"The meeting time is almost up." The prison guard reminded the three people sitting quietly.

This voice broke the silence that had lasted for a long time in the room. Cai Yuanpei couldn't help trembling slightly. Just as Song Jiaoren was about to request an extension of the meeting time, Cai Yuanpei raised his head, "If Huanqing didn't die at the hands of Chiang Kai-shek, I'm afraid... either I die at his hands, or he dies at mine. This matter presumably cannot be wrong."

Huang Xing was greatly shocked. He stared straight at Cai Yuanpei, as if knowing Cai Yuanpei for the first time. Song Jiaoren didn't make a sound either; his face also had a shocked expression.

"Why?" Song Jiaoren finally asked after several moments.

"Our paths are just different. The China I want to establish is very different from the China Pinqing wants to establish. Besides, I was indeed afraid of foreign interference at that time." Cai Yuanpei answered in an extremely calm voice.

"Why?" As if not hearing what Cai Yuanpei just said, Song Jiaoren continued asking.

Cai Yuanpei gave a miserable smile, "No matter what crime Chen Ke wants to use to kill me, I don't care anymore. I've been thinking these days, what capital crime have I committed? After much thought, purging the party in Zhejiang because I was afraid of foreigners is the reason why I deserve to die. No matter how foreigners threatened, the People's Party always rose to fight. If I could have disregarded life and death and risen to fight for China at that time, it would have been good. But I no longer have this opportunity. Gentlemen, thank you for remembering old friendship and coming to visit me in prison. Let's part here today."

Seeing Cai Yuanpei preparing to get up, Song Jiaoren couldn't help standing up, "Mr. Cai, please stay. Whether you were afraid of foreigners at that time is not a big deal. I just want to ask you, why did you insist on purging the party?"

Cai Yuanpei originally didn't want to continue talking to Song Jiaoren. Hearing the excitement in Song Jiaoren's tone, he paused slightly, "Regarding the party purge, I have absolutely no regrets." After finishing, Cai Yuanpei, escorted by jailers on both sides, walked towards the door leading from the meeting room to the prison.

Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing both wanted to stop Cai Yuanpei, but the prison guards immediately grabbed the two of them. Unable to struggle free, Song Jiaoren could only shout again and again, "Mr. Cai, why did you insist on doing that?"

Cai Yuanpei remained silent to Song Jiaoren's questioning and inquiry until his figure disappeared behind the door. The slightly shaking prison door after closing completely blocked Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren's sight.

On the day Cai Yuanpei was shot, the streets of Hangzhou were truly empty; the number of onlookers set a record for Hangzhou City. More than 300,000 people participated in watching at the venue and along the route.

The onlookers were not only Hangzhou locals; many came from other places. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army dispatched 10,000 officers and soldiers to maintain order, but even so, they could not completely control the situation. A large number of bereaved families from Western Zhejiang came to attend the execution meeting wearing mourning clothes. Executed simultaneously with Cai Yuanpei were more than twenty principal culprits of the Western Zhejiang Massacre, including Feng Guozhang and Wang Ziming.

The bereaved families of Western Zhejiang, who had long shed all their tears, finally cried loudly again on such a day. At every street corner, there were bereaved families in mourning clothes waiting to see their mortal enemies, their great foes, passing by in front of them, bound with ropes and with death penalty signs inserted. At the same time, quite a few people came to see Cai Yuanpei and others off. Gentry from various places prepared red silk and fine wine, ready to give Cai Yuanpei a final send-off. Seeing this group of people acting like this, how could the bereaved families let them go? Before the parade, dozens of civil fights broke out on the already crowded streets of Hangzhou. The soldiers spent a lot of effort to rescue those gentry. The numbers on both sides were completely disproportionate; when the gentry and literati were pulled out from the crowd, they generally had bruised noses, swollen faces, and bleeding heads.

Bursts of roars from the execution meeting venue were enough to prove how the masses viewed those guys escorted onto the stage for public display. Not long after the roars finally subsided, a burst of earth-shaking cheers suddenly came from the venue. Accompanied by the cheers, many people ran out of the venue and joined the ranks of the masses waiting to watch the parade.

"Coming out!" "Coming out!" Many people who joined the team shouted excitedly to the people next to them.

Surrounded by the army, several trucks drove out of the venue. The first two trucks were full of bailiffs wearing steel helmets and carrying live ammunition. From the third truck, Cai Yuanpei, Feng Guozhang, and others had their hands tied behind their backs, with "execution signs" inserted behind their heads. The black brush wrote "XXX, Death Row Prisoner," and the names had been crossed with a red X by a red pen.

There were also bailiff soldiers standing on the trucks. Apart from those guarding the death row prisoners on the left and right, those lined up on both sides were maintaining order.

Some gentry and literati who hid relatively well, holding red satin and carrying wine, just squeezed out of the line, wanting to stop the convoy to drape red and hang colorful decorations for Cai Yuanpei, and send him "departure wine." The soldiers who had been waiting in full array immediately pulled these guys aside and pressed them to the ground.

There were also bereaved families who smashed stones they carried with them at Cai Yuanpei and other death row prisoners. The bailiffs hurriedly protected Cai Yuanpei and others. The officers and soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army maintaining order also immediately stopped this behavior. The entire convoy was not affected by the outside and arrived at the execution ground according to the plan.

When Cai Yuanpei was dragged off the truck, his face was already pale. He looked around. Apart from those who were also to be executed, there were no acquaintances present. Especially Chen Ke, the victor, was not present. This inevitably made Cai Yuanpei feel very regretful. He had actually been waiting for Chen Ke to visit the prison in person, waiting for Chen Ke to say something in a superior victor's posture. At that time, Cai Yuanpei would have the opportunity to speak out all his views on all the revolutionary actions promoted by the People's Party heartily.

But Chen Ke did not give Cai Yuanpei this opportunity, and even the People's Party from top to bottom did not give Cai Yuanpei this opportunity. Every conversation between the People's Party and Cai Yuanpei only followed the concept of talking to a murderer. Cai Yuanpei didn't want to talk to himself endlessly like Xiang Lin's Wife in "The New Year's Sacrifice" written by Chen Ke. Cai Yuanpei felt that doing so would be like he really did something wrong that required tolerance from others. As a result, until the moment he was shot, Cai Yuanpei did not find an opportunity to justify his actions. Nor did he find an opportunity to denounce the People's Party.

So there was nothing special about the execution process of Cai Yuanpei. A row of people had the "execution signs" behind their backs pulled out, exposing the back of their heads. The execution squad aimed the muzzles of their pistols at the back of the death row prisoners' heads and fired upon command. Cai Yuanpei did not struggle before death, so one bullet solved his life.

Feng Guozhang's performance was also relatively brave. However, Wang Ziming, the Governor of Zhejiang, was overly nervous. At the moment of firing, he tilted his head, and the bullet failed to cut off the medulla oblongata smoothly. The soldier responsible for the execution had to fire a few shots at Wang Ziming's heart with a rifle, finally killing this guy.

A burst of exclamations rose among the onlookers, while the voices of the bereaved families from Western Zhejiang were mixed with cheers and pain.

After executing all the masterminds of the April 12 Massacre, their bodies were taken for autopsy. After confirming that the prisoners were dead and the cause of death, notices were immediately posted in important places in Hangzhou. In those locations, countless execution notices had been posted more than a year ago. The notice of executing the perpetrators posted here aroused sighs from some people involuntarily, while more people felt truly relieved.

The aftermath did not end simply. The bereaved families from Western Zhejiang celebrated and offered sacrifices. Some people also demanded that the People's Party hand over the bodies of Cai Yuanpei and others so that everyone could tear them to pieces. The Zhejiang side immediately published a notice stating that insulting corpses was not allowed in the laws of the People's Party. The Chinese common people could accept the law prohibiting insults to corpses, and the bereaved families could not leave the farmland allocated to them to stay in Hangzhou for a long time.

Whether excitement, joy, shock, or sorrow, no work for a day means no food for a day. This is the most normal life for Chinese laborers. A few days later, Hangzhou City finally temporarily returned to calm.

However, the aftermath always exists. The court of the People's Party issued a release order, and Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren, leaders of the Huaxinghui who once resisted the People's Party helplessly in Hunan, were released. Welcoming Song Jiaoren outside the prison gate was Ji Ye from the former Guangfu Society Western Zhejiang Branch.

Taking the two to the residence, Ji Ye asked: "I wonder what plans you two have for the future?"

Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren knew that the People's Party would not let them go easily, but they still didn't expect that the People's Party actually sent a woman to talk to them. Even hearing Ji Ye introduce herself as an old member of the Guangfu Society who participated in most of the Guangfu Society's wars. But shouting about women's liberation and maintaining a calm and equal mentality when facing a woman of equal status are two different things. Not to mention that Ji Ye was now speaking to the two from a superior position.

Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren looked at Ji Ye rather coldly. Song Jiaoren said: "I wonder how the People's Party plans to arrange for us? Let me say this upfront: it is absolutely impossible for us to bow down to the People's Party."

"I knew you would say that." Ji Ye sneered, "There are three paths now. The first path: you two return to your hometowns, register for household registration, and then farm or work in the city."

Hearing that the People's Party actually wanted to "demote them to commoners," Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren's faces looked even worse.

Ji Ye waited for a moment, seeing that neither of them made a sound, she continued: "The second path: you two can go to Wang Youhong in Jiangsu. Or simply go to defect to Duan Qirui."

These words aroused the hostility of Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren even more. Neither of them was willing to succumb to the People's Party; how could they succumb to the weaker Wang Youhong and Duan Qirui?

"The third path: you two can go to Japan to defect to Sun Wen (Sun Yat-sen). It happens that Japan has sent an envoy to Hangzhou. We can let you return to Japan with the Japanese envoy." Ji Ye continued to state the third path provided by the People's Party.

This suggestion moved Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren quite a bit. The last remnants of the Tongmenghui were in Japan, and Sun Yat-sen was also in Japan. If they could join forces with comrades, at least psychologically they would feel much better.

"I wonder why the People's Party wants to do this?" Huang Xing was impatient; he asked first.

"You are revolutionary seniors. For you revolutionary seniors, we have to give a policy and a way out at any rate." After finishing the first half, ignoring the astonished expressions of Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren, Ji Ye continued: "But our People's Party never promises official positions to anyone. What we provide now is all we can do. I hope you two can understand."

Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren were also "old revolutionaries." They naturally knew how vicious the People's Party was in doing this. According to the handling of Cai Yuanpei, although the two also adopted military resistance means, that was just a war between two forces. Criminal law and civil law did not apply. For the People's Party, instead of constantly guarding against the two gathering supporters again, it was better to drive them away. Whether to Wang Youhong, Duan Qirui, or Sun Yat-sen. The People's Party could get rid of big trouble and establish an image of "magnanimity." The next time the People's Party met Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren, there would be no need to show mercy.

After understanding this, the two understood even more why the People's Party sent a little girl to talk about this matter with these two revolutionary seniors. It seemed that the People's Party hoped Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren would leave on their own after feeling the humiliation.

"Can we discuss it again?" Song Jiaoren said coldly.

"Yes. Before you two make a decision, all your living expenses will be covered by our People's Party." Ji Ye said politely.

Such vicious words made Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren feel great humiliation. After Ji Ye went out, Huang Xing stood up abruptly, paced back and forth in the room a few times, and almost couldn't help cursing loudly. However, Song Jiaoren stopped Huang Xing, "Brother Jingwu, do you think Chiang Kai-shek was really sent by Chen Qimei?"

Being mentioned this question, Huang Xing couldn't say anything immediately. He paced a few more times before sitting back in his seat and asking: "Why would Chen Qimei do this?"

Song Jiaoren said heavily: "I don't know!"

Now Huang Xing could only fall silent. Chen Qimei was Sun Yat-sen's confidant. If Chen Qimei's responsibility must be pursued, Sun Yat-sen would probably not escape involvement. However, Cai Yuanpei had already admitted that the party purge he launched would not spare Tao Chengzhang, and now Chen Qimei was also involved. Huang Xing didn't want to understand what happened in between at all.

"Brother Jingwu, why don't we go to Japan?" Song Jiaoren said.

"Uh?" Huang Xing was stunned.

"The main reason why we revolutionary parties lost to Chen Ke is probably disunity. Chen Ke's word is law in the People's Party; no one dares to challenge it. The people below completely follow his arrangements. So in a dozen years, he amazed the world with a single brilliant feat and achieved such success. Think about how many people the People's Party had when it started? Less than ten people. If we go to Japan to join Mr. Sun and regroup, we won't be much worse than Chen Ke. They can achieve such success in a dozen years; why can't we?" Song Jiaoren's tone was mild at first, but became passionate towards the end.

"No!" On these major issues, Huang Xing generally listened to Song Jiaoren's ideas, but this time he gave a neat opposition. "The People's Party's intention to drive us away is so obvious now. Presumably, if we stay on their territory, it will definitely make these people feel uncomfortable. So they force us to leave. If we leave, we are just following the People's Party's wishes."

When Huang Xing said this, Song Jiaoren felt it made sense too. "Then what do you plan to do, Brother Jingwu?"

"Let's go to Shanghai first. We have more relatives and old friends in Shanghai. After arriving in Shanghai, we will contact Mr. Sun in Japan on one hand, and contact old friends on the other. Wait and see first, then talk about future things." Huang Xing replied.

Song Jiaoren thought over and over again, then nodded and said: "Let's follow Brother Jingwu's meaning."