Xu Erba stood at the gate of the Insurance Corps Reclamation Brigade's women's camp, craning his neck to look inside. Women were going in and out of the camp gate, dazzling Xu Erba's eyes. This wasn't because he was lustful by nature, but because he hadn't seen that expected person for a long time. The woman in his memory was still fifteen or sixteen years old, but now that person was already twenty-one.

The place where men waited was quite far from the camp gate. A box had been drawn there with white lime; all men coming to visit the women's camp had to stand inside that box and wait. Xu Erba wasn't the only one craning his neck to look; there were quite a few others with him. Men waiting here was a rule of the Reclamation Brigade. After the flood, everyone's houses were basically gone, and the camp, lacking building materials, simply couldn't provide houses with walls. They were all unified shelters supported by wooden poles with thatched roofs. Moreover, for security reasons, berth placement was very open. Firstly to avoid unnecessary trouble, and secondly to facilitate political propaganda. So camps with separate living for men and women were built. On ordinary days, everyone was busy with labor; couples would just talk at the gate and then separate to go back to rest. These few days were holidays, and people in the family wanted to reunite. So the number of people waiting here was unusually large.

"Waiting for one's own wife takes so long; what kind of rules are these?" someone complained.

This remark immediately drew other witty remarks. "How about you take the lead and go in now, and we follow behind?" As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately triggered a burst of laughter from the people around.

"Fart! Do you have the guts to follow me?" The one being laughed at immediately blushed and retorted sarcastically. The Insurance Corps had strict rules; anyone trespassing in the women's camp was severely punished. Moreover, in such a disaster year, women actually faced more dangers than men. Although it took a bit of effort to see wives and family members, men actually knew that it was better for women to live collectively. And these days, everyone repeatedly asked their female relatives and knew there were no men in the women's camp. Although they really hoped they could enter and leave the women's camp freely, men didn't want men other than themselves to enter and leave the women's camp freely. So although there were complaints on their lips, everyone could accept this discipline.

Xu Erba was an unfamiliar face, but the local common people of Fengtai County rarely went out of their villages originally. Now that common people from all places lived together, unfamiliar faces were the norm. Moreover, Xu Erba was now wearing the blue uniform of the troops, plus his hands were rough but not covered with calluses. He didn't look much different from others.

"It's getting colder day by day. If there are still no houses, we may not be able to live in thatched sheds for much longer." Since waiting was inevitable, everyone simply started chatting.

"Yeah. What exactly does the army say about this? I see the troops are still living in the same thatched sheds as us. Asking people in the troops, they haven't heard any news either. Our tens of thousands of people, even if we all go to live in Yuezhangji, we can't fit."

"I heard the officials all went to live in the county town?" Someone seemed "well-informed."

"These past few days I often saw that Brigade Commander Hua and Commissar He Zudao coming out of the troop camp. They shouldn't have all moved away."

"Then why haven't I seen Brigade Commander Chen Ke these past few days? He must have returned to the county town."

Xu Erba felt a burst of aversion in his heart as he listened to everyone's words becoming more and more unruly. Although Chen Ke lived in the county town, Xu Erba knew exactly how busy his daily work was. These days, Chen Ke led the team during morning exercises, Chen Ke lectured during party lessons, and in the evening Chen Ke had to talk with these new comrades. Getting up early and working in the dark every day, even often staying up all night. Compared with this hardship, although the accommodation conditions of these common people in the Reclamation Brigade were not great, at least they could sleep when it got dark, and there was a reveille to wake them up in the morning. Comparing the two, Chen Ke obviously gave more.

The people around noticed Xu Erba's clothes. Seeing Xu Erba frowning, the clever ones among them stopped continuing this topic.

"Brother, you are with the troops, right?" Someone came over to get friendly.

"I am with the troops."

"Then have the troops said anything about houses?" The common people immediately asked about the matter they cared about most.

Hearing this, Xu Erba paused slightly. He really knew about the houses. In Xu Erba's view, the personnel who came this time were truly hiding dragons and crouching tigers. Under Qin Tongren's efforts, more than seventy people came from Beijing alone, all former technicians of the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau. Although the batch of people gathered in Beijing earliest all remembered the benefits of Chen Ke opening the honeycomb briquette factory, everyone had saved quite a lot of money before the honeycomb briquette factory closed down, so not many of those mechanics came. Qin Tongren had quite some appeal; among those who came, there were more than fifty engineers and technicians from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau.

And this time, five steam engines ordered by Chen Ke from the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau were transported here. The day after Qin Tongren and the others disembarked, they began to be responsible for installing and debugging this equipment. Because the people from the honeycomb briquette factory had sufficient experience with molds, Xu Erba knew that the first project was mechanical brick making. The People's Party had its own kiln firing team, and the firing of red bricks had been completed long ago. Because Xu Erba's rank was low, he couldn't enter the R&D department but was sent for training.

Seeing Xu Erba looking like he wanted to speak but stopped, everyone knew Xu Erba knew some inside information. Everyone immediately gathered around. "Brother, just say what you know. Older brother will definitely remember your kindness."

"Right, this brother from the troops, tell us. Look, it's going to be freezing soon; how can we do without houses to live in?"

Someone even started singing a high profile, "Our Insurance Corps is the team of our common people; what is there that can't be told to our common people?"

"Yes, yes! Brother, looking at your extraordinary appearance, you must be an officer. Tell us." Someone started to put a high hat on Xu Erba [flatter him]. Actually, although Xu Erba wore a military uniform, he didn't have any rank badge. He was definitely not a high official. Quite a few people could see this, but Xu Erba looked young, so the high hat was immediately put on him.

Seeing the common people surrounding him like stars holding the moon, and good words swarming from all directions, he immediately felt a bit floating. Moreover, although the Insurance Corps emphasized discipline, they didn't say the matter of the brick machine couldn't be said. Xu Erba kept a straight face and coughed twice. Everyone knew this young soldier was going to speak and immediately quieted down.

"Ahem!" Xu Erba cleared his throat. "I don't know when the houses will be built, but a set of brick-making machines has been set up here; presumably it should be very soon."

"Brick-making machine? What is this, brother?" Everyone didn't understand this new term at all.

"It's a machine for making brick blanks. One machine can produce tens of thousands of bricks a day, I suppose." Xu Erba said very proudly.

"Can produce tens of thousands of brick blanks a day? You are joking, right?" A middle-aged man couldn't help laughing. Even for a good hand at brick making, making a few hundred bricks a day was extremely remarkable. Making tens of thousands of bricks a day was simply a fantasy.

"That's not necessarily true; it depends on how many people are used." Someone raised a different view.

Hearing everyone's words, Xu Erba's face showed a deliberately profound smile peculiar to boasters. "One machine only uses twenty-some people and can make tens of thousands of bricks a day."

"What?" Hearing this, both the approvers and opposers just now were greatly shocked. This completely exceeded their imagination. A house only uses a few thousand bricks; if the house isn't good, not even a thousand bricks are used. If fifty thousand bricks can be produced a day, that means bricks produced in one day can build fifty houses. Calculated this way, in just a month, everyone might be able to live in new houses...

While everyone was stunned by this news, suddenly a joyous female voice came, "It really is you, Erba. When did you come back?"

Hearing this familiar voice, Xu Erba hurriedly turned his head. He saw a young woman of medium build standing outside the lime line. She wore a blue military uniform and a blue military soft cap, with the short bob hair peculiar to female civil servants in Fengtai County now. Her appearance was not beautiful, but her high nose bridge, high forehead, and lips pursed forcefully gave people a rather tough feeling. This woman was exactly Ren Qiying, whom Xu Erba thought of day and night.

Xu Erba could no longer care about showing off to others. He squeezed through the crowd, rushed to Ren Qiying in three steps or two, stood in front of Ren Qiying, and sized up his childhood sweetheart. Xu Erba was already at a loss for what to do. He stammered, "I... I just came back a few days ago."

Everyone never expected that the person Xu Erba wanted to see was actually Ren Qiying, who was already slightly famous in Fengtai County. Everyone was quite surprised. Even those who originally flattered falsely now really had some genuine admiration in their eyes looking at Xu Erba.

Ren Qiying noticed everyone's gazes. "Erba, let's take a walk together." After speaking, Ren Qiying took the lead towards the uninhabited fields. Xu Erba responded and followed behind Ren Qiying. Watching Xu Erba following Ren Qiying away like a puppy wagging its tail and begging for pity, everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly someone realized with an "Oh." Now everyone's gaze immediately turned back to this brother. "I said why this person looked so familiar? Isn't he the son of Landlord Xu who passed the examination as a scholar [Xiucai]? The Xu Erba who studied with Mr. Ren."

With this said, whether everyone had seen Xu Erba or not, they immediately remembered that there was indeed such a scholar.

"No wonder he knows so much. Is that brick-making machine thing really true then?"

"The Insurance Corps actually recruited scholars?"

"Wasn't it said that Scholar Xu went to Beijing?"

Various guesses and imaginings immediately began to circulate among the crowd.

Being able to meet his childhood partner, especially the person he thought of day and night, again. Xu Erba had long forgotten what he said just now cleanly. He tried to look serious, but soon couldn't hold back and grinned foolishly.

Ren Qiying turned her head to look at Xu Erba's silly face and couldn't help laughing out loud. "I felt long ago that you would come back. I didn't expect it to be exactly as I thought."

Xu Erba, whose IQ was now less than five, still grinned foolishly after hearing this. Only after a moment did he remember to ask, "What did you think of?"

"I won't tell you." Ren Qiying answered with a smile. To tell the truth, looking at Xu Erba's cheerful puppy-like expression, Ren Qiying only wanted to laugh in her heart.

Seeing this smile he had been accustomed to since childhood, Xu Erba suddenly felt he could finally speak smoothly. He didn't care to ask what Ren Qiying thought of; the words in his heart blurted out: "I missed you so much these few years! I missed you every day when I was in Beijing."

"Really?" Ren Qiying laughed, "If you missed me, you didn't even write a single letter."

Hearing this, Xu Erba's happy mood immediately fell from the peak to the valley bottom; the smile froze on his face immediately. "I... I didn't make a name for myself in Beijing either. When I left back then, I said I would definitely make a name for myself before coming to see you."

"Haha, you still remember that matter." Ren Qiying laughed quite happily. "I didn't expect you were so silly then, and you are still the same now."

"Ah?" Hearing this, Xu Erba felt his heart falling straight down. He was despised by Ren Qiying again. Although he had been despised by Ren Qiying since childhood—whether in learning or writing, he couldn't compare to Ren Qiying who was a woman—ever since an indescribable feeling for his teacher's daughter arose in Xu Erba's heart, what Xu Erba could not accept most was Ren Qiying's contempt. That was why later Xu Erba went to Beijing hoping to break out a situation. At that time, Xu Erba had a tragic look on his face and solemnly vowed to Ren Qiying: "I will do something big in Beijing."

Xu Erba remembered very clearly that Ren Qiying looked at Xu Erba with a puzzled look for a good while before sighing, "You are really too silly." What Xu Erba couldn't forget was the regretful look on Ren Qiying's face. In his view, this was a silent negation of himself. But the facts were indeed as Ren Qiying "predicted." Xu Erba, who thought he had some connections in the Beiyang Army as a scholar, failed to do the great career he imagined at all. He didn't even save much money.

The most ridiculous thing was that most of the savings Xu Erba brought home this time were earned working in the honeycomb briquette factory opened by Chen Ke. He originally thought that after coming back this time, he was at least a figure in the People's Party. But he didn't expect Ren Qiying to be already a cadre of the People's Party. This was even earlier than himself. Hearing Ren Qiying call him silly again, Xu Erba felt this world had collapsed. Thinking of his own uselessness, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into immediately. The joyous mood just now flew to the nine heavens [vanished].

The depressed Xu Erba never expected what result his speech among the common people just now would trigger. After separating from Ren Qiying in a depressed mood, the next morning, Xu Erba was listlessly listening to the party lesson, turning a deaf ear to the course content. During the class break, just as Xu Erba was preparing to drink some water, he was called away by a People's Party cadre coming from outside. Under the cadre's lead, the two entered Chen Ke's office. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Qin Tongren was also inside. Chen Ke was the leader of the People's Party now, and Qin Tongren was the head of high technology. Both leaders were waiting for Xu Erba with not-so-good expressions, which really startled him.

"Comrade Xu Erba, I want to ask you what you said to the common people yesterday?" Chen Ke asked.

"Ah?" After separating from Ren Qiying yesterday, Xu Erba had been depressed. When Chen Ke asked this, he actually couldn't remember at all what he had said to others yesterday. Under the cross-stare of Chen Ke's grim gaze and Qin Tongren's cold gaze peculiar to when he was angry, although it was late autumn, Xu Erba felt his back immediately start to sweat.

He recalled what he had said with great difficulty, and then stammeringly reported those words. Xu Erba felt his brain was in chaos; whether he said those words or not, he himself wasn't sure at all. The more anxious he was, the less clearly he spoke. Finally, not only his back, but Xu Erba's forehead also started to sweat.

Chen Ke waved his hand. "Comrade Xu Erba, let's leave it at that for today. I'll tell you one thing: in the future, no matter who asks about the People's Party's affairs, if there is no order allowing you to say it, you don't say anything. Do you remember?"

Although he didn't know exactly what trouble he had caused, there was a meaning in Chen Ke's tone that absolutely allowed no defiance. Xu Erba nodded hurriedly. "I remember."

"You go back to class first," Chen Ke said.

When Xu Erba left tremblingly, Chen Ke asked, "Mr. Qin, how is the brick machine matter? When can it start running?"

"This preliminarily adjusted production line can already be tried to run. According to the current molds, it can produce 70,000 brick blanks a day. The firing matter depends on Miss You Gou's efforts."

A production line driven by four steam engines could produce 70,000 brick blanks a day, and the one working on this production line was Qin Tongren who had rich experience in honeycomb briquette production. Chen Ke really didn't know what to say. But in these years, having such efficiency was already remarkable. It wasn't just the technical personnel from the former Tianjin Machinery Bureau who came this time. There were also some technical personnel recruited by Qi Huishen in Shanghai. Among them were students who graduated in architecture in Japan. Because Japan began to restrict revolutionary activities among students at the end of 1905, many people left Japan in anger. Some of these people couldn't find jobs after returning to China, nor could they find "revolutionary comrades," so they simply stayed in Shanghai with nowhere to go. Qi Huishen gathered this group of people and arranged for them to teach at the Shanghai Renxin Medical College. This time when he came, he brought a batch of technical people.

With people and technology, the large-scale housing construction work originally pre-designed by Chen Ke could finally begin.

Qin Tongren watched Chen Ke silently calculating something in his heart. He suddenly spoke: "Mr. Chen, I have something I want to ask you."

"Ah? Please say," Chen Ke responded hurriedly.

Qin Tongren asked seriously: "Mr. Chen, I admire your thought of being considerate to the common people very much. But I always feel that after you build these houses, these common people get something for nothing and can move in immediately. I'm worried it will let the common people develop this kind of habit. Governing the people requires techniques. After the common people move in, if you force them to pay rent again, that would be an extremely difficult thing. Mr. Chen definitely won't do that either. So there must be a charter."

"Uh?" Chen Ke never expected Qin Tongren to say this. To tell the truth, for a technician like Qin Tongren to actually propose such a viewpoint politically, Chen Ke still admired it a bit. At least if it were comrades of the People's Party, quite a few definitely wouldn't realize this. But Chen Ke didn't support Qin Tongren's view at all. "Mr. Qin, I'm actually not worried about the common people moving in for free. First, these days, how much farm work have the common people done in production self-help? This work is not ordinarily hard. Second, these houses look like the common people live for free; not only can I not ask for them back, but it's even more impossible for others to want them. As long as the common people treat these houses as their own homes, then they will also treat the People's Party as their own people. What's more, when building houses, these common people will also contribute effort. But what Mr. Qin said is also very right; we can't let the common people get these houses for nothing. This winter we will let the common people participate in the work of building water conservancy. As long as they do enough quantity, these houses are theirs."

"Ah?" This time it was Qin Tongren's turn to be greatly surprised. He really didn't expect that Chen Ke really wanted to give the houses to the common people just like that. In these years, residences were not cheap. He had seen the residential area designed by the People's Party. Those red brick houses were not small in either area or scale; every household was a separate courtyard. And most importantly, there were actually running water systems and septic tank systems in this design. Even if prices in Anhui couldn't compare to Beijing, at the most conservative calculation, such a farm courtyard in Fengtai County would be worth more than a dozen taels of silver no matter what. A peasant household, even saving on food and clothing, would probably not be able to save up the money for such a house in a few years. Chen Ke only asked the common people to participate in building water conservancy in winter, and this house would be given to the common people for free. Qin Tongren really couldn't understand such a practice.

Chen Ke smiled, "Mr. Qin, since the People's Party arrived in Fengtai County, we have always done it first before speaking. We don't want to control the common people. The outline of the people's revolution is to let the common people know that following our People's Party and relying on the new system, everyone can live a better life. It is absolutely impossible to rely on mouth to say such things. Only by doing the things first can the common people believe you. Moreover, the common people themselves also participate in labor; no matter what, it cannot be said that they got something for nothing and got the houses in vain. Many children of these common people are soldiers fighting in our troops. If there are not these immediately visible results, how can we convince the soldiers that our People's Party is fighting for the common people?"

Qin Tongren looked at Chen Ke dumbfounded. After a good while, he asked, "Then why did Mr. Chen want to question Xu Erba?"

Chen Ke laughed, "I was afraid he would speak too many empty words. Since he only talked about the brick machine, then it's not a problem."

Seeing Qin Tongren completely speechless, Chen Ke smiled, "By the way, Mr. Qin, I invited you here this time actually not for Xu Erba's matter. I want Mr. Qin to help; you have to take the lead. Personally lead the technical personnel to participate in the labor of building houses. Not commanding labor, but working together with everyone. If I personally order this matter, it will only make everyone unhappy. If you, Mr. Qin, can personally take the lead, I think everyone will have nothing to say."

Qin Tongren was already rendered speechless by Chen Ke's viewpoint. Hearing Chen Ke's "request" later, he sat there with his mouth open, actually stunned in his seat.