Statistics Section Chief Xu Jia was in a very bad mood. When he received the order to go to He Rui's office, Xu Jia had already prepared his questions. As soon as he saw He Rui, Xu Jia immediately raised his doubts: "Governor, why not conduct ideological education for the comrades regarding the Great President proclaiming himself Emperor?"

"What education do you want to give Xu Chengfeng and the others? As for the other comrades, everyone has had an emperor over their heads for generations; they can't abandon such habitual thinking for a while. Everyone just judges based on various rumors that this emperor is good or that emperor is bad. Once those born in the imperial era pass away, and the children born under the republic grow up, this ideological foundation will be gone."

Hearing He Rui speak so bluntly, Xu Jia confirmed that his focus was the same as He Rui's, so he suggested, "Precisely because of this, we need ideological education even more. Only through repeated education can we change the comrades' views."

Seeing He Rui had no intention of agreeing, Xu Jia continued, "Governor, having read your exclusive interview, the comrades have realized that the Beiyang clique has fallen apart. But the people don't think so."

He Rui waved his hand to interrupt Xu Jia. "We'll conduct propaganda on the republican system after Yuan Shikai's downfall."

"I wonder how long the Governor thinks the Great President can last?"

"What do you think?"

Xu Jia thought for a while, then suddenly his brow smoothed out. "The Governor hasn't made this prediction all along; there must be a reason, right?"

"Yes. I want everyone to experience this matter as bystanders, treating it as a mental journey. If I made a prediction, everyone's focus would be different. I am worried it would affect everyone's growth."

"...This prediction probably exceeds ordinary people's imagination by far. Governor, I think the Great President can last a year. What does the Governor think?"

He Rui held up four fingers.

"Four months?" Xu Jia felt it was unbelievable.

He Rui nodded. "Yes, four months. That's why I made the decision to let comrades experience this process themselves. The time is very short; it will pass in the blink of an eye. Moreover, everyone will continue their work during these four months. Just as the snow melts, the matter will end. It won't cause a real impact on the work."

***

Much like He Rui guessed, Wu Youping had completely tossed the matter of Yuan Shikai aside. In front of the bar at the British Merchants' Club, Johnson and Wu Youping sat together. This time, Fujian black tea was placed in front of them. Johnson smelled it and was somewhat intoxicated. Wu Youping lifted the teacup and took a sip of the tea brought by his Fujian classmate Zhuang Jiaxiong, feeling the taste was much more elegant than Anhua dark tea.

Johnson beside him had a face full of satisfaction. The British loved black tea, especially the upper class. Although this Johnson looked a bit erratic, his accent was truly London.

Finishing this cup of black tea, Johnson complained about the lack of white sugar. After complaining a few times, Johnson asked, "Mayor Wu, Siping has so many people; can you make collar badges?"

"What kind of collar badges?" Wu Youping replied.

Johnson took out a row of samples from his carry-on leather bag; they were collar badges sewn onto the collars of military uniforms. Wu Youping picked one up and looked at it, then couldn't help laughing. "This kind of thing can be made anywhere—Japan, Jiangnan, Tianjin, all work. Why did you think of making them in Siping?"

Johnson didn't explain, just saying lightly, "I provide the fabric. One silver dollar for sewing five hundred."

Wu Youping was somewhat unhappy with such a low price. He picked up the collar badge again to look at it for a while, then looked at Johnson, seeing Johnson deliberately avoiding eye contact.

"You have to provide the needle and thread too," Wu Youping began to haggle.

Johnson finally turned his face. "You have to guarantee me 100,000 within a month."

"Starting from when?" Wu Youping felt the matter definitely wasn't that easy.

"Starting from when I receive the shipping news from the other side."

Wu Youping went through the number and output of the villages and towns participating in the bidding in his mind and answered confidently, "Deal. Do we need to write a contract?"

Johnson stared at Wu Youping with bright eyes for a moment and laughed. "I'll be waiting to read Mayor Wu's contract."

Returning to the office, his classmate Zhuang Jiaxiong in the office next door saw Wu Youping pass by the door and got up to follow him out. Wu Youping invited his classmate into the office before saying, "Your political review is still ongoing; don't be anxious."

Zhuang Jiaxiong asked in his most northern-sounding Fujian accent, "Why is the political review work so troublesome?"

"After passing the political review, you will be our comrade. We have to entrust work to you; this matter must be prudent."

Although helpless, Zhuang Jiaxiong wasn't disappointed. "I know the Governor's rules here. Even running errands, give me something to do. Staying in the office all day, I feel like I'm going to get sick."

"I'll ask for you."

"Asking" naturally meant finding the person responsible. The Statistics Section's work was collecting data, and personnel relations were also a type of data. Arriving at Xu Jia's place, Wu Youping didn't ask about the progress of Zhuang Jiaxiong's political review but asked what work Zhuang Jiaxiong could undertake now.

Xu Jia smiled lightly. "Mayor Wu, your classmate's understanding of land reform isn't very good. Do you have any thoughts?"

Wu Youping knew Zhuang Jiaxiong's background and couldn't help defending his classmate. "His family has twenty or thirty *mu* of land and a tea garden in Fujian, so they were classified as landlords. Such land would be at most a rich peasant outside the pass. I think it's more appropriate to view him by the standard of a rich peasant."

Xu Jia didn't continue discussing this issue but changed the topic. "What work do you want him to do?"

Wu Youping was about to answer but felt something was wrong. "Section Chief Xu, finish talking about the political review first."

"Land reform won't be limited to Siping; it will definitely be extended to the whole country. Fujian has many people and little land; the pressure of land reform is greater than in other provinces. If Zhuang Jiaxiong publicly opposes land reform then, or writes letters to the comrades conducting land reform asking for leniency for his family, what then?"

Wu Youping understood that Zhuang Jiaxiong's political attitude toward land reform definitely had problems. He directly made a request: "Can I access the personnel file as the Mayor of Siping and a Party member?"

After work, Zhuang Jiaxiong was leaving the office with everyone when he was stopped by Wu Youping in the corridor. "Let's go, have a meal at my place."

Zhuang Jiaxiong knew Wu Youping's personality was straightforward and couldn't hide things well. Asking to treat him to a meal during a talk meant the content to be discussed wouldn't be too friendly, so he simply replied, "Let's talk in your office."

Wu Youping didn't refuse. Sitting down in the office, he shared the last hot water in the teapot with Zhuang Jiaxiong and sighed, "It wasn't easy for your family to accumulate that land."

When he was in school, Zhuang Jiaxiong felt the foreigners were too bad. After entering the Railway Official School and understanding more about the gap between China and foreign countries and the nation's weakness and backwardness, Zhuang Jiaxiong felt even more strongly that he had to do something for the country. A good man should fight for his country. Unexpectedly, his family's land was mentioned. Zhuang Jiaxiong could only reply, "Yes. To keep these lands, my family has also had people die."

"If land reform is carried out nationwide, do you think you can accept redistributing the land?"

Knowing the issue probably lay with the family land, Zhuang Jiaxiong didn't get overly excited. He just asked with a straight face, "Our family's land and tea garden will also be redistributed?"

"Yes."

Since he was young, Zhuang Jiaxiong had heard his family talk about the difficulty of acquiring these lands and was repeatedly told to study well to uphold the family's prestige. Confirming that he couldn't pass the political review because he wanted to keep the family land, Zhuang Jiaxiong replied in confusion, "Youping, I can't answer now. If the Governor really becomes the Great President and promulgates a decree to distribute the land and tea gardens, how will my family live then?"

Wu Youping understood his old classmate's thoughts. He took out the prepared Siping land reform document from his backpack and handed it to Zhuang Jiaxiong. Zhuang Jiaxiong took it and read it close to the oil lamp. Wu Youping lit a candle, and the office instantly brightened.

Zhuang Jiaxiong read it carefully twice. When he looked up, his face was full of surprise. "Such land reform was really executed?"

"Why couldn't it be executed?" Wu Youping switched back to the oil lamp.

The impact of the land reform policy on Zhuang Jiaxiong was too great. Zhuang Jiaxiong asked in disbelief, "Land reform was implemented on so much land, and the common people didn't riot?"

"That depends on what the purpose of land reform is. Jiaxiong, what do you think the purpose of land reform is?"

"...Let everyone have land to farm? Pay less tax? Live a better life?" Zhuang Jiaxiong recalled the words in the land reform document. After saying a few points, he felt they didn't express his thoughts, so he reached for the document again.

Wu Youping held down the report. "The main purpose of land reform is divided into two stages. The first stage is to eliminate social contradictions. In present-day China, the most intense social contradiction lies in the fact that the deprivation of the products produced by the agricultural labor population has reached a dire state. Locally, anyone with tax collection power treats the agricultural labor population as the biggest object of exploitation without exception. After land reform, with the changes in land relations and the tax system, fierce social contradictions are eliminated from the root. In the second stage, we can begin to build an industrialized China..."

"Wait," Zhuang Jiaxiong interrupted Wu Youping excitedly. "Can you say the part about solving social contradictions again?"