Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

Jaidy has a certain degree of respect for the Teochew Chinese.Their factories are large and orderly.They have put down roots in Thailand for generations and are very loyal to Her Majesty the Child Queen.They are completely different from the Chinese refugees who poured in from Malaya. They speak Thai, take Thai names, and are very loyal to the royal family.In Jaidy's opinion, they were even more loyal than some real Thais, especially Akarat and his minions at the Ministry of Trade. Therefore, Zaidi had to be gentle with them.Even the Teochew businessmen, in white gowns, baggy cotton trousers and sandals, paced up and down in front of him, complaining that their factories had been shut down because they exceeded coal-use quotas.They complained that Jaidi had no right to close the factory because they had paid for it.Faced with such a situation, he would always have some sympathy for them.

So he still felt sympathy for the businessman when the man called him a "bastard".Zhai Di knows that this is an extremely ugly curse word in Chinese, and it is indeed an embarrassing title.Even so, he still endured the businessman's emotions.The nature of the Chinese is a little impulsive.They have this outburst phenomenon, but Thais never do that. In any case, Jaidy felt sympathy for the man. But he would have no sympathy for someone who repeatedly poked his finger in his chest while cursing him.So Jaidy now sits on the man's chest—black baton in hand at the man's throat—and shows him how to better show respect for the white shirt.

"You seem to have mistaken me for someone else." Zaidi commented. There was a gurgling sound in the man's throat, and he tried to break free, but the baton against his throat prevented him from doing so.Jaidi stared at him. "Of course you understand that we need to limit the amount of coal we use because our cities are below sea level. Your carbon limit was exceeded many months ago." "Hehehe." Hearing such an answer, Zaidi thought for a while, then shook his head regretfully. "No. I don't think we can allow this situation to continue. This is the decree of His Majesty Rama XII, and His Majesty the current Child Queen also agrees. We will never abandon this city of angels, and will not let anyone Let it be swallowed up by the rising sea. We will not be like those cowards in Ayutthaya who run away when the Burmese attack. We are to defend the city of angels. Once we let the water intrude into the city, we cannot get it out It's gone." He looked at the man who was sweating, "So we all have to do our part. We have to fight together, like the villagers of Bang Lazeng, to keep the invaders out of our streets. Don't you think so ?"

"Hehehehehehe..." "Very good." Jaidy smiled. "I'm glad we're making progress." Someone cleared his throat. Zaidi suppressed the unhappiness in his heart and looked up, "What's the matter?" A young soldier in a new white uniform stood respectfully waiting. "Captain Zaidi?" He saluted, lowered his head and touched his forehead with his hands, and kept this posture still, "I'm sorry to disturb you." "Is there a problem?" "General Praca asks you to come and see him." "I'm busy," Jaidy said. "Our friend seems to have finally calmed down and is willing to communicate with us in a reasonable manner." He bowed his head and gave the businessman a friendly smile.

The lad said, "I need to tell you... I was instructed to, yes..." "Say it." "I need to tell you that you should have your, your - I'm sorry - 'fame-fishing ass' - I'm sorry - back at headquarters immediately, without error." Say, "If you don't have a bike, you can ride mine." Jaidi frowned, "Ah. That's it. That's good." He stood up from the merchant and nodded to Kanya, "Lieutenant, come and have a good talk with our friend." Kanya had a puzzled look on his face, "What's wrong?" "Looks like Pracha is finally getting ready to get mad at me."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Kanya glanced at the businessman, "This lizard on the ground can be dealt with another day." Jaidi smiled at her concern. "Don't worry about me. Get things done here. Don't know if we'll be exiled to the southern border. I'll let you know when I get back." Together they walked to the gate of the factory.The sun outside cast a sweltering light.Zaidi was already sweating when he dealt with the businessman just now, and now it's an unpleasant scorching sun again.He stood under a palm tree and waited for the boy who delivered the message to come on his bicycle.

Seeing Zaidi sweating, the young man said worriedly, "Do you want to take a rest?" Jaidy laughed. "Don't worry, I'm just getting old. That piece of shit was tough, and I'm not the boxer I used to be. If the weather was a little cooler, I wouldn't be sweating so much." "You've won a lot of games." "I have won a few." Zaidi grinned, "When I was training, the weather was even hotter than now." "Your adjutant can do that too," said the lad. "There's no need to do it yourself." Zaidi wiped the sweat from his forehead, shook his head, "What will my subordinates say? They will think I'm lazy."

The young man gasped, "No one would look at you that way, absolutely not!" "When you get to my position, you will understand." Zaidi showed a tolerant smile, "If you can take the lead in everything, they will reward you with loyalty. I will not let my subordinates waste time to give me Winding up your ceiling fan, and not letting your men fan you with palm fronds like some idiot in the Ministry of Trade. I'm the leader, but we're brothers. Promise me you'll do the same when you're in my position." The boy's eyes were shining brightly.He performed Namaste again, "Yes, Khun. I will never forget. Thank you!"

"Good boy." Zaidi lifted his legs and stepped on the bike that the boy rode. "When Lieutenant Kanya finishes her work, she will take you back on our tandem bicycle." He stepped up and kicked the car a few times, and got into the traffic.In this hot season with little rain, no one wants to be exposed to direct sunlight, unless they are crazy or have to.People mostly hide under sheltered arches or in alleys, forming markets for vegetables, spices and clothes. When passing by the City Pillar Temple on Napalan Road, Jaidi spread his palms with both hands, and performed a namaste towards the temple, while muttering scriptures in his mouth, asking the gods and Buddhas to protect the religious center of Bangkok.It was here that His Majesty King Rama XII announced for the first time that the royal family would not abandon the city in the face of the rising sea.At this time, the monks in the temple were chanting scriptures for the city's guardian facilities, and the sound of chanting could be clearly heard on the street, which made Zaidi feel peaceful in his heart.He touched his forehead with his hand, three times, and every other cyclist passing by did the same.

Fifteen minutes later, the headquarters of the Ministry of Environment appeared in front of us.This is a complex of red-tiled buildings, surrounded by lush bamboo, teak and rain bean trees, with tall, sloping roofs protruding from the miscellaneous trees.The perimeter of the headquarters is a towering white wall with reliefs of Garuda and the god lion. Old traces of raindrops, mold and moss make the white wall look a little mottled. Jaidy and a few others had traveled around the city in an airship and seen the headquarters from the air.At that time, the Minister of the Ministry of Environment was still Chai Yanucci, and the influence of the white shirt was at its peak - it was the time when the plague swept the world, and all the crops died at an unimaginable speed, and no one knew the world What on earth is there to survive.

Guess Yannucci remembers the beginning of the plague.Very few people can say that.Jaidi was still a recruit at the time, and he was lucky enough to get a post in the minister's office as a courier. Guaiyanucci understood the predicament he faced and what he had to do.When the borders needed to be closed, when the rest of the government needed to be isolated, when Phuket and Chiang Mai needed to be wiped out—he never hesitated.When plagues exploded in the northern jungles, he had only one order: burn them, burn them, burn them.When he boarded the airship with His Majesty the King, Jaidi was extremely lucky to be given the opportunity to go up with him. In fact, they were just doing some finishing work at that time.Agro-based, PureCal and other companies have shipped in plague-resistant crop seeds for huge profits; meanwhile, patriotic gene crackers have begun to crack the codes that the calorie oligarchs have put in their products in an effort to defend the kingdom food security - at this time, Burma, Vietnam and Khmer have all collapsed.Agro-based companies and their ilk threatened an embargo on the grounds of intellectual property infringement, but the Kingdom of Thailand survived.They survived, even though they were seen by few at the time.Other countries have been trampled underfoot by calorie oligarchs, but the Kingdom of Thailand is still standing. embargo!Chayanucci laughed and said at that time.Embargo is exactly what we hoped for!We don't want any communication with the outside world at all. Thus, the barriers on the country's frontiers have been raised higher -- the oil cutoffs did not raise them, nor the civil war and starving refugees -- but now a series of barriers have been erected to protect the kingdom from Attacked by the outside world. When Jaidi was a young recruit, he was often shocked by the energy of the Ministry of Environment.It's like a big beehive here, and white shirts are running back and forth between the office and the street, trying to grasp the epidemic situation in various places in a timely and accurate manner.There is such a strong sense of urgency not seen in any other branch of government.The plague waits for no one.Even the sighting of a genetically modified weevil in a remote suburb requires a swift response within hours, with white shirts racing to the epicenter of the outbreak on a kink-sprung train. The Ministry of Environment has a wide range of tasks to deal with.The plague is just the latest problem to threaten the kingdom.The primary enemy is the rising sea level, and the consequent problem of the construction of the city's protective levee.Next comes the regulation of energy supply contracts, the trading of pollution shares and violations of climate regulations.The white shirts have taken over the licensing review of methane production.Next came the regulation of the fishery and its accumulated toxins, the last remaining calorie resource in the kingdom (fortunately, the calorie oligarchs were landlocked in their way of thinking and their attacks on fisheries were less systematic).There are also follow-up observations on people's health, viruses and bacteria. The main vigilance is: H7V9, second-generation Mycobacterium tuberculosis 111 type b variant, c variant, d variant, cyanosis, saltwater shellfish and various viruses infected Variations that can easily invade the interior, rust... the Ministry of the Environment's responsibilities are endless. Jaidi saw a woman selling bananas by the side of the road.Involuntarily, he jumped off his bike and bought a banana.This is the latest variant developed by the Ministry of Environment's Rapid Response and Recovery Unit.It grows fast and is also resistant to mites.That kind of mite will lay black eggs on the flowers of bananas, making them infected and unable to bear fruit.While pushing the cart, he peeled off the banana peel and began to eat it.It would be great if you have time to taste it.He dropped the banana peel by the root of a rain bean tree. All life produces waste.Subsistence activities themselves generate consumption, disasters, and waste problems.Thus, the Ministry of the Environment became the center of all life activities: reducing, managing and monitoring the waste produced by ordinary people, and investigating lawbreakers who were greedy and short-sighted, hoping for quick profits and ignoring the public interest. The Ministry of the Environment's logo is an eye of a tortoise - it signifies long-term vision, which means that anything that comes easily or quickly has a hidden price.If someone calls them "Bastards", if that Teochew Chinese swears at the white shirt as "Bastards" just because he's out of his quota and can't get permission to continue making kink spring bikes - so be it.If Farron makes fun of the turtle's slow speed - so be it.The Ministry of the Environment was the guarantor of the country's survival, and Jaidy could only stand in awe of its past glory. However, when Jaidi hopped off his bicycle outside the gates of the Ministry of Environment, a man glared at him angrily and a woman turned her back on him unhappily.Even outside their own gates—or here especially—the people he was protecting were unwilling to confront him. Zaidi frowned, jumped on the bicycle again, and rode past the guard. The Ministry of the Environment building still looks like a large, vibrant hive, but it is very different from when he joined it.Mold had started to grow on the walls of the building, and the walls beneath the vines were cracking and peeling off.An ancient linden tree leans against the wall, rotting as if to announce their defeat.The tree has been rotting here for ten years, but no one has noticed it, because so many things have died in the meantime.The place smelled of decadence, as if the jungle was about to reclaim its rightful place.In another era, when the Ministry of the Environment was considered a hero by the people, things were very different.At that time, the highest courtesy was paid to the officials of the Ministry of the Environment - prostrating three times, respecting them like monks, their white uniforms can inspire admiration and adoration.Now, when Jaidi walked past the civilians, he found them trembling in fear, even running away. He's a thug, he thought sadly.Just a thug who swaggers through a herd of docile buffalo, and despite his efforts to be kind and kind to them, he finds time and time again that he's still wielding the whip of fear.That's true of people at the Ministry of the Environment -- at least, officials who understand the peril they face and believe they must defend the city. I am a thug. Sighing, he parks his bike in front of the administration building—the exterior is in dire need of painting but has never been able to because of shrinking budgets.Looking at the building in front of him, Jaidi couldn't help but wonder what caused the Ministry of the Environment to get into trouble, because it went too far?Or was it too successful?People are no longer afraid of the outside world, and have lost their vigilance.The budget of the Ministry of Environment is decreasing every year, while the budget of the Ministry of Trade is increasing every year. Jaidi found a seat outside the general's office.Officials in white shirts walked past him, taking care not to see him.Waiting in front of General Pracha's office, he should be happy about it.He was rarely summoned by such a great man.It appears he did something right.A young man walked towards him with some hesitation, and made a Namaste salute. "Captain Jaidy?" Jaidi nodded, and the young man immediately grinned.The young man had short hair and pale eyebrows; he had just returned from a monastery. "Khun, I was guessing it might be you." He hesitated, then took out a small card.Above is an old Sukhothai style drawing of a young man boxing, with blood streaming down his face, knocking his opponent to the ground.The boxer's face was not realistic, but Jaidy couldn't help laughing when he saw his own image. "Where did you get it?" "I was watching that game live, Khun. In that village. I was only this big—" He compared his waist height with his hands, "—about here, maybe smaller." He smiled sheepishly, "You make me want to be a boxer. When Tissaka knocked you down, your blood was everywhere. I thought you were going to die. I thought it was impossible with your size." Knock him down. He's so strong..." He stopped. "I still remember, it was a great game." The young man grinned, "Yes, Khun. That's amazing. I thought, I'm going to be a fighter too." "Well, you are now." The young man stroked the newly grown stubble on his bald head, "Ah. Punching is harder than I imagined, but..." He hesitated, "Can you sign me on a card? I want to put It was given to my father, who spoke highly of your boxing style." Jaidi smiled and signed his name. "Tisaka is not the smartest fighter I've ever met, but he's strong. I hope every fight is as clean as that." "Captain Zaidi!" A voice cut in, "Have you communicated with your fans yet?" The young man gave a Namaste salute and fled quickly.Zaidi watched him run away, thinking maybe the younger generation might not be all trash.Maybe... Zaidi turned to face the general, "He's just a kid." Pracha glared at Jaidi, who grinned. "Besides, I was a good boxer before, so I'm afraid it's not my fault. The Ministry of the Environment gave me a sponsorship back then, General." "Don't be 'General' before 'General'. We've known each other for so long, so don't be polite. Go in." "Yes, sir." Pracha frowned, and waved Jaydi into the office, "Get in!" Pracha came in afterward, shut the door behind him, and sat down behind the large mahogany table.There was a ceiling fan on the ceiling that turned on and off.The room was large and the blinds were open so there was good light in the room but very little direct sunlight.Through the gaps in the shutters, you can see the uneven ground in the yard.One wall is lined with drawings and photographs, including one of Pracha's graduation from military school.There is a picture of Chayanucci, who is the founder of the Ministry of Contemporary Environment.There is also a picture of the child Her Majesty, sitting on the throne, looking so small and vulnerable.In one corner of the room, there is a shrine dedicated to Lord Buddha, Phra Pikanit and Sewubu Nakasaten.Incense burners and marigolds are placed around the shrine. Zaidi bowed towards the shrine, and then sat down on the wicker chair opposite Pracha, "Where did you get that class photo?" "What?" Pracha looked back. "Oh. How young we were! I found it at my mother's. She kept it, stuffed in a closet. Who would have thought the old lady was so sentimental? " "It's such a joy to see this picture." "Your behavior at the landing pad has crossed the line." Jaidi turned his attention back to Pracha.A few newspapers were strewn about on the desk, rustling in the breeze from the ceiling fan: The Thai Rat, The Sharpie, The Manager's Daily.Jaidi's picture is on the front page of most newspapers. "It seems the media doesn't think so." A scowl crept across Pracha's face.He threw all the newspapers in the wastebasket. "Newspapers like heroes, that's how they sell. Those people call you a tiger because you fight Fran. Don't trust them. Fran is the key to our future." Jaidi nodded to the portrait of his mentor, Chayanucci, which hung below the Queen's picture. "I'm not sure he'd agree with that." "Times are changing, my old friend. Someone is bidding on your head." "Then you're going to hand over my head to them?" Pracha sighed, "Jaidi, we are all acquaintances, so I'll just say it straight. I know you're a fighter. I also know you have a fiery heart." Seeing that Jaidi seemed to want to say something, he He held up a hand to stop him, "Yes, and a kind heart, just like your name implies. But you are too reckless, not calm at all. You like to fight." His lips were tightly pursed , "So I know, whether it is controlling you or punishing you, you will still fight." "Then let me do my thing. An out-of-control cannon like mine can do the Ministry of the Environment a lot of good." "A lot of people are offended by your actions, not just those stupid Frang. Nowadays, not all the goods that are airlifted belong to the Frang. Our interests have expanded, and that is the interests of us Thais." Zaidi stared at the general's desk, "I really didn't realize that the Ministry of the Environment inspects the goods and also considers the convenience of others." "I'm trying to reason with you. I've got all kinds of tigers on my hands: rust, weevils, the coal wars, undercover Ministry of Trade, yellow carders, greenhouse gases, cyanosis outbreaks...and you Gave me another tiger." Zaidi raised his head, "Who is it?" "What's the meaning?" "Who scared the shit out of you? Tell you to talk me out of the fight? It's the Trade Department, right? The Trade Department's got your balls." For a moment, Pracha said nothing. "I don't know who it is. I hope you don't either. You can't fight if you don't know who your opponent is." He slid a card across the table, "I found this under the office door today .” His eyes were firmly fixed on Zaidi, so that Zaidi could not turn his gaze away, “In this office, in this compound, do you understand? We have been completely infiltrated.” Jaidy turned the card over. Niwo and Surat are good boys.One is four years old and the other is six years old.He's still young, but he's already a decent fighter.Once, when Niwo came home, his nose was bleeding, but his eyes were shining.He told Jaidy that he fought with honor but was beaten up.He's ready to train hard and take down that bastard next time. Chaya despaired of this.She accused Jaidy of trying to force the kids into their heads that they couldn't do it.Surat followed Niwo to add embellishment, telling Niwo that he could not be defeated; that he was a tiger and a man of excellence;Surat, calling himself a trainer, told Niwo to hit harder next time.Niwo is not afraid of fighting, he is not afraid of anything, and he is only four years old. At times like this, Jaidi felt his heart break.In the Muay Thai ring, he was only scared once.But at work, he was terrified many times.Fear is part of him, and part of the Ministry of the Environment.What else but fear would make them close their borders, burn towns, kill fifty thousand chickens, and bury them under clean earth and a thick layer of lime powder?When the virus in Thonburi hit, he and his men wore extremely simple rice paper masks that did not provide protection at all, and shoveled the dead bodies of those birds into the big pit.Back then, fear followed like a ghost.Did the virus really come from such a distant place in such a short period of time?Will it spread further afield?Will it accelerate evolution?Will the virus kill them all?He and his men were quarantined for thirty days, waiting for death with fear as their only companion.Jaidi's department is not up to all the challenges and he experiences fear every moment. What he fears is not fighting, nor death, but waiting and uncertainty.What broke Jaidi's heart was that Niwo didn't know the fear of waiting, but the fear of waiting enveloped them all the time.There are many things that you can only fight by waiting.Jaidi is a man of action.He fights in the muay thai ring, and all he needs to do is put on his lucky necklace—consecrated by Ajaan Noppadon of the White Temple himself—and step up to the fight.When quelling the riots in Kanchanaburi, he single-handedly rushed into the rioting crowd with only a black baton. But the battles that really matter are the ones that can only wait.His parents coughed up their lungs due to the torment of second-generation tuberculosis; both his older sister and Chaya's older sister watched as the skin on their hands became thicker and rougher, growing cyanotic cauliflower Diseased variants (at that time, the Ministry of the Environment had not been able to steal the genetic map from the Chinese to create a drug that could partially cure cyanosis) - at this time, all they could do was wait.They prayed to the Buddha every day, hoping that their two sisters could be reborn in a better world, and would not watch their fingers turn into stiff wooden sticks and finally break off at the joints like in this world.All they could do was pray and wait, and Jaidi's heart was broken because Niwo didn't know what fear was, and Surat had taught him to be that way.Jaidi's heartbreak was that he hadn't interfered with them.He cursed himself for it.Why did he have to destroy the child's fantasy?Why must he do this?He instinctively loathes the role. What he did was exactly the opposite.He deliberately let the children throw him down, shouting: "Ah, you are the sons of tigers! You are so powerful! You are stronger than me!" They laughed happily and tried to trip him again, and he deliberately failed. Give them, and teach them the tricks he learned in the muay thai ring, the tricks a street fighter must know.Street fighting has no set rules, and even Muay Thai champions have something to learn.He taught them to fight - because all he knew was fighting.And the other thing—wait—he couldn't possibly have prepared them for that anyway. These were the thoughts that went through his mind as he turned over Pracha's card.Seeing the photo, his heart suddenly froze, like a stone falling inward, his heart seemed to have jumped into a deep well with all his internal organs, leaving only an empty shell. Chaya. She was curled up against the wall, her eyes were blindfolded, her hands were tied behind her back, and her feet were bound in front of her body.On that wall it was written "With great respect to the Ministry of the Environment," scrawled and brown, written in blood.Chaya had a bruise on his cheek.She was wearing a blue square dress. This morning, she cooked curry rice for him in this square dress and sent him out with a smile on her face. He stared at the picture in silence. His sons are all fighters, but they don't understand this kind of warfare.Faced with the situation in front of him, even he himself didn't know how to fight.The unseen enemy stretched out its claws to pinch his throat, stroked his jaw, and whispered "I can hurt you", but he didn't even know what the enemy looked like. Jaidi could barely speak.After a long time, he finally said in a hoarse voice, "Is she still alive?" Pracha sighed. "We don't know yet." "Who did it?" "I have no idea." "you must know!" "If we knew, we would have rescued her safely!" Pracha rubbed his cheeks angrily, and then glared at Zaidi angrily, "We have received too many complaints about you, all walks of life There is a complaint against you, and we have no idea who! Anyone who gets pissed off by you could be." Another wave of fear seized Jaidi. "Where are my children?" He jumped up. "I have to..." "Sit down!" Pratra reached over the desk and grabbed him. "I sent people to their school. It was your people, the ones whose allegiance is only to you. Now, they are the only ones we have." Can be trusted. Your children are safe and they will be sent to the Ministry soon. You need to calm down and think about your situation. You certainly don't want to spread the word about it. We don't want those people forced to Bad decision. We want Chaya alive and back to us intact. If there is too much movement, some people will lose face and her body will be cut into bloody pieces and sent back to us here." Jaidi looked at the photos on his desk.He stood up suddenly and walked up and down the office. "Ministry of Trade must have done it." His mind went back to the night at the landing pad, the man watching him and his men from afar.His movements are casual and arrogant.He spat out a betel-nut pit as red as blood, and disappeared into the darkness. "Yes, that's what the Ministry of Trade did." "Could be Farang, or the manure magnate—he never liked you because you wouldn't make a truce with him. Or some other bigwig, some mob boss who lost his money in a smuggling operation." "None of them would do such a thing. It's the Ministry of Trade. There's a man..." "Stop it!" Pracha slapped the table with his hand. "Anyone could do such a thing! You have made too many enemies. Even a Chao Phraya complained to me at a court meeting. Any of them It’s possible to do something like this.” "Are you blaming me for this?" Pracha sighed, "It's no use blaming anyone now. It's what it is. You made enemies out there; and I couldn't stop you." He put his head in his hands, "We need you to issue a public apology , do something to appease them." "I wouldn't do that." "You won't?" Pratra smiled wryly. "Put away your stupid pride." He pointed to the photo of Chaya. "What do you think their next move will be? Since the age of expansion , we have not met such demons. They are willing to spend money, willing to pay any price to defeat you." He frowned, "So far, we still have a chance to rescue her. But if you still have this attitude If..." He shook his head, "They will definitely kill her. They are simply animals." "You need to publicly apologize for what you did at the landing field, and you will be demoted and transferred away from the capital, maybe transferred to the southern border to handle the affairs of the yellow card people and manage the shelter there." He sighed, looking at the photo again, "If we're careful and lucky enough, maybe Chaya can come back to you." "Don't look at me like that, Jaidi. If you were fighting in the muay thai ring, I wouldn't hesitate to put every dime I have on you. But it's a different kind of fight." Pu Racha leaned forward, almost begging, "Please. Do as I say and bow before them."