The two were chatting happily when someone came to the door again. As he entered the door, he shouted: "I would like to inform you that I am Per Fisher, the counselor of the German Legation." Lu Bicheng, who was working as a hostess in another room, also heard it and quickly came to the hall.
Per Fisher will become the official German minister to the Qing Dynasty in a few years. This person can be regarded as a minor
"Common in China", he has studied Chinese for many years. Li Yuying came out and said, "Mr. Counselor, I'm sorry for you." Fisher said directly: "Mr. Imperial Master, have you been making mistakes when you talk too much recently?" Li Yu smiled and said, "Mr. Counselor can also speak idioms. But why do you say that?" Fisher took out the Ta Kung Pao and said, "I'm afraid it's inappropriate for Mr. Emperor to talk about our country's great philosophy Hegel like this in the newspaper. You should have enough respect for our country's thinkers." Li Yu said: "What if Mr. Hegel doesn't respect our country's sages first? What can we say?"
"That is a philosophical question, not disrespectful, and I have also read your so-called classics of ancient thinkers. I think Hegel is qualified to criticize them." Fisher said.
Zhu Guozhen was an upright person who had passed the imperial examination, and he immediately became dissatisfied: "Counsellor, now you disrespect us even more."
"I don't mean that out of thin air," said Per Fisher. Li Yu corrected him: "It must be groundless." Just now he praised him for being able to speak idioms.
Peter Fisher took out an English translation of "Zhuangzi" and said, "I think this is your country's supreme ideological classic, right?" Li Yu nodded: "That's right." Peter Fisher said proudly: "You Looking at these sentences, it tastes like eating candles! How can there be any profound thoughts?" Li Yu didn't bother to correct his idiom mistakes. He looked down and saw this sentence: "The ends of the fine hairs that grow on birds and animals in autumn. Bigger than Mount Tai." The literal translation in English is so awkward.
Li Yu thought about it for a while, but couldn't figure out where it came from. Zhu Guozhen didn't understand English well and asked, "Which sentence is it?" Li Yu gave him a literal translation.
Zhu Guozhen touched his chin and thought for a while: "The ends of the fine hairs of birds and beasts in autumn are bigger than Mount Tai? Harm! Obviously, there is nothing in the world larger than the end of autumn hair, but Mount Tai is small. Heaven and earth are coexisting with me, and all things are Be one with me." As expected, in terms of familiarity with classics, there was a huge gap between Li Yu and people like them who had passed the imperial examination.
Fortunately, this sentence is quite famous, and Li Yu has read it before. Robert Fisher said: "Why are you saying something different?" Li Yu said: "Mr. Counselor, this is a problem of translation. If you want to understand Chinese culture, it is impossible to rely on translations. Only by going deep into ancient books and understanding classical Chinese , and it is only possible to understand the history at that time." Now, including later English translations of "The Analects" and "Zhuangzi", they are all at a similar level. Even if Gu Hongming is more powerful, he can only explain the meaning more properly. English simply cannot express the highly refined style of classical Chinese.
Before Li Yu traveled through time, the largest publishing house in the UK had just published "Zhuangzi", which allows us to understand how Europeans and Americans read ancient books.
It is translated from the original work to English and then translated back to Chinese. The content is
"The ends of the newly grown fine hairs on birds and animals in autumn are larger than Mount Tai". Zhu Guozhen suddenly no longer thought that foreigners were so powerful, and laughed and said: "Mr. Counselor, your Chinese level still needs to be improved!" This was a bit difficult for Fisher. In fact, even Li Yu's understanding of classical Chinese was limited to that of school. Contents learned in Chinese language class.
Zhu Guozhen even wrote it out and showed it to Peter Fisher. It is true that Poe Fisher has never read the original version of "Zhuangzi". To be precise, he cannot understand it.
"Doesn't that mean the same thing?" asked Per Fisher. Li Yu said: "I will teach you another Chinese proverb. You can only understand it but not explain it in words. If you can't understand the original version, you can't claim to understand Zhuangzi, let alone be qualified to criticize Confucius and Zhuangzi."
"Aren't you criticizing our Hegel?" Fisher said reluctantly.
"It's different," Li Yu spread his hands.
"I was just discussing the matter, and I respect his dialectical philosophy from the bottom of my heart. But that doesn't mean everything a thinker says is right. Do you want us to talk about dialectical philosophy?" Even if Li Yu doesn't understand philosophy, in China Growing up in this atheistic society, we know very well what dialectics is.
Poe Fisher opened his mouth: "We...have a chance to talk about this issue again." Li Yu found a copy of "Zhuangzi" from the bookshelf: "Give it to you." It was somewhat ironic, but Poe Fisher now He almost knew that he had misunderstood, so he accepted it shamelessly: "I understand Chinese, and it won't take long to finish reading." Li Yu joked: "I hope the counselor will criticize you then." He didn't believe that the other party could really understand it. .
After Fisher left, Zhu Guozhen said: "I didn't expect that foreigners looked at our classics like this." Li Yu was already surprised and unhappy: "It can't be changed." Zhu Guozhen said: "In this way, foreigners' writing is just mediocre!" Li Yu said: "Don't be so confident. I can only say that there are very different ways of thinking between the East and the West." Zhu Guozhen said: "Then why didn't you just keep him down to talk more? Maybe you can make him truly understand and respect us. Culture." Li Yu said: "An Englishman said this: He is a sheep herder, and I am a woodcutter. The two of us chatted all afternoon. His sheep were full, but where is my firewood?" Zhu Guozhen After pondering for a while,
"This sentence seems to make sense. It seems that the British have a certain meaning." That sentence comes from Maugham, the author of "The Moon and Sixpence".
Li Yu said: "So even if I can talk him through, so what? I can't gain anything, but I'm wasting my time. Books, like plants, rely heavily on the soil and water environment. When the cultural environment changes, no matter how time changes, Or the changes in space will make a book become weird." Zhu Guozhen said: "But we can't let foreigners misunderstand it like this, right?" Li Yu spread his hands: "You have also seen that it is difficult for a foreigner to understand China. How difficult it is, they must be willing to spend a lot of time, but how many people are really willing to do this?" Zhu Guozhen said a little disappointed: "But we must be willing to learn from them." Li Yu patted him on the shoulder: "Thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi. Just take your time, things will always change." Lu Bicheng also breathed a sigh of relief at this time, thinking in his heart: "Li Yu is really quite capable. He seems not to understand Confucian classics, but he It's really strange to be able to defend the classics in front of foreigners again and again." After Zhu Guozhen left, Li Yu went to the noodle stall of Ding Deshan in Dong'an Market.
"Young, it's the emperor's master!" Ding Deshan already knew Li Yu's identity.
"The emperor comes to eat noodles at my stall again. What a shame." Li Yu said, "I really didn't come here to eat noodles today. I have some big business that I want to discuss with you."
"Big deal?" Ding Deshan picked up a towel and wiped his forehead.
"Master Emperor, I'm just a small stall owner. I don't know anything about big business." Dong Laishun will not be a big business in the future.
Li Yu said: "I am asking you to develop a product. If it is successful, I will give you a minimum of 500 taels of silver as a reward."
"Five hundred taels?!" Ding Deshan was extremely shocked. This was a huge amount of wealth that he could not accumulate in four or five years.
Li Yu asked: "How is it? Do you want to do it?" Ding Deshan swallowed and spat: "I have no talent and no virtue, how can the emperor look down on a villain? Apart from making some noodles, I don't know anything." Li Yu laughed. "It's just making noodles." Ding Deshan was even more confused: "What kind of noodles can be made with five hundred taels?" Li Yu said, "I'm thinking of making a kind of noodles that is easy to carry and can be brewed anytime and anywhere."
"Anytime and anywhere? Is there such a thing?" Of course Ding Deshan had never heard of it. Li Yu explained it to him again, and then said: "That's it in general, but many details and key material package preparation need your help." Ding Deshan felt that it was not too difficult, and it was completely within his own profession. Mainly, the temptation of five hundred taels of silver was too great, so he agreed: "I hope I won't disappoint the emperor." Li Yu said, "I believe you can do it! I even thought of the words to promote it, and I called it 'Craftsman Spirit' The inheritance, the taste that will be passed down forever." Ding Deshan said embarrassedly: "The Imperial Master is over-reputed." Li Yu said: "Where is the over-reputation? You don't know that in Japan, across the sea, it takes decades to cook rice. Being regarded as the god of rice is the so-called craftsman spirit. You have made thousands of bowls of noodles, how can you not be worthy of it?"
"The term "craftsman spirit" sounds really literate, I like it," Ding Deshan said. Li Yu laughed and said, "If you like it, the brand of instant noodles we launch in the future will be called Craftsman. We will sell it in large quantities to Japan and earn money from Japan!"
"The emperor's words make me feel relieved. I must do it!" Ding Deshan said.
"Great! You can come to my house tomorrow. Don't worry, I will pay for lost work time." Li Yu gave him another guarantee.
Ding Deshan was extremely grateful. He had never seen anyone doing business like this before: "Master, you are really the great master of Qingtian!" The next day, Ding Deshan came over early.
Li Yu explained the process to him, and then asked Fengling to bring a lot of oil, noodles, and condiments. Li Yu said: "Don't be afraid of waste. All the expenses in the scientific research process are funded by me." Fengling asked curiously: "Sir, what are you doing?"
"Develop new varieties of noodles." Li Yu said.
"I'm familiar with this too!" Fengling said suddenly,
"How about I help Master Ding here." Fengling does have a good way of cooking, and in fact there are no complicated secrets to instant noodles. Perhaps the most important thing is the recipe of the ingredients.
What may be really troublesome is assembly line manufacturing. Fortunately, Li Yu said that he had a double bachelor's degree in mechanical design, so he could modify and design a similar noodle machine by buying it.
Now there are electric pasta machines in Europe and the United States, and they will be on display in New York in a year or two.
It’s just that foreigners don’t like noodles very much. The aroma of Dingdeshan fried noodles quickly attracted people from other courtyards.
Yu Heqin also put down the MSG purification experiment and came here following the taste: "Sir, why is the meal starting so early today?" Li Yu spread his hands: "We are not starting the meal. Just like you are developing MSG, we are engaged in food research and development. Here we are. At that time, MSG was added to the ingredients, and it was a surefire success if you think about it." To be honest, even if Li Yu is not short of money now, the food during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China was far from what he ate in the university cafeteria.
I even started to miss instant noodles and ham sausage. The current situation, at least for many years, requires the purification of MSG to rely on hydrolysis, and fermentation cannot be used because it takes more time to find strains.
Although the hydrolysis method is more expensive, it is at least simple and can be gradually improved in the future. Yu Heqin's focus was different: "What kind of food is Jue Juezi?"
"Uh... is an adjective, which means very good." Li Yu explained. Yu and Qin Ning thought for a while: "Jue Juezi, where does it come from? Why haven't I seen it in other books?" Li Yu couldn't elaborate with him, so he quickly changed the topic: "By the way, wait until you finish researching MSG, I still have something to ask you to continue research and development." Yu Heqin said: "As long as it is chemical, you can just leave it to me."
"Of course it is in the field of chemistry. I want to develop a bag that is soft, tough and easy to carry." Li Yu said.
"Bag?" Yu Heqin asked,
"What's there to study?"
"I'm talking about a chemical product. Ethylene can be synthesized into a polymer structure under certain conditions, such as high pressure or catalyst, and turned into polyethylene." Li Yu said briefly.
Yu Heqin's eyes widened: "How can it be like this! Imperial Master, your idea is so genius, you are simply the god of chemistry!" Li Yu said with a smile: "It's still an idea now, mainly because the current development conditions are not met. But I want you to write down this matter. When you study abroad in the future, you can definitely use it if you learn more related content." Yu Heqin really admired Li Yu: "The emperor's master is the emperor's master! It turns out that you are not only proficient in mathematics, but also He has such profound knowledge in physics, astronomy, and even chemistry." This kind of thing is not something to boast about. After all, it was all learned in the chemistry class back then, and by the time he time traveled, plastic bags were banned.
However, in the early years, plastic bags were still valuable, and even if there was pollution, they would have to go through this process.
——History has proven time and time again that it is useless no matter how hard you insist on it, unless mankind suffers some big losses. The development process of key plastics is quite meaningful and will surely spawn many chemical companies in the future.
The layout of related industries including glass is considered a move planned by Li Yu in advance. For fields other than mathematics, physics and astronomy, Li Yu can indeed only play the role of overall planning.
If applied to later generations, it is a bit like some Internet companies: some great figures only study key algorithms and core businesses. As for the people who actually write the code, they all have dedicated coders, or they are simply outsourced.
For example, scientists from companies such as Google and TSMC are actually quite relaxed and even admit it themselves.
"I can't be busy at all." Because they don't dare to make changes at will. As long as a small change is made, the outsourcing companies or code farmers below will have to modify countless contents and then test it many times.
Once this change is proposed, scientists will have to take a long break with nothing to do. So they spend most of their time drinking coffee and reading more emails, and holding meetings to discuss with others to make sure they don't make any mistakes.
It seems that this can also explain why Europeans seem not too busy and have high welfare. Li Yu actually doesn't understand the specific development of plastics, manufacturing of instant noodles, and purification of MSG.
But he can rely on the concept of time travelers that are hundreds of years ahead of time to ensure that the general direction is absolutely correct. For corporate research and development, it is already the most important thing. Otherwise, research and development funds will be wasted, time will be wasted, and competition will be lost. Opponent opportunity.
