Chapter 213 Self-Saving the Economy

On Christmas Day at noon, a long line had formed at the entrance of the Oxford Town Community Service Center.

This center was usually where the town held voter registration and community meetings, and it was not supposed to be open on Christmas Day.

However, three days ago, Mu Xin had asked Tom to approach the mayor and borrow the Community Service Center venue under the name of the "Oxford Town Power Company Christmas Community Outreach Event."

When Tom went to negotiate, he brought the budget prepared by Victoria, the venue usage agreement drafted by Jessica, and a temporary food distribution permit approved by the Health Department.

The relief plan was divided into three parts.

The first part was food.

Turkeys accompanied by mashed potato mix, canned vegetables, cornbread mix, and condensed soup stock were all purchased from a food wholesaler in Columbus. After arrival, they were pre-processed in the kitchen of the town's Methodist church; the frozen turkeys were thawed and then vacuum-packed, with one ingredient packet included with each turkey.

Handing out cash directly would be hard to explain if caught by the media, whereas distributing food would not violate any federal or state laws, as food aid during Christmas was standard practice for community charity and did not require additional disaster relief permits.

Jessica had checked Chapter 3717 of the Ohio Revised Code in advance; the health regulations for food distribution only required that food be kept at compliant temperatures before and during distribution, and that the distribution site have a legal temporary food handling permit.

The second part was winter warmth supplies.

Blankets, thermal socks, and children's winter coats were purchased from a wholesaler in Cincinnati.

The third part was energy subsidies.

This was something Mu Xin added himself; every family that came to collect food and warmth supplies could receive an additional energy subsidy card with a face value of one hundred dollars.

This card was not cash and could not be withdrawn; it could only be used to directly deduct electricity bills for the current month within the Oxford Town Power Company's payment system.

The total budget for the three parts of the plan was nearly four hundred thousand dollars. Finally, Mu Xin added one more item: those who came to collect relief could get free hot coffee.

At twelve noon, the doors of the Community Service Center opened on time. A dozen Power Company employees and volunteers had set up four rows of distribution tables at the entrance: the first row for food, the second for warmth supplies, the third for energy subsidy cards, and the fourth for freshly brewed hot coffee.

Before the doors opened, the waiting line had already reached the barbershop at the corner. It wasn't just people from Oxford Town; there were also people from other areas, some of whom had carpooled after hearing the news.

At the very front of the line was a young Black couple with two children. The man's jacket zipper was half-broken, barely held together by a safety pin, and the woman was holding a sleeping little girl wrapped in an adult down jacket.

Mu Xin stood on the periphery of the queue, not getting too close. He was wearing a dark gray down jacket, and the turtleneck sweater around his neck was pulled up to his chin, just enough to cover all the marks from last night.

Tom was behind the distribution table, responsible for handing out food bags. Every time he handed one out, he would say "Merry Christmas," and everyone who received food would reply with "Thank you" or "God bless you."

After the Black couple received the food bags and warmth supplies, Tom took two extra children's winter coats from the supply box and handed them to them.

The man instinctively wanted to say something, but Tom spoke before he could: "The boss of the Power Company told me to give an extra one to all families with children. Your kids are still small; they shouldn't be wearing adult clothes on Christmas."

Meanwhile, after an elderly white woman in her seventies finished collecting her food bag and blanket, she walked to the energy subsidy card distribution table. After receiving the one-hundred-dollar electricity bill deduction card, her eyes turned red.

"My air conditioner broke once last month, and I spent a whole week in front of an electric heater. My neighbor next door said I should go to the church for help."

"I said the church already gave me a supermarket gift card during Thanksgiving; I couldn't ask again."

She held the card in her palm and looked at it over and over. "This was given by your company. I see your company's name on the bill every month when I pay my electricity. Now I can write down one hundred dollars less on the bill."

"For me, this one hundred dollars means I can turn the air conditioning up a few degrees on Christmas Eve. It's been a long time since I've been able to set the air conditioning to a normal temperature when sleeping on winter nights." By the time she finished, she was wiping away tears.

"Don't thank me," Tom said softly. "I'm just here handing things out. The one who prepared this for you is a young Chinese man named Mu Xin. He opened a power plant in Oxford Town, built a Hotel, and even helped the town's police department catch drug dealers. You might have seen his name in the newspaper before."

...

Meanwhile, Mu Xin turned and walked toward the outskirts of the town. He wanted to see if the workers temporarily staying in motels on the edge of town and the unemployed people wandering near the gas stations had been covered by today's relief.

In the last few months, many migrant workers from other regions had poured into the area around Oxford Town, most attracted by construction projects for Hotels and theme parks. However, the construction teams' labor needs were not continuously full; there were short gaps in employment between each construction phase.

Some workers could not find their next short-term job during these gaps and could only pay for motel rooms on a weekly basis.

These people would not appear in the queue at the Community Service Center because they felt that the relief was for Oxford Town residents, not for migrant workers.

About a dozen pickup trucks were parked in the parking lot of a motel. Many workers were squatting on the edge of the parking lot smoking. When they saw a black cadillac escalade drive in, they all stood up vigilantly.

Mu Xin got out of the car and pulled down the hood of his down jacket to reveal his face.

He took several cardboard boxes filled with food bags and warmth supplies from the back seat and placed them on the parking lot ground, then shouted to the group:

"Oxford Town Power Company Christmas supplies: food, blankets, children's winter coats. If you need them, take them yourself. The boxes are left here; no one is guarding them, and there's no need to register. Everyone has a share."

After putting down the boxes, he didn't stand there waiting to see who would take them; he got straight into the car and had John drive away.

Through the rearview mirror, he saw that group of people slowly gathering around the boxes after the car left.

Mu Xin knew that relief could easily stir people's emotions on this specific holiday, as Christmas was the day in the United States that came closest to the concept of belonging.

Relief was not just about giving things; it was about giving them something they could put on the dinner table to share with their families on this specific day, as well as dignity.

Mu Xin was not seeking gratitude now; what he wanted was to gradually dismantle these people's defenses against him.

He was Chinese, and in this country, the identity of being Chinese was a double-edged sword: holding it too high would prick oneself, and hiding it too deep would make people think one was hiding something.

So he placed his goodwill into food bags, thermal socks, and electricity subsidy cards.

They wouldn't trust him immediately, but they also wouldn't easily believe those who said that Chinese people were stealing their jobs, and that was the goal he needed to reach for now.