Professor Holt's narration finally came to an end.
Xu Chuxiang's mood was still somewhat ups and downs.
I originally thought it was just a simple reception that would be completed in an hour or two. Unexpectedly, we started talking at two o'clock in the afternoon and continued until the evening.
What she didn't expect was that she heard so many magical things from Professor Holt that she had never heard before.
Extraordinary places, winged monkeys, immortals, mysterious caves.
To be honest, Xu Chuxiang has been doubtful so far, and his doubts are greater than his trust.
Although she didn't think Professor Holt was lying to her, what Professor Holt said was too incredible.
This famous scholar and explorer from the Yinjili Empire came all the way to Jingcheng, Chuzhou, the Kingdom of Great China, because of a painting by a painter who lived here five hundred years ago. This incident itself is quite interesting. wonderful.
Thinking of Shi Zibin, Xu Chuxiang couldn't help but think of what the teacher who taught her the enlightenment of painting, who was Shi Zibin's descendant, said.
That is, Shi Zibin seemed to have gone insane in his later years, and even burned all his paintings.
Could this be because he said in his own manuscript that after being inspired by an immortal, his painting skills briefly improved by leaps and bounds, and then slowly returned to mediocrity. That sense of loss drove this painter from five hundred years ago into a mental disorder?
After all, it is difficult for people who have experienced peak glory to accept that they have returned to their original mediocrity.
Of course, this is just Xu Chuxiang's guess. Whether the truth is that simple cannot be confirmed. It is naturally difficult to find out the truth about what happened five hundred years ago.
"Mr. Professor, can you let me see the manuscript left by Shi Zibin."
Xu Chuxiang asked.
Although Professor Holt can speak Dahua and understand Dahua characters, he will have no problem reading the vernacular commonly used in Dahua today, but if it is classical Chinese written hundreds of years ago, Xu Chuxiang is worried about whether the other party will understand it. Wrong, maybe the facts are not what Professor Holt said!
So she wanted to see the original text of the manuscript.
However, when Professor Holt heard this, he showed a regretful expression and said:
"The original copy of that manuscript has been lost by me."
Xu Chuxiang couldn't help but be a little surprised, how could such an important thing be accidentally lost.
Professor Holt sighed and continued:
"Because the manuscript is so old and the Imperial Museum has not adopted high-standard preservation methods, the handwriting has become a bit blurry. I am afraid that it will be even more difficult to read if I just take a photo, so I ask my friend to help me save the manuscript." The original manuscript was smuggled out and brought home for study.”
"Then one day, there was a word in the manuscript that I couldn't understand. By the way, it was the word 'indication'. I didn't understand what it meant, so I took the manuscript to ask a colleague. Well, that colleague It’s you Chinese people.”
"When I came back, I drank a cup of coffee on a street corner not far from my home, and then walked home. When I got home, I found that the manuscript in my coat pocket was gone, and there were many pieces on the outer pocket of my coat. A knife edge."
"You know, on the streets of Fog City, the most common ones are women and thieves."
Xu Chuxiang nodded in agreement.
She had studied abroad in Fog City for three years, and she knew very well how much filth and filth was hidden under the glamorous appearance of this city, which is said to be the most advanced and civilized city in the world.
It's a pity that Shi Zibin's manuscript is no longer available.
Then Xu Chuxiang looked at the time and saw that it was almost six o'clock, so he called his servants and ordered them to call the kitchen to prepare dinner. He also specifically told them to order Falan's national meal.
"Mr. Professor, the Western chef in my family was specially invited from Shencheng. Although it is definitely not as authentic as Huadu, it is not much different. I hope you like it."
"Miss Xu, I'm looking forward to the big dinner later. Haha, everything about our Yinjili Empire is good, but the food is really bad, far behind Fa Lan."
"However, I actually still want to try the authentic cuisine of Dahua, because all the wonderful cooking methods of food in the world actually originated from Dahua."
"I didn't think carefully. If you are not afraid of spicy food, Mr. Professor, I will have someone prepare an authentic Chuzhou cuisine for you tomorrow. In addition, Professor, you just said that all the food in the world originated in Dahua. This is true. Is that so? Why have I never heard of this statement?”
"Ms. Xu, I am a rigorous historian."
"Mr. Professor, I took the liberty."
"Haha, it doesn't matter. In fact, many people in the Western Continent don't agree with my research conclusion."
"Then Professor, why do you think so?"
"Because I am not only a historian, but also an explorer. The truth of history cannot be discovered just by stacks of paper."
Professor Holt picked up the half-smoked cigar on the table, lit it again, took a slow puff, and then said something meaningful.
"Before I was thirty, I was just a simple explorer. After I was thirty, I began to study history seriously, and I only studied history before the Monkey Era."
Xu Chuxiang didn't understand Professor Holt's last words very clearly, so she didn't pay attention.
"Mr. Professor, I think dinner is ready. Let's go to the restaurant."
"Haha, according to the etiquette of your country of Great China, should I just say that it's up to the guest to do as he pleases?"
"Mr. Professor, you really learned Chinese very well."
On the way to the restaurant, Xu Chuxiang asked Professor Holt another question.
"So Professor, how do you need me to help you this time?"
"When I arrived in Shencheng, I checked the information about Shennongjia. The Shennongjia Mountains cover more than 3,000 square kilometers. It is very difficult to find a valley in such a vast virgin forest. It will take half a year. Time to search in those primeval forests.”
"The people who came with me this time, in addition to me and my assistant, I also hired three mercenaries as escorts. I hope that Miss Xu can help the five of us prepare a camp on the edge of Shennongjia, and also regularly Provide supplies, food, medicine, clothing, and most importantly, guns and ammunition, because there are many ferocious beasts in that primitive forest."
"Mr. Professor, you don't have to go to such trouble."
Xu Chuxiang thought for a while and smiled:
"I can give you two helicopters directly."
"Helicopter?!"
"Mr. Professor, you look surprised."
"Yes, it's a bit of a surprise. Because a new type of aircraft like a helicopter was successfully tested by the Meilijians five years ago. Even among the powerful countries in the Western Continent, it is still a rarity. I really didn't expect you to have one here. .”
Who told me to have a father who loves to follow fashion so much...
Xu Chuxiang thought silently in his heart.
…
Xu Pingxi, the governor-general of the Chu and Hunan continents of Great China, was actually not a fashionable person.
Xu Pingxi has been serving as the governor of the two continents for more than ten years, but he is still not used to wearing suits, and he has never learned to wear a tie like this. In addition to wearing military uniforms, he usually wears traditional Chinese clothes at home. short gown.
Xu Pingxi would not eat Western food, drink foreign wine, or smoke foreign cigarettes like his daughter.
His favorite dish was fried bacon with chili peppers, which he cooked with a knife. After eating and drinking, he smoked a pot of local tobacco, and then thought about spending the night in that concubine's room.
Xu Pingxi has always scorned the monogamy advocated by the Great China government and refused to implement it.
How is it possible for a man to sleep with the same woman every day? Isn't that nonsense?
In the eyes of most people, Xu Pingxi, the warlord of Chuxiang, was such a stubborn and conservative old-school warlord. Every now and then, on the streets of Jingcheng, enthusiastic young students would parade holding banners and slogans, shouting "Hit Xu Pingxi" Pingxi” and “Building a freer and more civilized new Chuzhou”.
But Xu Pingxi is still very fashionable in some aspects. For example, among the powerful countries in the Western Continent, as soon as any new weapons come out, he will always find ways to get them back to take a look.
As for the novelty of helicopters, Xu Pingxi learned about it from Xu Chuxiang. At that time, Xu Chuxiang had just returned from studying abroad in Wudu. She was chatting with a group of former classmates and friends at home about her experiences in the Western Continent, and accidentally mentioned the topic of helicopters. How did I learn to fly this new type of aerial vehicle, and how did I learn to fly it?
But Xu Pingxi, who happened to be passing by, heard her and immediately asked her how much it would cost to bring such a helicopter to Jingcheng.
Xu Chuxiang quoted a rough price and said that this thing cannot be bought with money. The cost of smoothing the relationship plus the freight from the Western Continent to Jingcheng may add up to higher than the price of the helicopter itself.
After Xu Pingxi heard the price, he was stunned for a long time and cursed:
"Ban Ma Ri is enough for me to marry the concubine of the tenth house again."
Then without hesitation, he asked his daughter to get him a few fights no matter what she did.
Half a year later, when four of the latest helicopters crossed the ocean and finally arrived in Jingcheng, they lined up in front of Xu Pingxi.
Xu Pingxi looked at his big toy with a look that was both painful and satisfying, and murmured.
"My concubine from the forty-fifth room..."
