Chen Zikong spent an hour compiling the "Feces Industry Charter", writing three sheets of rough paper, with over a thousand words flowing freely. After finishing, he fell asleep immediately and rushed to the Xiong Mansion early the next morning.

  When he reached the gate, he wanted to give the doorman a tip again. The doorman was so frightened that he almost knelt down: "Master Chen, spare my life! Yesterday I received one dollar from you and almost got beaten to death by the butler."

  Chen Zikun feigned surprise: "Why hit you?"

  "The doorman said: 'Others' door fees can be collected, but yours cannot be collected. You are our master's old friend, Master Chen. Please come in, the master has instructed that you don't need to report and can go straight to the study for tea.'"

  Chen Zikun smiled and went to the study without needing anyone to lead him, familiar with the route. After a while, Xiong Xiling arrived, and after some polite conversation, Chen Zikun took out the night-written Fertilizer Industry Articles of Association for Old Xiong to review.

  Xiong Xiling scanned the document in a glance, and after quickly finishing reading it, he heavily slapped the table, startling Chen Zikun who was blowing tea foam from his cup.

  "Well written!" Xiong Xiling exclaimed involuntarily.

  After all, Xiong Xiling was a great Confucian scholar in the Qing dynasty and had served as Premier; his learning and insight were extraordinary, so how could he not see the value of this charter?

  The fecal industry charter written by Chen Zikun is comprehensive and clear, covering everything from the management of the fecal industry to public health responsibilities, as well as improvements and unification of feces removal tools and transportation routes. It also proposes to abolish the storage pits that can be seen everywhere in Beijing, which seriously affect the city's image and people's lives. Most notably, the charter transfers the management rights of the fecal industry to citizens.

  In the past, the toilet gangs divided the public toilets on the streets and alleys and the outhouses of residents' homes into their own spheres of influence, not allowing others to intervene. Over time, a monopoly was formed, and the toilet workers became arrogant and often lazy and extorted money from residents. In Chen Zikun's plan, residents were organized into toilet management committees based on their neighborhoods, with each household contributing funds to the committee, which would then hire toilet workers through open bidding and pay them salaries on time. If residents were dissatisfied with the service quality, they could complain to the committee, which would deduct the toilet workers' salaries as punishment. In severe cases, the toilet worker would be fired and replaced by another one, thus reclaiming the power from the toilet gangs.

  "Xiao Chen, did you come up with all this yourself?" Xiong Xiling's face was full of praise. What excited him was not the rigorous and detailed clauses, nor the innovation of the sanitation system or the improvement of the toilet tools, but the democratic spirit that shone through in every word and sentence.

  Chen Zikun humbly said: "I often pull carts and run all over the city, seeing that Beijing is full of big pits dug by sewage factories, with sewage trucks entering and exiting the city gates, dripping all over the ground. Even foreigners at the Six Nations Restaurant say that Beijing is a wonderful city, where the smell of night-blooming jasmine and feces always fills their noses. I think everyone living in this city has an obligation to make it more beautiful, so when I have nothing to do, I often think about these kinds of issues."

  Xiong Xiling praised: "Young people can put it into practice, rather than boasting, this is the real hero. Little Chen, you've done a great job and should continue to do so."

  Chen Zikong said, "Is Old Bear referring to those twelve nightsoil collectors I recruited? I never intended to continue in this line of work. Yesterday's events were just a social experiment on my part. If I really had to smash the rice bowls of several thousand nightsoil collectors in Beijing, I wouldn't be able to bear that responsibility."

  Xiong Xiling nodded, this young man's consideration was indeed thorough and his vision far-reaching. He wasn't thinking about his own wealth or a single street, but the hygiene problems of several alleys, the flaws in Beijing's feces industry and the overall sanitation plan, even taking into account the livelihoods of those lazy and idle night soil workers.

  "Alright, I'll submit this charter to the municipal government, but you'll have to help with the follow-up work." Xiong Xiling had been in Beijing for many years, but his accent still carried a strong Hunan flavor.

  "I am willing to work as hard as a horse and dog." said Chen Zikong.

  Xiong Xiling suddenly seemed to think of something and said, "Come over the day after tomorrow, I'll take you to see Xiao Longyou to help you with your illness. He's a famous doctor in the capital, maybe he can help you recover your memory."

  Chen Zikun was deeply grateful: "Thank you, Master Xiong."

  ……

  After leaving the bear house, I went back to the Ziguangche factory for lunch with Xue Pingshun, and then rushed to Yuji Ditch Factory.

  Most of the latrine pits in Beijing are set up outside the city or in the outer city, because there is more open land, and it's easy to dig a hole and build a wall to start a latrine factory. The night soil collected from households and public toilets is not sold immediately, but rather processed at the latrine factory before being sold to nearby rural areas of Beijing.

  This process is simple, but it's a hardship for the ordinary people around the sewage plant. In winter, it might be a bit better, the smell isn't too heavy, but in summer, there are flies everywhere, and the stench can knock you out. So, running a sewage plant isn't easy either, after working hard all year, they don't make much money.

  Yu De Shun smashed his own head with a brick yesterday, this is one of his usual tricks, those rascals like to use self-mutilation to threaten others, but this time he lost his hand.

  No one knew what the other party was up to, but they had somehow gotten in touch with Xiong Xiling. Premier Xiong intervened and the police department didn't dare slack off. The situation completely turned around, and everyone from the Ziguang Factory was released that night, while Yu's people were still stuck at the police station eating plain rice porridge.

  This was what Ma Lao Wu told Yu De Shun. He also said that this time there were heavyweight figures intervening, and he was really unable to do anything about it, so he might as well take care of himself.

  Yu De Shun was so anxious that he felt like the several hundred yuan he had invested were all going down the drain, and his ancestors' legacy was about to be ruined by his own hands. He was frantic with worry, but couldn't think of a solution. In the end, it's clear that even if you're the boss of a sewage factory, you can't outdo others, no matter how hard or soft you try.

  After some thought, he decided to take a step back and broaden his horizons. Yu De Shun let out a long sigh, and overnight, he seemed to have aged ten years.

  Suddenly a young servant came running in, panting: "Uncle, they've come, they're here."

  "What's wrong, who came? You look like you've lost your last marble."

  The boss of Ziguangche Factory has arrived.

  "Oh!" Yu De Shun was startled and almost dropped the small teapot.

  What does this Chen guy want to do, is he going to kill us all? Yu De Shun ran into the kitchen and picked up a cleaver. His wife happened to come in and saw him gritting his teeth, and asked strangely: "Husband, what are you doing?"

  "Chen Zikun has come knocking on our door, I'll fight him."

  "You allow others to knock on your door, but you don't allow them to come in. I think this Mr. Chen is a reasonable person, as the host, you should also show some dignity and not let others laugh at you."

  His wife's scolding made Yu Deshun sober up a bit, put down the kitchen knife, tidy up his clothes and personally went to the gate of the fertilizer plant to welcome him.

  "This isn't Boss Yu, we meet again, hello. Chen Zikun had a smile all over his face, not looking like he was there to cause trouble at all, and he only brought one person with him. If they were going to cause trouble, there should be at least twenty or thirty people, this made Yu Deshun's heart slightly more at ease. He pretended to be calm and said: "Boss Chen has arrived, sorry for not welcoming you properly, please come in."

  Yu De Shun walked while thinking, "Those who come with ill intentions are not good people, and good people do not come easily. Although Chen Zi Kun is smiling, he must be hiding something."

  The Yu family's manure factory was not small, and a large piece of land next to Longxugou was occupied by them. This place originally had houses, but later during the Boxer Rebellion and the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, a fire burned everything down to ashes. The original residents all died in the war, and the empty land was then occupied by the Yu family.

  The manure factory is full of deep pits dug everywhere, storing farm fertilizer, and the ground is also spread with large piles of manure. Yesterday's light snow made the ground muddy and impassable. Inside the manure factory, it was a mess of shit and urine flowing everywhere. The only way to get through was by stepping on the bricks laid out all the way to the door.

  There were still dozens of single-wheel carts and five large carts in the factory, because all the dung workers had been arrested. These vehicles that should have gone out to collect dung were all parked in the yard. The dung carts were old, with iron hoops on the wooden wheels, and every corner was covered with years' worth of dung stains, looking filthy beyond recognition. Chen Zikun looked at all this with great interest, nodding his head from time to time.

  Yu De Shun felt a chill in his heart, he really wanted to take away my business.

  They came into the house, took their seats as host and guest, and the daughter-in-law brought in tea and stood beside them, afraid that her husband would do something foolish.

  "Get in, kid! I have something to discuss with Mr. Chen." Yu De Shun scolded.

  The wife had no choice but to hide in the inner room.

  Before Chen Zikong could speak, Yu Deshun left his seat, flung off his cloak and fell to the ground with a thud.

  "What's going on?" Xue Ping Shun hurriedly came up to support him, but couldn't lift him.

  "Chen Daxia, I admit defeat. From now on, the right to speak about stool will belong to you. I have only one request, if you don't agree, I'll kneel here until death." Yu Deshun said resolutely.

  "Say." Chen Zikong said in one word.

  "There are over a hundred brothers who eat with me, please take care of them and give them something to eat." Yu De Shun said, his eyes slightly red.

  Chen Zigong looked up at the sky and burst out laughing.

  Yu De Shun was startled and didn't know what he was laughing at.

  "Hey boss, this joke of yours is a bit too much, are you trying to shut me up on purpose?" Chen Zikun laughed.

  "You... I don't understand what you're saying?" Yu De Shun looked bewildered.

  "This time I came, I wanted to entrust the brothers under my hand to Boss Yu's care. How could you not wait for me to speak and first throw in the towel?"

  "This... you're saying... I'm still confused?"

  Xue Pingshun spoke up: "Boss Yu, I think you're really muddled. Even someone with a bit of brains wouldn't do something like this. When did our Ziguang Car Factory ever say we wanted to occupy your toilet? You don't even send people to clean the latrine, and now it seems like we can't even clean up after ourselves. Do we have to live in a pile of dung like you?"

  As soon as he said this, Yu De Shun suddenly felt enlightened and patted his own head, saying: "I understand, it was my fault."

  Xue Ping Shun continued: "We cleaned up ourselves, but you couldn't bear to see it, and brought three or four friends to our doorstep, with the police as backup. Are you really determined not to let us have a peaceful life? Later, the neighbors all chipped in to beg for mercy, asking you to send someone to clean up, and we would pay whatever it cost. Who wanted to stir up trouble? But you flatly refused, that was quite decisive. It seems that all the refined and dignified people living on Shi Ma Da Jie Street had to lower their heads and admit fault to you, but you still weren't satisfied. You're deliberately pushing business away, no one is forcing you. In the end, we really had no choice, so we found a few farmers from Changxin Store to clean up the manure. But then you brought people over, blocked the carts, beat people, and caused trouble."

  Xue Ping was a bit too much, didn't give him any face, this whole thing is just a mess. Yu De Shun's face turned red like Guan Gong, when people are reckless they forget themselves, only after falling to the ground can they calmly think about the problem. Now thinking back on his actions over the past few days, it was as if he had lost his mind.

  "Slap slap", De Shun slapped himself several times on the face.

  "You're right in scolding me! I'm a pig-headed fool, no, I'm a big turd-headed fool! I'm not human, I deserve to die!" Yu De-shun slapped his own face violently.

  "Alright, Uncle Xue, Boss Yu has also been deceived. Chen Zikun mediated the situation and helped Yu Deshun up, saying: "Boss Yu, from the beginning I didn't think of taking your business, I just wanted to make life more comfortable for the residents and keep the streets clean, isn't this idea reasonable?"

  "Not excessive, not excessive." Yu De Shun hastily echoed.

  Chen Zikong said, "Recently this matter has been blown up a bit, and Premier Xiong has been alarmed. He wants to submit a memorial to the cabinet to thoroughly clean up the accumulated ills of Beijing's fecal industry. I think that you, as an old veteran of the fecal industry, will have to take the lead in reforming Beijing's fecal industry."

  Yu De Shun was moved to tears, he understood the other's intention, it wasn't to kill him off completely, but to give himself a way out.