Doing bad things together

"No matter what anyone else thinks, I support your decision." Only after making that promise did Wang Guohua go out to notify the members of the Rui Study Group one by one.

That afternoon, the Rui Study Group convened a general meeting.

As soon as Yang Rui announced the topic, a buzz of discussion broke out.

"You're really letting us decide?"

"Do reserve members get to vote too?"

"Is it one vote per person? Do full members only get one vote too?"

The most excited were the reserve members who had joined later. They fired off questions, while Cao Baoming and the others remained silent.

Yang Rui stood right on top of a table and answered, "Yes, one vote per person. Reserve members and full members get the same number of votes, and I get one vote too. However, we haven't yet settled on what the Rui Study Group's rules should be. For now, we'll use this method. It's the fairest."

Wang Guohua immediately said, "You founded the Rui Study Group. How is one vote per person fair?"

Yang Rui shook his head. "The Rui Study Group belongs to everyone. Everyone should decide what its rules should be. There are seventy-six of us now. This is just the time to hold a vote on a per-person basis."

Naturally, he did not really believe that one vote per person was fair. But Yang Rui had no time to manage the Rui Study Group directly. If he continued controlling it through orders, he would actually be handing a great deal of power to proxy managers like Huang Ren.

Rather than that, it was better to give the Rui Study Group room to grow naturally while retaining the most crucial powers himself. It was like the distinction between a chairman and a general manager: the latter's authority came from the former, and the former could intervene in management at any time. It was precisely the way to gain the most power with the least expenditure of energy.

But openly stating the power he wanted would not work well. Better to let democracy hit a wall first, then discuss dictatorship.

So Yang Rui deliberately kept quiet and let everyone discuss it.

When one student asked how many copies of New Concept English they would print, Yang Rui answered without hesitation, "Ten thousand."

The entire Sports Room fell silent for a long while.

Finally, the easygoing Xu Jing spoke up. "Ten thousand copies? Wouldn't that cost ten thousand yuan?"

"It might cost more than ten thousand. The printing house charges to start up the presses, and there might be additional expenses." Yang Rui looked around. "New Concept English has four volumes. We'll decide how many copies of the next three volumes to print based on how the first sells. If things go smoothly, the profit should be around fifty percent or even more, because the more we print, the cheaper it gets. Taking the other costs into account, ten thousand copies is an appropriate number."

"What if things don't go smoothly?" a boy he did not know asked spontaneously.

Su Yi let out a loud cry and pointed at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The boy immediately ducked his head and dared not speak.

Yang Rui tugged Su Yi back. "Everyone should speak freely. If things don't go smoothly, we'll suffer a loss. That's what we're discussing today: whether to take the risk of printing New Concept English or give up this opportunity."

Liu Shan gave Yang Rui a puzzled look. Somehow, she felt he did not seem to be trying to persuade them.

The ten-thousand-yuan cost had frightened quite a few people.

Although no one else jumped out to object, no one stepped forward to agree either.

Even Wang Guohua felt uneasy about it, let alone the others.

After a long while, Huang Ren finally said quietly, "How about we reduce the quantity a little?"

He had been dealing with the members often lately and could guess what they were thinking. Ten thousand yuan really was too much. In an era when ten-thousand-yuan households were still the stuff of legend, only government agencies dealt in units of ten thousand yuan. Besides, Yang Rui was only using ten thousand as a starting figure.

No sooner had Huang Ren finished than someone else said, "You should only bite off as much as you can chew. We don't have ten thousand yuan to spend on printing, do we?"

"We don't have to pay the printing house everything at once. I estimate that a deposit of around two thousand yuan will get them to start printing. We can pay the balance after we've been selling the books for a while. Of course, I haven't spoken to the printing house yet. Whatever the final terms are, I'll call another general meeting then and let everyone choose."

Li Xuegong, who rarely spoke, was now a member of the Rui Study Group too. He had not intended to say anything, but seeing everyone discussing it so heatedly, he was finally jolted into speaking by the astronomical sum of ten thousand yuan. "What if... I mean, what if we decide to print this book, but the printing house doesn't agree to our proposal? What then?"

"Two choices: put in more money or cancel the printing." Yang Rui answered extremely quickly.

"So that means borrowing money to print it?" a girl with two pigtails asked naively.

"Borrowing money to print it," Yang Rui confirmed.

"We'd have to borrow eight thousand yuan?" The girl with pigtails looked around uneasily.

"Probably more than eight thousand. As I said, there are additional expenses. I don't know exactly how much yet."

"What if... we can't sell the books? Would we still have to pay the money back?"

"Of course. Since we'd be making money in the Rui Study Group's name, we'd repay it in the Rui Study Group's name." Yang Rui paused, then said, "The Rui Study Group has a steady cash flow now, as you've all seen. We earn several dozen yuan every day. Even if we lose this money, we can recover in a few months at most."

One boy could not help standing up. "But in a few months, we'll have graduated."

"Exactly. All that time would go toward paying off the debt..."

Wang Guohua could not hold back. He stood up and said loudly, "Li Tieqiang, Wang Wanbin, why didn't you object when you were eating canned food and collecting allowances? Now you're backing out over losses that haven't even happened?"

"We just don't want it to interfere with the Gaokao..." The two boys he had named lowered their heads and dared not say more.

"Of course we can't let it interfere with the Gaokao. The Rui Study Group exists to save time and improve efficiency. We can't do the opposite." Yang Rui stepped in with a smile. "The canned food was meant to be shared with everyone, and the allowances came from mimeographing work. Those are separate accounts. If we lose ten thousand yuan, everyone really will have to work for free for a while... How about this? Let's put it to a vote."

Inside the Sports Room, the seventy-odd people looked at one another, none willing to speak first.

Yang Rui smiled again. "A secret ballot, then."

Though broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, Cao Baoming had a very clear head. He hurriedly said, "Yang Rui, a vote is a vote. Why make it a secret ballot? Shouldn't people be held responsible for what they say?"

Given Yang Rui's prestige, with so many people watching, the results of a secret ballot could differ greatly from those of an open vote.

But Yang Rui wanted to lose now, so he said, "This is an experiment for us too. It's our first time, so let's do whatever's easiest."

He then told Huang Ren, "Make sure today's rules are clearly recorded in the minutes. This time, we're trying one vote per person. Reserve members have voting rights too. They get the same number of votes as full members, and as me, the acting group leader. We'll also use a secret ballot. That's settled, then. Cut up some paper, and we'll count the votes aloud here."

"If the proposal doesn't pass, we won't print New Concept English?" Li Tieqiang was a veteran student who had spent three years retaking the exam and was sensitive about both time and money. If he failed to get into university this year, he planned to give up, so he could not spend a great deal of time working to repay debts either.

Yang Rui looked at him. "That's right. If the proposal doesn't pass, we won't print New Concept English."

"Then... that seems a bit of a waste. Couldn't we keep mimeographing it?" Embarrassed though he was, Li Tieqiang still finished what he had to say.

Cao Baoming thought it over before catching on. Angrily, he said, "You want all the benefits without taking any responsibility!"

He rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush over.

Yang Rui hurriedly stopped him. "We're holding a meeting, so let's stick to that. If we keep mimeographing, so be it. If the proposal doesn't pass, we'll keep mimeographing, printing as many copies as students at our school need and charging only the cost. But let me make this clear beforehand: I'm optimistic about the market for letterpress editions, and large-scale printing really does lower costs. If everyone in the Rui Study Group votes against printing it, I'll approach the printing house myself and pay for it myself."

"What if you lose money?" Throwing caution to the wind, Li Tieqiang decided he might as well ask plainly.

"If I lose money, I'll repay it myself. I still have nearly two thousand yuan in manuscript fees, and I can keep writing. Don't worry. Oh, and let me make this clear beforehand too: if I make money, all the profits belong to me. They won't go into the Rui Study Group's accounts." Yang Rui smiled. "Everyone, I'm willing to take this risk all by myself. Can't so many of us bear it together?"

"You've only taken the exam once. I've taken it three times. It's different." Li Tieqiang continued defending his position.

Yang Rui smiled and shook his head. "Enough talk. Let's vote."

Huang Ren distributed the cut pieces of paper to everyone.

Wang Guohua wanted to say something, but Yang Rui stopped him again.

Five minutes later, all the ballots had been collected in a ballot box made from a cardboard box.

"Start counting the votes aloud." Yang Rui put on a serious expression, but he felt quite calm. Whether they voted for or against it, he would not lose out.

Liu Shan and the other students who had greater faith in Yang Rui looked at him worriedly.

Not every Rui Study Group student had faith in the group and Yang Rui, especially those who had joined recently, either for extra lessons or because of the group's reputation. Like most organizations, the majority of its members were the sort who only wanted to take without giving, people looking to ride along for the benefits.

For the Rui Study Group, with fewer than a hundred members, a debt of over ten thousand yuan meant more than a hundred yuan per person on average. Aside from members like Wang Guohua and Cao Baoming, who were closer to Yang Rui or trusted him more, not everyone was willing to shoulder that.

They were unwilling to shoulder even the possibility.

Of course, some did not distrust Yang Rui; the amount was simply too large, and they were not risk-takers by nature.

Yang Rui could guess some of their answers. In later years, this would be the equivalent of seventy-odd students discussing whether to take out a million-yuan loan to invest in a project.

With only a month or two of accumulated prestige and unfavorable rules, it would be very difficult to get such a proposal through a secret ballot.

And that was indeed how it turned out.

Huang Ren, Liu Shan, and Wang Guohua counted the ballots twice, but still had to announce helplessly, "Thirty-four votes in favor, thirty-nine... against, and three abstentions. The proposal fails."

Yang Rui was utterly surprised. He had originally thought a secret ballot like this would yield only around twenty votes in favor.

It had nearly passed.

If it had passed, all that groundwork would have gone to waste, Yang Rui muttered inwardly.

Outwardly, Yang Rui looked disappointed. "Since that's the result, the proposal to have a printing house produce a letterpress edition of New Concept English in the Rui Study Group's name is hereby scrapped. I'll find a way to do it on my own. All right, meeting adjourned."

Li Tieqiang and the others left the Sports Room, suppressing their smiles.

Liu Shan gave Yang Rui a comforting look but said nothing either.

Yang Rui signaled with his eyes for Huang Ren, Wang Guohua, and Cao Baoming to stay.

After various words of consolation, only the four of them finally remained in the Sports Room.

"Gather up all the ballots and compare the handwriting." Under their concerned gazes, Yang Rui smiled. "Put together a list of everyone you can positively identify as having voted against it, and another of those who definitely voted in favor. Those who voted in favor will finish their reserve period and become full members. Those who voted against it will also finish their reserve period-and be expelled from the Rui Study Group. Hmm, do you know how to compare handwriting?"

"Yes," Huang Ren answered quickly. They had all lived through the era of big-character posters. All sorts of people had learned a little about comparing handwriting.

"You expected that the proposal might fail all along?" Wang Guohua asked in surprise.

"Yes. There are over seventy people, and I can't look after everyone. A lot of them only come to lessons and don't participate in anything else. They don't know me well and probably don't trust me, so it's no surprise they voted against it. Of course, some simply don't want to take risks. But whichever it is, the Rui Study Group doesn't need them." Yang Rui slowed his speech and continued steadily, "The Rui Study Group needs two kinds of people: those willing to strive for their country and nation, and those willing to band together for warmth, sharing hardship and prosperity... Everyone's still young, and it's hard to say what they'll think in the future. But those who voted against it this time either don't believe in me or lack boldness. Either way, the Rui Study Group doesn't need them."

All three were stunned.

Cao Baoming suddenly slapped a thigh, making Wang Guohua jump in pain, and said, "That weeds out the hangers-on!"

"A large portion of them." Grimacing, Wang Guohua slapped him back.

Cao Baoming treated it as no more than a scratch. "Got it. We absolutely have to match the handwriting properly."

Still uneasy, Huang Ren asked, "Brother Rui, are you really going to put up your own money to print it?"

"Of course. New Concept English is easy to sell. If it doesn't sell locally, selling it elsewhere is just the same. As long as we get the costs down, we can sell however many copies we have." Yang Rui was utterly certain. At worst, he could haul the books to the provincial capital and sell them there. In a city that could easily absorb several hundred thousand copies of a magazine, selling ten thousand copies of New Concept English would be far too easy.

Cao Baoming slapped a thigh again and said gleefully, "Once all the letterpress copies of New Concept English sell out, we'll hold another general meeting. It'll be easy to make our case then. From now on, we must let Brother Rui make the decisions."

Yang Rui said modestly, "It is necessary to establish a veto power. But I can't make every decision. I don't have that much time either..."

The room fell briefly silent, then all four burst out laughing together.

Yang Rui reflected, Finally, it's starting to feel like a secret little group doing bad things together.