The driver saw that Ye Shengtao was truly anxious. Although he felt somewhat aggrieved, he hurriedly asked, "Director Ye, which hospital in Thang Long District?"

Ye Shengtao was so anxious that when he heard the name "Thang Long District," he didn't immediately recall what it referred to. Fortunately, the driver continued, "There are two large hospitals in Thang Long District now. One is our government's People's Hospital, and the other is a private hospital."

Hearing the background of the hospitals, Ye Shengtao instinctively replied, "Go to the People's Hospital."

After speaking, the two of them, one on the left and one on the right, helped the child up. The young boy was already crying with mucus and tears running down his face from the pain, yet he spoke in Mandarin with a heavy Guangxi accent, "Sorry, don't beat me."

Ye Shengtao felt even more guilty and quickly asked, "Child, are you Chinese?"

The boy didn't answer. The driver helped the boy into the car and said to Ye Shengtao, "Director Ye, he's definitely Vietnamese just by looking at him. When Vietnamese people speak our Mandarin, it has this exact flavor."

The car started up. The driver remained silent for a moment before speaking, "Director Ye, it really wasn't that I was careless. It was this child who suddenly ran out... Speaking of which, he was the one who hit our car."

Hearing this, Ye Shengtao felt extremely displeased. He was close friends with Zhou Shuren. Among Zhou Shuren's many famous works, the only one He Rui had publicly praised was the short story *The Rickshaw Puller*. He Rui had evaluated this story as "narrating the level of civilization that life in the industrial age should possess."

Since it was written by an old friend, Ye Shengtao had naturally read it. He also greatly appreciated the qualities Zhou Shuren described. Wishing to emulate the virtuous, Ye Shengtao naturally admired the conduct of the rickshaw puller in the story. However, this article had sparked quite a bit of discussion. Many people did not deny that the rickshaw puller was responsible and a good person. But they expressed concern about whether the rickshaw puller would receive fair and just treatment after supporting the old woman—who might not have actually been knocked down by him—to the police station. After all, the story *The Rickshaw Puller* did not describe such an outcome.

Some even proposed more radical hypotheses. The old woman might demand an exorbitant sum, and because the rickshaw puller had voluntarily taken her to the hospital, the judicial institutions might judge that he had to pay compensation. If the rickshaw puller had no money, he would be forced to sell the rickshaw he relied on for his livelihood and, due to medical expenses and the like, would end up deep in debt. Eventually, with his family broken, the rickshaw puller might take his own life in despair.

Saying this was not baseless. With the rapid development of industrialization, incidents of extortion and faked accidents had indeed occurred. They had even appeared in the newspapers. Because no concrete evidence could be provided, it eventually turned into a shouting match about "people's hearts are not what they used to be, and public morals are degenerating."

Ye Shengtao himself hadn't been able to come up with a perfect solution, but hearing the driver grumbling now, he understood the driver's thoughts very clearly. He replied, "Don't worry, you don't need to be responsible for this matter."

Looking from behind, the driver's shoulders immediately relaxed, but he still probed, "Director Ye, you really are a good person. But for this kind of thing, why must you take the responsibility?"

Ye Shengtao immediately felt some displeasure but didn't flare up. He simply ordered, "Drive the person to the hospital. I will handle the other matters."

The Thang Long District People's Hospital was located towards the south of the People's Avenue, the main road in the Chinese residential area. Its scale was larger than a county hospital but smaller than a city hospital. It was 6:00 PM, and the doctors were off duty. The duty medical staff sent the injured boy into the emergency treatment room. Not long after, they came out and said, "Are you this... this child's employers?"

Before Ye Shengtao could speak, the driver hurriedly introduced Ye Shengtao to the doctor. The doctor immediately became polite. He invited Ye Shengtao into an empty room nearby. "Director Ye, this child can be bandaged up and sent away."

Seeing the doctor's initial frown, Ye Shengtao knew the injury was likely not that simple. He replied, "Doctor, please speak the truth. Tell it like it is."

The doctor thought for a moment, and his expression became serious again. "Director Ye, we need to take an X-ray to see the situation. I'm not an orthopedist, but looking at it now, this child might have a comminuted fracture. Even if it's cured, I'm afraid it will leave a disability."

Hearing this, the driver couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. Ye Shengtao couldn't help but frown, but he replied, "Do whatever needs to be done. I'll pay now."

The doctor was stunned. There was some disbelief in his expression, but also some admiration. A moment later, the doctor said respectfully, "Then please follow me."

After paying the money, the hospital quickly began the X-ray. The subsequent work was professional, and Ye Shengtao couldn't intervene. The hospital told Ye Shengtao that after the hospital officially opened tomorrow, an orthopedic surgeon would handle the matter specifically and would contact Ye Shengtao then. It was useless for Ye Shengtao to stay at the hospital now, so they asked him to go back first. If a companion was needed, the boy's family could come to accompany him.

Ye Shengtao went to see the boy again, asking his name and where he lived. The boy had already been given a local anesthetic, and the pain was greatly reduced. Hearing Ye Shengtao's questions, the boy was so scared that he apologized repeatedly, keeping on saying that he was wrong. Seeing this, Ye Shengtao spoke kindly to console him. In the end, the boy only said that his name was "Ah Liang" and that he was a shop assistant. He did not say anything about his family situation.

Finally, the driver said, "Director Ye, I still remember the location, and the people around there seemed to know this kid. If we find the French police station, we can definitely find out."

Helpless, Ye Shengtao could only listen to the driver's suggestion. They left the door and drove to the local French police station. Upon hearing Ye Shengtao's identity, the local police immediately attached great importance to it. "Mr. Director Ye, please rest assured. We will investigate clearly overnight. We will give you an explanation tomorrow."

Ye Shengtao thanked them and then urged, "Tomorrow, please be sure to take me to this child's home."

"Rest assured, rest assured. We will definitely take you there tomorrow." The chief of the French police station was a Frenchman, and he agreed profusely. After speaking, the French chief added, "In order to find the person you are looking for, could you leave your driver to help us?"

Although Ye Shengtao did not intend to let the driver bear the cost, he felt he shouldn't let this guy off too easily. If he didn't have to pay compensation, he should at least put in some effort and make sure they didn't get the wrong person.

On the way back to his residence, Ye Shengtao walked on his own two legs. He saw that the electric lights were on along the wide roads of Thang Long District, where Chinese people gathered, and the storefronts on both sides of the street were also lit up. The design of this Thang Long District was similar to that in China, with quite wide open spaces on both sides of the road. Many Chinese people with various accents set up tables in the open spaces in front of the shop entrances, sitting by the tables to eat.

The average temperature in Hanoi was not low, and it was quite cool sitting outside. Those eating included not only Chinese people but also quite a few French people. In front of some shops, there were low stages for entertainment, where scantily clad women were posturing and performing rather seductive dances.

Ye Shengtao felt this was somewhat offensive to public morals, but the people below the stage did not appear particularly dissolute. They were just eating, drinking, chatting, and watching as if it were customary. In this city with a strong scent of decadence, there seemed to exist some kind of bottom line.

Crossing the street, Ye Shengtao also saw patrolmen patrolling the streets. The leading French patrolman did not appear nervous; his expression was quite calm. When passing by familiar French and Chinese people on the roadside, he would occasionally greet them. The Vietnamese police following behind the patrolman would bow and scrape whenever they saw French or Chinese people. In their eyes, Chinese and French people were likely both masters who were a head taller than the local Vietnamese. Since they were masters, naturally they could not be offended, and naturally, they had to be greeted with smiles and served carefully.

The small alleys on both sides of the main street were very dim; the streetlights on the main street could not illuminate the inside. Ye Shengtao saw some people inside the small alleys as well, indistinct and unclear. And judging from the sneaky appearance of those people, Ye Shengtao felt that they were probably not up to any good.

Back at his residence, Ye Shengtao only felt irritable. The cities in China were not as loose as Hanoi. Small alleys were becoming fewer and fewer, replaced basically by streets, which looked very reassuring. But casting aside this decadence, the current status of China was not entirely the China in Ye Shengtao's ideals.

Over a decade ago, before He Rui launched the war between the Northeast and Japan, Ye Shengtao's ideal China was one that had shaken off unequal treaties, abolished all concessions, and was a country not bullied by foreigners. This was already the limit of what he could imagine. In the present, more than a decade later, everything Ye Shengtao had thought of, China had achieved. What Ye Shengtao hadn't dared to think of, China had also achieved. Just like on the street just now, Chinese and French people sitting together, toasting and exchanging completely as equals—Ye Shengtao had at most held a little expectation, but actually hadn't dared to think about it.

Reasonably speaking, Ye Shengtao should be satisfied, but Ye Shengtao happened to feel very unsatisfied. According to the national direction announced by the He Rui administration, China was to become an industrialized country by 1941. All Chinese people were to live the life of an industrial nation. As a public servant, Ye Shengtao was also working towards this goal. According to Ye Shengtao's observations, China was indeed industrializing rapidly. In terms of industrialization level alone, the gap with foreign countries was getting smaller and smaller.

But the industrialized life that the Chinese people were living was not what Ye Shengtao had imagined, and to a large extent, it was not even what Ye Shengtao had looked forward to. There were *nouveaux riches* everywhere, and people carried a heavy hostility under pressure. Just as described in the *Communist Manifesto*, all that was once sacred—scholars, experts—had become objects that could be hired with money. All that was once considered virtue was being subjected to questioning and testing.

Virtues that Ye Shengtao once thought didn't even need discussion were now discussed by many, and even questioned and opposed. Just like the moral behavior described in *The Rickshaw Puller*, even if it was considered moral, many people analyzed it using various social evils, reaching the conclusion that good people don't live long, while scourges last a thousand years.

Even the more rational discussions reached conclusions that chilled Ye Shengtao's heart. Those rationalists raised a cold question: "Who will bear the cost of maintaining social justice? Given the current level of social development, it is fundamentally impossible to realize a truly fair and just ideal society."

The more he thought, the unhappier he became. Moreover, the mosquitoes began to launch large-scale sneak attacks on Ye Shengtao. Having no choice, Ye Shengtao washed up and went to sleep. Lying inside the mosquito net, Ye Shengtao tossed and turned, ultimately failing to figure anything out. Amidst a vague thought, Ye Shengtao fell asleep.

Waking up early the next morning, yesterday's irritability had dissipated. After washing up and eating a Chinese breakfast, it was time to go to work. Just as he arrived at the office, a call came. The French police station expressed very proudly, "Mr. Director Ye, the person you were looking for yesterday has been found. If you have time, please come to our place."

Half an hour later, Ye Shengtao got out of the car. Along the way, the driver proudly explained to Ye Shengtao how he had worked hard yesterday to find a passerby who knew the young boy. After the French frightened him, the passerby honestly confessed where the child's home was.

Ye Shengtao didn't say anything; he just wanted to resolve this matter quickly. Entering the police station, the chief welcomed him enthusiastically and then led Ye Shengtao to the back. The surrounding buildings became dimmer as they walked, giving Ye Shengtao a somewhat unsettling feeling. Soon, the group arrived at the prison entrance. Outside a cell, several Vietnamese local police officers holding sticks and whips stepped forward with accompanying smiles. After seeing the look in the French police chief's eyes, the few of them bowed and scraped to pay their respects to Ye Shengtao, and then the leader spoke in broken Chinese. Ye Shengtao could only try his best to understand. The general meaning was: Master, we have already caught the people. How do you want to deal with them? If a beating isn't enough to appease Master's anger, then in a while we will take them away and give them to...

Speaking to this point, the Vietnamese policeman even made a beheading gesture.

For a moment, Ye Shengtao suspected he had misunderstood something. But Ye Shengtao actually knew very clearly that he hadn't misunderstood. This kind of thing hadn't happened in China since 1924, but before 1924, killing Chinese people to please foreigners was merely a commonplace occurrence.

Ye Shengtao had witnessed with his own eyes New China sentencing those evildoing foreigners and Chinese lackeys to death, hanging them together on the gallows. At that time, although Ye Shengtao had a bit of inexplicable pity, the vast majority of his mood was joy. Yet he never expected that more than a decade later, he would actually see locals willing to kill their own countrymen for the sake of a foreigner. And that foreigner turned out to be Ye Shengtao himself.

"Release them immediately!" Ye Shengtao shouted.

The French police chief was very puzzled, suspecting slightly that he had messed something up. He asked, "Mr. Director Ye, that person dared to hit your car, and you're just going to let them go like this? Or..."

Seeing the feasting and revelry in the Chinese-populated Thang Long District last night, Ye Shengtao had only felt that this city was very decadent. But now Ye Shengtao understood that this city was not only decadent; the power foundation of this city under colonial rule was evil. Bottom lines that no one in China dared to breach had become things that couldn't even be understood here.

Afraid that this group would misunderstand, Ye Shengtao explained in detail what had happened and earnestly stated his method of handling it. That was to treat the child's illness, bear the medical costs, and give the family a certain amount of economic compensation.

After listening to this, and hearing Ye Shengtao emphasize that they absolutely must not lay a hand on this family, the French police chief had a face full of incomprehension. Finally, he shrugged. "If you think so, I will not stop you." After speaking, the police chief ordered the few Vietnamese policemen who had faces full of astonishment, "Did you understand? If you understood, then release the people according to Mr. Ye's order."

Hearing the order, the leader of the Vietnamese policemen asked carefully, "May I ask, Master Ye, do you know this family?"

Ye Shengtao shook his head. "I don't know them at all."

That policeman breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly opened the cell door to let the people out.

Looking at the scene before him, Ye Shengtao suddenly remembered his thoughts before sleeping. That thought was very simple: Since China had already been in a terrible state to arrive at the present, it absolutely could not get any worse. If left unchecked, China would definitely degenerate into the appearance of the Chinese-populated Thang Long District in Hanoi.