There is never a shortage of people in this world who like to fan the flames. Even within the People's Party and the base areas, there were quite a few such scoundrels. The information sent to Wang Youhong first went out as a brief telegram, followed by the formal documents sent via express mail. Even before Wang Youhong had seen the official written notice, rumors that "the base area is going to war with Jiangsu" had already spread within the base area. The People's Internal Affairs Committee reported the latest intelligence to Chen Ke, and Chen Ke's order came down immediately. "Find every single one of those spreading and inventing rumors!"

While employing intense measures of action, Chen Ke convened a meeting of the Party Central Committee. "I want to ask the comrades a question: should Party discipline be observed?"

Seeing Chen Ke so furious, everyone thought something major had happened. "What exactly is going on?"

"Have you all heard the rumors from the last two days?" Chen Ke asked coldly.

"The matter of using troops against Jiangsu?" Wu Xingchen, who was responsible for military work in Shandong, was most sensitive to this.

"How did this news get out?" Chen Ke continued to ask.

The cadres of the Central Committee and the Huaihai Provincial Committee looked at each other; they didn't know either. Quite a few comrades who had talked about this news as a bit of gossip began to reflect on what role they had played in this.

"Rumors are like this: you say one thing, and by the time it spreads, it's ten. At every Party committee meeting, we require a specification of how widely a piece of news can be discussed and in what scope it is forbidden. This matter did not go through the Party committee, and now such a situation has arisen. I want to know who was talking loosely about this."

None of the comrades dared to speak up. This accusation could be large or small, but in fact, many people had mentioned this matter to those around them as a joke. Because it really was quite something in this era for Wang Youhong to try and take a base area schoolteacher as a concubine. Everyone had the urge to gossip; encountering such a "fun" thing and not talking about it felt like having straw stuck in one's heart—an itchy discomfort. But seeing Chen Ke so angry, no one dared to come forward and admit what they had said.

"I have already entrusted the comrades of the People's Internal Affairs Committee to start investigating this, and they are tracing it backward. I just want to see exactly how this matter leaked out," Chen Ke said coldly. "I also want to see how many people in this matter will tell the truth, how many will refuse to admit it, or out of fear of offending others, use lies to deceive the organization."

As soon as these words were spoken, the comrades who originally hadn't taken the matter seriously were stunned. Spreading rumors wasn't something the Party had specific targeted punishments for yet, but deceiving the organization—that was a major issue. Unfortunately, once questioned about such things, many people would instinctively want to lie.

"Chairman Chen, could this be..." Wu Xingchen was a bit worried. After Pang Zi heard this news, he had excitedly run over to talk to him about how he had rescued Comrade Li Nana back then. Furthermore, Pang Zi was a bit face-conscious in his daily life; if he were questioned directly, he might really tell a lie.

"The organization will not make things difficult for anyone, but the organization cannot just turn a blind eye to erroneous actions. Commander Wu, what do you think of this practice of spreading rumors?" Chen Ke asked.

"...It indeed is not right to speak loosely," Wu Xingchen replied.

"Since it indeed isn't right to speak loosely, then shouldn't there be criticism and education after such loose talk?" Chen Ke pressed on.

"...What exactly should the punishment be?" Wu Xingchen asked a key question.

"Criticism and self-criticism; we must make them recognize their own thought patterns," Chen Ke gave the answer.

One of the many inferences of 21st-century human behavioral studies suggested that human brain thinking is by no means a "data-calculating mode" like that of a computer, but rather a "patterned thinking"—that is, first deciding on several key points and the interests and priorities between those points. For anything that happens, the brain looks for similarities between it and those key points, and based on the degree of similarity, applies its own thought pattern.

As the old Chinese saying goes, "Mountains and rivers are easy to change, but nature is hard to move." Once a person's thought pattern is established, destroying that pattern is equivalent to destroying that person's own self-perception. Based on the problem that "a system cannot recognize its own existence," even for highly intelligent primates like humans, it is extremely difficult to completely and spontaneously recognize one's own thought pattern and purposefully transform it at this stage. If the transformation is successful, it is equivalent to a rebirth.

Within the People's Party, there were two units that inherited the research directions pointed out by Chen Ke and conducted in-depth analysis and application. One was the political work system, and the other was the People's Internal Affairs Committee. These two systems respectively engaged in the bright and dark sides of this research direction. Chen Ke wasn't entirely sure about using the dark side of a coercive apparatus to deal with the dark side of his comrades' psychology this time. Would this collision make the comrades suddenly realize their errors? Or would it lead to fierce confrontation? Or even worse, a state of self-abandonment?

One of the social characteristics of humans as a species is the "unwillingness to admit one's behavior is wrong." Yet, from an organizational perspective, irresponsible rumor-mongering is absolutely wrong. Those who can calmly admit their behavioral errors and immediately correct them are truly too few. It requires a powerful inner strength. How could someone with such qualities easily commit a low-level error like spreading rumors?

What the rectification campaign aimed to do was to establish a correct thought pattern in the consciousness. This was a fundamental correction of human self-perception, requiring logic to completely override behavioral impulses and social nature to thoroughly suppress biological nature. It could be called a profound ideological transformation.

Even if this level of self-recognition and self-transformation couldn't be achieved, discipline had to be made to completely override all actions. The so-called iron organizational discipline was also a formidable task.

If someone could achieve discipline, then at the very least they could enter the ranks of the ruling class. If someone could achieve the former, they would undoubtedly become rulers. To rule others, one must first learn to rule oneself and become one's own master. This was the only way to become part of the ruling class. It was also the core program of all education promoted within the education system after the founding of New China: "to cultivate qualified builders and reliable successors of socialism."

Why did the same education system produce students who were worlds apart? Because some children viewed receiving this education as a form of torture, while others believed the system was guiding them forward. Whether the comrades of the People's Party viewed this rectification as "torture" or "guidance," Chen Ke truly could not be certain.

In any case, the moment the People's Party's letter to Wang Youhong was sent out, this rectification and the action to implement the concept of "everyone is equal" officially began. Although it was somewhat rushed, Chen Ke was unwilling to prepare any further. The more one knew how much pressure this action would face, the more one would fear it. Better to do it and regret than to not do it and regret.

Chen Ke had resigned himself to this fate.

Wang Youhong clearly had no intention of resigning himself to fate; in fact, he personally didn't understand at all what Chen Ke was trying to do.

When the People's Party's telegram was delivered to Wang Youhong, he was quite startled. In his thought pattern, the reason the People's Party was making such a big deal out of this was likely that Gu Wei was a high-level cadre of the People's Party or had been noticed by some high-level cadre.

When the formal document from the People's Party reached Wang Youhong, he was furious. If he understood the document correctly, he found that he had actually been deceived by Gu Wei's father, Gu Renyu. The People's Party's laws strictly prohibited the trafficking of people, and even more strictly prohibited arranged marriages, resolutely opposing forced marriages. Any marriage within the People's Party base areas had to be registered with the Base Area Civil Affairs Bureau; only if the Civil Affairs Bureau agreed to the marriage was it considered legally valid. Otherwise, all marriages were illegal.

These regulations might not be effective against mountain villagers, but Wang Youhong was a great figure of status. The People's Party gave Wang Youhong face, saying nothing about the position he occupied in this matter, but they demanded that Wang Youhong send the criminal suspect Gu Renyu back to the base area.

Wang Youhong was a genuine great figure. At his level, ordinary praise and blame had no meaning. People obeyed Wang Youhong because of the power in his hands. Anyone who needed to use the power in Wang Youhong's hands could only bow their head to him. It was because he deeply recognized this fact that Wang Youhong opposed anything and anyone that affected his power. "Don't bring me trouble" was the common mindset of these holders of great power. As for whether he could successfully take a concubine, Wang Youhong really didn't take it to heart.

Originally, Wang Youhong's hope to take a People's Party schoolteacher as a concubine was entirely to learn the knowledge of the People's Party. So many people, in order to curry favor with Wang Youhong, wanted to send their daughters to be his concubines, but Wang Youhong had rejected them all. Among them were many young women from student backgrounds. Only now did he realize why everyone said there were so many female students and teachers in the People's Party base areas. These women appeared in public and even became officials of quite high status in the People's Party government. But none of these women ever ran out of the People's Party base areas. It turned out the People's Party had long ago established laws prohibiting these people from marrying outside.

And Gu Renyu, who wanted to seek personal gain by offering his daughter—this wasn't flattering Wang Youhong at all; it was fundamentally entrapping him.

Without a second word, Wang Youhong summoned the Director of the Jiangsu Provincial Police Department, Yu Chen, and handed the matter over to him to handle.

"Governor Wang, how do you intend to handle this?" Yu Chen never expected that Wang Youhong would actually "soften."

Although Wang Youhong usually valued Yu Chen, he was also extremely annoyed by this stupid question. He sneered, "This law of the People's Party is written clearly. They promulgated relevant contents of the 'Marriage Law' back in '07 and '08. Director Yu, how do you want to handle it?"

Yu Chen, of course, didn't dare to ask about Wang Youhong's "face" issue to his face; that would be too tactless. Furthermore, Yu Chen himself maintained an ascetic attitude. Yu Chen personally did not oppose the contents of the People's Party's marriage law.

"But the betrothal gifts have already been sent. Should we first have the Gu family return them?" Yu Chen had to remind Wang Youhong.

The reason Wang Youhong chose Yu Chen to be the Police Director was because he valued Yu Chen's style of not fearing the powerful and being decisive. Originally, hearing Yu Chen's words, Wang Youhong suspected Yu Chen had become slippery. But once Yu Chen mentioned the betrothal gifts, Wang Youhong suddenly understood. He replied irritably, "I don't want the betrothal gifts back. Give them to that man named Gu as travel expenses."

Yu Chen was not angry; he said seriously, "Governor Wang, one thing is one thing. I know you are a generous person, and you won't make things difficult for that man named Gu whether he returns the gifts or not. However, that man named Gu can keep every penny, but he must go through the act of returning the gifts. Otherwise, if word gets out, it will be said that you are the one who lacks etiquette."

Despite agreeing with Yu Chen's viewpoint, Wang Youhong still extremely detested Gu Renyu. He said coldly, "I don't want to see that man named Gu again. Director Yu, you handle this matter."

Yu Chen also detested Gu Renyu for selling his daughter for glory. Having received Wang Youhong's instructions, Yu Chen immediately went out to handle the business.

This news quickly spread through the upper-class circles, with all sorts of versions, of course. It wasn't just the humans in the base areas who liked to spread rumors; outside the base areas, and even in this world, rumor-mongering is a part of human nature. It doesn't differ because of skin color or race.

The People's Party representatives stationed in Nanjing were also analyzing this matter. They had taken a fierce lashing from the Central Committee. The comrades felt quite aggrieved. But the Central Committee's criticism was well-founded and supported by evidence; the phrase "failing to study the law and not understanding the law" left these comrades speechless. They indeed knew that Wang Youhong was attempting to take a concubine and that the target was a schoolteacher from the base area. These comrades believed that, after all, they were in Jiangsu, which was Wang Youhong's territory. Some things were truly hard to interfere with. Holding the attitude that one less thing is better than one more, they had turned a blind eye to it.

But the document from the Central Committee asked one question: "Wang Youhong doesn't have a base area household registration, but Comrade Gu Wei does. For anyone holding a base area household registration, no matter where they are, our base area has an obligation to them. She might not request it herself, but as an external agency, you cannot see it and pretend you didn't!"

These comrades felt very aggrieved, but they also accepted it. In this matter, they had an inescapable responsibility. The simple fact of knowing but not reporting was not a small issue. After all, they were comrades who had grown up within the People's Party and knew the concept that "a sage does not commit the same mistake twice." Since they had erred before, they naturally could not continue to err afterward.

Follow-up intelligence regarding the Gu Wei incident began to be transmitted very quickly toward the base area. Through this intelligence, the base area intelligence departments became interested in this man named Yu Chen.