London after Christmas is like a drunk who is about to wake up.
Everything and everyone is covered in the smell of alcohol.
In the morning fog, a carriage was moving forward at a low speed. The driver carefully controlled the horse's reins to prevent the horse from crushing the necks of the drunkards lying on the ground with their hooves.
In the carriage, two English gentlemen sat opposite each other.
Churchill took out a cloth bag and said to Wodehouse: "Sir, do you need some gingerbread?"
Gingerbread is a small shortbread eaten at Christmas, usually made of flour, ginger, honey, brown sugar, almonds, candied peel and spices.
Wodehouse raised his eyebrows;
"You don't want me to trade cigars for you, do you?"
"Haha, how could that happen~"
Churchill looked smiling.
Wodehouse was doubtful,
"really?"
Churchill couldn't help but sigh and said, "I'm not that bored."
As he spoke, he took out a piece of gingerbread and handed it to the other party.
Wodehouse took it;
Unexpectedly, Churchill did not retract his hand immediately, but spread it out, making a gesture similar to asking for a red envelope.
Churchill said with a smile: "The great and noble Earl of Kimberley will not eat people's mouth, right?"
I knew it was like this...
Wodehouse reluctantly gave the other party a cigar.
Churchill deftly cut off the end of the cigar, lit it with a match, took a deep breath, and said: "Sir, I have told you all my thoughts about the polls truthfully. What do you think?"
Wodehouse could not help thinking,
a long time,
"Polls...are they really that powerful?"
As he asked, he also lit a cigar for himself and opened the window to diffuse the smell of smoke.
To be honest, he felt that Churchill took the polls too seriously.
Could it be better than "Yes!" Prime Minister" Awesome! ?
Think about it, it’s impossible~
Wodehouse said: "Professor Lu is a man of letters. The novels, poems and plays he writes are powerful. This is normal. But if you want to say that he can make waves like the editors of major newspapers, I think you are overthinking it."
Churchill shook his head,
"You have to think about what he wrote. Leaving aside "No One Survived" for the moment, "Yes! Prime Minister", "A Generation", "Answer", which one is not provocative? And then there is the "Manchester Guardian" Not to mention those articles.”
Wodehouse was somewhat moved and lowered his head in thought.
He forgot to smoke his cigar, causing a long section of the cigar to be burned. The columnar ash could not bear the weight and fell on the floor of the carriage compartment.
Churchill stretched out his right foot, crushed the ashes away with the sole of his shoe, and then put it back in the corner.
The two of them were just silent,
The carriage's wheels pressed against the wedge-shaped stone tiles on the ground, making soft sounds.
Quiet meets loud.
After a while, Wodehouse said: "You are right, I should indeed make some demands more or less."
Churchill smiled,
"This is right~"
Wodehouse was a little curious;
"Winston, I noticed some changes in you these days, and you are eager to give me advice."
Churchill didn't respond.
With his hedging approach, he shouldn't have fallen to the Liberal Party so quickly.
But Cecil's cabinet is now showing signs of crumbling. If this momentum continues, Bannerman may come to power within half a year. If Churchill has not yet entered the Liberal Party at that time, he will probably not be reused.
So, it’s time to give it a try!
Churchill said: "In short..."
Before he finished speaking, the soft sound of the wheels "click-click--" suddenly stopped.
The two looked out the window,
Bryah Road has arrived.
Wodehouse told the coachman: "Wait a moment."
Then he turned to Churchill,
"I think we should sort out our advantages before visiting. First of all, financial resources..."
Churchill shook his head,
"It's useless. Mr. Lu has already accumulated a lot of royalties, so money is not a problem for him. Moreover, it's not just the royalties. The reissue of "No Survival" is a hardcover book issued by the Royal Publishing House, and the royalties must be terrifyingly high. .”
Wodehouse sighed, thinking that Lu Shi was really a freak.
The Chinese pick up money like this in London, I'm afraid even Gu Hongming can't do it.
Moreover, Gu Hongming cannot be considered absolutely Chinese.
Churchill added: "In terms of manpower, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to restrict Mr. Lu. With his influence among college students, it is too easy to get a few people to work. Even if he is forced to drop out of school, he cannot stop him. "
Wodehouse agrees with this,
He said: "That leaves the last point - printing and communication."
This is to the point.
Questionnaires first appeared in universities.
Since various social science subjects require fieldwork, the students brainstormed and came up with this method.
However, the power of the university is limited, and neither printing nor dissemination can reach all corners of society, resulting in a small number of test samples.
Therefore, the development of questionnaires has been severely limited.
This situation continued until print media joined in,
Major newspapers can sell tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies in London every day. These readers are natural subjects. As long as they add a page to the newspaper, they can quickly get the data, thus pushing the questionnaire survey to the forefront. Nationalization.
Churchill said: "Opinion polls are not authentic without the participation of many citizens."
Wodehouse understood;
"Professor Lu is familiar with the Manchester Guardian and The Scotsman, so he will definitely contact these two newspapers when sending out the questionnaire, and we can project our influence on... Wait, Professor Lu won't Looking for another newspaper or magazine with publishing capabilities?"
Churchill laughed,
"The Times? Or the Telegraph? Or the Royal Publishing House?"
After hearing this, Wodehouse couldn't help laughing.
I really think too much.
He waved to the coachman.
The coachman ran over and opened the carriage door.
Churchill did not get out of the car, but just said to Wodehouse, "I'll wait for your good news." After that, he closed his eyes and rested on the ground.
Wodehouse came up and knocked on the door of Blea Road.
Soon, the door was opened,
Lu Shi stood at the door, giving way to the room, and said at the same time: "Sir, why did you come suddenly... Well, I understand, you want to discuss the poll, right? Please come in, and be careful where you step."
The bricked-up windows on Burya Road have been removed and replaced with brand new glass.
The light of the morning sun enters the house, and there are almost no blind spots in the sight.
Wodehouse looked around. Although he didn't understand what he needed to be careful about, he still followed the rules and stepped into the door cautiously.
at this time,
"Meow~"
A cat meows.
Wodehouse felt his eyes blur, as if something jumped from his feet to under the table in the room.
Lu Shi apologized: "I'm really sorry. I don't know what's going on with this little guy lately. He's so lively and likes to jump on the furniture. He even soiled my manuscript yesterday."
Wodehouse was surprised: "Manuscript? Professor Lu has a new work?"
Lu Shi nodded,
"Yes, it's a drama. But the manuscript I'm talking about is the series of articles that were serialized in the Manchester Guardian. Recently, I'm going to have in-depth cooperation with the Royal Publishing House, so I'm sorting out the manuscript and preparing to submit it. Get them published.”
"Royal...Royal Publishing House? Deep...deep..."
Wodehouse was speechless.
Lu Shi smiled and explained: "In-depth cooperation. That is to say, I am preparing for long-term cooperation with the Royal Publishing House. For example, I am going to entrust them to print and distribute the questionnaires for the polls."
Wodehouse:! ! !
He looked at Lu Shi in shock.
Lu Shi almost laughed out loud in his heart, but his face had a calm expression.
"Sir Wodehouse, it is admirable that you are willing to invest in the polling project in your own name, rather than as a Liberal Party member or as an honorary chancellor of the University of London. You are willing to be an unsung hero. By the way, you are planning to use a cheque. ?"
Not in a personal name...
It’s not in my personal name!
Wodehouse's heart was bleeding, but he could only smile and take out his checkbook.
While writing the amount, he said gentlemanly: "What we Liberals value most is freedom of expression. With such a project, of course I have to help."
As he spoke, he forced out a smile that was uglier than crying.
