Xie Mingxian, 24 years old, from Hunan, a *xiucai* (examination graduate). He wasn't tall and looked quite proper, but what left the deepest impression on Chen Ke were Xie Mingxian's amber eyes. Amber wasn't as light as yellow, nor was it dim. Accurately speaking, Chinese people didn't have black hair and black eyes, but rather that very deep brown unique to China. That is, a tiny bit of yellow added to black. Heavy but without losing a kind of warmth. Compared with this extremely deep color, amber appeared very striking. And Xie Mingxian usually didn't like to talk; those bright eyes watched everything happening around him calmly, as if he had something to express, yet remained so silent.

Chen Ke's evaluation of Xie Mingxian was very high; every time he asked Xie Mingxian to do things, Xie Mingxian could always complete them very well. Chen Ke still remembered when he first recruited Xie Mingxian; at that time, this young man neither showed off nor paraded his "xiucai" fame, but had an attitude of working to earn money for food. In this era, this was a very rare quality to see. Later, when Chen Ke wanted to continue employing Xie Mingxian, Xie Mingxian expressed that he hoped to do more work and earn more money. He was even somewhat reluctant to listen to political lessons for free. Later, Chen Ke stated that he would pay Xie Mingxian wages as usual for listening to lessons, and only then did Xie Mingxian take a notebook and come to listen seriously.

Because he was worried about lecturing to Fudan students, Chen Ke wrote a manuscript full of "nationalist sentiment." For young people, this kind of article was very inflammatory; let alone China in 1905, even in China in 2005, this kind of article would have enough market. As a result, Xie Mingxian's evaluation was actually "empty and devoid of substance."

Chen Ke knew that this kind of nationalist agitation was always empty and devoid of substance. According to Chen Ke's political viewpoint, all so-called national stuff was a pseudo-proposition. The birth of nationalism was a product of social development, so nationalism would inevitably disappear in social development. As a communist, or more accurately, a Maoist, Chen Ke didn't like the concept of nation at all. Class struggle was the root of social contradictions; advocating nationalism itself was a means, not that such an illusory thing really existed. In Chinese tradition, there was familism and the distinction between Hua and Yi. But there had never been a tradition of nationalism. The Chu culture in the Spring and Autumn period was still standard Southern Barbarian culture, but now wasn't it still a treasure of Chinese culture? If one insisted on talking about bloodlines, among Chinese people, those whose ancestors had been "barbarians" were probably the majority. Chen Ke had type B blood, a Mongolian spot birthmark, and a double toenail on his little toe; logically speaking, this was a manifestation of standard Xiongnu blood. But Chen Ke was first and foremost a thorough Chinese; on this point, including himself and those around him, no one had ever doubted it.

No one would ever think Xiongnu culture was Chinese culture, but the old gentleman Sima Qian clearly recorded in the *Records of the Grand Historian* that the Xiongnu were also standard descendants of the Yellow Emperor. From the perspective of the great division of labor in human society, the separation of nomadism and farming created the nomadic Xiongnu nation in the north. This oldest nomadic enemy of China was just a branch of Huaxia. Later, the Xiongnu integrated into Huaxia again. How many "Xiongnu descendants" disregarded their own lives to defend Huaxia? This number simply couldn't be counted. Even Chen Ke, an ordinary person, was like this, so Chen Ke didn't like the so-called "nationalism."

That Xie Mingxian could completely negate nationalism and consider Chen Ke's inflammatory speech draft empty and devoid of substance—this insight was not ordinary.

Looking at Xie Mingxian's slightly bored expression, Chen Ke couldn't help asking, "What exactly is Mingxian's view? Please speak frankly to teach me."

Looking at Xie Mingxian's appearance, he had long wanted to say something to Chen Ke; his lips were slightly tightened, it seemed he had made up his mind. Sure enough, Xie Mingxian replied, "Mr. Wenqing, when I first saw you, to be honest, I thought you were also a fake foreign devil. I didn't like you. Later I felt your book was also reasonable, not heresy. I looked at Mr. Wenqing with new eyes. But Mr. Wenqing, as the saying goes, 'suspect not the one you use'; since you used me, please trust me. Let me do whatever I should do. If Mr. Wenqing feels what you say is correct, then after I do it, I will naturally follow Mr. Wenqing's guidance. Now you just lecture and lecture every day. You wish we could think and do exactly as Mr. Wenqing says. No matter how well you speak, what does it help? Now you've written such a thing again; I actually don't know what Mr. Wenqing wants to do."

These words were heavy; if it were someone else, Xie Mingxian would absolutely not have spoken so frankly. But somehow, Xie Mingxian believed Chen Ke could understand his meaning and accept his thoughts. He didn't know why; although Xie Mingxian had many dissatisfactions with Chen Ke, he happened to have great confidence in Chen Ke's magnanimity. Xie Mingxian was a *xiucai* and had seen some famous teachers. Honestly speaking, although Xie Mingxian didn't like Chen Ke at first, he genuinely admired Chen Ke's scholarship. Although as Xie Mingxian said, he didn't like Chen Ke himself at first, after a long time, he also felt Chen Ke wasn't an annoying guy. Moreover, Chen Ke could still listen to others' words on the surface. And Chen Ke was relatively wealthy to begin with; Xie Mingxian very much hoped to undertake more work under Chen Ke and then earn a sum. Unexpectedly, although Chen Ke had many money-making skills, he happened not to care much about this. Instead, he engaged in some new thinking. Xie Mingxian had been dissatisfied for a long time; today he really couldn't bear it and simply told him frankly.

Xie Mingxian finished in one breath. Looking at Chen Ke's solemn face, he felt he might have spoken too heavily. At Chen Ke's place, he didn't earn much, but Chen Ke was a literatus after all, and the work engaged in wasn't physical labor. If Xie Mingxian were to find another job now, he felt he might not be able to find this type. If Chen Ke turned hostile in anger... thinking of this, Xie Mingxian was also somewhat apprehensive. He said, "This is also my own view; please forgive me for any inappropriateness, Mr. Wenqing."

Chen Ke fell into deep thought; he didn't guess Xie Mingxian's mind, and the thing he was thinking about actually had nothing to do with Xie Mingxian. Xie Mingxian's complaint made Chen Ke suddenly realize a matter that had been confusing him recently. "How exactly should revolutionary work be carried on?"

If he had to say, Chen Ke himself wasn't a revolutionary trying to break everything. As a new person of the late 20th century born in China which had already initially completed industrial construction, Chen Ke had the word "system" instilled into his bones since childhood. If the Party back then relied on theoretical study to build a true industrial political party in this agricultural country of China, then Chen Ke's consciousness actually conformed to Marx's original wish. The works Marx wrote were originally intended for the people of industrial countries to read. Chen Ke was completely within this "scope of application."

Chen Ke knew "right and wrong," but he himself might not be someone brave in innovation. Without sufficient social practice, making a breakthrough in theory wasn't an easy thing. Returning to this era, everything Chen Ke did was "imitation." Imitation of predecessors. And Chen Ke's "system" nature made him unable to accept "making mistakes." In the Party's history, many mistakes were made at this stage. This was an inevitability; without experiencing failure, one naturally couldn't summarize experience and walk on the correct path. Chen Ke had been a teacher; in this not-too-long period of his life, Chen Ke understood one thing. If a teacher really teaches seriously, then in the teaching process, the teacher gains far more than the students. Because students only make their own mistakes, while teachers see countless mistakes through students.

The correct path isn't a straight line as in theory; it's discovering the path to correctness after experiencing countless failures and countless mistakes. This process is not completed by learning but by practice. Chen Ke had made a metaphor: what students see ahead is often an insurmountable high mountain, but in Chen Ke's view, it is one or even multiple mountain paths. This isn't just Chen Ke's personal practice, but includes many things Chen Ke learned from students' practice.

From the perspective of this experience, Chen Ke should let everyone practice revolution and experience revolution themselves at this stage. What Chen Ke needed to do was to analyze the results of these practices with everyone and explore the correct path. Chen Ke himself had no revolutionary experience. And even if Chen Ke wanted to practice now, various tasks bound Chen Ke temporarily; he didn't have the time to go to the grassroots. The result was that Chen Ke was now desperately instilling theoretical knowledge into students and comrades. But the students didn't seem to appreciate it.

Facing the current difficult problems, what everyone needed was a solution, needed to do, not to learn theories completely detached from practice. The Xie Mingxian in front of him was an example, and the students dissatisfied with Chen Ke in the school were also examples. As long as they were provided with opportunities for practice, the classmates and comrades would definitely be able to make great progress.

But Chen Ke also knew that once entering the practice period, things would definitely break away from Chen Ke's control. Reality is always stranger than the most exaggerated fiction, just as the same physical theory can produce diametrically opposite understandings among students. When Chen Ke was in high school, there was a classmate who got all multiple-choice questions wrong; even for multiple-choice questions with multiple answers, if there was only one wrong answer, this classmate could choose only this wrong one and abandon all correct answers. The physics teacher at the time wasn't angry; instead, he thought this classmate had really studied hard. Otherwise, just guessing answers wouldn't result in such an outcome no matter what.

Revolution is not a dinner party, nor is revolution doing an exam paper. If he let comrades do it freely, there would be various losses destined; Chen Ke didn't have the confidence to solve all problems at any time. And revolution would also ruthlessly abandon many people; this had long been proven by countless examples. Chen Ke asked himself honestly; when reading history books, Chen Ke could still agree with "decisive killing," but facing these classmates and comrades he got along with day and night, Chen Ke couldn't make this determination.

While he was pondering, the door opened. Yu Youren pushed the door and entered. Seeing Chen Ke, Yu Youren's face was full of surprise. "Mr. Chen is here."

Hurriedly throwing other thoughts aside, Chen Ke stood up and said, "Mr. Yu, I've come to offer a humble apology."

Hearing this, Yu Youren laughed heartily. "Students are young and aggressive; what does it have to do with Mr. Chen? If we talk about offering a humble apology, am I, the teacher, not more guilty?"

After everyone sat down, Yu Youren roughly talked about the incident. The so-called fight naturally wasn't a life-and-death struggle; it didn't even count as punching and kicking. It was just students shoving each other a few times and tearing a piece of clothing. Everyone scolded fiercely, and some words were relatively "radical," but Fudan Public School didn't care much about this. Students in these years were radical to begin with; shouting a few sentences about rebellion was common, and no one would really take this to heart. This matter had already been resolved, and the two disputing parties had returned to the dormitory.

Chen Ke's purpose this time was firstly to resolve the internal contradictions of the Huangpu Book Society, and he also wanted to say hello to Mr. Ma Xiangbo on the way. No matter what, the reason for the students' fight was himself. If he didn't appear at all, it would be inappropriate. No matter how dignified literati sounded, if the other party didn't even show basic respect, it was easy to hold a grudge. On this point, it had nothing to do with fame. According to the stance of the united front, this aspect absolutely couldn't be ignored.

Hearing Chen Ke propose to visit Mr. Ma, Yu Youren indicated that Mr. Ma was at the school. Chen Ke immediately expressed that he wanted to visit now. Yu Youren led the way in front, and the group walked across the campus toward Mr. Ma Xiangbo's office. Chen Ke was a celebrity at Fudan Public School; quite a few people had heard his lectures. Seeing Chen Ke appear, many students greeted Chen Ke. The attitude of ordinary students was very good, but some students from the Huangpu Book Society behaved rather unsatisfactorily. Seeing Chen Ke coming, they looked at Chen Ke uncomfortably; two simply turned and walked in another direction, not knowing what they wanted to do.

Arriving at Mr. Ma's office, Yu Youren opened the door. Chen Ke saw at a glance that there was actually a somewhat familiar face inside; looking carefully, it was actually Cai Yuanpei. Cai Yuanpei was also quite surprised to see Chen Ke enter. It had been more than two months since the last meeting; neither had plans for deep friendship, but they didn't expect to meet here today.

"Wenqing, you know Heqing?" Mr. Ma Xiangbo saw some clues and asked.

"I met Mr. Cai once," Chen Ke laughed.

"Oh," Mr. Ma merely responded.

"I came specially to apologize to Mr. Ma this time," Chen Ke said hurriedly, unwilling to get entangled with Cai Yuanpei.

"Wenqing is too polite," Mr. Ma Xiangbo said open-mindedly.

After chatting a few sentences, Cai Yuanpei inserted words very casually, "I read Wenqing's great work a few days ago. When I saw Wenqing before, I really didn't know Wenqing's talent was actually like this."

"It's not my credit alone. When writing that book, this Xie Mingxian also helped a lot." Chen Ke introduced Xie Mingxian beside him to Ma Xiangbo and Cai Yuanpei. Since Chen Ke said so, the attention of the two naturally turned to Xie Mingxian. Anyway, literati meetings were all like that; everyone was very passable in etiquette. After chatting for a while longer, Chen Ke apologized again, and seeing that Mr. Ma Xiangbo didn't mean to blame him at all, he rose to take his leave.

Walking out of Mr. Ma Xiangbo's office, he saw several people standing in the distance; the leader was Xiong Mingyang. Seeing Chen Ke come out, he came straight toward Chen Ke. Yu Youren was right; Xiong Mingyang was indeed not injured, but watching him clench his fists, deliberately swing his arms, and stride over with a rather arrogant air, Chen Ke stood there waiting for him to come over.

Xiong Mingyang walked up to Chen Ke, looked Chen Ke up and down, his face full of mocking expression. He emphasized with a hypocrisy unique to literati, "Mr. Chen actually came to the school to explain. I drank too much wine and talked nonsense after getting drunk, causing trouble for Mr. Chen; here I apologize to you." After speaking, he bowed slightly with clasped hands in a pretentious manner.

"You also understand revolution? Read a few books and feel you can revolt?" Chen Ke laughed.

"What?" Xiong Mingyang really didn't expect Chen Ke to say such words as soon as he came up; the mocking look on his face turned into astonishment instantly.

"The Huangpu Book Society is about to start social investigation activities immediately, the purpose is to investigate the current status of China. You think you want to revolt, but if you don't know what China looks like, how can you revolt?"

"Does revolution still need investigation..."

"How many common people do you think know about ceding territory and paying indemnities? I'm not talking about common people, even you, you feel you know a lot. I ask you, do you know exactly how many treaties Europe and America signed with China? What are the contents? Where exactly is the impact of these treaties on China? Can you tell me now?" Chen Ke's face was already very cold, and even a mocking look surfaced on his face.

There were a few other students who came with Xiong Mingyang; it seemed they all supported Xiong Mingyang, and their faces originally also showed dissatisfaction. Being asked by Chen Ke like this, the expressions of Xiong Mingyang and the others immediately became embarrassed. The arrogant air flew to the nine heavens.

"Forget it for today. Go gather all members of the Study Society; come to the Study Society for a meeting tomorrow night at seven. I will distribute the social investigation work to everyone. Don't act on impulse." After Chen Ke finished speaking, seeing that although Xiong Mingyang was already discouraged, he still looked somewhat unable to let go of his face, Chen Ke stuffed the draft he had written into his hand. "If you want to hear beautiful words, I have plenty here. Read this first; I wrote it casually when I was in the school today. See how these differ from the lessons I usually teach."

After speaking, Chen Ke didn't wait for Xiong Mingyang to speak and left with Xie Mingxian, head held high.

Only after walking out of the school gate did Chen Ke ask, "Mingxian, you said you wanted to undertake some work; I wonder what exactly you want to do."

"Work that can earn money. I need to earn a sum of money," Xie Mingxian said frankly.

"Wanting to earn money is a good thing, but can you tell me why?"

"This..." Being asked the purpose by Chen Ke directly, Xie Mingxian found it difficult to say the reason.

"I have no other meaning. To earn money, one must have determination. Different reasons bring different determinations. Tell me your reason, so I can arrange suitable work for you."

Hearing Chen Ke say this, Xie Mingxian also felt it made sense. He plucked up his courage and said, "I want to bring my mother out. I myself must have a family business first. So Mr. Wenqing, no matter how hard or tired it is, it's not a problem; as long as I can earn money as soon as possible."

"This determination is not small. But can Mingxian talk in detail?" Chen Ke asked with a smile.

"It concerns my family's private matters; forgive me for being unable to comply."