CHAPTER 670: BURNING QUESTIONS

"Oh, looks like we’re about to be out of time. Let’s go to your most Burning Questions over the phone."

As Liang Han directed the workers to stop handing the audience the mic, they disappointingly lowered their hands back down.

"First one... Governor, what do you think Luoping will be like compared to other cities five years from now?"

Liang Han asked as the words got displayed on the screen, waiting for Xiaoyun to answer as he sat there in silence for a few seconds.

"Five years from now? I’m not sure, to be honest. But hopefully everyone’s lives will be better, including me, of course."

The audience started chuckling as the tense atmosphere in the venue seemed to have moved past all the things from earlier.

"In all seriousness, I know the question is probably trying to ask about the gap in the standard of living between Luoping and the other cities.

It is undeniable that Luoping has a way better living standard and a higher cost of entry to live here. But I’ll try my best to remediate with equity and fairness in mind.

Be it in the city of Guangzhou or in the rural countryside of Qingyuan. I’ll work hard every day to make living cheaper and more convenient for everyone.

Please understand it’s going to take time. It’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes that are helping a lot of impoverished people out of poverty."

As the audience started clapping, Liang Han didn’t move on from the question right away as he pressed up with a follow-up question of his own.

"Mr.Governor, do you mind if you can elaborate on how you have addressed the issue with people living in poverty?"

"Of course... The first thing we did was to make sure everyone was fed. Regardless of whether they have money to buy food or not.

The majority of you have probably seen the poverty stations across different cities that give porridge for free without charge.

That’s one of the key tactics we had used to address people in food shortages, giving them food until they can earn money to live independently."

All of the audience nodded their head. The things he had described, they had seen it firsthand, or even experienced it before themselves.

"The second thing we attempted to do was to create more jobs. This is a little trickier since it isn’t as easy as handing food out to the poor."

Xiaoyun paused for a second as he suddenly turned over to Liang Han.

"I’m sure you’ve all seen the drastic increase in job hiring recently. Many of these jobs are hard labor jobs that some of you might not be used to.

We, as the government, had been attempting to diversify it. We know many of you have skills that clearly will be better put somewhere else.

Like, this TV host right here. Let me ask you, Liang Han, what did you do in Luoping before becoming a talk host?"

As Xiaoyun threw the ball into the host’s court, he was a little caught off guard by it.

"Um... I was working on a farm before Mr.Shen Wen hired me."

"Have you been a talk-show host in the past? Like before the outbreak?"

"Yeah... I was a news anchor a few months before the outbreak. I still have my journalism degree back home."

"Exactly. We know people like Liang Han that has specific skills, ones that don’t belong on the farm and should be put somewhere else.

What we are trying to do is to have people work in jobs with their skillset, which is why we have already given out millions of subsidies in launching different business sectors.

And to be clear, anyone willing to work hard should be able to support their family regardless of what kind of job it is.

I’m not going to favor white or blue-collar workers. Both had received subsidies that boost both their hiring and safety regulations."

"Thank you, Governor, that was a great response... Now, the second question. Governor, are you planning to expand beyond Guangdong?"

Xiaoyun sat still for a few seconds, his mind quickly calculating the potential risk and reward for the answer he was about to give.

In the end, he chose to give a more conservative answer.

"I like to expand outside of Guangdong, but for now, our resources are too spread out. Maybe in the future something might change."

"Ah, the Tai Chi style answer." Liang Han murmured as the audience all started laughing a little.

"Well, I can’t predict something so far into the distant future. That’s like me asking what you’re going to eat when you get to Shanghai in twenty years?"

"You aren’t wrong. Ahem, let’s go to our last and final question of the day. Governor, what is the requirement to be allowed to... marry multiple women?"

Xiaoyun fell into silence as this was the question he didn’t know how to argue back with.

There weren’t really any rules when he created marriage exceptions. It was completely random, depending on his mood and how he felt.

He didn’t even know if the plaintiff suing him had happy wives or not. The only other person he had done it for was Lingang.

"This is a hard one, isn’t it, Governor?" Liang Han asked, the atmosphere getting a little tense as all the audience looked towards him.

"It definitely is... To answer that question, I need to ask one thing from the audience here tonight."

"What is it, Governor?" One of the audience members curiously asked.

"What is your guy’s opinion on polygamy? You guys can feel free to shout out your answer. I can hear you all from here."

"It’s immoral!"

"It’s illegal."

"It’s unfair."

"It’s not right."

As the overwhelming answer tended to be negative, Xiaoyun’s face didn’t seem to be too bothered by it.

"Looks like the question had been answered. Nothing is going to change about the marriage law."

"But Governor, you..."

The host fell into silence as it clearly was a double standard from Xiaoyun, but he didn’t dare to speak up any further as Xiaoyun stared back at him.

"As I said earlier, nothing is going to change about my marriage to my wives... Now, audience, let me ask you this."

Xiaoyun cleared his throat for a second as he got up from the sofa, standing right before all the audience members down below the stage.

"Does it hurt you or your family if someone else has two wives or more? Who does it harm when they are all consenting adults?

There are fewer than 0.01% of people who are going to be impacted by this. Why should we prevent them from getting a piece of paper?"

"But the power dynamic——"

"You and me, right here, right now. I’m your governor, and you’re a citizen. Isn’t society inherently full of power dynamics?"

The middle-aged woman fell into silence, unable to come up with an answer in time as Xiaoyun already moved on.

"If everyone is happy with each other in the marriage, who are we to say no to it? Would you rather have them live as a concubine with no names?"

The entire audience fell into silence, as they could understand what Xiaoyun was trying to imply here.

"I’d rather let people be truthful about it than be some Westerners’ fake moral high ground with secret lovers and hiding them from each other."

"Ahem, Governor, I think you didn’t answer the question... It’s asking how someone could get an exception to marry multiple women."

Liang Han quietly whispered, snapping Xiaoyun back to the moment as he cleared his throat.

"If a judge finds everyone in the party involved willfully consent to it and the police find no foul play or signs of abuse, who’s the government in the way of true love?

At the end of the day, it’s just a piece of paper. A document that shows your lovers are willing to share with you and understand you.

The marriage law is still going to remain in place to avoid abuse, but exceptions are made case by case by the judges themsleve."

Seeing the audience all just sitting there in silence, Xiaoyun didn’t speak up any further as he sat back down onto the sofa.

"Well, folks, you heard what the Governor had said. Thank you for watching the first Episode of the Midnight Current.

Remember, our schedule will be every Monday from 11 to 12. And thank you for the Governor being the special guest for today."

"No problem."

As the two shook hands, the camera finally came to an end as the red lights in the corner turned completely dark.

"Everyone, please exit through the main entrance."

The workers began guiding the audience out of the venue one by one as Shen Wen came into the building from the side entrance.

"Mr.Governor, that was a very impressive interview... I didn’t expect you to confront the question head-on like that."