The curtains of the carriage were drawn, as if they didn't really want Chen Ke to see the destination. Chen Ke estimated they shouldn't be that bored, but he didn't want to look for trouble either. There was no light in the carriage, and not much light outside; the two were silent in the darkness.

"Brother Pu, how many people are we going to treat?" Chen Ke cared more about this. According to the history books he had read, many people in Beijing were infected back then. Especially the officers. Chen Ke previously didn't understand Wu Xingchen's sales strategy. He thought that since Wu Xingchen was a northerner, he would definitely sell a large amount to the north. As a result, Wu Xingchen only sold in Shanghai and the south, never selling medicine to the north. Those who could afford medicine were all rich people; it seemed Wu Xingchen didn't want to save them at all.

Sure enough, as Chen Ke thought, Pu Guanshui replied, "Treat ten people first." Listening to his meaning, there would be plenty to do later. It seemed he had to let Shanghai ship another batch of medicine over. Perhaps feeling that this errand was quite shameful, after answering this question, Pu Guanshui didn't say a word. He didn't respond much to Chen Ke's tentative attempts at conversation either. After saying a few sentences, Chen Ke simply stopped making a sound. The carriage kept moving, and it wasn't convenient to open the curtains. In the darkness, feeling really bored, Chen Ke simply hummed a song softly.

The first song was "Two Tigers." Facing this Beiyang officer, Chen Ke couldn't help but think of this song. "Two tigers, two tigers, run fast, run fast. One has no ears, one has no tail, how strange." Just as he finished singing, he heard Pu Guanshui opposite him burst into laughter.

"What's wrong, Brother Pu? If you find me annoying, I won't sing."

"Nothing, Mr. Chen. I think the lyrics are quite interesting. Please continue. Sitting in the carriage so drily, singing a song isn't bad."

"I'm not a busker," Chen Ke laughed. "If Brother Pu finds singing interesting, Brother Pu, sing a Beiyang military song for me to hear. How about this: you sing one, and I'll sing one. Very fair, right?"

Hearing Chen Ke's words, Pu Guanshui sighed with great disappointment.

"What's wrong?" Chen Ke felt very strange. If he didn't want to sing, there was no need to be like this.

"Mr. Chen, seeing that you are a foreign student, I wonder if Mr. Chen has any understanding of foreign military songs?"

"Not too much understanding."

"Alas..." Pu Guanshui sighed again, seemingly a bit disappointed.

"Brother Pu, at any rate, you are a soldier. Sighing like this is not very soldierly."

Perhaps hearing Chen Ke chattering like this, Pu Guanshui also felt he couldn't cope. He said somewhat self-abandoningly, "I took on an errand to get some parade music. Letting me go into battle to kill enemies is no problem, but letting me write music, isn't this a joke?"

"The superiors asked Brother Pu to compose this piece, naturally because Brother Pu has talent in this area. Brother Pu just needs to do it well."

"It's not like that. No one above wanted to take this hot potato, so they just pushed it down randomly."

"Since that's the case, Brother Pu can just reply in a few days that you can't do it. Or simply get a piece of music to fool them. No need to be so troubled."

"I think so too, but even to fool them casually, you have to have a tune. Parade music isn't just military music; using other tunes to cope would be like a donkey's lips not matching a horse's mouth."

"Hmm... then Brother Pu, listen to how this piece sounds."

Chen Ke used his voice to imitate the military bugle and other instruments of the prelude. It sounded quite comical, and Pu Guanshui immediately laughed out loud. But later on, the domineering tune of the "Hell March" of the Soviet faction in *Red Alert 3* quickly attracted Pu Guanshui's attention. As soon as Chen Ke finished humming, Pu Guanshui immediately moved from the opposite side to sit beside Chen Ke. "Mr. Chen, is this piece a foreign military song?"

"No, I wrote it myself after listening to foreign military songs."

"Is that really so?" Pu Guanshui was immediately excited. "Then..." Halfway through, Pu Guanshui stopped. He asked with an attitude of disbelief, "Mr. Chen, this piece..."

Chen Ke knew Pu Guanshui was worried he was coaxing him. If Pu Guanshui randomly wrote an original piece, he would at most be considered to have written it badly. If this was foreign military music, and it was played at the Beiyang parade and discovered, that would be a major crime. Writing badly was a problem of ability; using foreign military songs to fool them, that was a problem of character and capability. The two had just met, and Chen Ke knew Pu Guanshui didn't trust him.

"If Brother Pu doesn't believe it, then I have nothing to defend myself with."

"I didn't mean that," Pu Guanshui hurriedly explained. "Does Mr. Chen have other tunes? Surely you didn't just compose this one."

"What I write are all songs of wind, flowers, snow, and moon. Military songs, there aren't many."

"Any tune will do, sing two."

"Then it's still what I said first. I sing one, and Brother Pu must also sing one."

"If Mr. Chen isn't afraid of being scared to death, I have no problem," Pu Guanshui laughed.

Chen Ke didn't decline either. He first sang a classic military camp song, "Little Poplar."

After singing, Pu Guanshui was silent. It was a long while before he sighed, "I actually didn't know there were such military songs in the world."

"It's Brother Pu's turn." Chen Ke didn't want to blow his own horn.

In the darkness, hearing Pu Guanshui muster the courage to speak several times but giving up, finally, Pu Guanshui said solemnly, "Mr. Chen, compared to your song, our Beiyang military songs can be scrapped. I just want to ask Mr. Chen to sing another one. Just one is fine."

Chen Ke wasn't pretentiously coy. He sang another extremely famous song, "Camel Bell." This Pu Guanshui seemed to really be proficient in music. Chen Ke only sang it once, but he heard Pu Guanshui making sniffing sounds; he actually cried from listening to the song.

"Mr. Chen, did you study music abroad?"

"How is that possible! I studied chemistry, okay?" Chen Ke said categorically.

Pu Guanshui didn't want to entangle in this matter either. "Mr. Chen, I know that tune was composed by you. I have a presumptive request..."

"That parade music, I can help Brother Pu compose it."

"That would be great."

With this tossing about, the relationship between the two naturally became much closer. Contrary to the initial silence, the two started chatting. Pu Guanshui was from Songjiang Prefecture, Zhejiang, but when he was young, his father went to Hebei to be a county magistrate. Pu Guanshui naturally followed to Hebei, so the local Shanghai accent could no longer be heard. When the Manchu Qing sent students to study in German military academies at public expense, his father used connections to stuff Pu Guanshui in as well. After returning to China in 1903, he served in the Beiyang New Army. Foreign students who graduated from such formal foreign military academies were treated as equivalent to *Jinshi* (successful candidates in the highest imperial examination), so Pu Guanshui could become a Military Assistant Second Class at a young age. But after all, he didn't have any special foundation, and rising to a high position suddenly at this age, there were many people who wanted to make things difficult for him. Pu Guanshui's main job was translating foreign military books, which was tantamount to a sinecure. He had no real power, but strange and broken matters would be shoved onto him. For example, this matter of writing military songs.

So there was such a tortuous experience inside. Chen Ke finally understood roughly. But Chen Ke was still a bit puzzled. "Brother Pu, I can understand writing military songs. How come the matter of treating illnesses also found you?"

"It's a long story." It seemed Pu Guanshui was also quite depressed about this. The officers infected this time had quite high backgrounds. God knows how the higher-ups knew about Chen Ke, but anyway, they let Pu Guanshui pick up Chen Ke to treat the illness. As the saying goes, a superior officer can crush a subordinate to death; Pu Guanshui didn't want to go, but when the order came down, he could only obey.

"Fortunately, Brother Chen is also a talent. Although this matter is quite depressing, being able to know Brother Chen can be considered a blessing in disguise."

While talking, the carriage arrived at the destination. This was a barracks outside the city. Pu Guanshui got off and said a few words, then let Chen Ke walk in with him. This was Chen Ke's first time entering a barracks. It was pitch black around, and nothing could be seen. The barracks in the distance were indistinct. The two arrived at a corner of the military camp. After opening the door and entering, a lamp was lit in the room. There were several rows of beds, and sick officers were lying on a few of them. Unexpectedly, several officers gathered around the table in the middle. They all had pustules on their faces, but they gathered together to play Pai Gow and gamble. A pile of silver dollars was placed on the table. The officers were cursing, and one person was throwing dice into the bowl in the middle. It seemed the gambling was at its height.

With such high psychological quality, Chen Ke really admired them. But he immediately thought, *Could this group of people be infected multiple times?* But the tertiary stage wasn't like this; looking at their appearance, it should be the curable primary stage.

Seeing Pu Guanshui come in, the officers lying on the sickbeds all sat up. However, the ones gambling didn't stop. The dice bounced ding-dong in the porcelain bowl. The one throwing the dice looked at the porcelain bowl intently; such concentration.

"All rise," Pu Guanshui shouted.

This time, that person finally reacted. Turning his head to see Pu Guanshui, he hurriedly got up. "So it's Commander Pu. What instructions do you have?"

"This is Mr. Chen, who is here to treat everyone. Now he will treat everyone."

"Tch!" The one throwing dice said nonchalantly, "Watch the points, continue in a while."

*This is the Beiyang New Army known as elite?* Chen Ke thought somewhat incredibly. *But looking at this style, the psychological quality is considered okay.*

Chen Ke had done a lot of treating illnesses. He asked about the condition familiarly and then gave everyone an injection. After observing for a while and seeing that everyone had no adverse reactions, Chen Ke pulled Pu Guanshui and said, "If there is nothing else, I'll go first."

"Is this it?" Pu Guanshui was very surprised.

"Injections are needed every day from now on. But I'm afraid I won't have time to come every time. I'll leave the medicine and the method of injection. Following this method, there will definitely be no problem."

After speaking, Chen Ke asked for paper and pen and wrote down detailed usage methods and precautions. The order Pu Guanshui received was to invite Chen Ke over to treat the illness. Since the treatment was finished, there was no reason to keep Chen Ke.

Sending Chen Ke outside the military camp, Pu Guanshui said, "Mr. Chen, this carriage belongs to Lord He. You can just take it back. I will visit you tomorrow."

"No need, I won't be free tomorrow." Chen Ke immediately refused. If Pu Guanshui entered his residence wearing a Beiyang Army uniform, Pang Zi and the others might directly kill Pu Guanshui. Even if Pang Zi let Pu Guanshui go, how would this hero full of vengeance view Chen Ke?

"But I really want to get the song matter done quickly. Mr. Chen, please definitely help me."

"Is there a piano in the barracks?"

"No."

"Hmm, I wonder if Brother Pu is familiar with Lord He?"

"Today is the first time we met."

"Then you have to find a place with a piano. When I composed that tune, I played it on the piano."

Pu Guanshui pondered for a moment and asked, "Could it be that Lord He's family has a piano?"

Chen Ke didn't expect Pu Guanshui to be so intelligent. He quickly said, "I didn't say that."

"I understand. Brother Chen, how about we meet at Lord He's place tomorrow morning?"

"En, then how about Brother Pu wears civilian clothes to Lord He's place tomorrow? I will go there at nine in the morning. Please be sure to wear civilian clothes."

Although Pu Guanshui didn't understand why Chen Ke made this request, since he had a request for Chen Ke, he agreed.

On the way back in the carriage, Chen Ke turned this matter over and over in his mind several times, but he didn't know what inside story was there. However, after going back, he had to explain to He Ruming no matter what. He owed Chen Ke a favor for this. If he didn't give Chen Ke a reason, it wouldn't be justifiable.

As Chen Ke thought, He Ruming was waiting for him. Seeing Chen Ke come in, He Ruming quickly asked about the experience of treating the illness this time. After listening to Chen Ke answer one by one, He Ruming breathed a sigh of relief.

"To tell Wenqing the truth, one of the sick is a child of an old friend of mine. When I heard this news, I thought of Wenqing. I made Wenqing run such a trip."

"Since I make medicine, saving people is also my duty. Lord He doesn't need to care."

"Wenqing, how should this medicine fee be calculated?"

"Twenty taels per person. But Lord He doesn't need to worry; this is just the beginning. Wait until the people are cured." Chen Ke treated ten people today; he believed He Ruming's family might not necessarily have two hundred taels of silver prepared.

He Ruming didn't really mean to pay immediately. He suddenly asked, "Wenqing, I considered the matter you mentioned last time. I wonder if you have any detailed plans, Wenqing?"

*Loss within the dike, make up outside the dike?* Chen Ke was quite surprised that He Ruming asked about the honeycomb briquette matter. However, since there was an opportunity to promote his project, especially since He Ruming might bring wider connections, Chen Ke wouldn't refuse. He explained the specific implementation method of this project.

Listening to Chen Ke state the plan of the honeycomb briquette project in detail, He Ruming nodded slightly from time to time. Very different from the plans He Ruming had heard in the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau before, the core of Chen Ke's narration was the word "profit." Every step must be able to see income, and every penny of investment must stress efficiency. Market analysis, cost control, production efficiency, revenue curves—these nouns that seemingly could be understood but couldn't quite be understood popped out of Chen Ke's mouth from time to time.

He Ruming suddenly had an inexplicable feeling that the young man in front of him and himself were not from the same world at all. It wasn't that He Ruming hadn't seen foreign students; there were many foreign students in the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau. When they talked about things, they either used vague and general language or held onto a certain technical term and said things over and over that others couldn't understand. Chen Ke's words were popular and clear, the core was explicit, and the expectation for the whole thing was very much in place. Even if He Ruming didn't quite understand the trendy vocabulary, connecting it with the content Chen Ke said, he could roughly guess the meaning. Chen Ke's plan lacked understanding of officialdom habits, but judging from his plan, the feasibility was quite high. After listening to Chen Ke's narration, He Ruming could already sort out a routine for the whole thing in his heart.

After Chen Ke finished speaking, He Ruming had already made up his mind. "Wenqing, I will recommend a few people to help you. I wonder what requirements Wenqing has for these people?"

Chen Ke's plan was already very different, and Chen Ke's standards for people were even more different. Three conditions: First, everything must be done by themselves, including moving bricks and pulling coal, and even transporting coal in the future must be done by themselves. Second, don't raise gentlemen who sit in offices. Third, rich or poor doesn't matter.

He Ruming frowned. "Wenqing, your requirements are a bit excessive."

"Lord He, forgive me for being blunt. The biggest problem with the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau before was overstaffing. On the honeycomb briquette project, I don't want to repeat the same mistakes."

"Then why personally pull the cart to sell coal?" He Ruming was very puzzled about this.

"Who will buy honeycomb briquettes, and where the sales are best, I think I should investigate personally."

He Ruming's face suddenly became kind after listening to Chen Ke's words. "Wenqing, you haven't lived in Beijing, right? You should know, in this aspect, those Bannermen are the clearest."

The rules of the Clan Court for Bannermen: not allowed to do business, not allowed to be petty officials, only allowed to be soldiers. If they didn't become soldiers, relying solely on that little money from the Clan Court, many poor Bannermen would starve to death. But rules were rules; Bannermen had no livelihood. So, with policies from above and countermeasures from below, the Clan Court didn't care about Bannermen in the capital pulling carts to make a living. From the Prince's Mansion down to the common people, everyone was very familiar with those poor Bannermen engaged in the rickshaw industry. He Ruming suggested that Chen Ke hire some Bannermen, which would be more efficient.

Chen Ke recalled Master Chang Fourth in Lao She's play *Teahouse*, who also made a living by pulling a cart. He quickly thanked He Ruming for his suggestion. But Chen Ke still believed he must straighten out the sales channels personally; it wasn't appropriate to blindly hand it over to others. The two sides agreed to start doing this now.

After reaching an agreement, Chen Ke returned to his place. After knocking on the door, Chen Ke went straight back to sleep. This was also two days and one night without sleep. There were still many things to do tomorrow.

Chen Ke was pushed awake. Chen Tianhua was shaking Chen Ke's shoulder.

"What's wrong, Xingtai?"

"Someone is looking for you."

The person who came was He Ruming's steward again. Chen Ke checked his watch; it was only eight o'clock. Heaven knows why He Ruming was so anxious. After washing his face, Chen Ke rushed to the He residence opposite. After entering the living room, he saw Pu Guanshui wearing civilian clothes also in the living room. He Ruming's face was gloomy. "Wenqing, didn't you say that only five or six out of a hundred people couldn't stand your medicine? How come just after using your medicine, the person is dying?"

This question was very illogical; Chen Ke actually didn't know how to answer. Sizing up the somewhat agitated He Ruming, Chen Ke could only remain silent.

"Wenqing, speak up." He Ruming stared at Chen Ke, almost roaring.

"Was it done according to the usage details I wrote?" Chen Ke asked.

He Ruming was holding that piece of paper in his hand. He slapped the paper on the table with a *pa*. "It was used exactly as you wrote."

"Was the dosage correct?" Chen Ke asked while picking up the instructions. After looking carefully, Chen Ke found that this was a recopied sheet. "Since that medicine is a tiger and wolf medicine (potent drug), the dosage must absolutely not be wrong." Speaking of this, Chen Ke finally understood why he felt something was wrong. He had been worried that the dosage of the medicine would be mixed wrong in the army.

"It was exactly according to what was written on this list," He Ruming replied. Why it was He Ruming answering and not Pu Guanshui answering, Chen Ke was a bit puzzled.