Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 149: The Past, Too Painful to Recall

Mu Yuming’s father, Mu Qing, was a distant branch member of the Mu Family. His original life trajectory was simply to serve as a technical officer in the machinery manufacturing bureau of Tianmen City. Because he understood English and spoke the language, the Imperial Court selected him to go to Saifu to oversee weapons procurement.

At that time, just a few years after the Federal Government had ended its civil war, because the war had ended so abruptly, many private military factories that had developed during the conflict were left with a large stockpile of guns and ammunition. As the times changed rapidly and human civilization accelerated further down the path of self-destruction, these newly manufactured weapons were phased out by the domestic deployment of new generations of armaments, sadly becoming the tears of the era.

Of course, there was never anything like munitions that couldn’t be sold. War never makes sense, squander the tanks and artillery provided by allies, and pulling a T34 with five sets of wheels out of a museum to fill the ranks is hardly impossible.

It’s simply a matter of how quickly they sold.

But for the owners of the military factories, only selling their stock as soon as possible could they maintain cash flow and earn more profit. To sell slowly was to suffer a loss in disguise.

It just so happened that at that time, the Imperial Court was at odds with Tsarist Russia in the North and was preparing to form a New Army to engage in combat in the Northwest. It also just so happened that there were middlemen in Saifu, and under a relationship of mutual affection, both parties reached a silent agreement on a military arms deal worth several hundred thousand taels of silver.

Such a large order, even if those ensuring its protection had both strong morals and combat power, the Imperial Court could not fully trust it without oversight.

The task that Mu Qing was responsible for was exactly this, and he did it for over two decades, never once returning to his old home.

However, fortunately, shortly after his arrival, he found a woman he desired and then settled down to start a family, living a safe and uneventful life.

In that era, the status of overseas Chinese was far from as distinguished as it is now.

Apart from a very small number of Chinese who actively went to sea to make a living, the vast majority of Chinese gathered in Saifu were impoverished coastal villagers who had been tricked onto ships and sold to the West Coast of the Federation to build railways for the foreigners, earning meager wages.

Once the railways were completed, they were promptly fired. Most of them couldn’t even afford the return ticket home with their saved wages, and the railway company turned a blind eye to this.

After all, the railway had been completed; it wasn’t their concern where these people ended up dying.

A large number of Chinese were stranded locally and, out of desperation to make a living, had to find work by all means necessary. This, of course, encroached upon the job market for the lower-class white population and further exacerbated racial tensions.

Later historians with keyboards may have a hundred reasons to interpret this from different perspectives. After all, they have not lived through that era; they can fabricate it however they like.

As for Mu Qing himself, he did not have so many profound insights or experiences. What he felt was the humiliation he could never forget in his lifetime.

"Your grandfather went to eat at a restaurant when he had just arrived in Saifu. He didn’t know where he could or couldn’t go and randomly chose a foreign restaurant to try local flavors. He was chased out by the owner, who said they didn’t serve Asians."

"He was very angry at that time and later told a friend about the incident. His friend took him back to that restaurant. Because his friend had significant local influence, the restaurant owner did not expel them this time. But after serving his meal, they made the same dish again and fed it to a dog at the door in front of him."

"He encountered such incidences almost every day."

"Another time, for work, he took a train to another state where there were very few Chinese. Not long after he got off the train, a group of rural cowboys surrounded him, drew guns, and attempted to rob him. Even after he had paid them, they refused to let him go, forcing him to kneel and lick dog feces off their boots."

"If even someone as dignified as your grandfather could experience such things, it goes without saying for the lower-class Chinese."

Mu Yuming placed his hand on his daughter’s head and sighed silently in his heart. In truth, he did not want to tell Li Mumu about these disgusting things.

"Do you know why it happened like this?"

Isn’t that just how the Anglo-Saxon people are? What else could it be?

Li Mumu ventured tentatively, "Because we were very weak?"

"That’s one answer, but actually there were two views at the time."

Mu Yuming chuckled, "Back then, the Overseas Chinese were also pondering how to change that harsh living environment. Some thought it was because we were too weak ourselves, ignorant of resistance, and the foreigners just kept pushing further and bullying us without any restraint."

"But others felt that we ourselves weren’t doing good enough, we weren’t advanced enough, civilized enough; in the eyes of the foreigners, we were merely cannibals, uncivilized and backward, and so they shunned us."

"From your response just now, it seems you lean more toward the first answer?"

"Aren’t the people holding the second view idiots?"

"They’re anything but stupid," he said.

Mu Yuming shook his head, "Actually, both lines of thought share the same issue, which is always trying to find the answer within ourselves. We Chinese are by nature gentle and kind, always looking inwards when facing problems. Whether it’s feeling too weak or too undeveloped, essentially there’s no difference. But look at those foreigners—are they ever going to take responsibility for their own problems? They think a bit of repentance suffices, and then they continue as they were."

"No matter how strong your fist is or how loud your reputation, there will always be people who don’t know you. They don’t know who you are; they just see you as a ridiculous, yellow-skinned monkey."

"No matter how standard your kneeling posture or how lowly your obsequiousness, the foreigners will still find excuses to trouble you if they wish to. They don’t even necessarily treat their own kind as humans, let alone dogs, right?"

"This is not a personal issue, but one of ethnicity."

"Wolves do not respect sheep."

"Even if Sun Wukong became the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, the monkeys on the ground are still just monkeys."

Mu Yuming looked at his daughter with a heartfelt tone, "Today, the reason we can enjoy the same status as the whites in Saifu, aside from the years of hard struggle and leadership of the Four Seas Commerce Guild among the Overseas Chinese, the most important reason is the strength of our motherland."

"We won against Tsarist Russia in the Northwest Frontier, against Britain in the South Sea, against Frank along the Outer Islands Chain, and against the Federation in the New Continent..."

"It’s precisely these victories, one after another, that make those proud foreigners exclude the option of war when they communicate and interact with us."

"Conversely, suppose our motherland were to be impoverished and weak, suffering defeat after defeat, would our living conditions still be as easy and bright as they are now?"

"In fact, there’s no need to imagine—at Saifu, are there only the Chinese and white ethnic groups?"

"Those Africans, Americans, some came by ship as immigrants, some as refugees fleeing hardship. Where is their motherland? No, they don’t even have a motherland; their homelands are the colonies of the Great Powers."

"Can they be considered as people? Mumu, tell me, when I just asked you this question, did you in your mind consider them as foreigners?"