Chapter Seventeen

  Qihui Shen's attitude towards foreigners is, to put it mildly, not very fond. To be more straightforward, he detests them. If it were in the past, Qihui Shen would never have listened to his father's orders and interacted with the British. This time was an exception, as he went with Chen Ke. Otherwise, Qihui Shen might have given up too.

  But as the rickshaw drew closer to the British Consulate, Qi Hui's unease grew.

  "Wen Qing, how do you usually interact with foreigners?" Zhi Hui Shen finally asked.

  "This matter I..." Chen Ke almost slipped up. In fact, he didn't have much experience dealing with foreigners either. Chen Ke was relieved that he hadn't said anything wrong, and at the same time, he was thinking deeply.

  "Let's hear what Guan's family has to say first. Since your father sent him, it won't be a casual decision."

  Qihui Shen didn't have a good solution either, so he changed the subject. "Intellectuals are never afraid of foreigners." This sentence inadvertently revealed Qihui Shen's inner thoughts.

  "I am not afraid of individual foreigners, but when I encounter organized foreigners, I have always believed that caution is necessary. No matter how rotten the British organization is, it's not something one person can handle." Chen Ke replied vaguely to this question.

  Looking at Qi Hui's worried expression, Chen Ke smiled and said: "However, the foreigners are also human. As humans, there is not much difference in doing things. Treating them with courtesy and understanding their workflow in a practical way will not lead to any excessive trouble."

  Three people got off the car in front of the British Consulate, before the two young men could speak, the butler had already started "lecturing" them. As Mr. Qi Hui's father, Qi Si'ai, said, both parties have already determined the overall direction of the project. Chen Ke felt that if he hadn't misunderstood the butler, his and Qi Hui's job was just to stamp their approval. A certain counselor at the consulate was in charge of this matter on the British side, and the first document needed to be issued from this counselor's hands.

  Chen Ke didn't dare to make a wild guess by himself, so he directly and frankly told the butler his understanding of the situation. The butler nodded in satisfaction. Then, the group began their work.

  The "bureaucratic style" has always been the target of criticism in the industrial era, slow and steady, one board at a time, endless documents, forms, and seals. Anyone who doesn't understand the bureaucratic system will definitely not have any good impression after dealing with it. Chen Ke used to feel this way too, but after he personally went through the bureaucratic process and did a few things that weren't too small, his view of the bureaucratic system changed. Compared to the grasslands or rule of man, the modern bureaucratic system has significant progressive meaning. The criticism of the bureaucratic system is that "you can't find the person who makes the decisions". In fact, if you are willing to listen carefully to the explanations of the bureaucrats, you can actually find the person in charge. Chen Ke always thought that compared to the bureaucratic system, those who think the bureaucratic system can solve all problems may have made an even bigger mistake.

  This incident has verified Chen Ke's point of view. The first document was issued by a counselor named Humphrey, and then it was necessary to find the British concession education department official responsible for signing this document. Chen Ke did not simply entertain that official, signed the document and rushed away. But spent some effort communicating with that official.

  Compared to Indians, the British are much more diligent. Compared to Chinese people, the British are relatively laid-back. Due to watching American TV shows to practice his oral English, Chen Ke speaks standard American English with a New York accent. When speaking, Chen Ke tries to use "May" instead of "" which has a London flavor. The official in charge of education actually hasn't stayed in London for long, he's from Coventry.

  Chen Ke, this short-haired Chinese man can speak a mouthful of English that is obviously not from the Chinese mainland, which makes him not so annoying. Chen Ke neither has obvious hostility towards the British like ordinary Chinese people, nor does he fawn on them like a comprador. The official answered Chen Ke's few key questions. Which department is in charge of the school mentioned in this document? Who is responsible for the liaison work of this required school?

  In the following days, Chen Ke went to each unit that required signatures and seals, doing things in this way. It wasn't everywhere that officials were as gentle as that British person in charge of education, and there weren't just one or two officials who treated Chen Ke with a bad attitude. At this time, Chen Ke had no choice but to use another method, that is, "As long as you don't drive me away, I will get the procedures done that are your responsibility."

  Qī Huì Shēn was with Chen Ke for the entire journey, and in his imagination, getting things done meant finding the person in charge, negotiating openly or privately, and then reaching a result. This was his first time struggling against the modern bureaucratic system. Looking at the British people's gloomy faces and unpleasant tone, but Chen Ke fearlessly exchanged opinions with them, listening to their instructions. Many of the demands that seemed unreasonable and overbearing to Qī Huì Shēn were met by Chen Ke, who repeatedly went back and forth several times to complete them.

  Seal the document, fill out the form, seal it again, and exchange the form. Today I went to one department, tomorrow I have to go again, but the purpose of finding the same person is completely different. On the fourth afternoon, Chen Ke finally brought a final document back in front of Counsellor Humphrey.

  Humphrey gazed at Chen Ke and Qi Hui with a somewhat astonished look. As a British man who knew the harm of bureaucracy, he had some admiration for the determination of these two Chinese youths. In fact, in Shanghai's British bureaucratic system, it wasn't very big, and he had long known what Chen Ke was doing. Chen Ke didn't completely follow the rules to sign documents, under the premise of not touching Humphrey's "stance", Chen Ke figured out who to find and went to find that person to stamp.

  As one of the characteristics of the bureaucratic system, someone had come to Humphrey before, hoping to know if there was any cat's claw in this matter. Humphrey just said one sentence, "Follow the procedure." The people below naturally wouldn't misunderstand, and the meaning of this sentence is "Don't deliberately look for trouble."

  This time the school affair is not a very important matter, since the Americans used the Boxer Indemnity to establish schools in China, the British also had such plans. However, the British have always maintained an "international status" and are unwilling to do so as straightforwardly as the Americans. This school belongs to this category. If it weren't for this background, Humphrey would not have let Chen Ke go so readily.

  Chen Ke followed the deliberate instructions of Guan's family and placed the silver ticket on this final document. Humphrey, the counselor, signed a receipt for Chen Ke and sent the two away.

  "Are you saying that the British are using the Boxer Indemnity to build schools in China to buy off the Chinese people?" In front of the consulate, Qi Hui asked Chen Ke deeply. "And this school is something that the British Consulate in Shanghai had my father donate money for, without putting in any effort themselves. What was it you called it earlier... what's that word you used, Wen Qing?"

  "Political achievement project."

  "Yes, it's a political achievement project. What Wen Qing means is that the British Consulate has carried out a political achievement project."

  "If it weren't for this reason, the two of us definitely wouldn't be able to get things done."

  Chen Ke finished speaking, and a relaxed and pleasant expression appeared on his face. Qi Hui didn't share Chen Ke's good mood; he only felt that these days of busy work had merely resulted in setting up an empty shell of a school, still serving the British people. This made him very unhappy.

  "It's a great success, this is the revolution. Our revolutionary cause has made a major breakthrough. Haven't you always wanted to recruit revolutionary comrades? Through this school, our recruitment of revolutionary comrades will be half the work with double the results." Chen Ke advised.

  "Although we can gather comrades, but more often than not, we're just finding a bunch of people to serve the British, I've always felt that it's not right." Qi Hui still couldn't understand.

  "How deep is your revolutionary thinking? A group of comrades holding knives and guns, killing all the enemies. I think you shouldn't be so naive now."

  "It shouldn't have ended up like this either. Wen Qing brother, you said you wanted a revolution, but looking at what you're doing now, it's getting further and further away from the revolution. In the past, you would at least talk to us about revolutionary principles. These days, you don't even mention revolutionary principles anymore."

  Chen Ke did not agree with Qi Hui's view, "Huh, when I was talking about revolutionary principles, you were not even a fellow revolutionary. Now that we have established a party small group, how can I feel that my revolutionary work has achieved great success?"

  "What's going on with that literary youth afterwards?" Zhi Hui knew he couldn't outdo Chen Ke, so he asked directly.

  "The party relies on its members. To distinguish whether someone is a party member or not, don't look at what they say, but look at what they do. I say I am a revolutionary party, why should you believe me? Not because I give you endless lectures on revolutionary principles, but because I lead my comrades to work diligently and get things done. Why can comrades get along harmoniously with each other? Because everyone is working diligently, not just for themselves, but for our common cause."

  Upon hearing this, Qi Hui Shen no longer made a sound, but instead nodded slightly. Chen Ke was able to dye cloth and treat medicine. He could still get things done with this batch of documents. If there weren't any special circumstances, Chen Ke should be able to accomplish many more things. Qi Hui Shen complained that Chen Ke was no longer revolutionary, merely because he thought Chen Ke should also be able to stir up a revolution. Just as Chen Ke said, the comrades around him had gone through these days of labor together, and even though Qi Hui Shen had joined by chance due to being mistakenly injured, he still liked those guys. He hoped to go with those guys to start a revolution, rather than those people who were at a loss when faced with hard work, or simply ran away.

  Seeing Zihui Shen being convinced by himself, Chen Ke felt very relieved. And today, being able to say such words to Zihui Shen, Chen Ke felt extremely happy inside.

  The success of the Communist Party, especially its legendary success before 1949, is largely due to the fact that it has done what it said it would do. In fact, it has done more than it said it would. Chen Ke does not think that all comrades in the party truly understood communist theory when the country was founded in 1949. Chen Ke believes that if no more than 4% of party members really understood communist theory at that time, it would be quite good. As for the Chinese people at that time, absolutely less than 1% of them could understand communism.

  But why was this party able to crush all the reactionary forces? Because it relied on "seeking truth from facts" and doing practical things that benefited the people. It was because of the hundreds of millions of party members, from top to bottom, who implemented the party's program and organizational discipline.

  Chen Ke felt regretful that he couldn't tell Qi Huiwen about these things. Even if he did, Qi Huiwen wouldn't believe him anyway. For Chen Ke, all he could do was set an example himself and let his comrades see the power of the new political party through practical actions. This political idea and organizational model could liberate China, and even the whole world.

  Chen Ke was very much in agreement with that widely spread fable, in a country composed of madmen, the sane people are the mad ones.

  If you can't speak with facts, then everything is forever indistinguishable from lies.

  But the Long March of ten thousand miles has its first step, after having an initial outline, Chen Ke had a lot to do. "How do you deeply view this bureaucratic system of the British?" Chen Ke asked.

  "It's too complicated. I really can't understand it. Fortunately, you're a literary enthusiast and can figure out what they're doing."

  "What about the new China we are going to establish in the future, oh, no need to talk so far away, the new school and new factories and enterprises that we are going to establish right now, how will they be organized and managed?"

  Qihui Sheng really hadn't thought about these things, since he joined Chen Ke's team, he didn't need to consider these things, there were always things that couldn't be done in front of him, and the team was running very well. Qihui Sheng subconsciously felt that this was the best model.

  "We'll go deep, I've said it before, our party is about democracy. The organizational structure of the future will be decided by everyone discussing and voting in meetings, all party members must unconditionally obey. When the meeting starts, you can't do this to me. You must express your own opinions."

  Chen Ke said that, Qi Hui deep thought back then indeed had such a say. Since Chen Ke said that it was necessary to convene a party meeting to determine how the future development would proceed, it meant that the revolutionary work would also continue to advance. Thinking of this, Qi Hui deep became happy again.

  These days, Chen Ke and Qi Hui have been running errands during the day and visiting patients at night. Seeing that the sun was already setting in the west, it was almost time to visit the patient. According to their usual arrangement, they should now hurry back to the workshop, change into white coats, grab their medical kits, and rush to the patient's home. But with the receipt in his hand, Chen Ke absolutely dared not let Qi Hui take it to Old Master Qi Siyan. This wasn't because he didn't trust Qi Hui; if Chen Ke had let Qi Hui take the receipt back, someone like Qi Siyan would only think that Chen Ke didn't know how to handle things. Facing this person who absolutely couldn't be offended, Chen Ke couldn't make any mistakes.

  Qī Sī'é took Chen Ke and Qí Huìshēn to the living room, Chen Ke first handed the receipt to the old man, Qī Sī'é glanced at it and then handed the receipt to the butler beside him.

  "Got it, I've already seen the receipt, no problem. This matter has been settled."

  Chen Kesong let out a sigh of relief, "I can finally give you an explanation."

  "Haha, Wen Qing is really cautious when doing things." The old man said with a smile, then he turned his head and immediately scolded Qi Hui deeply, "Do you know that things are not going well?"

  Although Zhi Hui Shen was somewhat resentful, he didn't dare disobey his father. He obediently responded with a "yes".

  "This is Wen Qing's doing, he can handle things so quickly. If you were to do it, I'm afraid it would take a month just to get this matter done." Qi Si'e said.

  "Thanks to you, Uncle Zhi, for paving the way for us. Others didn't make things difficult for us at all. If we were to do it ourselves, this matter wouldn't be just a matter of running errands, but rather something that couldn't be done at all." Chen Ke hastily said.

  Mr. Qi looked at his son without arguing, after all, this matter had been settled, and he didn't want to say anything more to his son. He looked at Chen Ke again, "Wen Qing, I've never run a school before. Nor do I know how to run a school. Wen Qing, how are you going to help me?"

  "I've always wanted to do this thing about running a school. But I can only work on it, and as for how to do it, it's still up to you, Uncle Qi." Chen Kei said while taking out a draft, "Uncle Qi, I studied abroad and based on the style of foreign schools, I roughly wrote an outline, and I'd like to ask for your guidance."

  That thing for Cai Yuanpei was slightly modified by Chen Ke and then taken over.

  "Wen Qing, this time, I originally thought the British would let me handle this and I'd just lose 5,000 yuan. But unexpectedly, you're able to do it, Wen Qing, and my son rarely wants to do something proper. As for school matters, I won't interfere anymore. If you think this 5,000 yuan shouldn't go to waste, then help me get it started. Tell me what I need to do and I'll assist. If you can't make the school happen, I thought the money would just be a loss anyway."

  "Uncle Zhi, I originally wanted to start a hospital. Who would have thought that I'd encounter such an opportunity? This school is a medical college, and every medical college has its own affiliated hospital. My hospital can rely on this big tree, it's really my good fortune. Don't worry, I will definitely assist in making this school successful."

  Qī Sī éng nodded in satisfaction, "This school, it's said to be run by the British. The money spent is all mine. So I've told the British that they can send someone to be a board member, but the chairman of the board cannot be a Briton. In this case, the chairman, I'll let Huì Shēn do it. Wén Qīng, you'll be the principal. You two work together to get the school up and running for me."

  "I will fully support and assist the meeting."

  "By the way, Wen Qing, are you a revolutionary?" Qi Si'e suddenly asked.

  Hearing this, Chen Ke was startled. Seeing that there was no malice in Qi Si's words, although he was talking to himself, his gaze fell on Qi Hui Shen's body.

  Chen Ke said: "I used to make a fuss about revolution, now I don't dare to talk nonsense like before."

  Qī Sī ér hūn le yī shēng, tā chōng zhe ér zǐ shuō: "Gémìng, gémìng. Nà qún gémìng dǎng chú le dào chù nào shì wài, hái huì gàn shén me? Lǎo lǎo shí shí zuò zuò shēng yì, bàn bàn xué xiào bù hǎo ma? Bù bǐ zhěng tiān zài wài tóu xián pǎn qiáng?"

  Chen Ke recalled Qi Hui's words, as long as he didn't make trouble with the revolution, his old man would support him no matter what. It seems that this wasn't a joke after all.

  Although the times are different, parents' love for their children will not have any difference. Qi Si'e criticized Qi Hui Shen for half an hour until Qi Hui Shen was annoyed and promised that he would focus on school from now on. Only then did the old man let his son off.

  After the family education was over, Old Master Qi invited Chen Ke to have dinner together. Chen Ke was very pleased, and if it wasn't for the dignified reason of "treating his illness", he would have really refused.

  After Chen Ke left, Qi Si'e said: "Wen Qing is busy today, so I won't delay Wen Qing's proper business. We'll talk about the medicine that Wen Qing and I did together when we have time."