In the following days, Chen Ke once again entered a period of near-sleeplessness. First, there was the incessant stream of visitors. Many were educated men or small workshop owners who had seen the posters, encountered the group by chance, or heard of them through word of mouth. After attending You Gou’s lectures, they were eager to enroll their children in the school.

Privately, Chen Ke considered these people "nuisances," yet they were vital to his cause. Lacking established social connections, he could not afford to offend the parents. This continued until Qi Huishen excitedly informed him that an elderly gentleman named Ma Xiangbo wished to meet him. Chen Ke marveled at the prestige required to make the usually composed Qi Huishen act as a personal herald.

"Wenqing, you must go!" Qi Huishen was so agitated he had lost his usual poise.

"What is this about?" Chen Ke asked, perplexed.

After Qi Huishen’s explanation, Chen Ke stood dazed. This Mr. Ma Xiangbo was none other than the founder of Fudan University.

Chen Ke had never studied the history of Chinese education and was unaware of the details. Ma Xiangbo had founded Aurora University, but in the spring of the thirty-first year of Guangxu, the Jesuits attempted to turn it into a purely ecclesiastical school. On the pretext of Ma Xiangbo "recuperating from illness," they appointed a French priest, Father Perrin, as the head instructor. They changed the teaching philosophy and established new regulations, sparking an uproar among the students. The students tore down the school sign and withdrew en masse. When Ma Xiangbo saw the register of withdrawing students, he was moved to tears and resolved to stand with them. With the support of luminaries like Zhang Jian, Yan Fu, and Yuan Xitao, he began preparations for Fudan Public School (now Fudan University) in Jiangwan. It officially opened on the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1905. Ma Xiangbo served as president and professor of French, appointing Li Denghui—not the later politician from Taiwan—as the dean.

Furthermore, Ma Xiangbo had begun preparations for the Aurora Women’s College of Arts and Sciences in 1902.

While Chen Ke might not have known Aurora University, even he wasn't so dense as to miss the connection when Fudan was mentioned. It turned out the massive lecture series Chen Ke had organized had become the talk of Shanghai. The "Brilliant Appearance" of the female instructor, Miss You Gou, was a particular highlight. Even Mr. Ma Xiangbo had been stirred. After hearing reports from his students and reading several free copies of the *Whampoa Review*, he was extremely pleased with the scientific nature of the lectures. Some of the students who had withdrawn from Aurora had attended the Whampoa Society lectures, and through them, the old gentleman heard that the organizer was an overseas student he had never heard of. There were rumors about You Gou as well. Intrigued, the old man sent word to find Qi Huishen, a local, to invite Chen Ke for a meeting.

When an elder of such high virtue and prestige spoke, Chen Ke naturally could not refuse. The gentleman also expressed a desire to meet the now-famous Miss You Gou. Chen Ke immediately had Qi Huishen notify her and dispatched He Zudao to draft a formal reply. Beyond his skill with a fountain pen, He Zudao’s brush calligraphy was quite impressive. The letter was a respectful request for an audience, which He Zudao delivered in person.

Chen Ke then organized You Gou’s lecture notes and, after a moment’s thought, pulled out a portion of his own upcoming lecture on *Evolution and Ethics*. In truth, it was more than just a translation of Huxley; Chen Ke had incorporated details about the solar system, the Earth, and natural ecology. These were materials intended for all Party members, as he sought to broaden their intellectual horizons.

Shortly after Qi Huishen brought You Gou back to the workshop, He Zudao returned with a handwritten reply from Ma Xiangbo. Chen Ke’s letter had been very polite, stating that he and You Gou would visit whenever it was convenient for the elder.

Mr. Ma’s reply was equally courteous. He noted that he had heard of Chen Ke’s busy daytime teaching schedule and suggested they meet that very evening. Chen Ke made brief arrangements, grabbed some body wash and shampoo, and dashed to the bathhouse. When he reappeared before the group, he was meticulously clean and fragrant.

"Dandy!" You Gou remarked, her voice tinged with jealousy.

The party of four set out.

The streetscapes of Shanghai in 1905 were a chaotic mess that Chen Ke found hard to look at. With so much on his mind, he watched the various passersby and a thought suddenly struck him. "Huishen, once the Whampoa Society is established, I plan to conduct several social investigations."

Qi Huishen was squeezed into a rickshaw with him. "Social investigations? Investigating what?"

"If we are to gather revolutionary comrades, we cannot start a revolution without understanding the state of society. Therefore, we must conduct investigations and analyze social dynamics. We want the comrades involved to reach the inevitable conclusion that revolution is necessary."

"And what should be investigated?"

"Look at all these people in Shanghai. Where did they come from? Why can the rural areas no longer sustain them? My proposed goal is to investigate the dissolution of the traditional small-scale peasant economy under the impact of the industrial system."

"The dissolution of the peasant economy?" Qi Huishen had heard Chen Ke use the term before and had a general grasp of it. "How is it dissolving?"

"To put it simply, because wealthy men—like your father, for instance—are buying up land on a massive scale. Haha, and so, the peasant economy dissolves."

Qi Huishen pondered for a moment. "So, you mean the industrial system is rapidly creating a class of wealthy men like my father, right?"

"You've hit the nail on the head. Today, either a foreign industrial system will utterly crush China’s peasant economy, or China’s own industrial system will do it. Either way, the small-scale peasant economy is doomed to bankruptcy."

"In the end, it must be a people's revolution," Qi Huishen nodded in agreement. In the past, he might have felt a surge of excitement at uncovering the essence of society. Now, he felt no emotional fluctuation. Chen Ke had already lifted the fog that once blinded him; he could now seek out the clues and the path himself. "I will arrange it."

The distance was short, and they arrived before they could finish discussing the details. The four of them stood before Ma Xiangbo’s residence, straightening their clothes. You Gou lifted her sleeve, sniffed it, and glared at Chen Ke. Without a word, Chen Ke pulled a small bottle of Florida Water from his pocket and gave her two spritzes. You Gou might not have loved the scent, but a girl always prefers to smell nice. She snatched the bottle from his hand and stuffed it into her own pocket. Everyone knew Chen Ke had many "treasures," and whenever possible, they did their best to make off with a small item or two. Seeing her quick wit, Qi Huishen stamped his foot in regret at his own slow hands.

After one last check of their attire, You Gou suddenly asked, "Wenqing, just how many watches do you have?" Because of the lectures, Chen Ke had lent her his watch. For this outing, he had simply put on another.

"We’ll talk about that later," Chen Ke said, not wanting to get bogged down. If they kept at it, he’d probably lose the second watch, too.

Mr. Ma Xiangbo was lean and handsome, with a vigorous spirit. He wore the flowing beard common among Republic-era literati, now nearly pure white. After brief pleasantries, the old man went straight to the point: Fudan Public School was about to open, and he hoped Chen Ke could deliver a lecture series there before classes began. The content would be the same as the one he was currently conducting.

Chen Ke quickly presented the two sets of manuscripts. Mr. Ma didn't care much for the chemistry portion, glancing over it briefly before setting it aside. However, on the cover of the second manuscript, He Zudao’s elegant script displayed five large characters: *An Overview of Evolution*.

The crushing defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War had pushed the Chinese nation to the brink of extinction. At that time, the famous Yan Fu translated *Evolution and Ethics* by the British biologist Thomas Huxley, which was published in Tianjin in 1897. The book’s appearance generated a massive social response that Yan Fu had never anticipated. When the reformist leader Kang Youwei saw the manuscript, he praised Yan Fu as a man "the likes of whom I have never seen," calling the translation the "foremost work of Western learning in China." From then on, the book became a sensation, recommended by all scholars of the day.

Ma Xiangbo was on excellent terms with Yan Fu, who had provided great support for the founding of Fudan. He knew the author of the original work called himself "Darwin's Bulldog," and that Darwin's masterpiece was *The Origin of Species*. Seeing the title, the old man was instantly intrigued. He flipped to the first page, but instead of Yan Fu’s famous "Natural selection, survival of the fittest," he found the words of Xunzi: *"Heaven's ways are constant; they do not exist for Yao, nor do they perish for Jie. Instead of magnifying Heaven and meditating upon it, why not regulate Heaven's mandate and make use of it?"*

Yan Fu’s *Evolution and Ethics* used classical Chinese, but Chen Ke’s *Overview of Evolution* was written in the vernacular. The lectures were divided into seven parts: the first on the universe and the solar system; the second on the oceans; and the third through seventh on the biological characteristics and evolutionary processes of Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Australia—the interactions and development of various organisms. Yan Fu’s work was essentially a political treatise; Chen Ke’s was a scientific textbook.

Chen Ke had read both *Evolution and Ethics* and *The Origin of Species*. Despite the popularity of Yan Fu’s version, Chen Ke had no desire to teach it. His lectures were intended as Party lessons to stir progressive youth, and he found the content of Yan Fu’s translation somewhat hollow and dry for that purpose. The real substance lay in the third part of his curriculum, titled *Chinese Cultural Heritage and the Rise of Materialism*. However, that manuscript was not yet finished, and Chen Ke did not dare present it just yet.

After flipping through a few more pages and seeing it was indeed a scientific text, Mr. Ma set it down.

You Gou’s course only had one day left, so Mr. Ma suggested the Fudan lectures begin the day after next. Chen Ke immediately took the opportunity to ask if he could use the school’s auditorium. He requested to move the lectures he had planned for Zhou Yuanxiao’s workshop to the Fudan campus. He offered to pay a venue fee, noting that his lectures were public and free of charge. Mr. Ma, naturally, refused to take the money. With the matter settled, the group rose to take their leave.

They had been in a rush coming over and took rickshaws, but they didn't need such luxury for the return trip and decided to walk.

"Wenqing, you really know how to take a mile when given an inch," Qi Huishen laughed.

"A gentleman can be deceived by his own principles," Chen Ke joked, though his smile quickly turned wry. "It's a pity time is short. Otherwise, I’d like to linger at this school and play at being a professor."

"Why is time short?" Qi Huishen asked, curious.

"Young students have ideals and passion; it’s the perfect place to cultivate revolutionaries. But Anhui has seen many civil uprisings these past two years. If we dally in Shanghai for a year or two, the opportunity will be lost." Chen Ke sighed.

Qi Huishen didn't respond. Chen Ke had discussed the details of going to Anhui with him and listed several necessary conditions. None of those conditions had been met yet, and Chen Ke had to focus all his efforts on preparation. Qi Huishen had already resolved to follow Chen Ke to Anhui, so he could not volunteer to lead the student propaganda work at Fudan himself.

When they returned to the workshop, the day's classes had long since ended. However, in the courtyard, Hua Xiongmao was sitting and chatting with two men. When he saw Chen Ke return, Hua introduced them: "Wenqing, people have started coming because of the posters. These two gentlemen are here for us."

Hearing Hua’s words, the two men stood up. The one on the left, in his forties, looked like a typical destitute scholar, full of affected mannerisms. The one on the right was about twenty, wearing a deep blue cotton robe. The fabric looked incredibly familiar—it looked exactly like the cloth they had dyed themselves. Hua Xiongmao noticed Chen Ke’s gaze and gave him a wink. Hua had clearly already checked them out.

Chen Ke invited them to sit. The older man began to boast of his thorough knowledge of the *Twenty-Four Histories*, insisting he could be of great help. As he blustered, Chen Tianhua came over to listen. Chen Ke casually tested him: "Sir, what cases did Zhang Shizhi, the Minister of Justice under Emperor Wu of Han, preside over?"

Zhang Shizhi was not a figure from the reign of Emperor Wu. Chen Tianhua, realizing Chen Ke was up to no good, nearly laughed out loud. The scholar was clearly stumped. He hummed and hawed, wanting to answer but not daring to guess, his face turning red with the effort. Still, he could say nothing. Chen Ke politely sent him on his way.

After he left, before Chen Ke could speak, the young man said frankly, "The poster said you need someone to find corresponding content in books, right?"

"Correct."

"And someone will tell me where to look, right?"

"Correct."

"Sir, then please stop testing me. I haven't even read the *Twenty-Four Histories* in their entirety. If you ask me to do what the poster says, I can do it. But if you test me, I won't be able to answer anything."

Chen Ke and Hua Xiongmao’s eyes lit up. Chen Ke asked, "What have you read then?"

"The *Records of the Grand Historian*."

"Can you answer the question from just now?"

"One involved a startled horse, the other a stolen jade ring, wasn't it?"

"Then where was my mistake?"

"It was Emperor Wen of Han, not Emperor Wu."

Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua both smiled. Chen Ke followed up, "Can you start today?"

"I saw on the poster that room and board are provided?"

"Yes."

"Can I eat first?"

At this, Hua Xiongmao could no longer contain himself and burst into laughter.

"May I ask your name?"

"My name is Xie, given name Mingxuan."

"Your age?"

"Twenty-four."

"Any academic degrees?"

"I am a *Xiucai*."

"Then let us eat."

Even one extra person, if useful, can drastically improve overall efficiency. Setting aside Xie Mingxuan’s foundation in history, his ability to communicate clearly made him an instant favorite. There were no barriers to interaction, and the pace of work was no longer a problem. With Xie’s help, nearly half of Chen Tianhua’s time was freed up, and the writing of the manuscripts accelerated significantly.

This work, *Chinese Cultural Heritage and the Rise of Materialism*, was Chen Ke’s historical materialist worldview. Chairman Mao once said, "No investigation, no right to speak." Marx knew almost nothing about China, so his writings on the country were somewhat absurd and laughable. The progression of slavery, feudalism, and capitalism in Europe did not fit China. During the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods, slavery existed on a large scale, and the feudal model of enfeoffment was the primary political structure. But after 221 BC, when the First Emperor of Qin unified the six kingdoms, he "established commanderies and abolished fiefs." The era of centralisation began. Feudalism appeared only sporadically thereafter and was no longer the mainstream of the Chinese political system.

If one used this change in political systems as a dividing line, China had emerged from the feudal era over two thousand years ago.

By 605 AD, with the implementation of the imperial examination system in the first year of the Sui Dynasty's Daye era, the existence of the hereditary aristocratic class was continuously weakened. The first true head of state from a commoner background in Europe didn't appear until a certain man with a small mustache took power in 1933. In Europe, if a commoner wanted to become a general or a minister, he might as well go back to sleep and dream. But in China, it was no fantasy. No matter how unfair the imperial examination system was, a public, unified examination was the most fair among all unfair things. It held the line on basic meritocracy.

Both the Song and Ming dynasties saw active elements of capitalism; the only difference from Europe was that the bourgeoisie never seized political power. Furthermore, European capitalism only achieved dominance after it combined with the Industrial Revolution.

Therefore, Chen Ke believed Marx’s comments on China were not based on facts. And the people in China back then who blindly followed those trends were simply trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Chen Ke considered himself a believer in communism, so from a historical materialist perspective, he felt those people were limited by their era and were simply talking nonsense.

If having an emperor defined feudalism, then many European countries with kings were no different. Even after two world wars, only three European crowns fell: Russia, Austria, and Germany. Chen Ke never understood one thing: how a country that still had a king—a country where a royal family's reproductive system was considered more noble than the people's votes—could have the gall to call itself a democracy. It was the height of absurdity.

*Chinese Cultural Heritage and the Rise of Materialism* was a synthesis of the historical materialism Chen Ke had learned throughout his life, but it needed to be integrated with Chinese history. Chen Ke was also a lover of Chinese culture; from the age of three, he had studied Tang poetry, Song lyrics, the *Analects*, and *Stories of Idioms*. He was familiar with classical Chinese long before he mastered modern Mandarin. Before he ever learned to use the phrase "utterly stupid" to criticize others, he already knew how Confucius had used that very term to praise a particularly shrewd politician.

Combined with the countless debates he had engaged in online and the vast amount of articles and data he had consumed, Chen Ke was optimistic about this "magnum opus." This wasn't the 21st century; it was 1905. In a China that was a cultural desert, once this book was released, Chen Ke was confident in its influence.

You Gou didn't pay much attention to Chen Ke’s work. These days, all her focus was consumed by the public lectures. Speaking before hundreds of people was an immense challenge and a thrill. You Gou had never known that a bird's-eye view could feel so different. Physiologically, it was impossible for one person to track hundreds of individuals at once—Chen Ke had told her this, and she believed him. But standing on the podium, she felt she could see the reactions of the entire crowd clearly. The shifts in their emotions followed the rhythm of her words.

When she spoke of things they didn't understand, some became more attentive, others confused, and some simply gave up. But once the experiments began, everyone’s attention was riveted, whether they understood or not. These lectures gave You Gou a sense of control over others, providing her with immense satisfaction.

Furthermore, news about her had already appeared in the newspapers. She didn't dare let others see, so she secretly brought the papers home and read them behind closed doors. Every word about her brought a rush of excitement. She beamed at the praise and scoffed at the criticism, fighting the urge to write letters to the editors of those papers before tucking the critiques away in a corner of her study.

On the final day of the lectures, You Gou made sure her clothes were spotless. she applied a light touch of powder and sprayed herself with the Florida Water she had swiped from Chen Ke. Feeling refreshed, she headed out. Just outside her door, she ran into her second brother. The siblings hadn't spoken for days, and today was no different—they kept their noses in the air and walked past each other. In the main hall, however, she found her mother sitting there. You Gou hurried over to pay her respects. "Good morning, Mother."

"Going out again," her mother said with a hint of helplessness. Several newspapers lay by her side, and You Gou saw that two of them were copies of the *Whampoa Review*.

"Yes. Does Mother have any instructions?"

"When will that school of yours be finished?"

"Not until early next year, I'm afraid."

"Ai..." Her mother sighed. "Two days ago, a friend of your father's mentioned a girls' school in Shanghai looking for teachers. The pay is quite high. They heard you've become famous and wanted to know if you'd be interested."

"Mother, our school is in the middle of preparations. There's so much to do, I certainly can't go."

"The principal of that school has a son. From what I hear, the boy will inherit the school, but he’s not fit to run it. They were wondering if your father would be open to a marriage alliance. If you married him, the school would be yours to manage."

You Gou felt a headache coming on. "It's almost time for the lecture. We’ll talk about this when I get back."

Seeing her daughter about to slip away again, her mother waved a hand in resignation. "Your father attended a Western school for a few years and talks about 'new ideas' all the time. He's spoiled you rotten. Go on, then. You're twenty-three already; I truly can't control you anymore."

It was the seventh day, the final lecture, and the crowd was massive. Unlike previous days, those in the front had arrived early to secure their spots, many bringing their own stools. When You Gou stepped onto the stage, every eye was on her. This intense bombardment of gazes no longer rattled her. With a composed demeanor, she began the lesson. Halfway through, a sudden commotion broke out at the edge of the crowd. People there began to scramble away like a school of startled fish. Shouts of alarm and curses followed.

With the large number of attendees, the crowd quickly descended into chaos. From her vantage point on the stage, You Gou could see clearly. Not only were people pushing inward, but some were also pushing outward, trying to see what was happening. Then, those who saw the source of the disturbance let out cries of terror.

The figures at the center of the chaos were not tall. You Gou could only see the messy, dirty hair of some women. This center of disturbance was moving toward her. After a moment, You Gou could finally see their faces. Their features didn't matter; all she saw were the festering sores on their skin. Several women afflicted with syphilis were rushing toward her.

"Miss You Gou! Help us!" the lead woman suddenly shrieked.

"Miss You Gou, please save us!" the other women cried out.

Calling her by name made their purpose clear. Qi Huishen and He Zudao were both present. The foreigners they had originally hired for security had been let go, replaced by the men Wu Xingcen had brought. But faced with those ulcerous faces, even these tough men felt their hearts skip a beat. As revolutionary comrades, Qi Huishen and He Zudao were worried for You Gou. Each grabbed a woman by the arm and shouted, "Don't go up there!"

But as soon as they were caught, the two women simply lunged forward and clung to Qi Huishen and He Zudao. "Masters! Save us!" they cried, burying their sore-covered faces into the men's chests. Neither man had ever visited a brothel, but Qi Huishen had spent enough time posting flyers in the streets to recognize their practiced movements. They acted exactly like streetwalkers.

Instead of stopping them, Qi Huishen and He Zudao found themselves ensnared. The two Shandong bruisers helping with security were certainly skilled in combat, but they had no experience beating women in public, and the sight of those syphilitic sores truly terrified them. The lead woman even rolled up her sleeves to reveal large ulcers on her arms. The Shandong heroes couldn't figure out where they could grab her without touching the sores. In that moment of hesitation, the women broke through the final line of defense.

You Gou was paralyzed with fear. After the three women scrambled onto the stage, two of them clung to her legs while the leader grabbed her arm.

"Miss You! Help us!"

You Gou’s head spun. Through the haze, she heard the woman shout, "Miss You! Everyone on the Bund knows you've made a medicine to cure the Pox! You can't be so heartless as to keep it for yourself while we suffer!" The woman spoke with a clear, melodic voice, almost as if she were performing an opera. The audience, watching this drama unfold and hearing that You Gou had a cure for the Pox—and hearing her called "heartless"—was instantly enthralled. Though they didn't dare get too close, no one left. They watched the stage with rapt attention, as if the lecture podium had been transformed into a theater.