In the dormitory of the female station in the Fengtai County military camp, Huang Yuyue wiped her face with a cloth towel in a pottery basin in the camp water room, and then combed her hair with a very rough wooden comb. This was the standard ration provided by the People's Party to the newly "invited" female teachers. The complete ration included two sets of dark blue military uniforms, two sets of underwear, shoes and socks. A wooden comb, a wooden pencil box, a toothbrush, and a small mirror. She never expected her life to undergo such a huge change ten days ago. When the People's Party attacked the city, Teacher Qiu Jin gathered everyone together. Looking at Teacher Qiu, who was valiant and heroic with a pistol in hand, everyone felt much more at ease. The sound of guns and cannons and shouting and killing rang all night. The girls gathered together, leaning on each other. Quite a few people started crying out of fear.

After the battle ended, the street was full of soldiers of the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army wearing blue military uniforms, and everyone dared not go out. When the soldiers of the People's Party troops rushed in at night and roughly tied everyone up and took them away, the female students were terrified. Girls had heard stories of bad people kidnapping girls; this was also an important part of the stories girls sometimes told each other. But when this fate suddenly befell their own heads, the girls were all scared silly one by one. They had no ability to resist at all. Quite a few female students fainted on the spot from fear.

The girls spent the first night on horseback; the People's Party troops marched through the night. By the next morning, the girls who had been bumped all night were put down and slept for a morning in the tents of the camp. After being woken up at noon, what appeared in front of them was a team of soldiers with live ammunition. The leader was Chen Ke, the Chairman of the People's Party.

Huang Yuyue could still clearly remember Chen Ke's speech at that time: "Hello everyone, I am Chen Ke, Chairman of the People's Party. I ordered you to be invited here. From now on, you are the female teachers hired by our People's Party. My purpose in hiring everyone is very simple; our base area has opened many schools and needs many female teachers. But now we don't have so many female teachers, so we had to invite everyone to participate in the work."

Hearing such an arrogant speech, the girls not only didn't feel at ease, but on the contrary, quite a few were scared to tears. Chen Ke didn't talk much nonsense either. "When coming this time, we brought some of everyone's clothes and daily necessities along the way. But in the haste, we didn't bring everything; everyone go collect your own things back." After speaking, Chen Ke ordered the troops to transport a pile of things moved from the Girls' School dormitory so that everyone could find their own luggage.

The girls never expected to be able to get their own things back; their hostility decreased slightly. Some girls begged Chen Ke, saying they didn't want their things, only asking to go home. Chen Ke laughed heartily: "Don't even mention this kind of request again. Our People's Party bore the bad name of robbing civilian women to invite you literate ladies here with difficulty. It is absolutely impossible to let you go back."

Surrounded by a group of soldiers and hearing such words, many girls simply burst into loud crying. Chen Ke didn't try to persuade them either, just leaving a sentence: "Whoever has cried enough, go eat."

Huang Yuyue didn't cry. As a fifteen-year-old girl, she was considered older in the Girls' School. Chen Ke's resolute attitude had already shown that they absolutely couldn't be released easily. If they wanted to go home, they could only wait for an opportunity to escape. And one couldn't escape on an empty stomach. So she was the first to stand up and go to eat.

In these years, girls who could attend Girls' Schools had very unusual backgrounds. Parents wouldn't let girls who looked like they had no future disgrace them in the Girls' School. Under the powerful deterrent force of the People's Party, although the girls also wept and sniffled, even the most determined girl only persisted in not eating for one day, and then they all submitted temporarily.

When the troops marched, they took quite good care of these girls. They could at least share a horse between two people, while others, including Chen Ke, all walked. But such preferential treatment was not without a price. Chen Ke announced to the girls that the People's Party did not allow foot-binding. Foot-binding was a devastation to women from body to spirit. The girls' foot-binding cloths were forcibly removed. regarding this point, Huang Yuyue herself supported it quite a bit in her heart. The Girls' School opened by Teacher Qiu Jin originally opposed foot-binding, but such things couldn't be completely forced. However, under Teacher Qiu's repeated inculcation, the girls also had great hatred for foot-binding. The People's Party used a compulsory way to liberate the girls' feet; actually, quite a few girls who had to bind their feet at home were secretly happy in their hearts.

The girls had never walked such a long way, climbing mountains and crossing ridges, and then taking a boat. If one must say, the scenery along the way and the mighty military appearance of the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army were not annoying in the eyes of these girls. A very obvious change was that the army often sang military songs during the march to boost morale. These songs, healthy and upward from arrangement to lyrics, especially the song *My Motherland*, the girls heard a lot, and some even hummed along in a low voice when the troops sang this song. "A big river with wide waves, the wind blows the fragrance of rice flowers on both banks. My home is on the shore, used to hearing the boatman's chanty, used to seeing the white sails on the boat."

The students of Anqing Girls' School were all literate and lived by the river. Just listening to this song, it was as if they could see the appearance of their hometown. And an army that could sing such military songs shouldn't be bad people, right? Quite a few girls couldn't help thinking this way.

After arriving in Fengtai County, the girls were surprised to find that those who came to welcome them were actually some female soldiers. No matter how strictly the People's Party troops observed discipline and how polite and thoughtful they were to the girls, acting together with a large number of men was not something women were used to in itself. Seeing female companions, the girls seemed to find the feeling of living and studying under the leadership of Teacher Qiu Jin in the Girls' School again.

Today was the first day for everyone to attend class officially. Although she didn't know what the future would look like, Huang Yuyue knew very clearly that she could never return to the peaceful days in Anqing Girls' School. This was not based on any understanding of the revolution, but out of a very ordinary understanding. A girl was forcibly kidnapped; even if her family believed this bizarre experience after she returned home, outsiders would gossip no matter what, and future days would always be extremely difficult.

The teacher giving the lecture was You Gou. Her work was extremely busy, but she didn't refuse after receiving the order to serve as a teacher. "Students, my name is You Gou. From now on, you are students of the Fengtai County Normal School. We welcome everyone on behalf of the Base Area Ministry of Education." Because she learned Mandarin [Putonghua], You Gou's voice was very clear and bright. The girls looked at the valiant You Gou, and no one dared to make a sound.

"Students, the Minister of the Base Area Ministry of Education is now Mr. Yan Fu. Who among you has heard of or read *Evolution and Ethics*?"

Greatly exceeding You Gou's expectations, all the girls raised their hands timidly. Qiu Jin liked *Evolution and Ethics* very much and often talked about the principle of "natural selection and survival of the fittest" in the Girls' School. As a result, the girls also got to know the great names of *Evolution and Ethics* and Yan Fu.

"Our Minister of Education is Mr. Yan Fu who wrote *Evolution and Ethics*. When everyone graduates from school, you will work under Minister Yan Fu. I hope everyone studies hard and graduates early."

"Wen Qing, you just stuffed so many girls to me as subordinates?" Yan Fu asked Chen Ke.

Chen Ke nodded. "Asking me to train a batch of literate female teachers would take at least seven or eight years in the base area. Rather than waiting for that time, robbing people is more cost-effective."

"Wen Qing isn't afraid of the complaints from those girls' families?"

"Complaints? They complain now; when we liberate the whole of China, these people will know how lucky they are."

Hearing Chen Ke's words, even a serious person like Yan Fu couldn't help smiling.

Joking aside, Yan Fu was a bit strange that Chen Ke called him over so early in the morning. Moreover, Chen Ke's expression didn't look like he wanted to discuss constructive topics no matter how you looked at it. "Chairman Chen, what exactly is the matter for calling me here?"

Chen Ke's expression was very plain; this was his unique expression when considering problems with pure reason. When this expression appeared, some people always lost their lives. "This time we arrested a large batch of Manchu Qing officials. Among these officials, those with blood debts of the people on their hands will be executed after a public trial. Mr. Yan, you are familiar with officialdom; are there any people among them you think shouldn't die, and which ones are people we can use? I will treat them separately according to Mr. Yan's list."

Yan Fu already roughly understood Chen Ke's attitude towards killing these days. Chen Ke was not a bloodthirsty person. Every time he killed people, Chen Ke hoped to achieve the greatest political propaganda effect. Yan Fu quite agreed with this rather "Legalist" attitude. "Anhui Provincial Administration Commissioner Feng Xu is known as a Jiangnan talent. Honest in office, and also a person who does things. Chairman Chen might as well use him. As for others, I haven't dealt with them and don't know what abilities they have. Shen Zengzhi has profound learning; might as well use him."

Chen Ke knew Yan Fu only wanted to save these two people, and had no intention of saving others at all. This statement was quite wise. Chen Ke was very satisfied. He laughed: "This matter can be handed over to Mr. Yan to handle. But I have a standard to clarify to Mr. Yan. Our government employs people differently from before; we are not recruiting surrenderers and accepting traitors. Even if these two people are willing to join the new government, I can't grant them official titles. Employment in the new government must be approved by the Organization Department. We don't keep staff advisors here. So Mr. Yan might as well tell them straight: if they are willing to devote themselves to the people's revolution, either start from the grassroots level; if they feel they can't lose face, we have formed a Literature and History Office, whose work is to translate those classical Chinese texts into vernacular. It also fits the name of these two talents."

Hearing this, Yan Fu felt these two would probably choose to go to the Literature and History Office. They were both high officials; they certainly couldn't lower their faces to start as grassroots clerks.

"Oh, right. I remembered another thing." Chen Ke suddenly became excited. "Mr. Yan, these two are both talents. You might as well tell them there is a job that can leave a name in history, and see if they are willing to do it."

Seeing Chen Ke so excited, Yan Fu also became curious about this "job that leaves a name in history."

Coming out from Chen Ke's place, Yan Fu took Feng Xu out of the big prison with the order signed by Chen Ke. Feng Xu knew Yan Fu; although he was very puzzled about Yan Fu joining the revolutionary party, Feng Xu didn't say much. Yan Fu first took Feng Xu to wash his face and change clothes. Feng Xu didn't care about changing into short clothes. In this era, short clothes were worn by people doing physical labor. Yan Fu observed Feng Xu's expression; at least on Feng Xu's face, he couldn't see any look of feeling insulted because of wearing short clothes. This self-restraint was quite different.

Yan Fu took Feng Xu towards his residence. As soon as he entered the door, Feng Xu saw Shen Zengzhi sitting in the room. Seeing Feng Xu come in wearing the People's Party's dark blue short-clothed uniform, Shen Zengzhi thought his eyes were blurred. He looked carefully for a long time before asking tentatively: "Is it Brother Feng?"

"Exactly. Brother Shen is also here." Feng Xu said with a smile.

Feng Xu was not surprised to see the captured Shen Zengzhi; the People's Party had fought all the way to Anqing, so Shouzhou, which was close at hand to Fengtai County, absolutely couldn't be fine. But Shen Zengzhi never expected that Feng Xu, who was far away in Anqing, actually appeared here. His voice trembled a bit. "How come Brother Feng is here?"

Feng Xu's embarrassment lasted only for a moment; he quickly returned to his previous free and easy appearance. Feng Xu laughed: "The reason I came here is probably the same as Brother Shen."

"New Army Vice Commander Pu Guanshui defected to the People's Party; Pu Guanshui led people to raid Shouzhou, so I was captured. Could it be... could it be that the People's Party raided Anqing?" Shen Zengzhi still dared not believe the People's Party actually dared to go thousands of miles to fight Anqing.

"Pu Guanshui defected to the People's Party?" This was the first time Feng Xu heard this news, but Feng Xu didn't care about such trivial matters anymore. He admitted openly: "This time the People's Party didn't raid, but attacked Anqing directly, and took Anqing in just one night."

"Such a famous city as Anqing fell in just one night?" Shen Zengzhi couldn't believe his ears at all.

Seeing Shen Zengzhi so shocked, Feng Xu laughed loudly: "Yes, the good disciple taught by Yan Jidao. Traveling thousands of miles by boat to raid, taking Anqing overnight. In the future, this history book will definitely write a big stroke. I was captured by Yan Jidao's disciple; maybe I can appear as a foil, which counts as leaving a name in history. Haha, haha."

Shen Zengzhi was quite indignant about being deceived by Pu Guanshui leading to capture. Hearing Feng Xu's words, he suddenly felt this humiliation was nothing. The People's Party's strength had reached such a level; even if they attacked Shouzhou hard, Shen Zengzhi couldn't resist.

Feng Xu ignored Shen Zengzhi anymore. He turned his head and said to Yan Fu: "Jidao, you took me, an old man, out of the big prison; presumably you want to persuade me to surrender."

"Exactly. But I think it is not entirely persuading surrender. Chairman Chen Ke of the People's Party has a great event that will leave a name in history and wants to ask you two to do it."

Feng Xu laughed: "I am an old captive; even if you kill me, I can't learn to be Fang Xiaoru. Jidao, you just say it straight."

Hearing Feng Xu ask this, Yan Fu said seriously: "I am now the Minister of Education of the base area. Because we want to implement compulsory education, that is, the system where school-age children must go to school, the Ministry of Education needs to compile a *New China Dictionary*. Unlike the *Kangxi Dictionary*, it uses simplified characters, easy to learn and recognize. Both brothers are talents and know much more about characters than I do. This *New China Dictionary* is the official dictionary. When we seize national power, all official characters must be characters in the dictionary. And the names of the compilers will be on the title page of the dictionary."

Hearing this, both Feng Xu and Shen Zengzhi's faces changed greatly. Shen Zengzhi's face was full of mocking expression; after a while, he finally couldn't help saying a phrase: "A monkey wearing a hat."

Feng Xu said seriously instead: "A victory in Anqing is certainly a stroke of genius, but Jidao, you are now just living in a corner. Wanting to seize the world is probably extremely difficult. Why be so anxious to do these superficial works?"

Yan Fu said to Feng Xu with a serious attitude: "Superficial works? Compiling a dictionary is not for face." After speaking, Yan Fu took out a stack of manuscripts and handed two of them to the two great scholars opposite.

Feng Xu looked at the title, which read "Silkworm Raising Method" in four characters. The whole article was vernacular written in simplified characters. It used Western-style horizontal writing from left to right, describing the growth characteristics of silkworms and how to raise silkworms. reading it was very boring. But after reading it, Feng Xu felt he had an understanding of the general process of raising silkworms. About how silkworms grow, shed skin several times, and what change characteristics each stage has, this article wrote very seriously.

"This handwriting is not very good." Feng Xu said with a smile.

"This is the handwriting of People's Party Chairman Chen Ke. Chen Wenqing also claims his writing is like flies crawling on paper." Yan Fu laughed.

Feng Xu shook his head slightly. "It's not that unbearable; just wrote a lot and practiced little. I see the person who wrote this has a very peaceful heart, just not focused on practicing calligraphy. Copying more copybooks should bring progress."

Yan Fu was not satisfied with Feng Xu's fair evaluation. He probed: "Brother Feng only looks at the handwriting, but not the content?"

"I was just about to ask Jidao to explain what this means."

"We People's Party teach books entirely for use. We stress neither textual parallelism nor rhythmic neatness. This article is called expository writing. People who have read books just need to understand these expository writings and various notices. So not much is needed; attending four years of primary school, recognizing 1500 characters, learning basic common sense, and being able to understand these texts is enough."

"Oh? Not reading poetry and books?" Feng Xu asked curiously.

"There is a little basic narration, but the main content is to be able to read and understand many government announcements and expository texts through recognition. As for understanding, reading more things, one will naturally have some understanding. That's why simplified characters need to be promoted."

Hearing Yan Fu's words, Feng Xu was even more curious. "Then what is the use of reading books? Just for use, not for understanding principles?"

"Brother Feng and Brother Shen might as well look at this article." Yan Fu said and took out Chen Ke's new work *Kong Yiji*.

Feng Xu and Shen Zengzhi were both talents, able to read ten lines at a glance. They finished reading in a moment. Shen Zengzhi sneered: "If according to what is written in the book, what meaning is there in reading books? It's just alarmist talk."

Feng Xu was not so intense. "Haha, according to what this text says, a completely simplified *New China Dictionary* is not useless. At least everyone doesn't need to learn the four ways of writing 'Hui' [fennel]. This was also written by Chen Ke, right? Reading it feels pitiful, but very mean."

"This text is originally a tool. Our People's Party Ministry of Education's goal is simple: let everyone live a better life by recognizing characters. As for understanding principles, that comes later."

"Not for understanding principles, what is the use of reading books?" Shen Zengzhi was already a bit angry. "Jidao, you are helping a tyrant to do evil. Reading books just for profit, what is the difference from merchants? Moreover, the characters used in this book are all simplified characters, looking crude and vulgar."

Yan Fu was already very dissatisfied with Shen Zengzhi blindly singing a different tune. He retorted hard: "Understanding principles is naturally the reasoning of our People's Party. Let alone recognizing 1500 characters. Even if illiterate, one can still understand principles. Confucius also said, 'When rites are lost, seek them in the wild.' The common people are not that unbearable. Moreover, Brother Shen thinks simplified characters are crude and vulgar; presumably, it is very easy for common people to learn. What we want is easy to learn and remember; whether it is crude or not is not within consideration."

Seeing Yan Fu and Shen Zengzhi about to quarrel, Feng Xu waved his hand. "I understand Jidao's meaning. I, an old prisoner, naturally have no choice. If it is just compiling a *New China Dictionary*, I can do it."

"Then Brother Feng..." Yan Fu hurriedly wanted to continue persuading.

Feng Xu waved his hand to interrupt Yan Fu. "I appreciate Jidao's kindness. But if the Great Qing is not destroyed, I will not surrender. No matter what, I am a subject of the Manchu Qing. Before the Manchu Qing is destroyed, I really cannot defect to others."

"Then why does Brother Feng accept this task of compiling the dictionary?" Shen Zengzhi was very puzzled about this.

"Books with the same script, carts with the same track. Since Chen Ke has such a mind, his capacity is really unusual. Moreover, with Jidao responsible for this matter, it shouldn't be done too badly. I once thought of popularizing education in Anhui, but it was really beyond my ability. Regardless of what thoughts Chen Ke, Chen Wenqing, has, letting the common people recognize characters is a good thing after all. Above I cannot repay the Court; at least I do some practical things for the common people. Moreover, since this person Chen Wenqing said I can leave a name in history through this dictionary, I might as well try it."

Yan Fu couldn't help advising: "Brother Feng, don't you want to shed this prisoner status?"

Feng Xu smiled at Yan Fu. "Jidao taking me out of the big prison presumably has already taken risks. I cannot refuse Jidao's kindness. But I still say that word: if the Qing Court is not destroyed, I will not defect to others. Not for anything else, just for my own peace of mind."

Seeing Feng Xu so firm, Yan Fu didn't force it anymore. "Brother Shen, your Bronze and Stone [Jinshi] calligraphy style is famous all over the world. I can only entrust the copying matter to you, Brother Shen."

Since Feng Xu had already expressed his attitude, Shen Zengzhi was unwilling to talk about foolish loyalty anymore; saying so would be blatantly mocking Feng Xu. Shen Zengzhi still respected Feng Xu very much. He said somewhat angrily: "I only copy; I absolutely will not participate in editing. My name absolutely cannot be written on that title page."

regarding Shen Zengzhi's stubbornness, Yan Fu didn't advise anymore. "Then I will go reply to Chairman Chen Ke."