In the classroom of the People's Party School, after Chen Ke wrote the sentence "Labor created man himself," he turned to face the crowd. The party lesson had been going on for several days; not only was Chen Ke exhausted, but the comrades below also felt very uncomfortable.

Before this issue, Chen Ke had just finished talking about the biological and social nature of human beings. The social nature was easy to talk about; in Chinese culture, the level of research on human social nature was actually quite high. But the issue of human biological nature involved the issue of human biological evolution. For Chen Ke in the 21st century, the theory of evolution itself was no big deal. It was just one of many taken-for-granted basic scientific theories. The education system of New China had long completed the inculcation of this knowledge. Viewing the world through evolution was just a worldview that Chinese people were accustomed to.

The major pillars of the Marxist theoretical system are modern knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, etc. This knowledge is actually the angle and standpoint from which to view the world. During the long learning process—attending lectures, doing homework, taking exams—the exam-oriented education system of China had long instilled these worldviews slowly but effectively into the youth of New China through various means. Even those idiots who believed in "creationism" after growing up, to a large extent, might not really oppose evolution theoretically.

For these party members of 1906, it was a completely different matter. The so-called Three Views are "Worldview, Outlook on Life, Values." Ranking first is the Worldview. Although gathered under the banner of the People's Party, based on the worldview of modern scientific knowledge, Chen Ke's worldview and the comrades' worldviews could be said to be completely different. This was not just a time gap of a century, but a knowledge gap of several centuries accumulated by human society. In this Party School training, Chen Ke finally deeply realized this point.

Worldview is the basic view of how you look at this world. The curriculum of the People's Party School did not give everyone the feeling of clearing the clouds to see the sun; on the contrary, it led quite a few comrades into a mood of gloom and mystery. And it must be stated that this batch of party members listening to the lecture were all considered middle and high-ranking cadres, and many had a good foundation of scientific knowledge for 1906; only then did Chen Ke dare to explain theoretical knowledge of this degree.

"If everyone has any questions, you must ask, you must ask!" Chen Ke emphasized again. This was one of the realizations given to Chen Ke by his tragic teaching experience. At the beginning, Chen Ke felt his course was very simple and easy. regarding the question "what is the earth," a question so basic it couldn't be more basic, he just talked about a few extremely simple basic points. The students below listened in silence, and Chen Ke thought everyone must have understood. So he continued to speak. As a result, he soon found that every classmate in the Party School seemed to be deliberately going against him. Chen Ke was from a science and engineering background after all; facing this situation, various equations from his pen couldn't help but be written on the blackboard one after another. To prove a problem, Chen Ke often brought out three or four new theories to explain, so the classmates collapsed. The look in their eyes looking at Chen Ke was full of that kind of surprise and incomprehension towards mysticism, like looking at a Taoist priest drawing talismans.

Fortunately, Chen Ke had teaching experience before. He immediately realized his mistake and started to comb through it finely from the beginning. As a result, after heuristic questioning and repeated exchanges, the comrades below finally spoke out their common doubts. The earth revolving around the sun, this everyone could barely imagine, but why could the earth and the sun both float in the void? No matter what, everyone could not establish a concept that could convince themselves. Some comrades with deeper comprehension even asked about a more complex system: how does the moon revolve around the earth, and how does this earth-moon system revolve around the sun?

Hearing these, Chen Ke immediately didn't know what to say. This was the basic mechanical model in celestial mechanics—the Three-Body Problem. In the vast universe, the size of planets can be ignored, so we can treat them as material points. If the influence of other planets in the solar system is ignored, then their motion is produced only under the action of gravity, so we can treat their motion as a Three-Body Problem. Studying the laws of motion of three celestial bodies that can be regarded as material points under the action of mutual universal gravitation.

Chen Ke had read literature in this area, but he had only read it. He couldn't understand those complex equations himself even when studying them seriously, let alone explain them systematically. Moreover, without basic physics knowledge, especially without the concepts of physics and mathematics, the students below simply couldn't understand. Chen Ke spent a full 16 years learning the scientific system back then, while the party lesson time for these students below was only 30 days. And in every learning stage of Chen Ke, there were teachers with knowledge levels far exceeding Chen Ke to explain various knowledge. These Party School classmates didn't even have such an environment.

From this time on, Chen Ke gave up the delusion of training a large batch of revolutionary comrades with exactly the same worldview as himself in this Party School education. He had already treated this party lesson as a course of popular science plus compulsory materialist brainwashing.

"Labor created man himself. The difference between us humans and animals lies in our ability to perform creative labor." After saying this, Chen Ke couldn't help but think of several cases proved by modern science where some animals could also use tools, but he no longer had the impulse to teach "comprehensive knowledge" to the comrades. Chen Ke was one of those people who fought their way out of exam-oriented education. What teachers repeatedly emphasized were "knowledge points." The exam questions piled up several meters high accumulated since the second year of high school were also reinforcing this "knowledge point" education. Previously, Chen Ke had no evaluation of this method; now Chen Ke was the staunchest supporter of "knowledge point" teaching. The greatest advantage of this teaching mode lies in its ability to effectively instill the most critical worldview points into students. Although it looks not so comprehensive and definitely not gentle, it is the best way. At least after mastering the knowledge points, one won't make theoretical errors.

The Party School classmates below naturally didn't know what Principal Chen Ke was thinking, and even if they really knew, they couldn't understand. Everyone's thinking was guided to the new concept of "creative labor."

"Pushing the progress of human society is the development of productive forces. In the earliest times, recording events by knotting ropes, priests passed down past major events by word of mouth. Until the legend of Cangjie creating characters, when ghosts and gods cried in the night. Because of the creation of characters, and the use and popularization of characters, richer knowledge could be recorded. Those who mastered knowledge changed from priests to these people who could read and write characters. And this writing tool also changed from casting bronze inscriptions on tripods to bamboo slips, where everyone used carving knives to carve characters on bamboo slips. Later there were writing brushes, and everyone started to use writing brushes to write on bamboo slips. Later still there was paper, and writing characters became even more convenient. Even the art of calligraphy developed on the basis of paper and pen."

Those listening to the class were all cultured people; everyone knew these historical anecdotes. Seeing the expressions emerging on the comrades' faces that they could understand the knowledge brought by this, Chen Ke deeply thanked the greatness of China's profound culture. Chinese history books could record the process and even details of these "productive forces" developments in detail.

"Back then it was slash-and-burn cultivation, later there was smelting technology, and various production tools developed accordingly. Then we had our current agricultural technology."

Listening to Chen Ke talking with fervor and assurance, citing idioms including "slash-and-burn cultivation," everyone actually knew these idioms. But in Chen Ke's narration, these idioms suddenly vividly outlined images in everyone's minds of ancient ancestors using simple tools, fighting heaven and earth, and working hard. Quite a few of these scholars actually felt a strong emotion of being moved. Especially those party members who had participated in disaster relief, they had a deeper understanding. Facing the monstrous flood, everyone saved themselves using every tool they could get. And after conquering the flood, these comrades who had experienced the test and exhausted their physical strength and intelligence all felt that their view of the world was vastly different. Even a handful of grass, a humble piece of wood, everyone felt was no longer useless. They could clearly think of how important a role these usually insignificant things could play in many critical moments.

"Everything we have now has been accumulated continuously in labor. Labor created us Chinese people, we Chinese people created Chinese characters, institutions, technology, art, and even created our Chinese civilization. The reason we Chinese are Chinese, our view of the world, and this China we rely on for survival, are all the results of the continuous labor of the ancestors on this land for thousands of years." Speaking of the hard work of Chinese ancestors, Chen Ke couldn't help but get a bit excited. "'Thinking of our ancestors exposed to frost and dew, cutting through thorns and brambles to have a foot of land.' It is labor that created man himself. It is so in China, and it is so in foreign countries. This principle is the same under heaven. Why can't present-day China compare to foreign countries? Because our productive forces indeed cannot compare to foreign countries. We must see this problem realistically. You can say that those foreigners are all white-skinned pigs; I think this is just a matter of personal preference. But we must face the fact: why are they stronger than us now? Their level of productive forces is definitely higher than ours."

The vast majority of comrades who came to join the People's Party were anti-foreigner. Hearing Chen Ke's joking remark that foreigners were "white-skinned pigs," quite a few people couldn't help but laugh out loud. But this was really good-natured laughter. Through Chen Ke's narration, everyone could understand where the real gap between China and foreign countries lay, and the original pent-up resentment actually lightened a lot.

"Let's stop here first, take a temporary rest, rest a while first." Chen Ke only felt his mouth was dry and tongue parched, so he said to the students. Everyone also felt very exhausted. Listening to so many lessons, although there was a great harvest, the mental consumption was also great. Hearing that class was dismissed, everyone relaxed according to their own preferences.

He Ying stood up from the last row of the classroom. Every student brought their own bowl, and He Ying began to pour water for everyone one by one. Letting He Ying attend the class was the only thing Chen Ke did using his privilege of status. Everyone had no objection to this. Everyone knew He Ying was Chen Ke's wife. In these times, even among these enlightened people of the revolutionary party, those who supported the slogan of equality between men and women were only half and half. Those who could let their wives attend class with them were definitely not the majority.

The Party School adopted the 21st-century school method, that is to say, there was a class monitor, study commissary, discipline commissary, sports commissary, and life commissary [lifestyle committee member]. The organizational structure was very complete. He Ying was the life commissary, distributing various supplies and taking care of everyone's study life, including the work of pouring water. Under this new organizational model, everyone performed their own duties.

What's more, everyone acknowledged Chen Ke's leadership status. For People's Party leader Chen Ke's wife to pour water for everyone personally, such a thing was unthinkable in the old times. Everyone either felt deep respect or felt uncomfortable all over. At the beginning, when He Ying did the work of pouring water, everyone was very unaccustomed to it, either bowing or being humble; in short, it caused chaos. Chen Ke then declared in public, "Student He Ying, as the life commissary, is in charge of this. Everyone's job is to study well. Apply what you learn to the revolution. We only have differences in division of labor, not differences in status." Under such a clear declaration, everyone barely accepted such a fact. Even so, when He Ying poured water, everyone followed the Party School etiquette education and seriously said "Thank you." Including Chen Ke; after his wife poured water for him, he also set an example and seriously said "Thank you."

After resting for a while, Chen Ke continued the class. "Productive forces determine production relations. While our People's Party was saving the disaster in Fengtai County, we have already developed a new mode of productive forces. Does everyone have any opinion on this point?"

Some comrades expressed agreement, while some comrades felt a bit diffident. "Principal, we just organized more people to work together. According to what you said earlier, tools haven't developed, production technology hasn't developed; I'm afraid this new productive force is a bit unworthy of the name, isn't it?"

"If it's unworthy of the name, then after this flood, what should Fengtai County look like? It should be exactly like those surrounding disaster areas. Why can our Fengtai County be different?" Chen Ke asked back.

"This?" The person asking the question was Lu Huitian. He was stumped at once. But Chen Ke's words felt wrong no matter how he listened; Lu Huitian couldn't help but frown.

"The way of organizing production is also a kind of productive force. Production relations refer to the relationship between people in labor production. Who obeys whom, who leads whom. On this point, I believe Fengtai County now has changes in productive forces, and production relations must also change," Chen Ke explained.

Lu Huitian felt Chen Ke was being a bit sophistic, but he didn't oppose establishing "new production relations" at all, so he simply didn't oppose it anymore.

"From now on, do the people want to follow our People's Party to create a brand-new system? Or return to the old road and continue the past days? On this point, I think our People's Party comrades definitely have a common idea, right?" Chen Ke asked.

The classmates below let out a burst of knowing laughter. Everyone had gone through life and death for so long; whether to establish new social relations or not didn't need discussion at all. If not to establish a new system, why were everyone risking their lives?

"It's useless for us to talk about revolution to the people now; the people don't want to listen to these empty formulas. What I want to emphasize is still one thing: the people are not ignorant of revolution, nor do they not want revolution. If the people didn't want revolution, they simply wouldn't have followed us during the flood. If the people really didn't want revolution, they should have resigned themselves to fate and drifted with the waves during the flood just like usual. But what everyone saw was completely not like this. Our People's Party called and hundreds responded; how many things that had never been done before did the people do following us? Did the people oppose? The people did not oppose! The people are supporting us."

Chen Ke cared about this issue very much. Ever since he raised the slogan of continuing the revolution, various sayings immediately arose among the comrades. One of the mainstreams was questioning whether the people wanted revolution, whether the people really understood revolution. And up to now, most comrades did not think the people understood revolution. They basically ignored the people's revolutionary demands. Chen Ke had to solve this kind of thinking.

"Our revolution is viewed from the perspective of China, and even from the perspective of the world. This is very good. But the people's revolution is not like this. The people's revolution requires letting the people know that the new system is better. More beneficial to the people's interests. This requires us to calculate an account for the people. Calculate and explain the benefits of the new system clearly to the people. Otherwise, just shouting about some revolution—why should the people sell their lives for us? There is no such logic under heaven."

"Principal, by saying this, aren't you still saying the people don't understand revolution?" Lu Huitian couldn't help but speak up again.

Hearing this, a burst of dissatisfaction couldn't help but arise in Chen Ke's heart; even his brows frowned slightly. But Chen Ke quickly controlled his emotions. Revolutionary work must absolutely not engage in any personal struggle of will. Because this practice is wrong; flying into a rage absolutely cannot convince others and will only cause various meaningless disputes. "What is the purpose of our revolution? Who can tell us?"

Hearing Chen Ke's words, He Zudao answered without hesitation. "The purpose of the revolution is to liberate productive forces and establish a new system and new world that allows the people to live better."

Lu Huitian originally wanted to say establishing a powerful China, but he didn't expect He Zudao to snatch the conversation. He Zudao was using a big label right upfront properly. Although Lu Huitian wanted to refute, he was also very clear that it was hard to refute. Glancing at He Zudao, Lu Huitian spoke no more.

"Since we want to develop productive forces, we must calculate the accounts for the people. What exactly are the benefits of the new system? Quite a few comrades participated in the 1905 social investigation. We must conduct in-depth investigations in Fengtai County. Land conditions, planted crops, land ownership composition, main sideline businesses, clan situations, religious situations, employment situations, wage situations, tenant rent, borrowed fields, permanent tenancy fields, commerce, handicrafts—all must be investigated clearly before we can calculate the accounts."

After Chen Ke finished speaking, he wrote the content to be investigated on the blackboard. Seeing such a huge scope of investigation, quite a few comrades sucked in a breath of cold air.

"The common people are not unreasonable. If we investigate these clearly and can explain clearly to the common people, there is no reason for the common people not to follow us," Chen Ke said categorically.

"But... but there will definitely be people who want to argue different reasons." Lu Huitian finally spoke his inner thoughts. Since he had started, he also felt there was no need to hide anymore. "If we do this, those landlords and gentry won't wait. They are starting to link up everywhere now, preparing to stir up some trouble. After all, they are locals; I'm afraid the common people believe them more."

Hearing this, Chen Ke smiled. "Comrade Lu Huitian, our revolution is for the common people. This first means we must believe in the common people. We want to implement a new system entirely for the common people. If someone wants to destroy the new system, then they are the enemy of the common people. What do we do to enemies?"

It was still He Zudao who answered, "Treat enemies as cold as winter."

As soon as these murderous words came out, the classroom was immediately silent.

"We are not bandits; we will absolutely not kill people indiscriminately. Since we want to get rid of the people's enemies, get rid of the revolution's enemies, we must explain the reasons clearly to everyone. And this reason can absolutely not be nonsense we make up ourselves. Everyone is worried that the common people won't follow us. Why? Because the common people can be reasoned with. Otherwise, on one side are those landlords and gentry, on the other side are life-saving benefactors—why must the common people stand on the side of the landlords and gentry? It must be that the common people feel what the landlords and gentry say makes more sense. Since we firmly believe we are not wrong, how can our reasoning not compare to the landlords and gentry?"

Lu Huitian's face was gloomy. Chen Ke's words made sense, but Lu Huitian was absolutely unwilling to agree easily. Because he felt Chen Ke's attitude was a bit too optimistic. There are many unreasonable things in this world; why does everything in Fengtai County need reasoning?

However, Lu Huitian didn't continue to speak. He couldn't help but look at He Zudao again. He saw He Zudao sitting upright, his body straight, looking at Chen Ke while speaking, his head not moving a bit. He didn't look at Lu Huitian at all.