Chairman Chen Ke could actually be restless, which surprised the staff around him, especially his wife He Ying. He Ying had been responsible for mapping work for more than a year. To avoid trouble, Chen Ke dared not let comrades see his hiking atlas. It was good to have a wife; Chen Ke could trust He Ying on this point. It accomplished confidentiality work and also found a job for He Ying.

When the Battle of Hefei began, He Ying also arrived in Hefei as a cadre of the Mapping Department. After the battle ended, He Ying stayed in Hefei. When the Mapping Department determined the personnel to stay in Hefei, He Ying was naturally assigned to Hefei. He Ying went to work very on time and left work very punctually. Comrades didn't say a word about this. If He Ying worked overtime with them, these people would be truly surprised.

Like young ladies from prestigious families of this era, He Ying didn't like to talk much, although she was young. This was also the reason why Chen Ke wanted to marry a lady from a prestigious family. His ancestors once highly praised the family style of Yan Xishan's family. In such a huge family, no sound could be heard on weekdays. A big family of dozens of people was even quieter than a small family of a few people. Although this strict family style sounded very harsh, it was not the case in Chen Ke's view.

If a person can be their own master, know what they should do, and have work that must be completed seriously, just communicating with people at work has already exhausted their tongue, and completing the work has exhausted their mental effort; where is the leisure time to gossip after returning home? The warmth of a family is that the family members know that this home is a place for them to rest, and the relatives at home are the closest people who spend life with them. Outside, one has to reason; at home, what reason is there to talk about? Assuming one's own work at home and making family members happy together is enough. This is family life.

He Ying was such a girl. She didn't talk much, but she didn't say less than necessary. For example, when washing vegetables and cooking with Chen Ke, the two would also communicate about how to cook, but when eating, they buried their heads in eating without saying a word. When the housework was not finished, He Ying did housework with Chen Ke. After the housework was done, she always stuck with Chen Ke. Whether it was couple's life or taking a bath or shower together, she never acted coyly. In short, she was such a seemingly simple woman who never perfunctory.

Chen Ke couldn't figure out how his old father-in-law He Ruming, who looked not so great, educated such an outstanding daughter. This was really something that genetics couldn't explain. Neither Chen Ke nor He Ying liked to accumulate any "family belongings." When they went from Beijing to Shanghai, they left in a hurry, and He Ying didn't bring extra things originally. There were not many clothes and luggage with her. After arriving in Anhui, He Ying never bought any clothes. A dark blue military uniform looked clean and simple. Apart from a few personal items and simple clothes and bedding, there was nothing else in the couple's home. Chen Ke once joked that if a thief came here to steal things, he would return in disappointment. He Ying just didn't understand what was funny about this joke. Her beautiful big eyes looked at Chen Ke doubtfully, wanting to figure out what Chen Ke meant. Chen Ke never dared to make such boring jokes at home since then.

Not only did she not like to accumulate family belongings, but He Ying also never cared about so-called "face." She always went out in military uniform, no different from others. He Ying was always dressed strictly outside. No matter how hot the weather was, the collar hook was always fastened tightly. She would rather wear sleeve covers than roll up her sleeves. Outsiders would never guess that her underwear was modified from the clothes she brought. Whatever silk and satin, cut what should be cut, tailor what should be tailored. Completely pursuing her own comfort. Chen Ke praised this attitude towards life extremely. As a result, after he spoke the words of praise, He Ying smiled slightly out of politeness. Chen Ke could see that his flattery definitely didn't hit the right spot. Since then, he never dared to say meaningless nonsense at home.

But this didn't mean He Ying had no enthusiasm for family life. At least He Ying could truly relax at home. When she leaned on Chen Ke, she would always choose the posture she felt most comfortable with. If she got tired of one snuggling posture, she would also change the way to lean together. In short, the two lived so almost plainly, as if this life was eternal.

Chen Ke knew what kind of self-discipline and extremely high quality such plainness was built upon. The vast majority of people will pursue external stimulation. The eyes like to see five colors, the ears like to hear five sounds, and the mouth likes to taste five flavors. If one cannot become one's own master through self-cultivation, then one is destined to become a slave to desire. This is a fundamentally merciless self-war. In terms of self-discipline, Chen Ke dared not say he could surpass He Ying, which was also the reason why Chen Ke liked He Ying extremely. He Ying was not only Chen Ke's wife and life partner but also a mirror for Chen Ke. Chen Ke felt he could learn many things from He Ying that he had always wanted to achieve but failed to notice.

So when the two leaned together quietly, He Ying unexpectedly asked if Chen Ke was worried about something. Chen Ke's first reaction was not feeling that there was someone to confide in. He moved his body slightly uneasily. "Can you tell? Is it obvious?"

"Mn." He Ying responded but didn't pursue.

Chen Ke didn't mention his worries at all, just said, "It seems my cultivation is not enough."

He Ying was silent for a while, and finally said calmly, "As long as you feel at ease, it's fine."

Chen Ke didn't respond to his wife's words. He indeed felt very uneasy. But he couldn't find a way to make himself at ease.

Near Hefei, more precisely near the Chaohu Lake area, there were pyrite and magnetite mines. Chen Ke even roughly knew where they were. He liked to visit friends in the 21st century and had been to Hefei. Everyone also talked about industrial development in various places, and a friend in Hefei happened to mention this matter. For the current Chen Ke, if he didn't know this, he might feel better.

China lacked prospectors. Chen Ke could imagine the difficulty of prospecting. On this issue, he had done his best. As early as the Shanghai era, Chen Ke relied on the Shanghai Renxin Medical College to help build a prospecting school. The person in charge of this major was Yao Hongye.

Yao Hongye was from Xiametang, Yiyang, Hunan. Historically, this brother went to Japan to study in 1904, set up a road and mine school, and was the first to advocate protecting road and mining sovereignty. He joined the Tongmenghui in 1905. In 1906, he returned to China to protest the "Rules for the Regulation of Qing Students" promulgated by the Japanese Ministry of Education aimed at prohibiting the activities of Chinese students. He rented a house in Shanghai with Qiu Jin and Yu Youren to start a school, founding the China Public School, pioneering private new schools. Later, due to difficulties in funding and school buildings, plus slander and rumors, he threw himself into the Huangpu River and died on Qingming Festival (March 7) after Chen Tianhua's coffin arrived in Shanghai.

Regarding such un-famous small figures, Chen Ke naturally didn't know these anecdotes. He only knew that after Chen Tianhua joined the People's Party, naturally there would be no suicide problem. History also changed accordingly. This classmate Yao Hongye did not follow the old path of history either. He returned to Shanghai in December 1905. At this time, Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua were active in Beijing. Yao Hongye first participated in the social investigation activities launched by the People's Party with Qiu Jin. In the social investigation activities, he vigorously lobbied Qi Huishen to fund a mining university. Qi Huishen was very interested in his plan, but Qi Huishen naturally couldn't make decisions on such a big matter easily. After Chen Ke returned to Shanghai from Beijing, Yao Hongye met Chen Ke personally and continued to lobby Chen Ke to open this school. Chen Ke's reply was simple: opening a school was naturally possible, but the main campus of this school must be located in Anhui. Shanghai could only open a branch school.

Yao Hongye's enthusiasm was doused by a basin of cold water. He originally wanted to open a school in Shanghai. He certainly couldn't accept Chen Ke taking them to the remote hinterland of Anhui. However, the situation was stronger than people, and Yao Hongye finally agreed to Chen Ke's request. Plans couldn't keep up with changes. Chen Ke didn't expect to encounter a flood after arriving in Anhui. The plan to move the prospecting school to Anhui also completely failed. Yao Hongye got his wish and opened a mining school in Shanghai.

Now was the time to see if this mining school could help the newborn People's Party complete the iron ore exploration work. Long before the Battle of Hefei, Chen Ke had sent people to notify the Shanghai Party Branch to quickly organize students from the mining school to go to Hefei. Chen Ke didn't want to run back and forth between Fengtai County and Hefei either. Hefei was a newly liberated area, and Chen Ke sitting in Hefei could also look after the local base area construction.

Pyrite is an important raw material for the production of sulfuric acid among the three acids. The slag after desulfurization can be used as raw material for iron smelting. The main component of magnetite is ferroferric oxide, which is an excellent material for iron and steel smelting. The base area currently had no large-scale iron and steel smelting capacity. Even an iron mine with a scale of one million tons, based on the estimated smelting capacity of the base area, could at least allow the entire base area to mine for several years. Moreover, Chen Ke's friend in Anhui said that the Lujiang area was a large vein area, and the ore provided was definitely not just this little bit.

This was the first time Chen Ke faced a field he didn't understand at all and had to hand over the work to others. This also made Chen Ke very uneasy. Once the prospecting was successful, the base area could completely get rid of the demand for external steel. This would be a huge change. With steel, they could start building many mechanical equipments themselves. What this meant for the future needed no emphasis.

Chen Ke didn't have much experience in dealing with people like Yao Hongye. He didn't know how capable Yao Hongye was, and he didn't believe this person could really risk his life to prospect. People like Yao Hongye were traditional petit-bourgeoisie. Their actions were extremely arbitrary; they might have the passion to die recklessly, but lacked the perseverance to endure long-term hard work. When facing hardships, such people would definitely be the first batch of deserters. For the petit-bourgeoisie, Chen Ke always kept a respectful distance. This was not just Chen Ke's cognition; Chen Ke himself used to be such a big bastard. Although the bastard things he did couldn't be said to be endless, Chen Ke recalled his past and surprisingly didn't find many things he could have a clear conscience about.

The simplicity of the common people is because they devote all their energy to life and still cannot guarantee food and clothing. The focus of the big bourgeoisie and big landlords is because they have big businesses. If they play boring tricks, their family businesses will definitely perish. The fanaticism of the petit-bourgeoisie is because they don't have to care too much about life, so they don't care about life at all, but blindly pursue actions of pursuing desires under the name of "making contributions and establishing careers." If a person doesn't care about life at all, he can do any evil thing. Facing a group of bastards who were very likely the same as himself, and having to hand over such important prospecting work to these people, Chen Ke was not reassured at all. But there was no other way recently. He really didn't have trustworthy people in his hands.

"Sleep." Chen Ke said. There was still work to be done tomorrow. If he couldn't rest well, how could he work well?

"Mn." He Ying responded. The two first took off their clothes and put them neatly on the stool beside the bed. After checking that there was nothing needing special attention in the room, they blew out the candle and went to sleep.

Facts indeed did not disappoint Chen Ke. By the end of August, Yao Hongye brought more than a dozen students to the base area. After meeting, Yao Hongye talked big about his admiration for Chen Ke, defeating the Qing army repeatedly, famous and powerful, etc. If it were before, Chen Ke might really care about this nonsense. Now he felt annoyed hearing this nonsense. Chen Ke asked Yao Hongye to come to the base area for prospecting, not to listen to Yao Hongye chatter about revolution.

Suppressing his unhappiness, Chen Ke led the topic to prospecting. "Mr. Yao, we reached an agreement to run a school before. Now is the time for Mr. Yao to exert effort."

"Don't worry, Mr. Chen. I can definitely find big mines and good mines." Yao Hongye was speaking passionately. Hearing Chen Ke mention the school, he became even more triumphant. He immediately poured out his hardships in running the school over the past three to five years to Chen Ke. Chen Ke was originally extremely unhappy in his heart, but after listening for a while, his mood actually brightened, and he laughed loudly with Yao Hongye.

This was not because Chen Ke agreed with Yao Hongye's practice. Chen Ke felt awkward listening to these words at first. Later he discovered that what Mr. Yao Hongye said was what Chen Ke loved to say before: empty content. The whole core, besides proving how hard he worked and how great his contribution was, also intentionally or unintentionally emphasized repeatedly in his words how he was stronger than others and more capable than others.

"So I used to be this kind of stuff." When he discovered this fact, Yao Hongye happened to be talking about his self-proclaimed "brilliance," feeling proud in his heart. Chen Ke couldn't help laughing, and seeing Yao Hongye also wanted to laugh proudly, he simply took this opportunity to laugh out loud. Both were laughing loudly. Chen Ke laughed from the bottom of his heart; the laughter was extremely happy and pure. While Yao Hongye's laughter was full of self-righteous feelings. Compared with Chen Ke's laughter, that feeling of affectation was revealed completely.

The dozen or so students who came with him were basically half-grown teenagers of seventeen or eighteen. Most of them didn't understand what Chen Ke and their principal were laughing at. Chen Ke's gaze swept over casually, and he saw two of the teenagers were different. One had a perfunctory smile piled on his face, but his eyes were full of worry. The other teenager didn't smile at all; he just looked up at Chen Ke, looking thoughtful.

Chen Ke was very satisfied. At least these two shouldn't be mediocre. After stopping his smile, Chen Ke began to ask about what he really cared about. First was the school's textbooks and curriculum. Chen Ke couldn't accept Yao Hongye being a principal in the base area. If such a guy without professional spirit became a principal, there could be no upright academic atmosphere. So Chen Ke must get the textbooks and curriculum.

Yao Hongye didn't understand Chen Ke's meaning at all. While saying he brought them all, he bragged about how advanced these tutorials were and how hard it was to get these tutorials.

Chen Ke nodded calmly, then asked if ore specimens were brought. Hearing this, Yao Hongye was even more proud. He talked about the hardships on the road this time. The box containing ore specimens even fell into the water once. Thanks to everyone rushing into the water to save it, otherwise it would have been terrible.

When mentioning fishing for ore specimens, Yao Hongye's voice paused slightly. Chen Ke saw that several of the dozen students looked at the two distinctive students just now. Chen Ke didn't cast his gaze on those two students. He smiled and said, "The students taught by Mr. Yao are extraordinary. Rare, rare."

Yao Hongye was extremely excited. He turned back and pointed to the student with a fake smile on his face. "This is my student Cheng Xuhu. He was the one who led the way into the water to fish for the box." After saying this, Yao Hongye pointed to the other thoughtful student. "This is my student Linghu Guang. He also helped a lot."

"Hello, two students." Chen Ke then smiled and said to the two.

Hearing Chen Ke speak to them, Cheng Xuhu and Linghu Guang stood up at the same time, saying neither humbly nor arrogantly one after another: "Hello, Chairman Chen." Listening to the accent, Cheng Xuhu actually had a Southern Anhui accent, while the Linghu family almost all gathered in Shanxi, and sure enough, it was a Shanxi Taiyuan accent.

Chen Ke waved for them to sit down, and asked about the school's field trip courses. As Chen Ke thought, the school had never conducted field trip subjects until now. Originally, Chen Ke was very disappointed with Yao Hongye, but seeing these two potentially good students, although Chen Ke didn't change his view of Yao Hongye, the disgust in his heart faded a lot.

Before Chen Ke prepared to let the students of the mining school come to the base area, to understand the situation of the school, Chen Ke specially wrote a letter to Qi Huishen. Qi Huishen replied to Chen Ke with the situation of the school and his own perception. The evaluation of Yao Hongye inside was only four words: "Still usable." Since the disgust was reduced a lot, Chen Ke's mentality also returned to the usual level. He felt that no matter how many problems Yao Hongye had, the credit for pioneering could not be erased. The real reason for Chen Ke's dissatisfaction was just that Yao Hongye didn't meet Chen Ke's expectations. Yao Hongye also wrote the tutorials that should be written, and prepared some of the ore specimens that should be collected. As a principal of a Chinese mining school in 1907, Yao Hongye could not be said to be unqualified.

Thinking of this, Chen Ke breathed a sigh of relief. Although Yao Hongye couldn't become the dean of the Mining Academy in the base area in the future, he could at least continue to stay in Shanghai as the principal of the mining school.

After discussing work, Chen Ke asked the reception staff to receive the group. After the students went out first, Yao Hongye suddenly showed a strange look of bearing a major mission and said to Chen Ke, "Mr. Chen, I have one more thing to tell you."

"What is it?" Chen Ke felt it definitely wouldn't be anything good.

"My classmate studying in Japan was entrusted by Mr. Sun Yat-sen to ask me to deliver a letter to you." After speaking, Yao Hongye took a letter out of his bosom. The excited look on his face proved that he thought this letter was extremely important.

Chen Ke took the letter and didn't open it. He asked, "Does Mr. Yao plan to take my reply with you when you go back?"

Seeing Chen Ke's expression was very gentle, Yao Hongye hurriedly said, "Yes. My classmate in Japan said in the letter to me that Mr. Sun admires your revolutionary feat very much, Mr. Chen, and wants to join hands with you to promote the revolutionary cause. Once you write a reply, I think I can give my classmate a response as soon as possible."

Chen Ke laughed, "Let's not talk about such a big matter for now. Go eat first. I will read this letter specifically tonight."

Seeing Chen Ke call Sun Yat-sen's matter a big matter in his words, Yao Hongye was also happy in his heart. "Good, good. Eat, eat."

When Chen Ke returned to the office after hosting and settling Yao Hongye and his party, it was already late. He greeted He Ying in advance that he wouldn't go back to eat. He Ying expressed that in that case, she would go to the canteen to eat. When Chen Ke returned home, He Ying was already at home. Chen Ke sat down and started reading the letter. After reading it, he turned back and read the key parts of the letter several times. Throwing the letter paper on the table casually, Chen Ke began to ponder the content of the letter.

He Ying walked over naturally, tidied up the letter paper, and placed it on Chen Ke's left hand. Then she asked, "Washing clothes?" Today was laundry day. According to custom, Chen Ke's military uniform needed washing. He took off his military uniform, and He Ying took it and left. She surprisingly didn't say a word about Chen Ke's official business.

"I still lost my composure." Chen Ke criticized himself in his heart. Anger is useless; except for leaking one's emotions, it has no practical significance. He warned himself that after reading a letter in the future, he must put the letter to the left very seriously. Even if the letter was full of nonsense, he couldn't disturb his emotions. After criticizing himself, Chen Ke felt his emotions recovered a lot. He continued to consider the content of the letter.

Sun Yat-sen's letter was very polite. First, he gave Chen Ke a few high hats (flattery), and then talked about the origin between Chen Tianhua and the Tongmenghui. Finally, he invited Chen Ke to join the Tongmenghui and assist in the great cause of revolution together. Grandpa Mao never "assisted" anyone in any great cause. He always advocated "taking me as the main force." Chen Ke praised this attitude very much.

According to the news provided by Chen Ke's intelligence network, big problems had arisen within the Tongmenghui now. The conflict between the Restoration Society (Guangfu Hui) and the Tongmenghui was almost completely public. There was even news that the Restoration Society would withdraw from the Tongmenghui. The People's Party had never had any involvement with the leadership of the Tongmenghui. The Yue Wang Society in Anhui claimed to have joined the Tongmenghui, but this so-called "joining" had no practical significance. The People's Party had cooperated with the Restoration Society many times. Since the Restoration Society was about to fall out with the Tongmenghui, and Chen Ke originally had no intention of cooperating with the Tongmenghui, he would not let the Restoration Society be dissatisfied with the People's Party at this time.

There was no need to think too much about what to do with Sun Yat-sen's invitation. Just write a letter back flattering the other party but without any substantive meaning. But on second thought, with the virtue of secret societies, giving them any chance and excuse would be used to death by them. Don't let it be that he just wanted to show goodwill, but ended up causing other trouble. Now Chen Ke was in Hefei alone. He could handle "foreign affairs" with the Tongmenghui himself; this wasn't a big deal originally. But if any moth (trouble) came out, Chen Ke couldn't explain to the comrades.

Or not reply? Chen Ke thought. But this method obviously wouldn't work either. Chen Ke didn't need to make things so stiff. How to balance all parties? Chen Ke felt his handling method was obviously inappropriate. Chen Ke picked up a piece of paper and divided the interests of all parties on the paper according to "principal contradiction, secondary contradiction, who is the enemy, who is the friend." Chen Ke already understood where his previous mistake was.

Dividing from the perspective of the interests of the People's Party, the People's Party and the Tongmenghui were in a state of actual semi-hostility, while the People's Party and the Restoration Society were in a state of semi-cooperation. In reality, the Tongmenghui and the Restoration Society were in a state of semi-hostility. Then it would be wrong for Chen Ke to contact the Tongmenghui alone, putting aside the Restoration Society.

Thinking of this, Chen Ke already had the final idea. First, write a polite letter full of emptiness to the Tongmenghui. Not replying to the Tongmenghui was not acceptable. Since the Tongmenghui had begun to pay attention to the People's Party, they wouldn't give up just because of one refusal. might as well let them perform.

At the same time, write a letter to the Restoration Society, notifying the Restoration Society about the letter from the Tongmenghui. And invite the Restoration Society to the base area to discuss matters of the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign.

Third, write letters to several main cadres explaining this arrangement and reasons.

Having thought of the solution, Chen Ke felt relaxed in his heart. As for who would deliver the letter to the Tongmenghui. Then wait for these two days to see if Yao Hongye had the ability to prospect on the spot. If not, Yao Hongye could be asked to deliver the letter. The two benefits of doing this were: first, satisfying Yao Hongye's wish to act as a liaison between the People's Party and the Tongmenghui. Second, just separating Yao Hongye from the students of the mining school, Chen Ke could command these students to prospect with relatively scientific methods.

After determining the general steps, Chen Ke considered the interests of all parties again. Feeling that he hadn't made any fundamental mistakes, he began to draft the letters to all parties.

At this time, He Ying had finished washing clothes and returned. Chen Ke knew He Ying had no experience in washing clothes, but coming back so soon was a bit too fast. He glanced at He Ying but didn't say anything. He Ying knew Chen Ke's meaning. She didn't want to say anything at first, but finally, to reassure Chen Ke, she said, "If it's not clean enough, we'll try reducing the interval between washing clothes by one day next time."

Chen Ke was really convinced by his wife's attitude. Since Chen Ke couldn't guarantee that he would wash clothes himself, he knew he absolutely couldn't blame He Ying. So Chen Ke nodded, "Hard work." After speaking, Chen Ke began to write letters.