Chapter 1 Primitive Accumulation

  Under the starry night sky, a person stands on a rock, with his left hand clutching a newspaper and his right hand's middle finger raised high towards the sky.

  "TDM, what kind of intelligence beyond the Nth level of the earth, caught me as a white mouse in 2008, and now sent me back to 1915!!! Your brains are eating feces!!!!!!" Duan Guoxue cursed loudly at the countless stars in the dark night with his most vicious language.

  After scolding for a long time, Duan Guoxue suddenly fell to the ground, helplessly looking at the stars in the sky. Next to him, a newspaper with the date June 8th, 1915 was lying beside him.

  Originally thought to be taken away by aliens as a lab rat, at least they were taught a lot of technological knowledge that didn't exist on Earth, in order to make a big splash and make a fortune after returning to Earth, so that they could live among the top three richest people in the world. As a result, when he was sent back, he found himself sent back to 1915, Duan Guoxue can be said to have been depressed to the extreme.

  "Anyway, since I came, then I'll make the most of it. Since I couldn't be richer than Gates in that era, at least I want to live better than Rockefeller in this world." Duan Guoxue said indignantly.

  Finishing the last few pieces of flatbread exchanged for a jade pendant bought from a street vendor, Duan Guoxue not only had to start facing his new life in 1915 but also worry about where his next meal would come from.

  However, it seems this problem doesn't need him to solve anymore. In the distance, several torches seem to be approaching towards here.

  Duan Guoxue waited with a nervous heart until the several flickering torches walked to his own bonfire, and under the firelight, Duan Guoxue found that it was the person who had exchanged pancakes for his jade pendant earlier, along with several villagers wearing coarse cloth, among whom one person who was clearly dressed neatly was sizing him up.

  "May I ask what brings you gentlemen here?" asked Duan Guoxue.

  "Who is this gentleman and where did he come from?" asked a neatly dressed middle-aged man.

  "Do you speak Mandarin?!"

  "My name is Wang Shuilin, I studied at Shanghai New School for a few years during the change of law. Although my accent is heavy, I still consider myself standard." This person's face clearly felt unfamiliar with the term "Mandarin", but first reported his family according to etiquette.

  "I, no, I mean, I'm Duan Guoxue... an overseas Chinese." Duan Guoxue's mind was a bit muddled, and his words came out somewhat disjointed.

  "Sir, please don't be in a hurry. If you're not disgusted with me, would you like to come to my humble abode and rest for a while? It's better than being blown by the wind and eating dirt in this desolate wilderness. Let's have a cup of tea and talk slowly." Wang Shuilin saw that Duan Guoxue didn't seem to be pretending, so he boldly invited him.

  "Thanks... thanks a lot."

  With the buffer of time, many things become easier. On the way back to Wang Shulin's home, Duan Guoxue had already fabricated his own background. In this era of limited information, especially in a more backward China, people who knew what their province was called were considered somewhat knowledgeable. Many others never left their hometowns within 50 kilometers throughout their lives.

  "So it seems that Mr. Duan has been in trouble since he was tied up by the thief, it's really pitiful." Wang Shuilin sighed and patted his thigh.

  A overseas wanderer encounters a sea disaster on his way home and is stranded in a local place, the story still has many loopholes to be found, but it's enough to get through for now.

  "What does Mr. Duan plan to do from now on?"

  "My little brother is now uneasy in his mind, and has never thought about what he plans to do next." He said, adjusting his self-appellation, patting the horse, putting on a suit of relationships, and not getting emotional, looking at Wang Shuilin who was preparing to throw out the next sentence.

  "Otherwise, I think you're quite articulate and knowledgeable, Brother. Why don't you come work with us for a while?" Wang Shuilin's face showed obvious satisfaction with Duan Guoxue's humble tone.

  "What does big brother want little brother to do?"

  "To be honest with you, we're planning to build a new school here and I'm worried about it. Although the classrooms can make do, it's really hard to find teachers. Why don't you consider staying here and becoming a teacher? We may not have much money, but at least you'll have a stable job."

  "Everything will be arranged by big brother."

  More than two months have passed, and Duan Guoxue has gradually adapted to this new but ordinary life. During these two months, due to the summer vacation in between, the teaching work was not so heavy, and now people think that children can read and write is a luxury, being able to write their own name, read newspapers, do arithmetic and know addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are already considered high-educated, without intentionally or even abnormally forcing children to learn various things like in later generations. The children did not have too much academic pressure, and most of the time they were seen playing in groups by the pond, cooling off on hot days.

  Duan Guoxue made some strange and interesting things in the past two months, such as bamboo slips that can fly high, which many children like. He would cut a bamboo slip at an angle on both ends with a knife, drill a hole in the middle, insert a round bamboo stick, and rub it with both hands to make it fly high. Duan Guoxue used this to immediately capture the attention of the children who came to read books, making them fond of him and listen attentively to his lessons.

  In Wang Shuilin's view, he had invited a treasure that was worth more than its price. But this treasure made him both hate and love it.

  That night, Wang Shuilin heard the villagers talking about Duan Guoxue being stunned after seeing a newspaper with baozi (a type of Chinese bun) on it. Judging that Duan Guoxue was an educated person, they specifically went to find him in the middle of the night. At first, they thought that even if this guy wearing "foreign clothes" had limited abilities, he should still be able to teach kids basic literacy. However, it turned out that he wasn't familiar with Chinese characters (because he wasn't used to traditional script). When they were disappointed, they discovered that although he wasn't good at teaching characters, he was extremely proficient in physics and chemistry. A simple bamboo spiral propeller made the half-grown "bean sprouts" his loyal followers, and a few chemical color-changing games made the 10-year-old kids follow him everywhere to find various "chemical raw materials". It can be said that except for Chinese literature, Duan Guoxue was proficient in everything else. This proficiency made Wang Shuilin feel both love and hate.

  This new school is Wang Shuilin's lifelong dream, originally to give the children in his hometown a better way out. The villagers and elders in the countryside are also very supportive. The construction of the school building and playground was all done by the villagers from surrounding villages who donated money and materials spontaneously. Although the hardware is ordinary, it can be considered as a school.

  The teacher's strength in this software, according to Wang Shuilin's own abilities, can teach primary school without any problem, but teaching junior high school is a bit difficult. However, considering the rural conditions, those who can finish primary school are already from relatively well-off families, so at that time, there was no intention to prepare the necessary teaching equipment. Now, many things taught by Duan Guoxue are not even understood by himself, and the teaching equipment he proposed is also unknown what it is used for. For example, glass beakers, alcohol lamps, thermometers, although expensive, Wang Shuilin gritted his teeth and bought a few sets back, but vernier calipers, motors, and other things made him drop his jaw when he saw the price.

  Although Duan Guoxue is a good teacher, if things continue like this, either the school will go bankrupt or Wang Shuilin will be driven mad. However, after having a long talk with Duan Guoxue, he said that he would solve this problem in a short while.

  When Wang Shuilin was having a headache for Duan Guoxue, Duan Guoxue was enjoying himself in the county town's restaurant.

  "Mr. Duan, let's not beat around the bush... we'll give you 5,000 dollars for the soap formula, 3,000 dollars for the match formula, and another 2,000 dollars as your consulting fee, that's a total of 10,000 dollars, what do you think?" said a middle-aged man in a suit to Duan Guoxue.

  "Ten thousand taels is not a small amount, but for the Lingnan market, it's a paltry sum." Duan Guoxue lightly spat out the tea leaves in his mouth and said, without waiting for the other party to explain, "However, for our first good transaction, it's also not a small amount. Alright, let's settle on ten thousand taels, but we need cash payment upfront."

  "All right! All right! I'll send someone to deliver the money to Mr. Duan's residence tomorrow." The middle-aged man hastily replied.

  "Hey... don't be in a hurry, Mr. Xue. You know as well as I do that our place is plagued by bandits and robbers. If you send such a large sum of money to me like this, aren't you afraid of bringing trouble upon me?"

  "What Mr. Na meant was..."

  "There are four guns in total, two long and two short, each with 1000 rounds of ammunition. Additionally, I need Mr. Xu to help me acquire a set of machine tools and a small power generation device. Finally, I need Mr. Xu to introduce me to the sales agents of German or American companies in our province, if Mr. Xu can do this, I will waive the 2000 yuan technical fee for three months, and I also guarantee that within half a year, I will have even more profitable products for Mr. Xu to exclusively manufacture or distribute."

  "This... the long and short guns are not a big deal, they can be delivered to you within three days along with the cash, but the machine tools and power generation equipment still need some time as we have to contact the foreign salesmen..."

  Within six months, as long as Mr. Xu can help get it done within six months, the production technology of the new product will be handed over to you immediately.

  "Alright then, it's settled. Cheers! To a pleasant cooperation, bottoms up!"

  The wine glasses lightly clinked against each other in mid-air, and the transparent liquid flowed into the bottomless depths of people's hearts.

  "Teacher, I didn't expect that with just soap and matches, these two small things, you actually made so much money." In the inn, two 15- or 16-year-old children said to Duan Guoxue with admiration.

  "Knowledge is money, don't underestimate these two small things. You now know how these two small things are produced. If you don't understand how they are produced, even if it's 10,000 yuan or just one yuan, you won't be able to get it. When the money arrives, Zai Rong will take 500 yuan, remember that 300 of it is for your family as an introduction fee for this time, and Tian You will take 200 yuan, each taking 200 yuan as a labor fee for this period of time."

  "No need! No need! Teacher, my family said that following you to learn more things is our greatest blessing, who dares to want the money you earn." The smaller of the two children said.

  "Rong, there's a saying that in this world, every action requires equivalent value and exchange. If you say I'll do something for free, then don't come to me tomorrow asking to learn from me. Filial piety is a virtue of the Chinese people and a moral foundation of an individual, so rewarding those who contribute according to their labor is the mainstream of world development. When someone puts in sweat and hard work but gets little in return, that's not a sustainable path."

  "Teacher, what is the road of sustainable development?" asked Wei Yirong, a little boy.

  "Sustainable development is... a production method that can effectively circulate, and the broad meaning of production you all know. To make an analogy, a landlord, due to constantly exploiting and increasing rent for his tenant farmers, takes away 90% of their harvest, leaving them unable to support themselves or their families, causing the whole family to starve to death. In this way, the landlord no longer has tenant farmers to work on his land, and surrounding landlords also drive their tenant farmers to death. So, you see, without tenant farmers to work on the land for the landlord, and the landlord himself not knowing how to farm, even if he stores a lot of grain, eventually it will be consumed, and when that happens there are no longer any tenant farmers, the landlord loses his new source of food, and he himself is unable to farm. The landlord will also starve to death, only dying later than the tenant farmer."

  "Oh, I understand, teacher. It's like draining a pond to catch the fish. Although you may get a lot of fish at once, you'll lose the fish in the future."

  "Yes, that's right, you understand quickly... However, draining the pond to catch fish is faster and more direct, but sustainable development is a long-term or even permanent development model."

  "Teacher, I don't understand something. Why don't you open your own factory to make money instead of selling the formula at such a low price?"

  "This question is well asked, if we were to enter the mountain and came across a tiger, although we know where the tiger is, do we have the ability and weapons to hunt it? No, so why not let us tell the hunters to go and hunt the tiger, and we only need to get some benefits from the tiger's whip or skin. This kind of cooperation is now our only feasible way."

  "Teacher, I still feel a bit reluctant. We worked so hard to develop this formula, and now we're just going to sell it to them? It's such a waste."

  "You should know that in the 'Das Kapital' I introduced to you, our current way of selling resources is the best primitive accumulation method apart from robbery and plunder. This is also a helpless way when one's strength is weak."