The special car arrived at the venue.
As the car door opened, Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng alighted, immediately greeted by a barrage of camera flashes from a throng of reporters, capturing hundreds of shots.
The couple offered a perfunctory smile to the journalists, granting them a few seconds for photography before turning and entering the venue.
Their seats were in the front row, adjacent designated spots.
More than half of the voting delegation members had already arrived, with the remaining trickling in. All were dressed in extremely formal attire, with pure black suits filling the entire venue. The faces of the delegation members varied greatly: an old man with a furious expression, a young man with bright eyes, an elegant and noble old woman, and a delicately made-up young girl. Initially, everyone was whispering amongst themselves, but upon the entrance of Jiang Ye and his wife, all conversations ceased as if by unspoken agreement.
Tang Hanliu was busy rushing around the venue, adjusting the camera positions for television and online broadcasts.
Jiang Ye checked the time; there was still half an hour before the start. He then took out his foldable phone, unfolded it on the table, and began attending to official business.
Cen Yemeng looked around, reached out to pat Jiang Ye's thigh, and whispered, "Honey, I really want to..."
Jiang Ye stared at her in alarm, lowering his voice, "Are you crazy, Cen Yemeng, my comrade?"
Cen Yemeng lowered her head and giggled. She particularly enjoyed seeing her husband's flustered expression.
After a while.
With a heavy thud, the venue doors were closed by the guards.
Jiang Ye looked back; everyone had arrived. Some guards were distributing voting rules, printed on pink A4 paper, to each person.
The sound of leather shoes clicking, Su Yueming walked onto the stage. She was wearing a dark red formal suit today, her hair styled up, making her look beautiful and professional. She approached the podium and turned on the microphone.
"All representatives, please prepare yourselves. The voting ceremony will commence in ten minutes."
With that, Su Yueming stepped down from the stage.
Many elderly representatives began to rise and leave their seats, queuing up to go to the restrooms. Their steps were unsteady, and some even required assistance from guards.
Jiang Ye couldn't help but sigh, thinking how arduous it was for them to come and vote at an age where they could no longer control their bodily functions.
Ten minutes passed quickly.
Su Yueming returned to the stage and turned on the microphone.
"Please welcome General Jiang Ye of Jiang Ye Star, His Excellency, to the stage to preside over this Planetary Governor election ceremony."
The venue erupted in thunderous applause.
Jiang Ye immediately stood up and strode onto the stage.
Cen Yemeng, watching from below, blushed. She felt her husband looked truly handsome.
Jiang Ye approached the microphone and began his speech:
"I hope all representatives present today will consider the entire planet and remain loyal to your duties when casting your vote for the candidate you believe to be most suitable."
"There are a total of six candidates for this election:"
"Shao Wan, Wu Yiming, Xing Hanlei, Liu Jizi, Sheng Yunlu, and Serves John."
"This vote will be conducted in two rounds. The first round is to elect the candidate you deem suitable to serve as the Governor of Jiang Ye Planet. The second round will be a vote of approval or disapproval for the candidate who receives the highest number of votes. If the approval votes do not exceed half, another round of voting will be held."
"Now, I declare the first round of voting open!"
"All representatives, please manually fill out the paper ballots. You will have five minutes for consideration and one hour for voting. You may choose one of the six candidates and blacken the circle next to their name. You may also choose to abstain by blackening the circle next to the abstention option. All ballots must be placed in the ballot box before the voting period ends."
"Both rounds of voting will involve live vote counting."
"Each ballot is anonymous, but the voting slips will be permanently preserved and sealed in the planetary archives."
Jiang Ye bowed and returned to his seat.
Guards began distributing ballots and neutral pens.
The ballot was enclosed in an envelope, with the word "Top Secret" printed on the seal. Upon opening, a red paper could be taken out, with the voting options printed in gold.
Jiang Ye, without hesitation, blackened the circle next to Shao Wan's name.
Cen Yemeng glanced at her husband's ballot and also blackened the circle next to Shao Wan.
After filling out their ballots, they put them in envelopes and waited.
Su Yueming walked onto the stage, "Voting may now commence."
Jiang Ye immediately stood up, walked to the transparent ballot box at the front of the stage, and inserted the envelope.
Cen Yemeng followed suit, solemnly inserting her envelope.
The couple returned to their seats, and the representatives behind them began to rise and cast their votes.
Although an hour was allocated for voting, all ballots were cast in just thirty-five minutes.
Staff members came onto the stage, first shuffling the envelopes in the box, and then, under the camera's gaze, proceeded with the on-site vote counting.
The vote counting took a considerable amount of time.
During the counting, many representatives got up to go to the restroom again. It was unavoidable; at their age, they truly couldn't hold it. Many representatives wore diapers, but they could only manage for a limited time.
At twelve noon, Su Yueming returned to the stage.
"The first round of vote counting is complete. We will now announce the results."
Jiang Ye immediately took a deep breath, gazing intently at the paper in Su Yueming's hand, as if trying to see through to the words on the front.
He had not manipulated this vote; the process was strictly by the book. Jiang Ye believed that Shao Wan's reputation and his own prestige were sufficient to determine the outcome, but now, at the crucial moment of announcing the results, he couldn't help but feel nervous.
Su Yueming continued reading:
"The total number of delegation members participating in this vote was 3400. All 3400 were present, meaning 3400 votes were expected, and the ballot box actually received 3400 votes."
"The vote counts for the six candidates are as follows—"
"Shao Wan, 3205 votes!"
"Liu Jizi, 78 votes!"
"Sheng Yunlu, 57 votes!"
"Xing Hanlei, 15 votes!"
"Wu Yiming, 6 votes!"
"Serves John, 3 votes!"
"Abstentions, 36 votes!"
"The candidate with the highest number of votes, Shao Wan, will proceed to the second round of voting at 2 PM."
"Any party with objections to the voting results may apply for a recount."
"We are now in recess!"
Su Yueming stepped down from the stage.
A large number of representatives stood up abruptly and hurried out of the venue. While Su Yueming was announcing the results, the venue had already been filled with the rumbling sounds of thousands of stomachs. Everyone was eager to go for lunch.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng waited for everyone else to leave before rising. They walked hand in hand towards the venue's cafeteria.
The couple entered a private room. The dishes had already been served in advance: six dishes, two soups, and one dessert, a standard arrangement.
Jiang Ye closed the door and sat down to eat.
"Are you satisfied with this result?" Cen Yemeng asked with a smile.
"Very satisfied," Jiang Ye nodded. "Shao Wan's ascension to the position is secured. This afternoon will just be a formality, likely a unanimous approval. It seems everyone still supports me."
"Many of the voters are your subordinates, of course, they follow your lead," Cen Yemeng said.
"Don't forget the biggest variable, the 1400 citizen representatives," Jiang Ye said. "These people have no particular connection to me, yet the vast majority of them also align with me. This indicates that Shao Wan and I have popular support on Jiang Ye Star, which is very gratifying."
"I think this list of candidates is quite amusing," Cen Yemeng said while chewing her food. "Wu Yiming, a small business owner, is only at the lower end of the first tier among our planet's business circles. Serves John, a verbose radio host, is nothing special. Sheng Yunlu, a low-level employee in a macroeconomics team, is often severely reprimanded by Feng Zhi Shuang. Xing Hanlei is a singer; there are still photos of her in a bikini and gossip about her scandals online. Of the entire candidate list, less than half are professionals. Only Shao Wan and Liu Jizi are somewhat reliable."
"You can't say that. There's a saying that every profession can produce a planetary governor," Jiang Ye chuckled. "If I hadn't nominated Shao Wan this time, I really wouldn't know who would have ended up in this position."
"Hey, honey, let me ask you something," Cen Yemeng suddenly said with curiosity. "If the result of this vote was that someone else received the highest number of votes, and Shao Wan was not elected, what would you have done?"