British writer

In the next few days, Lu Shi visited the library of the British Museum every day.

Cowen was a little afraid of him and hid far away.

Ozzy couldn't accompany him all the way because of important business.

Lu Shi was also happy to see this situation. He went through all kinds of historical materials himself to perfect those parts that were not rigorous in "The Fifteen Years of Wanli", so that the finished manuscript was as impeccable as possible.

However, the degree of difficulty in writing historical monographs was beyond Lu Shi's expectations.

He worked hard, but the progress was still slow.

...

March 10.

Gu Hongming is leaving London for France.

Lu Shi and Natsume Soseki saw off at the port.

The whistle of the ship has not yet sounded, and the travelers are either saying goodbye or hugging.

The three of them had nothing to do, so they put Gu Hongming's huge suitcase on the ground as a low table, and played cards while standing.

When they play cards, they have to bend over and throw them on the table, making a crackling sound,

Looking at it from a distance, it looks like a street slipper.

From time to time, British people came to take a look curiously, and found that they could not understand the rules of Doudi Zhu, and they could not understand the Chinese communication, so they walked away resentfully, and occasionally stopped when they left, and lingered back.

"To two."

Gu Hongming threw out two cards, and then said: "Unfortunately, I haven't seen the finished draft of "Fifteen Years of Wanli"."

"Sorry." ×2

Lu Shi and Natsume Soseki leaned over to join hands.

The corners of Gu Hongming's mouth curled up,

"I still have a bomb here~ It's boring, it's over so soon."

He discards the card.

The old man is very lucky today and keeps winning.

Lu Shi said sarcastically: "It's hard, Mr. Gu is leaving London today, and the rare luck is going to be useless~"

Gu Hongming gave Lu Shi a dissatisfied look,

"Go! Stop playing!"

Attitude like an old kid.

Lu Shi laughed out loud.

Gu Hongming took out his cigarette pouch, knocked on the pot, lit it with a match, and said, "We're not going to talk about fighting landlords anymore."

When he looked at Lu,

"Lu Shi, when will your "Fifteen Years of Wanli" be finished? Although there is no shortage of history textbooks in the university hall, they are all serious history books. Without your monographs with explanations and analysis, I can't wait. I'm really worried."

Lu Shi waved his hand,

Frankly speaking, even if "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" is completed, there is still a long way to go before this book can be used as a teaching material.

"Learning is subtle," he said.

Gu Hongming asked: "How do you say that?"

Lu Shi rummaged through the collected cards and replied: "The manufacturing of playing cards has always been developed along the lines of each manufacturer, until the French government promulgated the officially approved design, giving each face card name."

He drew the square K,

"This painting is of Julius Caesar, the most famous dictator in human history, and deserves to be on the poker card."

Gu Hongming couldn't help thinking,

"..."

Lu Shi said: "Old Mr. Gu doesn't believe it? Then you should go to the museum to see the ancient Roman coins. There is a profile of Caesar engraved on it, which is similar to the figure on the square K."

Gu Hongming shook his head,

"No, it's not that I don't believe it, it's just that I've never thought about it. According to you, the opera singers, paper-cut artists, sugar blowers, and clay figurines...are these people also educating the common people about history?"

As soon as the voice fell, I heard the siren roaring from a distance,

555——

Much louder than a train.

At the same time, the sailors lowered the chains that blocked the gangway,

Travelers rushed to board the ship.

Lu Shi said to Gu Hongming: "Mr. Gu, let's talk next time."

Gu Hongming nodded, picked up the suitcase and walked to the boarding port.

But in the middle of the walk, he stopped as if thinking of something, ran back with small steps, and said to Lu Shi: "Your book, don't change the overall framework, just write it like that."

Lu Shi didn't understand,

"What?"

Gu Hongming smacked his lips,

"What I mean is, just write down the failure of the Wanli Dynasty clearly."

The original author Huang Renyu wrote in the preface of the book: "What is described in the book may as well be called a total record of a big failure."

Emperor Wanli, Shen Shixing, Zhang Juzheng, Liao Hairui, Li Zhi, Qi Jiguang, six failed people constitute the history of failure,

So the core idea of ​​the whole book is "how 'I' failed".

Lu Shi said: "I understand. You are worried that the Qing court is too sensitive to Ming history."

Gu Hongming smiled,

"This is of course one of the reasons. But the most important thing is that someone needs to summarize the failure."

At this time, China experienced many disastrous defeats, especially the loss to Japan in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which made the atmosphere of the entire intellectual circle shrouded in gloom and gloom.

Everyone doesn't like the prediction of success, but likes the summary of failure, and finally comes to the conclusion of "must fail\

,"This, too, is ancient defeatism.

Lu Shi was helpless,

"Reflection, right? I understand."

Of course Gu Hongming heard the sarcasm in Lu Shi's tone, but he didn't take it as disobedience. Instead, he laughed and said, "After reading your speech in Cambridge, I know that you despise those self-deprecating people the most. But if you want to You know, that's how it is."

Lu Shi gave a shallow "hmm\

,""Don't worry, I won't change the structure of the book."

Only then did Gu Hongming feel relieved, he turned around and boarded the gangway carrying the suitcase.

Watching his back, Natsume Soseki asked, "Lu, are you going to the British Museum today?"

Lu Shi said, "No, let's take a break and go home and write "The Lord of the Rings."

Natsume Soseki pouted,

"You call this a rest?"

While arguing, the two waited for the ship to leave the port, and then drove back to Braiya Road.

As a result, as soon as they jumped out of the carriage, they saw Bernard Shaw.

Bernard Shaw was waiting at the door, seemingly not in a hurry, flipping through the "Daily Telegraph" while smoking his pipe, muttering a few words from time to time.

Lu Shi was surprised,

"Mr. Chancellor?"

Bernard Shaw said, "Lu, you've come back."

He put away his pipe, lowered his voice,

"I met Professor James of King's College, Cambridge University today. He told me that he told you about the Nobel Prize in Literature before, but you refused."

I didn't expect it to be another Nobel Prize.

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yeah, I just feel...well...you said you met Professor James? Could it be about the Nobel Prize?"

Bernard Shaw grinned,

"You guessed it?"

Lu Shi complained: "Seeing how proud you are, I'm afraid you were nominated in the primary list?"

According to history, George Bernard Shaw is indeed the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature,

The reason for the award is: "For his idealistic and humane works-their stirring irony often contains a high degree of poetic beauty."

Because of the feature that the drama spreads quickly, he has been nominated many times,

But the final award was in 1925.

Bernard Shaw smiled even more happily,

"Lu, it seems that you also recognize my level, otherwise you wouldn't be able to directly guess what's going on."

Lu Shi was sloppy,

"Haha, hahaha."

An awkward laugh.

But Bernard Shaw wasn't that excited either.

Because the Nobel Prize at this moment is only the first one, although there is a lot of movement, but the authority is still out of the question.

Bernard Shaw said, "Lu, it seems that you have also been nominated."

Lu Shi was a little confused,

"I've only made a name for myself since last winter, why should I be nominated? Also, what do you mean by 'like'?"

Bernard Shaw replied: "This kind of thing can be talked about~"

Lu Shi was speechless.

In later generations, as soon as Sweden announces the list of primary candidates, the media from all over the world will follow up, especially when there are Chinese in the list, the entire Simplified Chinese Internet will be crazy about it.

But now, the list of Nobel Prizes is actually a black box, which can even be added, deleted, modified, and checked, which is very outrageous.

Bernard Shaw smiled and said, "Your reputation is growing, how could there be no place for you~"

Lu Shi realized that he read correctly,

The current Nobel Prize highlights one word——

rub!

Post it to anyone who has traffic.

Lu Shi said: "Forget it, Mr. Supervisor, please help me to... um..."

He wanted George Bernard Shaw to give the message, so he said that he was not going to participate in the selection of the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he realized that he didn't even know who to talk to when he was halfway through the speech.

Swedish Academy?

James of Cambridge?

Nobel Committee?

...

Lu Shi scratched his head.

Bernard Shaw said, "Why don't you come with me to University College London? There is a temporary judging committee over there, and I am one of them."

Lu Shi was even more confused.

"Didn't you just say you were nominated?"

Bernard Shaw nodded repeatedly,

"right."

Lu Shi said again: "Then you said, you are on the jury?"

Bernard Shaw continued to nod and said, "Yes. Is there any question?"

"hiss……"

Lu Shi took a cold breath.

Bernard Shaw asked, "What's the matter?"

Lu Shi said, "It's nothing, just a toothache."

George Bernard Shaw had also reacted at this time, patted Lu Shi on the shoulder, and said, "You think it's inappropriate for me to judge myself, right? That's all, just follow me, you can see the list."

Lu Shi was helpless, and nodded to Natsume Soseki who was beside him.

Natsume Soseki said, "Then I'll go back first, and take a walk with me."

After speaking, he opened the door and entered the house.

On the other side, Lu Shi and Bernard Shaw got into the carriage.

University College London is not far to the northwest of the British Museum. Lu Shi often passes by during this time, so he is familiar with the road.

It didn't take long for the destination to arrive.

The two jumped out of the carriage.

In March, the weather in London has become warmer, but there will be light rain from time to time, which makes the air feel a kind of dampness,

But light rain is also good, at least it can dispel the fog.

Bernard Shaw entered the teaching building when he landed.

Soon, they came to a huge room similar to a conference room,

There was a long oval table in the room that could seat thirty people. The table was full of scattered manuscripts. Lu Shi only glanced at them and found that there were Danish, Swedish, German, French, English, and some manuscripts. A language not even familiar to him.

On both sides of the long table, a dozen professors are sitting there, reviewing manuscripts lazily,

Some of them even put their feet on the edge of the table.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the person closest to the door didn't even lift his head, and said, "Mr. Xiao is back? Close the door tightly."

Lu Shi closed the door tightly with his backhand,

Click——

There was a soft sound.

The man still didn't look up and said, "Thank you."

He wasn't the only one in this state of immersing himself in his work, everyone was reading the manuscript, with a sense of despair on their expressions.

Someone complained: "I knew I shouldn't have taken this job. Fxxk!"

From the looks of it, he seems to be crazy.

Bernard Shaw ignored him, rummaged through the pile of papers on the table, finally took out a thick book, handed it to Lu Shi, and said in a low voice: "Let's have a look."

Lu Shi originally didn't want to be a judge or translator.

But since Bernard Shaw invited him, he could still help if he could.

Moreover, among the people at the scene, many professors are too old, so don't look at the manuscript and see yourself as overworked.

Lu Shi weighed the manuscript in his hand,

"whose book is this?"

The corners of Bernard Shaw's mouth twitched slightly, as if holding back a smile,

He said, "You'll know when you open it."

Lu Shi found that there was not even a title on the cover of this book, so he couldn't help being curious, and muttered: "Is it so mysterious? Mr. Supervisor, it can't be your new script, right?"

While speaking, while opening the manuscript,

As a result, in the next second, Lu Shi froze and opened his mouth wide, as if he could stuff a whole durian in.

He speaks incoherently,

"This... this special meow... this special meow is actually a list?!"

The words were almost shouted.

In an instant, the eyes of everyone in the room were attracted.

An old nearsighted professor took off his glasses and squinted at Lu,

"Chinese? So young..."

Another professor came to his senses and said loudly, "Lu! Professor Lu from London Political Science and Economics! Unexpectedly, unexpectedly, Mr. Xiao actually invited you here."

The crowd rushed forward and surrounded Lu Shi.

Lu Shi was a little confused,

When he came back to his senses, he suddenly found that he was shaking hands with the professors one by one.

Such a high standard of treatment is confusing.

Bernard Shaw had expected this to happen a long time ago, and said, "Lu, you gave that speech at Cambridge, but later you did not accept the open invitation from Oxford and Cambridge. You are already synonymous with loyalty in the University of London Union."

Rejecting the two schools of Niu and Jian is really awesome!

Lu Shi had no choice but to socialize with these professors for a while before turning everyone's attention back to the list.

"Gentlemen, this list is the list of primary candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature?"

Everyone nodded their heads,

"That's right."

"Tsk..."

Lu Shi was speechless while looking through the list.

This list has twenty people per page, over twenty-five pages,

So, at least five hundred people.

The first quarter of the list is typed and the last three quarters are handwritten in ink.

Lu Shi suddenly discovered that his name was written by hand.

Next to the name is a long list of works:

The Roger Mystery,

"yes! prime minister\

,""Roman Holiday\

,""answer\

,"...

Novels, plays, poetry, you name it.

The amazing thing is that there are even monographs like "Guns, Germs and Steel", which have almost nothing to do with literature.

In addition to Lu Shi, there is also Professor James, an acquaintance in Cambridge, who also has a handwritten name.

Lu Shi asked in puzzlement, "Why are some of these names typed on a typewriter, and some..."

Halfway through the conversation, the door was suddenly pushed open.

A clerk stood outside the door, leaned half his body in, and said, "Gentlemen, there is another telegram from Sweden."

Bernard Shaw immediately reached out to take it.

At the same time, someone handed Lu Shi a pen and said, "Professor Lu, write it down."

Lu Shi dazedly took the pen,

"Remember what?"

The man pointed to the list, then nodded in Shaw's direction.

Just listen to Bernard Shaw read: "Mr. Theodore Mommsen is newly added, and his representative works are "History of Rome", "Roman Chronicle", "History of Roman Mintage", "Compendium of Latin Inscriptions", in brackets, "Compendium of Latin Inscriptions" is Edited by Mr. Monson, it not only has important historical value, but also has high artistic value..."

Lu Shi wrote vigorously in his hand,

At the same time, ten thousand muddy horses galloped past in my heart,

I didn't expect the first Nobel Prize in Literature to be so informal that nominations could be added at any time.