"I've never been a bad person," Lu Kaiwen said loudly. He hadn't expected the comrade speaking with him to bring up this topic. Ever since he was dismissed for practicing fraud, Lu Kaiwen had been on pins and needles. A proper Regimental Commander, though not reduced to a prisoner, had suddenly been stripped of all duties and forced to undergo investigation and criticism. The most painful part was having to perform "self-criticism."

In Lu Kaiwen's view, making Chairman Chen Ke, whom all comrades respected, feel happy should have been a great achievement. Yet in the eyes of the Political Department comrades, this was precisely an unforgivable sin.

When he was first detained, Lu Kaiwen had tried to argue, and a fierce conflict had erupted.

"What is wrong with wanting to make Chairman Chen happy? With just a little preparation, we could have completed a huge amount of work in a single day. I don't think this even counts as fraud; we really could have done it!" Lu Kaiwen believed he was right.

The Political Department comrade replied, "The daily workload is scheduled. If you disrupt the work schedule, will the subsequent work be affected? It definitely will be. If the comrades of a regiment don't rest well, can everyone truly be happy? If everyone is unhappy, will Chairman Chen be happy? By messing around like this, even if you momentarily deceived Chairman Chen, could the comrades of other units be happy? Comrade Lu Kaiwen, what you wanted wasn't even for Chairman Chen alone to be happy. You wanted the praise and rewards after Chairman Chen was happy. Your personal honor and happiness were built on the unhappiness of many people, even on the unhappiness of all comrades participating in the project. Do you think what you did was right?"

Faced with such a head-on blow, Lu Kaiwen quickly changed his tune. "Our regiment was already doing well; I just wanted to do better. It's almost New Year's, and we'll be resting soon anyway. A moment of fatigue could quickly be recovered from."

"The arrangement of the project progress is planned centrally by the headquarters. It's not something you can just do however you want. If you say this now, why didn't you submit an adjustment to the work progress to the headquarters earlier? Why did you suddenly act on your own authority? Comrade Lu Kaiwen, you are being dishonest. You made a mistake earlier, and instead of hurrying to recognize this mistake, you continue to weave excuses. You are continuing to make mistakes. If you still want to continue proving that your actions were correct, then stop speaking. We aren't stopping you because we won't listen to your explanation, but because continuing to speak like this will do you no good."

Since the conversation had reached this point, the fierce confrontation temporarily ceased.

In several subsequent conversations, Lu Kaiwen first insisted he was not wrong. Later, seeing he couldn't out-argue the Political Department comrades, he reluctantly admitted he had done some things inadequately. But even so, Lu Kaiwen still emphasized that he had merit and had performed excellently throughout the project. Moreover, his intention was not to deceive Chairman Chen Ke, but only to make Chairman Chen Ke happy.

Since Lu Kaiwen still could not recognize his error, the discussion could not proceed. Every conversation was recorded. When Political Department Director Chen Tianhua read Lu Kaiwen's interview record, he couldn't help but write a comment on it: "Dishonest!"

The Political Department comrades naturally felt Lu Kaiwen was dishonest, but they had originally thought that as a Regimental Commander, he couldn't possibly be dishonest to this extent. But as the talks went on, Lu Kaiwen's refusal to admit mistakes when facing problems not only made the comrades angry but even gave them a sense of disgust.

Political Department Director Chen Tianhua arranged for comrades to explain the concept that "the organization does not view comrades as bad people" to those undergoing rectification. The comrades responsible for talking to Lu Kaiwen felt uncertain about this. Sure enough, as soon as they said they didn't consider Lu Kaiwen a bad person, Lu Kaiwen immediately perked up as if clutching a life-saving straw.

"I've never been a bad person. I had no bad intentions in what I did..." Lu Kaiwen said loudly.

"Comrade Lu Kaiwen! Calm down first!" The Political Department comrade immediately interrupted him. "The organization does not consider comrades to be bad people. But the organization also does not believe that not being a bad person means you are a good person. We are talking about problems; we don't care if you are a good or bad person! Just because you are a good person doesn't mean you have no errors. You must recognize the errors you have committed!"

After several days of see-saw battles, Lu Kaiwen didn't dare insist he was faultless. He mumbled somewhat, "What I did indeed made Chairman Chen angry, and it made the comrades of brother units unhappy. I indeed did wrong in this point."

Seeing Lu Kaiwen finally make some progress and admit he was in the wrong, the Political Department comrades felt it was still far from a profound realization. One comrade said somewhat impatiently, "What exactly was wrong? You clearly haven't recognized your error."

The Political Department comrade responsible for the interview waited for the first comrade to finish speaking before opening his mouth. "Comrade Lu Kaiwen, I want to know, what exactly do you care about? Is it your position as Regimental Commander? Do you think that after admitting your mistake, you won't be able to keep this position?"

The Political Department comrades were not only talking to Lu Kaiwen; they had to interview many comrades. These interviews not only enriched the Political Department's experience, but also revealed that comrades like Lu Kaiwen were not a minority. When some comrades who had thoroughly recognized their errors and sincerely admitted them described their ideological changes, quite a few frankly admitted, "I was worried that after admitting the mistake, my official position would be lost. I felt that if I could gloss over my mistake, I could still be reinstated."

The comrades interviewing Lu Kaiwen believed he had this same mindset. Some comrades thought they should just tell Lu Kaiwen bluntly that he shouldn't dream of keeping the Regimental Commander position. But the Political Department didn't want to be so harsh. If this was explained clearly, Lu Kaiwen might just give up on himself when admitting his error. Lu Kaiwen could give up on himself, but the Political Department comrades still wanted to save him. As long as he could recognize he was wrong, truly admit the error, not keep the official position in his heart, but dig deep into the ideological roots and work with the Political Department comrades to understand why he committed such an error.

If he could do that, it would show that Lu Kaiwen was still a qualified revolutionary comrade. Who in this world doesn't make mistakes? If one mistake meant being beaten to death, the People's Party could just kill themselves off first. Even Chairman Chen Ke wouldn't be spared.

However, Lu Kaiwen's performance increasingly made the Political Department comrades feel he truly belonged to the incorrigible category. Even so, they were unwilling to provoke him too much. "Do you think that after admitting your mistake, you won't be able to keep this position?" was already a very subtle way of putting it.

Hearing this, Lu Kaiwen was first stunned. Then his face became extremely ugly. After a long while, he struggled to say, "I have established great merit for the organization. I followed Chairman Chen as a soldier, and I have never feared death in battle. I also care about the comrades and have never been corrupt. I earned this Regimental Commander position with my sword and gun."

The Political Department comrade said gently, "Comrade Lu Kaiwen, the organization recognized your command ability, recognized your past outstanding performance, and recognized your exemplary leading role. That is why you were appointed to the position of Regimental Commander. The organization did not fail to see your past work. Therefore, the result of your past hard work was becoming a Regimental Commander. But that matter has ended here. Don't you feel that way?"

Lu Kaiwen's face turned somewhat pale. He lowered his head and was silent for a long time before looking up and asking, "Then is my merit only worth this one Regimental Commander position? Are my past merits written off at one stroke?"

Seeing Lu Kaiwen finally speak his true feelings, the Political Department comrade felt relieved. His attitude became even gentler. "Comrade Lu Kaiwen, the organization wants us to make it clear to the comrades this time that your achievements will absolutely not be erased. Because it is precisely the hard work of thousands of Party members, cadres, and soldiers that has created the present People's Party and base areas. You participated in creating the history of the People's Party, and you participated in creating the history of China. Closing your eyes doesn't mean it's dark. We not only remember everything you have done, but we also have a specialized Cultural and Historical Office. It is all recorded in the history books of our People's Party."

Hearing this, Lu Kaiwen's expression looked slightly better.

"However, why is history called history? Because it has already ended. No one can go back to yesterday and live it again. We are not talking about your glorious history now; we are talking about the mistake you committed. Up to now, you either talk about personal thoughts or irrelevant history. This is not an attitude to solve the problem. This solves absolutely nothing. The organization removed you from your position, and we came to talk to you about your error of practicing fraud. And based on the principle of criticism and self-criticism, the organization hopes you can clarify your error, find the ideological root, and not commit this kind of error again in the future."

Lu Kaiwen's face turned ugly again. He was silent for a long time before saying, "So my position as Regimental Commander has already been removed? I am nothing now?"

The Political Department comrade couldn't help but sigh. "The order to suspend your duties as Regimental Commander was announced at that time. This means you have long since ceased to be the Regimental Commander."

"Then... then some comrades who came to see me, why did they still address me as Commander Lu?" Lu Kaiwen asked, his lips trembling.

Looking at Lu Kaiwen's miserable state, the Political Department comrade didn't know what expression to use. He could only say gently, "Why the comrades who came to visit you called you that is their own choice. But in terms of organizational relations, you have long since ceased to be the Regimental Commander. Please be clear on this point."

Lu Kaiwen's lips trembled violently. He stared blankly for a long while, then suddenly began to weep aloud.