Chapter 26: The Great Debate

Although it was only a distance of about one hundred meters from here to their doorstep, the two of them found the journey exceptionally arduous.

Xia Zili took off her coat, wrapped it completely around her blonde-haired, pointed-ear head, and then grabbed Chen Zi'ang's arm, walking forward unsteadily.

"Do we really have to go this far?" Chen Zi'ang asked with a wry smile.

"I can't show my face, or I'll be recognized," Xia Zili insisted.

On second thought, it wasn't making a mountain out of a molehill. The reputation of "Maki Kiritani" was indeed formidable; she basically belonged to that household-name category of national goddesses. Even someone like Chen Zi'ang, who had no interest in entertainment news, knew who she was, and there were bound to be plenty of neighbors in this neighborhood who recognized her.

Therefore, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and lead this masked fool toward home.

Back at home, Chen Zi'ang spoke up:

"Alright, you can take the coat off now."

"The bathroom is on the first floor, and the slippers are in the cabinet on the right—just grab a pair of disposables. I'll go upstairs and get some of my sister's spare clothes for you."

"Sorry to trouble you," Xia Zili hurriedly thanked him.

Chen Zi'ang whispered a few words to Chen Xiaozhu, and seeing that she had no objections, he went upstairs to her bedroom and found some clothes and pants that she didn't wear often.

As for underwear, he didn't bring any. On one hand, they were his sister's private garments and not convenient to lend out; on the other hand, he was afraid the young lady would be embarrassed anyway. Besides, it was just to cover her up so that Xia Zili could wear them to take a taxi home, and that would be enough.

He brought the clothes downstairs, shouted "I've left the clothes on the floor at the doorway" through the bathroom door, and then turned and went to the kitchen, intending to heat up the food he had brought back from the staff cafeteria.

"Excuse me, is there a hair dryer?" Xia Zili's voice called out from behind.

"It's in the mirror cabinet of the bathroom!" Chen Zi'ang replied.

By the time he had heated the food and served it on the dining table, Xia Zili had also finished showering, dried her hair, and changed into a clean dress and clothes.

Because she always sat for long periods, most of his sister's clothes were made of soft materials. At this moment, Xia Zili was wearing a silk maxi dress, which looked quite fitting; the white T-shirt she wore on top, however, was clearly a bit too small for her—not to mention other areas, just the underarm region was stretched so tight that even the wrinkles of the fabric were pulled taut.

"Sorry, I'll find you a larger one," Chen Zi'ang said with a wry smile.

"Um, could I borrow a piece of underwear?" Xia Zili crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her cheeks and neck flushed red with embarrassment. "Or give me a couple of band-aids would work too."

Seeing her posture, Chen Zi'ang immediately understood where the problem lay and quickly said:

"Give me a moment."

Returning to his room to find an even looser T-shirt (he avoided shirts mostly fearing the buttons weren't of good quality), along with a spare pair of unworn underwear belonging to his sister, Chen Zi'ang hurried back downstairs and handed the items to Xia Zili.

By the time he helped Chen Xiaozhu to the edge of the dining table, he saw Xia Zili emerging from the bathroom once again.

This time, the T-shirt was already the largest among all his sister's clothes, yet it was still worn by her in a way that looked a bit like a tight bodysuit... Fortunately, Xiaozhu couldn't see it; otherwise, her self-esteem would definitely have taken a hit.

"It smells so good." Xia Zili looked at the food on the table and subconsciously blurted out.

Then her stomach growled.

"If you don't mind, sit down and eat with us," Chen Zi'ang extended an invitation.

This remark wasn't just polite phrasing. He had originally bought a few extra dishes to go with drinks, and since the beer was gone now, the food would probably be more than enough for a meal, making it just right for entertaining a guest.

"How could I possibly..." Xia Zili was still holding back, but her stomach clearly refused to listen to her and stubbornly let out a few more rumbles.

"Sit down, sit down," Chen Zi'ang tried hard to hold back a smile and brought her a bowl of plain rice.

The side dishes he had bought at the staff cafeteria were mainly braised and fried items, which were great with drinks and made an absolute stellar match for rice.

Xia Zili picked up a few mouthfuls with her chopsticks. Her eyes first curved into crescents, clearly very satisfied with the taste, but soon realizing something, she smiled and said:

"Thank you for the meal, it's delicious."

"You're welcome," Chen Zi'ang was busy feeding Chen Xiaozhu.

"My etiquette should be correct, right?" Xia Zili asked cautiously.

"No problem, but that's Island-clan etiquette," Chen Zi'ang explained. "You don't need to worry about those things in my house."

"Oh." Xia Zili lowered her head and quietly shoveled rice into her mouth.

Halfway through the meal, Chen Zi'ang went to get the remote control and turned on the television, preparing to watch the debate convention.

"Speaking of which, why did you appear there today?" he asked casually.

"Uh, just passing by," Xia Zili said with a guilty conscience. "I saw you being extorted by delinquents, so I stepped forward to stop them."

"That's quite a coincidence," Chen Zi'ang asked uncertainly. "I remember you live in Sanhe District?"

"I do live in Sanhe District," Xia Zili continued to explain. "I came over to see how my records are selling in the music stores around Gunma District."

She couldn't possibly say that her mother's soul was helping her become a superhero and guiding her to run over here... That would be too bizarre.

"Then they must be selling very well," Chen Zi'ang said with a smile. "After all, you're the national goddess."

"That's just a popularity poll," Xia Zili said, feeling somewhat embarrassed. To change the subject as quickly as possible, she cast her gaze toward the television screen. "Is that a variety show?"

"No, a debate convention."

"What's a debate convention?"

"It's just that the mid-term elections are approaching and the parliament is being reshuffled, so they let the running candidates come up on stage to show their faces," Chen Zi'ang said cheerfully.

"It feels a bit like the variety shows I've been on," Xia Zili commented.

"No, no, no," Chen Zi'ang corrected her. "This is much funnier than a variety show."

He turned up the television volume and saw that both sides had already finished elaborating on their first debate topic—"How to Revitalize the National Economy"—and had entered the cross-debate segment.

The Advance People's Party councilman, Island-bag Pipe-flat, nicknamed "The Big Cannon," took the lead in launching a barrage:

"I would like to ask the councilman opposite: your political platform just now, which is using industrial transformation to evade the negative impacts of mineral depletion. As far as I know, Stone-born did exactly that while in office, yet up until now, the export of high-end, precision manufacturing has shown no improvement whatsoever."

"Doesn't this prove that your political platform has already been shown by reality to be useless?"

"Ahem." The opposing National-British Party councilman explained, "I have already emphasized that industrial transformation is a lengthy process that requires our unremitting efforts..."

"If this were in a corporation," Island-bag Pipe-flat interrupted him, "and you had worked this long without any results while demanding more time from the company, the boss would probably have told you to get lost ages ago."

"Using a corporation as an analogy is inappropriate," the opposing National-British Party councilman said, frowning. "Transforming toward high-end, precision manufacturing is a policy left behind by Mr. Stone Brocade-hall. Are you planning to question whether Mr. Stone Brocade-hall's decisions were problematic?"

"So you can only pick up others' teeth-scrapings without a single original thought of your own, is that it?" Island-bag Pipe-flat said contemptuously. "If the second governor hadn't been Mr. Stone Brocade-hall, but rather Your Inflexible Excellency, I'm afraid we'd still be living under the military administration period of Stone Wise-clear."

In front of the television, Xia Zili watched in bewilderment and asked puzzledly:

"Aren't they debating political issues? Why do they keep bringing up that 'Mr. Stone Brocade-hall'?"

"It's like this," Chen Zi'ang explained patiently. "Because Mr. Stone Brocade-hall spearheaded the democratic reforms and the Star-Trade Agreement, his prestige among the common people is very high."

"So on television programs, the National-British Party usually eagerly brings up Stone Brocade-hall to win favorable impressions from voters."

"Meanwhile, Stone Wise-clear's military administration and mining plans are relatively unpopular by comparison, so the Advance People's Party tries hard to drag Stone Wise-clear into it, making voters' perceptions of the National-British Party turn sour."

"Therefore, every time the two parties debate, it's basically the National-British Party talking about 'Stone Brocade-hall,' and then the Advance People's Party talking about 'Stone Wise-clear.' Netizens call this 'Son Fights Dad'."

"Is that so?" Hearing the latter part, Xia Zili couldn't help being amused. "But isn't this very strange?"

"I mean, I originally thought the standard for whether citizens vote for a councilman was based on their political platform and political commitments, right? But listening to what you say, it sounds like voters just cast their ballots based on whichever side they have a more favorable impression of?"

Chen Zi'ang fell silent, and after a long while, he shrugged and said:

"Yes, that's democracy."