Shandong was a "foreign land" to Zhou Shuren. If classmates who had attended medical training together could be considered "old friends," then meeting them in Rizhao could be counted as meeting old friends in a foreign land. In the reorganized medical camp, some of the military doctors in the People's Party had participated in the Party school training with Zhou Shuren. Everyone did not exchange too many pleasantries, after all, the urgent task at hand was to save the wounded officers and soldiers of the surrendered Beiyang Army.

Li Bing, the person in charge, looked shrewd and capable. He spoke to the gathered doctors and nurses from Zhejiang Medical College: "Everyone, you are colleagues from the medical field in Zhejiang. We won't waste words; you have been conscripted. You will receive an allowance every day according to our People's Party's labor standards. There is no need to consider escaping or anything like that. When the medical work is over, we will send you back to Zhejiang. For now, just settle down and work here."

The doctors and nurses had a relatively weak will to resist. Surrounded by soldiers with live ammunition, and hearing that there was an allowance for the work, the doctors and nurses from Zhejiang Hospital acquiesced. After all, the People's Party didn't ask them to do anything else, just to continue treating the wounded of the Beiyang Army.

The equipment of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army field hospital arrived quickly. Seeing so much new medical equipment, the doctors and nurses from the Zhejiang side immediately regained their spirit. Everyone worked to eat; one look at this equipment and they knew that the medical level of the People's Party was far higher than that of Zhejiang Hospital.

Due to the intervention of the military hospital of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the doctors and nurses of Zhejiang Hospital could finally lie down and rest for a while. Zhou Shuren and Li Bing lived in the same dormitory at the time. Li Bing's straightforward character was something Zhou Shuren respected considerably. The two ate a meal together while resting at night. After talking about the current situation, Li Bing suddenly asked: "Old Zhou, how are things at home?"

Zhou Shuren was not quite used to the People's Party's style of managing everything. However, it was not convenient to express displeasure at this moment, so Zhou Shuren smiled and said: "Things at home are fine."

"Does everyone have a job?" Li Bing continued to ask brightly.

"My wife is still at home. My younger brothers are still in school," Zhou Shuren replied.

"What is your wife's education level?" Li Bing maintained the People's Party's straightforward attitude.

"She is illiterate." Zhou Shuren's tone held a rare regret. Zhou Shuren's marriage to his first wife, Zhu An, was very unfortunate. At that time, Zhou Shuren did not agree to this marriage, but Zhou Shuren's mother, Old Mrs. Lu, insisted that her son get married. Zhou Shuren had demanded that the woman "unbind her feet" and "study," but these requirements actually frightened the Zhu family. Zhou Shuren had said, "She is my mother's wife, not my wife. This is a gift from my mother to me. I only have an obligation to support her; love is something I do not know."

According to the old standards of evaluation, Li Bing's attitude could be described as "domineering," but these words made Zhou Shuren feel a ray of light appear before his eyes. He tentatively said: "Brother Li, my wife is already 36 years old this year."

Li Bing laughed: "Chairman Chen likes to say, live until old, learn until old, and still not learn enough. What about 36? Four years to graduate from primary school, that's only 40. Studying while working, graduating from technical school would be at most 45. Either way, she could continue working for more than a dozen years."

Hearing such candid words, Zhou Shuren didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Brother Li, you are treating women like men."

"Oh? Old Zhou, have you heard the sayings of our little guys here? The little guys have said, in our base areas, we treat women like men, and men like livestock. Could it be that Brother Zhou made this up?" Li Bing laughed heartily after speaking.

Zhou Shuren naturally would not fabricate such a joke. Seeing Li Bing speak so frankly, Zhou Shuren was quite speechless. According to the habits of the old ruling class, Zhou Shuren praised: "I didn't expect the atmosphere of the People's Party to be so progressive."

"Everyone is a laborer, it's just a matter of understanding it sooner or later." Li Bing did not think there was anything strange about it. "I won't hide it from Brother Zhou, Chairman Chen rarely directly expresses a wish for others to join the People's Party's ranks, but Chairman Chen regards Brother Zhou highly and has mentioned this matter."

"Oh?" Zhou Shuren was very surprised by this. He and Chen Ke had only met once or twice. Apart from occasionally revealing some understanding of Zhou Shuren's family in his conversation, Chen Ke had not given any hint that he hoped Zhou Shuren would defect to the People's Party. Hearing Li Bing say this, Zhou Shuren couldn't help but be extremely astonished.

Li Bing knew that he wasn't a very skilled lobbyist at persuading others, so he spoke straightforwardly: "Chairman Chen naturally couldn't say it directly, but he mentioned you, Old Zhou, several times, feeling that you are a person who can do things and is willing to do things. How about it, do you want to come and work here with us?"

Chen Ke indeed liked Zhou Shuren very much. This liking was not directed at the "literary giant Lu Xun," but the Zhou Shuren in reality. Chen Ke's mother liked Lu Xun's articles very much. Although she didn't like Lu Xun's acerbic nature, her evaluation of Zhou Shuren was "this person is someone who tells the truth." Moreover, she extremely liked the Zhou family's upbringing. She was quite appreciative of the sentence Zhou Shuren's father said when he died: "What?... Don't shout... No..." And Lu Xun's article "Village Opera" was often taken out by Chen Ke's mother as a standard course for Chen Ke's moral conduct and social handling.

Zhou Shuren's mother took her children to her maiden home. She didn't dare to cause trouble for others at all, so Zhou Shuren couldn't go to see the opera with the other children. When he was "anxious to the point of crying," his mother "tried her best to admonish me, saying that I absolutely could not put on an act, fearing it would make Grandmother angry again, and she wouldn't allow me to go with others, saying she was afraid Grandmother would worry."

"In doing things, you must suit others. If you can't suit others, they will naturally be unhappy, and there is fundamentally no basis for cooperation. As a natural person, you can of course shout loudly, but a human is after all an existence within a society. As a social person, you must endure." That was how Chen Ke's mother educated Chen Ke at that time. Even though Chen Ke was a big bastard at that time, he had to admit that these words were correct.

Chen Ke's mother's education did not stop there. For her unbearably mischievous son, Chen Ke's mother had really exhausted her efforts.

"Chen Ke, Lu Xun wrote, 'That day I didn't fish for shrimp, and I ate very little. Mother was very troubled and couldn't think of a way. By dinner time, Grandmother finally noticed, and said I should be unhappy, that they were too slighting, which was never in the rites of treating guests.' Look, Lu Xun was a small child, yet no matter how unhappy he was, he endured it and didn't show it. He endured until evening, estimating that if he continued to endure, this trip to the village opera would be ruined, and only then did he show it. Only then did his grandmother discover that for Lu Xun, this day had been hard to pass, but he still endured it. Then Lu Xun's grandmother said that Lu Xun should be unhappy, that they were too slighting, which was never in the rites of treating guests."

Chen Ke had said perfunctorily at the time, that as a small child, Chen Ke naturally felt that Lu Xun's grandmother was really reasonable.

Chen Ke's mother looked at her son's expression and knew what her son was thinking. She laughed: "Chen Ke, you definitely think Lu Xun's grandmother is reasonable, but now modify this text for me. Flip the words of Lu Xun's mother and Lu Xun's grandmother. Change it now."

Following his mother's words, Chen Ke only made slight modifications and then couldn't help but laugh out loud. Chen Ke's mother also couldn't help but laugh loudly, "Look, if Lu Xun's mother saw her son unhappy and said Lu Xun should be unhappy, that the country folk were too slighting, which was never in the rites of treating guests. And Lu Xun's grandmother said, saying Lu Xun was putting on an act, that doing so would make Grandmother angry, and wouldn't allow Lu Xun to go with others, saying Grandmother would worry. Wouldn't that be a pair of bastards? How could one live like that! Look, Lu Xun was a social person from a young age."

It was a pity that even though Chen Ke knew what a bastard looked like, he himself remained a standard bastard. Even if he didn't dare to do such bastard things, it was only because Chen Ke knew that the result of doing such bastard things would greatly harm his own interests. It did not mean that Chen Ke himself had broken free from such bastard thinking and become a social person. It wasn't until after he traveled through time and started the revolution that Chen Ke gradually broke free from such vulgar tastes.

So Chen Ke appreciated Zhou Shuren considerably. Plus, Chen Ke had also become a father himself. In order to educate his own daughter, Chen Ke had to think of various stories, so he couldn't help but mention a few more words about Zhou Shuren.

Since Chen Ke had mentioned it, the comrades below couldn't completely turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to it. Li Bing was also one of those in the know. Meeting Zhou Shuren this time, he naturally couldn't let go of the opportunity to recruit him.

How could Zhou Shuren not hear Li Bing's meaning? But he changed the topic: "Brother Li, I wonder why you refuse to let the Beiyang Army off? At any rate, Wu Peifu also has merit in resisting Japan."

Li Bing laughed heartily: "Old Zhou, without investigation there is no right to speak. We told them seven days ago that we could help them treat the wounded. Wu Peifu wanted to talk about political correctness and resolutely disagreed. We then proposed establishing a joint field hospital in a neutral location, but Wu Peifu still wouldn't agree. We couldn't just fight our way over to snatch the wounded."

Zhou Shuren sighed after hearing this. He certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to question why the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army didn't send people to the Beiyang Army camp to practice medicine. But Zhou Shuren still couldn't help but ask: "At present, as far as I can see, many seriously wounded people need blood transfusions..."

"There's no other way, we have to rely on blood donations from our base areas. Before this battle, the Party members, troops, organ personnel, and workers in the Shandong base area had already donated blood. After the Battle of Qingdao, a portion was left. If these are still not enough, we can only mobilize the soldiers to donate blood. Fortunately, as the founder of the blood donation system, Chairman Chen takes the lead in donating blood every six months, and the comrades in the Central Committee also follow suit. At any rate, there is no particular resistance to blood donation throughout the base area." Li Bing said very helplessly.

Hearing these words, Zhou Shuren's expression became solemn. Leaving aside the evaluation of the advanced level of the blood donation system, simply the fact that the high-level officials of the People's Party could build a tradition of blood donation under Chen Ke's leadership was enough to make Zhou Shuren feel deep respect. In the Party lessons of the previous medical training system, the People's Party did not brag about the leading role of Chen Ke and others.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Shuren said: "Brother Li, I will stay in Rizhao for a while. Regarding your kind invitation, I really cannot agree at present. I cannot quite accept the People's Party's platform."

Li Bing saw there was a chance to persuade Zhou Shuren, so he answered enthusiastically: "Our People's Party's platform is very simple: combining Marx's core concepts with Chinese practice. Brother Zhou might as well read the article 'The Communist Manifesto.' All the basic content is in it."

"Then what exactly does 'The Communist Manifesto' say?" Zhou Shuren asked.

"65 years ago, Marx wrote the English edition of 'The Communist Manifesto' and officially published it. In 'The Communist Manifesto,' Marx told us that this world has irreversibly entered the era of heavy industry. The characteristics of the era of heavy industry are globalization, trade liberalization, economic globalization, and cultural globalization. Among all industrial countries, a process of urbanization has arisen. In such an irreversible era of industrialization, in order to adapt to the process of industrialization, we must establish a new institutional system and moral system. Chairman Chen wrote the article 'The Communist Manifesto and China's Industrialization,' which describes how to read the Communist Manifesto. It involves foreign cultural and historical characteristics; at the current stage, these can all be completely set aside first. It won't be too late to understand them when there is time later. If one is not a comrade working in foreign affairs, it doesn't even matter if one doesn't understand them. What needs to be looked at is the discussion in 'The Communist Manifesto' on heavy industrialization, as well as the corresponding new institutional system and new moral system. Nothing is accomplished in one move. For China, the first thing is to establish a socialist system based on industrialization. Revolution is the process of constantly eliminating privilege. In this process, the Chinese people gradually gain their own liberation. Chairman Chen even opposes the view that communism can be established by physically eliminating the bourgeoisie. He firmly supports Marx's view that communism does not deprive anyone of the power to appropriate social products; it only deprives the power to use this appropriation to enslave the labor of others."

Zhou Shuren felt that the People's Party's attitude when facing the enemy could only be described as murderous. Hearing Li Bing say that Chen Ke "opposes the view that communism can be established by physically eliminating the bourgeoisie" was quite contrary to Zhou Shuren's impression. And the last sentence undoubtedly aroused Zhou Shuren's great interest.

"Communism does not deprive anyone of the power to appropriate social products; it only deprives the power to use this appropriation to enslave the labor of others?" Zhou Shuren couldn't help but ask.

"That's right. Communism does not oppose owning private property, but it opposes using private capital to enslave others. Even if we cannot yet achieve the elimination of the existence of private capital at present, we will absolutely not allow private capital to act wildly as it does now. I know Brother Zhou definitely sympathizes with the landlords and gentry; as a person from Zhejiang, it's impossible for you not to think so. But, which landlord or gentry member has not used the appropriation of land, this capital in their hands, to enslave the labor of others? You can think about it." Li Bing finished speaking and went out for a trip first. When he came back, he was already holding a small booklet with the five characters "Communist Manifesto" written on the cover.