The news of Chen Ke’s meeting with Li Nana quickly spread through the Huaihai Provincial Party Committee.

The People’s Party’s main force had begun to shift toward internal construction; this was the direction recently established by the Central Committee. Since it was a strategic direction proposed by Chairman Chen and fully agreed upon by the Party Central Committee after discussion, no one would oppose it. Shang Yuan, the Secretary of the Huaihai Provincial Party Committee, however, did not quite understand what this "internal construction" actually entailed.

Chen Ke’s current secretaries worked in three shifts. Every day, Chen Ke generally slept three times, for a total of eight hours of sleep. After waking up, there were two hours for meals and other necessary daily activities. The rest was entirely dedicated to work. Rather than a revolutionary leader, Chen Ke now felt more like the largest and busiest administrative officer in the base area.

"The government system must have its own institutions. Building these institutions is the top priority. I am currently working hard to build this, and the comrades also need to work together to build this system," Chen Ke would say in a flat tone whenever Shang Yuan urged him to rest. At night, Chen Ke would sleep from 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM. Then he would get up to start handling official business. From 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM, he would sleep for another hour and a half, then get up at 7:30 AM.

Shang Yuan managed to find Chen Ke before 9:00 AM. "Chairman Chen, what is your actual view on this matter? Are we going to use military force against Jiangsu?"

"To solve this specific case, a letter is enough. There's no need to escalate it to the level of war," Chen Ke’s answer was very simple. It was just that based on the patterns everyone had summarized, Shang Yuan knew that the calmer Chen Ke’s expression was, the more serious the matter was. Now, Chen Ke’s expression was so calm that not even a ripple could be seen, which meant the follow-up to this matter was not just a question of a single letter.

"Then where is the problem?" Shang Yuan disliked beating around the bush; he asked very directly.

Chen Ke still asked with a calm expression: "Comrade Shang Yuan, if someone hadn't brought this matter to light like this, how much importance do you think our comrades would have attached to the fact that Gu Wei was coerced?"

"This is a civil case, not a criminal case," Shang Yuan chose a very skillful answer. The People's Party's attitude toward criminal cases was exceptionally serious; while it couldn't be said they never made a mistake, they never failed to "give an account." The attitude toward civil cases was completely different, still focusing on mediation. After all, even an upright official finds it difficult to settle family disputes.

"Do you really think so?" A hint of a mocking smile finally appeared on Chen Ke's face.

"Then how should I understand it correctly? Please speak directly," Shang Yuan asked.

"This matter looks like a forced marriage, but at its core, there is an issue of equality between men and women. Within our base area, within our People's Party itself, how many comrades truly believe that everyone should be equal, that men and women should be equal? Men are human beings, and women are equally human beings." Chen Ke's attitude finally became intense, and his tone was full of mockery.

Shang Yuan certainly would not despise or discriminate against female cadres within the Party and government, nor would he discriminate against female laborers in the base area. However, faced with the issue of gender equality, he did not have his own clear understanding. "Be more specific," Shang Yuan followed the People's Party internal custom and put forward a new request.

Within the People's Party, "iron discipline" was emphasized. To maintain this iron discipline, there had to be "systems." In terms of system building, especially in conversations and Q&A, when encountering something unclear, the Party required the use of unambiguous standard terms such as "speak directly," "be more specific," "are you talking about theory or reality," and so on. Just as in ordinary conversation, one should use "hello," "thank you," "goodbye," etc. No matter how high the official or how senior the position, they all had to speak this way. Opposing empty talk and opposing baseless guessing were issues the Party strictly enforced.

Since Shang Yuan did not understand Chen Ke's meaning, he naturally discussed it using this standard Q&A method.

"At this stage, we oppose human trafficking. If human traffickers are caught in the base area, they are killed. Everyone knows this," Chen Ke also answered completely according to the conversational requirements.

Shang Yuan nodded slightly. Years ago, when the base area was gathering orphans, it was misunderstood that they were going to sell the children; the lesson from that incident was too deep for everyone. Later, the base area changed its approach and implemented a cruel crackdown on human trafficking. After a large-scale execution, they finally managed to temporarily ban human trafficking.

"We can ban outsiders from trafficking people, which to some extent eliminates inequality. The masses can also understand and accept our actions of killing human traffickers. But to what extent do the masses accept the many unequal privileges parents have over their children? Comrade Shang Yuan, what is your view on this?"

Shang Yuan already knew what Chen Ke wanted to say. "Chairman Chen, are you talking about equality for everyone before the People's Party, or equality for everyone before the law? At this stage, for us to make the masses accept that the state's power over family members overrides the clan's power over family members—this is indeed very difficult. Not to mention family members in leadership positions cannot accept it; even family members in subordinate positions find it hard to accept."

"This is the so-called problem of equality. Theoretically speaking, everyone is equal. In actual operation, the most basic unit of society is the family, not the individual. This directly leads to many current realistic problems. In the process of promoting equality, the government must seize many powers that originally belonged to family members. In this process, our enemy is no longer some counter-revolutionary, but existing social awareness; our enemy is even the masses. That's why I say this matter is not that simple."

Coming from an old bureaucratic background, Shang Yuan's life experience told him that the people were the government's greatest opponents. After joining the People's Party, Shang Yuan accepted the concept of the people being supporters. However, hearing Chen Ke put the people on the opposing side, Shang Yuan was not surprised. Instead, he felt that Chen Ke was by no means an ignorant young man who didn't understand the world, but a true politician.

"If my son doesn't listen to me, I can't accept it either. If the government sticks its nose in, I'll find it even more unacceptable," Shang Yuan laughed.

Chen Ke would never oppose Shang Yuan's honest attitude. Never mind Shang Yuan; even in 21st-century China, parents believed their power over their children completely overrode the state and government. Regarding the social model like that of the United States, opponents were not in the minority. Of course, Chen Ke's philosophy was not that he had privileges over children, but that he had obligations toward children.

"So in this matter, if we just want to solve the specific problem, let alone rescuing Comrade Gu Wei, even catching Wang Youhong and cutting him into a thousand pieces is something we can do; it's not a very difficult thing. But the essential problem contained in this matter—the problem of equality—is definitely not that simple. We cannot ignore this matter, but if we handle it, it will strongly conflict with many basic concepts of the base area. Wang Youhong happens to be afraid to oppose us in this matter; our enemy is the concepts and awareness existing within the base area."

"Changing customs and habits is not something that happens overnight. Let alone the masses in the base area, there will be no shortage of opposing comrades within the Party," Shang Yuan laughed. He was smiling, but the emotion revealed was the high spirits characteristic of facing a strong enemy.

"This is what I think: we cannot pin the responsibility on Wang Youhong. Because Wang Youhong is not someone from our base area. If there's responsibility and we don't pinpoint the focus of the contradiction, but instead pin all the responsibility on outsiders based on proximity or distance, I think doing so is completely wrong."

"Then are we going to deal with Comrade Gu Wei's father first?" Shang Yuan understood why Chen Ke was so emotional; this way of handling things would indeed trigger great opposition among the people.

"Wang Youhong isn't buying a person and taking a concubine in our base area; he's doing it in Jiangsu. Taking the laws of our base area to another province—this really is an error in the scope of legal application," there was a strong sense of helplessness in Chen Ke's tone.

"Chairman Chen, don't you usually like to criticize Xu Dian? Looking at what you just said, you sound even more law-abiding than Xu Dian," Shang Yuan laughed.

"Comrade Xu Dian is just a bit foolish; his reading makes him only focus on his own thoughts. In other aspects, I still appreciate Comrade Xu Dian very much," Chen Ke replied with a smile.

How could Shang Yuan not hear Chen Ke's protection of Xu Dian and his subtle warning? He just smiled and avoided the topic. "Then, Chairman Chen, how do you plan to handle this within the Party and the base area? Do you have determined steps yet?"

"This matter must start within the Party. We've been promoting equality for several years; now it's truly time for equality. This is a genuine touchstone. I'm actually looking forward to it." Chen Ke's expression finally calmed down. "Comrade Shang Yuan, you need to keep today's conversation confidential. We will start discussing this matter from the Party Central Committee first."

Shang Yuan nodded heavily. He shifted the topic again: "How did Comrade Gu Wei manage to send the message back?"

"Having knowledge really makes a difference; I really appreciate this comrade's alertness." Talking about this, Chen Ke became happy. He took out a letter and handed it to Shang Yuan.

The letter talked about very normal things. Gu Wei told Li Nana that she might be getting married; her parents had found a good family for her in Nanjing. If she got married, she wouldn't be able to see Li Nana anymore. The letter expressed her miss for Li Nana and mentioned the songs they used to study together, along with a few lyrics. The lyrics were in Pinyin. A long passage was written. Shang Yuan also knew Pinyin, but no matter how he read this passage of Pinyin, it didn't sound right.

"Spell it backward," Chen Ke explained to the confused Shang Yuan.

With great effort, spelling backward from the last Pinyin letter, Shang Yuan finally managed to spell out a sentence with a mix of reading and guessing: "My father is going to sell me to the Jiangsu Military Governor Wang Youhong as a concubine. You must let the government come to save me. I don't want to be someone's concubine. Please."

Seeing this, Shang Yuan nodded repeatedly. "Comrade Gu Wei is indeed extraordinary; this cleverness alone is much stronger than many of the foolish boys in our government. We must save her."

"I think so too," Chen Ke also nodded in agreement.

"How should the letter to Wang Youhong be written? In whose name will it be sent?" Shang Yuan asked.

"Write this letter in the name of the Ministry of Public Security. Tell Wang Youhong that Comrade Gu Wei's father has violated the laws of our base area. Copy that part of the law for Wang Youhong. Ask Wang Youhong to cooperate with us in sending the criminal suspect, Comrade Gu Wei's father Gu Renyu, back to the base area to stand trial. And send Comrade Gu Wei back to us as well."