Ruth took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, paused for a moment, and rolled over to get out of bed.
“Ruth, lie down a little longer. We had fish last night, so there's no rush to cook,”
Lübeck said. Ruth pulled the blanket back over herself and turned to snuggle closer to him. Lübeck gently cradled her head against his chest. Her delicate, well-cared-for hair still carried the faint scent of last night’s smoke. Over the years, she had quietly stayed by Lübeck’s side, tending to his daily needs with unwavering loyalty and without complaint. Lübeck had always harbored deep gratitude for her in his heart.
As the sky grew lighter, Lü Beck thought about what he needed to do that day and sat up in bed, wrapped in the blanket. He looked down at Ruth lying beside him, her head turned slightly toward him. Her deep-set eyes, curved like the crescent moon above the rooftops of her hometown on a dark night, had accompanied him all the way here.
Lü Beck gently lifted her hair, tucking one side behind her cheek and the other behind her ear, revealing the happiness on her lips and the warmth in her eyes.
“Rest a little longer,” Lübeck said, gently tracing her brow with the back of his finger, his fingertip lightly touching her cheek. As his hand swept past, Ruth's smile flashed, and Lübeck turned to look out the window at the dawn, as if she were the sun rising in his heart.
The security forces were a military unit stationed at the spaceport. After arriving at city hall early in the morning, Lübeck took a carriage to the security forces' headquarters. Upon entering the office, he found Deputy Security Officer Trudi Koch already there, having just finished her handover with Chief Security Officer Michael Krause.
“Good morning, Trudi. Has Michael gone home on leave?” Lübeck asked.
“Yes, he left after we finished the handover this morning,” Trudi replied.
“How is he doing? Is he okay?”
“He's just under a lot of mental stress,”
“Why do you say that?”
“Mainly because the security officers are dissatisfied with his enforcement style,”
“Yes, he’s a nice guy,” Lübeck agreed,
“But this time, several security officers were injured. According to procedure, the enforcers could have fired first, but he didn’t give the order. As a result, the Schmidt family thought we were there to reinforce and assist them, so they fired at our people.”
“Hmm,” as he listened to his account, Lübeck also thought of the security officer with the more severe injuries and wondered how he was doing.
“So the security officers feel that his improper command led to multiple injuries, and everyone is discussing it privately. He's heard some of it, so he's under some pressure,” Trudi continued to explain the situation,
"Hmm, it might be better to have him step back for a while and wait until the situation calms down. But I heard from the officers present that they had identified themselves, yet the Schmidt family did not cease fire. Is that correct?"
Trudi nodded and said,
“That is indeed the case. I also spoke with the officers present that day. The Schmidt family, believing themselves to be numerous and armed with long guns, seemed to disregard the law enforcement officers.” At this point, Trudi paused, her eyes fixed on Lübeck.
Lübeck exchanged a glance with her, shook his head slightly, and said,
“Yes, since settling here, to guard against wild beasts and for self-defense, firearms have never been banned.” Looking at Trudi, Lübeck asked,
“Why don’t I convene the council, and you report the situation and propose a ban on long guns?”
“ I think that's a good idea," Trudi agreed readily,
“I'll go back and handle it right away. I think it will pass. You should also prepare for the confiscation of firearms, okay?”
“Alright,”
“Alright, that's all for today.”
Back at the town hall, after lunch, Lübeck returned to his office to rest for a while, lying back in his chair. In a daze, he saw a young man push open the office door and enter. His face was somewhat unclear, and he didn't seem familiar. Lübeck tried to open his eyes wider to see his face clearly, but it was difficult.
By this time, the man had walked up to him, bending down. His white shirt filled Lübeck's vision, but he still couldn't see his face.
Just as the young man was about to lean on him, Lübeck hurriedly reached out to steady him. His body trembled, and his foot kicked the desk. Only then did he realize that he had fallen asleep and had been dreaming.
Clearing his thoughts, he decided to continue yesterday’s conversation with Miller. Lü Beck got up and went to his office. The door was open, and Miller was organizing his files.
Lü Beck stood at the door, hesitating whether to disturb him. At that moment, Miller noticed him and asked,
“Is something wrong?”
“No, go ahead with your work,” Lü Beck replied casually.
“It's okay, come in. Yesterday I visited some communes,” he said, pulling out some records and handing them to Lü Beck to look at, explaining as he did so,
“These are the results of visits to some nearby communes. There are many disputes, and these are records of the relevant parties involved in larger areas.”
Lübeck took the documents, sat across from Miller at his desk, and flipped through the pages one by one, noting the names and locations, trying to find some patterns and a simple solution to the problem.
Seeing that Lübeck had finished flipping through the documents, Miller reminded him,
“Actually, the disputes are mostly about households with more male members or larger family clans,”
“Oh, that's right. The new generation has grown up.” " Lübeck thought for a moment and asked Miller,
“What if we split up the large families and turn them into smaller, independent households as the basic units of society?”
Miller pondered for a moment and said,
“That's one approach, but how would we implement it?”
“Families with fewer members would need more independent, smaller housing units,” Lübeck said as he continued to think, " Hmm, but they also need to be willing to move out of the family,"
“Urbanization,” Miller added,
“Yes,” Lübeck replied with two words, his eyes fixed on Miller as he fell into deep thought. Urbanization meant that non-agricultural industries needed to develop, and education and technology would gradually advance. In the complex social relationships of that future society, Lübeck had no confidence that he could still control social stability.
Putting his thoughts about the future aside for now, Lü Beck picked up the documents in his hand and waved them, saying to Miller,
“I'll go downstairs to ask them to help with the statistics first,”
After completing today's work, Lü Beck returned home. He came back earlier today and saw Ruth feeding the chickens in the backyard. From a distance, her black fitted blouse highlighted her alluring figure against the desolate backdrop. She was bent over, seemingly pouring leftover food into the feed trough for the poultry. To distribute the food evenly, she shifted her weight between her legs, and her pleated skirt swayed with the movement of her waist.
By then, he had walked up to her side. Hearing someone approach, she turned her head, lifting the strands of hair from her cheek, and saw that it was Lübeck returning. She straightened up, facing him.
“I’m back,” Lübeck said, already embracing her in his arms, as if the morning’s parting had been a long time ago, and he needed to quickly reconnect the broken thread of longing.
After a moment of tenderness, Ruth gently pushed Lübeck away and whispered,
“Why don’t you go see your Emma?” Her deep eyes were filled with tenderness.
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