Chapter 33

  Qiu Jin appeared at the door of Zhou Yuanxiao's workshop on September 8th at 9:00. The last time she came here was more than three months ago. This street seemed to have changed little, with few passing rickshaws and a somewhat outdated look. Passersby were still mostly in short sleeves. However, the old ladies sitting idly by the street had changed somewhat. Qiu Jin still remembered that the last time she came here with Chen Ke and others, the old ladies stared at her for half a day. Now, those old ladies just glanced at her and continued their leisurely chat.

  Turning into the alley, Qiu Jin saw the gate that still left an impression on her. Several months ago, Zhou Yuanxiao's workshop was a place where people came and went in throngs. Although it was a clear and beautiful summer day in early May, the cold and deserted feeling was like that of a rural area on an autumn day. After pushing open the gate, the desolate stillness inside the empty courtyard rushed towards her, making Qiu Jin feel slightly sentimental.

  It's a gloomy day now, the lingering autumn rain clouds haven't completely dispersed. The workshop in front of Autumn Jade right now seems like a bustling beehive. Before she even reached the entrance, all sorts of noises were already coming out from inside. At the entrance hung an unpainted wooden signboard with "Huang Pu Book Society" written on it in four large characters. This definitely wasn't Chen Ke's handwriting, but it was his style - simple and neat. Autumn Jade glanced at it and almost burst out laughing. If not for the fact that the wooden board was wide enough and the words were quite beautiful, it would look like a tombstone stuck into a hastily buried grave. The gate was open, Autumn Jade stood at the entrance looking inside, the courtyard was full of people.

  Just as I was about to go in, I heard the sound of wheels rumbling behind me. Turning my head, a large cart came in from the street corner and stopped at the gate of the courtyard. Several young men wearing white coats jumped down from the cart, full of energy and quick steps, starting to move things from top to bottom.

  Qiu Jin sighed silently, but in just over three months, this place had become completely different.

  "Mr. Qiu?!" someone shouted.

  Qiu Jin fixed her eyes on him and found the young man opposite somewhat familiar. On closer inspection, it turned out to be the leader of those Japanese youths who had returned with Chen Tianhua. He was not wearing the Japanese kimono he had worn when they met before, but a white shirt, dark gray trousers, black cloth shoes, and a doctor's white coat on top.

  "Ah! Hello." Qiu Jin said with a smile.

  "Mr. Qiu, I didn't introduce myself last time, my name is Kuroshima Niichiro. Please give me your guidance." Although he spoke in a strange Chinese accent and wore Western-style clothes with Chinese characteristics, Kuroshima still bowed to Qiu Jin with Japanese etiquette.

  "Hei Daojun, hello." Qiu Jin slightly bowed her head in response.

  "Is Mr. Qi here to see Mr. Tianhua?" Hei Dao asked.

  "Uh..." Qiu Jin hesitated slightly. She had actually come looking for Chen Ke.

  "Then you must be looking for Mr. Wenqing?" Hei Dao was very clever, "I saw Mr. Wenqing this morning when I went out to move things."

  "Hei Dao, come and help." The young men who were struggling to lift a large trunk shouted.

  Shima Ichihiro replied with a hint of apology to Qiú Jǐn, "Mr. Qiú, I have something urgent to attend to now. Please go in yourself."

  Now that she had been recognized, Qiu Jin no longer stood foolishly at the gate. She stepped inside and saw that several new grass sheds had been set up in the originally empty courtyard, with strange wooden frames topped with thatched roofs, simple yet quite good-looking.

  In each thatched hut sat a considerable number of people. The outermost one seemed to be serving as a classroom, with many people sitting neatly in front of the blackboard, and Xun Yu, who had not been seen for a long time, standing in front of everyone, using a pointer to point at strange symbols on a row of Chinese characters, "ba, ba..."

  The soft and gentle Jiangsu-Zhejiang accent speaking in a northern dialect is quite unique. However, the accents of the students in front of her are even more interesting, ranging from Shaanxi to Hubei, they have them all. The same pronunciation sounds incredibly strange when heard by Qiu Jin. You Yun is very serious about teaching and hasn't noticed anyone entering. Qiu Jin doesn't want to disturb her either, so she heads towards the old observatory in the north of the courtyard, where Chen Ke is probably still working.

  There were more people coming in and out of the tile-roofed house, everyone looked at Qiu Jin with a slightly curious gaze, but no one asked. Outside the door, Chen Ke's peculiar Beijing accent could be heard. "No need to print more. Haven't you heard that rarity is valuable? The sales of 'Huangpu Review' are not stable yet, and now we only print 1500 copies per day. Also, I remember I mentioned that expansion training last time, have you confirmed the location?"

  "It's already been decided." A voice unfamiliar to Qiu Jin replied.

  "Tell everyone first, and then have them all come with me for training the day after tomorrow. As long as it doesn't rain knives from the sky, I'll personally lead everyone there."

  Compared with several months ago, Chen Ke's voice has not changed much, although when giving orders, the tone of his speech has also not changed much.

  Qiu Jin stepped into the room, and saw that half of it was filled with tables and strange glass instruments, while the other half had a few tables. Chen Ke and a young man were sitting at the table talking.

  "Autumn sister?" Chen Ke saw Autumn Qiu and immediately stood up, excitedly shouting. Chen Ke hadn't changed much, even his smile was the same as a few months ago.

  "Welcome back, young master." Qiu Jin also smiled and said.

  Chen Ke brought over a stool for Qiu Jin. "Sister Qiu, wait a moment, I'll finish this matter and then talk to you."

  When Chen Ke and the young man finished handling several things, the young man bowed his head to start writing some documents. Chen Ke turned around. "Xing Tai said that Autumn would also return home after coming back. But I've been waiting for a long time." After finishing speaking, Chen Ke looked up and down at Qiu Jin, "This period of running around has made you thinner, sister."

  "The hipster is indeed spirited and proud."

  "Eat till full, sleep after eating, I guess I've gained a lot of weight."

  After saying this, the two burst out laughing.

  "How come I haven't seen Zhēng Lán and Xīng Tái?" Qiū Róng had just looked around, some young people were busy surrounding those experimental instruments, not a single familiar face.

  "Zheng Lan has been selling medicine outside recently. Xing Tai is giving a lecture next door."

  "It seems like everyone is busy."

  "What's Autumn sister planning recently?"

  "What instructions can't be given to a cultured youth?"

  "It depends on whether Autumn sister is willing to condescend."

  "What did you say?"

  "If Aunt Qiu wants to return to Shaoxing, I happen to have some money to deliver to Brother Bo. If Aunt Qiu is prepared to stay in Shanghai, the nursing school here needs a principal."

  Qiu Jin originally wanted to start a school in Shanghai, and after hearing Chen Ke's words, she became interested.

  "It seems like the literary youth has made quite a bit of money."

  "This money is earned a lot, but spent even faster." Chen Ke smiled and said.

  Two people were talking when He Zuodao hurried in, "Wen Qing, there are two gentlemen from Fudan Public School who want to see you."

  "Aunt Qiu will be here later, I'll go and welcome them in," said Chen Ke as he stood up.

  A moment later, Chen Ke led the two men in. The first one was unknown to Qiu Jin, but the second one was someone she knew. They almost simultaneously noticed each other. "Xuan Qing is also here?" the man exclaimed with excitement.

  "You're wearing your clothes with the opening on the right side. How did you come?"

  The one who was talking to Qiu Jin was Yu Youren, both of whom were members of the Guangfu Society and had met last year. It had been a long time since they had seen each other, but they ran into each other here at Chen Ke's place, feeling both overjoyed and somewhat surprised. Seeing that Chen Ke looked rather bewildered, Qiu Jin hastily introduced Yu Youren to him.

  "I've long admired him." Chen Ke had heard of the name, but couldn't recall his achievements. However, someone who could make it into history books was certainly no ordinary person.

  Yu Ruoren didn't stand on ceremony and hastily introduced another person to Chen Ke, "This is Mr. Yan Fu."

  Chen Ke and Qiu Jin were stunned at the same time. Qi Hui Shen was deeply buried in writing a report, heard this name, put down his pen and turned around to stand up, before Chen Ke could speak, Qi Hui Shen asked with some stuttering: "Is this Mr. Yan Fu who wrote 'Tianyan Lun'?" Chen Ke felt that Qi Hui Shen's voice was also trembling slightly.

  "That's right." Yu Youren replied.

  Qihui Shen had been a huge fan of Yan Fu since reading "Tianyan Lun". He even considered applying to the Beiyang Naval Academy. Today, upon learning that the "Uncle General" standing in front of him was none other than Yan Fu himself, he couldn't contain his excitement and blurted out, "Mr. Yan, nice to meet you! I've read your book, it's an honor to finally meet you!" As he walked up, he extended his right hand. Having spent a lot of time with Chen Ke and others, Qihui Shen had become accustomed to shaking hands. Recently, having dealt with many British people, he was also used to shaking hands when meeting wealthy and influential individuals. In his emotional state, he forgot that one should bow upon meeting someone like Yan Fu.

  Qiu Jin was also excited, but she wouldn't be as thrilled as Qizhi Deep. Instead, she watched with great interest as Qizhi Deep stole the spotlight from Chen Ke. According to Chen Tianhua, Chen Ke was the leader of this small group, and Qiu Jin looked at Chen Ke, wondering how he would react. Chen Ke also had a delighted expression, not minding at all that Qizhi Deep had taken the lead in shaking hands. Then, seeing Yan Fu slightly awkwardly extend his hand, it was tightly grasped by Qizhi Deep, who pulled Yan Fu along, stuttering out words of admiration. Chen Ke just grinned foolishly, without a hint of displeasure on his face.

  Qiu Jin originally had some doubts about Chen Ke, thinking that he might be a hypocrite. But looking at Chen Ke's behavior, it didn't seem like he was the kind of person who was good at hiding his true nature. On the contrary, his actions were quite consistent with what one would expect from a 25-year-old. This actually made Qiu Jin somewhat puzzled.

  Yan Fu saw that Qi Hui had become more and more infatuated. Qi Hui was muttering to himself, pulling his own sleeves, and seemed a bit impatient. He slightly withdrew his arm, and Qi Hui didn't seem completely confused. He hastily let go of his hand, apologized, and turned around to leave.

  "Mr. Yan, I'm Chen Ke. I've long admired you. It's an honor to have you here." Chen Ke also extended his right hand. Since Qi Hui was far ahead, Yan Fu had somewhat gotten used to it. After shaking hands with Chen Ke, Yan Fu looked around. Chen Ke guessed that Yan Fu wanted to talk in a quieter place, but the actors over there who were rehearsing kept staring over, so Chen Ke shouted: "Comrades, this is Mr. Yan Fu. Everyone come and greet him."

  After hearing this, the experimenters all asked Mr. Yan Fu together.

  "You all continue with the experiment, if Mr. Yan is available in a while, we'll come up and talk again." After finishing speaking, Chen Ke pulled up the curtain in the middle of the room, then smiled and said: "Our environment is like this here, if Mr. Yan feels it's not convenient, we can go out to find a place to talk?"

  "It will do here," replied Yan Fu.

  Chen Ke hastily pulled over a stool, wiped it clean with the sleeve of his white lab coat, and offered it to everyone.

  "Mr. Yan has come here, what instructions does he have?"

  Qiu Jin watched the two with interest. Yan Fu, 51 years old this year, was extremely handsome in appearance, a naval officer by origin, and had also served as the principal of the Beiyang Naval Academy. The composure that came from his training was extraordinary. Even in this ordinary or somewhat simple environment, he gave people a feeling of reverence.

  Chen Ke was only half the age of Yan Fu, and wore a very casual white gown. In this room, Chen Ke chose the lowest stool to sit on, but just now that natural and considerate movement, as well as the sincere smile on his face, in Qiu Jin's eyes, his demeanor was not at all inferior to Yan Fu's.

  After a brief silence, Yu Youren spoke up first, "Mr. Chen, our school is about to start and this auditorium will be put into use soon. I wonder how much time you have left for your lectures."

  "Does Mr Yu hold any position in the school?"

  "I'm temporarily in charge of teaching affairs, and I'll take care of these venues."

  "Ah, Mr. Yu, this is my negligence. The day before yesterday, at the end of the lecture, I told the students that the lecture had ended. Yesterday, I wrote a letter to inform Mr. Ma about it, but forgot to notify the school. Now I formally inform you that the class has been completed and will not use the school's venue again. Please forgive me for the inconvenience caused to you and the school due to my negligence."

  "Mr. Chen misunderstood, I didn't come here to accuse you of anything. You don't have to worry about the lecture anymore, the school already knows. The students are very enthusiastic and insist that you finish the lecture. For this reason, the students sent a representative to find Mr. Ma. Mr. Ma sent me to ask how many classes are left. If you're willing, would you be able to come to our school to finish the lecture?"

  After hearing Yu Youren's words, Chen Ke did not respond directly. Instead, he glanced at Yan Fu and saw that Yan Fu was looking at him with a serious expression. Chen Ke really couldn't understand why Yan Fu had come in person for this matter. If it were just about this, it would be impossible for Yan Fu to take action personally. But since Yan Fu had already arrived, how should he handle the situation?

  Qiu Jin watched Chen Ke's movements and found them quite interesting. She couldn't figure out why Yan Fu had come either. But Yan Fu must have come prepared, and it would be best for Chen Ke to win him over as an ally. Glancing at Chen Ke looking at Yan Fu, Qiu Jin knew that Chen Ke was planning something with Yan Fu. Just as she was thinking about this, Chen Ke spoke up, "Mr. Ma's concern for the students is truly admirable. I don't know what the students think, but this lesson has indeed come to an end. That's also what I said in my letter to Mr. Ma."

  "Is that all?" Yu Youren was surprisingly astonished.

  "It's indeed all said." Chen Ke smiled and nodded.

  After hearing Chen Ke's words, Yan Fu spoke up, "Mr. Chen, I've read your masterpiece and also attended the last few lessons you taught. It's clear that you haven't finished yet."

  "Mr. Yan, if you don't mind, just call me Wen Qing." Chen Ke said as he wrote the two characters on a piece of paper and handed it to Yan Fu.

  Yan Fu glanced at it and put it down.

  "Mr. Yan, I originally only planned to finish lecturing on objective dialectics and subjective dialectics at Fudan Public School, which I completed the other day as per my original plan. The class is over." Chen Ke said with a sincere expression familiar to Qiu Jin.

  "Didn't the literary youth plan on telling everything?"

  "I didn't have such an intention."

  Qiu Jin was listening to this conversation and really didn't know whether Chen Ke was too serious or too arrogant. Upon hearing this, Qiu Jin somewhat understood what was going on. Chen Ke had given a lecture at Mr. Ma Xiangbo's school and had even sent the entire manuscript to Mr. Ma Xiangbo. However, before he could finish the entire manuscript, he withdrew. The students were not satisfied and Mr. Ma Xiangbo was famous for his love of his students. Of course, he would invite Chen Ke to finish the lesson.

  Who is Mr. Ma Xiangbo? He was the teacher of Cai Yuanpei. It would be inappropriate for Mr. Ma to come forward himself, and sending Yu Youren to persuade him would also worry that Chen Ke wouldn't give face. So they let Yan Fu come instead.

  If it were someone else, they would probably go enthusiastically to give the lecture. In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang literary circles, Mr. Ma Xiangbo is a master of his generation. Having gained Mr. Ma's recognition, the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang literary world would have opened its doors wide for Chen Ke. Yet, for some reason, Chen Ke refused so seriously.

  If it's just a rogue playing tricks, maybe it'll work. But for Yu Youren, the disciple of Ma Xiangbo, especially in front of someone like Yan Fu... Chen Ke is probably still too tender for this kind of trick.

  "What's wrong with Wen Qing?" Yan Fu asked.

  "It's absolutely impossible to discuss further. In the plan I arranged, I only prepared to say that much. Afterwards, my matters have already been arranged and cannot be changed according to Mr. Ma's wishes, which makes me very uneasy. However, since I've made a plan, I must follow it. Gentlemen Sheng and Yu, I will specially write a letter to Mr. Ma to explain this matter."

  Chen Ke's refusal was so clear that he didn't even leave any room for turning back. Not only Yan Fu and Yu Youren, but also Qiu Jin's face changed color. According to this meaning, Chen Ke would absolutely not go to give lectures before completing his own plan. If Chen Ke changed his mind halfway, it could only prove that Chen Ke was a hypocritical petty man.

  But Chen Ke didn't go to give lectures, this frame is a bit scary. Generally, scholars who encounter such situations will definitely climb up the pole. Relying on Mr. Ma Xiangbo and Fudan Public School's big ship, the great help it can provide in the future is unimaginable. If Qiu Jin had this opportunity, she would absolutely not let it go. But Chen Ke didn't put this in his heart at all. As he said now, he only puts his own affairs first. Other things are not considered at all.

  "Wen Qing, are you really a bookworm?" Qiu Jin said quietly. Suddenly, Qiu Jin realized that Chen Ke might be an overseas student, judging from Chen Tianhua's recommendation and Ma Xiangbo's emphasis, he should also be a literary person. But Chen Ke has always claimed to be a revolutionary. In terms of his own career and reputation in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang literary circle, Chen Ke chose his own career.

  "Wen Qing, can't you choose a method that satisfies both? " Qiu Jin was really worried about Chen Ke.

  Article 33