Chapter Twelve: Investigate the Case of the Mysterious Death

  "I am Ma Yin-chu, does Mr. Qin know me?"

  Ma Yin-chu was astonished. The young man in front of him did not recognize the famous university president, and had not even heard of him, yet he knew himself... Did he not know that Ye Yuan-long had been admitted to Shanghai University with first-class honors in 1915, and then studied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a master's degree and the "Golden Key" award? After returning to China, he successively taught at Nanjing University, Jinling University, Shanghai University, Sun Yat-sen University, Guanghua University, National Political University, Shanghai Business School, Central University, and Chongqing University, and is now the president of Chongqing University. Although he was a decade or so younger than Ma, his reputation far exceeded that of this professor who only studied economics, a renowned figure in China's education circle?

  "I certainly know Dean Ma... no, no, it's you, President Ma." Qin Wei stretched out both hands and grasped Ma Yin Chu tightly, his eyes shining brightly: "I heard that you have been studying the population issues of our China for a long time, and have achieved quite some results, right?"

  "Population?" Ma Yin-chu was taken aback again, "I haven't studied population issues."

  "Haven't you studied it?" Qin Wei was taken aback. "How is that possible? I clearly heard someone say that your research discovered the problem of China's population growing too quickly..."

  "Is China's population growing too fast?" Ma Yinchu was stunned again. He had always been studying China's economy, and when he was young, he even held positions such as bank consultant, but no matter what he did, it was all about economics. Recently, he had just discovered that many high-ranking officials in the Nationalist government were taking advantage of the war to make a fortune, and he was preparing to publish an article in the newspaper to expose and criticize this behavior. He had never paid attention to China's population problem, let alone knew that China's population was growing too fast... Was China's population still growing?

  "Director Ma, don't listen to his nonsense." Is China's population growing too fast? Qi Qi almost got angry when she heard this question, and if it weren't for Ye Yuanlong and Ma Yin Chu being there, with only Shen Zhongyu as an elder by her side, she believed she would have kicked this guy a few times to vent. Even so, she still pointed at Qin Wei's nose with her hands on her hips and scolded: "Mr. Qin Wei, I don't know what your purpose was in saying that just now, but I'm curious, where did you get the idea that China's population is growing too fast? Do you think the harm this war has caused to the Chinese people isn't enough, and not enough Chinese have died?"

  "Don't make a fuss, expand the scope of the attack. I'm just talking about the matter at hand." Qin Wei gently pushed away the fingers in front of his face and looked again at Lu Xiaojia, Fang Hong, Hu Xuzhong and others who were also glaring at him with malice, saying: "Haven't you realized that China's land has basically been fully developed, but it still can't withstand the enormous population pressure?"

  "Are you referring to the hardships of the Chinese people? But that's because of China's political turmoil, warlord infighting, and the invasion of foreign powers." Lu Xiao Jia suddenly spoke up before Qi Qi.

  "Lu Xiao Jia, my fellow student... Although your name has always had a certain depth to it in my impression, only slightly inferior to that of your master Jing Wu Ming, but I must tell you, this way of thinking of yours is truly... shallow!" Qin Wei shook his head and sighed.

  "How shallow you are!" Qiqi exclaimed.

  "I also don't have a master named Jing Wumeng." Lu Xiao Jia continued.

  "What a rogue without a fate, just listening is a fugitive! You're really not a good person." Qi Qi said next.

  "Don't say that, although Jing Wunong is indeed a fugitive, he's also a very deep fugitive. You know, in this world, there isn't anyone stronger than him... an assassin! The people he kills are all big shots."

  “……”

  Assassin?!

  Sounds like it's specifically designed to take down big shots.

  At this moment, everyone's eyes were a little frightened.

  "Just kidding." Qin Wei suddenly smiled again: "This is actually a character, I know a senior who wrote it randomly. Here, Jing Wunming and Lu Xiao Jia are a pair of master and apprentice, both are very tragic."

  "You're the tragic one!" Qi Qi was somewhat disbelieving, but she wasn't as frightened as when she first heard the word "assassin". After coming to her senses, her first reaction was to scold Qin Wei again... how dare he curse his own sister with tragedy!

  "I'm indeed sad enough." Hearing Qiqi's sarcasm, Qin Wei couldn't help but smile bitterly. If he wasn't sad, he wouldn't have come here either. Although he hadn't heard any bitter stories, this was just the beginning. He didn't know much else, but after the National Government moved its capital to Chongqing, Japanese planes almost came every day to "drop bombs". Just thinking about living in such a perilous environment all day made him want to run away... Where could he run to? There weren't many safe places left in China. Should he go to Chengdu or Kunming?

  "Mr. Qin, you just said that the hardships of the Chinese people are not caused by political turmoil, corruption among officials, warlord infighting and foreign invasion, then what do you think is the reason for China's current situation?" Lu Xiaojia suddenly asked, her eyes gleaming with sharpness.

  "I also have this question. Mr. Qin, what consideration did you base your conclusion that China's population is growing too fast? Is there any evidence?" Ma Yinchu also asked immediately after. And seeing the two of them ask questions, Ye Yuanlong and others who originally intended to speak no longer spoke up, but instead focused their attention on Qin Wei.

  "As for evidence, I don't have any for the time being, but I do have a very serious question to ask. Principal Ye, Dean Ma, and Director Shen, can you help me answer it?" Qin Wei asked back.

  "Please speak," Ye Yuanlong gestured.

  "Where is your school's cafeteria? I haven't had dinner yet."

  “……”

  "Is China's population growing too fast? What the f*** is wrong with this kid?"

  The next day, upon learning of the new situation, Xu Yuanhui immediately reviewed the case files related to Qin Wei. As a result, after reading just a few lines, Director Xu's liver fire was raging... He wasn't a good person, but he was still a Chinese. Therefore, no matter what, he couldn't accept someone bringing up the topic of China's population growing too quickly at this time... Was it that they weren't satisfied with the number of Chinese people the Japanese had killed?

  However, fire returns to fire, and anger returns to anger. Although I hate not being able to rush to Shapingba right now to give the person involved a good scolding, and then pour several buckets of chili water down their throat to moisten it, he still has to continue reading what comes next.

  And then, Xu Yuanjie's anger quickly dissipated.

  "Yè Yuánlóng and Mǎ Yínchū actually agreed with that little brat? Several university students present were also scolded, not daring to retort?"

  The military personnel who wrote the report were obviously skilled, not only was the content detailed and logical, but it also basically recorded a brief, unpublished debate that took place in the cafeteria that evening. After reading the record of the debate, or rather the discussion, as well as Ye Yuanlong and Ma Yinchu's invitation to someone at the end, Xu Yuanjie couldn't help but take a deep breath:

  "This kid is at a university professor level?"

  ……

  "...The biggest contradiction in China at present is the contradiction between us and the aggressors, but this contradiction will not last long. Japan is a small country with limited war potential, while China, although weak, has vast strategic depth... These are all old sayings, nothing new. People like Jiang Fangzhen and Yang Jie have raised them many times since the beginning of the War of Resistance."

  Considering that not only he was concerned about Qin Wei, after reading the report, Xu Yuanjiu handed it over to Zheng Jiemin. After hearing Xu Yuanjiu's serious introduction, Zheng Jiemin also became interested in this report and temporarily put aside other matters to start... As a result, as Xu Yuanjiu had expected, at first, when he saw that "China's population is growing too fast" topic, Zheng Jiemin's face changed, although he quickly recovered, but Xu Yuanjiu knew that Zheng Jiemin must also be like himself, eager to immediately run to Sha Pingba and catch Qin Wei to beat him up badly, especially wanting to catch that stinky mouth and scold him severely. This made him feel a kind of "priority".

  "This is indeed old news, but if you keep reading down, you'll find something fresh."

  "I know." Zheng Jiemin rolled his eyes, thinking that one of Xu Yuanju's purposes in showing him this report was to see how he would react... But on second thought, any Chinese person who heard about this topic for the first time would probably be furious. What kind of thing is this to say at a time like now? But Xu Yuanju definitely wouldn't have sent over the report just to see him lose his temper, so he suppressed his emotions and continued reading:

  "...the Japanese will soon discover that they cannot obtain the rubber, oil, copper and other vital war materials needed in China, and that the small farmer economy which still prevails will not provide them with sufficient profit in the Chinese market. At that time, their weak economy, already battered by war and economic crisis, will be unable to withstand the enormous pressure. Therefore, in order to alleviate this pressure and maintain the war effort, they will inevitably launch an attack on Southeast Asia, i.e., the South Pacific region, in the not-too-distant future. This will inevitably provoke a strong reaction from the European and American countries, and at that time, the contradictions between the aggressors and the victims of aggression will be quickly resolved, while the internal contradictions among the Chinese people will rapidly surface..."

  “……China's land has been almost fully developed, but its grain output cannot meet the needs of its population. As early as the mid-Qing dynasty, namely during the Qianlong period, this had already led to huge social contradictions... Now, social unrest has masked this fundamental contradiction that has run through Chinese history... But we must acknowledge that if this contradiction is not resolved, Chinese society will continue to be turbulent, which means that whoever can solve the problem of feeding China's population will become the leader of this country!... And once the war ends, China will inevitably face a surge in population growth, and it will be sustained.”

  "...Considering the Chinese concept of 'more children, more blessings' and the actual situation where there are no means to suppress childbirth, we calculated a minimum probability. Based on this minimum probability, after thirty years of victory in the war of resistance against Japan, China's population will double, reaching 700-800 million. With such a large population base, another twenty years later, China's population will exceed one billion. Ten years after that, it will increase by another three to five hundred million... In other words, if no restrictions are imposed, by the beginning of the 21st century, about sixty years from now, China will have a population of 13-15 billion! At that time, the world's population will also exceed six billion. That is to say, China's population will account for more than one-quarter of the world's total. But what about China's arable land? Even if fully developed, it would not reach seven percent of the world's total arable land area. With current food production and considering the differences in fertile and infertile land, we assume that a grown-up Chinese person needs two mu (about 0.13 hectares) of land to be full, which means China's land can only support less than one billion people, leaving another five hundred million people hungry. What does this represent?..."

  ……

  "Tsk tsk, this report..."

  After reading the report from head to toe, Zheng Jieming felt that even the tailbone was a bit chilly. Although he still thought this report was too alarmist, who would know what would happen sixty years later? But on second thought, even if China's population only increased by one fold compared to now, it would still be a huge trouble. It is worth noting that even now, without the warlords' infighting, whether the National Government could solve the problem of feeding its people was still a huge question mark. After all, the current National Government might not necessarily be much better than the Qing dynasty in terms of situation.

  "I'm getting more and more suspicious of this kid's background," said Xu Yuan.

  "Yes, it's strange..." Zheng Jiemin clicked his tongue, "Do you think we should submit this report?"

  "I don't know." Xu Yuan hurriedly shook his head: "Let Director you make the decision."

  “…Then let's send it to Boss Dai and see what he says. Who knows, this report might be the wedge that reveals the true identity of that little guy.” Zheng Jiemin threw the report onto the desk, “Also, send a telegram to each station first and ask them to check if there is an assassin named Jing Wuming...”