The scene was chaotic, with some people shouting to go to Zhaojialou to settle accounts with Cao Rulin, while others firmly opposed violent demonstrations. As they spoke, the two sides suddenly started fighting. Chen Zikun watched as a chubby student was punched in the face, his glasses shattered, and he squatted on the ground in pain.

  The man who was hit walked away with a menacing air, the students had no first aid experience and were in a state of panic, shouting: "The commander-in-chief is injured!"

  Chen Zikun helped the injured fat student up, examined his wound, and fortunately, the broken glass fragments did not hurt his eyes, but only scratched the skin on his face, bleeding a little.

  Chen Zikun tore off a lining shirt and had him press it against the wound.

  "Thank you, classmate." The fat student covered his face and said, he was highly nearsighted and couldn't see Chen Zikun's face clearly, thinking it was one of his own classmates.

  Chen Zikun suddenly remembered this face, the fat man often spoke loudly in the Peking University library, was the head of some academic society, and had a good relationship with Xu Tingge, seemed to be called Fu Sinian.

  Fu Sinian got up from the ground, his face ashen and hopeless. He sighed and walked away with a group of university students, their flags and drums silenced.

  Another group of people went their separate ways and headed towards Zhaojialou along Chang'an Street.

  Yao Yilei was worried that something had happened to her mother, so she quickly pulled Chen Zikun and ran into the Liu Guo restaurant to make a phone call. However, the operator said that the phone at Zhao's building was always busy and couldn't get through. After struggling for over ten minutes, she still couldn't get through, so she hung up the phone and said to Chen Zikun: "Let's go, let's go to Zhao's building."

  Start the car and head to Zhaojialou, but Chang'an Street was blocked by a student procession. Snowflakes of flyers were scattered everywhere, and all that could be seen were patriotic slogans. The police on patrol dared not stop them, they just held their batons and tried to maintain order.

  The road was different, so they had to take a detour, but almost all the roads were blocked. Yao Yilei was sweating profusely: "What's going on today? Are all the students in Beijing taking to the streets?"

  "It's probably some bad news from Paris." Chen Zikun replied, a few days ago when he went to Xiong Xiling's house for a routine visit, he seemed to have mentioned that Liang Qichao had sent another telegram from Paris, saying that the diplomatic efforts on the Shandong issue at the conference had completely failed.

  "But what were they doing at Zhao's building? The failure of diplomacy wasn't Uncle Cao's problem." Yao Yile was ultimately still not sensitive enough to national affairs.

  "Because this Cao Bo Bo of yours is pro-Japanese, the students wouldn't bother with anyone else. But you don't have to worry either, a scholar starting a rebellion will take three years to succeed, they'll just go and scold for a bit, they won't use force."

  "This makes me feel at ease." Yao Yile patted her chest, she thought Chen Zikun made a lot of sense, students aren't bandits, they won't do anything out of line, no need to worry too much about mother.

  Suddenly, the car door was knocked on, and when he turned his head to look, it was several anxious young faces. Chen Zikun rolled down the window and asked, "What's wrong?"

  "One of our classmates suddenly fell ill, would you mind taking him to the hospital?"

  Chen Zikun took a look and indeed saw a young man dressed as a student sitting on the ground, his face pale, with bloodstains at the corner of his mouth.

  "Hurry up and get on the car." Chen Zikun opened the door, and together with the students, they lifted the patient into the car. The space inside was limited, and only a few people could sit down. The students pushed and pulled to make room for one person to accompany them to the hospital.

  The car headed straight for the nearest French hospital. Chen Zikun asked while driving: "What's wrong with this classmate?"

  "He had tuberculosis before, and this time he shouted his throat hoarse during the demonstration, which triggered the old illness, and just now he coughed up blood." The classmate introduced, and then blamed the patient: "Guo Qinguang, I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming".

  "I'd rather die than not be allowed to take part in the protest." Guo's voice was very weak, his breathing rapid, but a sickly flush had risen to his cheeks.

  "Why are you marching?" Yao Yilei asked a very silly question, immediately triggering Guo Qinguang's indignation.

  "Miss, you probably didn't read the editorial by Mr. Lin Changmin in yesterday's National Gazette: 'Shandong is lost, the country will not be a country, let us unite four hundred million people to vow to fight to the death! Qingdao has been forcibly occupied by Japan! China is about to perish, and you are still... Ah, merchants' daughters do not know the sorrow of national subjugation.'"

  Kuo Ching-kuang's expression turned stern, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes cold. However, Yao I-lei continued to ask impertinently: "Qingdao has been occupied by the Japanese for four years now, why are you only thinking of demonstrating today?"

  It's really a case of "a word out of tune, half a sentence too many". Guo Qinguang coldly smiled and shook his head, just about to expound on some grand principle, when a classmate beside him advised: "Since they're kind enough to send you to the hospital, why not say a little less?"

  The car arrived at the hospital, and Guo Qinguang recovered a bit of energy, thanking the two people. With the help of his classmate, he entered the hospital. Chen Zikun turned the car around and headed back in the direction of Zhaojialou, but halfway there, the car broke down again. He had to hail a rickshaw and hurry over. When they arrived at the location, they saw that thick smoke was already billowing in the distance.

  The original Zhaojialou was the residence of Zhao Wensu, a university scholar in the Ming dynasty's Longqing Emperor's court. Later it was bought by Cao Rulin and became even more luxurious and grandiose, with a mix of Chinese and Western styles inside the courtyard, complete with lawns, pavilions, and everything else. Compared to the Yao Gongguan, it seemed much more elegant, but today's Zhaojialou is different from before. The main gate is wide open, with rotten vegetables and stinky eggs plastered all over the walls and windows. Several rooms have already been set on fire, with fierce flames raging, yet there are still many people chasing and cursing each other in the courtyard.

  Chen Zikun and Yao Yilei rushed into the courtyard, just in time to see a group of students surrounding one person, punching and kicking him. One student was wielding an iron rod, wildly hitting the man's head, the sound of the rod cutting through the air making a loud whooshing noise that sent shivers down their spines. The students were shouting as they beat him: "Beat this traitor to death! Get rid of him for the good of the people!"

  Not far away stood a reporter wearing a suit and holding a camera, snapping away at the scene. It was none other than Ruan Mingchuan, someone he had met just that day.

  "Isn't that Uncle Zhang? You quickly save him!" Yao Yile recognized the person being beaten as her father's good friend, Minister to Japan Zhang Zongxiang, and hastily shook Chen Zikun's arm asking him to intervene.

  Chen Zikun couldn't bear to see so many people bullying one person, and was just about to step forward when a man in a Western suit suddenly rushed out from the side and pounced on Zhang Zongxiang, shouting something in Japanese. The students tried to pull him away but were unsuccessful, and could only throw down their iron rods and curse: "You traitor will get off easy today!"

  Suddenly, a loud siren sounded in the distance, followed by the sound of footsteps like heavy rain. A large group of police officers and soldiers in black and gray uniforms rushed to the scene. The students cried out in surprise and scattered in all directions. Chen Zikun saw that things were not going well and pulled Yao Yilei to prepare for escape, but there were military police everywhere, with no way to go up or down, and they could only surrender.

  The soldiers and police came in a rush, catching off guard more than 30 students who were unable to escape. Chen Zikun was wearing a white shirt and looked like a student, so he was also caught up in the sweep and herded into the group of male students by the soldiers using their rifle butts. Yao Yilei was pushed towards the female students. The scene was chaotic, with the soldiers and police shouting orders and the students protesting loudly, no one had time to listen to their explanations.

  Ruan Mingchuan held up his camera and shouted: "I am a newspaper reporter." The soldiers and police did not catch him, but only drove him away.

  The officials who led the team were Wu Bingxiang, Director of the Police Department, and Li Changtai, Commander of the Infantry. Seeing that the situation had become serious, they hastily ordered the fire to be put out and people rescued. Zhang Zongxiang, who was unconscious, was carried onto a vehicle and taken away, while all the arrested students were escorted to the police station.

  The unlucky Chen Zikun was also taken to the police station and locked up with those students. Inside the iron window, the students' excited mood calmed down a bit, and they began to chat with each other.

  "I'm from Beida, where are you from?"

  I am a high school teacher.

  I am Huixin's.

  "Hey, classmate, how about you?" a student asked enthusiastically, patting Chen Zikun's shoulder.

  "I'm a rickshaw puller." Chen Zikun looked at him and recognized the man who had beaten Zhang Zongxiang with an iron rod in Zhaojialou.

  "Are you Chen Zikun?" a strange Beida student shouted. Chen Zikun knew that his competition with Xu Er had caused a stir at Beida, and many people recognized him, so he nodded and said calmly: "It's me."

  He got excited and said to everyone: "He is indeed a cart driver, but he is also one of us from Peking University!"

  "I am a student of Beijing Higher Normal School." The iron club student stretched out his hand to Chen Zikun.

  The people around him introduced in a lively and gossipy manner: "Today, Kuang Husheng has made great contributions. If he hadn't brought the fire oil and lighter, this fire might not have been able to start."

  "He was the first to jump into Cao's house, Kuang Yisheng is our vanguard, he is our hero."

  Chen Zikun suddenly became solemn and respectful, this Kuai Husheng was indeed formidable, being so fierce as a university student, if he were to become a bandit outside the pass, wouldn't he be able to carve out his own territory?

  "Nice to meet you." Chen Zikun shook hands with Kuang Husen.

  ……

  Director Wu's office, Wu Bingxiang was anxious and flustered, his mouth dry and tongue parched. Today the students had blown things out of proportion, burning down Director Cao's residence and injuring Zhang Zongxiang. This chaotic situation seemed to be only just beginning, and as the police director, he would likely have a headache for some time to come.

  "Report!" A subordinate knocked on the door and came in, saluting with his hand: "Among the students we caught earlier, there was a girl who claimed to be the daughter of Deputy Minister Yao of the Ministry of Communications."

  Lao Yao's daughter is really careless, she has to intervene in everything. Wu Bingxiang didn't have time to bother with such trivial matters and waved his hand: "Let it go."

  Yao Yilei was released, and she also wanted to rescue Chen Zikun, but the entire police station was in chaos, no one had time to bother with her, so she could only go home for help.

  Back at the Yao's residence, I saw my mother sitting on the sofa in the living room, still looking like she had just seen a ghost.

  "Mommy." Yao Yire rushed into her mother's arms, "Are you okay?"

  "Mom's fine, how did you know something happened?" Mrs. Yao asked in surprise.

  "I went to Zhaojialou and was mistakenly caught by the police, Chen Zikun is still being held by them now, Mommy, hurry up and save him!" Yao Yilei said urgently.

  "You just know how to get me into trouble! What rescue, go back and reflect on your mistakes!" Mr. Yao's stern voice rang out, his face full of anger, Yao Yire knew her father was really angry this time, didn't dare speak, and obediently went back inside.

  Yao Cizhang sighed as he gazed at his daughter's back, and said to his wife: "Zhang Zongxiang was severely injured by them. I'm going to the hospital now. You stay home and take good care of our daughter. In these uncertain times, we can't afford any more trouble."