocktail parties, Lu Ming tried his best to push forward all the cocktail parties, banquet invitations, etc., but for almost half a month, he had to deal with this kind of human interaction.
Fortunately, January 1st is the small year according to the tradition of Zhongzhou people, and January 18th is the big year and new year. Of course, it is also the most important festival of the year, a happy Spring Festival for the whole family.
From high-ranking officials to peddlers and commoners, no matter rich or poor, no matter how high or low they are, during the Spring Festival, they are tired after a year. They take a breath and no longer care about the disturbances outside and reunite with their families. Also, the tight clockwork completely relaxes and then Cheers to the new beginning.
A few days before the new year, these social activities suddenly stopped.
…
The Lu Mansion on Hepu Dao was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. The owner of the house was promoted to the position of deputy mayor. It was the New Year and double happiness came. Every servant received a generous red envelope of 1,000 yuan. For a while, the mansion was filled with laughter and joy.
Starting at eight o'clock in the evening, Kunlun Channel's Spring Festival Gala was officially launched. It featured various types of programs and a very happy rhythm. Although there were not many celebrities, the ratings of the real-time telephone survey were rising steadily.
There are not many stars because most stars charge a high price for appearance fees. But next year, the number of stars willing to appear for free will be greatly increased.
The servants' activity room on the first floor of the annex building on the left side of the mansion has a new large TV. In Lu Ming's eyes, it is probably the same size as it was in the previous life. There are singing and dancing on the screen, and the picture is gorgeous.
Except for Uncle Sun and the Nanyang slave gunner who was on duty, all the servants in the mansion were in the activity room. Their special treatment today was that they no longer had to wear the mansion's maid uniforms. Instead, they all put on various beautiful clothes and painted pictures. Wearing their most beautiful makeup, they happily watch TV programs to celebrate the New Year. They sit neatly in rows, with candies, exquisite snacks, various nuts, drinks, etc. on the long table in front of them.
What made them feel even more honored was that the head of the family, his two concubines and Miss Bisi sat in the front row to celebrate the New Year with them.
Lu Ming originally thought that during the Chinese New Year, these servants could have fun as much as they wanted. He would just come to their residence to take a look and say a few words of care. Who knew that Sun Erniang said that whether it was a Tudor slave or a Nanyang slave? , celebrating the New Year with the head of the family is an incomparable grace and a great honor. A few of the maids who are bold and have high status have secretly asked Sun Erniang whether the master of the house will summon them to say a few words on the New Year's Day. The most beautiful Tudor slaves with the prefix "Lu" are even more looking forward to the New Year. On that day, they could be treated as women by the head of the family for a moment. They knew very well that their status was low, and they usually did not dare to have any delusions. They only hoped that on the New Year's Day, they could be treated as women by the head of the family for a few minutes. So this day The good luck of the new year has naturally reached its extreme.
When Sun Erniang relayed their extravagant wishes, she only said that according to their custom, celebrating the New Year with the head of the family would be an extremely sacred thing, and it was the most ceremonial and solemn moment they were looking forward to.
Although it is difficult for Lu Ming to understand this kind of thinking, during the Chinese New Year, isn't it the happiest time to have fun freely?
But since such a moment was very important to these servants, Lu Ming brought Hanzhu, Pan Mila and Bisi to move the happy time of watching the party to the servants' activity room.
There used to be a billiards table and so on here, but now they have all been moved aside.
However, among the room full of warblers and swallows, Lu Ming was the only male creature. Lu Ming couldn't help but smile bitterly among them.
Normally, in Lu Ming's eyes, these servants were lifeless backgrounds and thoughtless NPCs. They were indeed like robots, serving the head and mistress of the house.
But today there is something different. They all put on their most beautiful clothes, especially several extremely beautiful Tudor slaves, wrapped in the most beautiful gauze skirts, their graceful figures are looming, and they have the custom of wearing navel rings. The gauze skirt will reveal the snow-white flat belly. Several of the most beautiful and voluptuous female slaves sit side by side with beautiful navel rings of various shapes. The visual impact will increase exponentially. More importantly, their watery breasts His deep colorful eyes were shining brightly today. If he dared to look at the head of the family, Lu Ming could faintly feel it. He felt helpless. He felt like he had become some kind of Tang Monk on New Year's Day.
"Okay, you guys have fun!" Lu Ming stood up. It felt like it had been more than an hour, which was almost the end. He, Hanzhu and Pan Mila had a lot of private things to say during the Chinese New Year.
As soon as the head of the house stood up to leave, the maids immediately knelt down and blessed the head of the house and his wives in various original languages. After all, the New Year requires a big ceremony, and the kneeling ceremony is the most solemn of the traditional Central Asian etiquette. , these maids usually don’t have to kneel down.
In the workplace, the most solemn etiquette among Central Continent people has evolved into a deep bow, which is exactly the same as that of some countries in the Chinese cultural circle in Lu Ming's previous life. However, it is the fundamental place of the Chinese cultural circle, because the appearance of a great man broke many taboos and created many Great history has cut away many inequalities, but inner equality will take longer to evolve.
…
Lu Ming came back to the third floor more than half an hour late because he wanted to bless the girls.
What is more ridiculous is that the New Year blessings that Nanyang slaves need are a slap on their butts. This is obviously a stereotype of the emirate and a violation of female dignity in an extremely patriarchal society.
In comparison, Tundra's slave received his master's blessing by kissing his master's toes, which was originally quite absurd, but compared with the Nanyang slave, it seemed much more civilized.
…
"You two have worked hard this year!" Lying on the soft big bed, on Lu Ming's left side was Hanzhu, who was curled up in his arms like a cat, and on his right side was Pan Mila, who occasionally pushed Lu Ming's hand away.
Bisi's little head was on Lu Ming's head, and her little body was lying on her back. She had played so much today, and she had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.
But no matter what, her daughter was lying on the same bed. Pan Mila still couldn't get used to Lu Ming's Lushan claws and would pull him away from time to time. Even though Lu Ming actually just wanted to interlock with her, but she I still feel that this action is too aggressive, with my daughter on my head, which makes me feel ashamed.
However, it still feels good to lie on the big bed and talk like this, and my heart is filled with infinite tenderness.
"Hanzhu..." Lu Ming wanted to say something, but found that Hanzhu's little nose was slightly open, but she was asleep.
I wanted to ask Hanzhu about something in Wu'an, but thinking about it, she didn't know.
Now, someone or a certain force who wants to wipe out the Lu family probably already knows where he is.
But now in Beiguan, I am not afraid of them. No matter how powerful the dragon is in the north, it will have to be contained when it reaches the East China Sea.
I have also gone to the north to contact Jinbao. At the same time, I will investigate the situation of grandpa's business partners and even competitors. However, this kind of hatred may be long ago, and maybe they are all grandpa's previous generation. In the short term, We may not be able to find any clues, but this is a start.
"Hiss..." Lu Ming retracted his hand, but Pan Mila pinched his finger gently, "It hurts ten times, it hurts ten times..."
Lu Ming lowered his voice and looked at Pan Mira fiercely.
Pan Mila seemed to be startled before she remembered this taboo. She quickly took Lu Ming's hand and carefully inspected his pinched fingers.
Lu Ming glanced at her extremely delicate long manicured hands, and his heart suddenly moved. He licked his face and smiled, whispering: "Mimi, Mimi, do you want to accept the blessing from Nanyang?"
"I don't want to!" Pan Mila knew without thinking that it would not be a good thing.
Lu Ming laughed dryly. Thinking about the scene just now, those little Nanyang slaves were kneeling at his feet with their butts stuck out. They even took off their pants to expose their buttocks. The harder he wanted to beat him, the stronger the blessing would be. He couldn't help but shake his head. This What's going on? But if you don't do it yourself, you'll be just like your parents if you die one by one. I'm afraid you'll be depressed for a year, and someone might even commit suicide.
Speaking of which, the skin of the Nanyang black slaves is still very delicate and even more elastic. They all regard today as the most important day of the year. They are afraid that they will wash it every day a few days in advance, but they all smell good, but no matter what He said that he could only do it with his eyes closed and wearing thick cotton gloves.
What if it were Pamela instead?
Lu Ming felt hot in his heart and shook his head quickly, not daring to think about it again, lest he blasphemed the beautiful woman.
"This year, I hope we will get better and better!" Lu Ming gently held Pan Mila's hand, and gradually inserted his fingers into it, and finally the fingers were tightly interlocked. I like this feeling very much, as if my heart is connected with this woman I love.
Gently kissing Hanzhu's hair as she fell asleep, "Hanzhu will be happy this year." He took Pan Mila's hand and squeezed it hard, "In the new year, everything goes well for you." He pushed Bisi's little head, "Bisi has become the top student in elementary school, her studies are getting better and better, and she is becoming more and more like a little lady..." After a pause, this blessing seems a bit difficult to realize.
"We will all get better and better..." Pan Mila's waterfall-like blond hair gradually leaned on Lu Ming's shoulder, and she murmured softly.
Lu Ming stopped talking and lay quietly, enjoying the warmth. His heart was full of peace and joy.
…
On the 25th, the annual vacation ends.
Lu Ming came to the city hall. The reforms of the municipal committee allowed the four municipal committee members to dilute the power of the chief committee member. At the same time, the four municipal committee members also had their own separate offices in the city hall.
Bucklow held his first council meeting this morning.
When the municipal committee was first elected, the five members met for preliminary contact, and today is a formal meeting.
In fact, from a common sense point of view, to reach this position, it is impossible for them not to be familiar with each other.
However, due to an unexpected combination of factors, major changes occurred in the downsizing of staff, the election of councillors, etc., so that even before the election, the list of the current municipal committee, the political groups had no way of predicting the final result.
At the meeting a year ago, Lu Ming's deepest impression of Old Bucklo was that he always had a dark face.
But today, the old Bucklow is full of joy and smiles all the time. It seems that the extreme shock and disappointment at the beginning have somewhat eased. For politicians, everything must look forward.
The conference room is not big, it can accommodate seven municipal committee members and the auditor general for meetings.
There is no obvious priority on the round conference table. There is a beautiful flower basket placed in the hollow position, but the flower basket is very short and the highest position does not exceed the horizontal line of the round table.
Five municipal committee members sat around the table, and next to each person sat his or her daily affairs officer, who also reminded the boss of some matters regarding the meeting minutes.
After all, the political system of Donghai may have originally been a businessman, but suddenly became a municipal committee member. In this case, real professional government officials are needed to assist.
In addition, there is Auditor General Li Shandong, who regularly attends municipal meetings.
From a certain point of view, the political status of the auditors of various districts and satellite towns in Donghai is similar to that of the chief committee members. Of course, in terms of power, they do not directly face the people. They mainly deal with matters involving the municipal committee's financial budget, expenditures, etc. Conduct an audit.
By convention, the Auditor-General, like the Chief Commissioner, is nominated by the Privy Council and approved by a vote of Parliament.
However, the Auditor General is basically an expert in finance and accounting, and cannot be a member of Parliament himself.
Li Shandong, the auditor general of Beiguan, is a young man in his fifties and very serious.
In actual municipal meetings, he is more like an observer. The content of the meeting is rarely relevant to him, but he will attend every official meeting.
Opposite Lu Ming, coincidentally, was Gao Wang. She was wearing an off-white professional skirt. Her long hair had been cut and slightly fluffy and slicked back. This added a bit of toughness to her, obviously. The image of a professional female politician designed by her hairstylist.
She turned a blind eye to Lu Ming's rolling eyes and kept smiling.
Gao Wang's selection was not too surprising to Lu Ming. She was able to get one neutral vote for herself, plus 9 votes from the Justice Party, which was 10 votes.
The 13 votes of the Ecumenical Party Alliance voted for her, adding up to 23 votes.
The situation in this election is quite chaotic. Just these 23 votes may rank fourth in the total votes, not to mention that she must have gotten a few more votes from elsewhere.
Although the total number of votes is 57, if there is no alliance between several political parties with more than half of the votes, the top four may not necessarily need half of the votes.
On the other hand, theoretically, all 56 votes may be lost, because the top four can theoretically receive a full vote.
Dong Wenquan was very calm, and Bucklo's eyes were not as fierce as when they first met.
After all, the five committee members showed that Lu Ming, Gao Wangshi, and Dong Wenquan might be an alliance, while the chief committee member Bucklow was actually an ally of his own party committee member Sherlock.
The chief committee member has lost three more votes. If there is an issue that requires the municipal committee to vote, now if Bucklo wants to lead the committee, he must break up the alliance between Lu Ming and the three.
Lu Ming knew in his heart that the old Barcolo did not win over him anyway.
In political circles, it is said that there are no eternal enemies. In fact, this is not necessarily the case. There are always many mortal enemies.
Not to mention that sometimes political parties are simply incompatible. From the East China Sea level, the Ecumenical Party and the Free Citizens Movement Alliance are eternal rivals.
Moreover, in order to frame himself, Old Bucklow was able to kill four border commissioners.
Old Bucklo must have understood that he would be somewhat suspicious of him.
Therefore, the relationship between me and him is not a relationship where we can laugh and forget about grudges.
Just talk about yourself, who is the affairs officer next to you?
It's Li Zhongliang.
That is, the boundary commissioner who survived the catastrophe has now entered his office and become one of his affairs officers.
As a boundary committee member of the Free Citizen's Share, he was originally an employee of a small company. When the election was over, he had to go back to work as a small clerk. In the next election, he would not be lucky enough to draw lots to become a boundary committee member.
In other words, the second half of last year should have been the peak moment of his entire life.
As a boundary committee member, I witnessed and supervised major events such as the Beiguan parliamentary election.
But the day the election ends is the day he will return to his humble life.
But now it was a blessing in disguise. He had just been discharged from the hospital after the year and received an appointment letter from the deputy mayor's office. For him, this was something that he did not need to consider at all.
Before the meeting began, Lu Ming specially introduced Li Zhongliang's identity.
Lu Ming praised the former boundary committee member who survived the disaster, his outstanding abilities, his youth and strength, etc.
There was nothing strange on Old Bucklo's face, but in his heart, he was probably not feeling very well.
To be precise, Lu Ming didn't have any specific intention in bringing Li Zhongliang here. He just felt that it was ironic to bring Li Zhongliang in and out of the Bucklow Hall.
Anyway, as a newcomer, I don’t know much about political operations, so I have to learn slowly. On the other hand, I just need to make them unable to understand me.
Now all four of them are probably thinking about what they mean by recruiting this former border commissioner who was not beaten to death into the office? What does it mean to bring him to such an important meeting?
…
"Okay, we got to know each other, let's talk about business." After everyone exchanged greetings, Old Bucklow cleared his throat.
"This is our first formal municipal meeting. Let's allocate our future work items first. First of all, it is natural for our committee member Lu to lead the legal work of this town, right? I hope our The Legal Affairs Office, under the leadership of Commissioner Lu, is opening up new prospects.”
"In addition, our municipal committee members are actually supervisors elected by the citizens. They coordinate and supervise various industries and create the most comfortable living environment for the citizens. The Procuratorate Branch and the town's lawyer industry need Commissioner Lu to do a good job in supervising the citizens' election. As a member of the Ninth Circuit Court, Commissioner Lu cannot be said to be a supervisor, but if there are cases that attract more public attention, Commissioner Lu needs to pay more attention to digest the signals that public opinion brings to us."
Lu Ming nodded as he listened.
Next to Lu Ming, Li Zhongliang was writing down notes. In fact, he was so excited that if he were to speak now, his voice would be trembling. Fortunately, just writing with a pen would not cause embarrassment.
"Commissioner Gao Wangling, health, education, public welfare, etc. need you to worry more and supervise more..."
Bucklow spoke in an orderly manner. It was obvious that he had already given full consideration to how the municipal committee members should divide their work.
As expected, the financial and personnel assessments were handed over to Commissioner Sherlock.
Dong Wenquan is responsible for public works, agriculture, etc.
In addition to leading the overall situation, Bucklo is also in charge of patrol, commerce, taxation, etc.
The first municipal meeting ended calmly like this.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Sorry, it's late...
