In the first lecture, Chen Muwu designed many interesting passages in the outline and they all came in handy:
For example, Michelson-Morley's interference experiment proved that the speed of light remains unchanged;
For example, the famous thought experiment “Einstein’s Train”;
He even started with the popular martial arts novels, starting with swordsmanship, and finally led to the famous limerick "Fike, a young man, is good at swordsmanship, and his thrusts are as fast as meteors. Due to the shrinkage of space, the long sword turns into a small iron nail." 【1】……
It must be said that these sections did attract some interest from the audience present, but after more than two hours, the effect of the lecture can only be said to be tepid.
Most of the audience who came to the scene were students and teachers from Beida University and several other universities. As for other celebrities from all walks of life, there were only a few.
Dr. Hu was so busy with official duties that he did not even show up in the lecture hall.
This also verified Chen Muwu’s conjecture, that is, there was a craze for the theory of relativity in the academic circles of Beida University and even Beijing. The reputation of Einstein, a world-famous scientist, was more popular than the truth contained in the theory of relativity. sought after.
Even if Einstein raised his arms and exclaimed: "The earth is flat!", he would probably gain many loyal believers in China.
And if Chen Muwu shouted the same words from a high position, you can imagine how many people would yell at him, calling him an unlearned and unskilled young master.
But Chen Muwu did not feel disappointed because of the mediocre response to his first lecture. Anyway, there was no agreement with Bei University on how enthusiastic the lecture should be. As long as he was a monk for a day, Bei University would have to take care of his daily meals. .
Chen Muwu was already familiar with the content of the theory of relativity. As long as the status quo was maintained in the next few lectures and no big mistakes were made, he would be able to get a reward of five hundred yuan after the end.
At the same time, considerable progress has been made on the novel side.
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes" that conquered Zhang Xinyuan also conquered Cheng Sheme who returned from going out to cover news.
He called Ma Zhai and invited Chen Muwu to come to the editorial office to discuss the remuneration, and finally settled on a remuneration of five silver yuan per thousand words.
From the 27th to the 31st, the Beijing edition of "Yi Shi Bao" ran an advertisement on the front page for five consecutive days, announcing that starting from the first of next month, it would begin serializing Miss Yao Fulan's new martial arts novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" .
The desire to make money prompted Chen Muwu to write hard, so in the next two weeks, he rushed out more than 70,000 words. As a result, his right arm became visibly stronger than his left arm.
In addition to the 27,000 words submitted to the editorial department for the first time, the number of words in "The Condor" manuscripts deposited in "Yi Shi Bao" has reached the 100,000 mark.
The serialization effect of "The Condor" in the newspaper was good, so I was very happy to check out the manuscript. After reviewing the manuscript and confirming that there were no quality problems, I directly offered it to Ocean 500.
This time Chen Muwu suddenly changed and became a rich man again.
Not only that, he also took some time out of his busy schedule to give the next three lectures in the Second College of Bei University while working on the manuscript.
Time quickly entered February.
The 8th day of the lunar calendar falls on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, which is not only a small year in the north, but also the last lecture of Chen Muwu’s trip to Beijing.
Before that, Dr. Hu finally appeared again after a long absence.
On the night of the 6th, he invited Chen Muwu to Dong Laishun in Dong'an Market for a meal of mutton shabu-shabu.
"Hanchen, the mutton from Donglaishun is one of the best in the capital, which is as famous as Zhengyang Tower. Eat more of it."
In fact, Chen Muwu couldn't stand the smell of mutton, so he could only pretend to be polite: "Thank you, Mr. Shizhi, please."
After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, Chen Muwu couldn't figure out what kind of medicine Hu Shi was selling in his gourd. Could it be that he was going to have a showdown with himself because Beida couldn't give him that much money and asked him to give him a discount?
Mud, after all, I am still too young and have little social experience. If I had known better, I should have asked them to pay the bill after each lecture, or simply asked for a deposit of two hundred oceans in advance.
The reason why Chen Muwu made this judgment was that during the half month he lived in Beijing, he saw with his own eyes the real living standard of the Ma family.
It would also take several months for Ma Yuzao to get half a month's salary. In order to support his family, he had to go all over Beijing to work part-time at Beijing Normal University, Wuhan University and other schools to supplement his family income.
He really couldn't look down on his eldest brother's friends, but they were also a good family to him. There were carrots and cabbage on the dining table every day, so he began to quietly supplement the family income.
Every day, under the guise of morning exercise, he would go to the alley to buy breakfast for the whole family. He also used the gimmick of buying too much late-night snacks to satisfy the cravings of the two growing children of the Ma family.
Ma Yuzaogui is the head of the Department of Chinese Studies at Bei University, and his daily life is like this.
Can this school spend 500 yuan to settle the bill for itself?
But Chen Muwu then thought about it, just because Beida didn’t have money didn’t mean that Dr. Hu didn’t have money.
This guy invited him to Dong'an Market today. The ride was not a foreign car, but his own car.
There are only two professors in Beida who have private cars. One is Ma Heng, who has a wealthy father-in-law, and the other is Hu Shi.
Even Cai Yuanpei, who resigned and left Beijing, did not receive such treatment when he was the principal!
Chen Muwu made up his mind that if Bei Da didn't give him the money, he would let Hu Shi take it.
Anyway, the signature of the letter inviting him to give lectures in the north was not the official seal of Bei University, but your name, Hu Shizhi!
However, Chen Muwu's worries were unnecessary, because the purpose of Hu Shi's invitation to dinner was not to cry out for poverty, but to show off another matter with him.
From the whole story introduced by Hu Shi, Chen Muwu finally knew that it was not Cai Yuanpei who was in the middle of a scolding war at that time, but the American Minister Shulman who prompted him to give this lecture.
After hearing the reason for inviting him to come, Chen Muwu was a little bit dumbfounded. He sighed in his heart like all the readers: I just want him to study in the United States, so is it necessary to go to such great lengths?
At this point, Hu Shicai revealed the details of the matter to Chen Muwu, hoping to buy a good one from him.
Just imagine, if Chen Muwu really makes a name for himself in physics in the future, wouldn't Hu Shi become a Bole who has a keen eye to recognize heroes?
Even if Chen Muwu wiped out everyone, he would not be at a loss. After all, the culprit who paid 500 yuan was an American, not Hu Shi!
At the end of the meal, Hu Shi also specifically told Chen Muwu that during the last lecture the day after tomorrow, American Minister Shulman would be there in person, asking him to perform well and leave a good impression on the Americans. It will be easier and smoother to implement the plan.
*****
【1】Author’s Note: The original poem is:
There was a young fellow named Fisk,
Whose fencing was exceedingly brisk.
So fast was his action,
The Fitz-Gerald contraction,
Reduced his rapier to a disk.
