At 5 pm on May 19th, Zhou Ming took Huang Yi and all the students in the finance class and took the bus to the Weida community. After getting off the bus, they opened the luggage compartment and took out folding tables and chairs, as well as some promotional slogans and flyers. The students then split into two groups. One group set up a booth in the same place to distribute flyers and introduce the candidates to passers-by, while the other group went deeper into the community to knock on doors from house to house to promote it.
All of this had been prepared long in advance. On the 16th, after returning, Ming had a meeting with his classmates to discuss the next step, which was to go door-to-door in the Veda community to get signatures. Then on the 17th and 18th, they prepared the slogans and flyers, and finally on the 19th, after class, they went directly to the community.
In fact, these days were not even weekends, so this arrangement seemed a bit unreasonable, but there was nothing they could do, because the campaign registration period was only a few days. They had to race against time. Of course, he could continue to skip class and work on it, but Zhou Ming didn't want to do that, not only because he had promised Jie La not to skip class, but also because of these classmates in the finance class.
Zhou Ming naturally didn't care about the Harvard diploma himself, but he couldn't delay these students in the finance class! Not only did he promise Yang Lao and Chairman Du, but these classmates also supported and trusted him so much, and there was no reason for him to give up on them.
'Teacher, none of us have ever run for anything before. This is all about our experience with the university's clubs. Can we convince those Americans to sign for us?' Li Yang asked Zhou Ming while directing the setting up of the tables.
Facing Li Yang's query, Zhou Ming did not answer but instead asked him in return, "So what good idea have you come up with?'
Li Yang shook his head blankly, "Teacher, what good idea do I have? If I had one, I would have proposed it at the meeting on the 16th.'
'Since there is no way, why are you still complaining?' Zhou Ming snapped at him, then said sternly, 'Li Yang, you need to know that now that the decision has been made and is already being implemented, then do it well and don't think about useless things. Instead of worrying about that, you'd better put more thought into today's matter, see what problems we encountered, and prepare for the next time.'
'Teacher, don't worry, I'll just nag a little, it won't delay things...'
Li Yang stopped here, because he noticed another important point. He asked Zhou Ming again, 'Teacher, do you mean that we may not succeed today?'
'How can we succeed so easily? We are just feeling our way across the river.'
Zhou Ming laughed and teased a little, then didn't say anything else. Li Yang didn't ask any more questions either, and silently went about his work. Zhou Ming believed that he would work even harder. But then another timid voice came from somewhere: 'Teacher, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... I should have agreed to let Teacher Jie La come and help us.'
Hearing her say this, Zhou Ming knew without turning around that it was Ye Ning. Zhou Ming pretended to be angry and criticised, 'Ye Ning, why are you bringing this up again? Didn't we agree not to mention it?'
'But after all, Teacher Jie La once worked in Chairman Anthony's campaign team, and she is very familiar with the entire campaign process. If she can help, it will definitely make our work more effective,' Ye Ning hurriedly explained, 'It's all my fault. I shouldn't have been so willful that day, and I ended up making Teacher Jie La angry, so now we're just wading through the river by feeling our way along the stones.'
Li Yang would be very fierce with Zhou Ming, but Zhou Ming really couldn't get angry with Ye Ning, after all, he liked his female student so much.
'But Ye Ning, you also said that Speaker Anthony and Congressman Brock are very close, and at this time, Teacher Jie La suddenly came up so proactively, it is hard to say if she really wants to help us or if she has some other ulterior motives. And furthermore, we will always have to face the election independently in the future, we can't always rely on the help of others, can we?'
Zhou Ming saw that Ye Ning still wanted to say something, so he immediately continued, 'Okay Ye Ning, don't always put the blame on yourself, this is not your fault, I made the decision, not you.'
After saying that, Zhou Ming thought for a moment and added, "And I don't blame you either.'
Originally, Ye Ning still looked very self-blaming, but when she heard Zhou Ming's last sentence, her eyes suddenly lit up, "Really? Teacher, you really don't blame me?'
In fact, Zhou Ming's last addition was also a spur of the moment idea, because perhaps for a man, it is important to explain things clearly to his ex, but for a girl, the most important thing is what the person she cares about thinks of her. Zhou Ming was just testing Ye Ning, and he didn't expect to get it right.
It seems that after experiencing so many girls, he is no longer the idiot who didn't understand the minds of girls at all, and he is slowly becoming more like a playboy. I really don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Zhou Ming sighed inwardly, but still said very seriously to Ye Ning, 'Of course. I know that Ye Ning is thinking of me, so why would I blame you? But if you don't get me a few more autographs today, I'll really be angry!'
Zhou Ming said this while deliberately pulling a long face. Although Ye Ning was smart enough to know what he meant, she still nodded vigorously.
'Hello sir, we are from the Wharton Campaign Foundation. We are preparing to help a Chinese member of parliament in his campaign and hope to get your help. Of course, in return, our member of parliament will also consider the interests of the Vidda community and fight for the interests of the residents of the Vidda community.'
'It is very rare for a Chinese person to run for parliament in Brighton, but we Chinese are the most responsible. The Vidda community also has many Chinese people, and you can tell from them that we are very worthy of help.'
'We will pay more attention to the community's hygiene and medical issues. We have noticed that there may be some shortcomings in the hygiene conditions here, and the incumbent councillor may not be able to deal with them. However, if we are given the job, I believe we will be able to handle them. In addition, we can also introduce very favourable insurance for community residents, so that they can enjoy the greatest benefits. This is our promise.'
'Sir, you must believe that supporting our campaign is supporting your own happiness!'
...
All the students in the finance class were desperately doing publicity on the street, recommending elector Huang Yi to them, explaining their campaign policies to them, and inviting them to sign the support form.
The students worked very hard, and they can be said to have used every means possible, but in the end, just as Zhou Ming had initially predicted, there was no result. Most people only stopped for a moment out of curiosity, and in the end they shook their heads and walked away. Only a few of them actually signed the form.
'Teacher, it doesn't look good,' Li Yang said to Zhou Ming with a frown.
Ye Ning also walked over and said, "You're such a nag, we can all see it. Now we can only wait for the results from the monitor. I hope that going door to door will bring good results.'
'I don't mean to be a downer, but I advise you not to get your hopes up for Chen Shu," Zhou Ming said.
Zhou Ming's words came true. As soon as his words fell, Chen Shu hurriedly ran out. Ye Ning and Li Yang, despite their low mood, went over to ask about the situation as soon as possible. However, Chen Shu did not answer, but just shook his head at them repeatedly, and then ran straight to Zhou Ming, out of breath, and said to him, 'Teacher, it's bad, let's go quickly, someone in the community has called the police!'
Chen Shu's words were like a bombshell, leaving Ye Ning and Li Yang, who had followed him, dumbfounded.
'What, the police? Why? We're just here promoting our campaign. Why would they call the police?' Li Yang, unable to hold back any longer, shouted.
Ye Ning was also very surprised: 'Yes, we're just promoting our campaign. Is that illegal too?'
Ye Ning and Li Yang had already mentally prepared themselves for Chen Shu to return empty-handed under the preventive measures taken by Zhou Ming. They thought that this was the worst-case scenario, but who would have thought that reality could be so low, and play such a joke on them? Even Zhou Ming had not expected it.
Chen Shu took two breaths and before he could say anything, he saw a few middle-aged women in their forties running out of the community. They were running while pointing at Zhou Ming and shouting, 'It's really you people again. I knew it as soon as I saw him. If you have the guts, don't run. I'm telling you, I've already called the police. You're going to jail!'
Hearing the auntie say this, Ye Ning and Li Yang panicked at that moment. It was Zhou Ming who finally stood up and asked, 'This lady, we are only campaigning here, which is allowed by law. Why did you call the police?'
With Zhou Ming taking the lead, Ye Ning and Li Yang also followed suit, saying, 'That's right, you don't support us Chinese running for parliament, that's fine, but what do you mean by causing trouble here and calling the police? Do you deliberately not want us Chinese to be MPs? Do you have any sense of nationalism?'
Hearing Ye Ning and Li Yang say this, the several older women became angry all at once, and one after another they came over and poked Li Yang and Chen Shu in the chest, saying, 'Oh, you little rascals have the nerve to reason? You can still talk about us? Let me tell you, we have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice. You little rascals, if you were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean twenty years ago, you would still be there. How dare you come to the United States? Just go back to China!'
Another person from the street agreed, 'That's right, what are you doing here in the US? Aren't you embarrassing us? I'm going to call the police to arrest you. You should just go back to China and suffer from poverty!'
Zhou Ming took a step back with Chen Shu and Li Yang, distancing himself from the other person and said, 'Sister, let's talk about this. No need to get physical, okay? Since we're in the US, we should act like civilized people. Besides, we're just here to spread the word, I don't think we've offended you, do we?'
Facing Zhou Ming's questions, the older woman from Binhai shouted again, 'Oi, you little rascal, I didn't say anything to you, but you actually have the nerve to talk about me? Fine, I'll tell you so that you can die knowing!'
'I have no problem with you running for election and doing some publicity, but what do you want with our kids? Their priority right now is to study hard, but you've got them thinking about nothing else all day, just about some election. And you want us to vote for you? Are you a plague or what?' Sister Binhai pointed at Zhou Ming and spoke furiously, 'I let you go last time, but you actually dare to come back today. You're really looking for trouble!'
Another neighbour, Da Jie, said, 'That's right, we called the police to arrest you. What do you think you're doing, imitating the Americans with your election campaign? Do you even know what an election is? Do you know what the result of an election is? It's not some kind of childish trick like you're pulling. If you want to study here, just study properly and don't cause any trouble. Otherwise, if you come here once, we'll call the police and have you arrested!'