May 10, 1924.
At noon, the sun is shining in the sky.
A Jian's rowing results were not ideal.
After losing to the University of Cambridge last year, the Oxford rowing team learned their shame and became courageous. They worked hard all day long, practicing in the winter and in the summer.
Finally, in the race at noon on the 10th, Oxford's boat edge led by more than half a boat and passed the finish mark first.
The crowd supporting the Oxford side naturally cheered.
Some people are happy, some are sad, and those who support Cambridge are all dejected.
They clearly support the rowing teams of the two schools, but this does not mean that these spectators are graduates and alumni of the two schools.
Just because these onlookers who came to the scene to watch the excitement more or less added a little bit of luck to the game.
Although gambling is still an industry explicitly prohibited by the British government, it shouldn't be illegal for friends to make a bet worth a few pennies, a few shillings, or one or two thousand pounds, right?
"Haha, Bertie, you lose this time! Just pay up!"
After the dust settled on the results of the competition, in the auditorium with a pergola near the finish line and the best view, Prince Edward, an alumnus of Oxford University and Prince of Wales, who came to watch the competition, laughed mercilessly and sat next to him. The younger brother is coming.
King George V of the United Kingdom, in order to show a people-friendly attitude and enjoy himself with the people, occasionally participated in large-scale events in which a large number of citizens participated.
He had promised to attend the Cambridge-Oxford rowing match this year, but due to other commitments, he could not keep the appointment, so he had to let his two sons do it for him.
Of course, the two princes also made a bet on this game to support their respective schools. The bet was a Rolls-Royce car.
Unlike his proud brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, blushed.
It wasn't because he lost two thousand pounds - it was just a small amount of money, which was nothing to His Royal Highness, but because he felt a little embarrassed about losing to Oxford at Cambridge.
Not losing the battle, Albert didn't care about his not very clever words, but argued with his brother excitedly: "Da-David, don't be too proud, tomorrow, next year, we will definitely meet Win, win back!”
"Next year, let's talk about it next year. Come on Bertie, let's get out of here and have lunch."
Prince Edward got up and was about to leave, but Prince Albert, who was unwilling to do so, accidentally saw someone driving a boat on the Thames, setting up the next course.
"Then what is that doing?"
Prince Albert pointed to the river and asked the royal servant standing beside him with his hands hanging down.
"They are marking the track for the next race, Your Highness."
"What other competition is coming? Is it still a competition between the two universities, Cambridge and Oxford?"
"Yes, Your Highness, after the track is divided, the swimming competition will be held here."
Although Prince Albert has not personally attended classes at Cambridge University for a few days, he still has a sense of Cambridge honor.
And this sense of honor became even stronger after Oxford defeated Cambridge and his brother won the bet.
Prince Albert asked the servant next to him in a low voice. This man had taught him a whole year at Trinity College and knew Cambridge better than himself: "Which of the two schools has better swimming skills?" ?”
"Oxford won the championship last year, Your Highness."
After saying this, the servant did something that might be considered rude. He put his head close to the prince's ear and continued in a very light voice: "But I heard that this year Cambridge University seems to have a swimming genius. It seems to be a competition. Last year's winner at Oxford was much faster."
The tidbit revealed by the servant restored Prince Albert's confidence.
He turned to his brother with a smile on his face: "David, just ask the servants to deliver the food. I also want to stay and watch the swimming competition later."
"Why, are you not convinced and want to take another gamble?"
"Of course!" Prince Albert heard a bit of contempt in his brother's tone, so he pretended to be more excited and said, "I have a hunch that it won't take next year, as long as this afternoon, Cambridge will be able to swim in this On the project, I will kill you to the point of leaving Oxford without any trace left."
"You really didn't give up even when you reached the Thames. Well, what's the bet?"
"Four thousand pounds. If Cambridge wins, you give me a car back. If Cambridge loses, I'll pay you two more cars in addition to the one just now!"
…
Chen Muwu followed everyone in the swimming club and, under the leadership of Best, arrived in London from Cambridge University one day in advance.
They don’t have to pay for their travel, food, accommodation and other expenses out of their own pockets. There are too many Cambridge University alumni who are willing to pay for this.
So much so that they created a foundation specifically to support the competitions of athletes from their alma mater.
Chen Muwu put on a light-colored suit in Cambridge blue. This is what Best said before. As long as he can represent Cambridge University in the competition, he will automatically receive the blue honor specially set for athletes in the school. .
Originally, Chen Muwu should have a badge symbolizing half-Blues on his collar.
But Best was even more determined to win the championship in the sports games than Chen Muwu himself.
This is because during the two days of warm-up in Kangheli, Best asked Chen Muwu to test his performance several times at a distance of 100 yards.
Having not been in the water for nearly half a year, Chen Muwu was a little unsure about whether his speed would slow down.
So he used about 80% of his strength in that test match, and finally he swam within 57 seconds, shocking Best's jaw again.
Why did Chen Muwu's speed not only not drop after more than half a year's absence, but also increase by more than a second?
With this result, there is no problem winning the championship!
In this way, Best did not apply for a badge for Chen Muwu for the time being. He wanted to wait until Chen Muwu successfully won the championship in this sports meeting, and then directly apply to the athletes club for a blue honor that was higher than half blue.
…
After a good night's sleep, the energetic Chen Muwu followed the swimming team to the Thames River to the lounge specially prepared for the athletes.
It is said to be a lounge, but in fact it is just a temporary shed that will be demolished after the game is over.
He sat on the stool here, and together with other members of the club, witnessed the whole process of the Cambridge University rowing team losing the game.
Seeing this result, Best, who originally had one set of words of encouragement in mind, had to improvise another one.
He advised everyone not to take the rowing team's defeat to heart. Although rowing is the benchmark sport among athletes across Cambridge University, their loss does not mean that everyone in the swimming club will also lose.
After Best gave him some chicken blood injections that he didn't know how effective they were, someone sent them their lunch.
Chen Muwu refused the portion presented to him. He took out a few chocolates and candies he had brought with him and put them in his mouth.
After eating and drinking, the athletes who were about to participate in the competition left their seats one after another and started doing standard warm-up exercises.
This set of warm-up moves was also brought to the Cambridge University swimming team by Chen Muwu.
Before this, everyone just took off their clothes before swimming, walked to the River Cam, and then plunged into the water.
From the moment they entered the lounge, some spectators who were closer to the shed had already seen an athlete with black hair, yellow skin and dark eyes, wearing a one-piece swimsuit coming out of the Cambridge University team.
Chen Muwu originally wanted to get some silk swimming shorts to wear, but recently he was either doing experiments or writing papers, and also went on a business trip to Belgium with Rutherford. He really didn't have time, so he could only wear them. This is a wool one-piece swimsuit dyed in "Cambridge Blue" specially prepared for athletes by Best.
The reason why the swimsuit was specially made in this color is to distinguish it from the athletes of Oxford University in the water.
Corresponding to "Cambridge Blue", Oxford University also has their own exclusive color "Oxford Blue". One is lighter and the other is darker, which is relatively easy to distinguish.
Now, Chen Muwu walked directly out of the tent and went to the Thames River to stretch his body. He could hear the discussion about him by the audience outside the stadium more clearly.
"Tell me, where does that yellow man come from? Malaya?"
"Probably not. I heard from my neighbor who once worked in Xingjiapo. Because the place is close to the tropics, the skin of the locals is very dark."
"So Ben?"
"No, I can never be that tall. Their crown prince, Hirohito, I saw him from a distance once when I visited the UK two years ago.
"Although he was sitting on a carriage at the time, looking at the proportions of his head and body, I still felt that he was very short. He might not be as tall as an adult English mastiff when he stood up."
…
When he heard the two men talking in a serious tone, asking and answering questions like a cross talk, Chen Muwu, who was doing side waist exercises, couldn't hold back at all, and burst out laughing.
His smile naturally attracted the attention of the two people talking.
As citizens of the Great Empire, they did not feel that it was very rude to talk about a person's country and nation casually like they just did.
Seeing that the person they were talking about seemed to be responding to the conversation, one of the two went a step further and asked curiously: "Sir, are you a Tatar from Russia or an Indian from the United States?"
“Excuse me, sir, but I am neither a Tartar nor an Indian;
"Neither from Malaya nor from Ben. In fact, I am Chinese.
"However, I really like the analogy you just made. Please forgive me, I would like to teach you a way to distinguish Chinese people from themselves: that is, the tall ones are Chinese, and as you said, the height is not as good as a person. The tallest English mastiff must be me.”
This is not Chen Muwu's slander against Xiao Ben, but there is statistical data behind it.
According to records, the average height of Chinese adult males in the late Qing Dynasty was 1.7 meters in the northern region, and 1.65 to 1.67 meters in the Jiangnan region. In the southeastern coastal provinces that were forced to build in the east, the height could also reach 1 meter. Sixty-two.
The Qing Dynasty had perished in 1912 at the latest. Nearly twenty years later, in 1930, the average height of young men aged 20 to 40 in the country was only 1.6 meters tall. .
In fact, Chen Muwu also wanted to add one more thing at the end. When greeting them, he was the one who nodded, bowed, and was extremely flattering.
But then he thought again, most Chinese people abroad now are like this.
The spectators who can watch the game at a central location by the Thames cannot be said to be wealthy, but they still have some status.
Hearing this tall and handsome athlete say that he is Chinese, coupled with a Cambridge University background, it is easy to think of...
"Sir, do you know a person named Chen Muwu? I heard that he is also from China and is studying at Cambridge University."
"I know there is such a person, but unfortunately I have never met him."
Although he was a little happy when he heard someone mention his name, Chen Muwu still tried his best to put on a regretful expression on his face.
What's the use of flaunting your authority in front of these people at this time?
Just hide your merit and fame and that’s it!
"Chen, it's time for us to leave for the competition!"
"...Okay, I'll come right away!"
It's a pity that Best's call mercilessly untied Chen Muwu's waistcoat, forcing him to forcefully pretend to be cool in front of the two British men today.
Even after walking a few steps forward with the team, he could still hear the two "cross talk actors" commenting on him from behind.
"Did you hear what that person called him just now? Chen! How many Chinese people can there be in Cambridge University? How many Chinese people can there be, and they happen to be named Chen?"
"When you said that, I remembered that when a new planet was discovered at the beginning of this year, I saw a photo of Chen Muwu taken at the Greenwich Observatory in the newspaper. But he was still wearing clothes in that photo , I can’t tell whether the Chen just now is this Chen Muwu.”
…
Soon after.
"Hahahaha, David, you lost this time!"
In the heavily guarded royal pavilion, the one laughing heartily this time was Prince Albert, who looked depressed just now.
That touch of light blue flew through the water, surpassing everyone behind him by several positions, which made him a huge profit.
With a bet of four thousand pounds, not only did he no longer have to give his brother the Chen Muwu Rolls-Royce that he just lost in the bet, he could actually win one.
Prince Edward felt very depressed and strange.
He had seen the news in the newspaper last year and knew that there was a New Zealander at Oxford University who could swim very fast. Why couldn't he swim this year?
Prince Edward gritted his teeth and said, "Bertie, do you dare to place another bet on the next four-hundred-yard game?"
"As long as you have no problem, I'll naturally be happy to accompany you. What's the bet?"
"How about four thousand pounds? But that guy from Cambridge swam too fast. I want to change the odds. If he wins, I will give you four thousand pounds. If Oxford wins, you will give me ten thousand pounds." .”
"Too little David, if Oxford wins, I will give you thirty thousand pounds; if Cambridge wins, then you only need to give me ten thousand pounds. How about it, do you dare?"
"Whoever is afraid of whom, it's a deal!"
Prince Albert, Duke of York, who later became King George VI, suffered from a speech impediment.
In order to avoid being accused of having too many words, when Prince Albert appears again, unless there are special circumstances, there will not be many pauses in his words. Please make up your own mind.
(End of chapter)
