"Oh! So it ended just like that." Chen Ke was quite appreciative of the closing report on the Xinyang Incident. No one dared to resist to the end, and no one stepped up at the critical moment to shoulder all responsibility for their "brothers." Under the investigation of the Discipline Inspection Commission, all the Xinyang cadres scrambled to spill their guts, pouring out everything they knew and everything they guessed like beans from a bamboo tube, confessing everything clearly.

"Confess and you'll rot in jail; resist and you'll be home for New Year. No one has said such bullshit yet, have they?" Chen Ke laughed.

Shang Yuan's face turned almost green with anger, mostly directed at the Xinyang Incident, but partly at Chen Ke's joking manner. Shang Yuan said angrily, "Chairman Chen, is this how you view our organization?"

"There is nothing new under the sun. Honestly speaking, I rate the performance of our comrades this time very highly," Chen Ke replied. "This unhealthy trend—as long as it meets a level of cadres who can resolutely resist, it reveals its true form. The organization's self-correction ability is tough enough."

"This kind of thing shouldn't have happened at all!" Shang Yuan simply did not accept Chen Ke's explanation.

"What is 'official-standard mentality'? It means taking the maintenance of one's own official position as the sole purpose. As long as there is any chance, one will strive to speculate and trick, desperately climbing up. This is the tradition of thousands of years of feudalism and 'he who excels in learning can be an official.' You tore down the windmill, but the wind is still there. Changing customs and habits, how can it be that easy!" Chen Ke had seen historical records and expositions of such cruel facts with his own eyes, and he had completely accepted them.

"Is there no way to solve this kind of thing?" The Xinyang Incident had a huge impact on Shang Yuan. As one of the founders of New China, Shang Yuan had once optimistically believed that New China could get rid of such things, but he did not expect the corruption of the entire government to be so fast. And Chen Ke, who had long ago coldly and jokingly predicted such events, looked detestable to Shang Yuan no matter how he looked at him.

"Systems! Productive forces!" Chen Ke actually didn't have any other good methods either. With Chairman Mao's great talent and bold vision, and with so many revolutionary predecessors who had experienced the test of war back then, the evil deeds of those years were not fundamentally reversed. Chen Ke felt very satisfied now, really satisfied. He originally thought that careerists would add fuel to the flames in this matter, but Chai Qingguo's adherence to revolutionary concepts, and especially the shrewdness of Yang Baogui and Mu Husan, as well as their attitude of protecting themselves, showed that there was enough fear of the central authority and enough sobriety. With such comrades who adhered to principles, Chen Ke felt that his efforts were already remarkable.

"Systems? Productive forces?" Shang Yuan, who was in a fit of anger, still couldn't understand this. He asked doubtfully.

"Those comrades with awareness may not actually be willing to be high-ranking cadres, because for them, being a high-ranking cadre makes no difference from being an ordinary laborer. Being an ordinary laborer is even more relaxed. They can support themselves, live very well, and even be very happy. These comrades may not be willing to be such big officials. Those guys who drilled their way in are definitely the ones who want to be officials. So systems must be established so that these guys dare not act wildly. And through elimination, we weed these people out." Chen Ke finally understood the meaning of "great waves washing away the sand" in the past two years. In the historical war years, elimination happened through the test of life and death. Now, we can only rely on systems.

Chen Ke had heard old revolutionaries talk about their mental journey: "It's not that I didn't want to act wildly like that, it's just that when I thought of the comrades who sacrificed back then, I couldn't do it." The revolutionary team forged after an arduous revolutionary journey was still like this. Not everyone can have the realm of a pure proletarian revolutionary like Chairman Mao. That almost relies on personal quality, not purely on experience. Just like Chen Ke himself—Chen Ke was able to reach this step today not because he is so great, but just because there is so much correct history in front of him. Chen Ke knew that his ability was limited. Apart from learning from his predecessors, he simply didn't see any other path. Moreover, the education Chen Ke received since childhood had always been to be a true laborer like Shi Chuanxiang and Zhang Binggui. Chen Ke had merely received education on what kind of difficulties a laborer faces, how to recognize these difficulties, and how to transform himself.

Chen Ke put away his joking tone and said to Shang Yuan very seriously, "Any true laborer, they are never in it for the result, but for the doing. No starting point, no ending point; their meaning is to do a certain job. Until death. So laborers—oh, no. The ruling classes know deeply the hardships of doing things. It's not that they want to be cautious, but that they *must* be cautious, they *must* transform themselves. What time to get up, what time to sleep, what time to start working! You have to do it if you want to, and you have to do it if you don't want to. How can it be said to be that easy? People who haven't walked this path absolutely don't have this feeling. Even if they did the same thing nicely, the feeling they get is absolutely different!"

Shang Yuan also worked like this every day. He said with the exasperation of one watching iron fail to become steel, "As long as this step is crossed, everything will be vast sky and ocean. For this kind of person, I will give them whatever they want! Countless official positions, countless heavy responsibilities, opportunities to leave a name in history—if they don't want to do it, I still want to stuff these things on them! Just this step, just this step!"

Chen Ke sneered. "Proletarian revolutionaries are those who have been liberated from all fetters and comforts, found their own positioning, and found the things they want to do, and they will keep doing it like this! I still say that: get rid of this mindset, rest assured to do things, walk, eat, and sleep—how comfortable. This is just a threshold, a critical juncture. But they are fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, wives, friends, teachers, students, enemies, and strangers, all knotted together, advising each other, holding each other back, and unwilling to cross this step even if they die."

Shang Yuan listened to Chen Ke's words and looked at Chen Ke's expression full of hatred. He suddenly felt that Chen Ke looked much more pleasing to the eye at this moment. Some things, no matter how they are said, even if broken apart and crushed to explain, are useless to many people. They are like *Taotie*, with an appetite that can never be filled. Wanting to eat people, yet afraid of being eaten by others, looking at each other with eyes full of deep suspicion.

The cadres in Xinyang were not bad people. Standing at a very high height, Shang Yuan felt that these people at least knew to fear discipline and knew that the power of the organization was not something they could resist. But Shang Yuan knew that they were not changing sincerely. But if they didn't change, they would be eliminated sooner or later. Even if there are many such people, they will be exterminated by real people, just like a hunter killing wolves! Like bugs!

However, after such anger, Shang Yuan suddenly felt a burst of horror. Now the People's Party relied entirely on the strong suppression of the upper levels. What if cadres like those in Xinyang became the upper level? Chen Ke would die, and Shang Yuan would also die. Even if they didn't die, if there were no comrades like Chai Qingguo, Yang Baogui, and Mu Husan, if the comrades in power were exactly the same as the comrades in Xinyang, what should be done? Xinyang was not far from Zhengzhou, and Shang Yuan could also be kept in the dark. Such imagination made Shang Yuan shudder.

"You don't need to be so afraid!" Chen Ke had long considered this. Chairman Mao said back then that we found a way to break the cycle of order and chaos in China, and that is people's democracy! The result of Chen Ke's own consideration was only this one method. "Shang Yuan, what if the masses in Xinyang could make their own voices heard this time? What if the feedback of the system could be incorporated into the system of national governance? The comrades of the National Security Bureau wouldn't even need to make a sound. Because their own interests were damaged, the people would definitely have poked this matter out much earlier! The problem now is that we can't hear the people's voices, and there are no channels to amplify the people's voices to the extent that they are heard by the whole country. If this can be done, no matter how bold the people below are, they wouldn't dare to be so excessive!"

"This is a system problem, but what does it have to do with productive forces?" Shang Yuan could understand the people's democracy Chen Ke mentioned, but since Chen Ke deliberately mentioned productive forces, he knew there must be more implied in it.

Chen Ke didn't think there was any absolutely correct group in the world. He laughed. "If the level of productive forces is not reached, the people are also clueless. The country stated clearly that some masses mythologized the efficacy of chemical fertilizers, and actually believed that eating chemical fertilizers could cure diseases. The result was that people died from eating them. If the level of productive forces is not reached, the people can't possibly come into contact with so many problems needed to improve their own productive forces. Without these practices, the people can't possibly be forced to learn science and learn a scientific attitude. If it is the supervision of such a group of clueless people, what effect do you think it will have? Mob politics is also unacceptable."

Shang Yuan thought for a long while and suddenly understood what Chen Ke meant. "You don't intend to expand this matter?"

Chen Ke agreed with Shang Yuan's perception. "That's right. The essence of this matter is not who wants to oppose the Party, nor who wants to be counter-revolutionary. Seek truth from facts. Historical materialism always requires us to seek truth from facts. These Xinyang comrades, in my opinion, are not really bad people. They just don't understand science, and the system hasn't reached the point where they are forced to be scientific. So in this aspect, we must strengthen and perfect the system, and at the same time formulate the mass response. We must begin to endow the People's Congress with power related to this. We can't be like now, stripping the People's Congress of even a tiny bit of power."

Shang Yuan nodded slowly. Chen Ke made a lot of sense. If the People's Congress could really expose the government's reckless behavior, it wouldn't have reached the level where "upright officials" like Chai Qingguo were needed to maintain order.

Chen Ke continued, "In addition, we are about to face war. Now we really don't have the spare energy to trigger larger-scale turmoil. Japan's attitude is very important. If they want war, we must have war. Let's do it in stages."

"Who do you plan to let take charge of the construction of the People's Congress?" Shang Yuan asked. The construction of any system requires suitable personnel. If the wrong candidate is arranged, the result will be tragic.

"Comrade Li Runshi's work in Hebei is quite outstanding. I want him to take charge of this matter." Chen Ke gave his candidate.