Chapter 249: Idiot
Translator: BeetleBarker Editor: Tennesh
Was it such an easy thing to have the same name as a Period of Destruction leader?
Given the level of adoration most people in the New Era had toward the heroes of the Period of Destruction, even if historical truths revealed distasteful news about a certain important character, fanatical worshippers would not be bothered.
The line of thoughts of these fanatical worshippers was this: Negative news? Flawed Character? I won't listen! I won't believe it! In any case, my hero is always number one! How thick skinned can you get, having the same name as my hero?!
When people with the same name as their heroes were spotted, piercing gazes of scrutiny were placed on them. This gave those people with the exact same name rather immense amounts of pressure.
There were too many worshippers of heroes from the Period of Destruction. The numbers were not in the tens of thousands but in the hundreds of millions! And for people who shared the exact same name as these martyrs, wherever they went, they would have to face all sorts of questioning gazes.
There were still some worshippers who who did not want to see others have the same name as their heroes but had double standards for their own descendants and have them names similar to martyrs in the hopes that their descendants would become great people just like their own heroes.
However, for those people who shared the exact same name as martyrs, many could not handle the pressure and chose to change their own names.
Those that could hold their own under this sort of pressure and could even make a name for themselves were generally not such simple people.
This was what old Mr. Head Consultant meant by the line "It is rare for this person to not be inhibited by that name." When he had first seen a young person who had the exact same name as his hero, he had been extremely astounded and had paid even more attention to Fang Zhao.
Even old Mr. Head Consultant had the same sentiments as other worshippers and would unconsciously draw comparisons when he saw the name "Fang Zhao" and saw how capable the other party was.
As the revolutionary film project consultant team head, when he looked through the suggestions and opinions of everyone, he especially paid attention to the articles Fang Zhao submitted and had high expectations. Up to now, every one of Fang Zhao's articles had had opinions that made him very satisfied.
Old Mr. Head Consultant thought to himself, Worthy of having the exact same name as my hero!
But if Fang Zhao's performance had been poor, the old mister would surely have thought this: What a joke, to think he would actually share the same name as my hero!
This was how these worshippers generally thought.
Of course, Fang Zhao did not know what the old Mr. Head Consultant was thinking. After submitting his article, he browsed through the discussion platform to see whether there was any news he had missed.
According to these people's discussions, based on Fang Zhao's experiences during the Period of Destruction, if he was written into the drama series, he would have a tragic supporting role.
In truth, this was how Fang Zhao was written in the script.
Compared to the Founding Era generals, Fang Zhao's impact was not as big. After 500 years, his deeds mainly appeared in history books, and people outside Yanzhou did not know much about him. Even in Yanzhou, besides studying their materials for examinations, most people would not voluntarily make an effort to understand him. What was the point of reading historical information? The past would be forgotten anyway.
However, during every year's Memorial Day, the Cemetery of Martyrs commemorative-painting vendors would remind everyone that besides the Founding Era great generals, there was still another important hero.
Browsing through this year's painting styles at Yanzhou's Cemetery of Martyrs and seeing the new image of himself, Fang Zhao felt that... it burned his eyes.
He would not be purchasing any this year. He would rather paint them himself!
On the second day of his vacation, which was also the actual Memorial Day, Kevin Lin came over to broadcast Fang Zhao's blessings to audiences live, and he left just as quickly.
Kevin Lin wanted to let Fang Zhao appear more in the live broadcasts, but the column's chief editor had other plans.
The column's chief editor had spoken to Kevin Lin in private. "Fang Zhao is no longer important," he had said. "What is important is how to get source material and take the opportunity during such a crucial time like Memorial Day to obtain more meaningful materials. Film those soldiers garrisoned here who do not have a high enough rank to bring their family members. Low-ranked soldiers who are unable to return home! And the new batch of wet-eared kids that from the October batch, they might not be adapting well, so film them too. This is also very good source material!"
In short, Kevin Lin was too look for more tear-provoking, gloom-inducing source material that would lead to passionate discussions.
Since it was a suggestion from the top, Kevin Lin could only listen to it. He had tactfully told Fang Zhao about it, but since Fang Zhao had not seemed to mind, Kevin Lin felt more at ease and was able to focus on his own assignment.
His colleagues from the other four channels were also rolling up their sleeves for battle. As they vied for views on this Memorial Day, Kevin Lin did not want to lag behind.
After the blessings on the live broadcast, Kevin Lin left and Fang Zhao continued with his commemorative painting.
Shortly after, Great-Grandmother Fang told Fang Zhao that there was a visitor.
The visitor was Lu Yan, a major from the mining area and a subordinate of Edmund. He lived next door and normally helped out the two elder Fangs with some small chores. Thus, he was familiar with the both of them. He had also brought along some Memorial Day presents with him.
Lu Yan passed the presents to Great-Grandmother Fang and saw the brushes and paper on Fang Zhao's table when he entered the room. Curious, he asked, "Painting?" As Fang Zhao had not yet completed it, Lu Yan could not tell who it was.
Fang Zhao placed the brush down and asked, "Just for fun. Is anything the matter?"
Lu Yan felt a little embarrassed. "Cough, I do have a request to make." Requesting for help from others on Memorial Day was not too nice, but at the moment, he could not find anyone else and could only try Fang Zhao.
Lu Yan explained his purpose in coming. "It's like this..." His wife was a doctor at the Baiji military district hospital. Before the military district had been established, she had been a military doctor here. Both he and his wife were veterans of planet Baiji.
Lu Yan's wife was pregnant, and the scheduled date for giving birth was not today, but a slight mishap had happened today causing her to go into labor and she had to be rushed to the hospital. As for Lu Yan, he was stationed to guard the mines from noon until his shift ended at noon the next day.
He had looked for other comrades to swap shifts with him, but they were all busy. Requesting a change of shift required making a request one month in advance, and his comrades had all been posted out to different areas and were not able to help him out at a moment's notice. As time was of the essence, Lu Yan could not try his luck at going through his contacts in succession. When he had seen the live broadcast Kevin Lin had filmed for Fang Zhao, he had thought about asking Fang Zhao to lend him a hand.
If it were anybody else, even a military personnel with a higher rank than Lu Yan, even if Lu Yan were able to get them to help out, it might still be troublesome. However, if it was Fang Zhao, Edmund would surely be easier to deal with.
Hearing the situation, Fang Zhao nodded his head. "No problem." He still had one more day of vacation tomorrow. Even if he was awake throughout the night, he would still have time to adjust tomorrow.
"Thank you so much! I really can't thank you enough!" Lu Yan exclaimed emotionally. Since Fang Zhao had agreed, he immediately sent a request to Edmund.
Edmund was a familiar face. Back when Fang Zhao had first arrived on planet Baiji and headed to the mining area for his military service, he had gotten to know Edmund. Although Edmund was still the person in charge of the mining areas close to the base, the power-source mining area had already seen upgrades and was no longer the same as before. Edmund's rank had also risen to major general. Now Edmund's family had all moved to planet Baiji, and he no longer wished to return back to Earth.
As expected, the moment Edmund heard the request, he hesitated for a little before approving it. If it had been anybody else, Edmund would surely have taken longer to think and would have considered whether there were any shenanigans involved. He would have viewed this with guarded suspicion, but the person relieving Lu Yan was Fang Zhao, which dispelled any misgivings Edmund had.
Although his military rank might be a little lower, Fang Zhao was still very suitable to provide emergency responses, which was reassuring.
Stealing ore?
That couldn't be.
As the discoverer of Baiji ore, the military district had given Fang Zhao a lot of ore. Although he had not taken it out yet, when the military district had first been established, Commanding Officer Shanta had already signed the dotted line. That share of ore would be sent to Fang Zhao after his military service was completed. Fang Zhao simply did not need to risk all of his deeds and contributions just to steal a few pieces of ore.
Having gotten the approval for the a substitute, Lu Yan led Fang Zhao to the mining area's guard post to report for duty.
"What you have to do is very simple. You just have to verify the endorsed documents of anybody entering the mines against the system. If everything is in order, you can stamp the person's pass. At the side is a stamping machine. When the stamp is successful, an electrical current will pass through. If their documents cannot be verified, you just have to call the team guarding to settle the matter. You don't have to worry, though; this is just following a simple process, and there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
If it had been anything too important or too complicated or something that might have some degree of risk, Lu Yan wouldn't have looked for Fang Zhao. Luckily, it was not a hard task, and Fang Zhao was a earnest and trustworthy lad, so Lu Yan had looked for Fang Zhao to stand in for him.
Lu Yan made sure to explain or the important things to take note of. "Oh, right. Remember to put on the working attire that is to the side. The energy fields over at the mining area are stronger, around 15 times stronger than the fields you experienced when you first came. You mustn't get careless even if you stay in the guard post. If you are exposed to it for more than an hour, the energy fields might affect your state of mind."
After Fang Zhao had gotten a complete grasp of this assignment, Lu Yan thanked him once again before leaving.
Fang Zhao had nothing much to do, sitting around in the guard post. Fang Zhao looked around his surroundings. Both the interior and exterior of the guard post had surveillance cameras, but Fang Zhao did not have any devious intentions, so he was not afraid of being captured by the cameras.
While at the guard post, there was no way to connect to the internet or randomly contact others to chat. Thus, Fang Zhao just sat there and thought about the latest few tunes that he was in the midst of composing.
An hour later, two construction workers came requiring stamps. Following Lu Yan's instructions, after Fang Zhao verified their documents, he used the machine at the side to stamp their passes.
The sky gradually got darker. As the symphony orchestra in Fang Zhao's mind was playing, people once again appeared. Three men wearing mining uniforms and helmets had come. The visors of their helmets were covered with blotches, and Fang Zhao could not see through them clearly. However, this sort of attire was very common here. Previously, the people who had come to get their passes stamped had looked the same.
Fang Zhao ran through the documents and looked up to scan the three men standing outside the guardpost before accepting and stamping their passes.
An electric current flashed through the stamp, indicating that it had been successful.
"Happy Memorial Day," Fang Zhao said.
When they heard what Fang Zhao had said, they went blank for a moment before replying, "Thanks."
The three of them picked up their stamped passes and left.
When they had walked away to a less conspicuous area, while struggling to stifle his excitement, one of them softly said, "Hahahaha. I told you getting the passes stamped is very easy, right? Those in the guard post are always idle and are unable to tell! He even wished us a happy Memorial Day. What an idiot!"
Another one of them sounded really delighted. "We have already received the stamps here, that ought to be all we need. We certainly will have no problems when leaving!"
"Stealing right from under these people's noses feels great!"