Lu Yueying sat in the study, her eyes skimming over the words in her notebook, but she couldn't stop. Moving her gaze away to look at the somewhat gray sky outside, the feeling of being unable to read made Lu Yueying very uncomfortable. Since she was very young, Lu Yueying had loved reading, and her grades were also very good. If it were a very obscure and difficult book, it would be fine if she couldn't read it. She wrote down He Rui's views on philosophy; the principles were not complicated, but as soon as she thought about them, various ideas came flooding in, making her upset and distracted.

Lu Yueying decided not to think about these for now and picked up a textbook to read. But after reading for a while, what came to Lu Yueying's mind was what He Rui had said. If she read the textbook from the perspective of self-cultivation, she felt there were problems with the textbook content.

Can I not even read textbooks anymore? Lu Yueying was really somewhat alarmed. She stood up and packed her schoolbag.

At noon, seeing her daughter return home, Mrs. Lu called her daughter to eat. At the dinner table, she saw her daughter looked unhappy but seemed to have made a decision. Mrs. Lu felt this matter was likely related to He Rui. She asked, "Yuanyuan, who provoked you?"

Yuanyuan was Lu Yueying's nickname. Hearing her mother say this, Lu Yueying wanted to say she was lectured by her mentor, but felt she couldn't say it. She knew very well that the source of the matter was He Rui, or rather, her own father.

Lu Yueying was already 21 years old and a female student; how could she not understand anything? To her mother's question, Lu Yueying answered nothing. After eating and returning to her bedroom, Lu Yueying thought it over and couldn't help but raise a question. Does He Rui really understand?

The old Beiyang clique's evaluation of He Rui had always focused on 'political maneuvering', belonging to the aesthetic perspective of traditional scholar-officials. Monarchs held great power, but actual work was all borne by scholar-officials; monarchs possessed a moral level beyond ordinary people. According to this aesthetic perspective, a guy like He Rui with super strong practical work ability was obviously not an excellent monarch in the eyes of traditional scholar-officials.

Unknowingly, Lu Yueying also accepted this line of thinking. Her strongest impression of He Rui lay in He Rui's military ability and his ruthlessness during land reform.

Because she studied philosophy, Lu Yueying had also read Western books like *The Prince* and didn't have a high evaluation of monarchs themselves. At this time, looking at the philosophical learning ideas proposed by He Rui, Lu Yueying became more and more confused. She had to suspect, was her view of He Rui, or her view of the upper-level personnel of the He Rui government, wrong?

Lu Yueying packed her schoolbag and went straight to the school library. The library wasn't open at this time, but the library's book index inquiry opened at noon. Other students were pulling open long narrow drawers one by one, looking through the books they wanted to borrow. Lu Yueying quickly found some of He Rui's works.

As early as 1914, Zhao Tianlin, the former president of Tianjin University (formerly Peiyang University), had collected He Rui's works on geopolitics and economics. Lu Yueying even saw those earliest printed editions. However, the labels all had the note 'Collection, not for loan'.

He Rui's books and papers had a special category, and those book record cards were worn soft from flipping. When the library opened in the afternoon, Lu Yueying immediately handed over a book list with long titles written on it. An hour later, Lu Yueying began to read in a corner of the study room.

These were books reprinted in the 3rd or 4th editions, exquisitely printed, with errors and flaws in the books corrected. She read until the evening; Lu Yueying's brain was numb from reading, yet she still failed to sort out systematic philosophical content from them.

But it wasn't without gain; the gain was even huge. Lu Yueying, like her classmates, cared about the drastic changes in China in recent years. Through books like *Introduction to Geopolitics* and *The Future of Japan*, Lu Yueying confirmed that He Rui had already begun planning what he wanted to do more than ten years ago, persisted until now, and implemented his plans.

Looking at the brilliant sunset outside the window, Lu Yueying really couldn't imagine that someone, at the same age as Lu Yueying, had already included China, East Asia, and even the whole world in his vision, doing his best to find a path to save China from the complex world.

In the classroom, students sat at desks in twos and threes reading books. The bright windows of the classroom were mostly open, and the somewhat warm wind blew in, caressing Lu Yueying's cheeks and hair. Lu Yueying suddenly had a great interest in He Rui. What did the 20-year-old He Rui look like in the classroom where he studied?

When Mrs. Lu took her daughter to buy vegetables that evening, seeing her daughter actually slow down in front of a stall selling He Rui's portraits, she felt something was wrong. After walking past the stall, seeing her daughter turn back to look at He Rui's portrait, Mrs. Lu roughly determined that things were developing in a direction Mrs. Lu herself didn't quite like.

That night, Mrs. Lu talked with her husband once, then called Zhang Xiluan's wife. Early the next morning, not long after He Rui got up, the phone rang. Zhang Xiluan called personally, asking if He Rui could go to his house for lunch.

In He Rui's plan, he wanted to visit Tianjin's heavy industry. Not only the shipbuilding industry but also several very important industries like synthetic ammonia equipment manufacturing. Since it was Zhang Xiluan's invitation, He Rui couldn't refuse. This time Zhang Xiluan didn't send his own descendants to welcome him with grand ceremony but invited He Rui into the parlor very affectionately and simply. He saw that in the parlor, Zhang Xiluan and Mrs. Zhang, as well as the Lu family of three, were all there.

Seeing He Rui with her own eyes, Mrs. Lu liked him somewhat in her heart. She was less than 10 years older than He Rui and could be considered of the same generation. He Rui had a self-confidence extremely rare in this generation. Although He Rui looked a bit hurried, it wasn't the irritability born of desperate oppression, but the haste caused by having to speed up to complete more work as soon as possible.

If He Rui were not in his current identity but a promising young official, Mrs. Lu would be very satisfied.

Zhang Xiluan didn't have a strong desire to be a matchmaker for He Rui, but Zhang Xiluan also felt that He Rui's life was too bitter. As an elder, Zhang Xiluan felt some heartache for He Rui. Moreover, in current China, the only person qualified to be a matchmaker for He Rui was probably Zhang Xiluan alone.

Everyone took their seats. The old man also observed He Rui and saw that He Rui really looked at Lu Yueying several times. He felt there was probably a chance. This meal went okay. After eating, the Lu family of three went to the garden with Mrs. Zhang to admire the flowers. Zhang Xiluan invited He Rui into the inner room before saying, "Worthy Brother, with your situation today, wanting to find a like-minded person is probably unlikely. I wonder if Worthy Brother thinks this is acceptable?"

He Rui was a bit upset at this time. Miss Lu's appearance and conversation were very good, but He Rui himself was still stubbornly resisting the impulse to marry.

Seeing He Rui silent, Zhang Xiluan sighed, "Worthy Brother, husband and wife in youth, companions in old age."

So the old man laughed, "Worthy Brother, I was a Jian-sheng (Imperial Academy student) before twenty. In the early Tongzhi years, I joined the army in Wuchang and served in the Military Affairs Office of Jiaying Prefecture, Guangdong. At 32, I entered Fengtian to suppress horse bandits with merit and served as Magistrate of Tonghua. At that time, I was also high-spirited, thinking I could achieve great things. I was reluctant when getting married. Having shared weal and woe with my wife for decades, I am now very grateful to her."

"Mrs. Zhang is indeed a good match for Lord Zhang," He Rui sighed. But He Rui immediately wanted to decline politely, because the softness in his heart made He Rui very vigilant.

"Worthy Brother, you are stunningly brilliant and talented. You must be worried that the land of tenderness is the tomb of heroes; I, your brother, am not surprised. Brother, I think that in another 20 years, Worthy Brother's prestige and status will inevitably be countless times higher than now. However, has Worthy Brother thought that you are ultimately human, and there will be days when your body becomes weak? There must always be someone by your side to support each other. When Worthy Brother passes his prime and his body begins to weaken, if he marries then, presumably any kind can be found. But at that age, does Worthy Brother think the person beside him will feel they can accompany Worthy Brother for long?"

He Rui was a little unhappy. "Lord Zhang, then I should live alone even more."

"Worthy Brother, you are not a person of idleness like wild cranes; China cannot do without you today. Since this is the case, listen to your brother's advice. If you marry now, you will find a partner for life. In another 10 years, even if Worthy Brother wholeheartedly wants to treat his wife well, the other party's thoughts won't be what Worthy Brother can imagine. Brother says this all as words from an experienced person. I hope Worthy Brother doesn't think Brother is long-winded."

Zhang Xiluan's words left He Rui speechless, and He Rui also knew Zhang Xiluan had no malicious intent. The so-called arranged marriage, if in the upper class, might not necessarily have a bad result. Because both sides knew not only where the interests lay, but also that they had to be good to both husband and wife.

Even Cao Xueqin knew to write a pair of good parents for Sister Lin; wasn't the marriage between Lin Ruhai and Jia Min an arranged marriage? But this pair was precisely the most suitable. Because at that time, both the Jia family and the Lin family were in a rising period, not the subsequent period of decline.

Thinking of this, He Rui answered, "Let me think for another day... two days."

However, He Rui fled next, or more accurately, after receiving a telegram, he went straight to Beiping.

On the day he should have given Zhang Xiluan an answer, He Rui was in a meeting with State Council ministers who had rushed to Beiping.

"The Renminbi (RMB) will decouple from the gold and silver standard and exist only as a pure fiat currency. This plan must be completed before June 1928!" Speaking of this, He Rui knocked on the table and continued to emphasize, "What I ask is not to start execution in June 1928, but to basically complete it by June 1928."

The ministers of the State Council were all stunned. Pure fiat currency operation without collateral was not unprecedented, but European and American countries only implemented such policies when the economy had problems or during wartime. Some people immediately thought that He Rui was going to start a war again.

He Rui didn't let everyone guess. He asked the Finance Minister to report to everyone on the world economic situation. And He Rui himself stood up and left. This report was very lengthy, equivalent to a study session. He Rui didn't want to waste time on this.