Zhou Shuren had met Chen Ke before. Based on his impression at the time, he felt that Chen Ke was a guy who didn't live up to his reputation. Chen Ke's appearance showed no sign of that decisive and slaughtering spirit, nor did he have that aura of authority without anger. Many people looked reliable at first glance, making others trust them. But the impression Chen Ke left on Zhou Shuren was that he had too much on his mind and thought too much. The whole person was a bit too gloomy.

However, Zhou Shuren was not willing to take his first impression as Chen Ke's true appearance. There were plenty of noble people who had more "style" than Chen Ke, and every single one of them had been defeated by Chen Ke. In the People's Party, there were as many straightforward, unrestrained, and attractive figures as ox hairs, and every one of them willingly accepted Chen Ke's leadership. So Zhou Shuren guessed that Chen Ke must have some extremely unique qualities, and these were places Zhou Shuren hadn't seen, or places Chen Ke didn't want Zhou Shuren to see.

The work of the acting deputy director of the Education Bureau was extremely arduous, yet amidst this hard work, Zhou Shuren received a letter from Chen Ke. When he confirmed the sender was Chen Ke, Zhou Shuren felt quite astonished. What exactly had happened to make Chen Ke send a letter personally?

The content of the letter was very simple. Chen Ke wanted to commission Zhou Shuren to write an article with the theme "Viewing the Rotten Manchu Judicial System from the Opera *Striking the Imperial Carriage*". Chen Ke briefly introduced the judicial system of the Song Dynasty and Bao Zheng's status as an Imperial Envoy. If any imperial relative really dared to block Bao Zheng's carriage, they were purely seeking death. *Striking the Imperial Carriage* was a story from the Qing Dynasty novel *Three Heroes and Five Gallants*. Chen Ke requested that Zhou Shuren, amidst his busy schedule, take the lead in writing this article. The style of language and the mode adopted were completely up to Zhou Shuren to decide. The letter also included some materials regarding the judicial system of the Song Dynasty.

Regarding the purpose of writing this article, Chen Ke's explanation was: firstly, Zhejiang was establishing a legal system, so there needed to be a reckoning with the rotten Manchu system. The masses might not be interested in the People's Party's judicial theory, but starting with opera would make it easier to resonate with the people. Secondly, Chen Ke hoped to use this as a beginning, to start a movement to restore the true face of Chinese history and culture.

After reading Chen Ke's letter several times, Zhou Shuren was very puzzled. Heaven knew how Chen Ke came up with this crazy idea. The work of popularizing the legal system was itself a process of education and practice. Chen Ke actually wanted to promote this like singing a big opera. Not to mention anything else, doing it this way seemed very trifling at first glance. Moreover, Zhou Shuren felt a sense of unease. Chen Ke arranging for Zhou Shuren to write this article, needless to say, was probably because he knew Zhou Shuren had liked the novel *Three Heroes and Five Gallants* since he was young. Such detailed intelligence work couldn't help but make Zhou Shuren feel very uneasy.

With no other choice, Zhou Shuren took the letter to find Xu Dian, hoping Xu Dian could give an explanation. Unexpectedly, after reading the letter, Xu Dian repeatedly praised it as a good method. Zhou Shuren was very perplexed by this.

Xu Dian replied, "If we stand up and criticize *Striking the Imperial Carriage* as bad, someone will definitely say, 'Since *Striking the Imperial Carriage* is bad, then you People's Party write something good.' Now that we are trying counter-revolutionaries, we can adapt how we handle cases into a play, focusing on publicizing the principles, characteristics, and processes of our judicial system. This is much stronger than empty verbal propaganda."

Now Zhou Shuren felt a bit enlightened, but he still felt that doing this was a bit too trifling. A government actually fighting for the propaganda front with the people by slandering traditional drama, this was also a bit too petty.

Xu Dian did not support Zhou Shuren's view. "Hey! How is this called petty? If the masses can really keep the content of the opera in their hearts, they will know the process when they go to court. How much social cost will this save? We spent so much cost building this system just to let this system protect the interests of the masses. If the masses don't come to court, what are we raising so many people for?"

Zhou Shuren also agreed with Xu Dian's thoughts on social cost. He asked Xu Dian, "Procurator-General Xu, listening to your meaning just now, this plan was designed by Chairman Chen?"

"Looking at this ruthlessness, and the excavation and verification of history, only Chairman Chen could come up with it. Oh, right, regarding the detailed verification of Song history, it should be done by that bunch in the Museum of Culture and History. A group of old fogies, the sour Confucian smell in what they write is heavy enough."

Since Xu Dian said so, Zhou Shuren accepted it. After going back and carefully reading the outline proposed by Chen Ke and the attached verification, he really did read some flavor out of it. Chen Ke started completely from the perspective of a leader viewing the overall situation, proposing the interest relationships and origins of various factions before the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty. After reading it, there was a clear and distinct feeling. The verification content, however, was chewing on words, filled with a flavor of singing praises and trembling with fear.

After receiving this task, Zhou Shuren couldn't help but have a new understanding of Chen Ke. This person might stand high in the temple, but he also seemed to be far away in the *jianghu* (common world). Zhou Shuren knew that the People's Party had no staff system, and no one possessed a purely private planning team. The People's Party's system was very transparent and didn't need any rotten rules. Although he was not a People's Party member, when the Party committee meetings were held, every attendee had the right to speak. According to Fan Ainong, under the requirement of seeking truth from facts, the People's Party wanted criticism and self-criticism, covering an extremely wide range. But the core idea was only one: how to get things done well.

After judgment, Zhou Shuren had to believe Xu Dian's words; this idea was probably thought up by Chen Ke. This triggered another doubt in Zhou Shuren: what kind of brain did one have to have to engage in extremely theoretical political and military thinking while simultaneously holding the thinking patterns of common market people? This was no longer something a great man could do; to put it bluntly, this was very much like the jumping thinking that only an abnormal person could possess.

Thinking of this, Zhou Shuren felt a bit discouraged. Because quite a few theoretical hypotheses in the People's Party's medical field were really proposed by Chen Ke. The hypothesis system regarding brain structure bore Chen Ke's name.

Sighing, Zhou Shuren felt he could somewhat understand why Chen Ke could become the leader of the People's Party. When a person could not only propose correct theories but also propose many methods that seemed feasible, or at least entry points that seemed feasible, this had to be respected. If Chen Ke's thinking jumped between such theory and reality every day, then that bit of "gloominess" Chen Ke displayed was nothing at all. If things were really as Zhou Shuren imagined, the expression shown by Chen Ke after completing such thinking work could even be described as cheerful and lively.

No other examples were needed. As a literati, Zhou Shuren could completely read that kind of acerbic malice and happiness from Chen Ke's suggestion of "Viewing the Rotten Manchu Judicial System from the Opera *Striking the Imperial Carriage*". To dare to do this, one had to have the courage to mock the malice and courage of the people of the world.

Chen Ke had this malice and courage to dare to mock the people of the world, and Zhou Shuren also had the persistence to carry out this courage, but the actual work was far harder than imagined. The massive amount of Song Dynasty citizen materials made Zhou Shuren feel a kind of astonishment. Before such systematic summarization and organization, Zhou Shuren actually didn't know that the Song Dynasty in Chinese history actually had such a splendid culture and system, nor was he clear about the context and characteristics of the Song Dynasty's centralized system.

After verifying the historical materials with the inferences proposed by Chen Ke, Zhou Shuren formed the impression that Chen Ke was an old pedant. Zhou Shuren of course knew that with Chen Ke's age, it was impossible to have enough time to study Song history materials. In *The Inheritance of Chinese Culture and the Rise of Materialism* written by Chen Ke, the errors in various historical materials were as numerous as ox hairs. Zhejiang literati had written quite a few articles mocking Chen Ke. But from the perspective of the materialist view of history, what Chen Ke said could indeed completely get rid of that ethereal so-called "fate" theory, and could justify itself in reason.

Zhou Shuren of course didn't know Chen Ke's background, and it was even more impossible for him to know that on the forum Chen Ke was on, there were some "Song history experts", and people who moved a large number of research articles on Song history, and some web novels about Song history also provided Chen Ke with a lot of ideas. Although these novels couldn't be treated as Song history research, they could provide many interesting and insightful ideas and thoughts in many details.

What Zhou Shuren knew even less was how frenzied Chen Ke could be when borrowing other people's wisdom.

As a medical expert and literati, Zhou Shuren had a team allocated by the organization. He himself also knew some unemployed literati in Zhejiang with specialties in opera. Zhou Shuren also had a genuine passion for attacking those old traditions that didn't talk about the legal system. A month later, the article was written. In order to ensure his identity wouldn't affect the article, Zhou Shuren used the pen name Lu Xun. This article was published together with the previously written *Curbing the Flood* as *Old Tales Retold*.

The drama regarding the judicial trial was also beginning to be rehearsed intensively. Lu Xun's literary level was extraordinarily high, plus the emotions were full, and with the enthusiasm of those hungry literati to climb high branches, the speed of opera arrangement was also very fast. Less than two months after the trials began, the opera was sent to Xu Dian for review.

After watching it, Xu Dian was very satisfied with the play Zhou Shuren was responsible for. "This thing has no problem with details and the main melody. The core point is that everyone is equal before the law. If you want to find such a law, only we, the People's Party, have it here! As for artistry and the embellishment of words, that can come later."

Zhou Shuren felt Xu Dian was a bit too straightforward; there was actually quite a lot of very malicious sarcasm in it. Zhou Shuren also knew that being so sharp was a bit excessive, but he just wanted to weave these in.

A Party committee member of the legal system grinned bitterly. "Procurator-General Xu, should some details be deliberated again?"

Xu Dian laughed loudly. "Isn't it just that some plot points are a bit acerbic? For us, if mistakes exist, correct them; if not, keep up the good work. As for the masses, we must believe that the eyes of the masses are sharp. They have more discernment ability than we do. When selling radishes quickly, you don't wash the mud; let's perform it first."

After speaking, Xu Dian turned to Zhou Shuren and said, "These plays shouldn't be condensed into one. Separate them, just like that *Three Heroes and Five Gallants*, write more in the manner of a serialized story. Deputy Director Zhou, this work will trouble you."

Zhou Shuren didn't expect his efforts to be acknowledged so quickly. He expected even less that the novel *Storm in Western Zhejiang*, based on these plays, would come out, and movies, TV series, and even songs based on these plays would appear one after another in the following decades.

Zhou Shuren expected even less that decades later, China's highest literary award would be the Lu Xun Literature Prize, named after Zhou Shuren's pen name, Lu Xun.

Of course, in the short term, Zhou Shuren's reputation was not significant. But the name Lu Xun became well known to the newly formed future judicial teams. Lu Xun's review of the *[XXXX]* play became one of the assignments these students had to complete.

Zhou Shuren was a person very good at observation. His cognition of processes, grasp of character characteristics, and portrayal of details were far beyond ordinary people. Some students racked their brains when memorizing various regulations, but the results were not very good. Instead, after watching the plays, they had a rather deep impression of the processes.

Two months after the public trials began, and before the public trials had ended, plays about the public trials began to be performed in various places. With insufficient drama guidance, cadres and students from the legal aspect directly filled the roles. The opera teams went to various cities and villages. After the opera performances ended, the cadres and students explained the facts in the operas. With the opera as a gimmick, the masses at least knew what to ask. With the opera as an introduction, the cadres and students also had entry points for propaganda. The masses in the three southeastern provinces quickly knew that the People's Party had an institution called the court. If they wanted to sue, going to the government wouldn't work; they had to go to this institution called the court. The government couldn't try cases; only the court could.

As for what exactly the relationship between the government and the court was, the common people weren't clear, but at least the concept that only the court could try cases was finally propagated to the folk. As for how to identify who was from the court, the masses were very smart. Even without special propaganda, they knew to look for people according to those costumes in the big operas.

Of course, after these big operas finished, the masses also understood one thing. Those guys who used to be high and mighty were dead meat. The people were such a pragmatic group; since they knew a certain class was very likely to be finished, the masses' reaction was to participate in the action of toppling this class. Landlords and gentry found their days becoming harder and harder.

The People's Party was currently only demanding the blood debt from the gang that planned the Western Zhejiang Massacre. Because they temporarily didn't have the ability and personnel to fully implement land reform policies in the three southeastern provinces, they didn't touch the landlords and gentry who slaughtered each other in internal strife. These plays were performed, and the comrades from the courts who went deep into various places with the big opera troupes conducted propaganda. The families of the deceased who suffered slaughter in the internal strife of course knew that those powers currently in favor had money and guns, and wanting revenge was extremely difficult. Now seeing those high officials in the plays becoming prisoners one by one, daring not resist the People's Party at all, and the People's Party's big opera troupe had arrived in the locality, many people's minds became active.

Very quickly, some families of victims waited until the big opera finished and left, then secretly ran to find the opera troupe under the cover of night to cry out their grievances. Materials on various homicide cases began to pile up in the People's Party courts. Actions targeting the grassroots level in the three southeastern provinces gradually matured.