142 Paystub

"Now, let us discuss Wu Qingchen's salary."

The assistant director announced the final agenda item, and the already bustling meeting room immediately erupted into a murmur of voices.

"Wu Qingchen's salary?"
"What is there to discuss about this?"
"Just pay him directly!"

This was the Material Department of the Wu Qingchen Special Office, Key Items Group, Logistics Corps, of the United Nations Temporary Committee on Celestial Phenomena.

Much like most large-scale organizations, the Celestial Phenomena Logistics Corps was a vital component of the entire temporary committee, responsible for the overall planning and unified coordination of human, material, and other intangible resources related to the celestial phenomena.

The Key Items Group, as the name implied, was responsible for important, urgent, and potentially sensitive resources involving Wu Qingchen.

The Wu Qingchen Special Office went a step further, dealing directly with frontline personnel, supplies, and other intangible resources that Wu Qingchen might come into direct contact with.

Obviously, responsibilities of such immense importance and broad scope could never be delegated to a single department.

The specially established Special Office was one of the departments resulting from this division of authority.

In terms of material resources: the underground base dedicated to Wu Qingchen, the bedroom fully simulating his previous living environment, the furniture, computer, and mobile phone in the bedroom—all had involvement from this department.

In terms of personnel: Ji Mingming, who kept Wu Qingchen company for chats, experts from various fields verifying intelligence, close protection security personnel, and other members of the training delegation—such as staff and coaches permitted within ten meters of Wu Qingchen—all required approval from this Special Office.

Intangible resources: the games Wu Qingchen played, the content of his phone calls, what he saw—in the hierarchy of vetting units, this Special Office ranked quite high.

One could imagine that with relationships so momentous and authority so vast, how many supplies the members of the Special Office had to handle each day, how many personnel they had to review; who cared about something as trivial as a salary?

During the interval when staff were distributing materials and preparing equipment, the members chattered amongst themselves.

"Does Wu Qingchen even need a salary?" Near the corner, putting down his teacup, a team member couldn't help shaking his head.

"Exactly! What does he need a salary for?" A colleague wearing glasses nearby felt the exact same way. "If he wants something, he can just ask for it. Can't we arrange it?"

"Whether he uses it is his freedom; whether we issue it is our stance, right?" another member guessed.

"Even if we are to issue a salary, it's only been a few days!"

"Well, that's not really an issue," another female member chimed in. "A weekly wage is nothing. At a time like this, weekly wages, daily wages, and advance payments already have plenty of widespread precedents."

"Why don't we guess how much the salary is?" The first team member suddenly changed the topic. "A weekly salary of one million? Ten million?"

"What's the point of that?" The bespectacled colleague was uninterested. "What use does he have for money? Burn it for fun?"

"I wouldn't advise cash," the female member stated. "Paper currency carries too many germs. Even with new bills, once the quantity goes up, the smell of ink is far too strong."

"Who needs cash? Would it even fit? Just give him a calculator," the bespectacled colleague remarked. "'Here, Mr. Wu, how much would you like? Please punch it in yourself.' Then the bank backend can just top it up for him. After all, he only gets two hours of rest a day; how much can he possibly spend?"

"Respected colleagues..."

At this moment, the staff finished their preparations. The assistant director tapped the table and began to speak, "I believe you have all figured out that Mr. Wu Qingchen's salary will be generous—ah, very generous, *this* thick!"

With that, the assistant director held up a stack of documents with both hands.

The stack of documents was easily as thick as two dictionaries. "Take a look, everyone. This is Mr. Wu Qingchen's payroll."

"This..." The members below looked at each other in dismay.

"The Administrative Corps Establishment Office is already studying the creation of a 'Wu Qingchen Salary Department', but time is too tight, so this round still falls to us."

Having said that, the assistant director put down the documents. "Categorized by the entities issuing the remuneration, let's discuss them item by item. First up are the national allowances."

"Entities?"
"National allowances?"

Just these two terms alone were enough to spark boundless imagination among the members.

"Please look here, everyone." The assistant director pressed the console in front of him a few times, and the large screen in the meeting room displayed a massive spreadsheet:

United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Italy...

The names of hundreds of countries appeared in the list on the screen, and next to every single country was a string of numbers.

The longest had several digits, and even the shortest had at least five.

The team members all widened their eyes.

They were not shocked by the numerical values of these currencies, but rather by the sheer number of countries.

"Looks very familiar, doesn't it?" the assistant director said with a bitter smile. "In fact, this is the list of countries paying dues to the United Nations. Based on preliminary calculations, the proportions for the allowances are also about right. Please discuss, everyone."

"What allowances? Under what pretext are these allowances being issued?"

Someone immediately asked from below.

"If you want to give money, is it hard to find an excuse?" The assistant director operated the console once more, and the screen switched to another spreadsheet.

United States: Honorary Citizen, Medal of Honor.

"Medal of Honor?" Near the corner, having only read the first line, the bespectacled team member said in astonishment, "Since when can this thing be awarded to a civilian? Let alone a foreigner!"

"They declared Wu Qingchen a US citizen on the very first day. Even though that didn't stick, they listed him separately later on, labeling Wu Qingchen as something unique: Global Citizen. Ah, there's another line of text below: *'This medal is hereby presented to Mr. Wu Qingchen in gratitude for your heroic, tenacious, self-sacrificing, and fearless deeds, and in appreciation of the courage and dauntless spirit you displayed during the celestial phenomena event!'*"

United Kingdom: Honorary Knight, Medal of Honor.
France: Honorary Knight, Order of Chivalry.
Russia: Honorary Citizen, Russian Medal.
Germany, Japan, Italy...

Those with honors gave honors; those with peerage gave peerage; those with medals gave medals.

Countries with relatively high civil rights checks and balances basically awarded historical titles and honors, while countries with swift administrative efficiency directly handed out titles like honorary president or honorary prime minister.

According to this table, if Wu Qingchen ever had the chance to appear at some ceremonial occasion, the emcee would have to read a script like this:

"Now, please welcome the honorary president of Country X, the honorary prime minister of Country Y, the honorary vice president of Country Z, the honorary vice prime minister of Country W... the honorary knight of the United Kingdom, the honorary knight of France... the honorary citizen of the United States, the honorary knight of the UK, the honorary knight of France, the honorary citizen of Russia..."

It would probably take about half an hour just to introduce all the appointments bestowed upon Wu Qingchen's head entirely without the consent of the recipient himself.

"How should we handle this? Speak up, everyone," the assistant director asked after a few moments.

"Just transfer it to his bank card. Since they are willing to send it, let them do as they please."

After seeing what was just shown, the members understood that what was nominally a discussion of salary was actually another contest of how to respond to various countries vying for Wu Qingchen's affection.

The members' opinions were quite unified, and they could roughly guess China's handling method. The allowance amounts provided by various countries were not very high, and this item passed quickly.

"Next are the physical items associated with these titles." The assistant director pressed the console a few more times, and the display screen began switching images.

Gleaming medals, exquisitely shaped laurels, majestic scepters—these were just the appetizers.

Massive commemorative coins bearing Wu Qingchen's portrait! Life-sized golden sculptures modeled after Wu Qingchen! And miniature versions of the Federal Reserve printing press!

"These are hard to refuse..."

Everyone seated could see that the physical items bestowed by various countries far exceeded the value of the previous monetary allowances, and their purpose was self-evident: to refuse them—unless Wu Qingchen's communication with other countries was permanently sealed off—would inevitably leave a thorn in Wu Qingchen's heart once exposed; to accept them, letting other countries openly buy off Wu Qingchen just like that, was also quite troublesome.

"Inspect them. Thoroughly inspect them."
"Temporarily drag our feet."
"Have the manufacturing department research urgently; we won't necessarily fall behind them."

This item was also provisionally decided.

"Alright, that's the payroll from the national level. Next comes the payrolls from corporations."

Having resolved the national entities, not only did the assistant director not relax, but the expression on his face grew even more solemn.

The members below felt the same way.

After all, as nation-states, countries still needed to maintain a facade of decency and influence; when it came to corporations, there was absolutely no need to consider any form of moral restraint.

"Item one: the top ten fashion brands of Italy jointly appoint Mr. Wu Qingchen as a model. Monetary allowance..."

There was no need to look at the monetary allowances. These were just numbers games that Wu Qingchen couldn't use anyway. Whether it was nations, enterprises, or the members present, they all brushed them off casually.

The real heavy hitters came next.

"Physical allowance: these ten brands will jointly dispatch top designers and master tailors to custom-tailor clothing for Mr. Wu Qingchen."

"This..."

Fashion and trends at this level had been monopolized by Western countries in recent years.

An industry that didn't involve industrial strength—no matter how high-end the brand, it was useless for the national economy and people's livelihood, an industry cherished only by nations, particularly defeated nations of World War II—truly gave the members present quite a headache.

"Drag our feet on this too?"
"Is it too late to influence Mr. Wu's aesthetic inclinations now?"
"These are indeed difficult, but they are still not the most troublesome part," the assistant director slowly shook his head. "Look further, everyone."

The images continued to shift.

On the screen appeared a large circle of fair-haired, blue-eyed, youthful, vibrant Western women with long legs and slender waists.

"What, what on earth is this?" the members cried out.

"Naked bribery with women?"
"Have they lost all shame?"

"These are the designers and tailors dispatched by Italy's ten brands." At the podium, the director finally spoke, his voice quite hoarse.

"Aren't these models? Are there designers like this?" A rather quick-witted team member raised a doubt.

"Their identities have already been verified," the assistant director said with a bitter smile. "They are both models and designers, and their credentials aren't bad... With such a massive industrial scale, one can always find a few pleasing-to-the-eye women."

"This... this is hard to handle..."

Fashion, clothing, design—competing for Wu Qingchen's favor with countries focusing on these fields was already troublesome enough, and now they had to add women into the mix?

Women were one thing, but professional women with Western faces...

The members felt an even greater headache.

"Think about it slowly, everyone. Ah, you may continue," the director motioned to the assistant.

"Next: France's top ten restaurants jointly appoint Mr. Wu Qingchen as a food taster. Ah, they are likewise dispatching chefs to China to prepare food on-site for Wu Qingchen."

The members unsurprisingly discovered that almost all the chefs dispatched by these restaurants were young, graceful women of exceptional beauty.

Most of the subsequent projects followed suit.

Austria: a globally renowned interior design agency stepped forward, coming with female designers attached.
Greece: an industry-leading equestrian association stepped forward, coming with female horse-riders attached.
Netherlands: world-renowned flower cultivation stepped forward, coming with female florists attached.

Under the fierce competition for Wu Qingchen's favor, unorthodox approaches also emerged.

Meaning, not all companies pinned their hopes on beautiful women.

Germany: a top global lubricant company stepped forward, coming with a team of strapping, muscular men attached.

"Bah!"
"What nonsense!"
"Is this even possible?"

A chorus of disdain filled the meeting room. "Reject this one, kick them out."

The next company was a Japanese one.

They followed the old path of apparel design, but the designers and tailors bundled by these companies took the ethereal route, each one *kawaii*, petite, cute, and endearingly gentle, making anyone who looked at them feel an involuntary surge of pity and affection.

"Truly pitiful to behold..."
"The Japanese are far too skilled at this trick."
"Eastern faces, and culturally closer—the temptation is even greater."
"We're in trouble now..."

As these faces appeared, a flurry of tense discussions broke out in the meeting room.

"It's even more dangerous than you think!" The assistant director let out a cold snort, pressed pause, and switched to the detailed intelligence page. "Take a close look, everyone, and look at the genders of these designers."

"Men!"
"This, this, this..."
"What on earth is wrong with this world?"
"Send all these perverts back!"
"Can we deny them entry?"
"If all else fails..." Amidst the angry, irritated, and furious denunciations, a certain team member timidly said, "Should we just let that lubricant company pass?"

"Absolutely impossible!"
"Never ever!"