Diplomatic personnel came and went quickly. After March 1913, Wuhan, once a destination for Asian diplomats, quieted down. British threats and American suggestions seemed to vanish as if they had never happened. Chen Ke didn't care about this at all; the history of New China proved one thing: as long as China could solve its own problems, the foreigners would come knocking on their own accord.

Even without American loans, the price of American machinery plummeted during the economic crisis. With no way to sell factory products and bankruptcy looming, who cared about price? Wang Bin had already set off for the United States, and the People's Party's trade department in the US was receiving dozens, sometimes hundreds, of American equipment suppliers every day. A brutal price-cutting war was waged among merchants, their only goal to quickly offload the equipment in their hands. The People's Party representatives were frightened by this aggressive situation and urgently cabled the base area, hoping Wang Bin would hurry to the US to take charge.

The comrades of the National Defense Science and Industry Commission (NDSIC) were naturally jubilant. Given the current situation, the many equipment shortages facing the base area should be greatly alleviated. But Chen Ke poured a bucket of cold water on them right from the start.

"What are the basic elements of an industrial system?" Chen Ke asked. Over the years, the comrades of the NDSIC had gradually come to realize how cruel the "exam-oriented education" Chen Ke had undergone was. Mainstream private schools in Europe and America were all exam-oriented; whether students understood was not the issue, whether they could recite it was another matter.

You Gou had excellent grades, and she immediately answered, "Manpower, logistics, supporting facilities, organization."

Chen Ke nodded heavily. "Very good. Let's talk about manpower first. With so much equipment coming in, do we have enough manpower to operate it? And regarding logistics, can we satisfy the raw material requirements for this equipment?"

The comrades of the NDSIC fell silent. These problems had once tortured the NDSIC to the point where they wished they were dead.

"Comrades, there is no need to worry. The American goods are piled up there; the equipment isn't going anywhere. It will be shipped to us sooner or later. If I were to demand that steel production be increased to 1.2 million tons within three years now... the moment I left, you would immediately call the schools and the army without a second thought. You don't have enough people right now. Manpower, especially the number of laborers who have received an education and can meet factory requirements, is insufficient. This is already the biggest bottleneck restricting our work."

The People's Party had been committed to promoting compulsory education since the establishment of the Fengtai Base Area. Most comrades had supported Chen Ke's decision in the initial stages based on a moral perspective. With the development of the industrial sector, the role of compulsory education for the labor force became increasingly obvious. The base area now graduated over 50,000 middle school students annually, and various departments snatched these children up in the blink of an eye. They only complained about having too few people, never too many.

"Chairman Chen, you vowed to liberate women, yet the number of female teachers has not seen a significant increase. Can you explain the reason for this?" You Gou asked.

At the mention of this issue, Chen Ke became quite annoyed. His understanding of the rural situation was insufficient, and the People's Party had made significant deviations in their judgment of rural conditions. The low status of women in this era was something Chen Ke had not previously imagined. The concept that women were not treated as people with equal status to men, but rather as family property, was deeply ingrained.

The Party Secretary of the NDSIC was You Gou, meaning she stood above many men. But in reality, simply because of her female identity, there were people who wanted to unseat her. This rectification movement specifically emphasized the issue of gender equality. If other discussions were considered intense, discussions on gender equality were rare. Chen Ke knew the reason: men's positions on neglecting women were relatively consistent. So no one wanted to discuss this issue.

Hearing You Gou fiercely criticize the lack of female education leading to a shortage of female labor, and seeing that no other comrades in the NDSIC said a word, Chen Ke couldn't help but feel surprised. He replied, "I will go back and study this issue."

Upon returning, Chen Ke ordered the Ministry of Education's statistical data to be brought to him. A single read confirmed that the problem You Gou raised was indeed quite obvious. Primary school education, which had implemented compulsory education, had a very high enrollment rate. Some old base areas in the plains even reached 100%. After all, primary schools provided meals, and the enrollment age was seven, not yet the age for labor, so such a high enrollment rate was not surprising. But opening the middle school enrollment gender ratio, Chen Ke was stunned. The male-to-female ratio in middle schools reached an astonishing 10:1. You Gou said the number of female teachers hadn't increased; without many female students, where would so many female teachers come from?

Chen Ke called his secretary. "Have the Statistics Bureau summarize a portion of the charts regarding enrollment gender ratios by region."

"By what unit? County, township, or village?" the secretary asked.

"By county," Chen Ke said, his tone full of anger. Women's liberation, women's liberation. After years of liberation, this was the result. In *A Madman's Diary*, Lu Xun had shouted "Save the children." If girls couldn't go to middle school and couldn't engage in more social labor, how would they view women's liberation? Thinking of this, Chen Ke added, "Compile a statistic on the employment ratio within state-owned enterprises in each county as well!"

The Statistics Bureau had abundant data and submitted a statistical report on the third day. After reading it, Chen Ke slammed the data hard onto the table. Even that didn't vent his anger, so he pounded it a few more times with his fist. The secretary saw how furious Chen Ke was, but still said with professional duty, "Chairman Chen, the meeting is about to start." Yet, there was fear in his voice.

"Bring these materials along," Chen Ke said, pointing at the pile of statistical data.

At the Central Committee meeting, Chen Ke first showed the statistical data to the comrades. Some comrades hadn't paid much attention to education issues before and were beaming with joy seeing that most children had received primary school compulsory education. Some comrades, seeing Chen Ke's gloomy face, deliberately scrutinized the data a few times but couldn't spot the problem.

"Chairman Chen, the establishment of compulsory school education is long-term work; it can't be rushed," Lu Huitian advised.

"I know it can't be rushed. I know even better how much money and manpower it takes to build this system," Chen Ke said seriously. "But I have a question. Why is the female enrollment ratio so low starting from middle school?"

Now the comrades understood what Chen Ke was angry about. Everyone looked at the data again, and everyone's expression changed.

"Among the several basic programs of our People's Party, promoting gender equality is one of them. Now, I don't want to criticize anyone, especially not the comrades in the Education Department. The comrades in the Education Department deserve praise for submitting this data realistically. These figures let us see the facts clearly. I haven't said this before, and everyone has absolutely never made such a mistake. So I'm not targeting anyone, but I must say this upfront. If anyone dares to falsify statistical data to muddle through or fabricate achievements, that is absolutely unacceptable and must be severely punished."

Chen Ke's anger was very rare. Among the attending Central Committee members, it wasn't that no one felt the statistics were too honest and thought perhaps they should have been embellished a bit. But hearing Chen Ke's words, these representatives felt a chill in their hearts.

Regardless of what these comrades thought, Chen Ke didn't have time to observe closely. He suppressed his anger and said, "I know that liberating women, promoting gender equality, and protecting the rights and interests of women and children will inevitably trigger significant conflicts. To fully implement such policies takes time and, even more, a good environment. So when formulating relevant policies, we indeed had certain reservations. Now we are facing war, and the biggest fear is the outbreak of internal conflicts. It would be best to implement such policies after unifying the whole country. However, after seeing this statistical data, I feel it is necessary to reflect and adjust. So let's discuss it."

The comrades of the Central Committee hadn't expected Chen Ke to raise such a topic. Everyone could understand gender equality based on labor equality and tried their best to maintain this equality. But gender equality in education had never been within everyone's scope of consideration. Looking at this sudden data, many comrades failed to even understand the problem. All eyes fell on the face of Minister of Education Feng Shengxi.

Feng Shengxi was the newly promoted Minister of Education. Previously, education was managed by Yan Fu, and later temporarily transferred to Feng Xu. Now Feng Shengxi had taken over for less than half a year. Although Chen Ke had stated he was definitely not criticizing the comrades of the Ministry of Education, being watched by so many people, Feng Shengxi couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"This has nothing to do with Comrade Feng Shengxi. This is the government's work; the Ministry of Education can't forcibly drag people to school," Chen Ke quickly relieved Feng Shengxi of the pressure. Feng Shengxi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but before he could fully relax, he noticed the comrades' gazes had turned to Hubei Provincial Party Secretary Lu Huitian.

Lu Huitian, being a clever man, saw everyone looking at him and immediately kicked the ball back to Chen Ke. "Chairman Chen, everyone has no experience in this matter, and certainly didn't expect such a result. Since you raised the problem, why not propose some concrete measures? We can discuss specific measures."

Chen Ke knew these comrades felt aggrieved, neither knowing what to do nor wanting to take responsibility. Chen Ke said loudly, "Measures? First, for members of the Party, government, and state-owned enterprises, their children must attend school. Dropping out before middle school is absolutely not allowed. Second, from now on, military dependent benefits will be tied to enrollment. Military personnel whose children drop out will not enjoy military dependent benefits."

The clerk scribbled down Chen Ke's words. Apart from that, there was no other sound in the conference room.

"I require these two points to be executed. Do comrades have any opinions?" After speaking, Chen Ke's expression relaxed a bit, as if he had expelled the stifling air from his chest.

"Agreed!" "Agreed!" No one raised any objections. Everyone was admittedly confused by the sudden topic, but no one opposed gender equality, and certainly, no one opposed all children going to school.

Chen Ke continued, "Since everyone agrees on the previous issues, the next issue is how to improve the middle school attendance of ordinary people's children, especially girls. This requires everyone to discuss together."

All comrades could see that Chen Ke was going to put great effort into the issue of girls' schooling. No comrade considered they could stay out of it anymore. The People's Party was like a single game of chess; any final resolution required all comrades to guarantee its implementation together.

"This matter must first be investigated to understand why this situation is happening. Should we set up an investigation committee responsible for this?" Lu Huitian proposed his view.

"No need for that trouble. Compulsory education will be extended to middle school in the future. What we need to consider now is how to expand the number of female applicants for middle school. Some who can't pass the exam can't be forced to attend." Chen Ke managed to control himself and not act on emotion.

"Why must girls go to middle school?" Zhang Yu asked.

Chen Ke answered, "If girls don't go to school, they cannot be truly liberated, and we cannot mobilize more qualified labor. Girls make up half of the children. Forcibly mobilizing girls who haven't received a middle school education into the industrial system... the comrades of the NDSIC would definitely not agree, and neither would I. So more girls must take the middle school entrance exam, and more girls must be able to attend middle school."

Hearing Chen Ke explain such a simple cause-and-effect relationship, all the comrades felt relieved. As long as it didn't involve theoretical issues and was purely an execution requirement, everyone didn't need to consider so much and could just get to work.

"For cities, we can let various labor unions be responsible for propaganda among their members. Police stations and neighborhood committees can hold meetings to implement universal propaganda. Our government can also advertise in newspapers and on the streets. Propaganda methods in rural areas are limited and will rely more on administrative orders. If that really doesn't work, we can tie girls' schooling in families to some products provided by supply and marketing cooperatives. That should be more effective," Lu Huitian immediately proposed his ideas.

Zhang Yu shook his head slightly. "This only suits the plain areas. What about the mountainous areas? You know, in the countryside, many people exchange daughters-in-law. If your family doesn't have a daughter, you can't get a wife. Those betrothal gifts aren't easily produced. Coming back to this, we still have to liberate women."

Lu Huitian was somewhat dissatisfied with Zhang Yu's nitpicking attitude. "The plains have a large population. Even if we want to improve, we have to do it step by step—cities first, then plains, then mountains. Considering administrative costs, we definitely must execute vigorously in places with high administrative efficiency first."

Facing such a rational view, Zhang Yu wanted to refute but gave up. He changed his angle. "I'll just speak a little about the compulsory education situation I understand. Our provision of meals in primary schools is very attractive to parents because little kids can't do much work. But middle school education faces children over 10. A meal a day does save parents a few dimes. But letting them work might create a profit of one or even two yuan. With this comparison, everyone will definitely let their children participate in work as early as possible. To eliminate child labor, there is only one way: set an employment age. The base area mentioned this before, but implementation existed in name only."

Both men's words made considerable sense. Comrades who had never considered the issue of children's schooling felt suddenly enlightened. Recalling their own upbringing, many comrades couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Seeing everyone starting to understand the problem, Zhang Yu said, "Exploitation and oppression exist not only between the exploiting class and the exploited class. Even within the same class, exploitation and oppression exist. Under the situation of underdeveloped productive forces, many humanitarian ideas will encounter many extremely realistic obstacles. I feel this deeply now as the Propaganda Minister. The more underdeveloped the productive forces in a region, the less interest there is in political propaganda. Humanitarian ideas can't solve survival problems; solving these problems can only be done through strong administrative means."

Lu Huitian found that Zhang Yu had cleverly shifted the "administrative cost" he had just proposed into a basis for Zhang Yu's own argument, and he felt a bit unhappy. "Comrade Zhang Yu, are you saying that even in the future, the problems in mountainous areas will be hard to solve?"

Zhang Yu answered seriously, "The problem in mountainous areas depends on whether the place is poor enough. If they are so poor they can't survive, as long as there is a way to live, the masses in the mountains will absolutely follow. We recruited soldiers in the Dabie Mountains, and responses were like gathering clouds. Wasn't it for this reason? If reading can save their lives, they will choose to read. If becoming a bandit can save their lives, they will choose to become bandits. The masses are that realistic."

Although Chen Ke was initially filled with almost uncontrollable anger, hearing Zhang Yu and Lu Huitian's speeches, his mood quickly improved. Regardless of the faint struggle between the two, at least neither of them thought reality didn't need changing, nor did they hold up some grand principle to prove the rationality and justice of the policy. The People's Party wasn't an angel, and neither were the people. The People's Party was just a workers' party that viewed the world using basic Marxist principles. This made Chen Ke feel both grounded and reassured.

"Is there a military reason for expanding the proportion of women in middle school?" Hua Xiongmao asked.

This question opened the minds of many Central Committee members. The Central Committee's plan was to expand the army to 3 million. Large numbers of young men would go to the battlefield, and their positions would have to be filled. Educated women were the best candidates. Thinking of this, many comrades thought they understood why Chen Ke was so sensitive and angry about the schooling issue. Feng Shengxi was one of them. As the Minister of Education, Feng Shengxi knew better than anyone that middle school involved military training twice a year. The feeling of not wanting to take on this sudden responsibility faded, and he began to calculate how to expand the number of girls in middle school through the efforts of the education system. Moreover, Chen Ke proposed that middle school would be compulsory in the future, so the education system would face even more problems later.

Chen Ke hadn't thought of the military issue at first. For someone who had seen the 21st century, Chen Ke thought these were just the most ordinary problems. 21st-century China faced the improvement of education levels and efficiency; the dropout problem was opposed by the whole society, and only extremely impoverished regions had such issues. So Chen Ke replied, "Completing the military expansion relies on improving social management capabilities. Promoting schooling, from the results, can indeed improve social management capabilities. But I personally didn't link the two initially. Don't overthink this problem."

Hua Xiongmao nodded. The military farms under the army system had a large amount of labor and children. Just ensuring that all children of families joining the military farms could attend school was already heavy work, and Hua Xiongmao didn't want to create side issues.

After determining the specific execution content, the Central Committee discussed whether to establish an investigation committee to collect the masses' views on schooling and the policy everywhere.

"I think establishing a social investigation committee might be better," was Zhang Yu's line of thought.

Lu Huitian sang a different tune from Zhang Yu again. "With the Statistics Bureau to compile actual data, deducing from strict data is just about enough. What affects public opinion is the propaganda department. In this regard, I actually think a purge should be conducted. Currently, there are many former landlords and gentry in the base area. They are very dissatisfied with losing their past status and are trying to confront the Party by occupying the public opinion front. It is necessary to purge them before launching the war."

Chen Ke didn't want to engage in such a debate. He said, "Write a report on this matter first; don't just say whatever comes to mind."

After the meeting adjourned, Chen Ke went home. His daughter, Chen Qianru, seeing her dad return, immediately ran up pouting and grabbed Chen Ke. "Daddy, someone bullied me at kindergarten today."

"Ah? What happened?" Chen Ke's attitude immediately softened.

"Today we played a game and prizes were given out. There were blue notebooks and pink notebooks. In the end, Zhang Wenjuan insisted the teacher give her the pink notebook I had. I didn't want to give it to her, and she said I was stingy." Reaching the grievance, Chen Qianru's eyes were already flashing with tears.

"Oh." Chen Ke didn't know how to solve this problem for a moment. After thinking for a while, he answered, "Yueyue, did you tell this little friend Zhang Wenjuan from the start that you really wanted this notebook, so you couldn't give it to her?"

"Um..., um..., no." Chen Qianru said, frowning.

"When you don't want to exchange things with others, you have to tell them directly. After making it clear, at least you won't be so angry." Chen Ke began to teach his daughter how to handle things.

"But she got angry and said she wouldn't talk to me anymore. I still want to play with her." Chen Qianru was very aggrieved.

"You can't believe everything she says; you have to see if it's true first. Next time if she says that, just hold back and don't play with her for a few days. I think it won't take long for her to actively come find you to play."

"Okay, I'll try." Chen Qianru said aggrievedly.

Chen Ke comforted his daughter and went back into the room with her. Chen Ke had long forgotten what he did in kindergarten. But he felt it was very good that his daughter could encounter various problems. At least the kindergarten didn't treat the children differently because of their parents' status.

He Ying saw Chen Ke had comforted their daughter and smiled. "Since picking Yueyue up from kindergarten, she started complaining and only just finished. I was about to be annoyed to death."

"If we have another one, wouldn't you really be annoyed to death?" Chen Ke laughed.

"What are you saying? No seriousness." He Ying blushed immediately.

Chen Ke sighed. "I was just wondering, when Yueyue goes to school later, how far do you want her to go?"

This jump was a bit too big. He Ying couldn't keep up with the rhythm for a moment. After thinking for a while, He Ying said, "Let her go as far as she can."

"That's quite a long way. If she finishes a post-doc... let me calculate. Primary school four years, middle school three years, high school three years, university four years, master's three years, doctorate three years, post-doc two years. If Yueyue starts school at six, hmm... if everything goes smoothly, she'll be 28 when she graduates."

"28? That's 22 years of school?" He Ying replied in surprise. "Then how will she get married?"

In Chen Ke's view, marrying at 28 wasn't really that old. He knew several female friends who hadn't married at 30. But hearing He Ying worry so much about Chen Qianru's marriage, Chen Ke remembered the bride exchange matter Zhang Yu mentioned. Thinking of this, his mood became a bit low. The People's Party's system had a strong protective function; at least it could push personnel within the system into the industrial age at the fastest speed. But China had such a large population; the difficulty of pushing the entire society toward progress was unprecedented.

While he was thinking, Chen Ke heard He Ying whisper, "Wenqing, do you really want another child?"

"Huh?" Chen Ke looked at He Ying and saw her face slightly red, bowing her head shyly.

Chen Ke laughed. "Yes, why not? If possible, I also hope for a boy, so the two of them can be companions."

Speaking of this, Chen Ke suddenly remembered another thing. The proportion of single people among the People's Party comrades was unusually high. If he were to have another child now, what would the comrades think? Although it sounded funny, this was a problem that couldn't be treated as a joke at all.