Xiao Tang did not want the new Defense Commissioner to enter the city alive, while Principal Tan’s side had to ensure the new Defense Commissioner’s safe arrival.
To be on the safe side, Principal Tan had sent people to keep an eye on the Shaoshuai Residence.
The moment Xiao Tang’s new aide-de-camp made a move, Principal Tan’s people moved as well.
Xiao Tang had many men inside Hong City, but that wasn’t necessarily the case outside the city.
Forget about ambushing the new Defense Commissioner and wiping them all out in one fell swoop. Before they even saw a shadow of the Defense Commissioner, the group led by the new aide-de-camp was completely annihilated.
To what extent were they annihilated? Aside from the new aide-de-camp, who cherished his life and fled the moment he saw things go wrong, everyone else was game over.
The new aide-de-camp knew that for failing this mission, he would at the very least be severely punished by Xiao Tang; at worst, he might even lose his life. After fleeing back from outside the city, he did not return to the Shaoshuai Residence to report. Instead, he gathered all his assets and secretly ran away.
With the men he sent out not returning to report, Xiao Tang simply assumed they were still carrying out their mission. He endured the “annoyance” of Su Xiaomo reporting to the Shaoshuai Residence every day while managing his army.
Until, that is, the new Defense Commissioner entered the city.
When the new Defense Commissioner came to the Shaoshuai Residence to pay a visit before entering the city, Xiao Tang finally realized that the men he had sent out had failed their mission.
Not only had they failed their mission, but they had also vanished as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth.
His cold and ruthless face was filled with fury, a stark contrast to the smiling Defense Commissioner, Lu Mou.
This Lu Mou was similar to Principal Tan, and his identity was even clearer than hers.
Principal Tan merely had family members holding high positions in the Military Faction, while she herself was a member of the Red Faction’s organization.
But this Defense Commissioner Lu Mou was different. He himself held a key position in the Military Faction, but he was actually a member of the Red Faction.
Lu Mou recounted Xiao Tang’s reaction upon seeing him as a joke to Principal Tan. Since Ting Wan had invested money in the Department Store being built by Principal Tan’s organization, she often planned the Department Store’s construction with Principal Tan in her office, so she happened to overhear.
How to evaluate this?
It was impossible to evaluate.
This was content that existed in neither the original plot nor the original-original plot. Now that there was someone to check him, it was hard to say what would become of Xiao Tang, this Young Marshal.
However, none of this had much to do with Ting Wan anymore.
Now, the father, Mr. Su, belonged to Su Xiaomo alone. As for the Young Marshal fiancé, Xiao Tang, he would naturally be hers too, as long as Su Xiaomo worked hard enough.
Ting Wan herself was the poor little thing who had broken off with the Su family and given up the engagement, a female student now studying diligently at Hongcheng Women’s University!
The Department Store, with Hongcheng Women’s University as a shareholder, was quickly established. Not only was it established, but it also became a small enterprise “backed by the government,” with the newly arrived Defense Commissioner also investing in it.
Ting Wan also opened a lipstick shop on the second floor of the building, a shop that purely and simply sold only lipstick. She first launched twelve colors, with more to be added later. A month after opening, her profits had multiplied several times over.
Ting Wan only kept twenty percent of the profits, giving all the rest to Principal Tan to be invested in the newly launched night school in the slums.
Night schools already existed in Hong City, but there were none in the slums.
That area was too poor. People were busy just trying to survive. Even if they wanted to learn, there was no platform for them to do so. Even if there were promising talents, they would have long been wasted by the delay.
Xiao Tang, the Young Marshal, never cared about the people in the slums. Therefore, Lu Mou discussed with Principal Tan that they would start their movement by changing the people in the slums.
Ting Wan, who had spare cash on hand, immediately said that education strengthens a nation, and then proposed setting up a night school in the slums so that those who wanted to learn could have a place to study while still earning a living.
The school would be free. The teachers would be the teachers and students from Hongcheng Women’s University. No tuition was required; the students only needed to handle the cleaning of the night school.
Just by cleaning, one could attend school. How could no one come!
No matter the era, anyone with a bit of foresight understood that knowledge changes destiny—hadn’t they seen how much easier it was for those who were literate and knew etiquette to find jobs than for illiterates like them?
When undertaking this night school, Ting Wan proposed to Principal Tan that they teach some practical skills, such as Chinese medicine, Western medicine, nursing, and craftsmanship. This would not only help find some gifted individuals among the students to serve the country but also allow the learners to truly acquire a skill and escape their destitute situation.
To put it simply, it was to run a night school in the nature of a technical school.
Principal Tan was a cultured person, but not an inflexible one. She was not some lofty, otherworldly fairy who didn’t understand the needs of the common people. She could understand what the people in the slums truly needed.
Thus, the technical school-style night school was established, and Ting Wan was also in charge of one subject—carpentry.
Principal Tan agreed when Ting Wan said she wanted to teach, but she was a bit surprised that Ting Wan wanted to teach carpentry.
Because Ting Wan really did not look like someone who knew carpentry.
A person who knew makeup with divine skill, a person who studied the violin at school, a person whose initial persona was that of a delicate young lady—no matter how you looked at it, she had no connection to carpentry.
However, Ting Wan insisted that she would teach carpentry and even demonstrated how to make a stool for Principal Tan on the spot.
Ting Wan wanted to teach carpentry, but she wanted to do more than just teach carpentry.
Carpentry was a front. She wanted to find someone with a good aptitude to modify cold weapons with her.
The main reason was that teaching blacksmithing was too unconventional, and Principal Tan would not have agreed. Otherwise, the subject Ting Wan would have taught would have been blacksmithing.
During her years interning in various departments of the Alliance, Ting Wan had learned many useful and useless skills.
Firearms were not so easy to obtain, but cold weapons could be modified by oneself.
If you couldn’t afford a BMW, couldn’t you build an enhanced version of a bicycle yourself?
As it turned out, with enough people, one could always find a genius or two.
In her second week of teaching carpentry, Ting Wan discovered one—a skinny, dark-skinned girl with dull yellow hair and a determined gaze.
This girl already had a foundation in carpentry. When Ting Wan was teaching how to make a folding chair, her production speed was twice as fast as the others.
This doubled speed made Ting Wan notice her, and she pulled her aside for a chat.
The skinny, dark-skinned girl was named Er Hua. Her father had been a carpenter, but unfortunately, he had passed away, which was why her family’s life had become increasingly difficult.
She was good with her hands and would usually weave bamboo baskets and lanterns to sell. The reason she came to the night school to learn carpentry was to carry on her late father’s trade.
“There are many ways to carry on your late father’s trade. For example, how about you follow me and learn some more skills? Room, board, and salary are all covered.”
Er Hua’s gaze was firm; she looked like a good kid.
And good kids, well, they should serve the country