Chapter 63: 63, All Preparations Complete, Only Security Lacking, Metal Detector
Flight attendant selection begins.
Names were called, but no one came up for a long time.
A manager came over and explained the situation.
“I don’t know who said it, but this selection method is just like selecting the Courtesan Queen in a brothel. Everyone is afraid of getting a bad reputation, so they dare not come up.”
“Nonsense, how can this be compared to those women of the dust? Go tell them, this is the serious business of us Eight Great Families. If it weren’t for concerns about recruiting outside, it wouldn’t be their turn.” The patriarch of Fushunxing scolded.
The other families also chimed in one after another.
Amid the clamor, Fang Wen was just an onlooker.
Times are different, and people’s values are different.
In these times, with the clash of Chinese and Western cultures, many traditional families are very resistant to many things.
Even a woman like Yue Jinping who studied abroad would preserve her first night stain as an embroidered keepsake.
Not to mention the women from more traditional families like the Eight Great Families.
But to be honest, the atmosphere in Shanghai is already very open.
Last year in his spare time, he read a book《 Biographies of Shanghai Flowers》, also known as《 Spring and Autumn of the Flower Kingdom》, written by a late Qing author about the Shili Yangchang scene.
It had many descriptions of brothels, all called brothels, with corresponding names prefixed based on different places, not only domestic ones, but also foreign brothels.
Like: East Ocean Brothel, Salted Meat Brothel（Korea）, White Russian Brothel.
These places competed, so they created a project similar to the ancient Courtesan Queen selection, competing for the top spot every year, and voting for them required real gold and silver.
Later, the concession side also became popular with this practice, holding it four or five times a year, with all kinds of names.
They even advertised publicly in newspapers, calling it the ‘Flower Kingdom President’.
Because of this, the candidate women of the Eight Great Families felt it was the same as those, and were too ashamed to come up.
Thinking of this, Fang Wen looked at the noisy scene. In these times, good women care more about face than men. No matter how the patriarchs spoke, they were unwilling to come up.
If this continued, today’s selection meeting couldn’t be completed, and it would become a joke for the onlookers in the airport.
He stood up, went on stage, and took the megaphone from Shopkeeper Liu.
“Everyone, stop arguing first and listen to me.”
As general manager, Fang Wen’s words carried authority, and the crowd below gradually quieted down.
“The reason we are selecting flight attendants today is mainly for the face of Taishan Airlines. In future airplane operations, the passengers’ most direct impression will be the airplane and the flight attendants. So, we need to select those who are poised and elegant, dignified, with refined temperament who can represent Taishan Airlines, not something those can compare to.”
Pausing, Fang Wen looked at the reactions below. Although the women showed some softening, they still had no intention of coming up.
He continued.
“Besides, these are not the old days. You can’t bring your industries from the Northeast, and the remaining wealth is all invested in Taishan Airlines. Can that face value support your families?”
Shopkeeper Liu quickly added: “These days with internal troubles and external threats, life is hard, silver dollars depreciate every day. If we can’t make money from money, with so many people, we can’t support them and will eventually scatter.”
Fang Wen explained ahead, Shopkeeper Liu made them see reality behind. With this cooperation, the women were moved.
Before they moved, a young woman with coiled hair and brocade clothes stepped out from the crowd, and the old woman beside her quickly pulled her back.
“Young Mistress, you must not go up.”
“They all say it’s for this family, and I also want to contribute. Why not?”
“They want unmarried ones.”
“But they are thin-skinned, afraid of this and that, and dare not go up. Then I have to go.”
This was reverse psychology.
Immediately, some selection young girls couldn’t stand it and went up.
Where there’s one, there’s two. The rest followed one after another, and the selection officially began.
Just as Fang Wen said, selecting flight attendants is about the face of Taishan Airlines, requiring temperament, interpersonal skills, speech, and more—not just being pretty.
Those who were lacking were eliminated in the first round.
Among the remaining, surprisingly several were female relatives of the patriarchs.
That’s normal; these women received good education daily and excelled in all aspects.
As for which one to select among them, they couldn’t decide for the moment.
The patriarchs began to discuss.
“Deshenglong’s has rich medical knowledge, attended private school, good at dealing with people, just a bit short.”
“Ruifengxiang’s is also good, just a bit introverted. This personality might be inconvenient for communicating with people.”
Amid the chatter, the words started to carry barbs. After all, they were relatives and juniors of their own families, and they couldn’t tolerate any criticism.
Fang Wen quickly interjected.
“They are all good, but there’s one more condition: at least some foreign language skills.”
Yes, running an airline company here, with many foreigners among passengers, doing business with foreigners requires some foreign language.
Ultimately, the selected one was Xie Yuwen from Juyuanheng Money House. Her advantages were clear: she knew English and some French, reportedly learned from foreign teachers together with her cousin.
Taishan Airlines’ flight paths are set, airplanes acquired, landing airport construction completed. Fang Wen even flew a Boeing 80 to Fuyang for two round trips.
Basically ready for operation.
The last issue is security.
For customers’ sake, and to prevent Japanese from sneaking onto planes, need a method to check for dangerous items, plus emergency plans on the plane.
In this era, class differences are huge; the more powerful people are, the more they care about face. Manual checks flipping through passengers’ carry-on items and luggage would have a big impact.
But relying only on visual checks and questioning to judge if passengers carry dangerous items is impractical.
Luckily, Fang Wen is from the future, with knowledge far beyond this era.
He can think of solutions others can’t, though it requires very professional people to implement.
For this, Fang Wen specifically talked to Huo Duanyang.
“Duanyang, do you know electromagnetism?”
Huo Duanyang, who rushed over from Jinling Arsenal, widened his eyes.
“Eldest brother Fang, you think too highly of me. I studied chemistry. Last time you had me make a bomb, I barely managed. Electromagnetism is advanced knowledge; how could I know it.”
Is electromagnetism that advanced?
Fang Wen thought to himself. In the future, even middle school has teaching and experiments on electromagnetism, and with interest, one can buy equipment online to study at home. He hadn’t realized that now it was considered advanced knowledge.
“Then do you know where there are professionals in this? I’m preparing to make a little thing.”
“Need I say? Of course Tsinghua University in Beiping; their Physics Department was established the year before last.” Huo Duanyang replied.
From Huo Duanyang, Fang Wen got what he wanted.
China’s best physics research experts are all at Tsinghua School in Beiping.
In Republic of China year 18, Tsinghua established the Physics Department, with many first-year students being big names in China’s physics world.
In Republic of China year 19, Tsinghua University Physics Department established the Physics Research Institute.
To make what he envisioned, probably only there.
For this, Fang Wen sent a telegram to his teacher still in Beiping and rented Nanyuan Flight School Airport again.
Then he flew Qingyun Hao to Beiping.
