Insufficient balance

  After You Yun's brother caused such a commotion, they were "sent out the door". Comrades looked at You Yun sitting on a stool with his head hung low in distress, and for a moment didn't know how to comfort him. After this incident came out, it was no longer about comforting You Yun. You Yun also had to give an explanation to party members first. But this matter involved both the party and You Yun's family. It was hard to say what was more important, and nobody dared to make a judgment. "A good official can't resolve family disputes" - this itself is a very troublesome thing.

  Not just Yu Yun, Qi Hui Shen also noticed that the eyes of other comrades would occasionally fall on him. Yu Yun's family was involved, and Qi Hui Shen's family was no exception. Qi Hui Shen was very busy, and he had not had an in-depth discussion with his father, Qi Si E, about his views on the special medicine. Occasionally, when he asked a few questions, his father would just smile mysteriously, asking "How do you plan to solve this matter?" in a tone like a teacher testing a student. Qi Hui Shen was very familiar with this attitude, as Qi Si E would often say this when trying to teach him some business skills. In the past, Qi Hui Shen would always try to escape, and this time was no exception. He thought that if he could delay dealing with his father for one more day, it would be better. As a son, he felt that his father was not easy to deal with.

  But the Yu brothers' words have obviously implicated Qi Siya. While Qi Hui was busy with his own affairs, Qi Siya must have taken action. Qi Hui is desperately searching for memories of his father's business dealings, hoping to find a way to solve the current situation.

  "Let's get started." Chen Ke proposed.

  Upon hearing this, comrades moved their stools and gathered around the large table inside the laboratory.

  "We continue to discuss the topic we just discussed, and I will report on the lecture situation." Contrary to everyone's expectations, Chen Ke's proposal did not address the sudden event.

  "No!" You Yun lowered his head and said, "Let's first clarify what happened with my brother."

  "Everyone is here and has heard it all. Didn't your brother make it clear already?" Chen Ke replied.

  "What did he say clearly?" Yu Yun's voice was low and husky, somewhat like a cat's angry growl.

  "He wants you to go back and clearly told me he wants you to open your own medicine shop."

  "What's next? Is he done talking and everyone just listens like this?"

  "This issue we'll discuss later, how about that? Meetings originally have rules, you as a party member must follow the party's discipline. The meeting has its own agenda, and we all need to follow it." Chen Ke calmly pointed out the facts. This was both Chen Ke's intention to lure in and also not a small trick of his. Historically, the party relied on iron-like discipline to crush all enemies. As the founder of this people's party, Chen Ke himself absolutely could not go against the party's discipline. Moreover, the matter that You Fen encountered was not just You Fen's problem alone, but involved the party's problems. If they couldn't now bring everyone's emotions back onto the track of discipline, the subsequent discussion would very likely lose control. This point was also what Chen Ke was extremely concerned about.

  You Yun looked up at Chen Ke, whose face showed no emotional fluctuations, completely a matter-of-fact expression. Such calmness suddenly made You Yun feel a sense of resentment towards Chen Ke. If Chen Ke had shown comfort or even dissatisfaction at this time, it would have alleviated You Yun's emotions. But Chen Ke's calmness made You Yun feel extremely uncomfortable.

  He looked around at the others, who were either worried or just shaking their heads. But no one expressed any intention of supporting You Yun. You Yun turned to ask Qi Hui Sheng, "If I want to add my topic, what did the previous charter say?"

  Zi thought for a moment, then asked He Sudao with an apologetic smile, "He Sudao, I'm feeling a bit confused at the moment. Can you help me take a look at that proposal and how it's regulated?"

  He flipped through the pages quickly to the front of the record and read, "Temporary agenda items require advance notice. The party members must be notified in advance. If two-thirds of the attendees agree, it can start ahead of schedule."

  "Then let's vote." You Yun said immediately after listening.

  Chen Ke nodded, there are eight members attending the meeting, Chen Ke, Qi Hui-shen, Chen Tianhua, Hua Xiongmao, You Ou, Zhou Yuanxiao, He Zudao and Qin Wu'an. In other words, You Ou needs to get the consent of six members in order to discuss according to her wishes.

  Only You Yu and He Zu Dao voted in favor.

  Her bright eyes sparkled as she seriously swept a glance around at the other comrades, her lips tightly pursed and silent.

  "The lecture is going well. Especially the course that Yu Feng is currently conducting, has received an extremely good response. We would like to express our respect to Comrade Yu Feng for his hard work." Chen Ke said, starting to applaud. All comrades except Yu Feng, including Zhou Yuanxiao, expressed their sincere respect. This was not just a formality, as more than 340 parents had already signed up. And those who wanted to contact the school specifically, were even more numerous. The school has not yet built its campus, so Qi Hui Shen had to promise that the address would be announced in the next few days. Before the big lecture, no one, including Chen Ke, had expected such a result.

  You Yu originally still had a stiff face, but with the applause, her expression became more and more relaxed, until You Yu covered her mouth, tears streaming down.

  Chen Tianhua watched all this and was quite moved. Chen Ke's revolution was so unconventional, so Chen Tianhua himself was also very curious about it. The revolutions that Chen Tianhua had participated in were either the revolutions of the gentry, a group of wealthy people designing armed revolutionary roads, killing one person after another. Or they were revolutions promoted by students studying in Japan, filled with resentment and passion for participating in a movement, which was really high-pitched. However, amidst the boiling emotions, there was a kind of frenzy and unspeakable decadence. Anyway, as long as someone didn't follow their attitude, they were considered bad people. Especially towards the students abroad, it was clearly divided into two factions.

  Chen Tianhua was a passionate person, and in such a movement, he indeed felt a great sense of pride. However, as time went on, he became somewhat perplexed. Why could the revolution not convince those people Chen Tianhua liked? And why were there so many bad habits among the revolutionaries that Chen Tianhua could not accept? This made Chen Tianhua very confused and even painful.

  Here is the translation:

  Although the time was short, Chen Tianhua saw an organization full of vitality and vigor, filled with human touch. There was no resentment, no anger, nor the peculiar arrogance that revolutionaries like Chen Ke had in their bones. Every time he thought of Chen Ke's firmly proposed revolutionary program, Chen Tianhua felt a shock, but when interacting with these people, he also felt a harmony and warmth that only came from being with true friends. Everything here was substantial, sincere, and well-organized. Chen Ke maintained order, and the comrades' obedience to it - this was the kind of revolution Chen Tianhua had been expecting.

  Just as he was secretly lamenting, Chen Ke continued to say: "Next, I have a few requests. First, does anyone know someone who is familiar with the Twenty-four Histories? At least I want them to look at what materials they can find and get the corresponding content. I need three assistants."

  This requirement is quite high and somewhat inexplicable. Chen Ke didn't think of selling any tricks, "The manuscript that Xing Tai and I wrote together is progressing slower than I thought, especially in terms of data collection. Now I need a few people to help me find the data. Xing Tai has a great memory, and this time I really learned from her. The data I needed, Xing Tai remembered it all. Because of this, I originally thought of just writing briefly. But now I've changed my mind."

  "Huh?" Chen Tianhua was even more surprised after hearing this. Chen Ke's manuscript was revised by Chen Tianhua, and its content was so detailed and extensive that it was unprecedented for Chen Tianhua. Even the great scholars Chen Tianhua had met only understood a part of the content. Chen Tianhua had already been deeply immersed in the work of writing this masterpiece. He didn't expect Chen Ke to call these "rough writings", and he wondered how Chen Ke would "write seriously".

  "I'm not going to deceive everyone, my own definition is to treat this article as our initial promotional document for the future, it's fine as long as ordinary people can understand it. However, judging from now, the impact of this manuscript may be greater than I thought. Different concepts and competing with us are certain. But if there are some low-level errors inside, that would be ridiculous. This is something I must avoid. Is there anyone who can do this?"

  "I know a few young scholars, but they are too arrogant. If it's just about finding words from historical books, I don't know if that would work," said Hua Xiong Mao.

  "If it's rotten and useless, then we won't use it. When we use people, we must use our own comrades like this. What do you all think?" Chen Ke said with a smile.

  "Like our comrades? Honestly, it's hard to find." Hua Xiongmao also smiled.

  "Our comrades' greatest advantage is their willingness to work hard. Just find those who are willing to work hard and that's it."

  "How about finding some child stars then?"

  "As long as you're willing to work, that's all. By the way, we should also put up posters. In this day and age, there shouldn't be too few people who can look up information. The Qing government is about to abolish the imperial examination system, and these scholars will have a hard time finding jobs."

  "Alright, I'll get some posters printed." Huaxiongmao thought this method was feasible.

  "Then let's move on to the next topic, about this special medicine." Chen Ke said naturally.

  Everyone thinks that the special medicine is a big deal, involving two comrades with deep experience in the party. Once the discussion starts, it will definitely not be calm. So just now everyone did not vote in favor. He thought this child was being bullied by his brother and had similar experiences himself, thinking he should let him vent his grievances, so he supported him. From the look on his face, you can understand. Although everyone didn't mean to blame He Zuodao, since seeing that only he supported You Yun, while others did not, he felt like he made a huge mistake, always lowering his head to take notes, not even daring to raise it.

  The result was that Chen Ke announced the discussion of this matter so calmly and peacefully, which shocked everyone greatly.

  "This matter is not a dispute over righteousness, for our comrades within the party, this is another matter." Chen Ke smiled and said, "So let's not think that this matter is too big. Actually, it's not a big deal. I'll report to everyone about the situation with the special medicine."

  Chen Ke took out a small notebook from his pocket, found a page in it, and began to speak simply. So far, he has treated more than 670 patients, and the income from various currencies, converted into silver, has a net profit of over 21,000 taels of silver. After finishing this, Chen Ke put the notebook back in his pocket and smiled at his comrades.

  Everyone knew that this special medicine would definitely have a significant profit, but they didn't expect the profit to be so huge. More than 20,000 taels of silver, in today's China, is not a small amount of money. The earliest joiner, Hua Xiongmao, knew that Chen Kegong started his business with only 50 taels of silver, and those who joined slightly later, such as You Yun, were well aware that when Chen first started making medicine, his initial investment was less than 800 taels. Now he has actually earned so much.

  "Now everyone knows why You Hu's brother is so rude, right?" Chen Ke laughed.

  Everyone nodded. No one could remain calm in front of such a profit.

  "My thoughts on this matter are as follows: the ownership of this money is currently unclear. I'm not referring to Yu Zong's brothers or Qi Hui's father. What I want to say are two things. First, how should this money be accounted for within the party? Let's clarify this first."

  Now nobody made a sound, even You Yin who had insisted on speaking just now didn't say anything.

  Chen Kehuan glanced around, You Yun and Qi Hui were hesitant to speak, wanting to say something but stopping themselves. Including Hua Xiongmao, it was the same. Zhou Yuanxiao's lips were tightly pursed, as if making some kind of decision. Chen Tianhua and He Zudao looked somewhat bewildered. Only Qin Wuan, calm and composed, was prepared to listen to everyone's opinions.

  Chen Ke raised his left arm, with the thumb and index finger of his left hand touching his chin, while his right arm was also bent horizontally, with his right hand placed inside the bend of his left arm. After a moment, he smiled and said, "The money is in our hands now, but everyone is too embarrassed to mention dividing it?"

  Still no one spoke. Chen Tianhua looked at the crowd, feeling a strange sense of discord. The revolution had actually reached the point where they could make and divide money, which was truly something he had never seen before.

  Chen Ke waited with a mix of anticipation and unease for his comrades to speak, despite appearing relaxed on the surface. But in reality, Chen Ke's inner turmoil was far more intense than he had imagined. The money from selling the medicine, at least this sum of money, was something that his comrades had every reason to share. This wasn't just because things hadn't been made clear from the start; more importantly, everyone's hard work should be rewarded.

  But once this mouth is opened, will there be a next time? Revolution requires money and revolution also requires sacrifice. However, Chen Ke cannot refuse his comrades, this time he absolutely cannot refuse.

  Maybe it's just me thinking too much. In the history of the revolution, the party has never made so much money, and all the party's expenses were donated by comrades. Later, after the party's operation was on track, there were only party members paying party fees, but no party members getting a share of the money. Chen Ke knew these things, but he himself didn't think he should refuse his comrades. Such conflicting thoughts kept turning over in his mind, and Chen Ke covered them up with a smile. But one thought couldn't be covered up: "Have I made a mistake?"

  Chen Ke himself has "revolutionary awareness" and his life is not luxurious at all. Until now, except for a few work clothes, Chen Ke has not added anything to himself. However, this political party now, or perhaps with the nature of commercial enterprises, since it is a commercial enterprise, there is no reason to refuse to divide the money.

  "After a long period of silence, Qi Hui finally spoke up, 'Alright. Let's set a salary for this. However, the money should come from the party's funds. We can't divide it among ourselves. If we do that now, other comrades will have the right to divide their own projects in the future. This is not a precedent we want to set.'"

  Chen Ke pretended to be calm, but at this time he still couldn't help but let out a breath.

  All comrades expressed their agreement. Hua Xiongmao smiled and said, "Wen Qing, you made the greatest contribution in this matter, we all know that you are not willing to take any money. If you don't even want to take a single cent, how can we possibly take any?"

  "Let's work together for the revolution," said Chen Ke.

  The result of the vote was a monthly salary of 10 taels of silver per person. Chen Ke proposed the concept of party dues, and all comrades unanimously agreed. In the end, it was set at 10%, which would be deducted directly when wages were issued.

  Thereafter, the party organization made a rule that all party members were not allowed to privately operate their own industries except for those arranged by the party organization. They must obey the arrangement of the party. All extra income must be reported.

  The adoption of these articles was smoother than Chen Ke expected. However, Chen Ke did not want to nitpick either. Since the comrades had this realization, it was not yet at the level of political examination.

  "So, the second question is about the special medicine. My suggestion is that at the end of this big lecture, we will publicly announce the final formula, but not the synthesis process. The announced formula is 606. I'll explain first, what we produce is 914. As for the detailed differences between them, I won't say. Roughly speaking, the difference is that 606 has a higher toxicity and mortality rate, but its efficacy is stronger than 914."

  This suggestion really shocked everyone. No one had expected Chen Ke's solution to be like this.

  "Why is it like this?" You Yun was very puzzled.

  "Firstly, we don't have armed forces to defend our own interests. Secondly, relying on the Qing government is unreliable. Relying on the British is also unreliable. Relying on buying officials is equally unreliable."

  "Robbery and looting are unavoidable." Qi sighed deeply.

  "So many purchases and transactions have been made with the British, but nothing like this has happened." You Yun asked.

  "That's how they made the British earn money, and now we're earning the British' money. They won't let us off." Qi Hui said helplessly.

  "Isn't it okay to do things according to the current situation? Don't we still make money that way?" You Yun was still not convinced.

  "That's what you don't know, many people are plotting against us. It's just that those people can't figure out our situation now and don't dare to take action. Some of my friends have already warned me, now in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area, there are people who are constantly inquiring about our news. You think your brother is joking with you, but actually they are being very polite."

  You Yun knew that Hua Xiongmao wasn't talking nonsense, but she was very unhappy about her own hard work going down the drain. "Foreign joint-stock companies are doing well, why can't they do it in China?"

  "Then let's have a revolution. As Wen Qing said, build a new world. By then, you can be as fair as you want." Hua Xiong Mao laughed.

  Chen Ke only then somewhat understood why Hua Xiongmao was so supportive of his own party's property issues. It seemed that the situation outside had already become quite unfavorable.

  "That's just human nature. They can't bear to see you making money, they can't bear to see you getting rich. It's an unavoidable thing." Chen Ke advised.

  "But, but......" He was so angry that he couldn't get the words out.

  However, we must believe in the goodness of human nature. As long as the prescription is made public, they will at least not take our lives even if we have saved theirs. They will want to fight us to the death since we hold their lives in our hands. Moreover, since we have given up on personal gain, let's not make a big show of seeking fame. It's better for us to teach them sincerely rather than waiting for those people to come and take it away from us.

  Yu Feng thought for a moment and still didn't feel resigned.

  Chen Kesha smiled and said, "Look at it from another angle. Once it's made public, everyone will know that the medicine was invented by us. As long as the price is reasonable, they'll definitely come to us to buy it. And there might be more buyers, so we won't necessarily lose much money."

  "If those foreigners imitate us, won't we have to drink northwest wind?" You Yun still wasn't satisfied.

  "You'd better join the pharmaceutical business, we won't make it public. They can easily complete it? They need time to finish the intermediate process. During this period, the foreigners will not take action against us either. By the time they're done, we'll have made enough money too. And by then, we'll also be building our base."

  Having heard this, You Yun was also unable to continue questioning for the time being.

  Since nobody had anything else to say, Chen Ke said: "So tomorrow we'll distribute the wages. The meeting is dismissed." Immediately, a cheer erupted from the crowd in the meeting room.