1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 425: Recuperation
The people should be masters, but they must employ servants who are more capable than themselves.

——John Stuart Mill.

As early as the 19th century when the Legislative Council was still called the Standing Council, for a hundred years, Hong Kong had never heard of elections.

Its composition is headed by the Governor of Hong Kong, who is in charge of the three secretaries and senior foreign military officers, who call themselves official members of the Legislative Council.

The Governor of Hong Kong will then designate several prominent figures in society to serve as non-official members of the Council.

Later, as people from the north moved south, more and more wealthy people entered Hong Kong, and the number of seats for non-official members increased accordingly.

But they are still appointed by the Governor of Hong Kong.

This situation continued until 1982, around the time of formal negotiations between China and Britain.

For the first time ever, the Hong Kong government talked about democracy, adding seats for legislators, and then introducing a representative system.

In addition to the original two types of members, official and non-official, two new systems, functional constituency election and electoral college indirect election, were introduced to increase the number of seats.

The functional constituency election is to elect a leading elected member of the Legislative Council from various sectors of society, including the business, industrial, labor, legal, and medical sectors.

The indirect election is made by the electoral college, which is composed of the District Council, the Municipal Council and all elected members to select suitable members to the Legislative Council.

Elsie Tu and Ming-chu Szeto,
What is being contested this time is the electoral college election, one of the 12 seats for councillors in Kwun Tong district.

"So I have always said that it is a joke for British politicians to talk about democracy."

Muguang English College.

As Elsie Tu and Ha Meng walked side by side on the school playground, the old lady sighed, "I heard from my British friends that the boss originally wanted to implement one person one vote this year, allowing more than 5 million people in Hong Kong to elect the governor in the future. However, the mainland's attitude was very tough, and Wei Yixin was caught in the middle and repeatedly mediated, so it was left unfinished."

"Why don't they implement one person, one vote in their own country?" Xia Meng said dissatisfiedly: "There are nearly 60 million people in the UK. They stand up to elect the queen. Whoever gets the most votes will be elected."

Du Yip smiled, squinted his eyes and looked at the teaching building not far away, and said: "I have been in Hong Kong for so many years. I married Du Xuekui and founded the school. I watched batches of children grow up. After all, I still hope to do something within my ability. At least in the next few years, the transition will be smooth and there will be no more trouble."

Xia Meng nodded and said, "Grandpa means the same thing, but judging from the increasingly frequent restructuring in recent years, they don't want such a simple transition."

"Situ Mingzhu and his faction are typical reformists, holding high the banner of democracy and shouting slogans loudly..."

Elsie Tu sighed again and said, "It's a pity that my support rate is too low now. I will most likely lose this election."

April 4th marks one week into the campaign.

In the midst of calm and tranquility,
The survey shows that of the two candidates in Kwun Tong District 1, Szeto Ming-chu's support rate has exceeded 80%, while Tu Yip Sik-yan is completely suppressed.

There are a total of 466 registered voters in the Electoral College this year.

That is to say, before the voting started, more than 300 people had already placed their votes on Situ Mingzhu's side.

The reason why he was able to get such a high number of votes is naturally inseparable from the publicity volume of the "September 1st Daily" which is currently suspending publication for self-examination in the first year or so.

On the other hand, compared with Du Yixin, Szeto Ming-chu can be said to be more powerful and wealthy, and has the advantage of forming cliques and factions.

"But it doesn't matter. I still have the identity of a city council member."

With a smile that didn't care about gains and losses, Tu Yip said calmly: "If the electoral college doesn't choose me this time, I will continue to run in the future as a member of the Urban Council functional constituency. The Hong Kong government's establishment of an electoral system to promote democracy is equivalent to giving me another chance."

Xia Meng smiled and said nothing.

Walk around the playground with Elsie Tu for a distance,
She just spoke again: "Maybe it's not necessary. The Electoral College hasn't voted yet, and the result is still unknown."

Du Yixin thought she was comforting herself, and smiled and agreed that it made sense.

Xia Meng paused and continued, "As far as I know, Zhai Yuan, the Yuen Long District Councillor, has already planned to cast his sacred vote for Principal Du Ye."

Du Yexien paused and looked at Xia Meng in surprise.

Zhai Yuan? Is he the young man who was deceived by Situ Mingzhu and his gang, and promoted his competitor, and was listed with six crimes by the Ta Kung Pao?

…………

"The September 1st Daily Newspaper is still under suspension and self-examination."

Yonghe Hall,

The backbones of the two factions, Huidian and Minxie, gathered together, among them were the founding fathers Yang Sen and Situ Mingzhu.

"I tried to contact Zhai Yuan several times, but he didn't answer the phone and the company couldn't contact him either."

Situ Mingzhu said: "I went to visit him at his home, and a pretty girl came out and told me that he was sick and would not see any guests."

Everyone in the room looked at each other, confused as to what Zhai Yuan was up to.

It's fine if you want to turn against us, and it's fine if you want to turn to the mainland, but now we are doing nothing and there is no news at all.

The people of Taiwan have spoken, what are you trying to do?
Even Yang Sen, who is known as the brain, couldn't understand this move. He pondered for a long time before saying, "Don't pay attention to him for now. At present, your support rate is overwhelming. Even if the September 1st Daily News resumes publication to build momentum for Du Yip, it will not reverse the situation. The rest will be discussed after the election is over."

"Okay!" Situ Mingzhu took a deep breath. At first, Zhai Yuan's turning his back on him did make him flustered, but with a support rate of over 80% at this time, he completely forgot about his previous worries.

Before this, his reputation was comparable to that of Elsie Du, or even slightly inferior.

This is because Principal Tu Ye is quite popular among the citizens, and the electoral group composed of district councilors from each district must also consider the level of public opinion in their own area when voting.

For example, Zhai Yuan, the head of Xiawan Village and a district councillor in Yuen Long,

If the whole of Yuen Long praises Elsie Tu but he votes for Szeto Ming-chu, his position in the next election will also be affected.

"The media mouthpiece is really useful."

Situ Mingzhu couldn't help but sigh that in just one year, the "91 Daily News" helped him turn the situation around. Those district councillors who had some reservations before now said they would cast their votes for him. Wasn't it because he had won more public support by frequently appearing in public to "speak for the people" than Doris Tuen?

“So after this election, we still need to win over the September 1st Daily News to our side.”

Yang Sen nodded in agreement.

There are only 12 seats in this election. Although he did not participate, perhaps it will be his turn in a year or two.

The Hong Kong government has just entered the election mode and everyone is crossing the river by feeling the stones.

But the surge in Situ Mingzhu's support rate this time undoubtedly proves the feasibility of being a mouthpiece for public opinion.

"It seems that if one person, one vote can be implemented in the future, the role of the media will be even greater."

Yang Sen looked around at the faction backbones sitting around him, tapped the table lightly, and said: "If there is a mouthpiece to control the direction of public opinion, plus everyone's future status in various departments, all of you here are the future of Hong Kong. Whether the chief after the return is called the Governor or the Mayor, we can arrange for our friends to run for election. In the future, the three words "Democratic Party" will definitely rewrite the history of Hong Kong..."

…………

May 5nd marks the 2th day of canvassing for votes for the Legislative Council Electoral College.

Year of Wuchen, month of Bingchen, day of Bingchen.

It is appropriate to bury the body and dig the ground, bury the body and build the grave. "Is there anyone who wants to see me today?"

Zhai Yuan walked downstairs wrapped in pajamas and asked Xiao Feihong who was doing homework at the desk in the living room.

Yu Feihong and Zhou Ping did not stay in the mainland for a long time. There was no concept of winter vacation in Hong Kong, and the two girls hurried back to school after the New Year.

Yu Feihong bit the tip of the pen and looked up, shaking his head cutely, "No."

The little girl was very curious. For more than a week, Zhai Yuan had been staying in his room, not going out of the door, and only told his family not to see outsiders. No one knew what he was busy with.

However, there is indeed a constant stream of guests who come to the door on their own initiative.

Zhai Yuan didn't see any of them.

The reason is illness.

Emmmm...Yu Feihong didn't know what to say. Anyway, sometimes when he got up at night and passed by Zhai Yuan's room, he often heard strange noises between him and Sister Hai Mei.

Zhai Yuan walked up to Yu Feihong, rubbed his little head, and asked, "Didn't you come yesterday either?"

"Yesterday, an uncle named Pan Yongqiang came." Yu Feihong answered obediently, "He said he had important work to discuss with you, but we still didn't let him in."

Zhai Yuan nodded when he heard that, sat down on the sofa, and asked Yu Feihong to bring his brother's phone over.

"Hello, Manager Pan."

Zhai Yuan’s first call was to the current head of the newspaper.

As soon as he opened his mouth, a relieved voice came from the other end. Pan Yongqiang asked anxiously on the phone: "Mr. Zhai, you finally answered the phone. Our newspaper has been suspended for more than a week. We must resume publication as soon as possible! In addition, I received a very heavyweight revelation yesterday. Whether to publish it or not, I dare not make the decision on my own..."

Zhai Yuan heard Pan Yongqiang's mysterious and low voice on the other end of the phone, smiled, and asked with interest: "What revelation is so important?"

"It's news about the Legislative Council candidates." Pan Yongqiang continued in a low voice, "I don't dare to say too much on the phone, for fear of being tricked by others. Anyway, if you have time, can you come over as soon as possible?"

To draw a line is to eavesdrop.

At this time, most phones used analog cellular signals, and frequency resources were insufficient, so crosstalk often occurred.

Wang Ye Yijian, the paparazzi hired by the "September 1st Daily", has a unique skill among his paparazzi: they use machines to test different frequency bands and eavesdrop on all kinds of gossip.

Pan Zhiqiang was afraid that this solid information would get out, so he solemnly handed it to Zhai Yuan in person.

"OK, I'll be there right away."

Zhai Yuan grinned, knowing what the explosive news Pan Zhiyong was talking about without having to think.

Several boxes of previous audio tapes of Situ Mingzhu and Li Zhiying.

It was while Zhai Yuan was recuperating at home that he instructed someone to send the letter anonymously to his own newspaper office. Pan Yongqiang obviously didn't know about this and kept it as a secret as if it were his life and property and refused to reveal it.

After the cessation of publication of the September 997st Daily, the stock code fell slightly.

The first day of resumption of publication needs a hot news to boost sales.

By the way, we can take advantage of this wave of sales to clean up the layout that was previously messed up by Wei Jianbang, and make it back to being a major entertainment newspaper, so that readers across Hong Kong can see the attitude of this newspaper's redesign.

At Pan Zhiqiang's urging, Zhai Yuan cut off his line.

Then he slowly made a few phone calls and asked about the situation of other companies.

Jiuyi Entertainment still arranges the screening of various movies. Shi Nansheng is extremely helpless about the boss who disappeared without a reason, and mentions a few words about Wan Ziliang helping Fuyi shoot the "A Better Tomorrow".

The remaining record, comics and other businesses are developing as usual. A group of industry elites were gathered when the company was established, so the business will not be shut down even if the boss Zhai Yuan is not present.

Finally, I called Ho Sai-chu of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and learned that he had been successfully elected as a member of the Legislative Council in the second functional constituency of the business sector...

All things were simply reviewed.
Zhai Yuan called out to Yu Feihong again: "Go upstairs and bring the manuscripts from my room."

Yu Feihong responded, trotted upstairs, and came back after a while with a stack of manuscript paper in his arms.

She glanced at it briefly.
The untidy handwriting on it reads, "Slam Dunk Synopsis", "Follow-up Trends of Storm", "Outline of the Second Part of The Three-Body Problem", "Swordsman Script Synopsis"...

There are about ten copies.

Yu Feihong thought: It turns out that Brother Yuan is working hard upstairs!

Zhai Yuan took the results of his work over the past week from her and put it into a cowhide bag.

He took a deep breath and called Satellite: "Brother Xing, please come and pick me up..."

…………

The situation in Kwun Tong District has become very clear.

Szeto Ming-chu's approval rating was a landslide victory over that of Elsie Tu, and colleagues from all walks of life gathered at the Yongren Hall to celebrate with champagne.

If the "September 1st Daily News" had not been republished on major newsstands early this morning, Szeto Ming-chu would have been directly elected as a member of the Legislative Council with a very high vote advantage.

5 month 3 day.

The countdown to the Legislative Council Electoral College canvassing for votes is on the last day.

The "September 1st Daily", which had been suspended for many days for self-examination, has finally resumed publication.

The layout of the newspaper was arranged the night before, and all the printing factories started working in the early morning. The sales of the "September 10st Daily", which had dropped to 40 copies per day, printed copies this time!

Before daybreak, the newspaper seller came to pick up the goods and found that the workers in the printing factory all had red eyes and the machines in the factory were still working and roaring.

At dawn, all major newsstands had already stocked their shelves with goods.

The front page headline of the "September 1st Daily" was printed in full color, with two cartoon characters drawn on it, one with Situ Mingzhu's iconic sand-skin face, and the other with Li Zhiying's fat and bloated features.

Title: 'Shock! Watergate scandal takes place in Hong Kong'

Subtitle: "A recording of a conversation between Szeto XX, one of the founders of the Democratic Alliance, and a wealthy businessman surnamed Li was exposed, which may be related to the three bombings and terrorist attacks last year. The President of the United States was shocked after watching it."

When old fans of the September 1st Daily came to the newsstand and saw this style of headlines, they smiled knowingly.

Regardless of the content, just by looking at the familiar writing style, you can tell at a glance that the man has returned.

Then I turned to the main text, wanting to know what tricks Zhai Yuan would play after regaining control of the newspaper.

Then, there was an uproar among the readers!
Legislative Council candidate and one of the founders of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Szeto Ming-chu, colluded with former Forbidden Fruit boss Lai Chi-ying and is suspected of planning three consecutive terrorist bombings in July last year.

I don’t know if the President of the United States was shocked, but the citizens of Hong Kong were really shocked…

(End of this chapter)