Chapter 61

  You Yun is a very interesting girl, Chen Ke has always thought so. If he saw You Yun slap a boy in the face, he would definitely think that he had foresight. The boy was younger than You Yun and was a northerner. You Yun and Chen Ke had studied boxing for a period of time. In the courtyard of the workshop, they set up a human-shaped target, and Chen Ke taught You Yun some basic fighting skills against the target. Chen Ke thought that instead of letting You Yun learn boxing, slapping was a simpler technique. After slapping, it's just a kick in the stomach, which is more effective than anything else. Generally speaking, men have a weaker defensive awareness towards women. This move is easier to succeed.

  After slapping the human-shaped target, You Yun felt refreshed. She had set up a similar human-shaped target at home and practiced punching and kicking it for an hour every night. She was quite familiar with the basic moves. Just as she was about to kick it again, someone suddenly pulled her away. Turning around, she saw that it was Qi Hui Shen. Qi Hui Shen took a step forward, pointing at the target and scolding, "Is this how you talk to Teacher You? What's wrong with being a comprador? I'm also from a comprador background!"

  The one who was hit really got dizzy from that slap, and he had just been mocking "dog buying" with two classmates next to him, saying they were a group of people who forgot their ancestors. In between, there were vicious sneers at You Heng. They didn't think that in the room next door, You Heng and Qi Hui were talking in low voices inside. The school dormitory had just been renovated, and Huangpu Book Society had made a big move, moving all to the dormitory. Probably because they were used to being in a workshop, the students' voices were quite loud, and they didn't notice at all that the object of their ridicule was just on the other side of the wall.

  Having heard the quarrel, people from other dormitories and offices curiously appeared at the door. You Yun saw that they couldn't fight anymore, so he simply shouted to the outside: "Prepare for a meeting to discuss group division issues."

  Since the first democratic resolution was passed at the party meeting, Qi Hui Shen had to follow the resolution. Chen Ke San ordered the party discipline to be strictly enforced and resolutely obeyed the organizational decision. Qi Hui Shen also did not dare to disobey openly or secretly. At the subsequent meetings, everyone began to discuss Chen Ke's several articles on judging China's economic situation.

  Regarding the cotton issue, it is personally narrated by You Seng. The number of professional cotton farmers in China is extremely low, even in Shanghai and Songjiang, which are developed textile industries. With the rapid development of China's textile industry, the demand for cotton has been increasing day by day, directly leading to a rise in cotton prices. The rise in cotton prices has led to the textile industry starting to purchase cheap foreign cotton cloth. This purchase has greatly affected the interests of the landlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The landlords who originally hoped to make a profit from the rise in cotton prices were naturally extremely dissatisfied. Moreover, the landlords who operated some handicraft industries were also extremely dissatisfied with the impact of cheap foreign goods. Shanghai saw various movements to boycott foreign goods.

  This was not only the case in Shanghai, as China was forced to open its doors, local handicraft industrialists everywhere had similar grievances. In 1905, apart from Guangdong, all other treaty ports had movements of local merchants boycotting foreign goods.

  Chen Ke's analysis of this issue is still very thorough, but for 21st-century China, the benefits of free trade are enormous. After the decline of the US economy, China unhesitatingly took up the banner of globalization and became the first country to advocate and lead free trade. Therefore, Chen Ke himself does not oppose free trade; he only opposes free trade that is unfavorable to China. So, in analyzing this issue, Chen Ke is quite impartial.

  Yu Yun and Qi Hui's families were all compradors, who could accept Chen Ke's attitude. Unfortunately, Huangpu Book Society's classmates were mainly from landlord and official backgrounds. As for the landlords, they naturally opposed industrialization, while the officials absolutely detested the aggressive foreign devils. Although both groups were dissatisfied, they didn't dare directly confront the foreigners. So, their anger was redirected towards the compradors who relied on the foreigners.

  What's even more ironic is that You Yun, as a comprador herself, clearly explained the cotton issue and the deeper economic principles to everyone. After that, these students hated the compradors even more. And along with it, they also became very unfriendly towards You Yun.

  As soon as Yu Yun heard the command, the people who were poking their heads out of the door immediately ran away. They called up other classmates and rushed towards the house that served as a conference room. After another moment, Yu Yun walked into the classroom with great momentum, stepped onto the podium, and wrote four big characters on the blackboard: "Seek truth from facts."

  She turned around and said emotionally, "Some people say that women have long hair but short sight. I'm telling you now, let's compare our hair, yours is longer than mine." Yu Xun had just cut his hair a few days ago before going to the countryside. His short fringe and shoulder-length hair, combined with this suit, made him look like a handsome young man.

  "Let's be realistic, so I don't want to hear you guys saying anything disrespectful about women again." You Yu concluded.

  The boys below looked at each other in dismay, and the words sounded ridiculous, but they couldn't refute them. At that time, not many people had cut their queues. Even if they had cut their queues, most of them were foreign-style parted hair, long hair, or many people simply kept their ponytails. The biggest difference was that there was no longer a shiny queue on the front of their heads. However, compared to You Xuan's hair, these people really did have long hair. In fact, not many people liked this woman, but in terms of learning, especially Western learning, they knew they were far inferior. These people were "daring to resent but not daring to speak out". Seeing You Xuan speaking so haughtily, the classmates looked around at each other.

  "The day after tomorrow we will go to the countryside for a practical survey, is everyone ready?" asked You Ou.

  "Is Mr. You going with us too?" someone asked.

  "That's right."

  "Live together?" He asked recklessly.

  "Live separately." Youming didn't seem intimidated by such ridicule.

  The people below are also students, and their limit is to take advantage of the situation verbally. They can't even do something as shameless as taking advantage of a crowd. After hearing You Yun say this, no one dared to speak up again.

  "This time's topic has been handed out to everyone, what is our goal?"

  Xiong Mingyang replied in Sichuan dialect: "Investigate how foreign industrial products are undermining the small-farmer economy."

  A month ago, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xiong Mingyang had an outburst against Chen Ke. Afterwards, he even spread rumors about Chen Ke at Fudan University. After a few days passed and he calmed down, he also felt that he had gone too far. Isn't this exactly what Chen Ke has been telling everyone is the real reason for China's backwardness? If Chen Ke can make these things clear, then maybe in the future there will be even more practical actions.

  Indeed, continuing to attend lectures, he gained a deeper understanding of China's current situation from You Yun. Now that they are going to conduct social surveys, Xiong Mingyang is not as excited as before. After all, he comes from an official family and has been traveling around for many years, so he knows some things about the world. If you want to reverse the impact of foreign textiles, the best way is for China to produce cheaper products than foreign textiles. Before attending lectures, Xiong Mingyang thought this was a simple matter, but after listening to the lectures, he no longer felt that way. Things in this world are not as simple as imagined.

  "The objects of our investigation are the rural areas around Shanghai, which have been most affected by industrial products. The time is also relatively long, so the changes in rural structure are quite different from other rural areas. We will divide them into twelve groups according to the distance from water transportation lines for investigation."

  "Why follow the waterway?" An Rushan asked. He had been busy with his homework recently and missed many of the Huangpu Book Society's discussions. The reason he attended today's meeting was that Fudan Public School had given the green light for a social survey. Mr. Ma Xiangbo was also a relatively open-minded person, and many students from Fudan Public School who participated in the Huangpu Book Society had asked for leave to participate in this social survey. After learning about the investigation, Mr. Ma Xiangbo called Qi Hui Shen to inquire about it, and later discussed it with Yan Fu. After discussion, they simply allowed students to take leave and even assigned a group of students to join the survey team. Although these people were not members of the Huangpu Book Society, they would also go to class and were very interested in social surveys. Rather than letting them worry all day about their classmates going out to investigate, it was better to let them participate as well.

  Since the school had agreed, An Ruxue, who had been hesitant about whether to participate, naturally participated. Because he hadn't attended the previous meetings, he didn't know the reason for this distribution.

  "Water transport is the cheapest mode of transportation in Shanghai's surrounding areas. Most foreign goods are transshipped through waterways to other places for sale. Therefore, by investigating the radiation range of our water transport, we can get a comparative result."

  An Rusan didn't know what the word "radiation" meant. He simply asked directly. After You Huan explained the literal meaning of the word, An Rusan still looked confused. She said: "To put it bluntly, the farther you transport it, the more expensive it is. Do you understand?"

  An Ruxuan nodded.

  "The higher the price of goods, the fewer people come to buy. The lower the price of goods, the more people come to buy. Can you understand that?"

  An Ruxuan continued nodding.

  "So, we need to conduct a segmented survey, which is to look at the sales volume of different prices in each region. And the different sales situations of these foreign goods, and their impact on the local social structure."

  This explanation was clear enough, and An Ruyan finally understood.

  "Mr. Yu, I have a question." Lu Huaitian raised his hand for permission to speak.

  "Say."

  "What's the point of investigating changes in inland waterway ports and routes?"

  "Some places have become new gathering places due to the influx of a large number of goods. People who specialize in transporting and selling goods have increased, and people who go there to work have also increased. Changes in ports and routes can directly reflect the activity of commodity transactions in these regions. If you encounter areas with significant changes, conduct research on the changes in these areas. You will find many interesting things."

  You Yun believed that these classmates would discover many interesting things, You Yun's family was a comprador family. Her grandfather was a small landlord in Jiangzhe who started by selling nails and lamp oil and gradually became rich. Like others of this era, You Yun did not like to talk about her family background with others. However, since she was born into a comprador family, she was not unfamiliar with business matters either. Since working with Chen Ke and others to start their own business, You Yun had learned so much that she now had a comprehensive understanding of the principles that she had previously only vaguely understood. Those "business classics" that used to frustrate her so much now had clear and logical theoretical explanations, just like chemical equations. You Yun felt that she had truly benefited greatly.

  The students under the platform, no matter how dissatisfied they were with the female teacher, knew that they absolutely didn't have such insight under such clear explanation and distribution. After asking a few more questions, You Xuan announced the start of free discussion time. She walked down from the podium and out of the classroom door. Smiling, she said to Qiu Jin who was standing outside the door for a while: "Sister Qiu, why didn't you come in just now?"

  "It's pointless to disturb you. It can also be heard clearly outside." Qiu Jin smiled and replied.

  "Go sit in my office." You Yun said, pulling Qiu Jin towards the other end of the corridor.

  Qiu Jin came to participate in the social survey, and Yu Youren was a teacher at Fudan Public School. He knew this social survey very well. He had also been to Chen Ke's and Qi Hui Shen's school, and seeing such a large campus, he was quite envious. Qiu Jin and Yu Youren had always planned to start a school, but lacked resources. After discussing it, they thought it would be better to start a school with Chen Ke together. Since Chen Ke was not in Shanghai at the moment, they directly proposed this request to Qi Hui Shen, who would probably also consider Chen Ke's opinion. Therefore, when Qiu Jin learned about this social survey and that You Yun, a female student, also wanted to participate, she expressed her willingness to go with You Yun together.

  You Yu naturally wouldn't refuse, and for this social survey, she even bought a dagger and a handgun. Old Master You was already furious about his daughter practicing martial arts at home and had stopped talking to You Yu. For the past few days, You Yu had been practicing her dagger skills on a target, and her brother didn't dare come near her again. You Yu really didn't have the courage to take out the handgun at home, as she estimated that Old Master You would lock her in the house if he found out. Qiu Jin claimed to be skilled in martial arts, so You Yu made an appointment with her, and the two of them practiced shooting handguns on the empty school grounds.

  Carefully closing the door, inserting the door bolt, Yu Yun opened the drawer and took out a carefully wrapped pistol. This is a Mauser military pistol. The Mauser factory obtained a patent on December 11, 1895, and officially produced it the following year. Because its holster is a wooden box, it is also called a "box gun" in China; if equipped with a 20-round magazine, it is called a "large belly box". Its wide body makes it also known as a "large mirror surface". With fully automatic function, it is also called a "fast-slow machine", and the Mauser factory calls it a "rapid-fire type", which was mass-produced in May 1931.

  The pistol on the table was not a mass-produced semi-automatic in 1931, but its blue steel body and beautiful wooden handle were so ugly that they were lovely. The pistol was purchased by You Yun for Wang Bin. It cost 38 taels of silver. As soon as Qiu Jin saw the gun, she picked it up immediately. The gun weighed more than two kilograms, and holding it in her hand felt heavy and solid, which unexpectedly made Qiu Jin feel at ease. She held the pistol and started aiming randomly everywhere. This wild behavior scared You Yun. She hurriedly pressed down on Qiu Jin's arm, "Sister Qiu, Wenyong has said that the first rule of using a gun is to never let the muzzle point at your own people, no matter what the situation."

  Hearing Youyun say this and seeing his tense expression, Qiu Jin burst out laughing and put the pistol back on the table.

  "What is the second main point?"

  "Article 2: Don't learn shooting without mastering gun disassembly."

  "Haha, you're quite clear about the literary youth." Qiu Jin said with a smile.

  You Yun took out a yellow bullet and began to disassemble the gun. Chen Ke repeatedly emphasized that gun maintenance was the first element of life-saving in battle. Watching You Yun clumsily but effectively dismantle the pistol, then use a set of obviously self-made tools to wipe the barrel, spring, and other parts. She helped while asking: "When will Wen Qing return from Beijing?"

  "He didn't say either. Probably won't arrive until after Chinese New Year."

  "The literary youth is from the north and will probably go back home for Chinese New Year."

  "He said no, and he won't come." You Yun bowed his head and carefully wiped the parts. After all, as a chemical engineering student, You Yun knew that the gun oil attached to the gun could prevent rust. Although the oil stains on her hands were not comfortable, she carefully applied grease to each part that needed to be protected from rust. Then, she awkwardly assembled the handgun again. Just after finishing, Qiu Jin still held a part in his hand.

  "Autumn sister, you..." snatched the parts away, and You Ou took apart the pistol again, taking out the manual to check each part carefully to make sure nothing was missing. Only then did You Ou continue assembling the pistol.

  "The literary youth has been walking for so long, but I don't know what's going on anymore."

  He said absent-mindedly.

  "He has been walking for so long, don't you miss him?"

  "Huh? Why?" Yu Wen asked casually while focusing on assembling his handgun.

  "Some people say you two..."

  "Hehe." You Yun sneered and deliberately dryly laughed twice, still focusing on loading the gun, "Let them say what they want. Wen Qing and I are just comrades, nothing more."

  Qiu Jin was somewhat surprised, she and Chen Ke had met You Yun together, but felt that Chen Ke and You Yun were quite compatible. Later, she also heard some rumors. In this era, everyone is "rather believe in mistakes than be fooled". Even if the person himself is a famous revolutionary, Qiu Jin cannot avoid it. So she wanted to get some information about Chen Ke's recent situation from You Yun. Looking at You Yun's expression, Qiu Jin found it somewhat strange.

  "Why is that girl still unmarried at this age?" Qiu Jin prepared a curved attack.

  "What's good about getting married?" Yu Yun finally finished loading her gun, "If I were to marry a hero or a great man, I wouldn't be willing to take orders from him. If I were to marry someone useless, I'd be too lazy to bother with him. As Wen Qing said, having parents is not as good as relying on oneself. I'll just focus on doing my own thing well, where would I have the spare energy to take care of a husband?"

  On the one hand, You Yun raised his pistol and aimed at the wall in front of him. Qiu Jin looked at You Yun's gun-holding posture, which was quite unusual, with the Mauser pistol held horizontally. She asked curiously, "Why hold the gun like that?"

  "The hipster said that this gun has a lot of recoil, when shooting, the muzzle will suddenly lift up. So it must be held like this to shoot accurately."

  Qiu Jin was puzzled, You Yun insisted that he had nothing to do with Chen Ke, but every time he spoke, he would mention Chen Ke. Just as he was about to speak, they heard footsteps coming from outside. Soon someone knocked on the door. You Yun didn't rush, carefully putting away the pistol and bullets. He put the bundle back into the drawer and locked it before getting up to open the door.

  Outside the door was Qi Hui-shen, who also looked a bit anxious. As soon as the door opened, Qi Hui-shen came in with a piece of paper. Seeing Qiu Jin, he was taken aback for a moment before greeting her. Qi Hui-shen handed over a letter to You Yun. The content of the letter was very simple, asking everyone how they were doing and asking Xie Mingxuan to bring 400 doses of medicine into Beijing. As for his own situation, Chen Ke only said that he was developing party members. Looking at Qi Hui-shen again, then looking at Qiu Jin, You Yun decided to practice shooting with Qiu Jin first.

  The 61st